Joe snorted and parked the car. They got out and headed into the lobby. While waiting for the elevator, Joe took the book and looked through it. He found eight names had the triquetra symbol beside them. "I wonder if any of these women are among the missing five," he said quietly.

Frank frowned. "Joe, we just can't call them up and ask them."

Vanessa took the book from Joe. "Hmm, wonder what this means? 'Contact for Willow'?" She held the book where Joe could see what she meant. "Wonder where 415 is?"

"Look, there's the address." Callie peered over Vanessa's shoulder. "It's all in here, their work addresses, home addresses, cell phone number, home number, work, even email addresses. Several other names also had a contact noted under them. "Look, this Fern Ralston, she has the same address and dorm room number as Sabrina Irving, they must have been roommates."

The doors to the nearest elevator parted and the four of them walked into it, barely noticing the tall black man in the corner, clad in a dark three-piece suit and dark sunglasses. The overhead light made his bald head gleam.

Frank took the book from Vanessa. "And look here, several people have the same address in the Mission district, just different apartment numbers."

"Contact." Joe nodded. "So if she couldn't get in touch with Willow, she'd call this Kara Boyce or if she was trying to reach Sabrina, she'd call Fern."

Frank nodded. "Does make sense. But I'd like to know why Macey even needed this kind of system. Why was it so imperative she get in touch with the women marked by this triquetra?"

Callie shrugged. "Maybe they're really good friends."

The four of them shared a puzzled look and Joe took the book back from Frank. He flipped further into the book and frowned. "Frank, look."

Frank arched an eyebrow. "She kept her passwords in here?"

Vanessa frowned. "Like for email?"

Frank sighed as the elevator came to a stop. "This gives us information, but what now? We can't just call each name on this list."

The elevator doors slid open and the four teenagers headed for Frank and Joe's room. "We need to make a list of these names, who share the same address, who shares the same little symbol, who she listed as contact names and then we may know what to do."

Vanessa nodded, looking relieved to be doing something. "Let's get busy."

Ten minutes later, they had two lists. One of only the women marked by the triquetra, another of the women listed as contacts. Joe sat back, shaking his head. "We're no closer to figuring this out than before."

"Well..." Callie massaged the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Without a list of the women missing, I don't know what we can do to solving this."

"Why don't we call one of them?" asked Vanessa. "Maybe we could find out who's missing."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea. They don't know us," said Frank.

Vanessa picked up the phone. "We have to do something." She picked up Macey's book and dialed a local number. "Hello?....Yes, is Kara Boyce there?....Hello, Kara Boyce, I'm a good friend of Macey's. I was wondering do you know where she is?....Vanessa. Vanessa Bender, we've been pen pals for three years....." Vanessa sighed and hung up. "I guess you were right, Frank, she didn't seem particularly helpful."

"It's not like at home and it's our circle of friends, Vanessa," said Frank quietly. "All things considered, these women should be wary of any strangers."

Callie frowned. "But why? Okay, so they follow a different path than most people. Why pick on these women?"

Joe narrowed his eyes. " Unless you believe they're really witches. And that man was really a warlock." He shook his head. "Callie's right, though. It's just a different belief system. Why are they targets?"

Frank grunted. "We're batting zero here. We need to find some other way to investigate this. No one's going to talk to us, obviously, and that makes sense. They wouldn't talk to strangers." He gestured to Vanessa. "Macey didn't even tell you."

Vanessa sighed. "Don't remind me." She glanced out the nearest window where the last of the sunset was starting to fade. "I'm starving. Why don't we go eat somewhere and go spend an hour or so at the convention, just to get our mind off of it. Maybe we're too close to it right now."

Joe nodded. "I'll second the eating somewhere."

Frank rolled his eyes. "You would," he told his brother. He looked down at their lists and the address book. "I don't think we should leave it here."

"I have a nice-sized purse. I'll keep it with me," said Callie, holding her hand out for the book.

Vanessa scooped up the two lists but Joe snatched them from her. "I'll keep these. Let's go eat."

The four of them left the room and headed for the elevators again. Callie yawned. "Why don't we just go to the hotel restaurant?"

"As long as the food's good, that's fine with me." They got into one with only one other passenger. The man was tall, with dark skin and a shaved head. He shifted to the far corner and watched them warily.

Joe spared a look for the man, wondering why he looked familiar, and then decided to ignore him. The overhead light flickered for a moment, making all four of them look up. Frank sighed. "Hope that doesn't go out. It'd be awfully dark in here."

"Go ahead, Frank, jinx it. Now it really will—" Joe's voice trailed off as the fluorescent light flickered even faster. It never went out, but flickered almost like a strobe light. "Huh? What gives?"

