The next morning, Jace had woken up after a long sleep and was now preparing tea for himself.
He felt quite well-rested for someone who was forced upon two days ago. Well, he was from the Seer pathway, so he was good at accepting things for how they were and looking at things from a rational perspective.
With that, he put the tea powder in a pot of boiling water—
*Knock, knock.*
Jace stopped and turned his head to the sound of the knocks.
He stepped out of the kitchen and walked to the door and held the handle, but he stopped at that; he waited for his premonition to strike, and it did.
As a Sequence 7 Magician, his premonition—be it the Seer's intuition or the Clown's premonition—had experienced a significant change.
Within a moment he saw an image of a woman dressed in a white shirt, black trousers, and a long grey coat.
Her black hair was tied back, and she had sharp and strong features.
It was Natalie.
Jace finally turned the handle and put on his usual soft smile, and opened the door.
——
Natalie stood there in the hallway as she waited for the door to open.
She had been informed by Madam Catherine the day before to start taking Jace on missions with her.
Natalie, of course, wasn't happy with it.
She always did such things on her own, sometimes collaborating with others for extreme missions.
So she wasn't happy when her ways were asked to change; no one liked changes, and that was especially true for Natalie, who liked to keep things clean and controlled.
But Natalie was curious as to what became of the boy after she threw him to Catherine, and she hadn't run into him for like two months.
She still felt complicated about that.
'Perhaps I shouldn't have done that,' she thought.
*Clack.*
She looked up; the door slowly opened, revealing a person with slightly long but well-kept hair.
He had fair, soft, and delicate features. He wore a linen shirt with a few buttons open at the top, and black slacks.
"Hello, Natalie. It has been a while," Jace said with a smile on his face.
Natalie didn't say much; she only nodded and made a "hmm" sound of agreement.
She then said, "You should get ready. We will be leaving right now."
Jace looked at her for a moment, and then nodded.
"Ok. Why don't you come in and sit while I change?" he said as he gestured inside with his hand.
Natalie, for some reason, didn't reject and entered the apartment.
The apartment was plain and welcoming; it was well-kept as well and had a nice scent.
Jace gestured to the couch in the living room; Natalie walked in and sat there.
Jace meanwhile walked into the kitchen, turned off the gas ignition, and walked out.
He looked at Natalie, who sat without any movement. 'She certainly has a presence,' he thought.
Looking at her, he said, "I'll be quick," as he walked into his bedroom.
In his room, there were lots of packages; some lay on the bed while some were kept on the desk.
These packages, of course, were the clothes and other things he had gotten from the expensive tailor shop.
A Magician must be well-presented.
——
Natalie meanwhile sat in the living room.
Earlier, when Jace had stepped into the kitchen for a moment, she had turned on her Spirit Vision.
When he was out, she looked at him, and she was surprised.
The guy was already a Sequence 7.
She felt a little envious of his fast advancement. 'Knowledge, huh?' she wondered.
But she had also seen another thing that caught her sight; it was Jace.
To be precise, it was his neck. There were slightly faded red marks, and they were all over.
As an experienced woman who had received such marks from her lover—and more than that, given them to her lover—she knew exactly what they were.
She once again felt complicated and a slight guilt; she felt that a boy as young as Jace shouldn't experience such things so early in life, as it might have a bad effect on him.
But then again, she wasn't one to speak; she herself had started her relationship with Sarah quite early.
Well, she was 23, but Sarah was only 15 at that time; she often felt guilty about that as well.
She wondered if that was the reason Sarah turned out the way she is now, but she loved her regardless.
After few minutes, Jace stepped out of his bedroom.
Natalie was surprised, looking at his attire.
He was immaculately dressed in a white shirt, over it a black vest and a black blazer, black trousers, and a long frock coat.
He also wore a hat with its brim low and held a black cane with a silver tip and handle.
Natalie thought he looked pretty good, but then she frowned.
For the work they were going to do, clothes always got damaged and it required a bit of flexibility; that was why she dressed the way she did.
As for Jace, his clothes were fine, but she believed they were a little... inconvenient.
"I will be fine," Jace said, as if sensing her thoughts.
Natalie nodded and got up. She wore a hat of her own which she had held in her hand and said, "Let's go."
With that, they exited the apartment. Natalie led while Jace followed silently.
Soon they were inside a carriage that was already hired by Natalie, but the carriage wasn't moving; it stood still.
Inside, Natalie, who sat before Jace, pulled out a paper from her coat's inner pocket and handed it to Jace. Jace took it and read it.
"Name: Hobert Rowen
Sequence 8 from Lawyer pathway
Age: 34
Date of birth.....
Appearenc.....
....."
Reading the paper, he looked up at Natalie and raised an eyebrow in question.
Natalie answered, "He committed various crimes and what not. Our job is to capture him alive and deliver him to the MI9 drop point."
Jace nodded.
Natalie continued, "For starters, why don't you divine his location? I believe the paper has enough details for that."
Since there was enough information, Jace said, "Okay."
With that, Jace held the paper in his hand and muttered, "Location of Hobert Rowen," seven times in Ancient Hermes as he cogitated and entered a half-sleep state.
.
.
Jace saw images of streets and buildings of a fairly decent place. He also saw a man walking in a brown suit, his hat low, while looking around warily. In the background he saw a hotel-like building; he read the name on it.
.
.
With that, he opened his eyes. He instantly started decrypting the dream, which was easy for him as he was a Seer.
It didn't take long for him to figure out that the place was North Borough.
He looked up at Natalie, who was intently looking at him with mild surprise in her eyes, likely because he performed a dream divination so easily.
Natalie felt his gaze and asked, "Yes?"
"He is in North Borough. I saw a hotel named 'Rochelle's Fine Dining' in the background," Jace replied as he adjusted his suit and handed back the paper to Natalie.