Finding Darkness

Chapter 32

In the morning, the sound of sirens wakes us all up. Almost in sync, we open the doors to our rooms and rush out.

"What's going on?" I ask Mama in alarm.

"I don't know, Cat. I don't know."

We reach the front door, and Yuma turns the knob and opens the door. The house is immediately flooded with a spotlight.

"Yuma Tsukumo," a voice amplified by a loudspeaker booms. "We know you house a criminal here. Bring him out, now!"

At first, we're all confused. Who's the criminal? Then, Astral pulls himself away from the window.

"It is me they are talking about," he says solemnly.

"Don't say that!" I exclaim. "It can't be you they're talking about!"

"It is!" he argues. "I see it in their eyes. I also see him in the crowd."

I look closer, and I see a boy around Yuma's age. His eyes are orange, his skin slightly dark, with black hair arched forward. Earrings that look exactly like Astral's dangle from his round ears. He wears a black sweater with black jeans. He has a dark blue shirt on, and combat boots cover his feet. Black Mist in human form. He smiles smugly once he catches my eye.

"Astral?" Yuma asks. "Where are you going?"

"The only way to settle their minds is by allowing them to take me," Astral replies. "There is no other option." He sets one foot on the ground, and where that bare foot used to be, is a human shoe.

Astral changes from bottom to top, assuming a human form similar to Black Mist's. When he's done, he looks only slightly like himself. His skin has changed from blue to pale, his eyes one uniform color: orange. His ears are round instead of elfish.

Astral turns to us and smiles sadly. "Hopefully, you both will solve this without me." He takes me arm and Yuma's hand in his own. "So this is how human flesh feels. I had no idea they vary in temperature." He lets go, slides his hands inside his jeans pockets, and turns himself in without another word.

I turn away, unable to bear any of this. It's so unfair! Astral's innocent! I hear the sirens blaring, and I turn back in that direction. Nobody there. Not the police, not Black Mist, and definitely not Astral. I sigh.

"Let's figure this out, Cat," Yuma says, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah." I nod and follow him into the lab.

We set to work pouring over all the notes Yuma and Astral took, reading from beginning to end. Yuma teaches me that to be successful, the detective needs to think like the enemy. Since our enemy is Black Mist, we need to think about why he would do this. We remain in the lab, going out only for lunch, bathroom breaks, and dinner. This procedure follows for three whole weeks. During that time, Yuma's thought process improves a lot from the past weeks when Astral was still around. We refer back to what Astral would do if we're ever stuck. Yuma begins thinking like how Astral would, and I begin to understand why he likes to remain still while he would run scenarios through his mind. Basically, our entire thought process revolves around Astral, seeing as though he was the one who "taught" us these things.

At the end of the third week, we finally come to solid evidence. It took endless days and sleepless nights, but we did it.

"Cat? Yuma? Are you both still in the lab?" Mama calls.

"Yeah!" Yuma shouts back.

We rush downstairs with the results, and two of my cats follow excitedly.

"Mama, guess what!" I exclaim with excitement.

"What is it, Cathy?" Mama puts away her purse and coat. I think she went somewhere, but I can't remember where.

"We have solid evidence that Astral's innocent!"

"Well, that's nice, dear, but it's a little too late for that." Mama sits on one of the couches.

"What do you mean?" Yuma asks.

"The trial is already over. Due to insufficient evidence, Astral's been found guilty of all of this. He even admitted that he couldn't remember what happened most nights, and that he's afraid that maybe it was him."

"What!? How!? Yuma was with him the entire time!" I storm upstairs and slam the door to the room Mama and I share. I throw myself on the bed and lay there for the longest time. Then, an idea occurs to me. What if we prove Astral's innocence to break him out? Would that even work? It could!

I rush downstairs again, my bell tinkling viciously. "Maybe we can free him!" I call excitedly. "We have the proof; it could work!"

"Cat has a point," Yuma muses. "All we have to do is prove his innocence with our evidence."

"I knew it!" I hug Yuma tightly. "Will you help? Oh, please say yes!"

"Alright, alright!" Yuma tries to pull away from me. "Of course I'll help. Astral's my best friend."

I let go. "Alright!"