NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26: Junior Detective Work!
“This man was said to be at the scene of the incident in the missing persons’ report. The police refused to believe his statements, and ever since then, he’s been sitting inside his apartment.” Lindsay read from her phone.
“The homicide at the family diner?” Alexander asked for clarification's sake.
“Yes. Apparently, more than a dozen people went missing in the middle of the day. He was the only one that managed to get away.” Lindsay knocked on the door.
‘If that isn’t an obvious sign that it’s a demon, then I don’t know what is.’ Zoey wanted to roll her eyes.
People don’t just go missing in the middle of the city inside a restaurant. But this was more convenient for Zoey. She would get to fight a daemon like she wanted if they were lucky enough to find it. Zoey wondered why they didn’t just go to the crime scene and then locate any trace of demon magic or essence with some magic tool or something. Then she realized if that were possible, Lindsay and Alexander would’ve already done so. They were basically the bottom of the barrel magjistars in terms of ranking.
“Why are you kids outside my door?” A thin-framed man with messy balding hair, bags under his eyes, and a beer gut greeted them in the door frame.
“Hello, sir.” Lindsay reached out with her hand for a handshake. He refused and only stared at them with suspicion. “I would like to ask you a few questions involving the mysterious disappearances at Glizzy the Clown’s Family Diner. Do you have any time to spare?” She asked.
“Even if I tell you what happened, you won't believe me. No one does. Shit, I still can’t even believe what I saw...” He scratched his head with small patches of black hair falling to the ground.
“That is something you don’t have to worry about, sir,” Alexander told him as he reached into his school uniform’s inner pocket.
‘Why the hell are they doing this stuff in their school uniforms? Won’t that make them easy to recognize?’ Zoey wore a simple light blue hoodie, leggings, and sneakers with a bag over her shoulders.
Their school uniforms were pretty distinct as almost every other school in the city allowed their students to wear regular clothes with some regulations. Then again, Zoey didn’t know what the worst that could happen because of it. It wasn’t like either of them was going to reveal themselves as magicians. Right now, they were simply collecting information.
“If it’s the truth in your eyes, it’s the truth in ours.” Alexander said.
“All we want are the facts, Mr. Fletcher.” Lindsay added. “And you are the only man capable of sharing them with us.”
“Fine... But you can’t come in. It’s a fucking mess inside.” He came out the door and closed it behind him.
Zoey, Lindsay, and Alexander posted up inside the hallway listening to his story. People occasionally passed by them during his story, but they paid no mind to them. They weren’t blocking anyone’s path or door. So, there was no need for anyone to bring up complaints with the landlord.
“I just got off work that day... It was a regular day that was no different from usual.” He started off.
“Since I was feeling a little hungry and didn’t feel like cooking for myself when I got home, I decided to stop by Glizzy’s. Even when I first walked in, I could tell that something wasn’t quite right. It was like the usual feeling I got when I walked inside Glizzy’s was gone. I felt like something wasn’t right, and that made me nervous.” His eyes were drawn to the floor instead of theirs.
“Did you feel cold? Shaky? Out of breath?” Lindsay asked.
“Yes! That’s exactly it! It was like I wasn’t in control of my body anymore, and I felt like I had to get away no matter what.”
‘Is that some sort of telltale sign of a daemon in the area?’ Zoey wondered.
“Then what happened?” Alexander wanted him to continue.
“Then, I looked in the direction of where I was getting this feeling from. It was in the corner section of the diner. There was a man and a woman sitting at a table talking to each other. At first, I didn’t think much of them. They looked like just regular ordinary people to me. So, I thought I was just freaking out over nothing.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Until I realized that I was the only person who could see them. No one else seemed to notice the pair at all. Not the waitresses, the employees behind the counter, the customers, only I did. Even when I asked other people about the two, they only looked at me as if I was crazy, pointing to an empty table and saying people were over there. That was when I understood something was wrong. I didn’t see ghosts. I wasn’t overworked and started hallucinating. And when those two looked at me with the woman waggling her finger, I ran out of that diner as fast as I could. I didn’t turn or look back until I was safely inside my home, soaked in sweat and piss. The only thing I can remember after that was the police bursting into my room and taking me down to the station to book me.”
