Sentry of the Arcane: Befall

Chapter Twenty-Four: Fitz

Sophie and I are the first ones to come downstairs to the conference room. After finishing breakfast, I pull Fitton's folder out as Sophie prepares the pictures and information that she had asked Mr. Wallace to import them onto her computer. "That's very clever of you," I compliment her as I open the folder.

"Thank you," she says politely, her hair swaying forward and hiding her face slightly. I think I might've seen some red on her cheeks, but with her hair covering my perspective of view, I can't truly tell.

I pull out the marriage certificate and "death"certificate and look at them again. "You have the photos that Mr. Wallace showed to the Altruistics and Sovereigns, right?" I ask, remembering the pictures of the car crash that was supposed to be fatal.

"Yep. And all the information that Mr. Wallace gave," Sophie adds.

"About the ex-girlfriend?" I inquire. "What was her name again?"

"Um..." Sophie uses her touch pad to scroll through the information. After a few moments, the female Percipient leans back and says, "Her name's Isabella Devon."

"Didn't we talk about her a while back?" I question. "Mr. Wallace said that Isabella was arrested because she was assaulting Arien multiple times."

Sophie nods. "Mr. Wallace actually had a list on what Isabella did specifically to get arrested," she says. Upon seeing my shocked expression, the female Percipient turns the computer screen slightly towards me so both of us can see. "I haven't read the entire list," Sophie admits. "but I've read the first five or so."

Nodding, I look at the first one. "Pelting her with tomatoes?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. "That's... pathetic. Wow- I have no words."

The female Percipient nods in agreement. "I know, right? Audrey and Donovan decided to name a lot of 'better' pranks instead," Sophie says, shaking her head at the Sovereigns' antics. Pointing to the second form of assault, she comments, "Apparently, she decided to up her game and break into Arien's house."

My eyes widen considerably. "What- why?"

Sophie shrugs. "Apparently, she stole a necklace that Fitton gave Arien for their one-month anniversary," she explains. "She had to stay two nights in the county police station because she entered someone's house without a warrant and stole something. But Isabella wasn't charged with stealing the necklace because the police couldn't find it when they searched her house."

I raise an eyebrow. "Is there a picture of her necklace?" I ask before thinking.

Sophie scans through the photos momentarily before looking at me again. "Here it is," she announces, gesturing for me to look at the screen. I see a younger Arien smiling at the camera and fingering a thin-chained necklace. I see a gold, oval-shaped pendant hanging in the middle of the necklace.

"Is there a photo that zooms in on the actual pendant?" I ask, glancing over at Sophie.

She nods and clicks on the next photo. "It's actually a locket pendant," Sophie explains as she points

to the runes decorating the interior of the pendant. "Fitton apparently said that it meant 'I'll love you for all eternity' in Greek." She then frowns. "I thought that Greek inscriptions look different, though."

"That's because they do," I comment, earning a confused glance from the female Percipient. "That isn't Greek at all. The runes don't even come close to translating into 'Ill love you for all eternity' either."

"Then what does it say?" Sophie asks.

I frown. "You don't see it?" I ask, my eyes widening when Sophie shakes her head. Then why do I see it? I ask myself as I stare at the inscription again. "Well, it says 'Follow the words that try to hide'," I tell Sophie. "What words?"