All the thoughts swirling in her head only made her even more exhausted, so she quickly finished up the rest of her pre-bedtime rituals and retired for the night.

Then morning came.

"Marice, wake up!"

Marice let out an unintelligible grumble as her familiar started shaking her with her stubby hooves. "Uggghh... stop that..."

"Still the same as always, huh? Miss Liza came by to visit, you know?"

"I don't care. Just... let me sleep some more..."

"But didn't you already agree to help them out investigating?" When Marice opted to not respond, Cocoa shook her with a bit more force. "You can't back out now! Wake up!"

She then fixed the strap of her camisole and took the familiar in her arms. "You're being so cranky so early in the morning..."

"M-Marice...?"

"I missed you a lot, Cocoa. I'm going to spoil you lots."

The familiar grunted, nestling her head on her chest. "I love you, Marice."

"I love you too. Let's stay like this for a while."

A moment of silence transpired between them before Cocoa let out a sigh. "You know, you almost had me there."

"Mmm... I thought you'd be more thrilled with a doting version of me."

"It's actually creepy, to be honest. Don't do that ever again."

"Do you really mean that?"

"Oh, enough stalling already! I'm gonna get angry!"

She brought her body up and cast a lightning spell on the tip of her index finger. "Fine, fine."

Giving herself a light shock, Marice hopped out of the bed and dragged herself into the living room. Everybody was huddled at the coffee table where Liza was setting up her laptop. Mariella was the first to notice her, flashing a smile. "Ah, here she is! Sorry to wake you up, but you really need to hear what Liza has to say."

"So, what is it this time?" she asked, running a hand through the curls of her hair.

"Richelle went missing earlier in the morning," Liza said, eyeing Marice's arm-length gloves. "We need your help in finding her."

"Missing? Someone abducted her?"

"Yeah, that seems to be the most likely scenario." She motioned at her to get closer. "Black magic is involved, so I want you and your mother's input in our investigation."

As Marice kneeled beside her, Liza played a recording of a security camera feed. In the video, Richelle was pacing in the room she was staying at, anxiously looking between the door and the small window. Then a few moments later, a shadowy mass slithered its way through the grilles and enveloped the panicking girl's being.

Once Richelle was completely swallowed, the shadow evened out across the floor and glided out of the room as fast as it appeared. Liza followed it up with another camera feed from the parking lot for them to see the shadow racing out of its frame.

"So fast," Katherine whispered, patting Cassava on her lap.

"And that's that," Liza said, "Any ideas?"

"Looks like an advanced movement spell," Marice said. "Definitely not the work of your run-of-the-mill paranormal troublemaker."

Mariella nodded. "Are you sure you placed those protective wards properly? There might be a gap in there that you missed."

"Nope," Liza replied, "I checked the room five times already. The room's dimensions were fully covered and intact even after she was already taken!"

"Hmm... and it didn't even trigger the wards." She gasped. "Wait! Could it be?"

"Could it be what?"

"Those protective wards only account for malicious entities like aswang and demons."

Liza's eyes widened. "Who could've possibly abducted her then?"

"Could be anyone at this point," Marice replied. "A living body with that much demonic energy can be used as a catalyst to many magical experiments."

"Then we have no time to waste then!" Katherine said. "But where do we start looking is the question."

Liza brought out two strands of hair from a small plastic pouch. "Time for some celestial recon then."

Mariella sprung up with a determined look on her face. "Alrighty! Leave it to me!"

She then grabbed an electric hot pot sitting on the countertop and filled it with water in the sink. Once she was done, she brought it to the coffee table and set it to boil.

"You're not gonna use a cauldron?" Katherine asked.

"Any pot will do just fine," she replied, adding two drops of magic coagulant into the pot. "Besides, it's a hassle to borrow Regina's cauldron since she uses it all the time."

"Oh, I already miss that cauldron in our apartment room."

As the boiling water became more viscous, Mariella added a strand of Richelle's hair in the pot and began chanting a spell. Her frame soon radiated a dull purple glow while all the vapor from the pot grew thicker and thicker.

And then, images started to form within the steam, one after another.

"The seaside again?" Katherine uttered.

"Wait," Liza said, "she's on the baywalk close to the US embassy. And she's just selling balut again."

"Then she's not actually kidnapped..."

"What's going on here?"

As they started to toss around speculations, a ghostly hand suddenly reached out from the steam and grabbed Mariella by the neck.

"Kath!" Marice cried.

As if on cue, an ornate sword flew towards Katherine's outstretched hand, its blade pulsing with prismatic ether. And with one quick slice, the presence within the steam released Mariella from its icy grip.

Cassava then seized this opportunity to freeze the dispersing vapor with his telekinesis. "Fool. Did you honestly think I'll let you get away?"

"What the hell's that?" Liza asked.

Marice turned off and unplugged the hot pot. "A hex-type spell made to kill scryers."

"I've heard about it from the witches we usually contract with. I just... never expected that a spell like that would actually kill you on the spot!"

"Now you know why I don't want her to help you guys. Even something as simple as this can still be very dangerous." As Liza looked away from her piercing gaze, Marice turned her attention back to the suspended cloud of steam. "Anyway, whoever cast this spell is at our mercy now. What do you want to do?"

