"It's about time you showed up. What took you so long to get here?" She berated him, Marvin could see that she was a mess. Her dark hair soaked with particles of dirt, including her cloak, sodden from her shoulders to her back.

"It was all part of the plan. If he didn't wait for us to arrive, then he would come to us sooner or later." Marvin bemused, raising the gas lamp.

"You mean that you sent me here knowing that that goblin would go after you, leaving me exposed to a greater threat and all because of a lousy goblet?! Is my life worth that much to you, Marvin?" She reprimanded him, hurt that her close acquiantance would set her up like that.

"Barbara, in this line of business is all about taking risks." Marvin reminded her whilst she seethed.

"This better be worth it, because this favor will cost you." She hinted as she walked away from him, not giving him a glance.

At Marvin's caravan, Hob Goblin opened the bear trap to pry the metallic jaws from limb. He looked for his surroundings for any signs of traps. None so far, though he spotted something that caught his eye. A shiny crystal ball. The corners of his mouth tugged to a smirk.

Meanwhile, at Dreadsville. In the cold night in the village shadowed the land. Elizabeth tugged unto her coat. Eyes closed, she let out a disconcerted sigh. This is hopeless. I will never find them in this late hour. She thought as she walked forward, aimless to where her path will take her.

She bumped into something, or someone. The owner of the gas lamp as the light exposed them. Elizabeth and a young lad shrieked in unison. "AAAAAHHHH!!" Elizabeth put her hand on her chest, her heart rate accelerating, hoping that she didn't scare herself to death.

"Don't scare me like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Elizabeth rebuked him.

"Forgive me, Mrs. Corretjer." The young lad apologized, shedding light in the dark atmosphere with the gas lamp that he held on his right hand. "Pardon me if I'm asking, but what are you doing out here in this late hour?" He queried.

"I'm trying to find Barbara and that scoundrel merchant. Do you know where they could have gone?" She asked him.

"Honestly, I have not seen either of them, but I know someone who might."

"Who?"

"Charles Motgomery, he would know where to find them." He suggested.

"Would you take me to him?" She requested.

"Of course." He obliged, he guided Elizabeth throughout the village as they faded into the darkness.

Hob Goblin came closer to the crystal ball as he held it in one hand. He eyed the item that was on the palm of his hand, seeking for answers. "Show me magic crystal ball, my most priced possession of them all." He responded as the glint of the crystal ball showed the mist inside of it. A small swirling cloud dispersed to give a vision to where the gold goblet was, and he saw the chalice with golden splendor. "Yes." His satisfaction was short lived when he saw a familiar face walking into view. "What?!" He furrowed his non-existent eyebrows as his anger rose like a boiling pot. "That..." His memories flooded back to that day when he met that fool. "TRAITOR!"

The light illuminated the entrance as the young lad opened the door to the inn. "Right this way." He let Elizabeth pass before he walked to a locked door that belonged to the owner of the inn. He knocked as Elizabeth waited.

"Who is it?" He shouted angrily through the door.
"Charles, it's me. Anlady came here to see you." The young lad informed him.

Charles opened the small wedge to see who he brought before unlocking the door.

"Come in." They walked towards the stand of the inn that was located in the lobby. He walked up behind it as he put his arm on the table with his natural angry looking expression. "So, what brings you here?" He inquired as he has accustomed to when shady travelers come to his inn.

"I came here to ask you of you have seen my niece recently." Elizabeth replied.

"No, I haven't seen her." Charles replied with his gruff voice.

"Very well then, do you have any idea where that merchant might have taken her to at this time?"

"Which one?" He asked since he lodges foreign travelers in his inn.

"The merchant who tricked you into buying that hair tonic, remember?" The lad recalled, which made Charles furrow his auburn eyebrows and slammed his fist on the table.

"That fiend!" He bellowed, making them flinch from the outburst.

"You know him?!"

"That merchant is the bane of my existence! For years I've tried to get that man executed but he gets one step ahead of me every single time!"

"Do you have any idea where they could have gone?"

"Are you jesting?! That merchant could be anywhere?" He shouted. "That conman is not easy to find and believe me, I tried countless times to catch him." He said, his tone downcast.

"It's true. I've seen Charles find the merchant's caravan once. It was there for one minute and then... Wooosh," with a wave of a hand he made emphasis of its disappearance, "vanished. Like magic."

Elizabeth's eyes widened when he uttered the m word. That word haunted her as it echoed in her head like a gong. And that word turned her fear into rage. "MAGIC?! PREPOSTEROUS! Just because a trickster used a vanishing trick you call it magic?!" She shouted.

"That's exactly what I said." Charles stated as he propped his elbow over the table.

"So when folks see a trick nowadays they call it magic. Optical illusions, smokes and mirrors, hypnosis, vanishing acts, charms, tarot cards, puppetry, mimicry, palmistry, fortune-telling, scrying, summoning, incantations, enchantments? They call those things magic?!" Elizabeth huffed.

"I-uh." the lad stuttered.

"Well guess what, that is not magic." She firmly stated.