Chapter 40 Revelation

Detectivete Complex. Interrogation room.

Eulene sat alongside at a small rectangular table. She had excitement written all over her face. A suffocatingly small room, a metal table with chains attached, a couple of torches that barely lit the room, and a glassed wall- the scene was set for a heart-throbbing interrogation scene.

And being familiar with the wits and smarts of her 'partner-in-crime', her only wish was to have some delicacies to snack on as the play unfolded.

Soon, the small door opened. David walked in alone and sat opposite the duo. "Cooperate, and this will be over in a minute. Else, I don't have any qualms against a sleepless night or two."

"I wish for the same." Xavier smiled. "I already have had enough of sleepless nights."

"I will get straight to the point then." David clasped his hands together and rested them on the table. "Give us what we want and we will do the same."

Xavier turned to the mirrored wall beside him, but his eyes pierced beyond. "Seems like you don't trust us," he turned back to David, "or should I say, you aren't confident in yourself. That beautiful colleague of yours is still not here with us."

"I don't trust criminals," David replied. "And apparently, you are eager to cement this 'criminal' title of yours and upgrade to the status of 'internationally wanted'."

"I assure you that 'I' don't have such intentions. I don't know about her though." Xavier pointed at Eulene.

Eulene, who was excitedly watching the 'show', woke up from her stupor. "Me neither," she complained. Honestly, 'internationally wanted' sounded so khool and she wanted to give it a try. But she decided to play along… for now.

David brought forth one of his hands. "Then give me the item."

"Item?" Xavier scowled. "What item?"

"Don't play ignorant… the one you got from the meteor," David stated.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Xavier remarked.

"Then I am afraid I will have to send the photo crystal with the evidence to the Thirteenth."

"To be honest," Xavier said, "I was expecting you to ask for everything we know about 'the case'."

"Do you think we need case details from a criminal?" David looked into Xavier's eyes.

"After what happened tonight, I believe 'witness' is the correct term to use here. I am sure you have already discovered by now that a child might die on the night of the next full moon." Xavier smiled.

David kept silent, his grey eyes glaring piercingly into the silver eyes of Xavier.

"Don't even think about using your authority as a special investigating team to force us in answering," Xavier continued. "You were there at the spot and 'failed' to find any Paranormals, let alone letting it escape. If you still want to push us, you can just send the evidences to the Thirteenth. I am not afraid of a legal battle. In fact, I am confident of getting out unscathed."

David, after pondering for a few seconds, brought out a smooth purple crystal from his coat and put it on the table. "This crystal has half the photos. Tell me about everything about the case including the entity's laws, and I will return the other half hereafter."

Xavier took the crystal and pocketed it. "I will skip the details about the victims and the fact that they go through a 'kinetic test'. I am sure you have found out everything by now from our coachman Wilbur and your investigations. I will focus on the Curse's laws. The Curse most probably originated from the stolen artefact from the Gallery. As you might have already noticed, the curse has one of the rarer and more dangerous attributes- space.

"From the battle, we learned that its teleportation range decreases after every subsequent use. Moreover, it can contract space, but can't expand it. It was confirmed when I shot at it but it deflected the bullet instead of expanding the space between us. Furthermore, to spatially manipulate a living object, it must be in contact with the subject."

"Is that all?" David asked.

"If you want me to add to it, I will gladly oblige." Xavier smiled. "Your team is capable of subduing it. But you better stop that before it decides to 'haunt' a 'zone'. Now that the matter has come to your lights, we will take our hands off the case."

"As you should," David said. "We will parcel the other photo crystal to you tomorrow."

The duo left the Detectivete soon after. Thankfully, it was a 'secret' case and hence, nobody bothered them with paperwork.

They were walking through a dark alleyway. Foxes howled on the distance, but the duo cared little.

"Did you really believe they only have two photo crystals?" Eulene asked, "If it was me, I would keep some copies."

"They definitely have copies." Xavier turned to Eulene. "Follow me, I'll show you something."

Xavier and Eulene flashed through the catacomb-like alleys and after a few seconds, reached their destination. They were close to the pond where they had fought before.

Xavier walked to a large oak tree and snapped his fingers. A branch reached down and handed him a box like object. It was a camera. He had set it when Xavier took time to rescue the unconscious girl.

A smile surfaced on the bystander Eulene's face. He had done it again!

Xavier opened a small hatch and pulled out a purple crystal. He pinched the top and bottom of the crystal and pointed it to the ground. He snapped his fingers again. A small ball of light suddenly appeared. As its rays pierced through the purple crystal, colourful pictures projected on the ground.

Unlike the pictures shown by the detectives, these images had the towering Curse present. As Xavier rotated the crystal, new and new images appeared on the ground.

"They have evidences against us, and we have against them," Xavier said. "Leaving a Curse rampant is a crime."

"Then why did you reveal the details to them? What if they find the culprit first? It's not a bad thing, but not finding out the truth after all those efforts will leave a bad taste…" Eulene looked Xavier in the eyes.

