[center][h1]Jack tailor[/h1][/center] Tick Tock, tick tock, tick tock. The sound echoed throughout the office, the smell of cigarettes and cheap alcohol filled the air. Jack Tailor sat there in his worn and torn fifteen-dollar office chair staring at the clock. He took sips of the bourbon he got as a gift from the convenience store owners that he had helped the day before. They were short-staffed and were a nice couple that he couldn’t say no to. However, instead of paying him, they gave him the drink he was sipping on and the cigarettes he was smoking. He grimaced every time he took a swig and puffed a smoke of the toxic substance. “I hate the taste,” he said aloud, leaning back in his chair. The sharp sound of metal screeching from the bottom of his chair broke the silence. “Damn it I just fixed you the other day” with a heavy sigh, he got up and made his way to the makeshift bed in the back office. He looked at his calendar, noting the time left before having to pay his bills. Three days, he thought to himself. He needed a job now that paid him a substantial amount of cash. Ding! The sound of the bell on his door moving made his ears perk. Hurriedly, he went to meet his new guest with a smile on his face. “Hello! Welcome to the Mystery Mystic’s offices, the finest Private Investigator in the city.” “Hi Jack,” said an elder woman as she struggled to walk into the room and to the chair. “Mrs.Jones? What brings you here?” hurriedly, he grabbed a chair for the older woman he often spoke to while walking the street. “Thank you dear” she said as she sat down. Jack noted the look of dark circles under her eyes and the new set of wrinkles that pressed against her eyes. Her eye’s had a hint of red as if she had been crying before coming here. “I have a job for you.” Her voice was hoarse and rough. She reached into her pocket, pulling out a picture of a young girl around fifteen years of age. “You remember my granddaughter? You used to play with her when she was younger?” “Of course, she was a lovely young girl,” he said, taking the picture. His heart weighed heavily at the thought that crossed his mind knowing what she was here for. “It has been a whole day since she has been home and she missed school.” Coughing loudly, her hand clasped on her throat. Quickly Jack turned to his fridge, opening it to reveal the day old noodles and a single bottle of water. Damn it he thought before opening it and handing it over to her. He watched as she drank. Resting a hand on her back slowly moving it waiting for her to continue before saying anything. “I talked to the police already and said they would look into it.” her voice trailed off as tears started to form in the corner of her eyes. “I can’t wait for them to find her passing on the street.” letting loose a torrent of tears her voice picked up as she stared at jack. “Please I don’t have much but I’ll pay anything if you can get my daughter back. After her parents died… I can’t… imagine what has happened to her.” Jack rested a hand on hers before putting on a smile. “Mrs. Jones, everything is going to be okay. I'll find her. You have my word.” She leaned forward, covering her face with her hands, trying to wipe away the tears while muttering the words “Thank you… I will pay you anything I can”. “Do you have anything of hers?” he asked before she reached into her pocket, pulling out a necklace.” “I got this for her birthday,” she said reluctantly, putting it in his hands. With that, he stood up grabbing his black and gray long coat and throwing it over his shoulders. Then, twirling his fedora in his hands before placing it onto his long dark hair, he turned to her. “Go home and rest easy that the best PI in all of Chicago is on the case.” As he opened up the door he looked back with a wink and said, “Don’t worry about payment the smile on your face when you're reunited with your granddaughter will be enough”. Escorting her out, he got to work immediately. Turning to his desk, he took out his dark black gloves. A white magic circle on the back of the gloves with a gem started to glow as he put it on. Chanting in a deep voice [i]“Anima rei indagare manus”[/i] his eyes glowed a bright white before returning to their normal blue color. Images flocked into his mind of a building. A mattress store on the eastside. A front of a gang by the looks of the men that wandered inside. The images got clearer as they rested on a girl tied up locked in a closet. “Found you,” he said. His eyes narrowed searching his desk, he pulled out a dagger placing it on his waist alongside a pistol marked with arcane symbols. He walked outside the pouring rain, matching the melancholy feeling that weighed on his heart. [i]‘I need to get there quickly’[/i]. He didn’t have time to take a taxi or the bus. With a loud sigh, he let pass from his lips. He pulled a golden coin out of his pocket, twirling it between his fingers. This was his last drachma. Tossing the ancient Greek currency in the middle of the street he chanted “[i]sinite me iter tutum ad destinatum meum per Stygem fluvium[/i]” the words echoed as the world turned to black his mind-melded into the darkness before appearing on top of a building in a shadow across from where his destination. That trip had cost him a great deal. Finding drachma was hard enough as it was in America and buying them cost a fortune. Looking across the way he stared down at the front making note of the men that stood on the outside and inside hearing screams and yells of pain. His mind focused on the sounds of someone else being there, causing havoc. Quickly he descended down the building fire escape. Stealthy, he entered the building, trying to gain a sightline on who or what was causing havoc. There he saw a fellow detective he worked with before. [i]Damn it, why is he here?[/i] He thought before walking out. "Hey Joel, it’s been a while.”