It was Alan Joseph.

Tronis lets him in as the coffee boils over and I hiss out in pain from the hot liquid hitting my hand. I place the mug down and stand up, ready to greet him into my home, but Noah beats me to it by tackling the man to the ground. They roll around for a bit, throwing a couple of punches at each other like Meliodas and Ban from Seven Deadly Sins, the anime. I sigh, for maybe the thousandth time today alone, and accept a couple of paper towels from Faye so that I can clean up the mess that my coffee made.

Once the mess was cleaned up and the two boys stopped acting like children, I formally greeted Alan and caught him up on all that had happened over the past few days. It felt good to recap what had happened and get some anger and dread off my shoulders and into the open air.

The five of us then started coming up with a plan to go about all of this and brainstorming ways to rescue Percy and Travis from the cult. It took all day to agree on a solid plan, and when the sun was setting and the moon was rising, Noah and Alan went outside to go for a run while I ordered everyone pizza for dinner, specifically Domino's pizza. The other pizza joints within the delivery range from us were never as good and usually resulted in someone having to spend the rest of the evening in the bathroom. We learned that the hard way a few months ago after some serious training and teaching.

I sent out a few emails while waiting for the pizza delivery, then sent a text to Alua to let her know what had happened so far. Her daughter was kidnapped too. Poor little Rose was one of the children that the cult had kidnapped, and yes, we are going to rescue every child there, no matter what the cost. The emails that I sent were to a few other shifters and outcasts, and I posted a Help Wanted message to a few guild messaging boards, so hopefully we get some others wanting to join us in this.

So far, there were only the five of us, Alua, and Tobias. We are gonna need way more to pull this off properly, if we all want to survive and save several hundred, if not thousands, of children. A message pops up on my phone, a soft ding sound following, and I see it's from Alua.

We will be right over!

A small smile forms on my face, and a knock comes from downstairs, then followed by some laughing. I leave my office to investigate, walking down the hall to the stairs, and passing the two bedrooms that belong to my children. Last year, Percy had drawn in her door with Sharpie an image of the four of us, her family, and had tried to blame it on Travis, even though he was still learning how to walk. Sometimes, kids do things that they don't know are bad, since we adults are meant to teach them right from wrong, and good from evil. Not every adult is meant to be a parent, and not every kid learns the same way, so it can be tough to do what you need to do to survive in this world. Noah and I learned from our mistakes when it came to how to properly discipline our daughter since sending her to the corner like I was didn't exactly work out. The girl can stand still in one spot for so long that you forget that she's there! It was a weird skill that she possessed...

When I made it downstairs, Alan was opening the door and paying for the pizzas while Tronis and Noah had somehow started a drinking game with Alua and Tobias... How in the nine hells did they manage to show up so fast?

Oh yeah, they could shadow-travel.

Shadow-traveling is a hard skill for shadowmancers to use since they need to be able to imagine the exact spot they want to travel to and then step into the shadows and be transported to that location. Another name for it is Shadow Step, which is the term that Noah uses the most when he does it.

Alan joined the boys and Alua in the game once he placed the pizza in the dining room, and their group started chanting, "Drink! Drink! Drink!" as Noah was chugging a smallish barrel of what had to be ale. Where do they get it from? No idea. Do I care? Not right this moment, but I will for sure question them all tomorrow morning.

Faye takes my hand and drags me from the bottom of the stairs into the dining room, then proceeds to grab some pizza slices for us both. I took the plate with the Philly cheese steak pizza slices and sat in a chair near the entry, just in case the others needed me for something that did not include getting drunk. Faye sits in a chair opposite me, her plate having a couple of slices of a five-cheese pizza, and we eat in silence for a few beats.

How will we get them back? We need a plan, and we need the numbers to accomplish any plan that we create. I mean... we could sneak into the compound that holds the cult and break the children out, maybe even shadowstep them out of there, but there is a chance that magic won't work there. What are we going to do?

With my brain racing at roughly a hundred miles a minute, I stare out the bay windows, not eating a single bite like I'm supposed to. Faye says something, but I don't hear her. I feel a hand land on my shoulder and gently squeeze, but I don't react. Questions and concerning thoughts race through my mind. Are my children hurt? Is Persephone keeping Travis safe even though they're such young children? Are they dead already?

I feel tears start falling down my cheeks, and then Noah's face is all I can see as he blocks my view of the window and the world outside of this house. He gently cups my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears. He has to be worrying about the children, most likely the same amount as I am.

"We will get them back, Talia. We will," Noah whispers to me as his arms encircle me, pulling me to his chest. My only response is burying my face into him, hiding my tears from my friends and sister, and clinging onto him as though the world is ending and I can't lose him. I can't lose anyone in this room, otherwise my entire world will shatter.