"Who the fuck are you?!" Luuk, who had not fully woken up yet, jumped out of bed away from his doppelgänger. His expression was that of shock and fear.

He then saw Agatha giggling near his perfect twin and slowly came to the realization. The man looking exactly like him who was staring motionlessly at him was probably the detective.

"Mr. Hymes, is that you?" he asked, still in doubt.

No matter what, seeing the exact copy of himself was not something he could get used to quickly.

"Yes, it's me. Sorry for borrowing your appearance without your permission," said Graham just out of formality.

Luuk nodded.

"So why are you here today? Is it about our place?" he asked curiously.

"Yes. So please go get ready. Meanwhile, it would be weird to have two Luuk van der Meers walking together, so I'll change into someone else," said Graham.

He issued another Order and his appearance became his original self one more time. After that, he chanted his Deity's name and he once again turned into the martial arts instructor Hansen Müller. Agatha was still watching the process with amazement in her eyes.

"Val, just like that, I've used five Transformations just within two hours," he muttered while looking over his shoulder.

By the time Graham finished transforming, Luuk had also finished getting ready. He had put on the shirt that he had worn the night before and a black sweater. The pants that he was wearing were also the same as the previous night. After he packed his belongings, the three people left the now messy hotel room.

"Where is your stuff, Mr. Hymes?" asked Luuk in curiosity. His bag was rather heavy from all the course books he ha had to bring to classes the day before.

"I left it in Agatha's motor carriage. Just leave yours there too later," he replied.

They took the elevator back to the first floor and Luuk went to the receptionist to check out and pay.

"Good morning again, Mr. van der Meer. You just came back and you're already leaving?" asked the receptionist. There was genuine confusion in her tone.

Luuk's face also showed puzzlement and then he quickly realized what had happened.

"Yes, yes. Something just came up, so I need to leave," he explained vaguely.

After paying for the cost of one night's stay, Luuk came back to the other two who were waiting by the door. The three of them exited the hotel and went to the motor carriage that was parked by the side of the road and got in; Graham at the front and Luuk at the back. There was Graham's briefcase placed neatly under the back seat on the left, so Luuk sat on the right, behind the driver.

Agatha drove away at once and headed towards Tuinstraat. She parked several meters away from the Vakbond apartment building near the entrance to the back alley. There shouldn't be anyone in the back alley at this hour, so they chose the place. The three of them quickly exited the motor carriage and walked there.

The three people stood in the clean deserted alley. The city's cleaning service usually worked very early in the morning and the fact that the place was still clean meant no one had done any suspicious activities there.

Graham looked at Luuk and said, "We need to switch clothes."

Luuk nodded and took off the shirt and sweater that he was wearing, exposing his slender and pale body. There were clear tan lines around his arms and neck. Meanwhile, Graham had turned back into himself and had quickly transformed into a perfect copy of Luuk. He took off his shirt and exposed his body that was a uniform color as his arms and face. It was clear that Agatha had never seen Luuk shirtless, so her brain made up what his body looked like.

"I wish my body was also that tanned," said the original Luuk while looking at Graham's exposed torso that technically belonged to himself.

Graham shrugged and gave him his shirt and coat. The two identical men then put on the clothes at the same time. Graham then moved his gun holster to his chest and covered it with Luuk's black sweater. Although it was now more difficult to reach, it would be concealed at least. The sweater was long enough to cover his belt and bullet pouch, so he didn't do anything to them. Agatha was watching the process without feeling even slightly uncomfortable.

"Wear the Gemini mask. It's in one of the pockets," said Graham to Luuk.

The young medical student reached into the heaviest part of the trench coat and took out the mask that had two sides to it. He put it on and now he almost looked like Graham, only shorter and a bit thinner.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Graham took out a lighter from his pants pocket and lit a fire.

"I ask that the flame float,"

As he said that, the tiny flame rose in the air and suspended itself there. It was burning gently but the sunlight outshone its brightness. Graham put the lighter back in his pocket and looked at the tiny flame.

"I ask that you become bigger!"

The flame suddenly grew in size to that of a football. It kept growing until it stopped once it reached the size of an exercise ball. Now, the was a huge floating ball of fire in the alley and it dispelled the cold that the morning brought to some extent. Next, he issued another command at the flame.

"I ask that you hide inside this dumpster!"

Graham opened the lid of the empty metal dumpster and the ball of fire entered it. From afar, it shouldn't be visible. He didn't close the lid so that it would be easily accessible.

Luuk was watching from the side patiently with his hands inside the pockets of his pants. Meanwhile, Agatha had slit her wrist and let the blood pool on the ground beneath her. Once there was enough, she also took out a blood bag from under her coat and pour the content onto the pool of blood.

