Brian, Jensen, Darla, and Fran didn't say anything as they drove to get Madam Serenity. Each of them were worried about what happened. Well they weren't as worried about the glass pups as they couldn't be killed but they could be held against their will. Jensen flinched when he thought about that. He had held his pack against their will and he would make sure that he faced justice for it. Right now though he needed to find the pups and Mary. They were his priority right now. He barely noticed when they pulled up outside the Perkins' old house. "It probably wasn't a good idea for all of us to come," Jensen said sighing.
"Too late now," Brian said. "Madam Serenity knows we're here. Watch out for Paul. He's appointed himself as Madam Serenity's bodyguard and he seems to know some martial arts."
"You mean the orangutan?" Jensen asked.
Brian nodded and got out. The others were behind him as he approached the door looking around trying not to be caught by Paul. Brian knocked on the door and said, "Madam Serenity we need your help. Mary's missing and so are Cassi, Cindii, Abby, Samantha, and Ulysses."
Madam Serenity opened the door and asked, "How did you find me?"
"I have the ability to find anyone," Jensen said.
"Then why don't you use that to find them?" Madam Serenity asked.
Jensen bowed his head in a sadness and said, "I tried. It seems like there's a limited range to it."
Madam Serenity nodded. She didn't know Jensen too well but she thought she had a pretty good handle on his character from what she's witnessed. She was sure that if this was a trap he wouldn't be using the children of his pack. Then Brian was here too. He wouldn't just willingly go along with a trap even if Jensen had Mary. Brian would find some way to let her know it was a trap. What she saw before her were two worried fathers and, unless she missed her guess, tow worried mothers. "It's ok Paul they're here for help," she said. A moment later Paul dropped out of a tree and came to stand by Madam Serenity. "Now I know that they forms have been locked so if they're missing it's a case of either kidnapping or they ran away," Madam Serenity said.
"Mary didn't run away," Brian said in a low growl. The very idea was preposterous. Mary had willingly given up being human again. There was no way she would run away.
"The others didn't either," Jensen said in the same low growl Brian had used. They willingly stayed with the pack when given the choice. "How dare you suggest that," he said fighting the urge to tear Madam Serenity limb from limb.
"I was just giving you the options," Madam Serenity said seemingly oblivious to the murderous glare in Jensen's eyes. "I don't think they ran away. There's no reason that I can see for them to. So that leaves kidnapping."
"How could they be kidnapped though?" Brian asked. "No human would be able to do that."
"They could have been taken by surprise by a large group," Madam Serenity said. "Though who it could have been and why we'll have to find out. And I'm confident we will find out."
++++++
Gill was sitting in his office going over a report that had come in. Elizabeth Cook had come in to report a very strange occurrence. Sighing he started going over the report again and Mrs. Cook's statement and that of a homeless person calling himself Jackson. He was interrupted by Madam Serenity walking in along with Brian, Jensen, Paul, Trevor, and a couple she wolves he didn't know. He knew Madam Serenity well enough to know that she was extremely worried. He sighed again as when she got that look it usually meant that he would end up transforming into his alter form. "I'm not going to like this am I?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not Gill," Madam Serenity said. "Mary, Cassii, Cindii, Abby, Samantha, and Ulysses are missing."
"What happened?" Gill asked wearily.
"The had gone to the pool to swim," Brian began. "We were going to pick Mary back up about an hour ago. We waited but she didn't come out. When she didn't we figured that Jensen had her and we went there to confront him."
"You should have come here first," Gill said glaring at Brian.
"We didn't think," Brian admitted. "It was just Felicity and I. We were worried about her and we'd walk through hell itself to protect her."
"Still you should have come here but I can understand," Gill said. "I take it that she wasn't there."
"She's never been at the manor," Jensen said shaking his head. "I wish that Mr. Hardy was correct that we had her. It would mean our own weren't missing also."
"Did you happen to ask the pool employees if they saw them leave Mr. Hardy?" Gill asked.
"We did and they were adamant that they weren't even at the pool," Brian said.
"Did you see them go into the pool?" Gill asked.
