Soar, Part 20 - Present

"What time is it?" Olivia asked, mumbling sleepily.

"Quarter past seven," Roxie answered, looking at her watch.

"We've been waiting for hours," Alex said.

"Really, you think so?" Skye snapped.

"We're all tired, okay? So let's just keep it together," Roxie tried to calm them down, but she was growing impatient too. "I'll try calling mom again."

She dug her phone out and dialed the number. She lifted the phone to her ear, the others waiting half eagerly, half just plain tired. After a minute she put down the phone and shook her head.

"I just hope something hasn't happened to her," Alex said. Roxie nodded, her face tense.

"Okay," Skye said, digging herself out from under Olivia and sitting up straight for the first time in hours. Olivia groaned. "Maybe, since we're having to wait, we could figure out a way to get everyone out of Limbo."

All eyes turned to Anka, who stared back for a moment.

"What, don't look at me," he shrugged. "I don't know how to do that."

"You know more about it than the rest of us," Alex said.

"I don't know how to do that," Anka repeated. "I've said that a dozen times tonight already."

"You must have some idea," Skye said.

"I. Don't," Anka repeated once again, irritation in his voice. "I mean, I don't even know what the spell is. The only way I know how to reverse it is to get my dad to reverse it, but it's not like there's any chance in the world he'd do that. So unless someone can figure out what exactly the spell he used was, I've got nothing."

"And why is there no chance in the world he'd do that?" Alex asked.

"Because if he didn't think it's a good idea, or important, or vital he wouldn't have done it in the first place. And whatever it was that he thought that important, it will still be important, because if it was a thing that could've stopped being important, it wouldn't have been important in the first place."

Roxie's phone rang and they all jumped to the unexpected sound. Roxie dug our her phone.

"It's mom," she said and answered the phone, "Hi, mom. Yeah, we're all at home. Yes, our home... Yes. Yeah. And we found someone who knows... Yes. Of course. Okay. Okay, bye." She turned back to everyone in the room. "She's coming home. She just has to take care of a couple of quick things before, but she'll be here soon."

The others seemed to relax with the news.

"Great," Alex said. "That's about the only good news in the last six hours."

"I'm sorry, do you mind if I get some water?" said Anka quietly. "I'm getting kind of thirsty."

"Sure," said Roxie, waving a hand at him. "Kitchen's down the hall and to your left. Cups are in the cupboard above the sink."

Anka muttered a small thanks and left the five girls alone in the room. He returned much sooner than they had thought, and he wasn't holding a cup. He was holding papers.

"Uhh," he said, frowning, as he approached the sofa.

"What is it?" asked Roxie, standing up to take a look at what he was holding. To her surprise they were some of the case photos her mom had been looking at earlier.

"This button..." said Anka pointing a photo with his finger. "It is from dad's coat."

"Are you sure?" asked Roxie. "It was found from the crime scene, but the forensic people couldn't match it to anything. How do you know it's you father's?"

"It has the family crest on it, and my uncle has the only cast to make these buttons," Anka said, his voice getting more and more excited. "The coat is tailor-made, given as a present to him by my mother."

"That's great, isn't it," said Olivia drowsily. She was curled back on top of Skye on the couch. "Now there is good evidence and the police can stop them."

Anka's excitement turned into anxiety in a second when he realized the meaning of his finding.
Everyone was looking at him, but no one said anything.

Anka sighed. "He is my father, but this must end now."

Roxie put her hand on Anka's shoulder. "I cannot imagine how hard it is for you, but I am sure you are doing the right thing," she said.

There was a loud clank as the front door opened and everyone turned their heads, though they couldn't see the door from where they were sitting in the living room.

"Roxie?" came her mom's voice, panic only slightly evident in her voice. Judging by the noises coming from the entrance she was taking off her coat and hanging it on the rack as quickly as she could.

"We're in here!" Roxie called, and in a second her mom appeared in the doorway, eyeing everyone in the room. She looked even more tired that everyone felt, but at least she seemed to be intact.

"So," she said. Everyone waited for her to continue. She sighed deeply. "The fire department managed to put out the fire before any serious damage was done. No one was hurt, luckily. The mob, on the other hand, now that was weird... After the fire was out everyone seemed to... wake up, or something. No one seemed to have any idea where they were, why, and how they had gotten there. They were all admitted into the hospital, just to make sure they're okay."

"You seem to have had an eventful evening," said Roxie, going over to her mom and giving her a tight hug. It was laced with desperation and worry, and they both felt it, but didn't mention it. She pulled back and the air shifted, and Detective Ma'at looked over to the rest of the children. No one dared say anything.

"You I haven't met yet," she said, looking directly at Anka. He looked incredibly guilty as he tried to avoid the drilling gaze of the woman standing in front of him. "My daughter said they'd found someone who knows something. I assume that's you."

Anka nodded, clearly nervous now.

"You'll have to wait," said Ma'at and turned to Vanilla, who smiled back at her, unintimidated by the fierceness of the deity. "I want to talk to you first. Who exactly are you?"
________________________________________________________

You already know why I didn't write yesterday. Because I spent ten hours at the university, and then I got home at half past six and realised I don't actually care what happens next, because the big ending is obvious and I'm not really interested anymore how we get there. So I called dad, and he promised to write this bit for me.

Well, instead of writing, he got distracted with trying to save the world slow and steady, so that didn't work out so well.

And I have to admit I didn't write all this either, because I still wasn't interested in the details. So I hope dad filled in the gap.

Your topic is Token.

~matu