Virgil's POV

There was a second orb? What did that mean? Had that snake split the orb or was he missing more memories than any of them knew? What if he had been doing this to other people as well? I felt my breath hitch in my throat as I struggled to breath. Maybe this was his MO, he would force his way into people's lives and then steal their memories.

"Follow my breathing." Roman's warm hand was on my back, when had I sat up?

"Try again Virgil, breath in with me." Right he was walking me through breathing. I coughed and struggled as I tried to take in a deep breath.

"That's okay, we'll try again." It wasn't long before I could breathe normally again and his hand began to pull away.

I didn't want to be separated from him. I didn't know if I believe this whole soulmate thing, but he had a calming effect, and his hands were warm. I reached back and took his hand before focusing on Patton. There was no point in getting worked up without all of the facts. Even though I tried to remind myself that, I could feel my still tight chest constricting against my heart. "You are sure it is mine?"

Patton nodded. "The spell I used requires me to be specific about the object, so I searched for 'the magical orb that was created to store my familiar's memories, and I found two."

Again, my breath hitched but Roman held my hand tightly and I focused. "Okay, Okay, do we know if he split the orbs? Maybe it's the same memories but he just split them for some reason. Where are they hidden?"

"One of them is really close, it's just in the next town over. Deceit might still have it, but the other one. It's a few hundred miles away in a town called Derasend." I knew nothing about that town but the way that Patton looked, I knew it wasn't a good place.

"What's in Derasend?"

"Well, I've never verified it, and I'm sure it's not real, people couldn't be this cruel, but..." His voice faltered and Logan picked up.

"Derasend is thought to be home to the slave market where a group of extremist humans sell magical creatures among each other. It is a rather prolific rumor and every human who is involved in the magical arts is aware of the rumors."

That did not help my anxiety towards this. For some reason, Deceit had stolen more of my memories and had hidden them away in a place where no magical creature would willingly go.

"If I might propose something," Logan said, clearing his throat and pushing up his glasses. "We don't know how these 'memory orbs' work. It would be best if we attempted to track down the one that Deceit is most likely near. Once we have found him we can ask him directly about the other orb."

Roman let out a derisive snort. "Ask Deceit a straightforward question? You do remember who we are talking about right?"

"Yes, but I have found that even his lies have a basis in truth. It has just become a little twisted. If we can find a modicum of truth within the lies that he tells we may be able to avoid Derasend altogether."

"Or I could raid his room for answers," I suggested.

"Virgil, no, even if you didn't get along with him, it's not to invade someone's privacy like that."

All it took was one look and Patton backed down. "Now that Princey is awake and doing alright," I began to get out of the bed, finally letting go of Roman's hand. I was tired, stressed and overwhelmed, but I could feel the adrenaline about to drop. "I have a room to go trash." I shoved my way past Logan and Patton, heading to the only room that I hadn't been inside since being back. Patton and Logan shared a room, and there were only three other bedrooms in the house. I knew it was rude for me to do this but I was running on adrenaline and anger. My decision skills were not at their best.

Slamming the door open, I was surprised. His room wasn't what I expected, though I'm not even sure what I had expected. There were minimal decorations, a bookshelf with nothing interesting on it, a desk with not a paper out of place and a bed with black sheets. There was no personality in this room. He knew the snake had been in this room for at least five years, so how had he not left a mark?

"Virgil, you can't just..." Patton's voice trailed off as he came up behind me, obviously experiencing the same confusion I was experiencing. "This isn't right."

"Yeah, no duh, who's room is this bland after 5 years?"

"No, that's not what I meant. It's not right, because there is magic in here."

"Can you fix it?"

Patton shook his head. "It's not something that I-" As he said that it looked as if a veil made of gold dust dropped from the ceiling. What Virgil was now seeing made a lot more sense. The room was decorated in macabre decorations. The bookshelf was filled with books on Magic, ranging from mundane to blood magic. The desk had papers scattered all over it, a leather book sitting in the upper left corner of the deks and the bed had a few plushes. That was a surprise.

"Great going Pat."

"I didn't do that."

I heard him but chose to ignore it for the time being. Was Deceit really that much of an idiot to leave his journal out on the desk? Then again, he had had a spell on his room. I would probably feel comfortable leaving it on my desk if I knew no one could see it. Nah, I still wouldn't trust it. Either way, I picked up the book and opened it up to the last page with writing.

'I don't think I can lie my way out of this one. What a webbed mess I have made. Virgil will not trust me after this, how could I blame him. When I finally found him after all of those years I had hoped to rebuild some kind of relationship. I was such a childish idiot back then, even now, I am an idiot. I should return his memories, get it over with and hope that the good balances out the bad but I am selfish. Our current relationship is better than the one that will surely spring forward when he discovers what I did.'

I frowned angrily, he had no right! So, what if our relationship was awful and broken, that was his own fault. With a tisk, I flipped through the book from the beginning. Each entry seemed to have so many words. Why did he write so many words? It wasn't like anyone else was going to read all of this. There was a more recent entry, it was only a few lines.

'We found him, we finally found him. For the first time in five years, I think I will be able to sleep well.'

A frown crossed my lips as I slammed the journal on the desk. "This isn't telling me anything. It's too recent."

"What was that kiddo?"

"A journal."

"Oh, so he actually started one?"

"What?"

"Well, I mean, I know that we now know how manipulative he is, but when you disappeared all those years ago, Dee wasn't really able to sleep very well. I suggested he try to journal all of his thoughts. I guess, even if he was lying about other things, at least he took that to heart."

The frown on my lips deepened as I began to tear open the drawers on his desk. "Patton, I am going to prove to all of you that he is a liar. Once Roman is ready to go we can find those orbs, but until then, I'm going to find all of his journals and expose him for what he is, a snake."

I could tell Patton didn't like this, but he gave in and left me alone in the room. How could they have all fallen for his spells and tricks?

AN: Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are having a wonderful day and spending it with people who care about you.