"We just dropped Mary off in front," Brian said. "I wasn't worried about her safety since the wolf pups were there too. I thought they'd be able to handle just about anything that happened. Mary thought so. We should have told her no when she asked to go swimming. We should have gone in with her instead of starting our pack."
"It's easy to see what we should have done in hindsight," Gill said. "Now I have to ask this and I hope you don't take any offense. Could they have ran away?"
"NO!" Brian, Jensen, Darla, and Fran shouted at the same time a menacing tone in their voices.
Gill noted it and said, "Calm down. I have to ask these types of questions in order to rule it out. And I have to press the issue a bit more so I would ask that you restrain yourselves and not tear my head off. I'm trying to help you but I need to know a few things in order to do that. Is there anything that you can see that might give them cause to run away?"
Brian and Jensen thought about it for a moment. They didn't like the idea that something could cause them to run away but they wanted to find them and Gill needed to know in order to help. Brian was the first to speak saying, "Mary did give up being human again. Maybe she blames us for that."
"Ulysses is the only wolf of his age," Jensen said. "Other than that I don't see anything."
"You're forgetting that Cassii was molested by her foster family," Gill said and saw their faces contort in rage. "Mr. Hardy, I've already told you that Cassii's foster family live well outside of Glendale. And I'll say this to all of you. Leave that to the police. Now I've had to deal with a couple children that had been molested in my career. Any child psychologist will tell you that it leaves it's mark on the child."
"But Cassii isn't a child," Trevor said.
"She is a child Trevor," Gill said. "I know she was an adult before Cindii changed her and in a sense she still is. But the curse imparts a bit of a personality change no matter how the transform is worded. So while Cassii still has her adult mind she also has the mind of an eight year old girl. Mr. Hardy, Jensen, and Madam Serenity can attest to how quick her mood changed when she was here. Her mind was put under strain for three days. It's very possible that she went off somewhere. The others might have followed her to see what was wrong."
"I think that if that was the case either Abby or Samantha would have come to get us," Jensen said. "But I can see it as a possibility."
"So we may be looking at a simple case of them running away," Gill said. "Though I don't believe that. So if their missing we're looking at possible kidnapping." Gill frowned looking at the Cook case. He sighed and said, "There's a possibility. A few moments ago Mrs. Helen Cook came in with a peculiar story. She had been confronted by a couple of people in a black van. They told her that they were from the government and they needed her daughters to come with them. She wanted to know why and when they wouldn't tell her she refused to let them go. They took out some sort of guns and shot her. She lost consciousness and when she came to a homeless man was watching over her trying to wake her up and her daughters were gone."
"Does she know what happened?" Madam Serenity asked.
"The homeless man came in with her," Gill said. "He reported that after they shot Mrs. Cook they shot the girls. They then injected them with something and put them in a vehicle and drove off."
"Did he see what type of vehicle?" Trevor asked.
"He did but he can't say what it was," Gill said. "He said it was like it changed when he looked at it. The same with the people who took the girls."
"If they took the kids they may have intimidated the pool employees," Jensen said thinking. "I don't see how they could have got Abby, Samantha, or Cassii as they're glass but they could have knocked Mary and Ulysses out with whatever it is they had. What are the Cook girl's names?"
"Harry and Dave," Gill said.
"Curse victims?" Madam Serenity asked.
"Unfortunately yes," Gill said. "Harry was the star quarterback and his older brother was the second string. Harry became a four year old girl and Dave became a fifteen year old girl. The twisted part is that they kid who transformed them made it so they still go to Glendale High and they have to wear diapers. Can you just imagine how embarrassing it is for them to be sitting in class and need a diaper change? Not to mention that everyone remembers them as they were. And they can't be transformed again."
"The poor kids," Darla and Fran said sadly. They knew that Julie was feeling the same sadness.
Jensen closed his eyes and tried to find the Cook girls. He sighed as he opened them and said, "I can't find them either."
