EPISODE XXVI

  Bloody Taunts

  Coleus gasped and fell to her knees.

  “Coleus!” Amaris called, running to support her. “You good?”

  “I just… can’t do it without a Glen…” Coleus said, shaking her head and standing back up.

  They were in one of ORHI’s basements, with the black sphere that contained Jenny set on top of a table. The rest of ORHI was present: Kiris, Irene, Orville, and Vayvaresi.

  “Is she… stuck, then?” Iwakiri asked.

  “Maybe…” Amaris narrowed her eyes. “However, there is one other thing we know is at least somewhat effective against these shadow demons.” She pulled a magenta crystal made with two alternating parts, a larger version of her anti-magic arrowheads, courtesy of the Society of Pointed Hats. She didn’t know how to use the magic within properly, but it was sharp at the front, which should have been sufficient. “Though this might let out any nasty traps if there are any.”

  “It is a rather noxious concoction,” Vayvaresi admitted. “The darkness I smell… truly horrendous.”

  Irene shuffled closer to the door.

  Amaris took in a sharp breath. “Okay… here we go.” She touched the Magenta crystal to the black sphere. She poked it.

  The sphere popped like a balloon, releasing ten objects made out of mysterious black material and a half-formed neck. Immediately after being released, the neck started growing outward. The bones grew the fastest, but the flesh followed close behind, as though it were filling out an invisible person-shaped mold. A thin black top and bottom regenerated with the flesh, and as the hands reached out the red gloves wrapped around them.

  “...That was disgusting,” Kirishima observed.

  Jenny put one of her hands on her hip and used the other to flick her hair back. “Looks like I’m back!”

  “Oh, Jenny!” Coleus quickly pulled her into a hug. “I was actually worried about you, that guy knew exactly what to do to you, I thought he might have… for a second…”

  “Hey, hey, it’ll take more than big dark and ugly to take me down!”

  “It’s still concerning that he knew exactly how to take you out,” Vayvaresi said.

  “He probably fought me before some time long, long ago that I’ve forgotten,” Jenny said, waving a dismissive hand. “Guess he figured out I regenerate from the black things. Which I only rediscovered recently so what a coincidence, huh?” She chuckled. “But since you’re all here and not haggard beyond belief, we probably won, right?”

  “Yep!” Coleus said. “You can even go see the wreck of the mothership!”

  “Now there’s two destroyed giant structures on the horizon…” Iwakiri said, shaking his head. “Nuk is slowly becoming surrounded by death…”

  “I’m gonna go check it out,” Jenny said, removing herself from Coleus’ embrace. “Who knows what kinds of things we can loot from it?”

  Amaris put her hand out in front of the door, fixing Jenny with an intense glare.

  “Um… What’s this about?”

  “Take three guesses. The first two don’t count.”

  Jenny took in a sharp breath. “Um. Well. See. Mason helped us steal the StormFlyer so it wasn’t really stealing! That should satisfy the government, right?” She chuckled nervously.

  “Jenny!”

  “Whaaaaat?”

  “You know what I want.”

  “Hmm, no, I don’t think I do.” Suddenly, Jenny’s face flashed deathly serious. “And you don’t know what you want.”

  Amaris’ face twisted into a deep scowl. “I want the truth. Always.”

  “Oh, really? Do you?”

  “Yes!”

  “Well then have it! I’ve been working with Scarlet closely for months! Almost all the information I get you comes from her! ORHI relies on her intel! Happy?”

  “No!”

  “Then why did you have t—”

  “Because the truth is more important than my happiness and peace of mind you freaking idiot!”

  Coleus gasped. Jenny took a step back. “Amaris…” Then Jenny’s expression clouded. “There’s no need to act surprised, Amaris. You had to have known this already.”

  “I had no proof. I wanted to trust you not to lie to me. It…” Amaris clenched her hands into fists. “You lied to me, you lied to all of us, and to boot, lied about working with a serial killer!”

  “Which is exactly why I had to lie! None of you would have accepted this! You obviously still don’t and now you’re going to shoot yourselves in the foot, refuse any and all information from her, and people are going to die!”

  “She kills people already Jenny!”

  “She kills less if she’s occupied with other things and if we use her information we save more than she would have killed otherwise!”

  “Since when do you care about the mathematics of lives!?”

  “Since when I had to think about how I would justify this to you if this ever happened!”

  “Well, then how did you justify it to yourself!?”

  Jenny opened her mouth, but fell silent. A haunted, blank look came across her features.

  “Jenny…?” Irene said.

  “...I don’t need justification,” Jenny muttered, looking at the ground, a slouch slowly forming in her back. “I do what I want. I’m Jenny. I…” Suddenly the fire came back to her eyes and she pointed a finger at Amaris. “You’re being a hypocrite!”

  “What?” Amaris blinked, shocked by the turnaround.

  “I’m working with someone nasty? Give me a break, so are you! Look behind you at the Kiris! They still want to be murderers, they just can’t!”

  Kirishima growled. “Why you little punk…”

  Iwakiri grabbed his sister’s shoulder. “This isn’t our argument.”

  “She dragged us into it!”

  Amaris narrowed her eyes. “There is a very clear difference between them and Scarlet, Jenny. Two, actually. First, they aren’t still doing it. Second, they’re changing. Scarlet is active and unapologetically unchanging.”

  “...I-I’m not so sure about the second one,” Irene stammered.

  “Ugh, Irene, please don’t…”

  “She saved Jenny, sacrificing her own power. She didn’t have to.”

  Jenny blinked. “She what?”

  Irene wrung her wrists. “Scarlet could have taken the storm cube… but she went for you instead, so you wouldn’t be lost.”

  Jenny was completely silent.

  Amaris furrowed her brow, looking at the ground. “...She’s still…”

  Tears started falling down Jenny’s face.

  “J-Jenny?” Amaris stammered.

  “I… I don’t know!” Jenny fell to the ground and pulled her knees to her chest. “I don’t know why I’m crying, okay? I don’t know. I don’t know.” She started shivering. “I don’t know…”

  Amaris kneeled down and placed her hand on Jenny’s shoulder. “Hey, hey… Jenny. We may be arguing but you’re still safe here…”

  “I’m not afraid!” Jenny shouted back. “I don’t know what I am but it’s not afraid!”

  “Then tell us what you’re thinking, maybe…”

  “You can help? You just spent the last few minutes shouting at me!”

  “Something’s clearly wrong, I just want to help you, Jenny… I don’t… I don’t want to see her use you.”

  Jenny’s shaking slowly stopped. “...Yes. She is using me. But I’m also using her.” She looked Amaris right in the eyes. “We have fun, the two of us. She helps out a lot and…”

  “Jenny…”

  “...She’s just…” Jenny shook her head and then looked up to Amaris, tears in her eyes. “I… I can’t help it, Amaris. I like her, she’s fun, she knows me, she… the way she faces the world…” She started choking on her words. “Why do I like evil, Amaris? Why? Why?”

  “I… I don’t know. It…”

  “Am I evil?”

  “No. Jenny, you are a hero.”

  “Maybe I’m only a hero because I’m around y-you. I’m not consistent. Consistency is for losers. I-I’m ever-changing, ever-shifting… I’m whatever Jenny wants to be at any moment.” She hung her head. “And right now I want things… that I can’t have at the same time.”

  Amaris pulled her into a hug. “You can still have us, Jenny.”

  “You’re going to make me stop seeing her though…”

  “...I want to,” Amaris admitted. “But Jenny, how am I going to do that? Threaten to cut ties with you? Throw you out? I would… I would never do that.”

  “But what if… what if I become like her? What if I’m a monster?”

  “Then I lock you up in here and keep you from leaving.”

  Jenny let out a bitter laugh. “...I’ll hold you to that. If I ever go the bad way, lock me up. Take out my fingers and neck, seal me in a bottle. You know how to do it, now.”

  “...The best way to avoid that is to stop letting her influence you.”

  Jenny looked at the ground. “...I don’t think I can do that. I wasn’t able to refuse her back when I wanted to. Or part of me wanted to. Or…” Jenny closed her eyes tightly and put her hands to her head. “I don’t even know what’s going on in here…”

  “...I think you need to talk to Antonio.”

  “Therapy?” Jenny let out a laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no way he could deal with me.”

  “He dealt with me.”

  Jenny continued staring at the ground. She nodded slowly. “Okay, I’ll… I’ll try it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I… but… what about the information?”

  “Jenny…” Amaris sighed. “You… are right, her information is useful, and if you were acting just as a spy to grab information and maybe find a way to catch her, that would be one thing. But… Jenny, it’s hurting you. Making you lie to your friends. She’s using you.”

  “...It’s… not quite that,” Jenny said. “She really does like me, you know. It’s not fake.”

