Chapter Text
"The Neverseen are working with demons." Mr. Forkle told them in a Black Swan meeting.
"Demons." Sophie stared at him.
"Demons." He confirmed. He put pictures down, showing images of creatures with three eyes and a mask on their face. Some looked more human like, while others were massive, with multiple arms. Tam stiffened next to Linh, his face betraying nothing but his body tilted away from the pictures.
"Why do some look more human than others?" Keefe asked, inspecting the pictures.
"Because those lucky demons had access to human flesh." Everyone looked at Mr. Forkle in shock and disgust.
"They ate humans." Biana said, her voice slightly shaking.
"They did." Mr. Forkle confirmed. "In their realm, they had farms consisting of children. Demons get their intelligence and form based on what they eat. This meant that children were being raised to be eaten by demons for their brain mostly."
"They took you are what you eat too seriously." Keefe joked, his eyes betraying the shock and disgust he felt.
"Wouldn't children not be the best option since like, their brains aren't fully developed?" Fitz inquired.
"Most brains are decently developed by 6. That's why shipments occur when the children reach the age of at least 6. However, they have tests to determine intelligence. If you're smarter, you live longer. They are grown with love, care, good food and with tests to bring up their intelligence."
"...What's the age limit? And who's taking care of them?" Dex brought up.
"In some farms, the age limit is 12, some have 15. Intelligent females who were brought up in that system are the caretakers. They have kids and are then able to become what the children call 'Mama' or 'Sister.'"
"How do we defeat them?"
"That is the issue. We are not certain." Mr. Forkle said.
"What." Sophie stared at him.
"There are children currently in the Forbidden Cities that led a revolt against the demons and freed themselves from the Demon World. We are currently trying to find them, but it's proving to be difficult. We were hoping to send you all as you are familiar with the Forbidden Cities."
Tam who hadn't said a word the whole time just cleared his throat, turning everyone's attention to him. "I- I think we should vote. While it does seem like the best option, we could be using that time to scour through textbooks to find information instead of hunting down children who will be wary of us and potentially not want to communicate with us."
Sophie nodded. "All in favor of finding them?"
Fitz, Dex, Biana and Sophie raised their hands. Tam, Keefe and Linh had kept theirs down.
"I've already had experience searching for someone all over the Forbidden Cities so-" Fitz shrugged.
Dex grinned. "I could help by using technology to track them down. There's a lot of security cameras that could be used that I can get access to."
"I'm a vanisher." Biana just said.
"While I hate to say this, Bangs Boy is right." Keefe sighed. "We could be using books or internet searches to look for the information directly. We don't know how they'd feel about being used for this."
"They've had bad experiences with demons, they might not want to relive that." Linh brought up.
"They've had experiences with demons, they might want to help exterminate them." Sophie countered.
Tam spoke up, "do we really want to kidnap humans, probably expose them to the Lost Cities just to get information out of them?"
"No kidnapping, we'll talk to them first." Sophie promised. "If the worst comes to worst, we'll decide what to do then."
Mr. Forkle nodded. "Majority voted to go, so I'm assuming that's what will happen?"
"Yes." Sophie said without hesitation. The three who voted no reluctantly nodded. Mr. Forkle put down three more pictures.
"These three were at the head of the operation. Of course, everyone helped, but these are the main three we're looking for. Of course getting all three is optimal, but one or two is fine."
They looked over the pictures, the first of them depicting a bubbly, happy looking girl with orange hair and big, bright green eyes. The second was of a white-haired, blue-eyed boy, who looked older than he should be, his face completely serious and even though it was just a picture, they could feel a slightly dangerous aura around him. The third was an annoyed looking boy, with black hair covering one eye, the eye showing being a dark green. Tam took a quick look at the pictures before turning to Mr. Forkle.
"Emma, William Minerva, and Ray. Last intel we got was that they were in New York, start by looking there." The man handed Sophie a leaping crystal. He also handed her a bag.
"You aren't staying for long, but here's some necessities just in case. Now go."
"Right now?" Fitz asked.
"The sooner the better."
Everyone went around Sophie as she held the crystal up.
"Well then. Let's find these kids."