Chapter Six

Aside from meeting Blue, that trip was absolutely pointless. So thought Maestro as he trudged back down the same path he had just walked only ten or so minutes ago. It was true, he felt like he had come no closer to finding anything out about Timothy or where he could be. On the other hand, Timothy's sister seemed dead set on helping him I don't know if that's good or bad. He had no idea what he was bringing himself into.

A sudden chill ran down The Maestro's spine, causing him to halt. For the first time he became aware of the deep silence that surrounded him, there was nothing no crickets, cicadas, anything. The air seemed heavy with the silence as well as underplayed with something more sinister. Maestro gave himself a shake, trying to smooth away the odd feeling and without much success.

Just keep walking He told himself grimly taking another slow step forward, but now the clipped sound of his shoes hitting the pavement seemed overly loud… amplified through the quiet. A presence seemed to be looming around him, giving the air a taint of bitterness. Okay, this was enough, something was wrong here and he would be dumb to try and turn a blind eye. The Maestro pulled his hands out of his pockets scanning the darkness carefully only to be met with the same thing as before, darkness.

He was just as blind in this unnatural gloom as anyone else would be, he needed the magic. "Win" Maestro whispered; wishing now more than ever that his ghostly companion was with him, he would know what was going on. In the next moments he didn't have time to register what happened, one moment he was standing and reaching out for the magic, the next something smashed into him knocking the breath from his lungs and sending him down onto the cold ground.

"It's quite…interesting to meet you at last, Maestro." A voice, deceptively soft spoke from someplace directly to the right of him, but far enough away so that they were hidden by the dark. Automatically, The Maestro tried to turn his head in that direction, struggling to see but something seemed to slam him back against the ground.

A paralysis trickled over his limbs, like ice cold water. It felt like invisible chains were winding around him, causing him to wince at the bruising pressure against his skin.

"Settle down, I only want to talk." The voice spoke again, just as soothing as sour milk. A bolt of anger shot through The Maestro "It's kind of hard to do that when you're being held against your will!" The only response he got was another painful squeeze that made him lose his breath.

"You and I both know that you could get up when you so choose. I've heard of your…talents." Yeah, and they aren't exactly getting me anywhere right now, are they?

"That's nice."

The voice went on, ignoring him. "I also heard that you're trying to clean up your reputation as the towns eccentric and become the hero instead. Except I can't see that ridiculous Mayor or anyone here for that matter, wanting your help." Each word was spoken carefully, slowly, and with a sting that Maestro definitely felt.

"That has nothing to do with you" he retorted, trying to get to his feet without much result.

"Be still!" It hissed and the 'chains' clamped down more around him, pushing against his chest and ribs with a crushing force, The Maestro let out a small gasp of pain. That dead silence came back for a few minutes until…"I'm afraid it has everything to do with me." It sounded cold, furious and another jolt of pain travelled down his spine.

"And Maestro, it would be best if you stayed out of my way." Whatever was holding him down; and he had a sneaking suspicion that It was using magic to do so, grew tighter around him, burning ice-cold against his skin. The feeling travelled all over and the breath was literally being squeezed out of him.

Desperate he reached for the link that he shared with his family, sending out a frantic plea, he needed them. Right. Now. A swarm of voices sounded off in his mind, faint but made sharper by alarm.

'Maestro?'

'What's going on?

'Are you okay?'

'Of course he's not okay you idiot!'

'Stop fighting, you two schmucks!'

'Do something, quick!'

They were talking over each other, clumsy in their fear like newborn puppies. 'Maestro' one voice rose above the others, struggling to be calm in the midst of all the turmoil. 'Winsor!' he recognized him at once. 'We'll be there, but fight, you know how and be quick!' Win urged him. The Maestro would have nodded but he was still pinned in place.

And he couldn't breathe, his body was burning for air.

'Quickly' Win reminded him. The Maestro closed his eyes, imagining the pressure being lifted off of him, forcing the 'chains' away. A rush of furious, bright energy coursed through him. Maestro's eyes snapped open; they burned blue, piercing and cold instead of his usual warm dark brown.

