The director if the agency stepped into the office and sat in his seat. He pushed a file in between the two people and folded his hands. "Mr. Ashbel, Miss. Collins, you two will be the only ones assigned to this case. Now, I know this may come as a shock to you, considering we don't send less than 4 members per team, but you two are the best in your positions and a large group will attract some unneeded attention." The director stood up and walked to the large window overlooking the street below. "Maximus has probably briefly explained your mission to you I assume. If not here is what you need to know. If you open the file, you will see a few pictures of some teens. They are some of the most recent, and also youngest, people to disappear from the Delanci Castle. A castle that made the small town it's in a very popular place, Delanci castle has been standing at the edge of that town since the early 1800s, or so that's what people tell us. Recent tests our scientists have done sho that the castle is more than 8 centuries old, being built around 1100s or even before. You will have to discover why people say it's been around for only a century and where those missing teens have gone. You are dismissed."
Caelen frowned as he flipped through the file. The director had left the office and allowed them to discuss the mission. He closed the file with a sigh and looked up at his partner with tired eyes. "We are going to be spending a lot of time together I assume. I'm Caelen, Caelen Ashbel." He stuck out a hand
Arabelle almost found it refreshing that she’d be working with only one other person. And, hey, the mission sounded more interesting than she remembered. She took Caelen’s hand.
“Arabelle Collins. You’re the young one I keep hearing about?”
The chair squeaked as Caelen leaned back in it. "Yes. It may be a great achievement, but I hate the attention from people, I would rather be some intern grabbing coffee. I do enjoy the on field work though, its exciting, y'know? Not knowing what kind of creature we will capture next." He stopped talking to study his partner. "Well? What about you, I don't think I've heard much about Arabelle Collins."
She took another sip of coffee. “That’s probably because you’ve heard of my father more. Joshua Collins? Anyway, I just used to be a researcher before I got here.” Arabelle thought about what he said earlier. “If I’m being honest, I like the field work too. Maybe as much as being a researcher.”
Caelen smiled at her and stood up. "Well, we should head to the site. According to this information, we will have to take a plane ride to Scotland so I hope you are prepared. Shall we meet at the Airport in say, one hour? I need to grab some gadgets from the tech department and a few important things from home. Maximus should have the agency plane ready for us."
“Sounds like a plan,” Arabelle stood as well. “I’ll meet you there.”
(Sorry idk what else to say)
(Its fine, I'm going to timeskip to the airport)
Caelen had a duffel bag as well as a laptop bag around his shoulders. The duffel bag held all his clothes and personal item whereas the laptop bag held some gadgets he grabbed from the tech. He looked around for Arabelle, spotting Maximus waiting by the small plane for them.
Walking inside the airport, Arabelle looked around. She spotted Caelen and went over to him, carrying a bag and small suitcase.
“Where’s Maxi-“ she looked just ahead of him and saw Maximus. “Oh.”
"I feel that he follows us but I cant be too sure. His eyes are always fixated on his cell phone." He joked. Maximus saw them walking over to him and frowned. "You are exactly 4 minutes late! You realize I have important things to do! Hurry, inside. The director has a video call to explain how you are to settle. You will be living together in a house near the edge of town so he will be explaining how to live."
Arabelle raised her hands in mock surrender. “Hey Max, you know I’m not the most punctual person in the world. Give me some slack.” Chuckling, she lowered her hands and went inside.
The male hugged and briskly walked towards a black car that was waiting for quite I bit of time. Caelen chuckled and got comfortable in one of the seats and waited for the screen to light up with the director's face. "Hello agents. There is a small house near the edge of the town not too far from the nearby forest. You will be living there under the guise of either coworkers writing a report about the town or a couple visiting on their honeymoon. You have all the information. Have a comfortable flight."
For some reason, Arabelle was in a funny mood. She usually didn’t take these missions too lightly.
“So,” she said jokingly, “how do feel about pretending to be a couple, honey?” Smiling, she sighed. “Nevermind, I won’t do that to you. We can just be coworkers.”
She sat back, going over the information in her mind. The mystery this case presented was intriguing, she had to admit. A castle far older than the townsfolk say it is. A missing group of teenagers. Well, that part isn’t new. But she was surprised at how excited she was. Maybe it was because it was just her and Caelen. When she was with a larger group, she somehow felt like she was just one of many. Like they were the police that showed up after an incident in a movie. Whatever the case, she tried to relax as she waited for take off.
"Of course, Dear." Caelen winked. He was glad that he was paired with someone closer to his age. "So what is our plan when we get there?" He asked, buckling himself in as the plane took off.
Arabelle winked back, appreciating his sense of humor. “I’m not much of a planner, but I thought we could search the surrounding forest first. I know those students were last seen at the castle, but I think it would be possible that some of them could be there. And we’ll need to ask the townsfolk some questions too.”
"Old fashioned splitting up? You're leaving me on the day of our honeymoon?" He asked dramatically, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.
“I leave only to return with a gift, my love,” she grinned, pausing for effect. “Possibly valuable information.”
"I like you." Caelen decided. "You're fun to be around." He smiled and got comfortable in his seat again, grabbing the file and reading up in the background of the teenagers.
“Thanks. You too.” She leaned over to look at the file as well.
"It says here that the teens weren't natives if the town, they came for a visit and went to take pictures but never came back. It was the hotel manager that discovered this as he went to talk to them about paying for their rooms but couldn't find them. The local police searched for them but couldn't find any trace. All clues led back to a single dead end, the castle." Caelen read the police report and frowned. "This doesnt give us much to go off on. We could examine the hotel room but we would need to be discreet about it."
“Ooh I do think examining the hotel room would be a good idea,“ she put a hand to her chin in thought. “Even if there aren’t any clues as where they might be, I think getting to know them would help with certain details.”
"Well my dear it seems we will have to pretend to be on out honeymoon, it says here they booked one large suite. Either they were rich, or they got lucky." Caelen rubbed his chin thoughtfully before looking at Arabelle with a curious look. "Would you be willing to share a room?"
“Of course,” Arabelle shrugged. She didn’t mind that too much. “Do you know the room number? Where they stayed? Or maybe we could just ask when we get there.”
"Ok so we pull on the grieving friends act then?" He asked. Before he could a response from Arabelle, the pilot alerted them that the plane would now be landing. "That was quick, but then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from the agency."
“Yeah,” Arabelle agreed. “I don’t know… I feel too old to be a ‘grieving friend.’”
"Relatives then? Other than that, we could act as P.I's that their families hired to search. It's the closest thing to our actual job. Oh wait, we could also be those weird people who go to abandoned places to look for ghosts and things." Caelen said, listing 5things on his fingers.
