Lady Reaper Reianne Rewritten [COMPLETED]

Chapter XVI: Balls of Death Part 1

My husband-imposed bed arrest was proving to be more difficult than I expected. It had been almost three days since I was confined and all I ever did was fidget, wishing myself out of here. I swear to vodka, I would rather be in he-who-must-not-be-named professor's class getting shouted at than here. I glanced at the clock--the long hand had moved another five minutes. Great! Just another thirteen hours, twenty-five minutes, and fourteen seconds until the day was over. After that, I would have to endure another day of boredom, and another, and another, until hopefully, Gio would get satisfied that I was miles away from mortal danger. I stared longingly at the window and gauged whether it would kill me if I jumped out of it. It probably would. I sighed.

If only Granny Cerce was alive, things would have been simpler. I couldn't help but smile as I thought of Granny Cerce. She was the kindest, warmest person I could remember growing up. How the hard and cold Master Shao ended up marrying her was a mystery. What I remembered most about her were her hot chocolates. She gave them to me every time I needed comforting. Master Shao was against it, saying sugary drinks were not good for me, but Granny Cerce would prepare one in secret, give me a wink, and point at the direction where she hid my favorite drink. That wink had been our secret signal. Whenever I needed saving from one of Master Shao's rigorous training, she would call Master Shao inside the house, gave me the wink, and I knew that he would not be coming out for hours and I could relax a bit. It was only now that I realized that the wink was probably for Master Shao's benefit as it was for me. Heh. 

I reached for the mirror on top of the side table. My hair was unkempt, as usual. I got fading bruises on my left chin. Below that, a thin scar sliced through the scythe that was etched on my skin. Scars were not new to me. My body was riddled with them. Still, it was another grim reminder of the kind of life I led.

My thoughts were abruptly halted by the sheer ringing of my phone. I rummaged through my things and absentmindedly answered it.

"Reianne!" The lovely Inspector's voice assaulted my eardrums.  

"Yes, Inspector? Did you miss me or something?" I croaked. My mind totally forgot about the search of Hugo's mansion last night. 

"Reianne!" Oh boy. He said my name twice in a row. This did not sound good. 

"Yes, I'm Reianne, Inspector. That's my name. Absolutely positive you're correct on that one," 

"Drop the attitude! There were no armaments in Hugo's mansion! Are you sure your sketch is correct?" 

No armaments? 

"I'm positive Inspector. There were exactly fifty-four crates in that secret room and thirty-seven firearms scattered about. The bottom crates were marked "fragile," but there are graffiti too. The crate in the middle has an interesting drawing of an oversized p--" 

"I'm not interested in those details, Reianne! They were not there. We found the secret room, but there were no crates there. Just about ten unlicensed .45 caliber guns."

"Oh."  There was a pregnant pause, as neither of us knew how to respond to the other. 

"Maybe they moved it." It was I who broke the silence.  The Inspector only grunted. 

"I'll call again regarding this. You better answer your phone immediately!" 

I looked at my cellphone after the Inspector hung up. There were ten missed calls from him. Yikes. 

"Onee, how are you feeling?"

I almost dropped my phone at Quin's sudden appearance. 

"Sorry, did I startle you?"