The Judgement Of Divinity (TMOE #2)

Chapter 11: It's not that disturbing

For getting a fair amount of sleep that morning Lucius felt far from rested, and Samueli's words seemed to pass right through his head as they walked towards the northeast parts of town. This was soon acknowledged by the latter, so he ruffled Lucius' head in an attempt to snap him back to reality.

"Not the hair," Lucius protested as an immediate response and tried to fight Samueli's hand away. "Weather's finally good enough to leave it alone."

"Yes, it's surprisingly nice out today," Samueli agreed, looking up at the bright sky. "Seems like spring is finally here for real."

As thankful as Lucius was for warmer weather all he could think of at the moment was how inconvenient it had to be for Ethan. Even if he slept most of the day he was practically in house arrest whenever the sun was out.

Much like he could have expected, any thought he would have that day would pull him into supernatural territory. How could it not?

"You certainly seem out of it today," Samueli commented as if to prove a point, raising his hand just slightly as a threat to ruffle hair again and Lucius dodged to the side. "Hard time sleeping?"

"Yeah, I guess. I was with Anthony." Lucius nodded, rubbing his eyes to make them sting less. "A lot happened, so I didn't get much sleep."

Samueli arched his eyebrows in shock and Lucius reflected on his words, eventually releasing a groan.

"Come on, Sam."

"I would have been a bit surprised, but it's not that unbelievable, so..." Samueli shrugged. "... Still, I remain convinced you can do better than him."

"Right, so, I think this is awkward enough." Lucius happily steered away from the subject. "I was actually investigating some. Snuck into the BBT mansion to look for—"

"You what?" Samueli interrupted and Lucius winced. Perhaps he shouldn't have told him that. "Lucius, that's way too dangerous! What were you thinking?"

"Wow, you're actually sounding like Anthony." Lucius cocked an eyebrow, and Samueli looked deeply insulted, but didn't scold him further.

"Well, Phion knows I wouldn't want that," was all he said instead while linking his fingers. "Still, I do want you to stay out of danger."

"Not making any promises." Lucius knew lying would be futile. "But I'll be more careful about it from now on."

"So? Did you find anything?"

Lucius had to think. He'd yet to reveal any supernatural beings to Samueli, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Hypocritical as it seemed, if Samueli didn't have a single clue to begin with, why subject him to it by telling him?

Still, they had to find Mabel, so if the Larkspur order turned out to indeed capture supernaturals and have something to do with her disappearance then perhaps Samueli would find out eventually either way.

But that was for the future to decide.

"Both a map at the town hall and one in the BBT mansion had a larkspur flower scribbled on them where the grave is," he still relayed. "Anthony said it's because they grow there, but they don't. So it has to be something else."

"Well since he's apparently so good at recovering, could you throw him out the window and see if he talks then?"

Lucius gave the idea some consideration.

"I doubt it, but maybe it's worth a try."

Samueli chuckled, stopping in his tracks as they reached a fork in the road.

"I think it's this way." He pointed to the right, and Lucius gestured for him to take the lead.

"Should we assume they're rich?" Lucius asked as he looked around at the scenery. It wasn't exactly the 'fancy parts of town' kind of fancy, but the area was beautiful and green and the path was smooth enough for comfort. "He does own land after all."