“Arrests have been made in the West Cedar Cemetery case. Kenelm Faerin, a known drug baron for designer drugs, is suspected to have sent out agents to test different overjoy formulas at several college parties. Faerin was arrested today after one of his employees tipped off local police.

The FBI is now working with the South Korean government, where Faerin is suspected to have performed similar tests. Last August, the bodies of a crashed tourist bus were found in a similar state to those found in Seattle, and the FBI is now looking for evidence to see if the two cases are linked.”

“Turn that shit off,” muttered Verlsa. She didn’t care if the SIA was able to tie a neat little bow on their case, the lot of them had left a bad taste in her mouth.

She was back in the DH offices, waiting for Sage to finish talking with Agent Pastor. Adi was also in the room. He was helping Vila fill up a large aquarium with water. Paul was waiting to the side. He had become fascinated with a mirror they had propped up against the side of the wall.

A large worm was sitting in a heap on the floor. It only was in the reflection though, lacking a presence in real life. When the tank was full, the worm crawled up the side of the tank and fanned itself out on the inside. While it was in the water, it resembled a cross between a Bobbit worm and a sea slug, colorful and incredibly disturbing to look at.

“Absolutely fascinating,” muttered Paul as he watched it swim about.

“I’ll install a water heater next and a purifier. Then we should be done!” Vila slapped his hands together. “Easy stuff!”

Adi looked on with disgust as the worm happily swayed this way and that. He still couldn’t believe that he had had sex with this thing. “How long before Janice regenerates a new body?” For some reason or another, Janice had trapped herself in a mirror during the attack at the den. It was by pure luck that they had noticed her while DH was doing a final sweep of the place.

Paul looked down at his clipboard. “She had already consumed a human body, thus it will be about a month before she is able to convert that mass into a new form for herself. By then, we will have a way to retrieve her from her prison.”

“Yeah… Cool,” muttered Adi. He really hoped she wouldn’t call him when that happened. “I’m going to get my dog and go home now.”

“Drive safely!” Called out Vila as Adi walked out of the room.

“Yep, you too.” Adi winced at his own awkward comment. “You know what I mean. Goodbye.”

He headed down the hall and ignored the footsteps running after him. That was until Verlsa ran out in front of him. She had an envelope in her hands, and she had trust it out for Adi to take. Adi looked down at it and then back up to her.

“It’s a letter that Duck-young wrote for me after he had injured me,” she said.

“Isn’t that something between the two of you?” She hesitated to say anything and kept the envelope out for him to take. “How is he?” Adi asked as he took the envelope and stuffed it into his jacket pocket.

Verlsa hesitated again. “They buried him in some dirt and locked him up in a vault because they don’t know if he’ll wake up with a soul or not yet. If he doesn’t wake up, they’re going to burn the body,” she muttered.

“He’s going to wake up again,” reassured Adi.

“I don’t think I want him to,” she replied. “He’s been through enough. The only reason I kept him going before was because I was scared to lose him, but I’ve been neglecting him for years. I don’t have the right to ask him to stay.”

Adi shrugged. “That’s his choice though, isn’t it?”

“But I’m not going to be sticking around,” muttered Verlsa. “I’m going to France. At least, not really France, but a part of France where the demon court is. Apparently, the demon king wants to meet me or something, and I’ll probably be sticking around because of that.”

He took a moment to lean against the wall. Adi was still feeling tired after everything that had happened today. “Not coming back?”

“The SIA know about me and there’s not that many carbuncles left in the world. Less than a hundred or so, or so I’m told.” She laughed nervously. “I’m an endangered species.”

“Better than being one of the sheep,” replied Adi.

“You are no sheep.” Verlsa reached up and grasped his shoulder for a moment. “Take care of yourself, Atticus. Don’t let something like this get you down.” She looked past him, to where Sage and Pastor were walking out of a room together. “You’ll be okay.”

“So will you,” he replied. “Go ahead and drop by if the demon realm doesn’t work out for you.”

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“Will do.”

Pastor gave Adi a nod as Verlsa walked past him. “Windi will be notifying you of any progress made by Miss Perlin and Mister Kwak.”

“Thanks.”

That was the only reply that Adi had for Pastor. He walked past and stopped by the employee lounge, where the headless woman was waiting for him on a couch. Adi sat down next to her and she flopped down onto his lap. Sable’s form shifted from woman to dog, and she sighed with relief as he began to scratched between her ears.

“Just a moment, Sable. I’m going to read this and then we’ll be on our way.” Adi opened up the paper and began to scan the contents.

❅❅❅

Dear Verlsa,

The past few days have certainly been a rollercoaster. There has been much that we have gone through, but I will get to the point; I have never forgiven you.

