Chapter 12

Despite her best effort to avoid it Silva still got chewed out by Mika for her carelessness. At some point, both of her friends cleared the table from their school stuff and they were having a light meal, and when they finished the waitress gathered their plates and brought them cookies and tea, which Mika had ordered before.

While they slowly sipped the tea Silva finally asked her friends what they had thought of the video she had shared.

“This guy sure can get the crowd rowdy,” Steven commented. “I mean, damn they were cheering loudly, I wonder if he will go on a tour. I would pay to see him perform.”

"It could be fake," Mika added, but Silva could tell that she did it half-heartedly, not really believing in her words.

"I think it is real," Silva thoughtfully added. "And it made me think..." Mika nodded for her to continue and she did after checking if there was anyone who could overhear. "Well, Mika you said that we should try to steer away from the supernatural…”

“I meant troublesome things in general, you know, things that people with actual experience and knowledge should solve. It just happened to include the supernatural,” Mika inserted.

“That too, but, well, don’t you think that it would be too passive? I mean, if we go back some years we barely noticed anything strange happening around the world. Maybe we did not look at the right places, but now… It seems that we are in the middle of a whirlpool that could swallow us anytime.”

And Steven agreed. “Yea, we are kind of related to those kinds of things, and with Silva’s disposition on getting into trouble it would be not a wonder if we get involved in paranormal shenanigans.”

“It… It’s not on purpose. It just happens.” Silva feebly defended herself but got disregarded by her friends.

Mika’s expression had turned contemplative as she mulled over the topic.

"Well, it is true that you are getting into trouble easily.”

“You too?” Silva let out a groan full of indignation.

“Jokes aside, we could have missed something but from what he had gathered… Yes, there seems to be an increasing amount of suspicious incidents happening. These incidents all are quite recent, going back a few years at most. But the largest increase has been the last half of a year.”

“Well, we kind of knew that already.” Steven agreed. “Why bring it up now?”

"I don’t think we will be able to stay out for forever. So, instead of just waiting for an accident to happen, we should take a more proactive approach" Silva looked into Mika's eyes. The girl seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable but maintained the eye contact until her fried finally let out a sigh.

“Fine, we can do that. It is better than doing nothing if you both don’t get carried away. What did you have in mind?”

Silva had thought that Mika would try to resist more, but it had been unexpectedly easy to get her to agree.

“Um, we could try to get in better physical form, do more practice with our abilities?” Silva was fully aware that her suggestions were nothing special, but it was something.

“Working out is not doing it for me. I can’t go all out in a city anyway, but I guess you two could use a bit of a workout now and then,” Steven smirked. “You know Mika’s marks at PE are pretty bad.”

“And yours are bad at every other subject.” Mika retorted before making a suggestion to Silva. “But I could help you with your ability after school. You could come to my house, my parents are usually not at home until it’s late.” She suggested. “I suppose I could also learn more about human anatomy, could be helpful with me being, you know, a healer.”

At that moment Steven leaned closer to Silva and started to whisper in an exact volume that made it sure that Mika could barely hear. “Um, Silva, did you know that if you go to a predators den you accept the risk of getting ea-.” Steven flinched stopping midway and returned to his normal tone of voice. “You didn't have to kick me, I was just joking.” He gave Mika an aggrieved look and then put a cookie in his mouth. “These were really good.”

Seeing the cookie disappear Mika realized all of them were gone, leaving her looking longingly at the empty plate before she returned her attention to Silva.

Despite Silva sitting at the same table as her friends at the moment, she was lost. There obviously had been an undertone in their exchange but it was lost on her. In her mind, it just showed the difference of knowing each other for a short and long time.

“Besides, it's not like your room can fit the three of us.” Steven continued.

“That’s true...” Silva agreed. Steven flinched again, and judging by the movements, Mika had kicked him again with even more strength.

“You are busy with your club and what not else after school anyway. What does it matter what we do in the meantime?” Mika argued.

“Well, I just felt like I am losing my best friend.” Steven wiped a fake tear out of his eye.

“No, no, I am not trying to-!” Silva hurried to explain.

“Relax, I am just joking.” Steven sipped his tea. “We should go to 'Shan-Tea' next time, their tea is better.” It seemed like he had forgotten about the last time they went there. “Or maybe the trauma gave him amnesia” Silva supposed.

"Well, Steven is right about the size of my place." Mika begrudgingly admitted. "But it’s not like we have a lot of choices, do we?"

“If you got your dad to lend us his car I could drive us to the mountains. Plenty of places there. I could stretch my limbs and Mika could look, I don’t know, for some wounded animals or something.” Steven proposed, surprising Silva.

“You have a driving licence?”

“Sure!” Steven shrugged. “It would have looked bad if I, as the oldest son did not have one.” He cringed. “Not that I am getting a car anytime soon.”

