The disappearance of his father weighed heavily on his mind, and it's probably why he was making the worst decision he could ever make. Marc wasn't thinking clearly, and Agnes encouraged him to do it. She seemed to know what she's doing, so he listened to her hoping that he'd get actual results this time.

But now that it was actually happening, he felt stupid for ever agreeing to do it.

Kellen was not someone he'd want to welcome into his own house, he just did not seem to be the trustworthy type and he really did strike Marc as somewhat of an idiot. Even so, he does know a lot about whatever that was going on so maybe it wasn't entirely dumb to sneak him inside so he could 'investigate' as Agnes puts it. All Marc expected was for a few valuable items to be swiped and nothing else in return on his end, but now it was too late to back out.

The servants were all done for the day so nobody other than his mother was currently present. Marc had made sure to tell Kellen to be there around midnight because his mother would already be asleep by then.

He already accepted that this was one of his bad decisions. One that he'll have to deal with as he stood by the main door, staring out of one of the large windows while he waited for Kellen to appear by the gate as planned. Kellen should be there any second, but for some reason he was taking his time.

"What are you waiting for?"

A startled gasp escaped him as he immediately turned around to see Kellen standing there behind him with a lazy smile on his face. It took a few moments for Marc to gather himself before he hissed angrily at him. "Why are you here?"

Kellen raised an eyebrow at him. "That's what we agreed on."

"You were not supposed to- How did you even get in?" His eyes twitched in annoyance at the idiot in front of him, anybody could have seen him walk in. So many things could have gone wrong. All he had to do was wait until Marc allowed him inside to avoid any catastrophes, but Kellen didn't seem to bothered with any of that because he was looking around the place boredly.

"I broke in, I do that a lot." Kellen answered him simply with a shrug when his eyes finally returned to the rich snob in front of him. Marc didn't doubt his words for a second, and the displeasure might have appeared on his face because Kellen's lip twitched up. "I won't steal anything, I promise."

"I do not trust you at all."

"That's wise." Kellen nodded his head in understanding and some agreement. "So, where's your dad's lair?"

Marc scowled at that. "It's his study and it's upstairs. Just follow me and keep your hands to yourself."

"You're not being very hospitable." Kellen sighed doing as told to Marc's relief, and the latter continued on walking trying to ignore him altogether. He wasn't too keen on Kellen being there to begin with, and he kept glancing back to make sure that he was being followed. That didn't escape Kellen's notice. "Trust me a little, sheesh."

"No, I don't think I will."

"What's the point, really? Rich snobs like you won't notice if a few things went missing." It seems like one of Kellen's traits was being insufferable, and Marc wanted nothing more than to kick him out already.

"I will notice." Marc glared back at him before turning his head away to see that they were finally near his missing father's study. He was relieved because the sooner they got there, the faster Kellen would leave. "Try it, and see what happens."

But Kellen was quiet for a suspiciously long minute before he spoke. "I kind of already stole a few things..."

Marc immediately stopped walking, making Kellen almost bump into him, before he let out a very heavy sigh and gestured at one of the accent tables in the hallway they were in. "Just put them back."

And Kellen did placing three extremely valuable items on the table. He might have picked up small items, but Marc found himself slightly impressed despite his anger at how Kellen knew how to pick the ones with great value. It made him realize that he not only let in a suspicious person into his house, but an experienced thief as well.

Already regretting everything, Marc opened the door to his father's study and motioned for Kellen to walk in.

"Go ahead," Marc told him sourly. "Investigate to your heart's content."

And Kellen walked in, but not before giving him an infuriating smile, as he surveyed the place.

The study was spacious with a fireplace right in the middle between two large windows that were adorned by curtains cascading down almost touching the wooden floor underneath. Everything was large, luxurious, and shamelessly displayed wealth. It was everything Kellen expected it to be since it was a rich snob's study, and it didn't surprise him at all to see precious stones and gold-coated items lying about carelessly.

He was there for the papers that were crumbled in anger or littering the ground as if they were forgotten. He was there to inspect the way a few books had fallen from their bookcase as if something had forcefully bumped into it. And he was there to identify what type of ritual was being conducted as he crouched down to pick up one of the candles that was rolling on the floor.

The place was in complete disarray and it seemed as if someone had slowly gone mad there before they finally snapped and disappeared, but there was also fury. A lot of it mixed with frustration.

It seems like Marc's father was unsuccessful with his endeavors to summon a certain spirit, because that's what he was trying to do judging by the drawn ritual and the scribbled variations of the same name. A name which had no significance to Kellen, so he ignored it.

"He wants to be a necromancer." Kellen confirmed rubbing the drawn ritual with his finger only to see that it was uniquely done with something akin to ash. That's when his face contorted into a shocked disgust when he noticed the urn nearby. It almost made him laugh. "He tried to summon someone using their ashes."

Disbelieving, Marc approached the ritual before he saw it for himself. He didn't bother to examine the whole room carefully beforehand because he didn't think it was important, and he couldn't make sense of anything happening there. All he knew was that his father went missing and was possibly involved with necromancy, a possibility that became a certainty now.

"This can't be..."

As he sank down on the ground next to the ritual, Marc stared at it with a hand covering his face not knowing what to think. If anybody knew this it'd really be a disaster, and if his mother already knew, but refused to tell him, all he wondered was why. Was there a reason his parents hid this from him?

He was left completely in the dark.

But his companion did not care as he silently threw the candles up in the air before making them hang there using a spell, and one of the personal pens that were on the desk was summoned to Kellen's hands. The swift silent movements made Marc blink in surprise as he watched Kellen get to work, and he wondered what he was doing as he watched the ashes return back to the urn as if commanded.

It was as if the place was slowly getting magically cleaned up, but then Marc jumped in his place.

Out of nowhere, Kellen stabbed the wooden floor with his father's pen and started to carve on the wooden floor without any care. That pen cost a fortune, and it probably had a sentimental value to his father as well. It was being misused so badly Marc felt as if he was dying a little inside as he quickly reached for it.

"What are you doi-"

But before he could take ahold of the pen and snatch it away, Kellen shoved him back forcefully making him glare pathetically from where he was on the ground. Before he could say anything more, Kellen explained not stopping with whatever he was doing.

"I am looking for your father."

Marc sat up in anger. "How is ruining the floor going to help with that?"

"It's a ritual." Kellen told him, making it clear why he had cleared the space and carved something on the floor, and now he was carefully placing the candles down before lighting them up sequentially in a circular motion. For a brief moment, the lit flames were blue before they became the usual orange.

The repulsion Marc felt was clear in the way he stared and leaned away from the immoral spellcaster, and he watched in horror as Kellen bled on the floor before everything became eerily quiet just as the candles went out.

Visions that Marc couldn't see flashed in Kellen's head before they abruptly stopped.

They sat there for a few moments in silence before a groan left Kellen as he held his head feeling as if it was being split open, and Marc watched as he coughed droplets of blood before he finally sat up with a nauseated look.

"He's alive..." He told Marc, who almost jumped in joy at that, tasting the blood in his mouth as he spoke. "And he's in fucking chapel."

That made Marc knit his eyebrows in confusion. "What is he doing there?"

To his disappointment, Kellen shook his head telling him that he didn't know. The ritual was only to pin-point a location and nothing more. All he knew was that he was around a chapel somewhere, and that was all.

And if a few things were stolen after that, it was Marc's fault for not being so attentive.