The Hidden Gemstone

Chapter: 35

Alex's POV:

Elijah was the first one to break the silence that had befallen us at the sight of the dead body. "Who feels like throwing that nectar up now?"

Three hands went up, and Zoe rolled her eyes before slowly venturing toward the dead body. I squinted, tapping into my supernatural vision. The body looked like it belonged to a man, presumably in his late twenties. He had close-cropped brown hair and wore a white T-shirt and a pair of beach shorts. His feet were bare but covered in blood. He lay on his side, so I couldn't see his front, but I could sense it from where I stood that he was dead, and the stagnant smell that surrounded him supported the fact.

The body and blood reminded me of the vision I'd seen at Rinx. My insides shuddered even though I didn't know the man; the sight looked too much like the one at the back of my head where all the people I knew and didn't know, lay dead.

"Oh, my God," Zoe muttered the moment she got close enough to see his front and turned away from the body, closing her eyes shut. I walked forward to see what forced her to turn away - and almost retched at the site.

His upper body had been cut open, revealing his internal organs and flesh, all drenched in a ton of blood. The claw marks on his face indicated that he was the victim of an animal attack - a really, really vicious animal. The front of his shorts was soaked in blood, but what caught my eye was the rolled-up piece of paper sticking out of his pocket.

Furrowing my eyebrows, I avoided looking at the bloody mess and knelt next to the body, slowly reaching out to the paper. As I did though, Elijah spoke up, "You're seriously not touching him, are you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Trust me," I said, slowly pulling the paper out of his pocket. "I am not interested."

"It'd be concerning if you were," Cody said, eyeing the dead man, before turning to lock his gaze with mine. "Though I am curious about your interests." He wriggled his eyebrows.

"Will you stop that? There's a dead man in front of us," I told him. He held up his hands in surrender as I unrolled the piece of paper, which was revealed to be a handwritten invitation. The writing, though, was elegant and... vaguely familiar.

"What is it?" Elijah asked.

"An invitation," I said and read it out loud for them: "We're delighted to invite you to the ball being held to welcome the return of the Chief of 3M's. The ball shall begin at midnight to maintain the secrecy of 3M's, and is hosted by the Chief's son, Jeremy Milestone."

My gaze snapped to Elijah the moment I read his name out loud. He seemed just as surprised as I was, his eyebrows furrowed. I had been out of contact with Jeremy since the party three years ago, except for a few days ago when he called me out to remind me of the night, and Elijah's reaction told me that so had he.

"This just got a lot more interesting," he muttered under his breath. Tell me about it.

"Did I miss something?" Zoe asked, her eyebrows drawn together. "Why are you two acting like I missed something?"

"Because you did," Cody said and then looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "What exactly did she miss?"

I let out a long sigh. "Remember when I told you about the party where I found out I couldn't drink?" The moment I uttered the words, Cody shot Elijah a glare who shrunk away from his line of sight. "It was Jeremy's party."

"Oh," Zoe said softly. "So that guy's father owns a secret company?"

"Apparently so," Elijah answered, still avoiding Cody's gaze. He looked at me and then at the invitation in my hand. "When was it?"