Noah drummed his fingers impatiently on the glass countertop.

The man on the other side of the counter was pointedly ignoring him, focusing all his attention on the college girl next to Noah.

After what seemed like an hour, the guy finally handed the girl a pile of xeroxed documents and turned to Noah.

"Normal or colour?"

"Normal", said Noah vacantly, still replaying the scene at Katherine's house.

At least Justin had been on his side.

If they couldn't even trust one single outsider, what were they?

Five teenagers with occasional headaches?

They had no knowledge, no resources and the only concrete information they had had come directly from a tip Miss Dahlia had given.

The guy slammed Noah's printouts on the counter, jolting him back to reality.

He dug a few coins from his pocket, placed them on the counter, grabbed the printouts and left.

The second he had left Katherine's house, he had only one destination in mind.

It made no sense to keep investigating on their own, with whatever limited information they had, just firing shots in the dark.

It was time to consult a professional.

                                    ***
Nioli was a reasonably large place, and the road between Noah's house and Katherine's was almost entirely unfamiliar to Noah, which was perfect for his plans.

He slouched up the stairs and into the almost empty waiting room of a place calling itself the 'Murphy Clinic and Dispensary'

The receptionist barely looked up from her phone when he entered and asked, "Do you have an appointment?"

"No", said Noah earnestly. "But I was hoping-"

"Sit", she said dully and got up from her chair behind the receptionist's desk.

Noah remained standing.

"Actually, I just wanted to show Dr. Murphy my reports and-"

She ignored him, opened a door in the back of the room and poked her head inside.

"Dr. Murphy will be free in ten minutes", she said, drawing her head back out.

"Thank you."

Noah sat down on the bench, nervously rolling and unrolling the papers in his hands.

"Name?", came the receptionist's voice.

Noah looked up.

"Yes, you", she said impatiently. "Name."

Noah hesitated.

The whole point of coming to this Murphy place was to avoid any awkward questions from his usual doctor.

"Blue", he blurted.

"That's your name?", she asked incredulously.

*None of your business, lady*, he thought.

"Last name", he said a little more confidently. "Tom Blue"

She shrugged and wrote it down.

After the aforementioned ten minutes and then ten more minutes, Noah was finally shown into the consulting room as Tom Blue.

As he sat down on the uncomfortable wooden chair, he realised that the name on the reports would give him away in a second.

Thankfully, Dr. Murphy didn't seem to notice his panic.

The doctor was a short, rounded individual with round glasses thinning black hair, a dull striped tie and a coat with slightly questionable stains.

He put both his hands on the formica-topped table, and Noah saw a Rolex glittering on a wrist, which made his panic multiply with another realisation.

He had no money to pay for consultation.

He briefly considered making a run for it, but he gripped the sides of the chair and stayed where he was.

He'd come this far.

He handed the doctor the printouts of the photos he had taken of the documents.

"My uh- uncle asked me to show you these"  he began, throwing together a story as he went along.

Dr. Murphy looked at the papers thoughtfully and then frowned.

"Where did your uncle get these from, boy?", he asked sharply.

"I don't know", Noah lied, getting more and more nervous.

He really should have planned this out.

"This is complete and utter nonsense.", said Dr. Murphy, and each word was like a blow to Noah's head. "Magical stones, elemental power through blood- "

"You know what?", said Noah as he sprung to his feet, "It's best that my uncle did this in person."

He quickly grabbed the papers from Dr. Murphy's hands and practically ran out.