"Don't worry. If involving them wasn't necessary, they wouldn't have even found out about the case by now.

"Necessary?" Eulene was baffled.

"Now that the perpetrator is aware that their ploy has been discovered, they will want to escape the town. But with the detectivete and the Thirteenth coming into play, escaping would become much harder."

Eulene widened her eyes in praise. Just how far had the bastard thought? Was sugar that effective?

"Moreover," Xavier continued, "I have hidden some crucial details. First, the missing victims are dead, and second- one of the Curse's laws."

Eulene suddenly remembered the shot Xavier had taken and his satisfied reaction afterwards. "Didn't you already tell them that it can't expand space."

"Yes, it can't expand space. But what the shot also proved was that it can't store inanimate objects like that ring of yours."

Eulene pondered. What could that imply?

But Xavier answered the question in her head. "It means that the bodies of the victims are still in this world- not in some other dimension- and most probably in this town. The perpetrator is quite meticulous with their works. They are not the type to risk being found out by transporting dead bodies to some other cities."

Eulene's eyes twitched. "Don't tell me…"

"Whoever is behind this will begin to lay low from now on," Xavier said, "denying us of any new leads. Besides, we have bought some time after making the Curse go through that self-harming escape. We can scan through the whole town for the remains."

Eulene nodded. She had already learned that solving mysteries was more than just interrogating suspects. There was other boring stuffs involved.

She suddenly remembered something and turned to the camera and frowned. "I don't remember you taking that out with you. Where did you get it?"

Xavier threw the camera up in the air and took off his hat. After the camera fell into the hat, he donned it back on.

"You are not the only one with a spatial artefact." Xavier smiled.

******

From the next day- Xavier, with his Geomancy and Lumomancy- began to scan through every inch of the town and surroundings.

Along the way, he made some interesting discoveries like hidden treasures, unexposed historical hideouts, even reservoirs of natural resources, but he paid them no heed. He found many stray skeletons, but none of their stature and age matched those of the victims.

He did not leave any stones unturned. Even when he found any matching remains in cemeteries, he would investigate if the person who was supposed to be here had the same stature and age as that of the skeleton's.

After a whole week of futile attempts, Xavier finally found a clue- no- everything he had been searching for.

"Is this the place?" Eulene asked.

Xavier and Eulene were standing before an abandoned orchard. It was a few kilometres outside the North-Eastern part of the town, close to a village.

The moon above, although not full yet, was shining brightly. Its silvery light looked even more mysterious today, giving a sense of foreboding.

"Yes," Xavier said as he looked at all the barely-alive, crunched, leafless trees on the grassless field. "Originally, I was supposed to look here much later, but I heard rumours from the Northern part of the town there's a creepy orchard here. There are records of people facing paranormal situations here. Hence, I decided to give it a look. And after one scan through the orchard, I found out why this place was… haunted."

"The children?" Eulene subconsciously asked even though she knew the answer. This place was oozing Yin energy, and there was an aura which felt… familiar.

"I found 13 remains lying under 13 of the trees." Xavier turned to Eulene. "This number… sounds familiar?"

Eulene took in a deep breath and muttered, "the number of missing victims."

Xavier took off his hat and did a pouring motion. Two shovels fell, along with a few clothes, fell on the ground. Xavier picked one and threw the other to Eulene.

"Using magic now would be slander to the dead," Xavier said. "Not to mention, the ones here lost their lives because they were cursed with something they had not wanted, namely- magic."

Eulene nodded.

Both of them went to work. Xavier went to the closest one while Eulene picked the one that 'called' her.

Both Xavier and Eulene were physically superhuman. But nevertheless, Eulene was faster. By the time Xavier salvaged six of the remains, Eulene had already done seven.

Both Xavier and Eulene were familiar with the human anatomy. Xavier was a certified physician while Eulene was a martial artist. They arranged all the pieces of the soiled skeletons on long pieces of clothes and lined the clothes outside the orchard.

The eerie- full of Yin- feeling the orchard was emanating weakened by a lot.

The duo scanned through all the remains. The stature, particle-6 age and gender matched those of the reports.

All the skeletons had one thing in common. Their skulls were not intact. The upper part was sawed off as if something was taken out of them.

Xavier heaved out a sigh. "I was hoping it would not be him."

"You know the culprit?" Eulene turned to Xavier and scowled.

"When did the first victim- Eulene Maisel- disappear?" Xavier turned to one of the remains.

"Five years ago," Eulene answered.

"According to the Electal Lord, when was the artefact stolen from the Gallery?" Xavier asked nonchalantly.

"Five years ago." Eulene did not know where this was going, but there was one thing she did know. The aura of Xavier changed.

Xavier clenched his fists as his eyes became cold- chilling so.

"And according to Wilbur, when did Psychiatrist Joseph Hearts arrive at Derbury?"