Hunter

Chapter 21

**       It was already half past seven and dad had not come home yet. I had fed Agate hoping she would be silent for a few minutes. I was exhausted from the turn of the previous night. I knew it was the reason for my tiredness yet I only had short memories about what had happened, they were more sensations then memories in fact...

The upside to my father's absence was I could enter his office without him feeling uneasy. After he finally told me the whole truth, we had jointly approved there would be no secrets between us aymore and I had thus received the authorisation to set foot in his office and to read the books, which included his logbooks. I was reading one of them when someone knocked on the door. Agate was playing in a corner of the office and had started to doze under the eyes of Ulysses himself blinking. I looked at the clock in the room: past eight. I got to my feet and went to answer the door, picking up Agate on my way.

The person knocked again.

"I'm coming!"

With my free hand I opened the door and my father's colleagues, Bob and Henri, appeared on the threshold. When I saw their beaten looks, I felt a knot in my throat.

"What's going on?" I asked worried.

They exchanged a long look.

"Your father hasn't come home, has he?"

I shook my head.

"Fuck."

"What do we do Bob?"

Bob shook his head then looked at Henri before looking at me.

"Your father's missing."

I forgot to breathe and held my sister tighter.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Can we come in?" Bob asked.

I stepped aside to let them in.

"Son, are you okay?"

I was petrified. Agate had fallen asleep against my shoulder.

"Your saying my father is somewhere with a gnome? A bad one at that?"

Bob nodded.

"Don't worry, we will find him. Gustave is a resourceful man and he probably is one of the most skilled of the agency. He'll be fine."

"We need to go."

Bob nodded again. They both got up in sync.

"You're going to be okay?" Bob asked me.

"Oui, I'll get by." I said my eyes scanning the air.

I got up too to walk them to the door. Bob told me not to hesitate to come to them at the agency if need be and that they would keep me updated if anything should come up. Then, he said goodbye and started to leave. Henri stayed and stared at me and when Bob was far enough, he pointed his huge finger at me.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, kid! You and your father are hiding something shady! And believe me, now he is no longer here to cover up whatever is going on here, I will soon discover what it is. If we haven't found him in a few days, I'll find a way to offer you "hospitality" and it will be over with those secrets of yours!"

"Henri what the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm coming!"

He gave me one last hainous and suspicious look, then, he spun on his heel and joined his partner. I closed the door, pale and shocked.

Wherever my father was, he had to find his way home.

**