“Can you describe the two people to me?” Lindsay asked.
“The guy had piercings on his ears and tongue. He was a skinny guy with brown hair. The woman had green hair, glasses, big tits, and wore a checker pattern skirt.” He answered.
“Green hair...” Alexander mumbled something.
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Fletcher. We have gained a lot for our report at school because of you.” Lindsay smiled.
“You believe me...? You don’t think I'm crazy and killed all those people?”
“If you did, you would certainly be in jail, don’t you think? How could you cover up the murder of over a dozen people in less than 6 hours?” She asked him.
“I guess... I guess that does make sense...” A small smile formed on his face.
“Plus, you don’t really seem like a bad guy to me.” Alexander patted him on his shoulder.
“You kids... are the only people to believe me...” Tears were starting to pool around his eyes.
“The world is a lot more magical than you might think, Mr. Fletcher.” Lindsay said as they started to leave.
‘Pfft! How cringy!’ Zoey inwardly laughed.
“So, are we going to the diner?” Zoey asked with her face just as calm as ever.
“No. They wouldn’t stick around after causing a big commotion like that. The two daemons should be hiding somewhere in the city.”
“Lindsay. Do you think that female daemon is the librarian that got away?” Alexander brought up.
“I’m certain of it. But I have no idea about the male daemon with her. Apparently, they’ve possibly teamed up?”
“Daemons don’t team up.” Alexander stated as a matter of fact.
“Why not?” Zoey asked.
“They’re too prideful and selfish for something like that.”
“Isn’t that just like an opinion, though? How can you be so sure that they aren’t teaming up?” Zoey wanted to know.
Because in her mind, it was an open and shut case that two demons were working together and eating people together. Why else would they be talking at a diner with each other? Maybe it was because she didn’t grow up as a Magjistar that she was missing something, but still. It seemed pretty obvious that they were teaming up.
“There are very few cases of daemons ever working together documented at the OM. And of those cases, it was only when both daemon’s lives were in certain danger.” Lindsay said.
“Okay.” Zoey shrugged her shoulders, still feeling that she was right. “So, how are we going to find the daemons? Just walk around the city and hope we get lucky?” Zoey asked.
“Our job isn’t to find the daemons. It’s to investigate to see if daemons caused the situation.” Alexander reminded her.
Just as they were about to leave the apartment complex, they ran into an exciting duo. Piercings ripped jeans, slim body type. Emerald-green hair, huge breasts, red and black skirt. Numerous people lined the sidewalk. Everything started to go into slow motion for Zoey once she realized who these two were. Focus. She grabbed Alexander and Lindsay by the back of their collars and pulled them away to a more comfortable distance away from the two demons. Then she picked them up and started running away.
“Those humans! Those are the ones who nearly killed me from back then!” The woman screeched.
“Kill 'em!” The man realized who she was talking about.
Both chased Zoey as she ran away at full speed with Alexander and Lindsay in her arms. Despite carrying two dead weights, Zoey didn’t seem slow at all! The two daemons ran after her with everything they had but still couldn’t close the distance between them. It wasn’t until Zoey made it to a heavily secluded area with a significant lack of humans nearby that she stopped running and let the two trainee majistars down.
“Hmph. What sort of trick is this? Do you seriously believe you can take us on?” The lady seemed to have thought they led them into some sort of trap.
“You should’ve just kept running. But since you decided to accept your fate so graciously, I suppose I can eat your corpse with some respect.” The man’s long forked tongue shot out of his mouth, reminding Zoey of another demon with a similarly long tongue.
“We might be out of our league here.” Alexander nervously chuckled, taking out his wand.
“I’ll have to use my new Magji Tool faster than I thought...” Lindsay reached into her skirt and pulled out a tiny green crocodile plushie.
‘Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight.’ Zoey’s blood boiled.
Zoey couldn’t help but get giddy at the thought of fighting two daemons. The number of skills that would arise from this battle. She couldn’t wait! Her hands visibly shook in anticipation of the battle ahead while she put on her cursed boxing gloves. This was exactly what she needed today.