The Crime in Callahan's Morrow - being rewritten

Chapter 9: A Royal? I thought that was a myth

"When you expect the worst, unexpected will happen. Whether good or bad, use that 'unexpected' for your own gain. Keep this in mind and you might survive."

~Meredith Allesium, The High Commander of the Battle Witch Forces;

IX.

It was the next day when Adrian had finally slithered into the office. Nicole knew something must have happened after she and Jonnatan left Giuseppe's home – the boss seemed to be distressed more than expected - but she didn't know exactly what was it. Aside from his left brow twitching, Adrian's face was blank. Taking all of that into account, Nicole concluded it must have been something really bad. Anger is normal, annoyance is normal, heck, amused is a normal facial expression for him, but this face devoid of all expression was...new, for the lack of better word. And slightly terrifying.

"Ann, notify me when everyone arrived," he said.

Even his tone was emotionless. Nicole frowned at that.

Ann raised her eyes from the monitor to glance at him quizzically. "Does that mean I need to call them all in?"

Adrian passed her station and continued towards his office room with an affirmative grunt, his steps jerky and soft, so unlike him that it made Nicole wonder.

Ann kept staring in his direction even after he disappeared through the door, her brain running a mile a minute, eyes flashing here and there every time she came to a conclusion and then rejected it.

"Is he going to quit?" The question broke through the silence in the room, making Nicole whip her head toward Ann in horror, staring incredulously for a long moment.

"I hope not!" She yelped out, clenching her fingers tightly into fists, troubled with even entertaining that idea. It would be my fault, she thought, remembering what happened at the demolished Arthur's.

"What is this about? I have more important things to do."

Nicole's eyes widened when she took in the appearance of their enchanter, Lana, carefully shoving her previous thought aside. It wouldn't do good to panic about something she wasn't sure it would happen.

Lana was wearing a fancy dress and it wasn't even 10 in the morning. Nicole couldn't comprehend why anyone would tidy themselves up so much for going to the plaza. It was fine when you're going out because some places had a specific dress code, but, in her opinion, this was just a bit too much for – she glanced at the clock - 9:37 in the morning.

Lana's white dress complimented her tanned completion, courtesy of her ancestry, though her caramel skin tone made an unusual combination with her pale - almost white - hair and crystal clear pale blue eyes and Lana knew just right ways to make herself stand out.

Next thing noticed was the quantity of makeup on Lana's face, something Nicole would never be proficient with. She wasn't a stranger to makeup, one shouldn't take it wrong, but she certainly didn't go around looking like she took a dive into the bucket of paint, and maybe, just maybe, she didn't have a hand steady enough to make it happen.

"Adrian wants us here." This time Ann didn't raise her eyes off the screen and the somber tone hinted she was worried. Her small figure seemed unsure in the movements that usually came to her so naturally, the sounds of keyboard quieter like she was trying not to be heard.

A frown transformed Lana's face into something Nicole was familiar with: an annoyed expression with just a touch of fondness so it lost some of its natural harshness. Her eyes softened some more to leave room for mirth forming in the deep pools of icy-blue.