Author Becomes Character (Revised version)

I quickly contacted Nine and the others through a simple communication spell.

"Anya? What's going on?" Eli's voice crackled in my ear, urgent and steady.

"I've got a little situation on my hands," I replied. "I need you to pick up some... well, some suspicious individuals. I'll give you the details later."

"Got it," Eli said, his tone firm. "We'll be there soon."

I turned back to the girl, who was sitting on a nearby crate, her face streaked with tears but calming down. "My friends will come by and handle these guys," I said, pointing to the restrained men. 

She nodded hesitantly, still wary but trusting enough to stay put. "Okay... but... do you think they'll come back for me?"

I gave her a reassuring smile, though the worry gnawed at the back of my mind. "We'll make sure you're safe. Don't worry."

Within minutes, I met up with Eli, Rhian, and the rest of the team. Rhian's brow furrowed when he saw me approach, his gaze quickly scanning me for any signs of injury or trouble.

"Anya," Rhian started, his tone sharp. "You went off on your own again?"

Eli's deep voice followed, filled with concern. "You really need to stop doing that. We told you not to go running off without us."

I could tell they were trying to hide the concern, but it was obvious—my spontaneous decision to handle this alone hadn't exactly set their minds at ease.

"I'm fine, seriously," I said with a half-smile, trying to ease their nerves. "I just saw the situation and acted. Besides, it was just a couple of masked guys. Not exactly a full army."

Nine crossed his fragile looking arms, his face hard. "That's not the point, Anya. You could've gotten hurt, or worse, and we wouldn't have even known. Don't do that again."

"I won't," I said. "Promise. I just got caught up in the moment."

 "You're lucky it wasn't something worse. But next time? We go together. Got it?" Rhian said.

"You guys are so overprotective. I'm not some fragile porcelain doll."

"Yeah, well," Eli muttered, "you're a little more like a ticking time bomb sometimes."

The brief exchange was enough to ease the tension in the air. I wasn't going to change my spontaneous nature, but I'd have to be more careful.

"Thanks for coming," I added, changing the subject. "They're all tied up and ready to be handed over to Sir Denise."

We all walked up to where Sir Denise was waiting, and as soon as we stepped in, his sharp eyes locked on me. Then he looked over at the masked men, now stacked like a pile of potatoes on Nine's shoulder. They didn't look dangerous anymore—just like a big mistake.

"Are these the guys you told me about?" he asked Eli, who had let him know we were coming.

Nine didn't seem to care, holding them like they were nothing.

Eli nodded. "Yeah, there's something off about all this. The girl they were after—she's not just some random target. They mentioned something about her specifically being their mission. And they're not working alone," he said.

I motioned to the little girl, sound asleep in Rhian's arms, completely wiped out from everything she'd been through. Poor kid—she looked like she was carrying the weight of the world in her tiny hands.

Sir Denise's face grew darker. "I suspected as much. We've been getting reports of kidnappings near the capital, but nothing concrete. I'll send a team to investigate further. If these people are operating in Frasha..." His voice trailed off, the weight of the situation settling over us all.