But before Liza could answer, the steam apparition started laughing. "Interesting," she said. "I always thought that the police are mostly ineffectual, but this is probably the most competent group I've ever seen so far!"

"Hey," Liza said. "We're trying really hard, you know?"

She chuckled some more. "Life sure doesn't take kindly to poor little Richelle. Just goes to show how ugly this world really is."

"You know her?"

"Well, she's just some street kid we found."

"Then what are you planning to do to her?"

"Nothing. You already saw what she's up to as we speak."

"Are you seriously telling me that you went out of your way to abduct her just for nothing?"

"Even if I did have a reason, I don't see any merit in telling the likes of you."

Liza scowled. "You'll have all the time in the world to reconsider once we find and take you in."

The apparition only responded with another bout of laughter. And in the next moment, demonic energy started surging from the steam.

"She's trying to break free!" Cassava said.

Taking it as her signal, Katherine poised her blade and performed a forward thrust. However, the blade never reached its mark as she seemingly stopped midmotion. Marice was about to react, only for her heart to sink in horror as she could no longer move her body as well.

"Wh-What's wrong?" Cocoa asked.

Marice looked down at their shadows being drawn to the hot pot. "Tch, figures."

"H-Hold on, I might be able to do something about that!" She hovered above them. "Starshine!"

Intense light flooded the room, causing everyone to shut their eyes. Marice still couldn't move a limb however, and one quick glance confirmed that her shadow was still pinned on the hot pot.

"Oh, you silly piggy. That would only work on amateurs."

As the light subsided, a ghostly image of a long-haired woman materialized before them. Her visage was mostly devoid of features, accentuating her comically-wide grin.

And from that aspect alone, Marice was struck with an overwhelming sense of dread. And that dread only grew further as she watched her conjure shadow copies of Katherine's katzbalger.

"Hmm," the apparition said, "you ladies seem to be taking this situation really well and I don't like it. This is supposed to be the part where you start groveling for your lives!"

"Yeah," Liza replied, "keep talking big like that and it won't be long before someone knocks you down a peg or two."

"Don't you worry. I'm not that careless." She faced Mariella and lifted her in the air. "And speaking of which, you did something to me earlier, didn't you?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Don't play coy. You were able to cast something without me noticing. How did you do it?"

Mariella smiled. "If you really wanna know, why don't you try touching me again?"

"Well, I suppose you can carry that little secret of yours to the grave."

"I think we've stalled long enough." Her irises shifted shape as her frame radiated a purple hue. "We'll pay you a visit later."

"You...!"

Just as she was about to get skewered with one of the shadow swords, the room got swallowed into a space-like void.

Katherine staggered towards the steaming hot pot. "Um, what just happened? Where did she go? And where are we?"

"Oh, I sent the entire condo unit in my pocket dimension," Mariella said, picking herself up.

"What?! That's so awesome!"

Liza gave her a thumbs up. "That's the Space-time Sweetheart for you!"

Mariella turned crimson as she covered her mouth. "Ah! Don't call me that!"

"Marice, are you okay?" Cocoa asked. "You still look a bit shaken..."

Marice sat down, crossing her legs. "We wouldn't have survived that encounter if it weren't for mom's ridiculously broken power."

"I thought it was just a spell," Liza said. "What is that ghost lady exactly?"

"A wraith," Marice and Mariella both replied.

"Sounds like bad news if you're that worried about it."

Katherine nodded. "They belong in the highest echelon of the Underworld hierarchy. They aren't as strong as the other creatures among their class, but their knowledge in shadow manipulation makes them really dangerous."

"Seriously? And here in Manila too." She sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Uncle's not gonna like this."

"By the way, Mom," Marice said, fixing her camisole's strap, "were you able to track down her location?"

Mariella and Cassava exchanged looks. "We tried," she replied, "but wraiths are too good for that apparently."

Liza rubbed her chin. "Then Richelle is our only lead right now. We need to find her, but we'll have to deal with that ghost lady first, huh?"

"We don't have to worry about the wraith. At least for the time being."

"R-Really? She can probably just return any time and finish the job!"

Marice sighed. "So now you're concerned."

"Urk! I-I'm sorry..."

"Well, you're right about one thing: we'll have to ask Richelle a few questions first before we can get anywhere else."

Liza's eyes widened. "We? You're going to help us, Marice?"

Heart racing, Marice averted her eyes. "Just for this particular case, alright? Maybe this wraith might have something to do with—mmpggh?!"

She smothered her face against her chest. "Huzzah! With everyone on board, this will be a cinch!"

It took all her strength to pry herself away from Liza's iron grip. "Y-Yeah, I can already tell."

"Yup," Katherine said with a fist pump, "strength in numbers, as they say!"

Liza then faced Mariella and gave her a thumbs up. "Now that we got your daughter's blessing, let's get right on the offensive!"

Marice exchanged smiles with her mother before her eyes fell back on the hot pot.

This is gonna be a pain in the arse, but better deal with this now or I'll never get a wink of sleep tonight.