“That could work.” Mika reluctantly agreed. “But we can’t go too far away. And even if my father agrees we would still have to pay for the gas and find the time. And it seems like you are forgetting one huge wolf in the mountains.”

"Please, not like there is a lack of wastelands around this city. What are the chances of running into it?" Steven sneered. “Besides it will probably be caught soon enough. There is even an app now to track every party that is searching for it. Also, there are no actual victims, that first one only had light bruises. Didn’t even bleed.”

“How do you know that? I don’t think it was mentioned anywhere I looked.” Came the expected question from Mika making Steven wince.

“I, ugh, a friend told me.”

“Is it the friend I am thinking of?”

“Maybe, I don’t live in your head, I can’t tell.” Steven was defiant.

“Um, what kind of a friend?” Silva wanted to know, but Mika stopped Steven from answering.

“The kind you are better to not meet. And you better make sure he does not meet Silva either.” Mika ordered.

“Sure, whatever, it is not like I can let him near any girls.” Steven shrugged. “So, are we going on a picnic in the mountains or not?”

What followed next was a half an hour-long debate over if it is too dangerous and if not when and where they could go. There was a long argument over the safety of the trip, with Mika opposing the plan, but in the end, she relented when it became clear that Silva was on Steven’s side.

As they were hammering out the details Mika and Steven suddenly quieted down while looking behind Silva. Then she heard a voice which he had heard just a short while ago. Right, this was the last topic Silva had wanted to talk about, but in the heat of the discussion, it had fallen out of her head.

“Ah, hey, hello! Steven and... Huh, one of you should be Mika? That was not in the plan.” He murmured the end, but Silva still caught it, as the man was now standing right behind her.

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Silva whipped her head around to see Aramaleo standing behind her. She drew a sharp breath, but before she could do anything else, she heard Steven speaking.

"And you are?" Silva could tell that this was a demand coming from Steven.

"Ah, this is awkward, sorry! You see, there should have been only two of you here. But you don’t care about that I see, what was it, ah yes!" Aramaleo blabbered. "Who I am! My name is Aramaleo Banster! Ah, and I was told to meet Steven and Mika at this place at this time. You are only ones left at this nice establishment, so I figured that you should be it. As I-"

But before Aramaleo could continue Steven interrupted while Silva edged herself away from the loud man. Then she felt Mika’s hand grab hers under the table, which calmed her heart rate down to manageable levels.

“And with what purpose would you be looking for us?” Stevens voice now had a dangerous edge to it.

“So you are the right people! Excellent! The purpose is nothing bad, I assure you!” Aramaleo nervously waved his hands. “This is a bit troubling. The subject is sensitive, not really meant for third parties ears.” Aramaleo glanced at Silva who was now even closer to Mika.

“She is our close friend.” Mika narrowed her eyes. “She is completely trustworthy!”

"No, no! I wasn't implying anything, of course, she is trustworthy, she is your friend after all! The best friend!" Aramaleo was visibly sweating now and he was squeezing his hands together. "What I wanted to say is, that… Ha-ha, I wanted to talk about something... to do with your special side." he was now wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, but even more, he was eyeing Steven as if looking at a dangerous beast.

This really was a bad day for Silva. She did not think that the man would come straight to her friends, but there was a silver lining, he did not know who she was, even when he had (probably) tried to find her before. Still, the coldness seeped through her bones as she had not prepared her friends for this meeting, which she could have done if she was a smoother talker.

"Fine, we can talk." After a minute of silence, Steven finally agreed. Aramaleo gave Silva another glance at the same moment Mika gave another squeeze to her hand. Then Mika spoke as she kept squeezing.

“Silva, can you leave us for a few seconds, we have something we need to talk about with this man.” Mika let Silva's hand go and straightened her pose.

Silva could tell, that Mika had meant few seconds literally. She slowly nodded and got up, she slowly circled Aramaleo and indicated that she would go to the toilet as to let them speak. Aramaleo followed her a bit as she left, before turning back to the pair left sitting at the table.

When Silva returned, now hidden, she realized that the conversation had not moved an inch. It was possible that her friends had stalled for her to have time to come back. She headed to a place behind her friends to have a better look at Aramaleo and when she arrived she tapped on her friend backs signalling her return.

“So, how did you find out about us, or where we will be?” Steven spoke making the recipient of the question sigh in relief. By this point Aramaleo had several sweat beads rolling down his forehead revealing his nervousness.

“Uh, um, first, can I sit down?”

His request was promptly denied by both of Silva’s friends. Aramaleo shifted in place as he made a series of glances around him, but seeing no one he hushed his voice a bit and continued to speak.

"Well, I have had worse, you know, you this is not the first time I talk with people like you and my source never tell of what they are capable of. Especially when it usually is a great secret that they have an ability at all." Aramaleo restarted his babble. "And even though this place is nowhere as private as I would like, I have noticed that speaking with people like, hmm, us, in a quieter location can result in a very explosive outcome. You know, eyewitnesses are actually not bad." His expressions contorted as if he was recalling an unpleasant event. At this point, Steven cracked his knuckles.

