Queen of the zodiac ( zodiac city duology #1) [ undergoing revamping]

-nove-

Denisha

"You have a laptop," I questioned, looking at Jasper.

"You don't?"

"No."

"Well, you're behind in technology."

Technology was a new idea slowly surfacing in the Zodiac City. Most people just dismissed it. We had only recently accepted phones, and with our elemental powers, many saw no need for such gadgets. I mean, why endure a five-hour car ride when you could create a portal and be there in six seconds?

"If you say so, cotton candy."

"Cotton candy?" Jasper laughed, putting on a shirt. He sat down beside me and input the password to his laptop.

"Look at this," he showed me a picture of Rayla. I nodded.

He scrolled down. "It says here that on 21st October, she went missing."

"Uh-huh," I nodded, struggling to understand.

"She returned like 2 days later, sleeping on her bed. According to her mother, she smelled like death."

"Oh! That makes so much sense," I said pretending to grasp the situation.

Jasper frowned. "You don't understand, do you?"

"No," I laughed, and he chuckled.

"Now look at this," he showed me a picture of Michael.

"Michael went missing on 25th May."

"There's no correlation?" Jasper smiled smugly. "Except his uncle also claimed that he smelled like death after reappearing 2 days later."

I nodded, beginning to see the pattern.

"So I thought to myself, why are they disappearing and reappearing and smelling like death?"

"So," he said, typing away on his laptop, "I searched for all documentaries related to such occurrences."

He showed me the results. "957?"

"Yes, 957."

"And 957 of them either involve past royals, current royals, future expected royals, some of the elders, and the soldiers who guard the royal palace."

"Wait, you don't think..." I looked up at him, the pieces connecting.

He nodded. "But that's just a hunch. I think the descendants are doing something to these people"

"After discovering this, I got bored and decided to check for any of the Radiance names."

"What did you find?"

"Nothing," Jasper said, sounding disappointed. "Except Brooke went missing."

"She's one of them?"

"Not exactly. Apparently, she went missing around age 15 when her family was killed."

"Oh," I said, feeling a bit let down.

"Now here's what's fishy. I tried to search the whole internet for details on what happened that night. But I couldn't find anything. It's as if all the news reports from that day were cleared from the internet."

I looked up. "I have a newspaper of that incident."

"What?" Jasper said in surprise.

"Yes," I said, searching through my book bag. I was supposed to go through it, but it kind of slipped my mind. "Here it is," I said, handing it over to Jasper.

He read through it.

"That's weird," he said, frowning.

"What's weird?"

"According to the newspaper, all detectives declared it a robbery attack, except Detective Lumilin. "But over here," he narrowed his eyes at the newspaper, "they said no detective took the case."

"What does that mean?"

"This might sound like a wild guess, but something about that robbery isn't right."

He stared at the newspaper again. "Here, they said Brooke went to the Sagittarius territory and came back within a day to find her parents dead."

"Wait, what?" I snatched the newspaper. "That's not right."

"What's not right?"

"In Ramon's memory, I accidentally glimpsed through the Brooke leaves."

Jasper frowned. "And what did you see?"

I got up, pacing the room. "Brooke couldn't have gone one day and back because she spent two days in Jamal's dog house"

"Jamal?"

"Yes. In Ramon's memory, Brooke met him when he was going to Jamal's place for a vacation. She was confused and asked for directions and was hungry. Brooke decided to take him to Jamal's house in the Leo territory. They hid her in the dog's house, fed her, but on the second day, she left."

Jasper frowned. "So the newspaper and the internet are lying. But wait, how do you know it's that day?"

"1st June, right?"

Jasper looked down at the newspaper. "Yes, 1st June."

"In Ramon's memory, he told Brooke, 'It's the first day of the 6th month. Why is a pretty girl like you hungry?'"

Jasper cringed. "That's an embarrassing thing to say."

I laughed, judging him. "He was just a child."

Jasper rolled his eyes. "But I don't get it. Why would they lie?"

I frowned, thinking. "They want to cover something up."

Jasper continued typing away on his laptop.

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

"Detective Lumilin," he replied.

"Oh."

"Done," he said, reading what he found. "According to this profile, he was in charge of the Brooke case but got fired three days later." We exchanged glances. "Now he's working for a shroom in the Dertine Province."

Jasper looked at me. "Denisha, I think we need to go to the Aries territory to see the detective. It can't be a coincidence that he was fired, right?"

I nodded. "But we can't leave the campus."

"You can't," Jasper said, smiling. "But I can, and you can follow me."

I shook my head. "Jasper, going to the Aries territory is dangerous. And who knows how many days we'll spend out there. If the prefects come for the evening roll call, they'll notice I'm missing. I can be expelled. I can't risk it. I'm sorry."

"You're no fun," he grinned. "But don't worry, that's why you have me. I'll go to the Aries territory on Apollosday."

I nodded. "Thank you so much, Jasper . You've done a lot."

He gave me a crooked smile. "Not too bad for a dog, right?"

I covered my face in embarrassment. "I said I'm sorry."

He laughed. "So right now, we have to find out two things: the descendants are doing something to our leaders, and secondly, Brooke's past is fishy."

I smiled. "I say we make a really good team."

He frowned. "What about Celeste? You sure we shouldn't tell her?"

"No. I just don't want any more people involved, in case it turns out to be dangerous."

He nodded. "And the Brooke thing?"

"Oh, that we can tell her," I said, smiling at Jasper.

"Okay then," he got up, walking to his fridge. "Want some strawberries?"

"Yes, please."