“I really didn’t think we’d meet so soon after the last time, Casper.” Alexandra took a sip of tea as she gazed at me.

Just like Evanora said, it only took 3 days for the money to arrive. My bank account sang to the tune of 1.5 million dollars just as promised and not a dollar less. It took me a few hours to stop smiling like a complete fool the moment it arrived. Once I received it, I called up Alexandra right away and told her I want to pay for the elixir she used on me. The sooner that weight was gone, the better, after all, there was no telling if the Emerian Government would discover what she did.

She sat across from me with an incredulous look on her face, skeptical of the origins of the money. Since we were seated underneath the shade, she took her sunglasses off, exposing her green eyes with slightly sharpened pupils.

“You said you got this through legal means, right?” She inquired for the fourth time if my count was correct. Twice when I called her, a third time when I first arrived, and now once more.

“Yeah, it was an old inheritance or something,” I muttered unconvincingly, reaching in my jacket for a cigarette.

“And you’re a smoker now?” She asked with surprise.

“Unfortunately, I think I am,” I replied with a look of frustration. Over the course of three days, the urge to smoke had become so overwhelming I picked it up as a habit. When I thought of how it came about, the only thing that made sense was someone I killed was a heavy smoker. If copied traits from people I killed, it could be something useful or extremely dangerous to my health.

After a few puffs of smoke, Alexandra checked her phone and nodded to me.

“The transfer went through, we’re square,” She spoke without a hint of regret.

Alexandra kept her word like she said and it didn’t seem like she would say anything to convince. She might’ve thought that I didn’t want to go around killing people, but at this point, I had to. I don’t know how long I wouldn’t be able to use the grimoire otherwise.

“I still want to stay involved with whatever you call this.” I leaned forward and spoke seriously.

She looked at me with a bit of a surprise but didn’t get caught in it.

“That’s no problem– In fact, it makes things easier and I don’t have to worry about any enmity between us. I’d like to ask you something though.” She made a strange expression as her eyes scanned over me.

“What?” I reclined back into my chair before putting out my cigarette.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“It’s not a problem, why?”

“It doesn’t look like you’ve been sleeping much, that’s why. To be frank, you look like shit, Casper,” she said as she retrieved a small mirror from her handbag.

I looked at myself in the reflection and realized that I had dark circles under my eyes, which I hadn’t noticed until she pointed it out.

“I feel well enough.” I shrugged.

“If you say so.” She took me at my word and moved onto other matters. “We’ve found a guy who might match who you described.”

She pulled a folder out of her handbag and pushed it over to me.

“Really?” I asked as I opened it but was stunned into silence.

“Didn’t I tell you things were going to get complicated?” as she let out a dry laugh.

It turned out that the man I was looking for was Henry Cunningham. He officially retired from clearing ruins but remained an active voice among the political circles of the Emerian Islands. Not only was he an honorary member of the Sleeping Lion guild, but he was also quite active in his desire for increased public protection against ruin events.

He wore an entirely different face than the one I saw in my memories.

“What the hell is this?” I closed the folder and pushed it back to Alexandra.

“Complicated, like I said. I’ll be honest with you, even though they’re aware of his shady dealings, we won’t get much support from the government without concrete proof.”

“Are you serious?” I felt anger surge up inside of me, but I controlled it.

As I long as I remembered I was the one in control, I could stay calm.

“Calm down.” Alexandra put her teacup aside and looked around before she continued, “That isn't to say we really need their support on this one, right?”

“You have a plan?”

“I wouldn’t call it that exactly. I pulled some strings and got you a chance, but everything after that is on you. My government contacts still don’t know about you and I plan to keep it that way so try to be discreet, alright?”

After saying as much, Alexandra pulled out a piece of paper and handed to me.

“What’s this?” I questioned as I unfolded the paper.

“That's his schedule for the next week and his home address.” She spoke like a spy handler from an action movie, but I found it hard not to laugh as I looked at the paper.

“Uh…” I flipped it over and showed the crudely drawn picture of a dragon along with the message ‘Good luck, mommy!’ written on it.

“For fuck's sake,” Alexandra palmed her face as she took the paper back before handing me the right one.

“Sorry.” She smiled wryly. “My youngest just turned six and he wants to be an artist and a superhero.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“It’s fine,” I checked the paper and after confirming it was real I nodded.

It appeared that Henry kept a strict business schedule that he followed religiously with very little deviation. I guessed the only time that couldn’t be accounted for is when he went off to murder people which was obviously a pleasure for him.

“I’ll send you pictures of the locations he frequents as soon as they come to me, feel free to do whatever you feel is best.” As she finished speaking, her phone began vibrating.

At first, she took a passing glance at it but then her eyes widened.

“What is it?” I asked with a bit of concern.

She silently showed me a video which began playing aloud.

[Breaking news: China has announced that they have successfully managed to produce man-made familiars using minerals gathered from within ruins. At the moment, they are able to replicate the combat abilities of class-one, class-two, and even class-three gifted in the form of summoned familiars. Rumored to be called Golden Tiger Force, due to the nature of the familiars. It is expected that the Chinese government will begin deployment of these forces within the year. While some members of the UN raised concerns, experts say that development of such technology doesn’t breach any international law as the soldiers making use of said technology aren’t gifted themselves. However, some human rights groups have taken issue, stating that it is aimed at furthering authoritarian interests on a global scale. In other news, the US and Russia are both expected to announce their own successful projects later in the week.]