  Amaris closed her eyes. “...I know. That kind of makes it worse. I remember you breaking down that day.”

  Jenny nodded.

  “I can’t figure you out, and you can’t figure you out… yet. But maybe…”

  “Yeah, yeah, therapy. I’ll… I’ll try.” Jenny took a deep breath and stood up, wiping her eyes. “...I’m still going to talk to Scarlet.”

  “...Maybe one of us should come with you in the future,” Amaris said.

  “You don’t…”

  “To protect you.”

  “I don’t want to force you to…” Jenny sighed. “I don’t want to deal with any of this…”

  “Unfortunately, you have to,” Vayvaresi said.

  “Right.” Jenny swallowed hard. “I’m… I’m going to ask her first. I think she wants to get closer to the rest of you too, though. Do you want to give her what she wants?”

  Amaris frowned. “I’m… not sure.”

  “Yeah. Me either.” Jenny took in a sharp breath. “I… am going to go sleep, if you don’t mind.”

  “Bed’s ready if you need it,” Coleus said.

  “Yeah… I think I do.” Slowly, and with more weakness in her step than any of them had ever seen her have before, she moved out of the room.

  Kirishima was the first to speak after she was gone. “This is messed up on a level I can’t even begin to describe.”

  Amaris absent-mindedly scritched Pitch’s head. “...But it sure is interesting.”

  Orville sighed. “Don’t blame yourself.”

  “I’m not blaming myself, Orville. I’m just… coming to terms with the fact that this sort of thing is on the list of horrors the curse can bring about.” Amaris shuddered. “One of your best friends can get far too attached to someone evil. And there’s nothing any of you can do about it… not even her.”

  Silence fell over the room once more.

  ~~~

  President Alvaro Castillero’s office was extremely large and bright. Behind the tremendous hunk of mahogany wood that was the President’s desk, there was an utterly massive window of ornate glass. Seeing the outside was almost impossible, given all the twists and turns in the glass itself. Said twists were clearly artistic in some form, but the meaning of the shapes and symbols eluded General Mason. The primary effect of the window, then, was to surround the fuzzy figure of the President in light, casting a shadow over whoever was in his office. It made it hard for General Mason to read his face.

  There were two other people in the room. The Vice President, a pink-haired human with wrinkles on her face and glasses that always seemed to reflect in just the perfect way to prevent her eyes from being seen. General Mason knew her well, her name was Callie Young. There was also a big burly man in a black suit and round hat that General Mason didn’t know, clearly some kind of security.

  “You’ve certainly taken some… interesting actions, as of late, General,” President Castillero said.

  “I will not deny it,” General Mason said.

  The President flicked his tail. “Hmmmmm… and yet, strictly speaking, you broke no regulations. You had the proper authority and clearance to make your own decisions once communications broke down. But because of this, you and a few other people definitely saw things you weren’t supposed to.”

  The Vice President shook her head. “Which is extremely awkward.”

  General Mason swallowed hard. “So what happens now, then?”

  “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” The President swiveled around in his chair as though he were looking out the window, though such a thing was impossible. “You’ve seen the Vanguard and the threat we face.”

  “If I may, President?”

  “Oh, of course. I do love to hear your side of things.”

  “I find it… baffling that we have an enemy the military isn’t told about.”

  “Some of you are told,” the President said, swiveling back toward General Mason. “But the Vanguard generally makes it so very few need to know, given how automatic their defenses are. The recent invasion was… a bit of an outlier.”

  “So this sort of thing has happened before.”

  “Obviously, the Strider was one of them. Any nation as large as we are will attract their attention. If we couldn’t deal with them and keep the populace in the dark, we would never live in peace. This is how it has been for centuries.”

  General Mason furrowed his brow. “...There is no hope of taking the fight to them?”

  The President laughed. “Oh, how I wish we could send a counter-invasion! But anything you know of standard warfare from the history books at our borders is pointless. They essentially do not have a society, merely a chain of command. You saw only the fifth-highest rung on that chain.”

  The Vice President tensed. “Alvaro, is it really a good idea…?”

  “I have no intention of killing him, and it’s becoming clear that he’s trying to figure out how to solve this problem. So I have no choice but to promote him.”

  General Mason nodded.

  “Figured that out, did you?”

  “The other option was to kill me or lock me up, and you’ve already said you find me useful.”

  “I do indeed. A model soldier.” The President flicked his tail back and forth. “You are going to be onboarded into the Vanguard program. While this is a promotion, it is also a punishment, for the amount of classified intel you will have access to and the demands on your time will be extreme. You will have to step into the shadows of society.”

  “I am willing.”

  “Good. And to be clear… your friends in ORHI are to learn none of this.”

  “Am I permitted to let them know I’m alive?”

  “Oh, yes, you’re not vanishing.” The President laughed. “But they aren’t to know any of this.”

  “I will warn you. They have knowledge of the Vanguard, had it before the events in the storm.”

  “Really?” The President tilted his head. “Well well well… that’s…”

  “How?” The Vice President asked. “The Vanguard wipes all memory and does everything in their power to eliminate all potential witnesses.”

  “They have a broken chunk of one, apparently they shot it down.”

  “Shot it down!?”

  “I don’t know the details. I could ask, they aren’t very tight-lipped about the things they’ve found.”

  The Vice President shook her head. “This is a gross breach of security…”

  “I can say this, they were fighting for their lives against something that was trying to kill them.”

  The President chuckled. “Oh, I’m not blaming them. But if they know too much…”

  “Their entire point is to investigate magical and esoteric phenomena. They have found a lot in this City. Their activities will certainly uncover more.”

  “Yes… they certainly will.” The President tapped his paw on the desk. “However, with the Strider’s remnants present, they clearly provide a beneficial service. What a pickle! I can’t just promote them and get them on board, that’s definitely not going to work!”

  “We could revoke their business license.”

  “That’d stop nothing,” the President said. “They’d just have to move into the shadows. Plus, another similar business would probably crop up with some less reputable sorts who just want revenge on anything from the Strider. Oh, what are we going to do? How do we keep things secret when the secrets are now revealing themselves?” He chuckled.

  General Mason narrowed his eyes. “You aren’t worried…”

  The President flashed a big toothy grin. “Oh, what gave it away?”

  “You weren’t trying to hide it.”

  “Not at all.”

  The Vice President adjusted her glasses. “In truth, we have already been keeping some eyes on them. Not many, not enough to find out they had information on the Vanguard… though that makes some sense, given how they play with memory.”

  “Coleus is doing quite well at serving the city,” the President added.

  General Mason nodded. “I agree. I just wonder what you are going to do when they find out too much.”

  “Hmm, you really think they will?”

  “Amaris’ curse is not a joke.”

  “I suppose that’s true…” The President was silent for a moment. “I suppose that depends on what her conclusion is when she finds the truth. Can she accept it?”

  “That depends on what the truth is.”

  “Which I suppose it’s about time to show you then, isn’t it?” The President nodded to the bodyguard. “Show him to the Vanguard Project.”

  ~~~

  Amaris, Rin, and Emma sat at a table in the cafeteria.

  All of them were staring at the black piece of paper in the center of the table with yellow writing on it.

  The message was simple.

  Dear Amaris… I am High Lord Orvind, servant of Eyda. We were here to annihilate your society for destroying our other installation, the Strider. You will be glad to know that our plans have been foiled, and we have no intention of returning any time soon.

  Though you will ask, why? Why not return? Why not send another installation?

  The answer is simple. We wish to see how far your curse can go. Without even being present, you brought several people to the perfect place at the perfect time to ruin absolutely everything. This is something that will clearly only grow with time.

  Who knows. Perhaps you are one of the rare few whose curse will grow to the point of drawing Eyda’s attention. I hope I’m there to see it.

  The three girls kept staring at the paper.

  “Well…” Emma said, taking in a sharp breath. “At least we don’t have to worry about them anymore?”

  “Don’t have to worry about them for now,” Amaris said.

  “Could change when she… ‘ripens’ “ Rin said with a shudder.

  “And… and we have a name for the bad guy!” Emma said. “Eyda! So…”

  “If my curse comes from her, she could probably take it away,” Amaris said. “Meaning… if we do ever get to that point… we can’t just assume everything will work out, that the interesting will happen.” Amaris shook her head. “But we kind of already knew that. Something had to be the source of the curses’ power. Obviously, it’s not impossible to remove one.” Amaris tapped her fingers on the table nervously. “I’m more concerned about why now.”

  “Why what?” Rin asked.

  “Why… what’s the point of these curses? Why do they want them to grow?”

  “Evil,” Emma offered.

