The record had stopped spinning and the room had only the faintest of daylight. The little witch was haggard looking. Yet her eyes sparkled with new vision and life. Her plan was forming together. She would have the cure within her hands in just a few more days. It was only a matter of time. Heck, she just had to keep feeding Detective Oakland a false trail. Her lips turned into a tiny grin. As she peered into her mug of hot chocolate, Shannon recalled what happened weeks ago. It went a little something like this...

Click went the phone with Detective Oakland on the other side. Shannon stood outside of the Commissioner's office. Her golden ringlets puffed out of her witch's hat. The genius kid witch fixed the folds of her violet dress and clicked together her silken shoes. No, kid was not the right term to describe her real age. But people only really was her as a kid. Shannon was much older than everyone realized, even Shannon. Still it mattered very little at the moment. 

Everyone knew Shannon as a kid. (Shannon as well.) Her junior detective bandage was on her chest pocket as a measure of honor. The whole department and the Magic Constabularies Squad recognized her level genius in her wits to solve magical mysteries and events. Yet as of the last half of a year, the all-star kid genius had not been allowed near the magical frontlines or one foot away from headquarters. They were all treating her like a baby. It had been due to the Commissioner finding out about her physical results from the doctor. The doctor had told the Commissioner and Shannon it was terminal and without cure. Now the whole department saw her as a tiny and weak child. They gave her honorary work in the office.

She huffed. Shannon held her hand out for her spider familiar to hand on the tip of her finger. The silk tread of the spider's wed slipped onto the tip of her pinky. It now allowed her a line to tune into the responses of the Commissioner to Detective Oakland. Shannon did not make a single change in expression at the report of Mister Manchester and the twins. Shannon did find grave interest in the mention of the male twin, Yuki. She reflected back on her in encounter with the strange boy who delivered an object into her hands. The witch dared not to say a word to anyone in the department as she found it would provide her a chance to be cured, if she master it.

The little witched sneezed somewhat as she focused her strength in using her magic. Shannon closed her eyes and reflected. It was true, she could find Yuki again and offer to return the object. But he gave it to her willingly. It was what was keeping Shannon alive and on her feet. Without it, she would have been left in a hospital bed by now. Shannon's own magic had been on the decline over the last few weeks. The trip she took to the circus did allow for her to see the oddest of exchanges between a boy and some old fortune teller. Also the sudden appearance of the princess of Yena was something unexpected.

Shannon paused for a moment. The circus people and Mister Manchester were interrelated. Detective Oakland's story was like her own... Shannon waited for the end of the call. The Commissioner was bringing Detective Oakland onto the case. He just needed to select a partner for her. He was also in the need to have the bird checked out to see if it was an enchanted citizen. The Commissioner came outside of his door. He was a short man with a quick temper. He spotted Shannon and said, "Hey, Shannon, listen. Get back to the desk. Someone may be calling us right now."

She nodded. Shannon knew she would not be chosen for the new case, even if they knew she would be the best choice to assist the rookie Detective Oakland. No, they would chose a senior Magical Constable like Jarod or Cid. Shannon would not be allowed out for such a trying case. She was just part of the department out of pity. She fluffed her dress and hopped into her chair at the desk. If they needed her and her brains, they would bring the case file here. Just like how the Commissioner was bound to ask her to do the analysis on the bird. They had to keep her busy. It would be bad to leave the dying kid, without some task.

The Commissioner did as Shannon predicted. The Commissioner assigned Shannon to run the analysis of the raven from Detective Oakland. Shannon the former pride and joy of the Magic Constabularies Squad for all her hard work on the cold cases in the department, was not reduced to an advisor and phone girl. Now she would have to work with the rookie Detective Oakland. Detective Oakland was indeed assigned to Constable Jarod. The Commissioner knew should have allowed Shannon to continue to as field agent. They should have allowed her to continue to be a real Magic Constable. Instead, she was now Detective Oakland's magic advisor. She would answer all of Oakland's questions and such. Shannon sighed at the waste of her time.