Callie tugged on Frank's shirt. "I think it's really freaking him out," she whispered, tilting her head toward the other passenger. The man seemed almost frozen in place, staring at the flickering light and never blinking.

The elevator doors slid open just then and the four of them stepped out of the elevator. The doors slid shut before they could ask the man if he was all right. Joe reached forward and punched the button to call the elevator back. The doors opened but it was empty. Joe looked up at the light which was operating normally now, not flickering at all. "That's weird."

"Must be another elevator. That man couldn't have just disappeared." Frank looked inside and frowned. "No, that's impossible. There's that stain on the wall right there. This is the same elevator, but how—?"

Something fluttered past Frank, making him duck his head. He waved his hand to shoo it away. "Mosquitoes must come awfully big here."

Joe looked over at him. "There's no mosquitoes. I don't see any." Suddenly, Joe realized why the man had looked so familiar. "Frank...that was...that was the guy that grabbed Macey."

Frank looked at his brother, stunned. "You can't be serious." He shook his head. "Why was he here? How could we have not noticed?"

"He was really freaked out by the light, almost like it mesmerized him, froze him in place.." Vanessa blinked. "Oh my...you don't think..." Her hand went to the necklace.

Callie frowned. "Maybe we should go back to our rooms, order room service and just stay in. Maybe it's safer that way."

"You think warlocks are like vampires?" asked Joe, somewhat sarcastically. "They can only come in if you invite them?"

"Be a pretty handy trick, that," said Vanessa, looking uneasy. "Since they look human."

Joe shook his head. "I'm sorry. Shouldn't have said that."

"No, you shouldn't have. Callie, I agree. Let's get back up to our rooms, eat there and work on this in the morning," said Frank.

Joe sighed and punched the button for the elevator again. "Too bad we don't have the penthouse. I'm beginning to consider this my private elevator."

The four of them got in and they once again headed up to their floor. They separated at their rooms and Frank waited until the girls were in their room before opening the door. He pushed it open and sighed. "This case is getting screwier by the second."

"Well, at least we haven't run into Charity this time."

Frank shot his brother a look. "Bite your tongue. We definitely don't need to add her to this."

Joe shrugged, made sure their door was locked and sank onto his bed. "How are we going to figure this out, Frank, there's so much we don't know."

Frank sighed and reached for the telephone. "I don't know, Joe, I just don't know."

*****

Wednesday dawned clear and cool, with only a faint remnant of early morning fog. Joe stood at the picture window and gazed out toward the ocean in the distance. "Hey, I think I see the Dragon Gates from here."

"Yeah well, so can I. Have you thought much more on what happened last night?" Frank sat down on his bed and looked over at his brother.

Joe fell backwards, narrowly missing the upholstered headboard. He stared up at the star-studded ceiling. "If you're asking whether I regret eating that much, no." He rolled over on his stomach and looked over at his brother. "Now if you're asking about our unexpected visitor in the elevator, I'd have to say no to that too. I don't know why he'd be after us."

Frank arched an eyebrow. "Even considering the fact that Vanessa has Macey's pendant?"

"Why would he be after the pendant?"

"You said yourself that it might have been sent to Vanessa for protection. But maybe not to protect the necklace but to protect someone." Frank narrowed his eyes, lost in thought. "Maybe three someones."

Joe swung his legs around and sat up. "Wait, you think this warlock is after the Halliwell sisters? But...that doesn't make sense...does it? I mean, they were right there, when he grabbed Macey..."

"But look what happened yesterday. Phoebe did that thing with the crystal, Piper and Leo left and then when they came back...Leo said the warlock was waiting for them. It's all a trap."

Joe frowned. "But what's so special about the three of them? What, you think they're super witches or something?" When Frank didn't respond right away, Joe grunted. "I was joking."

Frank blinked and looked over at his brother. "I think it's time we talk to the police. Namely a certain detective."

"I doubt he'd talk to us, Frank. He doesn't know us from Adam."

Frank lifted his head to stare out the window. "I have a plan."

Joe groaned. "Oh wonderful. I'm so delighted. Does it involve me doing something stupid in any way?"

Frank flashed his brother a grin. "Only if you insist. I'll make you call Dad."

Joe shook his head. "I don't – wait, call Dad?"

Frank nodded. "Dad's going to get us in nice with that detective." Frank's grin widened. "It's all in the presentation."

"So why do we have to call Dad? Why can't we just use his good name?"

Frank sighed. "It might be a better idea for Dad to call the police, vouch for us so when we do go, someone will listen to us." Just as Frank reached for the telephone, it rang. He shared a puzzled look with Joe and gingerly picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Frank jumped an inch off the bed. "Dad?...Um, yeah, Dad, why – why did you call? I mean how did you know where we were?...Merlyn? Forgot something?...Delicate and fragile?" Frank shook his head, forgetting his father couldn't see him. "All she brought was the power drill. She wasn't holding anything else that I could see."

