ISIS vs Fey

Chapter Five: "There is More Truth in the Mask We Wear" - Slavoj Žižek

"Do we really need to do this, perhaps the fey just used their paranormal bullshit to get into our files?" Said Rima.

"That's not a possibility. At least not a likely one. Since I was first brought in on this case, I took precautions against paranormal espionage. I won't bore you with the details, but trust me the only plausible way information leaked is through a mole."

Rima looked like she hadn't slept in a thousand years. The incident at her summer home seemed to have shaken her more than she wanted to admitte. Or perhaps it was the lighting, something about the interrogation room made everyone seem older and more tired by simply being there.

After the attack, Isidora and Rima devised a plan in which the two of them would integrate everyone working on the task force. They initially agreed that a saboteur working from the inside was a likely scenario. Rima leading the investigation was not publicly known — neither was her summer home traceable to her. Knowing that she would be alone in the woods at that particular time and place, required someone working from inside the police force providing the enemies with information. In an attempt to avoid accusations of bias, the plan of interrogating everyone was made extensive enough to include an interrogation session with Isidora and Rima as well. One in which Rima would press Isidora for answers and vice versa.

"The mole, or moles, might accidentally have revealed themself to you in some way. Or given some sort of a hint to you. Think hard about it. Is there anything, no matter how minor a detail, weird or suspicious about any of our colleagues which might indicate something fishy?"

***

The sacrifice was a sedated calf, the color of milk and honey. The altar, constructed by Rima after weeks of bone breaking work, was arcane in its design. That night felt like an eternity ago, it was 8 hours before the murders started. The Swedish forest around her was beautiful, the cold starlight elevating its harsh majesty.

The motionless calf was surrounded by seven peculiar objects, arranged in a circle. Each represented one or more of the magical elements.

A gothic mask carved out from the bark of a tree, partially covered in moss, and using a tangle of flowers as decorative hair, symbolizing earth.

Burning coals arranged in the shape of a female face, wearing a crown made from the rest of Pompeii worm (the most heat resistant animal on earth) — symbolizing fire.

A handmade bowl, with runes carved into it, filled to the brim with seawater. Seaweed growing inside of it — planted in a ritualistically significant pattern. The artifact represented water.

A mesmerizing kinetic sculpture, meaning a figure containing movable parts. These being pushed into movement through wind, the structure's continuous opening and closing reminded Rima of an abstract depiction of birth and rebirth. The thing was made from the woods of an abies Squamata (a tree known for growing in exceptionally high places). It symbolized lightning and wind.

A small statue made of ice, adorned with jewelry carved from the bones of polar bears. The figure depicted a half beast half man creature —symbolizing ice.

A carving of two hands with broken fingers —the figure made out of an Annona tree. A species of plant known for living mostly underground —with only leaves and some twigs poking up above the surface. The hands held a necklace made from the bone of moles and badgers. The artifact symbolized the element known as umbra —the magical component associated with shadows and the underworld.

A tiny piece of a meteor —acquired after months of struggle and that, too, at a break-the-bank kind of price — to symbolize aether. The name came from the fictional material which, according to medieval science, fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. Within paranormal fields of study, it was used to name the element associated with space, stars, and the unknown — often symbolized by the aurora.

Rima was draped in a floor-length umbrella gown and a black sweater — a version of one of the Swedish folk costumes. Kneeling before the unconscious calf, twigs snapping under her bare feet and scraped knees. She closed her eyes and recited a spell, in a language not meant for humans to speak.