“So what does it mean?” I asked, I was in the dark on things like this and she seeing as she reacted stronger than I did, she likely knew more than me.

“It means nothing for now, but in a year? I think this entire thing is going to challenge the necessity of gifted in the eyes of the public. Plainly put, if you aren’t strong enough, you’re going to start to feel a tight leash around your neck,” saying so, Alexandra began to pack her stuff up, throwing a wad of cash onto the table for the waiter.

“Keep your phone open and get yourself re-registered, even I can see you’re a class-three or thereabouts.” She waved as she headed to her car, but I was too busy thinking to properly see her off.

…

I did like she advised and went through a short process of being examined on the spot. As expected, my Ruin Energy Signature had raised significantly. Officially, I was a Class-3 Gifted, but I was told my RES wasn’t far from Class-4. They estimated it’d take me around a year based on records of similar growth spikes, but I personally felt differently. If I could unlock more secrets within the grimoire, the time would probably be cut in half.

After receiving a brand new identification card, I arrived home in a flash and ran into Sunny as I did.

To tell the truth, I was somewhat avoiding Rosemary and her daughters for the past few days, but I felt like I could speak to them now, or at least, Sunny.

“I heard you talked to the High Mother?” She asked, making it clear she was disdainful of what I assumed was Evanora’s official title.

“Yeah.” I retrieved a cigarette and plopped down right in front of the building.

“And you picked up a bad habit too?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I did,” I mumbled.

Thinking about where the habit stemmed from made me uneasy.

“At least share then,” She sat next to me and pillaged the box of death sticks from my jacket before lighting one up with a flame conjured at the tip of her finger.

“So you’re a witch?”

“Something like that, yeah,” She replied.

We were both silent as we continued the monotonous routine of inhaling and exhaling smoke.

“You know, you look sort of miserable,” she commented after some time.

“It’s a step up from shit, so I’ll take it.” I smiled while Sunny chuckled.

“You know, all that stuff before. I didn’t- I wasn’t trying to seduce you or anything. Just so you know.”

“I know.” I grinned while watching cars pass by.

“So... You got any plans tonight?” She suddenly asked.

“Hmm–” I checked my phone and saw that it was only 3:30 in the afternoon. I didn’t have much on my plate for right now. After all, I planned on visiting Henry Cunningham much later. In spite of Alexandra’s advice, I wanted him dead as soon as possible and I felt I had the means to do it with the Spectral Bow and my Spirit Sight.

“I’m going to kill a guy,” I said while deadpanning, before I continued, “Why?”

“You wanna get something to eat before that then?” She asked unperturbed, apparently taking my statement as a joke.

“Why not? But can I at least shower first?” I replied and forewent correcting her.

“That's fine with me,” she responded.

I didn’t think too much of her dinner offer and shrugged before heading up.

…

It didn't take long to get ready. I stepped out of my apartment and the first thing I saw was Sunny and–

“Uh…” I fumbled for her name before recalling it. “Ms. Rusalka?”

“Just Rusalka,” She corrected me before her eyes fell on Sunny who stood opposite of her.

There was obviously bad blood between them as an invisible war raged. Meanwhile, I was just the poor soul caught between.

“Was there something you needed?” Sunny asked with an annoyed tone.

“I received my copy from the High Mother, but she’s still attempting to understand them so she can’t assist me. I only wanted to ask for your assistance in using them,” Rusalka ignored Sunny and spoke directly to me.

“You sort of caught me at a bad time since I’m about to head out now.” I smiled wryly. “I’d be more than happy to help when I come back though.”

“I understand– When you get back then.” Rusalka nodded as if memorizing my words before stepping aside. She had no interest in Sunny which seemed to irk the latter a little.

As soon as we stepped outside, I spotted Hope, I think it was, who was planting a few seeds right near the entrance. I recall seeing her doing the same once before, but I didn’t ask her too much about.

“Ah, Hope,” I called out, waving to her.

“Hello!” Hope waved back, turning to her adoptive sister next. “Hi, Sunny!”

“Hi, Hope,” She replied.

‘High Hope,’ I thought of something stupid and grinned.

“What are you planting?” I leaned over to look at the freshly turned dirt.

“Moon vine,” She replied, unafraid of getting her hands dirty as she toiled.

It was a flower that I hadn’t heard of and to be frank, my knowledge of gardening was practically non-existent.

“Will it grow in the cold?” I asked.

“It will,” Hope nodded with the utmost confidence.

“We're witches, remember?” Sunny nudged me. “Plus, Hope’s a dreaming witch. So if anyone was to know what the future holds it would be her.”

“Ah, I see,” I replied with a smile.

If I had to have any siblings, I’d think it would be nice to have a sister like Hope.

“I’m sorry for what you had to see,” Hope suddenly turned to me and said.

“Come again?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Whenever we tried to find you, it made you see your mother, right? I’m sorry for that.”

I was unsure of how to respond but forced a smile and spoke anyway, “Don’t worry too much. I’m just glad I got to see her again.”

Hope visibly brightened at my words and gestured for me to bring my ear toward so she could whisper something to me, probably an embarrassing secret about Sunny.

“What is it?” I asked, more than all ears.

“You’ll see her again one day,” Hope spoke innocently, but I found myself doubtful.

“And how do you know that? Did you see it?” I inquired.

“No, but the flowers told me,” she said, pointing to the soil.

“What does that–”

“Our ride’s here,” Sunny interrupted before I could finish my question.

I gave up on my question and waved goodbye to Hope, albeit a little reluctantly.