Aiden had seen that expression on his face for the first time. He had recently found that Lucas had a lot more confidence which he centered around his trait of being a super. Seeing how scared he was, it could only be the ghost they were talking about.

Did he somehow trigger one of the conditions?

Aiden mused as he repeated to Lucas what he had said earlier. “Looking at the red moon might be one of the conditions?” He asked, horrified.

“Possibly. You can go through the list.”

Rather than taking out his own phone, he borrowed Aiden’s and sat back into his seat.

Question - Could they have seen the red moon?

Following are the families which have been murdered.

Family 1 - No information

Family 2 - Very likely, they were having a party on the terrace.

Family 3 - No. A working family. Have a habit of sleeping early.

Family 4 - No information. One oddity - a baby was the only one left alive. Never before was anyone in the house spared.

Family 5 - Very likely, the family had a hobby of stargazing.

Family 6 - Definitely saw it.

Following are the families which were spared.

Family 1 - They have seen it.

Family 2 - They have seen it.

Family 3 - Didn’t see the moon.

Family 4 - Seen it.

“I see why you said what you did.” Lucas commented as he turned around and returned Aiden’s phone. “Yep.” Aiden took it and said, “Why did you react like that though? Did you see the red moon?”

There was a silence for a few seconds before Lucas admitted to it. He said, “I couldn’t help it. It was hanging low, very much in my vision as I saw it while I was driving to this town, almost about to enter it. I couldn't not see it. I even commented on how beautiful it was. Who knew it was a work of some specter?”

Hellen interjected with a frown, “The moon was white yesterday, as far as I know, it was only red on the night of march 1.”

Aiden theorized. “It could be that it is for everyone in the town. Just like the range of one in my house has a range of only one house, this one could have a range of a little more than the town. And since Lucas was not there for the first time the red moon appeared, when he entered the range for the first time, he saw it then. Maybe everyone in its range will see it one time.”

Hellen was pale as he kept talking. She absentmindedly muttered. “I didn’t even think of this. Such a huge range. What kind of powerful ghost is this?”

Due to Aiden speaking out, no one heard her mutterings. Aiden asked her through expressions but she simply dismissed it.

He continued, “There needs to be another condition apart from seeing the red moon. Because even if we assume that family 1 and 5 saw the red moon, family 4 definitely didn’t. There must be other things at play. Also the fact how surviving families saw the moon but still survived, all the more reason for more conditions to be there.”

Hellen, who had composed herself, thought a bit before summarizing, “So basically, for you to be qualified to be killed by the ghost, what we have for now is -

1. Seeing the red moon, which is a partial or optional condition. There might be another thing along with it for this first condition to be fulfilled.

2. Something to do with shoes.

3. 3rd condition might or might not be present.”

“Experience really is useful.” Valeria enviously muttered from the front seat. Aiden only took a glance at her, passing a comment mentally before closing his eyes to get some rest.

You need some brains too.

Nothing happened the entire ride as they reached the 3rd site. Lucas informed he’ll be staying in the car while the rest stepped out of it. With something clicking in his mind, Aiden turned around and knocked on the window of the car, indicating Lucas to roll them down.

“What? Left something in the car?”

“No no. I was thinking, could you check on how my sister is doing?”

“Oh! That little brat?”

Aiden chuckled as he answered, “Yes. She is grown up now. I sent her to the care center of the town as I was wary about the ghost in my house. But I am just getting worried about her. I didn’t get the time to check on her as I’ve been busy these days, or I swear I would’ve gone myse—”

Lucas patted his chest, interrupting his request. “Hey, chill! I’ll go, okay? You don’t need to give me reasons. Are you bringing formalities between our bond now?” He put the hand back on his own chest, with a fake accent of hurt in his voice. “Chill out, I’ll be back soon with good news. You go do what you are best at, I’ll go do what I am best at.” Lucas reassured Aiden and stepped on the accelerator, leaving without waiting for a reply.