  “I think it has to be more than that…” Amaris frowned. “Both the Strider and the… ‘Stormbringer’ I guess… Both of them were city destroyers. Outside of Yeshalo we don’t see many nations larger than a few cities, probably because of these ‘installations.’ Their purpose is to keep people from growing too large and united, it seems. So why are we being given freedom because of my curse?”

  “How did Yeshalo survive in the first place?” Rin asked. “And the neighboring countries, too.”

  “Memory angels, probably,” Amaris said. “They seem to have it out for the black demon things in particular.”

  “But we had to save the day,” Emma said. “The angels didn’t do it.”

  “There were also the doors,” Rin pointed out. “They were appearing on the Stormbringer. I think it was an attack as well.”

  “Hmm…” Amaris scratched her chin. “The doors attacked by leading monsters in, according to you two. So…” Amaris sank back into her chair and sighed. “All that really tells us is that the doors are related to whatever’s managing all the darkness in Yeshalo. But we already knew that existed.”

  “Well, now we know that the doors can act to defend Yeshalo,” Rin said.

  “I guess… or were the doors just defending themselves? And if the doors have some kind of mind or controller, why are they so random otherwise?”

  “Maybe it just seems random.”

  “I don’t know.” Amaris frowned. “We have a lot of new information, I feel like there’s a big realization just around the corner… but I don’t know what.” She glanced at the clock. “And it’s time to go anyway.”

  “Oh, there’s no rush,” Emma said.

  “We said we’d help you set up for drama club,” Rin said.

  “Drama club…” Emma chuckled. “Feels so strange, just a few days ago we were in the sky fighting aliens, and now it’s… school.” She looked down at the ground. “Just school…”

  “Hey, Emma… you good?” Amaris asked.

  “I… think so? I’ve got a lot to think about, but I’m alive, and I’ve got both of my best friends here with me.” She beamed at them both. “That’s got to be worth something, right?”

  Amaris nodded. “It’s worth a lot.”

  The three of them got up and left the Cafeteria, wandering down the maze-like halls of the school, heading directly to one of the storage rooms that held the drama club costumes. Emma was the only one of them actually in the drama club, but Amaris and Rin were known to watch some of the performances. Today was just costuming, though, and Emma had drawn the short straw of setting it all up.

  “Okay so we’re going to need the fancy old-timey dresses and the spandex sci-fi suits,” Emma said as they entered the storage room, revealing a room filled with all sorts of costumes on hundreds of hangars. While there were a lot of costumes, most of them were old, and many were quite tattered.

  They put the costumes they needed into a pile.

  “This is going to take more than one trip,” Rin said. “And they expected you to do this yourself?”

  Emma shrugged. “It would have just taken time.”

  “Might as well get started.” Amaris took off her backpack so she could carry more, though she made sure Pitch was coiled around her arm. “Here we go…”

  “I could help with that.”

  The three of them looked to the open door to see a boy in a black hood. At first, Amaris tensed up… but then she realized who it was. “...Ralph? What are you doing in a hood?”

  “Trying to get away from the people who follow me around.”

  “Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.”

  “W-what are you doing here though?” Emma stammered.

  Ralph grinned. “You three are far cooler than them!”

  Emma swooned. Rin had to hold her up.

  Amaris nodded. “That… you know that also makes sense. Sure, we could use the help.”

  “Hang on, we’re just letting him?” Rin asked.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Amaris asked.

  “He’s Ralph.”

  “I repeat my question.”

  Rin opted to glare at Ralph instead.

  “I’m not sure what I did…” Ralph said, tilting his head.

  “You’re mister popular and everyone loves you, that’s what.”

  “And that’s no reason to resent him, Rin,” Amaris chided. “Come on, Ralph, help us with these.”

  Between Amaris and Ralph’s muscles, they were actually able to carry all of the costumes at once, though Ralph and Amaris were so overloaded it was hard to see them through the folds of fabric.

  “S-so, uh, h-how’s it been, Ralph?” Emma asked.

  “Eh,” Ralph said. “We won our last game. Got a trophy and everything.”

  “You don’t sound very… excited.”

  “I win a lot of those things. Basically all I do.”

  “W-well… we saved Yeshalo from a giant spaceship!”

  “Emma!” Rin hissed.

  “What? It’s Ralph! We can tell him.”

  “Are you sure about that!?”

  “It’s not really a secret,” Amaris pointed out. “People just aren’t likely to believe us. Though, bragging about it might be a bit much.”

  Emma tripped over her own feet and almost fell. “I-I’m just saying we have cool stuff happen too!”

  “Sounds way cooler than what happened to me,” Ralph said. “I kind of miss the junk world, actually… we were doing stuff there, remember Amaris? Keeping everyone under control, preparing for attacks, managing the danger… you really were something.”

  “Thanks,” Amaris said. “Turns out they don’t need me though, these two saved the day without me this time.”

  “The m-magic of being in the right place at the right time!” Emma stammered.

  “And you being insane,” Rin added.

  “I… well yes I kind of was…” She laughed nervously. “But we still did it!”

  “Wish I could go on adventures like that more often with you,” Ralph said.

  Emma started choking on her own breath. Amaris simply chuckled. “Ralph, if you hang out with me, you won’t be able to avoid it. I’m cursed, it’ll spread to you. You probably can’t avoid it even if you tried at this point.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

  They made it to the drama club’s room. Amaris pushed the door open.

  She stopped in her tracks.

  “Amaris, what is…” Emma let out an ‘eep’ and dropped all her costumes on the ground.

  Ralph was the one who screamed at the sight.

  Blood was everywhere. Much of it was splattered around randomly, but some of it had clearly been used to draw straight lines that zigged and zagged all across the floor, walls, and ceiling. Some of it was still flowing, dripping from the ceiling. Hanging from a broken ceiling tile was the body of a cat, barely more than a kitten. One of their classmates, presumably, but the face was so mutilated Amaris couldn’t tell who it was. The body was wrapped in barbed wire and had clearly been severed in multiple places, tied back together by the metal spikes.

  Written on the ceiling in ink, not in blood, were the words: That makes three. What will you do now, supposed defenders of Nuk? You’ve now failed three times to do your job. How useless you are.

  Amaris clenched her hand into a fist.

  “You’re handling this surprisingly well,” Rin whispered to Emma.

  “I think… I’m getting a little used to it.” She glanced at Ralph. “Ralph?”

  Ralph broke out into a panicked run.

  “Ah…”

  “There goes your big, strong man.”

  “Rin! Now is not the time! Someone’s dead!”

  “Yeah… Amaris, what’s the plan?”

  “Gather information,” Amaris said. “This may look like it’s directed at us, but it’s not. We weren’t aware of there being other victims. I think this is directed at the police. We need to confirm that.”

  “How?”

