Chapter 145
“Without a trace.”
Kalysto knew that Alice was not foolish enough to stay in the kingdom of Bhallys, knowing that it would be continually attacked by hordes of monsters for the next few months and the entire territory would disappear soon after Thomas’ death.
Much less to use her real name, knowing that the king and his subjects would use it to search for her.
So again, she pulled out the book Thomas had given her and opened it to the last page, where Alice’s handwriting stood out on a blank page.
‘Jean Gray and Hella hunting together through the multiverse.
By the way, I’m wearing what you gave me last Halloween. Att Wanda.’
The fairy champion frowned at the message her best friend had written to her in a code they had invented years ago to communicate with each other when Alice’s very meddling roommate was still alive.
What did I give her last Halloween? She struggled to remember as she looked at the message and felt tiredness take its toll. It was long after she saw Wanda’s name for a few seconds that she remembered that Alice had won the bet between them and dressed up as Wanda Maximoff, for which she had given her a brown wig. And although Hella is my favorite character among those three, Alice always said that I had much more in common, psychologically speaking, with Jean Grey than with Hella because of the double persona thing... So she must be pretending to be Wanda or Hella.
Although Kalysto never liked the comparison that the psychology student had made on more than one occasion. Since Alice signed the note as Wanda, that leaves Hella as the most likely option, given the ‘multiverse’ clue.
But, wanting to be sure, she preferred to use the excuse that she was looking for her missing twin sisters.
It’s been a little over a month since we arrived in this world, she could be practically anywhere... although the most logical thing to do is to go north, or live as close to fairy territory as possible... at least that’s what I would have done in her place. She thought. And that’s why she spent the next two hours looking for Alice in the ten offices of the Adventurer’s Guild that were all over the kingdom of Solis.
“I’m sorry I can’t help you, sir. But we have no record in the entire kingdom of Solis of any female adventurer registered with any of the names you gave me,” commented the young secretary who was attending them in the main office of the adventurer’s guild in the capital, somewhat exasperated. From her expression, it was more than obvious that she just wanted them to leave at once so she could go home.
“Thank you very much for your time," replied Kalysto after placing two bronze coins on the desk of the young woman, who, thanks to them, had had to stay after closing time in order to attend them.
“Maybe if you try the Kgal guild tomorrow, you might have a little more luck and find your sisters. Lately there have been several complaints about missing girls, especially in the villages near the kingdom of Balsahty," said the secretary quietly, a little more encouraged to see that she was rewarded for her work. “It is said that people from that guild can get all kinds of information. Normally when people are lost and the guards can’t find them, people usually go with them although their service is not cheap," she continued while showing a bit of solidarity. “But you would have to wait until tomorrow for them to open. All the guilds are already closed at this hour.”
With a heavy heart and disappointed at the lack of results in her failed search, Kalysto gave a half-smile as an apology to the exhausted young woman. Remembering the times she herself had had to deal with annoying customers. And after tossing her short platinum blonde hair back, she turned and walked out of the lonely office with Caranthir, after letting out a long sigh.
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Hopefully, I’ll have better luck tomorrow... However, the idea that the invasion of the capital of the kingdom of Bhallys had come several months earlier than the book indicated, worried her.
The cold night air hit her face and ruffled her hair. And two of the three rings she had looted from the Elven merchant who kidnapped her glittered in her hand as she tried to comb back her mane. A sigh escaped her lips, and her shoulders slumped listlessly.
“I’m practically out of mana and I’m out of potions," Caranthir announced, looking into her eyes, still trying to get used to seeing her in the guise of a man.
“In that case, you can return to your home or the room you rented as soon as your mana reserves are replenished. Make sure you have enough supplies for tomorrow. We will leave again two hours after sunrise. I will call you as soon as I am ready. Make sure you have everything ready by then.”
“Will you be looking for a room for the night? Could I offer you...?” But before he could finish his invitation, she interrupted him.
“No, thank you. See you tomorrow," Kalysto then opened her inventory, took a couple of steps away and pulled out the hearthstone that would take her to her room in the fairy kingdom.
As soon as she activated it, a light violet symbol was drawn on the floor and seconds later she was back in the darkness of her room.
A soft sniffing sound was heard from where her bed should be, and she knew immediately that she had awakened her pet.
“Tsuki?” she asked, but with the thick curtains closed not a single ray of light was coming through the window of the room. “Ezhil Purification!” As the golden light came out of her body, the little puppy pounced on his master, licking her face over and over again while wagging his tail from side to side, full of joy. “Not in the face! Tsuki, stop it! How many times do I have to scold you for the same thing?” But the puppy, after giving her a last lick, started rubbing her wet cheek. “Now we’re both going to need a bath!” Kalysto complained, wanting to eat something and go to sleep right away instead of wasting time grooming herself.
“Arff?” questioned the little boy, not at all happy with the new direction the conversation was taking, as he looked at the strange appearance of his mistress, whose skin now looked much lighter than usual and her hair much shorter. Tsuki frowned and sniffed her again, as if to make sure that she was indeed in the arms of the right person.
Kalysto, distracted by the tray of delicious food on the bedside table, headed to the bathroom while every muscle in her body groaned with fatigue and her eyes almost closed on their own.
It had been too long a day. She sighed, wishing she could find her friend quickly. I didn’t think it would be so complicated to find her. Even with all the help of magic, only the central office in the capital has access to the list of adventurers in an entire kingdom, and even then, it’s not that easy to get them to give you the information. Although not all had been wasted time. Thanks to the large number of young people who had disappeared, it hadn’t been so strange that she was looking for Alice. Tomorrow I’ll go straight to the capital of Zeer and Thaluz and if I don’t find anything there, I’ll have to start looking in the guilds where they sell information. The only good thing about all that was that she still had most of the money she had looted from her kidnapper. At least I’ll have something to pay for their services.
Kalysto opened the bathroom door, observing how spacious, comfortable and neat it was compared to the one they had assigned to her in the human kingdom. White tones predominated along with a pale blue, but knowing that the castle was carved in precious stones, she guessed that the appearance of the walls was nothing more than a beautiful illusion.
She walked to the tub and instead of turning on the faucet and watching the water run down like a small waterfall; she reached out a hand and conjured water.
It was when she was about to fill the tub that she realized there was something strange in the air.
And the hairs on the back of her neck and her arms stood on end. All her senses went on alert as something touched her mind.
Kalysto jumped back, letting go of Tsuki at the strange and unpleasant sensation, dropping him into the tub full of freshly conjured water.
“Master? MASTER, NO! THE WATER IS FREEZING! FREEZING!” shouted a voice in her head.
“What the hell?” Kalysto blinked. Confused and alert as she watched the soaking-wet little puppy struggle to get out of the tub as if his life depended on it.