29 Murders?

Unlike the usual berries that Vy had picked before, these berries were yellow in colour. As she lightly squeezed them, she realised that they were hard and not prone to bruising.

\u003cThis is known as Topaz Drops. It is a type of berry that would enhance the effectiveness of potions. It is not native to this region and is often sold at a relatively high price.\u003e

-Does it have a seed in it? And how much would one of these be worth?-

\u003cA single berry is potent, most potion makers would only use a quarter or less of it in their brewing and the effects would be amplified three fold. It is worth 6 silvers each.\u003e

Vy's eyes widened in shock.

"What's wrong Miss Vy? Are these poisonous?"

She shook her head, "No no, nothing like that. They are very valuable. Let's pick some more. We could sell these to a potion maker for some good profit."

As they were walking back to the town, Vy taught Lycster the name of the herbs and plants. She also explained to him what Dotty had taught her.

"I didn't know the forest were full of such valuable herbs! Potion making sounds fun too. Have you met a mage before, Miss Vy?"

"I have, actually. A friend of Mr Rodrick."

"Oh, that's so cool! What were they like?"

Just then, someone came running up to the two of them, shouting their names. It was Carole.

"What's wrong Carole," Vy asked. She knew that if it was not for something important,Carole would not come all the way out to look for them. She knew they were going out to the forest.

Carole tried to catch her breath and deliver the message, "It's Rodrick, he says his friend is looking for you."

Vy's eyebrows twitched. It must be Coco.

"I'll go immediately. Where do I meet her?"

"He said to come to his shop as soon as you can, she is waiting for you there."

"Thank you Carole," Vy replied and ran towards Rodrick's shop.

"I'll come with you," Lycster said as he too started running.

Within minutes, panting and gasping for air, Vy and Lycster was at Rodrick's shop. She pushed the door gently and entered the shop as the doorbell jingled and chimed. Rodrick came out to welcome them in.

"Thank you so much for coming on such short notice. Coco was looking for you urgently and we had no time to waste."

He led them into the backroom and out through another door, revealing a tea room. Coco was seated on end of the table sipping a cup of tea. When she saw the door opened, she looked up at Vy with a smile as they all gathered around the table.

"How can I help, Miss Coco," Vy asked.

Coco looked at Vy in the eyes and put down her cup of tea, "It's regarding the kidnapped children. Caster has brought me into town in hopes of reversing the curse placed on the children. I managed to do it and almost immediately they started talking about having seen you turn into a wolf."

Vy bit her lip, it looked like her lie was up.

"Is that true," Coco asked.

There was no point in lying at this point and Vy knew it. Her initial decision to keep her transformation under wraps was in fear of how others would react. She had not been in this world long enough to know if something like this would be favoured or frowned upon.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Miss Vyrena," Lycster exclaimed in shock and fear.

"It's alright, Lycster. I trust Miss Coco and Rodrick. I am assuming there must be more to it as to why you have brought me here."

Coco nodded, "The good thing is, when the children revealed to me about you shapeshifting, no one else was there. I had already known the statement you have made the general story that everyone had been led to believe. So, I told the children to keep to the lie."

Everyone was listening intently to what Coco had to say.

"And the bad news," Vy asked.

"The bad news, is that Caster suspects you. Your appearance in the town, and the sudden cases of missing children, murders?"

Vy was confused. There were tons of people going in and out of the town everyday. But why was Vy the one who was suspected? She could understand if he had linked the rescue of the children to her, since she was also not accounted for during that period of time. But for the murdered people?

"Did you say, murders?"