Gill sighed and said, "I guess we'll have to do some old fashioned police work then." Gill turned around and looked at a picture of a little girl and boy that he couldn't save. He had always been hesitant to use the form he was given by the curse and he couldn't help but think that if he hadn't been so hesitant those kids would still be alive. He knew that Cassii and Cindii couldn't be killed. He assumed that Abby and Samantha couldn't die either. That left Mary, Ulysses, and the Cook girls who could die. Right now they couldn't tie the two cases together but they could be related. "The only thing they have in common is that they've been transformed by the curse," he mused out loud.
"You mean they could have been taken because of the curse?" Jensen asked already knowing the answer.
"It looks like they may have been," Gill said a note of anger in his voice.
"I need to make a call to the manor and make sure my pack is safe," Jensen said.
"If you have Frank and Daryl I want them here Jensen," Gill said. "Since it's pretty obvious that their resignations were caused by the curse I refuse to accept them. They're still officers and I'm going to need them."
"We're already here Chief," Darla said.
Gill looked at them and sighed asking, "What are your names now?"
"Darla," Darla said.
"Fran," Fran said.
"Well starting now you two are in the Glendale Curse Task Force," Gill said. "I'll do the paperwork later to make it an official department but don't think we have time for that now. I need to call in the other officers."
"They should be at Jensen's manor," Brian said. "We can have them come in when Jensen calls."
"Ok make your call then I want you two to go home," Gill said.
"We're not leaving," Brian and Jensen said at the same time.
"This is a police matter," Gill said with a hard stare, "and you're not police."
"You can't stop us from trying to find them," Jensen said in a low growl.
"I can if you push me," Gill said continuing the hard stare. "If you do I'll charge both of you with obstructing a police investigation. If any of them die because of that then I'll make you pay."
Jensen could sense the steel in this cop and had to admire that he was standing up to a wolf and lion. He decided that they were going to be at an impasse if it continued like this so he changed tactics. "Would you squander a potential resource?" he asked.
"What resource is that?" Gill asked.
"My ability," Jensen said. "I may not be able to locate them right now but that may change."
Brian caught on to what Jensen was doing and said, "You think that the lives of those kidnapped could be in danger. If you don't take advantage of Jensen's ability and they do die then you would be responsible for their deaths."
Gill sighed because Brian had hit his weak spot. He couldn't find any fault with the reasoning either. "This could get dangerous," Gill said.
"As with Mr. Hardy I'd walk through hell for any member of my pack," Jensen said. "I'll do that for Mary too even if she wasn't friends with members of my pack."
Gill sighed and said, "I'd be a fool not to use what I could. Alright Jensen you made your case for you staying. I have a condition however."
"What is it?" Jensen asked.
"You do as I say," Gill said. "No arguments. I'll listen to suggestions and consider them but what I say goes. Got that?"
"Sounds fair," Jensen said.
Gill looked at Brian and said, "You however have no skill that could help. In light of this I want you to go someplace safe."
"You could use my strength," Brian said.
"Not on the investigation," Gill said shaking his head.
"I have a suggestion," Jensen said. "We can use mirrors to stay in communication and if needed Alice, Susie, and Billie could bring you through."
"What about the part about anyone who's not part of the pack or loyal to it being transformed in glass wolf girls like Alice when she pulls them through a mirror?" Darla asked.
"I don't think it's much of a risk," Jensen said. "Chester didn't change when Abby and Samantha took him through a mirror."
"But Chester is loyal to me and thus the pack," Fran said.
"You've locked your forms right?" Jensen asked Brian.
"We did," Brian said nodding.
"I don't see a problem with you going through a mirror if you forms are locked," Jensen said. He hit his head as he remembered what he had told Alice, Susie, and Billie. "We'll know soon since I told the glass pups to bring the pride and their families to the manor through mirrors."
"So you may have inadvertently destroyed my pride," Brian said sadly.
"There is some hope for your pride though," Jensen said. "Alice may have seen that problem and didn't bring them through the mirrors. I'll have to ask when I call. If she didn't take them through the mirrors then we'll need to test it."
"And I'll be the test subject," Brian said. "I won't allow anyone else to do it."
"If your pride isn't immune to it I can have Alice write a transform to create someone who can counter her power," Jensen said thinking. "But we won't know if we have to do that until we know how passing through a mirror affects you."
"Then you should call and see," Brian said.