  “Well. It just so happens that Jenny and I are going to see Scarlet soon…”

  ~~~

  “So glad that you’re finally willing to talk with me again,” Scarlet said as she poured a cup of tea and handed it to Amaris. Jenny had already gotten her cup of overly-sweetened coffee a moment before and was currently chugging it down.

  Amaris took the tea and took a sip. She didn’t take her eyes off Scarlet. Her tie was yellow with green dots today.

  “Such angry eyes…” Scarlet sat down behind her desk. Her office was rather small, all things considered, and the cramped feeling was intensified by all the books and loose papers she had stacked everywhere. It was a remarkably chaotic space for one such as her. “Is the tea to your liking, at least?”

  “It’s… good.”

  “Just good? As I recall, prior to our little falling out, this was not only your favorite blend, but the exact temperature you preferred. I spent quite a bit of time figuring out your preferences.”

  Amaris twitched. “Fine. It’s absolutely excellent, the taste and experience is merely marred because I’m sitting in the same room as you.”

  “Sounds like you have a mental block. It would not take much effort to remove it and be able to truly enjoy yourself. Of course… that does depend on you wanting to.”

  Jenny slammed her mug down on the desk. “Got any more?”

  “Absolutely!” Scarlet poured her some more coffee. “I always have yours on hand.”

  “Thanks.” Jenny took another sip. “Ah, so good…”

  “Jenny…” Amaris warned.

  “What? It’s just coffee. Am I not supposed to like coffee?”

  “That’s not the problem, the problem is that she’s bribing you with it. And all the shrimp pizza, too. We talked about this.”

  “...I’m still going to like the coffee.”

  Amaris sighed, then turned to look at Scarlet. “So. Looks like you’re getting what you want. Talking to me again. I wonder if this is all part of your plan or whatever, but there’s no way I’m getting a straight answer out of you about that.”

  “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Scarlet said, smile unwavering.

  “Uh-huh.” Amaris put her hand to the bridge of her nose. “So, let me be clear. I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. You’re manipulating Jenny and you’re manipulating us. This is in addition to your long list of secret crimes that you’re going to pretend like you haven’t done. My preferred course of action here is to never speak to you again and keep Jenny away from you. However, she doesn’t want to do that. And I am forced to admit that not only have you been helpful, you are a good source of information.”

  “Glad you’ve come to your senses.”

  Amaris clenched her jaw. “I’m not sure I’d call this sensible…”

  “You are merely making use of an ‘enemy’ you cannot defeat to defeat other enemies. It’s logical and effective.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Amaris narrowed her eyes. Then she deflated and sunk back into her chair. “Okay, I’m done. Jenny, did you have anything?”

  Jenny nodded. She took in a sharp breath and set down her coffee. “Hey, Scarlet?”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m going to have to turn down any future things you want to do just for fun.”

  Scarlet’s smile dropped. “Why?’

  “...Look, it was fun, and I’ve had a lot of great times. But…” Jenny glanced at Amaris. “When I hang out with you, it hurts everyone else. I’d… rather not do that.”

  “But where will you draw the line? You’ve drunk the coffee, and that clearly hurt Amaris here.”

  Jenny shrugged. “Dunno. I’ll draw the line where it seems right. You’re honestly a ton of fun, really. But there are things that matter more to me.”

  Scarlet stared at her for a moment. Then she put her hand to her eyes and started chuckling.

  “Uh… okay, where’s the joke? I was being serious for once!”

  “The absurdity of the situation just hit me,” Scarlet said. “It’s like we’re two schoolchildren on the playground going through a breakup.”

  “Um…” Jenny looked away from her. “Y-yeah I guess it’s kinda like that, but that’s not… funny.”

  “Agree to disagree.” Scarlet folded her hands together. “Of course, this means I just have to set up meetings at fun locations rather than my stuffy office here.”

  Amaris’ eye twitched. “Why can’t you just leave her alone?”

  “I’d rather her have fun than not, simple as that. You too, by the way. Wouldn’t you rather be having this meeting at a carnival while we play silly games and eat terrible food?”

  “...Well. Yes. But…”

  “My point exactly.”

  “You’re trying to condition us!”

  Scarlet smirked at her. “Consider it the price for my information.”

  Jenny blinked. “Hang on. How did…”

  “She just took control of the negotiation you didn’t realize was happening,” Amaris said with a sigh. “You really are a selfish, manipulative piece of work, Scarlet.”

  “And I’m a great help and you know it. So. Today there’s no price for information or assistance, despite the fact that I already gave a lot of free help out with the aliens. I’m feeling generous.”

  Amaris looked down at the ground. “I… I don’t want to do this, but I feel like I have to.”

  “Oh?”

  “Thank you.” Amaris looked Scarlet right in the eyes. “For helping Jenny instead of yourself up there.”

  Scarlet closed her eyes and nodded. “...Your thanks means more to me than you can realize.”

  “Don’t get the wrong idea.”

  “I don’t. I am fully aware of the entire situation. But my words stand.”

  “I think I’ve gotten lost…” Jenny said.

  “Amaris is much better at subtext and inference than you are,” Scarlet pointed out. “We can actually talk about secret things without saying anything.”

  “We can do that too.”

  “And how long did it take you to figure out how to do that?”

  “Um…” Jenny rubbed the back of her head. “Well…”

  “Exactly.” Scarlet turned back to Amaris. “Now, what is it you wish to know?”

  Amaris crossed her arms. “What do you know about the murderer that killed one of my fellow students?”

  “Ah, well that’s an interesting case. Surprised you haven’t heard of it before now. To put it simply, somebody appears to think the police in Nuk are useless and can’t do anything and has taken to taunting them. Only three murders have had the calling cards of taunting words written in blood, but I’m aware of two others that happened prior. All five of them were young girls, three humans and two cats. If there were any neko murders before that we wouldn’t know, those aren’t reported as often.” Scarlet folded her arms. “They’re all mutilated heavily, though the last three have all been sewn back together with barbed wire and hung from the ceiling. The first two murders had no timing pattern, but these last three have always happened on Monday every week. No doubt our culprit will strike again next Monday, if the pattern holds. Which, considering how much this is intended to mock the police, unless something strange happens the murderer will want to be as predictable as possible just to prove how ineffective law enforcement is.”

  “Bet this is giving you all sorts of ideas,” Jenny commented. Scarlet didn’t respond to this.

  Amaris closed her eyes and thought for a moment. “Any pattern in the murder locations?”

  “They’re all in Nuk in places where children frequent, but other than that, no.”

  “What evidence do the police have? Any ideas?”

  “Now, I’m not supposed to know this, but they have no hair, fingerprints, pawprints, or shoeprints at the scene. The murder weapon has not been found but forensic analysis suggests it’s just a normal knife. They have no real suspects and no suspect profile. The bodies have been there at least an hour when they are discovered, and the police take even longer to arrive.”

  “...Are the police actually ineffective?”

  “Absolutely,” Scarlet said. “You know that personally.”

  Amaris frowned. “They can’t want this to go on, it makes them look bad. Even if there is some kind of shadowy secret… they’re supposed to look like they’re protecting the people.”

  “They are trying to bury the story, keep it from spreading. With this third murder, though, they are going to fail at that. They know this and are devoting a lot more resources than usual to trying to figure this out.”

  “Which is exactly what the murderer wants.”

  “Exactly. A showdown.” Scarlet folded her fingers together and grinned. Amaris shuddered involuntarily. “This is not a killer trying to be safe, this is a killer who wants a show. He may even expect to be caught at the end of this all, going out with a bang, as it were. For some reason or other, he has a bone to pick with the police in particular. I haven’t yet deduced if he is targeting young girls because of some psychotic pleasure or simply because it’ll cause the most response, but I suspect it’s one of the two. Perhaps both.”

  “...Is there any indication magic is being used?”

  Scarlet frowned. “Now there’s a question… there’s no indication of anything in particular. However, this suspect is not leaving traces like most would and always seems to know where to strike. It could just be someone particularly clever and knowledgeable.”

  “Or some kind of vengeful spirit.”

  Scarlet shrugged. “There’s so little information to go off of, it’s impossible to tell.”

  Amaris sighed. “I’ve had Orville do some looking into it already, trying to find the last person who saw the victim. It was hours before we found the body. Nobody nearby at the time saw the murderer, otherwise, Orville would have been able to get into his memories and that would be that.” She clicked her tongue. “If we could get into his memories this would be solved almost instantly. But nobody saw him and he evidently didn’t stick around.”

  “So you’ve already decided to investigate?”

  “Look, the body was right in front of us.” Amaris frowned. “Magic or no, we should at least try something. We’ve got until Monday and we don’t have any major jobs right now.”

  “You certainly have a lot of advantages.”

  Amaris narrowed her eyes. “And what if he turns out to be untouchable like, oh, I don’t know, some psycho with red hair?”

  Scarlet folded her hands together and smirked. “Two psychos don’t mix, Amaris. You should know this by now.”

  ~~~

  ORHI began investigations in earnest. Orville tried all the murder locations for memories of the murderer, but found nothing. Every single murder was performed far from witnesses and nobody found the bodies for some time. The Kiris investigated the dregs and managed to uncover some scant stories about a neko victim, but aside from her identity and the nature of her being chopped into pieces, there was no real information. They thought they might have found another victim, but that just turned out to be Scarlet’s activity.

  “She waved to me in the memory of the murder,” Orville said, shivering. “That woman…”

  “And she’s the source of all the information the police won’t give us…” Irene sighed.

  Irene was standing behind the desk at ORHI headquarters. There had been a customer earlier that day; Jenny had gone out to deal with her were-rabbit problem. The Kiris were still out investigating and Amaris was at school, leaving only Irene and Coleus at headquarters.

  Coleus was sitting in a nearby chair reading a magazine about engineering and humming a tune; presumably whatever was playing through her headphones.

  Irene was struck by how tall Coleus had gotten. Ever since she’d officially become a free leaf dryad, her body had started elongating and filling out. Not in the way a human’s would—her hips and upper torso actually got significantly narrower. Her leaf-dress had gained an entire other layer of leaves, and the leaves on her head had become significantly longer.

  “Geez… even puberty doesn’t work that fast,” Irene said to herself.

  “Putting down roots is a faster process, as I understand it.”

  “Aren’t dryads all about being slow and deliberate?”

  “If their biology demands otherwise, what are they going to do about it?”

  “Right. Of course…” Irene rubbed the back of her head. “Wait, weren’t you telling me things about Scarlet?”

  “Honestly I’d rather not. I know I’m keeping a general eye on her, but there are so many horrific things I find that I just can’t deal with. And every time she sees me in her memories she’s always so friendly. It’s unnerving how genuine it is.”

  “There’s gotta be something we can do…”

  “Rin’s idea is still available.”

  “We’re not hitmen,” Irene asserted.