If that was how the Magic Constabularies Squad treated her, that is what she would be. She would continue to be a child in their game. It would give Shannon the room to act on her knew branch of interest. After all, the little witch had figured out, she was not just the sweet and clever kid detective the Police Department had found a five years ago. Shannon was no mere mortal. She would be the gateway to grace and the uprising of a new age in magic and peace, the Dawn of Dreams. The little witch knew she had been put into play by a larger force many eons ago. Who had set her up? Shannon could not remember her sender's name. But she was learning what was expect of her by Yuki's gift. Just how Shannon played all of her role with her fading life was up to her. She had concluded this simple idea from what the item had showed her in her struggle to stay alive.
...

Back in the current, Shannon clicked her tongue and gently pet her spider's head. The little witch had much work to do to keep Oakland away from her. There was many false trails and traps to lay to get the detective and Constable Jarod at bay. It was an easy task for Shannon. She had prepared many red herrings out there. Still Shannon looked up from her hot chocolate. Here in her dorm from the Witch's Academy, she spent the rest of her time. It was not an impressive room. It was all covered in bright pinks and happy stuff animals. It should have been the typical room of a young girl.

 Yet Shannon was not even a normal witch. The state still kept her as a ward of the Witch's Academy. She had been a foundling in the countryside of Fairfield. It was her natural skill of magic and animal communication that got her to the Witch's Academy. Shannon had surpassed all of her peers in magical studies and potions. She had surpassed all of her instructors and the state wanted her now at the college level of magic. Shannon hated still she was treated as a child.

Shannon got up from her desk, picked up the hidden object from Yuki from her drawer, and went up to her mirror. The little witch held up the object from Yuki. Within the folds of a silken cloth, it had been hidden. It was a glass apple with different shimmer lights from within and rainbows. Shannon's eyes glimmered with intention. The witch held up the apple to the mirror and repeated the phrase she learned in a dream. Her lips pronounced in a whisper, "Gateway of the trust and truth, behold me, the Keeper of the Glass Apple, the daughter of the Unknown 

One, and Pathfinder of Dreams. I am the one who walks on the edge of life and the dreams yet to come. Allow me access once more to the realm of the Unknown One."

In the mirror, Shannon watched her room dissolve away. Her reflection changed from a small blond child with a purple witch's hat to a mature young woman. Shannon appeared to be in her early twenties. Gone were her blond ringlets and innocent face. Her blond hair fell into a straight length and her appear was tired. She was fragile in her black dress. Here in the magic study of the Unknown One, Shannon had been conducting her work. The first time Shannon discovered the secret of the Glass Apple was when she brought it to the dorm as Yuki ran off. The Glass Apple gave her insight to different truths and ideas. Shannon was amazed as it even started her in the direction of a cure for her illness. Her own magic was nearly done. But the Glass Apple was prolonging her life.

It was when Shannon came to the study of the Unknown One and drank of the Waters of Knowledge, she acquired more life. In exchange, the witch had to give something back. Shannon first gave up her ignore and the subject of the nature of life and death. The doctors had told her she stood a fighting chance of living. Then over time, Shannon grew to known the truth. She had been a fool. No one wanted to tell a child, she was dying. More and more of her ignore and innocence was given to the Waters of Knowledge. The more and more she aged in her soul with her time used searching for a cure.

Shannon came to know she walked a fine line in causing chaos in the world and giving peace. Her simple action of keeping the Glass Apple had given her access to becoming the Unknown One's child. It also caused the fairy queen, Sweet Pea, and the dream weaver, Mister Manchester, to be at odds. Shannon had only one goal still throughout all of her learning. She wanted to live. For the little witch knew the saddest and most awful of truths. Magic was dying and so was she. Shannon had to live to create the Dawn of Dreams for the Unknown One. If she could do that, she would save magic. She could save herself.
Shannon rolled up her sleeves and got to work.