Aiden gazed at the back of the car with a wry smile on his smile.

Am I subconsciously rejecting them now? Did I change more than them?

He shook his head with a chuckle and redirected his focus.

This house was more modern than the previous two.

The structure had a flat roofline and expansive, floor-to-ceiling windows on two floors that reflected the surrounding greenery. The exterior façade was a mix of natural wood and sleek, white stucco, giving the bungalow a clean, sophisticated look.

True to Aiden’s opinion on the bungalow being on the modern side, a pergola with creeping vines, offering a shaded sitting area with contemporary outdoor furniture, was situated in the lawn with a huge projector set up in front of it.

With a tired sigh, he muttered. “I’ll have to go through this?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

For the next twenty minutes, he examined the lawn and like the previous house, inspected the windows. There was nothing unusual this time. With furrowed brows he checked the group chat and realized all the victims had died on the terrace.

He walked up the steps and noticed multiple pairs of shoes, except that, as usual, one from them was missing. Noting that down in his memory, he stepped inside and began scanning through the house.

It was thirty minutes later when Hellen called him, informing him to arrive at the living room immediately.

“Elias.” Aiden called out, as he approached him for a handshake. “How are you here?”

Elias firmly shook his hands and replied with a smirk. “Why? I cannot be here?”

“I didn’t mean it that way, you know it very well.” Aiden replied with a straight face.

Shrugging simply, Elias turned to Hellen and asked, “Can I say it now?”

Without waiting, he tugged on the strap of his bag on his back and began, “Me and my family have decided to leave this town. My sister is getting really bad vibes from the place, add to that the murders which are happening in the town. She can’t sit still. She keeps insisting to move out so we have decided to leave this town.” He spread his hands and looked around at Aiden, Hellen and Valeria, before continuing.

“Of course, that is not all. There are other things which contributed to this decision. When we visited the administrative office, my sister detected signs of hacking on the main computers there. She managed to recover a few things but they were incomplete. It said a few things like “Moving the town” but we weren’t sure what it meant.” He looked around, trying to ascertain the changes in facial expression but he found none.

Good thing Lucas isn’t here. Aiden silently thought. Elias went on.

“Does that mean my father got the message but didn’t choose to act on it? Due to incompleteness, we don’t know when the message was sent either, before my father left or after. This entire situation is fishy. If my father got the message before he left, doesn’t that make it inconsistent? He didn’t act on the order before leaving. Why did our administration even suffer from hacking in the first place? I only came to give you this information. You can do whatever you want with it.”

Elias then tossed a key to Hellen. “It’s the key to the administrative office, the people working there recognise this as absolute authority. I don’t know when my father will come back, or I doubt he will, given the eerie things that are happening. So, you can look through any files for any information you want. Cya.”

No one knew what to talk about with Elias. It was silent for a good while when he left the house, before Aiden broke the ice.

“So the mayor got the same message. And somehow both you and the Mayor were blocked long enough for the Bureau to consider it was no longer necessary.”

“It’s creepy.” Valeria muttered while Hellen nodded.

“Chuck it. We can’t do anything about it can we?” Hellen dejectedly said.

It was the first time Aiden had seen her this way. He realized then and there that the current severity of the situation might no longer be at the level she could nonchalantly deal with. Or it might even be higher than what she had dealt with in the past.

He approached the wine cabinet of the house and took out a bottle for himself along with an opener. Turning around, he notified both of them. “I am taking a break from all this.” He left the house, taking a glance at the pergola on the way.

No. Not here. I truly need some quiet place.

He shook his head and left the parameters of the bungalow through their fancy gate.

This portion of the road in town where the privileged people lived in their bungalows was always empty. Only occasionally would one spot a few people walking, or someone walking their dog. Since even something like a bicycle wasn’t allowed to be kept since it was a transportation vehicle all the same, you would only ever see people walking or on a bus.

