Nymphet:

Simone’s Notes:

A nymphet is seen to be a sexually precocious, attractive girl, and was notably used by French author Pierre de Ronsard, and popularized by Vladimir Nabokov in the novel Lolita. In Lolita, protagonist Humbert Humbert uses it to describe the 9-14-year-old girls to whom he is attracted. In today's popular press the term is sometimes applied to women in their late teens or early twenties.  The archetypal nymphet is the character Lolita of Vladimir Nabokov's novel. Nabokov, in the voice of his narrator Humbert, first describes these nymphets in the following passage:

“Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain travelers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as ‘nymphets.’ It will be marked that I substitute time terms for spatial ones. In fact, I would have the reader see "nine" and "fourteen" as the boundaries - the mirrory beaches and rosy rocks - of an enchanted island haunted by those nymphets of mine and surrounded by a vast, misty sea.”

For Humbert, a nymphet is in the earliest stages of puberty - "The bud-stage of breast development appears early (10.7 years)". When he meets a streetwalker of 18, he considers her no longer a nymphet, although her body is still in some ways childlike.

“You want to know what again?” Hughes asked Roy the next morning. His friend turned over the photographs and the file. Maes was just as disgusted as Mustang and Wright were. Roy tried to calm himself down enough to speak.

“I want to know who the girl in the picture is,” he said. “Where she is now and if she is still alive!” Hughes tightened up fast. He was a father and this was a young developing girl. Maes couldn’t stand seeing a child being exploited like this.

“I’m on it!” he said out loud. Mustang began to relax some.

“Thanks Hughes!” he said aloud.

“Oh and when are you and Daphine getting married?” he friend threw in quickly. Roy became annoyed. This was a new thing with the gen. He was now asking when he and his new girlfriend would marry. These were much worse than Maes telling him to get a wife. Mustang tried to stay calm.

“Bye Hughes!” he said aloud. Then he walked off more questions could be asked. Hughes just shrugged and took the pictures with him into his office.

Outside, Edward watched from the tree. A cold smile was across his face. The hunt was unfolding. His latest pet would take any attention off of Alex at the moment. Things were really playing in his favor now.

“They are getting curious!” a voice said aloud to him. Edward didn’t turn around to see who it was.

“I know that, Faerie,” he replied. The faerie flew up next to him.

“So,” she said. “What are you going to do?”

“Not much,” Ed replied. Faerie looked at him in curiosity.

“Oh?” she asked. “What do you mean by that?” Edward turned to her smiling.

“I’m making this a game,” he replied. “All I have to do is stay one step ahead of the game.”

“Oh,” the faerie replied. “I see,”

“Speaking of which,” Edward spoke again. “How are the conquests?”

“Right as rain!” Faerie replied.

“Good to know,” the incubus said. “Care to watch?”

“Gladly!” Faerie replied. The two just watched in anticipation.

Hughes non-stop around the clock. The brig. gen. even pushed his current cases on the back. He tried to work through all of his meals if he had to. This was all that he was going to be working on until the end. It was odd really. He had never been so passionate about a case before. Only, this one was different. A child was involved in this case. Involved in the sickest way know to man. He was on a personal mission to bring this creep to justice. Hughes was even pushing his men hard around the clock. Master sergeant Brosh couldn’t understand it at all.

“But sir,” he protested as Hughes dropped the files right on his desk. “What about all of the other cases?” That was not what the man wanted to hear. Maes violently knocked all of the other cases off of the desk onto the floor. He then pushed the cart all the way across the room. Denny looked up at him nervously.

“Sir,” he began. “Is there a problem?” Hughes looked up at him glaring coldly. He slammed his hand down hard on the file.

“This is your top priority!” the brigadier general snapped. Then he stormed out of the office. Denny looked over at Maria in nervous fear.

“What’s with him?” he asked. Ross was calm enough to talk now.

“He’s a father,” she replied.

“So?” Denny asked.

“This case is sensitive to him,” the lt. went on. “He wouldn’t want to see his daughter exploited like this.” Denny began to see why.

“Oh,” he said. “But I thought we weren’t supposed to get emotionally involved with cases in general.” Ross just shrugged at him.

“Well,” she reasoned. “I give this one is different.” Those two knew what they had to do now. They got to work right away.

Edward and Faerie were still watching from the outside. Both were kind of surprise at the unfolding results of this case.

“Damn,” Ed muttered to himself. “I didn’t think Hughes would get this angry of some petty photographs!”

“Yeah,” Faerie agreed. “It’s exciting!”

“I might have to move my pets soon,” the alchemist said.

“Oh,” his companion replied. “To where my I ask?”

“Dunno,” Edward replied. “We’ll just have to watch and see how close they get.”

“I see,” she said. Both kept watching.

“To find anything,” Nately said. “We have to look in the missing persons database.” He turned to Maria and Denny.

“Still have one of the photos?” he asked. Ross handed him the picture.

“Great!” he said aloud. Then the lt. col. Neatly placed the photo of the girl half-naked into the scanner and hit the button. He smiled at the computer richly.

“This thing is a beauty!” he announced. “All I have to do is scan the picture and the database matches it up for me. Neat huh?”

“Anything to find this poor girl!” Ross replied.

“Okay,” Reed said aloud. “Here we go.” He clicked on the photo once it came up, open the search missing persons program, set up the search from one to three weeks, and hit search match. This took two minutes to execute. At first, hopes were high. But then, they hit a slump. There were no matches at first. Ross and Brosh looked at Nately with slight worry. The lt. col. kept calm.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s try missing children between four weeks to one month.” Nately typed it in the missing persons database. He clicked search button. The search went again. The three waited in anticipation. Lucky for them, they had a hit. A school picture of the same girl appeared next to the racy photo. Data came up under the picture as well. They read the information. The girl’s name was Stacey Beale. She was thirteen years old and a student at Maywillow Junior High. Stacey had been missing for six weeks now. The trio went grim. This was a pedophile case. The clock was now ticking. This girl needed them badly. The military had to find her before she was sold into prostitution or dead. They had the information. Now it was time to act.

“Her name is Stacey Beale,” Brosh said to Hughes in the afternoon. “She’s only thirteen years old!” Hughes rose to his feet in a rush.

“Anything else?” he asked.

“She attends Maywillow Junior High,” Ross added. “She’s been missing for six weeks.”

“Okay,” the general said. “We need to know when and where she was last seen. And who was the last person to see her before she disappeared.”

“This is an amber alert!” Ross said. “We have to alert the whole city.”

“We will all ask around now,” Hughes said. “Reed, you and Ross go out to the city right now! Brosh and I will try to look more into White’s case.”

“Right!” the three subordinates called out.

Outside, Edward was smiling to himself. He rose to his feet in the tree. The alchemist was turning to leave. Faerie looked up at him.

“Where are you going?” she asked. Edward didn’t turn around at all.

“Oh,” he replied. “Just to give them some more to fit the puzzle together.” Then he disappeared into the heavy afternoon. Faerie thought about that for a moment. A smile came across her face.

“Now that I think about,” she said aloud. “This does sound like a fun game after all.” Then, the faerie followed right behind Edward. The hunt had just begun.