  “I agree, but that is a solution that would certainly work. With the Society of Pointed Hats, we probably have the means to be covert about it now…”

  Irene stared at him dumbfounded. “Are you actually considering it…?”

  “A bit. I… can’t stand all that suffering. That said…” Orville sighed. “Her information is also saving a lot of people. Honestly, probably more than she’s killing.”

  “What a mess.”

  “Won’t get any argument from me…”

  The phone rang. Irene flipped it off the hook with far too much flamboyance. “Hello! You’ve reached Outer Reality Handling Incorporated, here to handle your supernatural needs! My name is Irene, how can I help you today?”

  “Irene, it’s Jenny.”

  “Oh, how did the were-rabbits go?”

  “Those? Those are dealt with, have the money already. I didn’t call for that.”

  Irene sensed the seriousness in Jenny’s voice. “What happened?”

  “Another murder,” Jenny said. “And this one’s mocking us.”

  “But… it’s Wednesday…”

  “He didn’t care about that, apparently.”

  ~~~

  The scene was decidedly gruesome, but Amaris had expected that. It was a human girl this time, hanging from the ceiling of a broom closet tucked away in the back of a steam power plant. No doubt the noise of the machinery had drowned out any and all of the screams.

  The part that was surprising were the words splattered across the walls.

  So, the cultists at ORHI have taken notice, have they? Bet you thought I was going to be predictable and timely, huh? You’re even worse than those stupid police. Well, great ‘heroes,’ what’s your next move? Sic the memory ghost on me?

  “We’ve already done that…” Amaris clicked her tongue and frowned.

  At this point the police detective examining the scene noticed her. “Hey, you can’t be in he—”

  Amaris flashed her business card. “I’m with ORHI. The message is for me, I have a right to be here. You can remove me if you want, but I suspect you want to question me.”

  The detective adjusted his hat and scratched his handlebar mustache. “You could be his next target…”

  “Possible, but I doubt it. He knows about our memory ghost, he’ll know about my curse.”

  “...Mind telling me what a ‘memory ghost’ is?”

  “What we call our friend Orville, who only exists in memories. He’s looking around right now, trying to find any memories with the killer in them. Though the killer’s probably going to be even more careful now than he was before…”

  The detective narrowed his eyes. “What’s keeping you from just finding him?”

  “Orville can’t enter the memories of dead people. This murderer leaves no witnesses and we can never find anyone who remembers him leaving or entering the scenes. Doesn’t mean they don’t exist, just that we can’t find them.” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “What I want to know is how he figured out we were investigating him…”

  “I’d like to know why you were investigating as well…”

  “He hit my school. It became personal.”

  “Kid, this is above your pay grade.”

  Amaris glared at him. Then she sighed. “No use arguing… you can’t exactly stop us, so we’ll keep looking into it.”

  “I’m sure I could figure something out.”

  “Do you have any way to arrest a memory ghost?”

  The detective stared at her.

  “Thought not. Best save yourself the headache. Now… I don’t suppose you could tell me if you’ve got any suspects, or are you still grasping at straws?”

  “How did you…”

  Amaris grinned smugly. “Believe it or not, it wasn’t the memory ghost. I’m not telling you what it was, our information network is quite extensive though.” Look at me, basically bragging about Scarlet. I might be getting too smug here…

  The detective sighed. “We don’t have any leads. Not any prints, not any hairs, nothing.”

  “And we’ve not detected any magic either,” Amaris noted. “Doesn’t mean there isn’t any, could just be weak magic. But it’s peculiar.” She frowned. “What kind of person would have a bone to pick with both the police and ORHI? That’s what’s bugging me.”

  “Someone who just wants to toy with people. These sorts usually like a challenge, don’t understand why they’re picking a fight with you.”

  “Maybe he thinks we’re a bigger threat.”

  “Please, don’t make me laugh.”

  Amaris decided not to let out a snarky remark. “All he has to do is think that way. If he uses magic or knows one of us personally…”

  Suddenly the detective was standing very close to her. His expression was suddenly a lot more menacing.

  I was trying not to be snarky! “Um… do you… have a question for me?”

  “I’m just thinking… maybe he not just knows you, he’s one of yours.”

  “...What.”

  “I’m gonna need a list of all people in and associated with your little… organization, missy.”

  Amaris blinked. “Well, okay, I actually have all that information on me I can just give it to you.” She reached into her backpack and pulled out one of her notebooks, flipping to a page that had a list of everyone who had helped ORHI out. “Lemme just copy this down…”

  The detective reached out and tore the page out of the notebook. “Can’t have you tampering with it.”

  Amaris’ left eye twitched. “Can I at least copy it while you’re holding it or something so I still have a copy?”

  The detective rammed the page into his coat pocket. “Now, you’re going to tell me everything you’ve done to find this guy.”

  “You didn’t even answer my question!”

  “I’m the detective here. You’re just a kid. A kid who needs to learn how to give authority proper respect. You clearly don’t know your place.”

  “My desire to give you respect is dropping by the minute.”

  “We could go to the station, missy. In handcuffs.”

  Amaris opened her mouth in preparation for a particularly nasty comment, but then she remembered. Remembered what they knew about Nuk, about the way things were set up, and the hints of conspiracy.

  This detective might not have been safe.

  For all she knew, he was the murderer and was trying to cover his tracks.

  Amaris took in a sharp breath and locked her hands behind her back. “Fine then. Tell me what you want to know.”

  From that point on, she made sure to answer his questions clinically and without much in the way of emotion. She hid no details, though she only mentioned Scarlet as her “anonymous source”. She made it as boring as possible. At first, this seemed to placate him, but as she kept talking, he got angry again.

  Amaris had no idea why. She was doing what he wanted, not even talking back. Maybe what he didn’t like was the information he was receiving. There were a few options for this. Option one, he was the murderer, and he wasn’t liking his chances of getting away with anything at this point. But that didn’t make any sense, the murderer was clearly aware of Orville and wouldn’t risk a conversation of any sort with anyone at ORHI related to the murder, Orville would try to track it. Option two, she was somehow delivering a blow to his pride just by talking. Was it that her information was ruining all his theories and suspects? Making him and the department look stupid? Option three, he just despised the idea of ORHI and the more he heard about it the more his blood boiled.

  How can I placate him without knowing for sure what’s going on…?

  The detective fell silent.

  “Um… detective? Sir…?”

  “Shut up.”

  Amaris shut up. They stood there in silence for quite some time.

  He stamped his foot angrily on the ground, muttering something under his breath. Amaris clearly wasn’t supposed to hear it, but she caught the jist of it anyway.

  He was looking for an excuse to arrest me, and it’s not happening. Good thing I started cooperating, who knows why he wanted to do that…

  “Your people are going to need to come down to the station tomorrow for interviews.”

  “Does that include Orville?”

  “Yes. Yes it does.”

  “I’ll send my other people with instructions on how to talk with him.”

  “I’m sure we can figure it out.”

  “Of course.” I’m still sending those instructions.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

  “Detective!” an officer shouted.

  “What!?”

  “We’ve found another body!”

  “WHAT!?”

  Amaris put her hand to her forehead. “Does this guy ever know when to stop?”

  ~~~

  Orville wasn’t able to stay at the new murder scene.

  “Still can’t handle blood, huh?” Amaris asked him. She was hanging around a short distance from it so he could talk to her easily.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just… weak. Too weak…”

  “You are getting stronger.”

  “Still can’t stay in places like that.” He adjusted his hat and nervously looked at the sun. “Can you… describe it for me so I know I’m not just hallucinating?”

  “Decapitated. No barbed wire, was clearly done in a hurry. Two possibilities: this isn’t the same guy, which is what the stupid detective thinks since there’s no wire and this murder was done in an alleyway without the usual careful precision. Other option: this is the same guy, he just had to kill someone since he figured you would be able to trace his memories. I think this, because this murder is far too close to the other one and the timing is far too similar.”

  Orville nodded. “Poor fellow probably just walked down the alleyway at the wrong time…”

  “Exactly. However, this means we can place the murderer somewhere in that alleyway near the murder. That alley has far more vantage points the murderer could be seen from. If you can find him and trace him…”

  “Right, right, got it.”

  “Try not to get lost in the memories, the detective wants you to give a report to the police station tomorrow with everyone.”

  “That’s going to be… a pain, isn’t it?”

  “Yep. But that’s his problem.”

  “And mine. It’s not exactly easy to deal with people who can’t deal with memory shifts…”

  Amaris shrugged. “You may want to rifle through his memories later, I don’t trust him. But right now the murderer takes priority.”

  “Understood. I’ll come get you when I have something.”

