Puzzle Pieces

Will immediately moved out of the way. The scythe hit the wall, getting stuck there momentarily. As the Cleaner attempted to pull it out, Will kicked him from the side, sending the Cleaner sprawling and skidding across rooftop.

"Kara, are you alright?" Will asked a still stunned Kara.

"Get out of here, you fool!" Mary shouted at him as she ran back to fight the Cleaner. He deftly dodged her attacks, but she managed to catch him off balance and push him against the railings. She put the sharp end of her blade against his neck.

"Go ahead, Rafael," the Cleaner spat, "You'll be doing me a favor."

"Mary, stop!" Kara told her, breaking free from Will's concerned hold.

"What is going on...?" Will mumbled to himself, watching the whole scenario pan out.

"He's still our school mate."

"Our school mate literally tried to kill us just now, Kara! Why can't we do the same to him?"

"Because. He might have valuable information."

"Ha! As if I'll ever tell you anything," the Cleaner said angrily. He pushed back a surprised Mary, grabbed her blade, and slashed the air. A portal appeared. "See ya later, losers!" He laughed and jumped in. Before Mary or Kara could grab him, the portal closed and the Cleaner disappeared.

"Great! You just let him go. Who's to say he won't do this again? And now we've put the other magical person's life in danger, too, with him on the loose!" Mary shouted frustratedly into the afternoon heat. Then she looked in Will's direction, "And don't forget your boyfriend!"

"What about him?" Kara asked.

"What about me?" Will gave a confused look.

"He knows too much!"

"I--I didn't see anything," Will lied miserably. Mary raised an eyebrow at him. She grabbed her blade, which the Cleaner dropped upon his escape, and charged towards Will with it. Kara stood between them.

"Not so fast!" she cried.

"What? You're fine dating a man half your age just because he's got a six pack?" Mary was seething, though she immediately regretted her words because she saw the hurt in Kara's face. She put down her blade.

"I'm sorry," Mary began, "I went too far."

"It's fine," Kara said quietly. She turned to Will, "But Mary's right, Will, you do know too much now."

"I won't tell anyone, I swear!" Will raised his right hand, and then his left, as if to show he wasn't crossing fingers behind his back. "And who's going to believe the dumb jock anyway, right?"

Mary glared at him, but her expression softened.

"I didn't know you were this self-reflexive, Will Simon."

"Thanks. I work out."

"That's...that's not what I--you know what, never mind. He's got a point," Mary said, "No one's going to believe him, and he's way too loony over you to give away your secret in an organized manner."

Kara and Will cheered. Mary continued, "But. From now on we can't have him around when we're looking for other magical people. He's a distraction. We'd be defending him half the time instead of actually fighting the bad guys."

"Excuse you, I just saved your butts from getting kicked by Alex."

"Who?"

"Alex Eldrian. He was on the football team but he got dropped because his grades were so low and he'd been charged for misconduct a buncha times."

Mary and Kara looked at each other, than back at Will.

"Maybe we do have a use for you after all..." Mary said slowly, "What else do you know about this guy?"

"He started having trouble after his parents divorced. We were friends before he started acting weird. Always said he had to go do something near the abandoned Rockefeller factory," Will continued.

"That's it! That might be the Cleaners' hideout," Mary said triumphantly. She and Kara began to run towards the rooftop exit, when Will followed.

"And where do you think you're going?" Mary whirled back at him.

"I thought I'd already proven I was a valuable resource. You know you can't say no to this face," Will pouted. Mary rolled her eyes but eventually said, "Fine! Just don't get in our way again." 

---

The sun had begun to set when they arrived at the Rockefeller factory. It was an abandoned building that stood atop a hill, far from the rest of the town. The Mayor once owned it, before the project got shut down due to concerned citizens' protests about the factory poisoning the surrounding nature. Ever since then, it had become an abandoned site.

One had to pass by a short detour of the woods before coming across it, and it was difficult enough to navigate in the daylight, more so in the evenings. Legend had circulated around the town's younger population that serial killers and monsters dumped their prey in the woods, and that ghosts lived in the factory itself. Fortunately, Kara had already had her fair share of magical mishaps in the past few days, and was not to be so easily surprised by such things anymore. 

They climbed up the gate and easily landed on the other side. The factory was eerily silent. Some of the remaining sunlight filtered through the slits between the rotten wood boards. Will tightened his hold on Kara's hand, and Kara gave back a reassuring squeeze. Mary led the way, lighting their path with her cellphone flashlight.

That's when they found the Cleaners' things just lying about in the middle of the factory. Cleaners' scythes and tools...and some of their notes. 

"Not a very smart lot, are they," Mary murmured. But they must not expect anyone to go here, Kara thought to herself, Why would anyone in the right mind ever think of it, and how could they escape a multitude of blood-crazed killers if they didn't have any powers themselves?

Mary opened one of the backpacks by the scythes and pulled out an ID and a notebook. It was Alex's. The notebook had unintelligible script scribbled on it. But when Mary shone light on the words they rearranged themselves into something Mary could read. On one of the pages was a picture of a young girl of about ten years of age. Her name and address was under the photograph. Mary's eyes widened.

"This is it!" she nearly cried out loud. Kara and Will immediately huddled close to her.

"What is it, Mary?"

"The person we're looking for. Her address and name are in Alex's notebook."

Mary had scarcely finished the sentence when they heard distant footsteps approaching. The voices of several men and women echoed in the abandoned factory's walls. Mary took out her blade and made a portal, which the three of them--she, Kara, and Will--easily entered and disappeared into.

---

They teleported to the street where Kara and Mary had fought with Alex just a few days ago. Will looked around.

"What, are we going to Alex's place now?" he asked, still wobbling from traveling in the portal. Kara helped steady him.

"Does he live here too?" Kara asked. Will nodded. Mary ignored them, intent on finding the right address. They soon ended up standing in front of a large house with a spacious garden and a posh fence. Mary rang the doorbell.

A beautiful blonde woman welcomed them, surprised but polite. "Good evening, dears," the woman began, "What can I do for you?"

A man's voice could be heard from inside the house, "Who is it, dear?"

"Oh, who did you say you were again?" the woman asked.

"We're--we're from the Lunaton Tribune, the local paper, ma'am," Mary said, but then, realizing that they were still in uniform, added, "We're the student interns covering an article on the town's local genius."

The woman's face lit up with recognition. "Oh, you mean Claudine!" she said pleasantly, "Will you be interviewing her?"

Mary nodded, hoping that her lie was convincing enough. When the woman eventually let them in the house, the three of them breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The house was bigger than expected. Its interior was a smart and minimalist modern design with sharp edges and cool colors. A man who had been reading the paper by the sofa just before they entered greeted them warmly.

"Darling, they're here to interview Claudine," the woman told him, "Our little genius."

"Just a sec, let me call her," the man eagerly told them, but he was surprised when Mary stopped him, "Actually, sir, can we interview her in her room?"

The couple looked at each other for a while, but eventually lost the uneasy expressions in their faces. They led Mary, Kara, and Will to the second floor, in front of an elegantly painted door. The woman knocked, "Claude? Claudine, honey? There are reporters here to interview you."

"Again?" an impetuous young voice said from the other side of the door.

"Yes, dear," the woman said apologetically, "Again."

"Okay, let them in, mom. But no more touching the experiments this time," said the voice.

"Sorry, the last time someone interviewed her, they nearly set the house on fire," the woman explained. Mary acknowledged the request with a nod before entering the room.