The grey Jeep looked horribly out of place surrounded by the tranquil environment of a regular suburban house. The crimson door with its slightly broken knocker came into focus as the two uniformed men clambered out of their vehicle. Neither of them had thought their town would face this day again. And yet here they were, walking up to this house to further the investigation.

The taller amongst them rang the bell, hearing it reverberate inside. Within moments, the door was open.

A homely lady stood in the doorway, her apron still white in patches from what must've been baking. It was Saturday afternoon, after all. All the families would want to spend their time together.

"Jane Jäger?" He inquired.

The lady nodded.

"Yes, that's me. How can I help you, officers?"

"We need your son, Nathan to come with us."

Mrs.Jäger looked taken aback. Apparently she'd never expected to have the police come asking about her son.

"Um, why? Has he done something?" The tone of a concerned mother creeping into her words. The officer shook his head.

"Ma'am I cannot discuss this here. He needs to come with us."

They heard footsteps coming up behind her and a tall man came into view.

"What's going on, Jane?"

"These men want to see Tanny. They're saying he has to come with them," she informed.

The man looked at them. "Brian? What're you doing here? Why're you looking for my son?" He addressed the one who was talking.

"Sorry, Alex. Can't tell ya'. It's against orders. Your son needs to come with us, and he needs to come now."

"Excuse you, officers, if you're going to drag my son away, I'm going to need to know the damn reason," Mrs. Jäger spat out. The strength in her voice was enough to have the officers take a step back, but they quickly regained their footing.

"Look, Mrs. Jäger, we're asking you kindly now, and we won't hesitate to use force if necessary," the man who'd been quiet up till now finally found his words.

She was about to say something more, when her husband stopped her.

"Look, guys. I don't want to create a situation here. I understand official protocol. But this is our son, we're referring to. The only condition on which we'll let him go is if we get a guarantee we'll be informed of what's going on within the hour."

The officers seemed to ponder this, as heated whispers were exchanged between the parents.

"Fine. You'll receive a phone call, if the orders allow," the one named Jerry addressed them, drawing a glare from the mother.

"Tanny! Would you come down here"

"I'm here, Dad," a voice came from behind them. The two turned around to reveal their son, a tall, somewhat shy boy standing at the edge of the staircase. It was evident from the look on his face that he'd heard enough.

"Should I go change my clothes or…"

"No need, just come," the second officer barked back, noticeably more stiff with the child than the parents.

The boy nodded softly and moved towards the doorway, earning a soft pat on his shoulder from his father.

"You'll be okay, Tanny," he reassured. The boy's mother gave him a rushed hug, before glaring at the officers.

"If I don't get a phone call within one hour, so help me I will march down there myself and bring my son back."

The officers gave her nothing but an unsure glance, before the boy stepped out. The three figures walked ahead, the receding figures of the parents outlining the normal life the boy was about to leave behind.

~•~•~•~•

Nathan had been to the police station only one time before this. He'd been seven, and it was a school field trip. This was a totally different scenario. He followed the two officers ahead, wondering where he was being taken, when they passed the sheriff's desk. The man behind the table gave him a meaningful yet sympathetic look, before scribbling something in his notes.

Nathan didn't want to ask, but curiosity tugged at his mind. Why wasn't the sheriff questioning him? And even if he was being taken to another room, the sheriff didn't seem too eager to get up from his place.

They came to a halt before a room that had faded letters that spelled out 'Interrogation Room' on its door.

"Get in."

Before he could yelp out even a whisper of protest, he found himself being pushed into the room. He wasn't exactly the buff kind, and the shove from the stout officer was enough to get him sprawling forward, hitting a chair. He steadied himself by using it, when a voice drew his attention.

"Ah, so this is my company," a girl's voice called out. Nathan's head snapped towards it.

A girl, seemingly his age sat at one end of the table, her hand resting on it, visibly chained to it with a handcuff. She caught him looking at her and smirked.

"Don't let this bother you. I'm not dangerous," she explained, "they wouldn't tell me what the hell was going on, so I started banging on doors. They eventually got annoyed enough."

Nathan didn't say a word. He wasn't the talkative kind, and the shock of everything had sealed his lips further. And he knew how anything he said here could be used against him. Not that he was guilty, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Just so ya know, I  still don't know what's going on, so, don't expect any information from here."

She peered at him. "Damn, dude, what'd they do to ya' to make you that quiet?"

Nathan gave her a sideways glance before grabbing a seat at the table, a good three seats away from her. He wasn't scared of her, just wary in general. The girl seemed to understand he wasn't the one for a conversation.

Nathan looked at her. She was putting on a nonchalant facade, but he didn't need much effort to see through it. She was scared, as he was. He didn't know if she was an actual criminal, but she did seem genuinely confused.

She had wheat colored skin, which glistened with sweat. There wasn't a fan in this room, and the air-conditioner seemed fried. The weather was cold, but the situation led to the cold sweats. Her brown eyes constantly darted around the room, as though she expected someone else to pop out through the walls.

The thought sent a shiver down Nathan's back. He didn't know what this girl's story was, but after the experience he'd had two nights ago, he was chilled to the bone.

For a second he pondered the idea of the incident being the reason for him being in the room. He quickly pushed that thought out. He'd woken up early the next day to fix things up. And there was no way anyone would trace that back to him.

