The Child of Scraps

Chapter 11

Leandro couldn't help but keep asking Noah about her powers.

He learned that they've been there ever since she was born, that she was sure it didn't run in the family, and that Noah liked to ignore it most of the time. He kept asking her questions until Avery grabbed the notebook from him and told him that they needed to get moving. He gave her the stinkeye as his answer.

They were moving slowly on the metal ledges, and kept an eye on the lower floor of the factory. They seemed to have a lot of metal ledges on their level, while the ground was littered with broken machines that were swept to the side. There weren't even any people patrolling inside the factory. If it weren't for the guards outside, the factory would've passed off as abandoned.

They finally reached the end of the metal ledge that they were on, and started climbing down the ladder. They did the action as quietly as possible, finally getting on the bottom floor. Leandro did one last survey to check for any people, but there really wasn't anyone inside. Were they really that lucky?

Leandro shook his head. They had to be careful, regardless of how safe it appeared to be.

He noticed that there were three doors on the right side of the factory. He slowly walked to the first one. Was it safe to go inside?

Leandro looked at Noah to check if she seemed suspicious about the door. But the girl with the special seeing eyes wasn't reacting, so it mustve been safe. Right?

Leandro wished he had that power. It was so rare and special. He wanted to be exceptional, and magic was definitely the best way to be exceptionally excellent! And yet, the seer powers went to the blind girl.

Deaf, bot blind. Leandro didn't care.

He touched the doorknob gently, checking to see if there was any magic on it. But since it didn't seem like it, he tried to turn it.

The door wasn't even locked.

He slowly opened the door to reveal a room that was neat and orderly, except for a mess on the table at the back. The only problem was the dust everywhere, but Leandro noticed that there were footprints that had left marks in the layer of dust on the floor.

They moved in slowly, wary of any traps that could've been left there. They noticed that it seemed to be a normal office, as if it were one for the previous CEO of this company.

"Leandro, look." Avery pointed at a bulletin board on the wall, with many different posters about the same company, Pastry Potions. "I've never heard of that company before. I think it's an independent Filipino one."

Leandro looked around the room. Once he heard the name Pastry Potions, he realized that most of the items here were about baked goods and sweets, whether it was the books or the decorations or even the tiny pen that had a little cupcake on top. He noticed that some of the posters on the wall included charity foundations that Pastry Potions had donated to or started, apparently.

They started shuffling through the papers on the desk and found many clips of old newspapers and letters that were ripped. Leandro opened one newspaper clipping, and started reading.

"Founder of the company Pastry Potions, Ernesto del Castillo has been suspected of corrupt operations with his brother, Francis del Castillo. They have been suspected to be using the taxes of the people and falsely donating to fake charity foundations."

"Hey, I think I remember that," Avery said as she started scratching her head. "I remember a few years ago, Dad vaguely mentioned that there was this company that was getting the government's money and falsely donating it, just like what you said, so that they could keep it themselves. I think this is it."

"How is this related to what we're looking for?"

"Because a politician helped them get out of the trouble. Do you watch the news? Go search the clippings."

They searched until they found one with a more recent date, five months later after the last newspaper.

"Gee, Filipinos take a long time to settle cases, huh?"

Leandro skimmed the story for a moment and then began reading the clipping. "Thanks to Enrique Aguirre's assist with the lawyers for Pastry Potions' founder, Ernesto del Castillo has been proven to have not participated in illegally and falsely donating to fake charities."

"Huh, ain't that dandy. I think it still didn't work out though, since the factory is mostly abandoned and everything."

Leandro felt a strong tug on his shouer. Noah had suddenly brought out a notebook and she placed it on the table. she started writing, 'That can't be true. Ernesto del Castillo is the brother of Francis del Castillo, and the latter is sworn enemies with Aguirre.'

Avery wrote down quickly to reply. 'Maybe sworn enemies is too big of a word, and a better one would be competitive rivals?'

'There is no such thing in politics. There is only either enemies or evil conspirators.'

Leandro grabbed the notebook from the other two. 'Look, let's not waste time on this. This doesn't seem important, and Aguirre could've just stolen the factory since he had history with it. This won't help our mission if we learn the backstory of this place.'

They turned around, ready to leave...

And found a boy, the same age as them, staring at them with cocky eyes hidden behind glasses and a smirk that held the feelings of a villain.

"So... Did you guys really think you could waltz in here without being noticed? Because I'm sure that Aguirre would be totally happy to see you all in jail."