The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 42: Not Alone. (Part 1)

Chapter 42: Not Alone.

??? Before/After the Fall:

"Accept us," the voice echoed in my mind.

"No!" I refused and yelled back. "I'm not you!"

"We are you just as you are us."

"I'm not a Witch! I wouldn't have killed all those people. I'm not like that!"

The voice softened, "You will only suffer without us."

"Bite me!" I angrily threw my words.

"Our regrets are many but one day, we'll understand."

"Just leave me alone already."

"We will wait. We will always be waiting."

**

Ardent Friend:

I tapped the table frustrated, trying to control the growing anger within me. Vanter was the same, his fists tightly clenched. Ana was pensive and in deep thought. We had failed. The kidnappers slipped past us and now we could only wait for more information.

The linin cupboard door opened, and Zen entered together with Master Powel.

"I apologise, it took longer than expected." Zen looked about the room, noticing our mood and the lack of the others. "What happened?"

I spoke through gritted teeth, "The terrorist incident was just a cover for the kidnappers. We blotched their plan but by then they already gave us the slip."

"Where to?"

Vanter shrugged, "We don't know. We tracked them to a private airport but lost the trail there. They could be thousands of kilometres away by now."

Though Zen appeared calm, the Aura emitting from her body as certainly not.

I had to calm myself down for her sake and spoke softly, "We're waiting on Agent Wester. He said he wouldn't be long. When he arrives, he'll tell us what he knows from the investigation. In the meantime." I faced Master Powel and gestured to the empty chair. "Sit."

He scowled but did as he was told, "It is unfortunate, but Callus was the one who dealt most with the outside world. He kept us contained and only gave missions when needed. It took time to pry the words from his mouth."

"And?" I looked at Zen hopefully.

She sighed and sat, reigning in her Aura, "We were able to access some information. A bounty went out a few days ago. It was anonymous but asked for Erin, Aria and Maggie. The reward was 10 million."

It was an absurd amount of money that would definitely get the eye of professions. "Do we know anything more than that?"

Master Powel answered, "We have ways to contact them but little more on our end. A job appears, we apply for it. The jobs however aren't limited to kidnappings. Body guarding, theft, destruction of property. It ranges."

"And we can't tell who issues the job?" I asked.

"Not on our end."

"Argh!" the sound came from Ana who suddenly slammed the table. Out of all of us, I didn't expect her to flip out. She was angry and like us, it was aimed at herself, "I should be interrogating those terrorist bastards myself, not leaving it to some random Agent!"