“Are you sure he’s in here?” The shaking woman mumbled quietly.

 

Dillan nodded her head lightly, putting a dark finger to her lips to signal silence as she scoured the woman’s barn. It had merely been a formality, telling the land owner that Dillan’s mark had taken residence in her backyard, but Dillan was less than excited that the woman had wanted to follow her back here to watch the process of extraction. Just to be sure that Dillan wasn’t lying about such vile things.

 

The woman continued anyway, “I don’t see anyone. I’ve been back here every day since-”

 

“Shh, quiet please, ma’am.” Dillan hushed her lightly, taking a cautious step into the barn.

 

Dillan’s arm reached out instinctively as a shift occurred deep in the shadows. She turned to the woman and motioned for her to stay at the entrance, determination in her brown eyes. The woman, having also heard the small clattering, nodded her head in agreement, eyes wide.

 

Having been given the freedom to approach her target safely, without the worry of the woman’s watchful eyes or well-being, Dillan stepped into the darkness of the barn.

 

The job had been pretty cut-and-dry until then. A thief had been stealing money from a stream of shops downtown, using magic to reach through the boxes that held the gold and silver in each establishment. Once the city gave Dillan the job, it was as simple as waiting for him to strike again and then tracing the remnants of that spell back to his location.

 

Magic had a way of leaving a kind of film in the air. Most people couldn’t see this sort of thing. But Dillan was born with her magic. She was raised on the beliefs and notions that magic was everywhere. And taught by her parents, as their parents taught them, how to sniff out and identify such things from people who weren’t as talented at the arts.

 

Of course, now that she used the skill for dangerous jobs such as bounty hunting or bodyguarding, her parents had regretted teaching her so well.

 

“I can see you, you know,” Dillan called out to the back of the barn. Though she couldn’t see his body clearly, she could see the outline of the magic still active on him. “This would be a lot easier if you would just give yourself in.”

 

The outline didn’t move, however. Dillan assumed that he thought she might be bluffing.

 

Pushing her dark curls from her face, she continued her slow pursuit into the barn. Step by step she pushed onward toward the magical source. Rounding the corner of a stack of crates, she was now shrouded in the darkness of the barn. Still, she knew exactly where she was going.

“My name is Dillan Young. If you come out and give yourself in, then I-”

 

The shape moved suddenly, heading for the back wall of the barn in a quick sprint. Out of instinct, unwilling to let the thief escape, she threw her hands up in front of her.

A small pink blastwave erupted from her hands, shooting off in a small line before reaching the man in the dark and expanding wildly from him into a huge bubble that enclosed around him. Usually meant to act as a shield, the bubble of magic pushed out all foreign objects in its path.

 

With a cacophonous crack, planks from the wall of the barn broke off and surged outward toward the forest. Splinters of wood spread out in a dangerous blast and stuck into anything soft enough to penetrate. Loose hay created a yellow plume as it was pushed up from the ground and into the air. Light showed brightly into her now-squinting eyes as the huge and gaping hole in the barn illuminated both her and her mark very clearly. The end of her curls began to illuminate with a pink hue.

 

The man stared in shock, realizing that his plan to move through the back of the barn was thwarted by this shield appearing over him.

 

“I told you this would have been easier.” Dillan huffed angrily, ignoring the pain in her hands from the small pieces of wood that had jammed into her flesh. She stepped over the mess carefully, maintaining a hold on the magic before her.

 

As she approached the man, she let go of the bubble that held him in place, exchanging it for one to cover his hands. Dillan had nothing on her to prevent him from using magic, but she could at least bind his hands using her own.

 

“Be glad that I did that outside of your body,” she bluffed, “now, come along.”Dillan turned and began walking around the barn. The thief hadn’t moved yet, whether that was still from shock or if he had been trying to test Dillan’s threat, she was unsure.

 

She called over her shoulder. “You’re wanted dead or alive. Do you really want to test me?”

 

The sound of his footsteps began to pick up pace behind her rather quickly as she stalked the woman’s field back to the front of the barn.

 

“What was that noise?” The woman demanded as soon as Dillan came into view. The anger quickly drained from her face as she saw the man behind Dillan toddling along. Her crooked finger shot up toward him, “And who is that?”

 

Dillan nodded towards her, coming to a stop. “I caught my guy, ma’am. Though I’m sorry to say at the expense of your barn.”

 

The woman stared, mouth agape. She quickly tried to crane her neck to see the back of the barn from the outside, even though the angle made it virtually impossible. She stepped towards it, but backed back out in an instant, as though the barn was tainted since the discovery of the criminal that had been stashed inside of it.

 

“Well, what am I to do?” She asked with a tone of both fury and disbelief.

 

Letting out a sigh, Dillan shook her head. “If you want to follow me downtown, I’m sure you can be compensated from my pay.”

 

The woman looked to Dillan and back to the intruder. “No, that’s alright. I’m just…I’m glad you caught him.”

 

Dillan smiled as kindly as possible to thank the woman for her kindness. The sound of rustling grass caught her attention. Whipping around, Dillan popped another pink bubble shield onto the thief’s foot. He went down with a heavy grunt.

 

She turned back to the woman.

 

“I’ll still file a report when I take him. Maybe the city will give you something for it, hm?”

 

The woman stared at Dillan in awe. Dillan turned back to face the woman, her hair now glowing a bright pink as it floated from the amount of magic energy she’d had to use on this guy.

 

“That-that’s fine.” The woman stammered out.

 

Dillan gave her a curt nod before turning back to her captive. “Now, are you gonna walk or do you want me to drag you all the way back to town?”

 

The man gave a disgruntled nod, letting Dillan remove the bubble from his feet. She helped him to stand and began steering him back toward town to collect her reward.