We silently agreed on a policy of not giving up on our friendship after Callie’s accident. Whether it was matters of anger or love, we would never mention it. We foolishly prioritized always being there for each other instead of admitting our own feelings.

There was a time where we were wildly and passionately in love with each other, but you were the one who left. You left without a word because you wanted to protect me from the dangers that came with your world, but you robbed me of the chance of ever getting over you. For years, I questioned if I should ever dare to ask you why, but I didn’t. I knew that questioning it would mean the end of our promise of never ending our friendship[. On never giving up on all of those years that we had shared together during our youth.

But I will tell you now that I would have left you. I would still try to be friends, but I had desired such things as marriage and children. Something which your nature would not have been able to grant us. Though it would have been difficult, I would have eventually healed.

Whether or not you have told me then, I can tell you know that my future would have been no different. I would have still found Suni, and I would have still died on that bus. Your silence may have damaged me, but it was not the cause of my death. You will never be at fault for that.

Go on and live, Verlsa. Callie and I may be gone, but you have every reason to go on. Live a good life, Verlsa. Discover what gives you purpose, and hang onto it with everything you have. Don’t let the weight of your past hold you back any longer.

With you always,

Duck-young

❅❅❅

Adi shook his head and put the letter back into the envelope. He continued to scratch idly at Sable’s ears. Verlsa had no right to force him to read that. Reading about a bunch of mushy complicated feelings stuff reminded him of how hard it was to be an adult, and he didn’t like that.

“You’re still here?” Windi walked through the open door and went to one of the machines. She smacked the side, a cup dropped down, and hot chocolate began to fill it up.

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure Janice was okay before I planned on never seeing her again.”

Windi kept her eyes on the paper cup as it filled up. “Now that your case has been settled, you will be free to go. As long as you don’t interfere with our work, you won’t be hearing from us.”

“Why do you do your work?” Adi leaned back on the couch. “I know you do it to survive, but is there any other reason? Does it give you purpose or anything like that?”

Windi sat down on the couch with him as she waited for her drink to cool. “It wasn’t long ago that DH was a wonderful place. We would go out and be greeted warmly by everyone that we meet. I would often play with the children at a mithryn school that we had set up, but I don’t have time for it anymore.

Our policies were forced to change when King Rayl died. Although our relations with the new king are good, he continues to push the boundaries of associations such as the SIA, and we will soon either have to choose to take a side or maintain independence. This is combined with the rumors that SIA has been violating the rights of mages, mithryn, and firstborn alike. Our work has become quite difficult because of that.

What happened with your uncle, the crimes he had committed, it would have never happened. It should have never happened.” Windi paused as Adi began to stare at her. She was avoiding his question. “I work because I desire to see the day when DH is able to operate as it was. As others have put it, we are merely treating symptoms while spreading the disease. I continue to work hard because I want to see those days again.”

“It’s that bad, huh?”

“The situation is grim, but that is simply politics. Tensions and stupidity waver from a day to day basis?”

Adi looked down at Sable. “Then tell them to fuck off.” He grasped onto the fur of Sable’s cheeks and began to tug gently on them. It had an oddly calming effect on him. “DH abandoned you guys, and you’ve been left to handle everything yourselves. Pastor already tossed out their rules by sparing you and Duke. Why can’t you do the same and stop relying on others to make the world a better place?”

“It isn’t that simple.”

“Of course it is.” Adi gave Sable a gentle push, and she jumped off of him. This gave him enough room to stand up. “Call me if you ever need help with a case.”

Windi stood up as well. “You are not qualified for the job.”

“I’m as qualified as anyone else here. I have to be if you all are just lost as me.” He grinned widely. “I even have the perfect partner for the job.”

“I regret to inform you that we have no idea if Mister Kwak will be awakening from his torpor.” Windi stood up and offered the cup of hot chocolate to Adi, but he held up a hand to refuse it.

His smile grew all the larger at Windi’s statement. “Who needs Duke? The only partner I need is Sable.” She let out a low bark as she agreed with his statement. “And the two of us are going to be looking forward to your call. I want to see the DH that you’re talking about, just so I can tell you that you were wrong all along and that you’re still a bunch of jerks.”

Adi walked out of the building with Sable trotting next to him. He didn’t really get having a purpose, but he did know that he wouldn’t be satisfied with some peace of mind and a comfy office job. This world was broken, and it would continue to be as long as people turned a blind eye to it.

And most importantly, he understood that he wasn’t done. This world was weird and full of danger, but it was always going to be there. It was always going to be a part of his life. Might as well work hard to make sure that his life would be a good one.