  Orville set out into the memories. His method of searching was rather simple: explore the area in as close to a grid pattern through time and space as he could. Start with locations closest to the alley. There weren’t many memories there, and none actually near the time and place of the opportune murder. But he had a lot of people walking on a nearby street at times both before and afterward. He made a mental catalog of all the people he could see from these vantage points. Each one was a suspect until he followed their memory to the time and place of the murder, exonerating them.

  This was a simple, if time-consuming, process.

  Most of the time was spent looking carefully through memories for people that were in shadow, or barely visible, or hiding in windows. He had to check in every memory just to be sure, since if a person didn’t remember, even subconsciously, that there had been a person there, there would be no indication at all.

  He periodically jumped to the present to see how much time he had before he had to be at the police station. It wasn’t until the evening that the time was set for Thursday after school was out. That gave him a whole day.

  Which he burned through rather quickly considering the diligence of his search.

  The web of memories he checked quickly surrounded the alleyway murder site. There were still plenty of holes in time where a murderer could slip through without being noticed, get to the power plant, and kill the girl. The girl in question wasn’t traceable, the last memory Orville could find of her was her purposefully running away from her group because she got fed up with the bullies in it. The bullies proceeded to conspire to make sure the teachers didn’t notice she was gone…

  Surely, the murderer had to have some way to see this. But he wasn’t in any of their memories. Maybe he was using the security cameras. Or maybe… maybe he was invisible?

  So many possibilities. But he still had to keep searching. Spread out through time, through space, cover every avenue he could find…

  It was midday when it happened.

  Not that he was sure what it was at first.

  He jumped into the memory of a figure he’d seen standing in a window behind a curtain.

  He was a gari with purple plastic. His hair was unusually short for a member of his race. The room he was in was rather small, so Orville couldn’t exactly appear in the memory discreetly. Thus, the memory of the gari noticed him immediately.

  And he pointed right out Orville and started screeching while doing a bizarre dance.

  “What in the…?” Orville took a step back. “Please calm down…”

  The man kept screeching and dancing.

  Orville jumped ahead in the man’s mind, finding him in the hallway outside. Again, the man pointed, started screeching, and dancing.

  “What is your problem? I’m not scary! And this is a public apartment hallway, it’s not weird that I’m here!”

  The screaming and dancing continued.

  Orville tried jumping back in his memories, but the same thing happened. Going forward didn’t help either.

  But forward did eventually place him in the alleyway. The gari was there, alone, but still started screaming at him.

  Orville’s eyes widened as he stared at the screaming gari. “You… you’re trying to send a message to your present self….” Immediately, he moved as far forward in the memories as he could.

  The gari was on the roof of a very familiar building at the moment.

  Amaris’ school.

  The gari didn’t scream this time when he saw Orville. He just grinned. “Considering how many times I remember screaming, it sure took you a while to figure out what I was doing.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Hmm, this is an odd feeling, talking to you in a memory…” The gari locked his arms behind his back.

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “Oh, fine, I’ll tell you. Ever since that guy saw me in the alleyway I figured it was somewhat likely you could trace me through a secondary memory somewhere. I’ve been in the area for a while, waiting to see if you’d track me down. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking I’d gotten away with it!” He put a hand to his face and chuckled. “But no, you were too diligent. It’s really, really hard to combat you, you know that? I can’t kill you, and you know who I am now so I can’t escape. So I’ve lost my little game.”

  “You’re stalling.”

  “Not true at all! Well, not because it helps me, but because the moment I let you in on my secret for being here, you’ll stop talking to me! And, really, I want to enjoy the final confrontation a little more.” He pointed at his chest. “My name is Iramik. I’m from the Strider. Did you know I was a minor celebrity there? Celebrated as a great and devious killer. I got to write books, give autographs, have any woman I wanted… but then the stupid plant started locking people up for all that, so I disguised myself and left.”

  “Look, I don’t want to hear your monologue…”

  “You don’t have much of a choice, now do you?” Iramik smirked. “Rest assured, while I’m here talking to you, I’m stuck as well. Also rest assured, there’s not a timed bomb or anything. Though I suppose I could have a remote detonator. I don’t, but there’s not much you could do about that if I did, huh?” Iramik chuckled. “By the way, if you leave, I don’t tell you anything about what I’m doing here.”

  “You could be distracting me for someone else.”

  “I work alone. Didn’t always, had a great partner, but that plant of yours locked him up and he blew up with the Strider.” He shook his head. “So I have at least a partial revenge motivation. Write that down, I’m sure it’ll go great in your report later.”

  Orville just glared at him.

  “Oh my my, you really aren’t having a fun time here. Good. Now, where was I…? Oh, yes. I left the Strider. I learned everything I could about this place so I could continue my craft. I was exceedingly careful in every aspect of all my missions. No traces. Bare gauntlets and greaves don’t leave identifiable prints, and they definitely don’t know how to trace or even identify gari plastic yet. Kept my hair short so none of it would accidentally fall out. But then I realized something. The police here are freaking incompetent. I could mess up and they wouldn’t find anything. They would overlook simple details. Sometimes not even figure out that there’d been a murder. Which… was when I decided to play the game. Torment them. I was so much better than them, they’d never be able to do anything. And for three weeks, that worked amazingly.”

  “And then we noticed.”

  “Yes. You noticed.” Iramik put his hands on his hips and let out a huge laugh. “And suddenly the challenge became a whole lot harder! But oh, was I up to it.”

  “How did you figure out we were onto you?”

  “The Internet.”

  “...What?”

  “I’m serious. I keep track of all the posts about locations I’ve done killing at. You lot have a stalker. Someone figured out you were investigating and posted about it. No idea who it is, but man, they’re prolific, they’ve got an entire site on bizarre phenomena and your group has a very major section in it.”

  Orville blinked.

  “Had no idea did you? Let me guess, since you don’t even have a website, none of you even have an online presence. Shame, you should make use of it more, it’s an incredible tool.”

  “We… probably should start investigating it more.”

  “Oh, quite. Regardless, it allowed me to know you were onto me, and then the game was really afoot. An actual challenge. You in particular, memory man. Luckily, I already knew how to be very careful. I got a little impatient of waiting for the true game, so I went out a little early. Also to mess with your heads. But, alas, for the first time, I got unlucky. I’m betting your precious little leader’s curse just twisted fate against me. She defeated me, not you.”

  “She has little power over her curse.”

  “I bet she tells herself that to make it easier to sleep at night.” Iramik chuckled. “But it is her who won, not you. You just got lucky.”

  “Fine, whatever floats your boat.”

  “You seem bored. Fortunately, with this talk of your little leader, we finally get to the point why I’m here! Since I knew you could possibly win, I wanted to make sure I could make you pay the price.” Iramik leaned in, a giant smirk crossing his face. “Most of your group and related people are good in combat, lucky, or surrounded by people. But there’s one who isn’t, and she just so happens to be my preferred target.”

  Orville’s eyes widened. “Emma!”

  “Go warn her! It won’t help.”

  Orville immediately left Iramik’s memory.

  “And so it begins…” Iramik cackled and took off into a breakneck sprint.

  There was no more need to be subtle. He’d already been made.