"Did you get to know something about what's going on?" The girl inquired. Nathan gave a small shake of his head.

"Wow, you're really not a talker, are you," she managed a wry laugh.

"I'm Rai, by the way. Rai Chatterjee." She held out her free hand, evidently for a shake. Before Nathan had time to react, the door behind him was thrown open, and two figures tossed inside, much like he had been.

"A simple GET IN would've done," one of them yelled at the door which just closed. This was a girl too, while the other was a boy, who glared at the door.

"Okay, I didn't expect this much company," the first girl, Rai, as she said, observed. The pair turned to them.

"Were you guys yanked away from a restaurant too?" Rai inquired. The two exchanged glances.

"No, they took us from our house," the boy clarified. Rai narrowed her eyes.

"Twins?"

They nodded in unison.

Nathan could see it. Both of them had the same pointed nose, the same sunken cheeks with prominent cheekbones, and the same thin but cracked lips. Their pixie-like features were further heightened by the fact that both had disheveled brown hair- the boy's being spiked up, and the girl's being a messy boy-cut.

"Why're you handcuffed?" The girl asked.

Rai rolled her eyes before explaining again. The twins nodded, acknowledging her words.

"I'm Finch, by the way. Finch Gallagher. This is my little sister, Fletcher," the boy held out his hand for Rai to shake.

"Dude, would you stop introducing me as a little sister? You're two freakin' minutes older," the girl, Fletcher snarled.

Rai smiled. "I'm Rai Chatterjee. And don't look at him. He doesn't say much. Or anything, really, he hasn't said a word since we got here."

The twins looked at Nathan and smiled as a greeting. They too were, like Rai, putting up a joking and careless front, but their smiles didn't reach their eyes. Nathan ignored the formalities. He looked at Rai.

"Are you a criminal?" It was way too straightforward, but Nathan was too overwhelmed to control his words.

"Oh, so you can talk. I didn't want to press, in case there was some tragic backstory," Fletcher interjected, and Rai raised an eyebrow at him.

"Gotta say, dude, when guys talk to me, the first thing usually isn't 'Are you a criminal'," she replied. Nathan gave her a questioning look, urging her to answer.

"No, I'm not, what's wrong with you?"

Nathan turned his look onto the twins.

"Dude, do we look like criminals to you? If we were criminals, Batman would be jobless," the girl laughed.

"What about you?" Finch asked. Nathan shook his head. The former opened his mouth to ask something further, when the door opened behind them.

A man in a suit entered, and the room was filled with an authoritative air. He looked at each one of them individually. When his eyes came to Nathan, he could feel his gaze burning into him, as though he knew secrets even Nathan didn't know about himself.

"Sit," he told the twins. They didn't argue. He looked like he was used to being listened to, but he didn't seem threatening. His coffee-bean brown skin complimented his black suit, giving him a regal look, which he had surely been aiming for.

He looked over at Rai. "They still haven't taken those off?" He looked disappointed. He walked over, and pulled out a key. Rai stared up at him, speechless for the first time since Nathan had seen her, as he unlocked the handcuffs.

"My apologies. I told them to treat you kindly. Clearly, they didn't listen," he commented.

"Sir, if I may, what is going on?" Rai asked, her tone much more formal and polite than anything she'd said till now. The man smiled.

"You'll know soon enough," he said, checking his watch. "Boss was supposed to be here by now, and he's late, as usual. He'll tell you when he comes."

This man had a boss? Nathan didn't know quite how intimidating that man would be.

"Well, I've been here for two hours, handcuffed to this table, with no idea why I'm here, so if the boss could hurry up, that would be fantastic," Rai's tone was joking, but everyone knew she meant what she said.

"Two hours? Yeah, I'll have a talk with those officers on the definition of 'nicely'," he assured her, "but Boss'll be here soon-"

As though on cue, the door swung open, revealing another man, in a suit similar to the one the first was wearing. He was nowhere as regal as the first, but had an even bigger authoritative aura, like a wise and experienced principal had just stepped in.

"Sorry I'm late. I wish I had some extravagant excuse, but in reality, a boy bumped my car with his bike, then started asking me to say sor-" he caught himself, giving the kids an apologetic look. "You don't care. Right."

He straightened himself up, and smiled warmly at them.

"You may be wondering why you're here?" He asked.

"My name is officer Roy Davenport. This is my assistant, officer Jake Dahle," he gestured to the other man, before looking back at the kids.

"I'm here to talk to you about my ongoing investigation."

~•~•~•~•

A/N: Ta daaa!!! I apologize for my tardiness, but the Fifa world cup takes a lot out of the time. But the next chap will be out soon! There won't be much action, but these kids gotta know what's going on, eh?  There's a LOT of action coming, that I promise.

So what did you think of the characters? The kids? We see Roy again!! Hee hee. What do you think Roy will tell them?

Comment and lemme know your thoughts !! I would love some critique, I know I can improve as an author.

Please vote if you liked my story! And share, if you think your friends will like it too!

PS, I'm working on the opening credits and a trailer for this book. Yeah, I'm an amateur and a beginner, but I'm trying :) they'll be up soon!! So will the character gif banners ::)

That's a special wizard smiley heehee

Until next time then,
Wizard.