“Ah, yes, your question, I remember!” Aramaleo hurried to answer. “First, as of how, it is simple... I didn't,” He got stares of disbelief sent in his direction. “Truly, it was my employer who did. But I can assure you that there are limitations, it works like divination I was told, and it is not very precise, sometimes the information I get is barely comprehensible.” Irritation crept into Aramaleo's voice at this point. “And my job is to run around and get in contact with the people my employer discovers. Sometimes-, most of the times it is dangerous and sometimes I don’t find anyone at all!”

Aramaleo coughed in his hand and checked his surroundings. "Ah, but I am not complaining, no, no! Every job has its hazards. So, as for why I was tasked to find you both..." He tapped on the floor with his feet. "You see, my employer is, how to say it, well he is looking for candidates, I am not sure for what. For now, we are getting in touch with new people, and there is also an offer. I mean, you don’t have to take it up, but we can show they to gain almost everything in the realm of possibility. Money, fame, hiding and safety, we offer the possibility for all of those and more.” Aramaleo took a pause to let the information sink in. “But we are not giving away secrets or helping with something that would harm other people. And as you probably noticed I said ‘the way’. We can tell how to get something and guarantee that it will work, it is costumers choice in the end if they accept or not.”

Aramaleo’s words were hard to believe in, to make a promise like that would mean that whoever was behind him was a very powerful ability user. It was scary to imagine what he could do if he ever decided to harm someone. But the big question was, what was the price? The next question was naturally about that and it came from Steven, who’s life was in the sorriest state of the three of them. Though, the truth was that Silva would not say no to a sizable amount of cash to help out her father.

“And what would be the price of your employer helping us out?”

Aramaleo gave them a somewhat sad smile. "A favour. You can still refuse it, for example, if you can’t make it, even multiple times, but… It is better not to. I can assure you that we don’t ask for anything unreasonable, the trade is more than fair, but it can have an unexpected conclusion. Ah, but don’t be mistaken, we do not do any harm to our partners." Silva looked at Steven, and sure enough, he looked interested.

"What kind of favour we are speaking of here?" Steven inquired.

Aramaleo shrugged. "It can be anything really, being at a location at a given time, helping with problems that we need a hand with, speaking with someone, or nothing at all. We try to keep the favour on the same size as the request. People with our strengths can have a quite a bit of impact in the correct situations you know." he concluded and took out a paper slip with a phone number from his pocket which he left on the table. "I’ll remind you that we are not harming anyone nor do we plan to. If you request is impossible we will tell you."

Steven gulped down last of his, now cold, tea. "Can we know what will be asked from us if we decide to take up your offer?"

“No, the request will be fulfilled, but the favour will be asked at a later point in time," Aramaleo replied, now squirming even more. "That should be all and your friend should be returning soon. I don't want to hold you here for longer than necessary, so if you have any questions you should ask them now. Can not guarantee I'll answer them though." he let out a nervous laugh.

After a moment of silence, in which they tried to decide on a question they could ask and receive an answer to Mika finally spoke. "Are there more people like us here in Oldsteel?"

“I guess? I had to meet another one before coming here.” Aramaleo shrugged. “I did not succeed. I am sure, that if you were to give a call to the number I gave you, you could hammer out an agreement that would give you that information.”

“How do you make sure that the other party keeps their word? What are the consequences of not returning the favour?” This time it was Steven asking.

"Um, that is difficult to say, you’ll keep living your life, but there won’t be any further cooperation and it is a dangerous world… Ah, but it is not a threat. Sorry, I mean, I did not mean it to sound like that. Anyway, I will say this, the world will not get any safer."

At that moment Aramaleo received a message. He typed a short answer before returning his attention to the pair signalling for them to continue.

“What will happen if we don't use this number?” Mika wondered.

"Then we won't meet again. Simple as that. We are a respectable party, we are not forcing anyone."

“And what about you? What is your ability?” Steven wanted to know.

Aramaleo furrowed his eyebrows. “I am not going to tell you that. I don't even know your abilities for that matter. Also, it is very rude to ask.”

It did not phase Steven as he snorted cracking his knuckles again making Amaraleo jump in fright.

“What is in it for you?” it was Mika's turn to ask.

"Me? Well, I do it as a way to return a favour." Aramaleo reply came as a surprise to them. His phone ringed again, and when he checked it his smiled faded away. "Well, that is it for today. There is a situation I have to attend to. Hopefully, we will see each other again sometime." he waved and left a moment later. As soon as they were sure that he is gone Silva returned to the table and plopped down.

“That was... something.” Silva sighed looking at her friends, who were now inspecting the paper slip left on the table.