Graham then sat next to the now warm dumpster with his back against the wall. He closed his eyes and issued an Order to himself.

"I order myself to fall asleep!"

Within seconds, he felt very sleepy and then fell asleep not long after. Valentine then opened his eyes and got up from the spot. He understood Graham's intention, so he quickly chanted while focusing on Luuk who was wearing the Gemini mask.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare that the presence of the man in front of me a secret!"

Instantly, a thin yellowish mist descended and enveloped the original Luuk's body. His presence had been erased and unless someone focused, they wouldn't be able to see him. Luuk then understood what he needed to do and looked at Agatha who was still doing her own preparation.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare the presence of Agatha van Nostrand mine!"

He made a swift swiping motion with his right hand and now the woman's presence had also been erased.

"I can only keep it stolen for five minutes," reminded Luuk.

Valentine nodded and then went back to the sleeping spot and switched with Graham again. Graham got up and cleaned the dirt off his clothes approached Luuk, or what he thought was Luuk's spot. He couldn't feel him now nor see him unless he knew where to look.

"I'll lure the enemies here now. Please get ready. Luuk, give me your apartment key," said Graham. He reached his hand out and Luuk took a key ring from his right pocket difficultly using his left hand and handed it to Graham.

"Here," he said shortly.

Graham took the keys and walked out of the alley quickly. He was lucky that Agatha had seen the way Luuk walk, so the body that he got right now was as light as the original. He arrived at the apartment not long after and entered through the main entrance. There was a kind of nostalgic feeling even though he had only been away for a day.

The moment he stepped into the building, his sense of danger was triggered again. However, it was not because of the enemies' presence. In fact, he couldn't feel their presence at all. It was something akin to his divination telling him there was danger nearby.

He walked upstairs normally in the way that the real Luuk would and reached the third floor not long after. He refrained from looking around to avoid suspicion and just went straight to Luuk's apartment while only looking straight ahead. He fished out the keys from his pocket and inserted the biggest one to the keyhole and gave it a twist. With a click, the door was unlocked and he entered the apartment before closing the door back behind him.

"Val, I think the enemies are hiding in the corner of the corridor. They must be sitting on that old sofa while watching us the whole time while we can't even see them," muttered Graham quietly.

Graham walked across the messy apartment and approached the stuffed backpack lying near the table. He unzipped it and took out some of its contents to make it a bit lighter and then carried it behind his back. There was a tiny bloodstain at the top and he made sure not to cover it. He also packed the pouches of powder on the desk and stuffed them all inside his pocket. He trusted Luuk's packaging ability in the hope they wouldn't burst inside the pocket.

Once he was set, he went out of the apartment and locked the door again behind him. Graham walked down the corridor confidently and made his way downstairs.

...

"Fear, did you see that?" whispered a hooded man.

"See what? The man just now? What about him, Fright?" asked Fear with her intimidating voice.

"There is a tiny bloodstain on his backpack. It's a Shroud's medium for anti-divination," replied Fright seriously.

Fear stretched her body and seemed to feel relieved.

"Is it finally time for action? I'm sick of just sitting around and watching this old dilapidated building," she said excitedly.

"Yes. It seems that that guy is connected to the Shroud somehow. But we must also be careful in case it's a trap," replied Fright analytically.

"Well, even if it's a trap, I'm sure we can run away just easily. It's not only that Shroud who is a master of escaping," said Fear proudly.

"Sure whatever. Just be careful. Let's go before he's gone,"

The two hooded figures stood up from the sofa and followed the man with the black sweater from behind while maintaining their distance. They walked downstairs and exited the old apartment building while keeping an eye on their target.

The street outside was busy, but despite their suspicious getup, nobody seemed to notice the two people wearing cloaks that completely covered their faces. They were following the man in a black sweater who hadn't seemed to notice that he was being followed. The man just kept on walking quickly while carrying the backpack with a tiny, barely noticeable bloodstain at the top.

"Where do you think he's going?" asked Fear curiously.

"Probably meeting up with the Shroud. His backpack looks like it has valuables inside. He must be his informant or something. If I hadn't noticed the tiny bloodstain, he would have slipped past us just like that," explained Fright.

The man then turned right to the entrance of a back alley and the two cloaked figures waited for a while before entering. The man then started becoming suspicious and looked around him. Fright, who was leaning a little to watch the man, became more convinced that he was related to their target.

"He was watching his surroundings. It seems that he is meeting up with our target somewhere here," explained Fright quietly.

"Then let's go and ruin their party," replied Fear with excitement.