Joe shot to his feet and raced out of the room, leaving Frank staring after him, even more puzzled. "Um, Dad, we were actually just about to call you." Frank quickly told his father about Vanessa's pen pal missing and the situation surrounding it all. "We think if you could talk to someone, maybe vouch for us, the police won't act like we were born yesterday....Well, no, we haven't. But we're tourists here, Dad, police don't normally talk to tourists....Um, he's getting some snacks right now....All right, Dad, and thanks."

Frank hung up the phone just as Joe walked back in, an odd expression on his face. "Where'd you run off to?"

"Delicate and fragile, Frank."

Frank looked at his brother. "What?"

"Remember the fairy ring at school last October? Remember what Merlyn told us when we confronted her? About Rhiannon?"

"Joe—" Frank swallowed hard, remembering something else. "Oh my God. The mosquito!"

"Don't insult her, for Pete's sakes." Joe lowered his voice. "When I was packing the day Merlyn brought back the drill, something fluttered by my face and I thought it was some sort of bug or something. But what if it was Rhiannon?"

"But why? Why on earth would she come with us?"

Joe looked around the room. "This wasn't supposed to be our room, Frank."

"Andrea said she'd given us the wrong keycard."

"What if she didn't goof? What if Rhiannon did it on purpose. And the car? What if that was her too?"

Frank shook his head. "Look, we were a little frazzled, trying to figure things out back in November. Maybe you were right, maybe it was animatronic or something. I really don't think it was a real fairy."

And just then the lights went out.

Joe let out an audible grunt. "I think you killed her."

Frank shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Tell her you're sorry."

"Joe!" Frank sighed but then frowned. "Is it getting colder in here or is it me?"

"You made her mad, now she's going to kill us," Joe said in a dramatic tone.

"Oh for—" Frank reached out and felt his way to the door and the overhead light switch. He flicked it on and the bulb exploded. He shook his head and reached for the doorknob but it wouldn't turn. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry."

The lamp between the beds flickered on. Something flittered in the dark doorway of the bathroom and was gone. "Well..." Joe said with a sigh. "That's better."

Frank glared at his brother. "Was this a prank?"

"How the heck could I make the light bulb explode? Or make the lights go out to begin with?" Joe shook his head. "Let's face it, Frank, we've encountered some unusual people lately. Merlyn and her cousins..." He gestured around the room. "Her.."

Frank shook his head. "It's not possible."

" 'There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio'."

"Wow, you can quote Shakespeare. I'm proud of you."

"Frank, come on."

Frank shook his head again and sat down on the bed. "Joe, you actually expect me to believe in fairies? Like in all those fairytales about wicked stepmothers, benevolent fairies and junk?"

Joe frowned. "Wait a second, what's today?"

"Wednesday; has been since midnight."

"I meant the date. It's the fifteenth, isn't it." Joe narrowed his eyes. "The fifteenth of March."

Frank looked at his brother. "Okay, when did you start reading Shakespeare in your spare time? The Ides of March was just a line from Julius Caesar – 'beware the ides of March'."

"The ides is the fifteenth day of the month, Frank. Today is the Ides of March." Joe waved his hand as if to swat the thought away. "But that's not what I was getting at. Today's the fifteenth, that would make Friday the seventeenth."

Frank heaved a world-weary sigh. "Last time I checked, Friday the seventeenth wasn't unlucky."

"March seventeenth, Frank."

Frank thought a moment and then snapped his fingers. "St. Patrick's Day. And your point is?"

Joe grinned. "Luck of the Irish."

"How do we even know fairies are Irish?" Frank threw his hands up in the air and fell backwards across his bed. "Good grief, I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Whatever. What did Dad say?"

Frank took a deep breath. "He suggests we leave this to the police."

"And...he thinks we'll take that suggestion?"

"He did say that if we decided not to follow that idea, that talking with the police should have been our first move."

Joe sighed. "Okay, so what? Now we go to the police?"

Frank sat up and shrugged. "Maybe we should. Maybe we should tell that detective that Macey mailed the book to Vanessa and when we learned that four other women are missing..."

Joe frowned. "Do you think he'll buy it?"

Frank shrugged. "Or we could go the truth route and see where it takes us."

Joe grunted. "So are we turning the address book in?"

Frank got to his feet. "Once I get it from Callie. Come on."

Joe looked around the room. "What do we do about...you know?"

"Don't start that again." Frank walked over to the door and it opened easily. He led the way across the hall to the other room.

Joe joined him, after closing their door and locking it, just in time to hear Frank tell Callie and Vanessa what they'd decided to do.

Vanessa nodded. "If it helps find Macey...let's do it."

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.