Taken

Miyori raced through the air towards the window overhead. Getting Noa's bag out after her was a tight squeeze, but she managed it, and flew immediately to the roof, crouching down to hide before peering over the edge. 

There wasn't anybody out there yet. But the wailing in the air was hard to ignore. She would have to move fast if she didn't want to attract any more attention. 

Cursing her decision to wear street clothes today, she grabbed the bag around the middle and towed it away, back towards the park. 

It was the work of several breathless minutes to find a place to hide it where it wouldn't stand out. In the end, she found a storm drain hidden by a bush and shoved it into the shadows before throwing some plant litter over it. She surveyed her handiwork, decided it was good enough, and hurried back the way she'd come. 

The warehouse came into view quickly as she flew overhead, higher than she would usually dare to. She could see autos pulled up to the curb, still and silent but definitely newly arrived. 

As she alighted on the roof, the distant wailing from inside stopped suddenly. 

She took a deep breath and tried something she hadn't tried in a long time. Pulling her pen from her pocket, she put it to her forearm and drew three symbols, connecting them with a sinuous line. 

Shadows attached themselves to her body as though pulled by a magnet, and she breathed very quietly indeed as she made her way back into the warehouse. 

She flitted silently from shelf to shelf, starting from the far corner. She heard voices before she saw them: four humans, all adults, speaking over each other. 

"Haven't seen a reaction this strong in a while." 

"How'd he even get in here?"

"—some kind of cat burglar, I'd—whoa!" 

There was a wordless yell—Noa's—and a flash of magic like dim lightning. Miyori took advantage of the commotion to fly straight towards the disturbance, diving for the nearest pallet she could find as cover. 

Noa was crouched with his back to the magic cabinet, chest heaving. He had his right hand awkwardly in front of him, looking back and forth between three people trying to box him in. A fourth was on the ground a few feet away, pushing himself up with a groan. 

"Now, now," said one man, his raised hand mirroring Noa's own. "This will be easier for everyone if you just—" 

"Back up," Noa gritted out. He sounded suddenly twice his age, his expression a twist that might have been rage or simply desperation.

The fallen man shoved himself to his feet. "Stand down, now. Or you're not gonna like what happens next." 

"I'll tell you what's happening n—ext." But Noa's voice was weaker than it had sounded. It broke part of the way through, and even from this distance, Miyori could see him swaying on his feet. "You're going to—"

"Arrest you for trespassing," the man said matter-of-factly. He stepped forward. "That's what you're thinking, isn't it? And if you're good, that's exactly what'll happen, so don't make this—" 

One of the other men stepped into Noa's range, and Noa turned on him, snarling. There was a flash of something small and black—his pen? 

The man stumbled backward with a cry of pain, bent double over his thigh. 

The other two looked at each other and then charged. 

Noa's fist flew, and Miyori heard the wet impact of knuckles against skin. One man skidded back an improbable distance, struck by a glancing blow. 

The other crumpled in a heap with a yell of pain. Noa wound up for a kick, teeth bared. 

The first man ran towards him, but as Noa reared to face him, he threw up his hands in a single, fluid motion. 

Noa flew backwards—back hitting the magic circle his arm was still pinned to. 

There was a single, piercing wail overhead, and then silence. Noa stayed stuck up against the wall, head thrown back, eyes wide and mouth slack. 

The men gathered themselves up, swearing and grumbling amongst themselves. Miyori couldn't hear most of what they were saying, but one pulled out a stylus and touched it to the circle, making it go dark. Noa fell limp into the arms of the others. 

Working together, they tied his arms and legs with what looked like twine or wire, and one of the men threw him over his shoulder. 

She thought they would leave then, but before they could, the circle chimed. 

The man who'd thrown Noa back into the circle—she thought he was the leader—winced and touched his stylus to the circle again.
There was a long pause. 

"All right, change of plans," he said. "Orders from above." He pointed at two of the men in turn. "Log it as a false alarm. Reset the wards—no traces." 

Two of the men grumbled, but walked off to do as they were ordered. 

The leader and the man carrying Noa simply left, not stopping to lock the door behind them. 

Miyori made her own way out, heart pounding, but by the time she'd made it back outside, they were already peeling away in the auto, disappearing out of sight faster than she could chase them. 

Miyori stared after them for a few long, hopeless moments. 

It was going to be a long, hard trip home, lugging Noa's bag with her at pixie size. She was exhausted and panicked and honestly not sure she was going to be able to manage it. 

But that was nothing. The bigger issue was that Noa was gone…and she had no idea how to get him back.