Scattered Souls

Chapter 10 - The favor

"What is it? Couldn't this have waited till tomorrow?"

"Very well then. Goodnight Robyn" he disappeared.

Why does he just disappear all the time. I was even more annoyed that he just woke me from my semi sleepy state only to disappear afterwards.

I was left in suspense till Sunday afternoon.

"What is it? What dodgy favor do I owe you?" I questioned.

"A locket." he surprised me by saying.

"A locket? As in you want me to buy you a locket?"

"No, no. I need you to find a locket for me."

"Find it? Where?"

"Well, where are all your other family antiques kept?" he asked.

"It's a gold heart shaped locket with the initials JX inscribed on it." he added. "It belonged to one of your great ancestors."

"There's actually some old stuff in the attic." I realized. "Gran's house has been vacant since she passed away. I'm not sure if anything will be there."

"Perfect, you can start in the attic."

"What's so special about this locket?" I wondered out loud.

"That locket is the key to everything."

"The key to what exactly? Unraveling the riddle?"

"Well, I suppose you could say it is a key to that as well." the expression on his face wasn't very convincing.

"So that's it? I just find the locket for you. Nothing dodgy?" I was highly surprised by this simple request.

"You look disappointed, love. Were you expecting me to request some sort of blood bath?" he teased. "Doubt your delicate hands could handle that."

"You have no idea what my delicate hands can handle." I blurted out before realizing how that sounded.

He gave a hearty laugh. His handsome features more defined when his lips curved in a smile.

"Like what you see, darling?"

"No."

"Not at all!" I agreed more firmly. I had to mentally remind myself that I could not start crushing on a hologram, regardless of however handsome the hologram's features were.

"I'm going to start looking in the attic." I announced as I rushed out of the room.

The attic hadn't been opened in years, ever since I was a kid, everything was covered in dust. As soon as I entered, the dust sent me into a sneezing fest.

Being in the attic reminded me of the dream I had of Gran. I wondered if that was also a sign?  Did Gran know about the locket too?

I started to look in old jewelry boxes. I decided that would be the most obvious place it would be kept. There was plenty of old jewelry sure, however, nothing resembled what Xypher had described.

"Honey, dinner's ready." I could hear mom call out.

I completely lost track of time. I'd have to continue my search tomorrow.

I washed my hands and splashed some water on my face and went to help mom set the table.

Mom made a creamy chicken and mushroom pasta. The ultimate comfort food.

"Honey, I heard you shuffling around in the attic. You haven't been up there in ages." mom pointed out.

"I was just looking for something."

"Anything in particular?" dad asked.

"A heart shaped locket actually."

"I thought it would be helpful for a project I'm working on." I decided to add.

"I don't remember seeing something of that sort up there, do you?" dad looked towards mom.

"I don't either." mom agreed.  "That used to be Robyn's favorite hideout when she was younger." she recalled fondly.

"It's either up there or at Gran's place. I'm not sure exactly where I remember it from." There was no way I could tell them the real reason I was looking for this locket.

"Have you found it? " Xypher asked as soon as I entered my room after dinner.

"No, I looked through most of the stuff in the attic. I'll have to continue tomorrow."

"Is it really that important to you?" I asked, noticing the solemn expression on his face.

"It just carries a lot of memories."

"A lot of memories for you? I thought it was my ancestors." I wondered. "How are you connected to all of this?"

"You'll come to know soon enough. For now all you need to do is find that locket for me."

This dude seriously knew how to keep the mystery alive. Now I had to figure out why he wanted this locket so badly on top of deciphering the riddle.

"Right, I'll check in again tomorrow."

"I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere." I assured him. And without much thought, I reached out to touch his cheek.

This time instead of the room spinning and turning to darkness, I felt like I was floating.  It's like all these happy feelings were surging through me.  I had to hold onto my dresser for support.

"What was that?"

"Did you feel it too?" Xypher asked.

"What did you feel?" I wondered.

"Electricity, pure delight."

"Has this happened before?" I asked.

"No one's tried this before either." he looked amazed. " I've been treated like the Boogeyman for decades."

"It's so surprising I didn't pass out like the other times." I pointed out.

"We'll discuss this further tomorrow."

He pulled his famous disappearing act again and I was left still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.

Was it the timing? Is that why I didn't pass out this time? And what did he mean by he was treated like the Boogeyman?

The riddle said to be used for good or evil. Was he capable of evil as well? Worse than what he's done to Alexa?