Helena appeared in a flash of light in the empty confessional booth.
She smoothed her uniform and stepped out, striding towards the door to the crypt. In a minute, she pushed the door open.
The vitality in the crypt was flowing in irregular patterns. The woman was still here.
She had her suspicions but now, all she had to do was wait and see.
She turned, just in time to see Olivia walk out of the passage leading to the Ascension well.
She paused, both women eyeing each other.
"So, you found it." Helena spoke. "I suspected that redhead of yours but it was you instead."
Olivia stood silently, content to let Helena talk.
"What are you after, Olivia Wild?" Helena stepped forward. "You have no business being here."
"The Ascension Well doesn't belong to you, Helena." Olivia answered. "I can come and go whenever I want."
"I see."
Olivia gave a nod. "Good day."
Helena's Aura roared out of her and pressed down on Olivia. The weight held the vitality in place, preventing her from teleporting. "Not so fast."
Olivia frowned, trying once again before giving up.
"There's a new trick available at every ring." Helena laughed, the sound cold. "You're an infant, Olivia. Are you trying to grow to the fifth ring?"
Olivia tilted her head, watching the peacekeeper. "Why are you keeping me here, Helena?"
"I wonder too." Helena took another step forward. "Why... am I keeping you here?"
"You do not want to do this." Olivia said, shifting slightly.
The slight movement made Helena smile because it meant Olivia was also ready for a fight.
"I'm pretty sure that I want to do this." Helena grinned, displaying her fangs.
At that, Helena burst forward.
Olivia leapt away, putting a few gravestones between them as she flipped away. She immediately began singing, taking control of the few waves she still had lingering in the air.
"Stop." Helena spoke and the sound echoed in the room, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
The vibrations of her words mingled with the sound of Olivia's song, sending her waves spiraling wildly.
"I counter you, Olivia Wild!" Helena laughed, the sound of her voice, disrupting Olivia's song. "What will you do now?"
Helena snapped, the sound waves traveling forward in an instant and shattering the gravestone Olivia was behind.
Olivia flipped away, still singing. Her waves weaved wildly in the air with no rhyme or rhythm. She danced around the vibrations from Helena, jumping from one spot to the other.
Just as Helena destroyed another gravestone, Olivia flipped and as she was in the air, upside down, she materialized her second ring construct.
A throwing knife.
Her hand snapped forward and the knife whizzed in the air to embed itself in Helena's throat.
Helena stumbled, unable to speak.
Just as Olivia landed, she vanished in a flash of light.
Helena pulled out the knife in her throat with a snarl. The construct vanished a second later.
She'd been played.
Oliva had kept singing, using her waves to disrupt the vitality of her Aura which allowed her to teleport away.
Helena screamed, every gravestone in the crypt, shattering to dust. She twisted and disappeared in a flash of light.
She appeared in her office, striding out to call her officers. "Target! Lilith!"
The officers in question came to her in an instant.
"Captain!" Lilith exclaimed at something on Helena's shirt.
Helena looked down to see that the upper part of her formerly pristine white peacekeeper uniform was stained with her dark blood.
She dismissed the sight from her mind. There was work to be done. "Target! Find out if Ezra Matten has met the Arbiter recently. I want to know when and why. Now!" She barked.
Target snapped a salute and rushed away.
"Lilith. Trace Olivia Wild's movements. I want to know where she has been within the last month."
"Yes captain!" Lilith saluted and left.
Helena walked back into her office, swapping her soiled uniform for a clean one.
An hour later, both officers were in front of her, presenting their report.
"Captain." Lilith placed a map on Helena's desk. "Olivia Wild has been visiting these places within Southside. These places all have one thing in common."
"A fountain?" Helena asked.
"Yes, captain."
Helena nodded. This confirmed what she already knew. Olivia had been searching for the Ascension well.
"Target?"
"Captain." Target saluted. "The Arbiter's movements were not easy to track and there was no evidence of any meetings with Ezra Matten."
"I see." Helena steepled her fingers.
Ezra had been searching for the well. That was a definite fact.
Judging by the fact that Olivia hadn't been surprised to see her, that means the Mattens had used her to find the well.
Ezra knew she had been searching for the well and wanted it for himself.
This won't do.
She stood from her seat and teleported away, appearing at the gate of the Matten mansion. She opened the gates and walked in, taking the gravel path to the front door.
On getting there, she rang the doorbell.
A few seconds later, the door opened and Ezra Matten was there.
"Welcome." The man nodded. "I can't say I haven't been expecting you. Come in."
"No." Helena answered. "I prefer to stand out here."
Ezra stared at her for a moment. "Very well."
"It was you, wasn't it?" She asked.
"I'm not sure I understand what you are talking about."
"The Maguires." Helena stated plainly. "You told the Arbiter about them, didn't you?"
"I did not." Ezra answered. "Have you wondered if maybe there was a leak in your ranks?"
Helena stood, staring at Ezra. The man had no tells that she could pick up on. She couldn't tell if he was lying or speaking the truth.
However, she knew for a fact that the leak hadn't come from her peacekeepers.
"Let me tell you how I see it, Ezra Matten." Helena raised her chin. "A plan was presented to you, to remove an obstacle from your path. Then a thought hit." Sёarch* The novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
"Why not take advantage of this and take the open position for myself?"
Ezra stood there staring silently at her.
Getting him involved had been a mistake. It was time to cut her losses.
She took a step back.
"I have what I came for. Goodbye Ezra Matten." She teleported away.