Talking of the bus, Aiden noticed the red vehicle taking a turn from the corner of his eye. After some thought, he put his hands in his pocket to check if he had money and quickly ran to the bus stop ahead after getting the feel of paper and coins.

It was hardly a few seconds of waiting before the bus arrived at the stop. He quickly boarded the bus, shortly realizing how empty it was.

Ah yes, it's afternoon. Rush isn’t there at least at these hours.

He booked a ticket to the last stop and took a seat at the end corner of the bus. Basking in the cool air of AC, he looked outside the window to distract his mind. It was roughly twenty minutes later that he caught sight of one of the parks. Deciding it was a good enough place, he disembarked at the next stop.

It was the park only for the privileged people of the town. The guard clearly recognised him, his parents being quite well known in the community. Due to heavy security, there wasn’t a problem of not being able to drink in public, although he would still have to look out for minors.

He took a seat in a corner of the park and leaned back into the cushioned bench. Taking a swig, he gazed at the figure in the central park.

The books talked about how the Great Smog brought countless disasters. There were 6 heroes who stood at the forefront of disasters as depicted by the books.

What were the disasters? What did the 6 heroes do? How were the disasters solved? The books spoke of how it was a genetic experiment on animals gone wrong in the blast of a research center. The 6 heroes were the ones who researched ways to bring it under control. Not much was disclosed to the public.

It was said that even now undiscovered animals roamed free in the wildlands between the towns and cities. This was the reason why private vehicles weren’t allowed. So that people don’t foolishly leave the town to die.

Now that he had come in contact with the hidden layer of society beneath the facade of normality, he knew it was very likely ghosts who could be roaming the wildlands. But he also didn’t want to deny the explanation given to the public without proper evidence.

He took another swig, still looking at the statue. It was one of the 6 heroes, Eleanor Vermillion. A middle aged female, her beauty radiating even from the lifeless statue. With a hat on her head and book in her hand, and a long overcoat, she did indeed come off as a scholar. Not much was recorded about the individual feats of the heroes, so he didn’t know much either.

Just then, even though he had taken a few swigs, he heard a baby’s voice clearly. He had a high enough tolerance to not be inebriated so quickly and hear random noise. He looked to the side, and noticed that a roughly 5-6 year old little girl was walking towards him.

No matter how extreme his thought process stood on the side of logic and rationality, it instantly broke down. Hiding the bottle behind him, he turned and gave her a wide smile, who in turn reciprocated.

“Big bro. Hug?” The little girl asked, spreading open her arms.

Her voice tugged at his strings, and the big bro caused him to overlap her figure with his sister. She called him in the same way. He looked around, eager to find where her parents were.

“No hug?” he heard her say again. Her eyes were already moistening. His heart finally gave in and swept her up in a hug as she desired.

“Thank you. Big bro.” Her voice sounded near his ears. It was laced with exhaustion and relief to his confusion but he didn’t question her. What could a little girl like her even know?

Instantly after she said Thank you though, he felt something. There it is! The same feeling I had when aunt Hellen thanked me! I earned it again! It’s the same thing which I felt I spent while getting the ability! What does this entail? Can I get more abilities in exchange for genuine gratitude?

Before letting his thoughts spiral further down, he stopped and reminded himself that the little girl was more of a pressing concern for now.

He asked her, “Where is your home?” As much as he felt completely relieved staying by her side, it was his job to send her back where she belonged.

The little girl tilted her head, her eyes watering even more he realized. “I have no home.”

“What?” He thought he heard wrong. When he realized she was about to cry, he hurriedly changed topics. “Where are your parents?”

“Wuuaahh.” He instinctively shut her mouth with his hands. Talking in a hush voice, he kept insisting her to not cry and finally took off his hand when he sensed she had stopped.

“Alright alright. I am sorry. Can you just tell me where you came from?”

The little girl turned around and pointed in a direction. With a bit of thought, Aiden’s mind calculated the direction. Just seconds later his pupils dilated rapidly, as that direction was where the entrance and exit of the town was situated.