  This would be so much fun.

  ~~~

  Emma was wrapping up her business on the toilet when Orville appeared to her.

  “Orville!” Emma shouted. “You can’t jus—”

  “The killer is after you. I’m going to get help.”

  Then he was gone.

  Emma was stunned into silence. She quickly stood up and put her pants back on.

  She was alone in the restroom, all the stalls were unoccupied except hers. She quickly opened the stall door, but didn’t leave—now all the stalls looked identical from the entrance.

  Okay, now what? Emma’s mind raced. I could try to leave the bathroom, find Amaris… she and Rin are somewhere. I don’t know where, but they’re somewhere. I can’t fight… and there’s not really a place to actually hide here.

  The entrance door suddenly creaked. She heard the clacking of plastic on ceramic tile.

  Wasn’t time to run anyway…

  “You know, I was expecting I would need to rush past your friends and take you out before they knew what was happening… but you are all alone. What unfortunate timing for you.”

  Emma carefully climbed on top of the toilet, careful not to make a sound.

  “Being quiet won’t help you.” The clacking sound of his footsteps got closer. “Your backpack has a little radio tracker. It’s not very precise, but it knows you’re in this room.”

  When did you put that on me?

  “When did I put that on you?”

  Emma’s entire body shivered.

  “When you were in gym yesterday. I put one in all of your backpacks, just so I could keep track of everyone. You truly were a great set of foes. Have to make you pay something for finding me out. And that price…” He jumped forward, looking right into a stall. “Is you!”

  Emma’s backpack was there.

  She wasn’t.

  She was on top of the stall’s pseudo-wall. She jumped down and made a break for it.

  The gari wasted no time talking or mocking her. He broke into a full sprint after her. Fact of the matter was, his legs were much longer, and he was much faster. Emma never stood a chance in a test of speed. He grabbed her by her shirt collar and pulled her back, throwing her to the ground next to one of the sinks.

  “I’m amazed I underestimated you,” the gari said, narrowing his eyes. “I suppose you probably have been getting used to this kind of thing… can’t risk you having any more tricks.” He pulled out a very long and sharp knife. He aimed right for her neck.

  She pulled out an anti-magic arrowhead and thrust it at him.

  He twisted his arm to the side, dodging the attack. The knife did not strike her neck, instead piercing a pipe under one of the sinks. Water sprayed out all over the two of them.

  Emma tried to make another break for it.

  The breaking pipe was not enough of a distraction. The gari used his other hand to grab her physically by the neck, pressing her to the ground. She gagged—completely unable to breathe.

  The gari said nothing, he simply used his other hand to lift up the knife, aiming for her forehead this time.

  A small fist made contact with his face. He hadn’t been expecting it at all, and he went flying clear across the bathroom, sliding along the wet floor until he hit the far wall.

  Ralph kept his hands balled up. “Orville said I was the closest… I almost wasn’t close enough.”

  “Oh Ralph…” Emma said with a sigh.

  “You… I wasn’t tracking you…” the gari stood up.

  “Finally, someone who doesn’t think I’m the greatest thing ever.” Ralph grinned. “Been needing more of that, lately.”

  “You’re still just a kid, athlete or no.” He charged.

  Ralph set his feet wide and held his hands forward, preparing to intercept the knife strike.

  The gari didn’t go for it. The knife was just a feint, he opted to kick Ralph in the chest instead, knocking the wind out of him in one fell swoop.

  “Ralph!” Emma shouted. “You leave him alone y—”

  The gari was on her again. “Gladly.” He didn’t even try to pin her down, he just slashed at her. She tried to jump back, but the blade made contact, forming a large gash across her abdomen. She howled in pain.

  The gari was not satisfied. She was not dead. He lifted the knife and pushed forward.

  Someone grabbed his wrist.

  “I’m sorry, I believe I have to stop your fun,” Scarlet said.

  “The reporter!?” the gari said in utter disbelief. “Why on earth…?”

  Scarlet twisted his wrist, forcing him to drop his knife, where she caught it with her free hand. She pressed it to his neck. “I know how people like you think, figured you’d try something like this.”

  “You almost didn’t make it here in time.”

  “I’m not sure how you found her so fast. But that doesn’t matter anymore.”

  “So, what now?” the gari asked, smirking. “Lock me up, get to write a story about how you were the great hero?”

  “Oh, the second one, absolutely. That first one though… afraid not. See, what I have here, is an opportunity.”

  Emma saw Scarlet’s face change. Gone was the warm smile, the cordial demeanor. In its place was a thin smile and excited eyes.

  “Afraid this city’s not big enough for the both of us, friend. Can’t stand competition.”

  Then she drove the knife into his neck. Blood sprayed all over Scarlet.

  The gari slumped to the ground.

  Scarlet licked her lips. “And I don’t even have to hide anything this time, what fun.” She clasped her hands together. “Now, kids, you know the deal. This was all in self-defense, and if you say otherwise everyone will assume you were just panicking children.”

  Ralph passed out.

  “Hmm, shame. I’m sure you can keep him on a leash, right Emma?”

  Emma had her hand over her wound, applying pressure to it. “You… psycho…”

  “And this psycho saved your life, a thank you would be appreciated.”

  Emma only whimpered in response.

  ~~~

  “Emma!” Amaris shouted, running into the school nurse’s office.

  Emma was lying on one of the beds. She slowly opened her eyes. “Oh… hey, Amaris… Coleus around…?”

  “She’s coming, I…”

  “Good, this…” Her face contorted in pain. “This kinda hurts…” Tears pushed themselves out of the corners of her closed eyes. “This hurts a lot…”

  “I… I couldn’t protect you…”

  “But I was protected.” Emma opened her eyes again and smiled. “I’m going to be fine.”

  “I… I know that… I just…” Amaris wiped her own eyes. “This happened to you because you hang around me. You’re… you’re actually hurt.”

  “Amaris… it’s okay… we knew this would happen.”

  “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost any of you…”

  “Yes, you do.” Emma chuckled—then proceeded to cough. “Okay, no laughing… got it…” She let out a deep sigh. “You know exactly what you’d do. You’d keep moving and doing your best.”

  “But…”

  “I’m more worried about how I’m being exploited as a weakness…”

  “Emma, you aren’t weak.”

  “Not what I said…” Emma looked at the ceiling. “I… may be strong. But I can’t fight, so people target me to hurt you.”

  “Don’t you dare suggest that you shouldn’t hang around me.”

  “My, that would be very… uh… hypocritical, right? That’s the word?” She grinned. “I ask you to hang around me, after all.”

  Amaris fell silent. “...It shouldn’t be this way. We shouldn’t have to live like this. Knowing that we’re going to hurt, that some of us are going to be… taken away…”

  “Well, yeah. It is a curse, Amaris.”

  “Right…” Amaris shook her head and sighed. “But it still makes us stronger, grows us, yeah, yeah… all the things I usually say.” She looked at the floor. “There’s a difference between knowing something to be true and living like it, huh?”

  “Yeah…” Emma said. “Pretty sure the Keepers have been telling us that since we were tiny…”

  “Yeah…”

  At this moment Coleus rushed in and immediately laid her hands on Emma. As her healing aura entered the girl, she visibly relaxed. “Okay so this wasn’t as bad as I thought, she could have recovered without me… Orville sure made it sound dramatic.”

  “I did lose a lot of blood,” Emma said. “Wow, Coleus, the pain is already gone…”

  “I’m not done healing yet, please stay still. No jumppong around.”

  “...I’m not even sure that qualifies as a pun,” Amaris said.

  “What matters is if it’s a pun in your heart!” Coleus declared proudly. Then she took her hands off Emma and sat down in a nearby chair, breathing heavily. “Okay… you’re good…”

  “Looks like that took a lot out of you,” Emma said as she sat up.

  “Yeah… but a good night’s sleep will do just fine…”

  Emma pulled her into a hug. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t meat-tion it!”

  “And don’t think you can avoid the hug either!” Emma pulled Amaris into it.

  Amaris chuckled. “Wouldn’t have even tried.”

  Rin ran into the room with a panicked expression. She saw the group hug taking place. She performed a quick one-eighty and dashed out of the room.

  “Hey! Rin! Rude!” Emma called after her. “Get over here!” She broke out of the hug and made way for the door.

  She stopped short.

  Scarlet was standing right there.

  “My, Coleus sure works wonders, doesn’t she?” Scarlet said.

  “Y-yeah…” Emma stammered. She took in a sharp breath. “Scarlet?”

  “Hmm? Please don’t try to make a scene here, it’d make you look bad a—”

  “Thank you.”

  Scarlet stared at her dumbly. “...I apologize, I underestimated you.”

  Emma grinned, though her legs were shaking. “W-well this is nothing compared to running around an alien spaceship.”

  “...I’m going to have to thank you as well,” Amaris said. “If you hadn’t been there…”

  Scarlet smiled. “It’s not in my best interests to remind you of this, but I will anyway. If I hadn’t been around, your curse probably would have conspired to save her some other way. If it wanted her dead there wouldn’t be anything I or anyone could do.”

  “...Can it want anything?” Emma asked.

  “The curse… no,” Amaris said, shaking her head. “It’s not a person or an animal. But it was made… I suppose it could want things the same way a book ‘wants’ to be read. Apparently it can ‘ripen’ too…” Amaris pressed her hands to her cheeks. “No, stop it, we agreed to stop trying to overanalyze it and just use it.”

  Scarlet frowned. “I believe knowing the finer details of how it works is greatly important.”

  “But the more we know, the more it’ll factor that knowledge into being ‘interesting.’ This can and will backfire.”

  “But simply by experiencing it, you will know more.”

  Amaris frowned. “Yeah…”

  “Can’t win, can’t break even.” Emma shrugged. “I’m just hoping the most interesting result is for you to eventually win and conquer the curse.”

  “Don’t know about that,” Amaris said. “But I do think we can win against our current mysterious enemy.”

  “Take down the conspiracy?” Emma held out her fist.

  Amaris bumped it. “Take down the conspiracy.”

  The two of them left to find Rin, laughing all the way.

  Coleus walked up to Scarlet. “I don’t know how to feel about you.”

  Scarlet smirked. “That’s just how I like it.”

  “That’s a lie. You want to be loved and apricot-iated. You’re just selfish as well.” Coleus looked her in the eyes. “Consider using your skills for good. You could have your action and your friends.”

  “That certainly sounds reasonable.”