He forced the opposing energy back, air returning to his lungs as the invisible bonds were broken. The Maestro sat up, gasping but instead of relief he felt an endless, churning anger. The gloom was no lighter, but some instinct caused Maestro to look to his right, exactly were its voice had been coming from.

A pair of sharp green eyes glowed from the darkness, staring right at him. That was no exaggeration they literally glowed, an unnatural sickly shade of green that made his stomach lurch. But he met that stare unwaveringly, feeling his anger growing.

"Who are you?" he demanded, rising to his feet in one fluid motion ready to charge in the direction he thought it was standing. There was no answer, the eyes just blinked slowly, and the dark presence amplified before it vanished. He was alone.

The Maestro hissed between his teeth, agitation growing. In response the cool blue energy pulsed more fiercely until the air around him seemed to crackle. A flash of blue cut through the darkness and Maestro spun around, ready to lash out with his magic.

"Maestro! What happened?" It was Win, barely more than a pale outline but still he practically radiated his concern. The others must not have had enough power to get this far. "Are you alright?" Win tried again, after not getting anything out of Maestro but a blank stare.

The Maestro gave his head a small shake, and started pacing back and forth in front of Win, not knowing what else to do with all the agitated energy bottled up inside of him. This is insane. Maestro looked around, his gaze passing over Win like he wasn't there.

"Maestro" Win said again sharply and this time Maestro's gaze snapped up to him, a distracted look in his eyes. "It's only me, calm down." For a second, the frosty blue stare didn't waver then Maestro sighed and his shoulders slumped, the blue faded from his eyes. Win let out a small sigh as well taking a few steps closer. "Don't let it do that again."

The Maestro only nodded "I know.' The less control he had over his temper, the less of a hold he had on his magic…and himself.

Suddenly he became aware of the heaviness that seemed to weigh at his feet, and the soreness all over which no doubt came from being slammed into the ground and then nearly crushed by someone, or something's dark tricks. "So what happened?" Win broke the silence that rose between them.

"It attacked me." Maestro answered simply, swaying a little.

"And what is 'It', exactly?" Win questioned patiently. Suddenly something clicked in Maestro's head "The It! The same one you all said took Timmy away." He remembered what it had said 'It has everything to do with me.' Win regarded him warily, "Are you sure? Did you see it?"

The Maestro shot him a disbelieving look, "It's to dark out here to see anything! But it practically confessed. And this is Normal Valley, Win! Who else would it be?" he realized that his voice was louder than necessary.

"I'm sorry" Maestro added in a softer tone, if it weren't for Win he might have been way worse off. Win only nodded, growing even fainter and The Maestro guessed that he was running out of strength.

"We should go back to the others and talk about this." Win suggested, The Maestro only gave a weary murmur in response, not looking forward to the long trek back to his home.

All that night she couldn't sleep, partly it was because she remembered how Timothy would always whimper, and mutter things in his sleep. The other half of it was the fact that she had met the infamous Maestro face to face and she had every attention of going off to see him again whenever the chance came.

How could she not? Every time she thought about her brother, her belly would roll into this apprehensive knot. Blue rolled over so that she room instead of the wall. Timothy's side of the room was just as he left it, covers tossed back from the bed, clothes and toys mixed together in a messy sea on the floor only with a few comic books and the like. The only thing missing was Timmy himself.

"I'll find you" She whispered into the empty room "I promise…"

Authors Note: A extra long update for a extra long wait! I have to say, at one point Maestro might have sounded crazy with the ghosts voices being in his head and all of that, but like they can speak to each other telepathically, I call it Mind Speak, but the ability to do so dwindles with distance and that's why he could barely hear them, it's the same as when Win (Or any other ghost) can't fully project himself to Maestro because the distance is to much.

So, Maestro gets quite the first impression. And I added a brief POV at the end of Blue, but I probably won't go into her POV much. If you guys liked her I might venture into her a few more times though.