Chapter 209 - Cold Hearted

"Where do you think he went?" Gem asked Petunia who was obviously nervous based on her the way she was avoiding eye contact with them.

"Petunia prohibited anyone from coming in and out of her room except for when giving the guy his food and the maid that was assigned with it said she hasn't heard of that guy ever since yesterday," Fily said, quickly briefing them on the data that she has gathered regarding this case.

"So we're assuming that guy just disappeared yesterday, but when exactly?" Lei asked, "Was it for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?"

"It was dinner," Fily said and confirmed her facts by going over the interview she just had with the maids earlier.

"And how about outside the window, didn't they see anything or anyone unusual there?"

"Or even the protective bubble! I'm sure he must have gone through that in order to escape," Gem said, cutting off Lei.

"Except unusual nothing was detected yesterday and even today, so that just means two things, either he escaped through a hidden spot, just like what those sneaky Crones did-"

"Or he's still in the palace!" Petunia finally talked, following what Von was saying.

"I'm sure he's still here, I can feel his presence, or at least I can sense something familiar about him lurking around the palace."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Lei asked.

"I was overthinking! I thought people from outside the borders have sneaked in the island again and if something bad happens it'll be my fault!"

"Well then, tell us where that pet of yours is now so we can catch him and prevent something bad from happening immediately," Lei said as if he was getting impatient about the situation already.

"Maybe he's using the same technology that the crones used in order to become invisible?" Gem suggested which they immediately accepted.

"If that's the case then he couldn't have gone far yet," Von said and then wandered his eyes around the entirety of the castle from the highest tower where they decided to meet up for this particular problem.

"We should also go check that tunnel that the Crones used to escape in case he also decided on using that route," Fily added.

"Can I come with you? I haven't been to that place yet," Gem said and did a puppy eye on Fily who was planning on taking her there anyway.

"Sure."

"Alright!" Gem celebrated.

"I'll do an aerial check and report to you immediately if I notice something different," Von said before jumping to the roof of the tower so he could start with his very useful inspection immediately which made Lei and Petunia the only ones left to partner up with each other.

"How about me? Where should I go?" Petunia asked, pretending she could not see Lei beside her even though he was not suppressing his presence to them anyway.

"You said you can sense your own pet using your supersenses, right? Follow your senses and look for him in this castle, since it was your idea to take him in as a pet in the first place, this should be more than enough to make up for it," Fily said.

"Okay," Petunia said and was about to fly out of the tower on her own but Fily immediately stopped her.

"Oh, and bring Lei with you, he should be enough to help you catch that outsider if ever you encountered him first," she added and winked at Lei before proceeding to go down from the tower while holding hands with Gem.

"Hey you," Petunia said, pertaining to Lei who was even surprised about the fact that Petunia was now talking to her.

"Me?" he asked.

"Yes you, I'll be going this way. Make sure to catch up or I'll leave you behind," Petunia said and fell down the tower while riding on her now normal-sized Gummy cloud, expecting Lei to fall behind her and lose her due to the fact that he can't fly.

But contrary to her beliefs, Lei actually went the same way as her, jumping off the tower and running along the walls to take control of his momentum just like a real ninja.

"You know, this would be so much easier if we can both fly, right?" Lei said and went ahead of her to the roofs of the castle, jumping off the edges to another roof and landing on a stone railing steadily just like an acrobat.

"So where should we go?" he asked when he noticed Petunia not blinking and her jaws were wide open.

"Hey?" Lei tried again and clapped in front of her to get her attention which definitely worked judging by the way Petunia shook her head and slapped her cheeks softly.

"Right, I can feel something unsettling on the third floor," Petunia said which made Lei immediately jump through the railings and acrobat his way to the third floor which was the floor below them earlier.

"What do you think he's doing? Why would he disappear last night and wander around the palace while being invisible?" Lei asked which finally called Petunia back to her senses and focused back on the issue at hand.

"I think he had some help from the outside with an escape route but that route was unexpectedly destroyed."

"You mean the route which the Crones used?"

"Yes, the same route that we destroyed in order to set you and Von up with the Crones."

"Ah, I remember now. That was harsh, I still don't forgive you for that," Lei said even though he did not really mean it just to see Petunia's reaction.

"Is that so?" Petunia only said without looking at him.

"You're so cold-hearted."

"What makes you think I have a heart?"

"Because you're a human? And weren't cats supposed to have seven lives?"

"And? What's the connection?"

"Seven lives means seven hearts… doesn't it?"

"No. Not necessarily," Petunia said, finishing off her little conversation with Lei by standing in front of the door to the basement and noticing something different from there.

"Why here?" Lei asked and looked around while recalling the time where he and Von got fooled by a Crone who dressed up just like Sir Fred in this same place.

"I think he went here," Petunia said and pushed the door only to see the lock broken, or rather has been melted completely by some sort of a weapon that could melt its targets.

"How did this-?" Lei said when he also noticed the melted locks just now, "We have to tell Venedette," he said and then acted as if he was going to run to Venedette immediately, but when he noticed Petunia not moving even an inch from his position, he just decided to stay and use his stat-hut instead for communication.

"The laboratory, the ingredients inside…" Petunia muttered while tracing the edges of the melted door locks, "We need to stop him! We can't let him mess with the things down there!"

"Wait, I'm trying to get Venedette to send us some backups," Lei said while holding Petunia's gummy cloud back.

"Have you forgotten? This place is not just someplace where backups could easily come and go, we're the only ones allowed in here aside from Venedette and the others. We need to find him now and stop him from doing any more damage!" Petunia said, insisting on making Lei let go of her Gummy cloud or at least make him come with her, but the boy was too stubborn so Petunia had no other choice.

"If you don't want to come with me then I'll just go there by myself," she said and then made her Gummy cloud change skins so Lei could finally let go of her.

But before she could even sting Lei's fingertips with her toxic Gummy coat, Lei has already pulled her Gummy cloud away from the door and let go of it, making her dizzy from the unexpected amount of spins her Gummy cloud did from the force that Lei put on it.

"I'll come with you, but promise me you won't do things by yourself, alright?"

"Okay?" Petunia said while still trying to fix the dizziness in her head.

"Plus, I already notified the rest of the team about the situation so they should be here in a minute now," Lei said, which alerted Petunia.

"No! What if he runs away? What if he's already done with his little exploration down there and is now finding another way out? We need to be practical about this. The melted locks have already cooled down which means he's probably been here hours ago. We're not sure if he's still in there so we have to maximize our scope. That's the only way we'll be able to-"

"Okay, fine. I know. I get it. It's better if we have the others on standby instead of being stuck in there with us. Now, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Lei said, giving up on having an argument with Petunia and just following what she wants since it could lead to another misunderstanding with them that could make them wary of each other.