  Coleus smirked. “We’ll either wear you down or defeat you.”

  “My, such faith!”

  Coleus shrugged and walked off without another word.

  Scarlet absent-mindendly adjusted her tie. Had to look nice. She would be joining them all at the police station later, that scheduled debrief was going to be quite interesting. At least the murderer had already been found, so that danger was out of the way… though she was going to have to pretend like she wasn’t the one who had given ORHI the police’s information.

  ~~~

  “I can’t say I’m surprised you keep company with those kinds of people.”

  Taylor crossed her arms and huffed. “They save people’s lives, Dad.”

  The detective’s grip on the police car’s wheel tightened. He glanced into the rearview mirror to glare at his daughter. “That’s irrelevant.”

  “No, it isn’t. Because it’s what you’re supposed to be doing, but you don’t.”

  “You have been an ungrateful brat since the day you were born.”

  “You need to come up with better insults.”

  The detective seethed. “I’d tell you not to interact with them anymore, but you’ll just ignore me.”

  “You got that right.”

  “So I’m going to demand that you keep your brother out of it.”

  “He’s involved himself. I never introduced them. I do know Emma’s got an unrealistic crush on him. She was probably elated he tried to save her.” Taylor smirked. “He’s more effective than you, Dad.”

  The detective sagged. “He’s this family’s last chance at being worth something…”

  Taylor frowned. “Dad, you are an official police detective. Effective or not, people respect that title.”

  “I’m a laughingstock! This was my big chance to show the department I actually meant something, and those stupid magic kids show up and solve everything and make my theories look stupid. I will never hear the end of this.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have suspected them in the first place.”

  “They’re not right. We should be the ones doing what they do. There shouldn’t be any need for them.”

  “Clearly, there is.”

  The detective rammed his fist into the dashboard. “Of course you’re on their side, you’ve never stood with us.”

  “If you gave me a reason to, maybe I would.”

  The rest of the drive was completely silent. They arrived at their home, a run-down little place in the suburbs that clearly needed renovation. The weeds in the lawn were growing out of control, one of the windows was broken, and there was a notice stuck to the door.

  “Stupid Homeowner’s Association…” the detective growled as he tore the paper off the door and ripped it to shreds.

  “They’re probably going to fine you again,” Taylor said.

  “Fine costs less than actually fixing this place up.”

  “...It’s eventually going to become a hazard, Dad.”

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

  “If you wanted to hear things more often maybe you’d make a better detective.”

  The detective pulled the door open with such force that it slammed into the doorframe as it opened. He stormed in. “I’m home! And I’ve brought Taylor with me! She was actually involved with suspects!”

  “Unsurprising,” his wife said, not even looking up to greet them. “Hank, did you say anything to Ralph at the station?”

  “I just told him to go home, there was no point in debriefing him. Naturally, I just didn’t want him to stress about being questioned, he’s got a game in a few days. Have to keep his performance up.”

  “Yes, well, it may have backfired. He’s locked himself in his room and hasn’t come out to say anything.”

  “If those magic kids ruin my other kid I’m going to…” He didn’t finish his thought. “Taylor, he likes talking to you, do something useful for once and get him out here.”

  Taylor crossed her arms. “Fine. But not because you asked. But because I’m worried about him.”

  “Just do it, I don’t care why.” He sat down in an armchair and turned on a tiny television.

  Taylor made her way to Ralph’s room and knocked on the door. “Ralph? Can I come in?”

  “...Sure…” he said.

  Taylor opened the door and carefully closed it behind her. Ralph was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

  “I heard you were part of the adventure today,” Taylor said. “You tried to save Emma. That’s great.”

  “I lost.”

  “You bought time.”

  “I lost.” A smile slowly came up Ralph’s face. “I… I was powerless. I was just another kid. I… I never get to feel like that.”

  Taylor sat down at the foot of his bed, giving him a warm smile. “Yeah… you don’t, do you? Mom and Dad put so much pressure on you to become great…”

  “All the sports and training and everything felt so… pointless.”

  “I could have told you that. And have. Just realizing this now?”

  Ralph sighed. “You always said I was an idiot…”

  “And I stand by that. Moron.”

  Ralph snorted. “I… I want to do it again. Be on an Amaris adventure. Feel… like that, again.”

  “I don’t think she’d object, she lets me on board, after all.”

  “Dad wouldn’t, though. It’d take away from my training, from my games…” He sighed.

  “...Look, Ralph, you really are dumb. You don’t have to become a sports star, you know?”

  “Huh?”

  “That’s just what Mom and Dad keep telling you. They told me I had to become a doctor. I play video games semi-professionally now and have no prospects of getting into a college of any sort, and my boyfriend is a musician. Just because they demand greatness doesn’t mean you have to listen.”

  “You’re right…”

  “I’ve been trying to show it to you by living it out, but you can be really dense.” She tousled his hair. “You don’t have to be the sports star. It’s your life.”

  “Think I could get rid of those girls that follow me everywhere?”

  “Become weird enough and they’ll all scatter!”

  “Hmm… Amaris knows how to do that.”

  “She really does.” Taylor looked out the window and smiled. “She’s an actual hero. You could try to be more like her.”

  “Yeah… yeah.” Ralph sat up and took in a deep breath. “I’m going to go out there. And tell them I want to quit the team.”

  “Ooooh, that’s going to cause quite a scene.”

  “Yeah. Will you go out there with me?”

  “You bet!” She grabbed his hands. “We can do this!”

  “Geez, your hands are cold…” He notably didn’t pull his hand out of her grip.

  “Heh. Well… we can talk about that later, being around Amaris has changed me too. But let’s go out there.” Holding her brother’s hand, she opened the bedroom door.

  Their parents were standing right there, looking livid.

  Taylor and Ralph took a step back in shock.

  Their mother grabbed Taylor by the shoulder, nails digging into her skin. “You traitor!” She pulled Taylor so hard she lost her grip on Ralph. She fell to the ground in the hallway. “Do you exist just to ruin this family’s prospects!?”

  “I’m beginning to think I do!” Taylor shouted, standing bolt upright. “He doesn’t want this!”

  “Life doesn’t care about what you want!” her dad shouted back. “Life cares about success! If you’re not great you’re nothing! I’m nothing, you’re nothing, your mother is nothing! Our only hope is Ralph, and if you sink him on some stupid ideal, what even was the point of it all in the first place!? He is our last chance!”

  “Do you hear yourself!? Do you hear the words coming out of your mouth!? It’s absurd! Do you really think yourself so worthless?”

  A dark expression crossed her father’s face.

  Taylor’s fire dissipated in an instant. “What the… you… you really do…” She backed away from him. “All that… all of it was just bravado? You…”

  “Get out,” he said.

  “Don’t be stupi—”

  He grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the front door, throwing her outside onto the pavement.

  She stood back up and glared at him. “You know, you could have crushed my windpipe.” I think he did.

  “You’re not welcome here anymore.”

  “You’re just kicking me out? Really?” Taylor’s face contorted in rage. “Just because I was trying to help my brother?”

  “Your help is ruining us!”

  “It’s not ruining anything! I’m trying to give him a life worth living!”

  “You fill his head with poison! The life you live is a worthless one!”

  “It’s better than yours!”

  “Then go live your worthless life and leave us out of it! Your brother is going to become a star. That is all we have left here. Since you aren’t for that, you don’t belong here.”

  Taylor scowled. “Guess I’m going to go work for ORHI then.” You’ll know where to find me, Ralph, if you need me. “And you know what? You don’t even know half of the things I do.” She whipped off her sunglasses and stared at her parents with her cold, dead eyes.

  Both of them jumped back in shock.

  “Neither of you even suspected something had happened to me. I freaking died. I’m an undead. It’s been over a month! I’m ice-cold to the touch! Yet you didn’t even care.” She turned her back on them. “I’m not the problem with this family.” She walked off without saying another word.

  She heard the door slam shut behind her.

  She didn’t make it very far before she started shaking.

  “Ralph… I’m… sorry…” She put her arm to her eyes and tried to stop trembling. “Please… find a way.”

  She clenched her fists and walked off into the night. Her goal wasn’t very far away; Nina’s house was in the same suburb. She knocked on the door.

  “Coming!” It took a minute, but Nina made it to the door. “Sorry, had to wrap up the match.” Nina paused. “Taylor… are you… okay?”

  “No,” Taylor said. “I… need a place to crash tonight.”

  “Of course, the guest room is a mess but it’s yours.”

  “Heh… yeah.”

  “Want to… talk about it?”

  “In the morning. Now I’m just… tired. And exhausted.”

  Nina gestured at her widescreen TV. “Want to play some games, then?”

  A smile crawled up Taylor’s face. “Yes. Yes, so much yes, I would love that.”