The Heart Collector (Under Editing)

Chapter Eight: Milo

Fare woke up the next morning and stared at her at her phone in disbelief.

Thanks for dropping off my suitcase last night. -A

She had suspected that Mrs. P had taken the suitcase from outside her window, but she was at a lost on how it went to Agatha. There was no way that she knew where Agatha was. This was an anomaly and Fare did not like anomalies. While it was strange, Fare suspected the threat level to her mother's safety to be low. Whoever it was, they could have reported it, but they did not. She decided to file that in her brain for later and to not worry Agatha any more than she already was.

Of course. -F

Fare pulled herself out of bed and moved towards bathroom. Once she was under the spray of the shower, she thought of the events of the last few days. Agatha's meeting. Novus' visit. The disappearing and reappearing suitcase. Two were connected, but the third was a mystery. She should have some reassurance that she had made more progress in Kila's case than she did it the last month, but she felt the opposite. It was not sitting well. Fare was unsure if it was just really fully sinking in or her gut saying that something was off. Either way, she felt nauseous. She stepped out and water pooled at her feet. She stared at her reflection in the mirror and realized her eyes shifted. For some unknown reason, her gaze will turn every other living creature to stone, but she always remained unharmed. Kila claimed that the mirror diluted the gaze's potency enough, but when she directed a mirror towards a rat, it turned to stone. While that ability was not rare, there were very few that openly talked about it. The little research that Fare was able to successfully conduct revealed that it varied in each person. There were some cases of Fae turned to stone by their own ability and other that were only able to turn animals. Fare was grateful that she was immune.

Fare pulled herself away and dressed herself. She had originally planned to confront Mrs. P about Agatha's suitcase, but she decided to look at Milo's apartment. Ever since her first meeting with Novus, she was unable to figure out how her neighbor fit into all of this. While it was possible that he was arrested under someone else's murder, Fare doubted it. His apartment could hold the answer and her window was closing. He was arrested two days ago, and Fae law stated that a Fae could only be held without an official charge for seventy-two hours from the time of the original arrest. Which meant that this was her last chance to look around before he was released. It would be easy since there was still a huge hole over her dining area and when she called to make an appointment to get it fix last night, someone would not be there until tomorrow.

Fare pulled a metal kit out from underneath her bed and opened it. It would be too big to haul up easily and she suspected that she would only need a few things. She grabbed a pair of black latex gloves, her pocket flashlight, a small digital camera, and a notepad with a pencil. When she lifted the notepad, a picture fell out. She had forgotten that she hid it there. It was the only picture of her and Kila together. Fare remembered that day. It was Kila's college graduation, and she insisted that Agatha take a picture of the two of them with their large oak tree in the backyard. Fare could still see Agatha's eye-roll when her and Kila scaled the tree and proceeded to strike ridiculous poses. Fare hung upside down on a branch and Kila hung down like she was holding onto monkey-bars. That was Fare's favorite day. That was the day she truly felt a part of the family and it made tears form in her eyes. She carefully placed the picture back inside the kit and returned it back under her bed. Once everything was secured on her person and gloves on, she stood her desk chair and hauled herself up through the hole.

Before she fully entered the apartment, Fare used the flashlight to take a cursory glance around. She knew that there would be signs of a struggle, but she was surprised by the extent of it. There was broken furniture and window was shattered. Newspapers were scattered and the breeze from the window blew them towards the kitchen. Fare could see that there were splinters from the original front door and the remnants of police tape. When she did another sweep, light bounced off something shiny sticking out of the plant by the window. Fare carefully made her way over and discovered that it was an antique key. An antique key that looked identical to the one that she found in Kila's apartment. She furrowed her brows. She pocketed the key and placed the butt of the flashlight in her mouth. As she dug through the plant's soil, she pulled out a large plastic bag. When she opened it, she dropped her flashlight in shock.