Hi, I'm Adam Graves, mind reader.
Over the past month, I've had the liberty of witnessing a serial murder, stowing away on a gambling ghost train with my life on the line, getting kidnapped and forced to participate in a death game, playing the role of a spy in student politics, I've even watched my eyes flash before my eyes— THREE TIMES
Once after getting impaled, another after getting stabbed and finally, after gazing upon a cloth-like thing
"That girl's definitely going to hear from me"
That said, if my line of reasoning is correct, this right here may or may not be the most dangerous situation I've faced.
Right now, I'm standing in front of a small suburban building, which, aside from the weird engraving on the fence, one could call cute or nostalgic, but who knows what horrors lie inside.
It's the current location of Eleanor Clark, the news lady and my soon to be bargaining chip
I looked over the text Liz sent me which contained details on the news lady, as well as info on her current location. This'll make negotiations easier since I can't read her mind.
"So this place belongs to a relative, huh? Or at least.... That's the lie she went with"
There was quite a lot of information to absorb, but two things stuck out to me. First, the first real record of her was from when she was 12 years old
"A blank past, similar to Sara, huh?"
And the second....was the little "PS" Liz left at the end of her text.
***************
PS: Exercise caution when dealing with her, she's a "shoot first, ask questions later" kind of girl.
****************
"Good grief, do I have some sort of dark cloud hanging over me when it comes to women? Why do I always draw the weirdos?"
One spends money like nobody's business, one is a control freak with a brother complex and the last one is a sadist that'll ruin your life prospects for the most trivial things.
"Sigh, Rachel's the only normal one of the lot, thank goodness for her"
I replied to Liz's text with a "roger" before trespassing like a buglar— scratch that, this is definitely burglary, thankfully no one seems to be home and my mind reading isn't picking up anything.
I started rummaging through the mess, looking for scraps of personal information to confirm my thoughts
Huh?
My body stopped moving.
It was just.....frozen in place
I tried to move it, but it didn't respond.
Almost like.....my mind and body are mutually exclusive
"You've got some nerve, breaking in here"
Someone's there? How did I not....Oh, that's right, I can't hear her thoughts.
I tried to speak, but my mouth didn't listen to me. Just what the hell—
"—Is this?"
Oh, looks like my mouth's working now, the rest of my body's still frozen though.
"Huh.... you're the guy from last night"
Alright then.... Let's play dumb for a bit
"What do mean "breaking in"? This is 2306A, right?"
"No, it's 2302"
"Oh, is that so? My bad"
"Huh?"
"I guess I entered the wrong house by mistake. I came to pick up a couple things for my friend, he stays at 2306A. If you don't mind, could you point me in the right direction?"
It didn't take a mind reader to know she wasn't buying it. Well.... more like she wasn't fully convinced but still believed me a little
Her expression finally eased, suggesting she'd arrived at a decision
She pointed her index finger at me and the next thing I saw was the tip catch on fire
"What's that?"
"Fire, what does it look like?"
"I know what it is, why is your finger on fire?"
"You saw your fair share of weird things last night, this shouldn't surprise you"
"Fair enough, what are you going to do with it?"
"Huh? Kill you, obviously"
What? I think my brain just glitched for a sec
I took a deep breath, maintaining my smile
"I don't think I heard you clearly, could you say that again"
"Cremation is the best, this way, you won't leave even bones behind, which means you'll just be declared missing and I won't have to deal with the cops"
"WHY?!"
There was no way I could keep a straight face after that.
"A person in your position would normally be worried about why he's frozen in place, seeing a familiar face, a normal person would've asked me to help them or ask why they couldn't move, but you didn't, almost like it was expected..."
Crap, I messed up. That said, she's surprisingly sharp
".... Which means either your friend can do something similar or you knew I could do this, if it's the latter, then you actually broke in knowing full well I live here.....no, former or latter doesn't matter, both cases make you my enemy"
She said with a cold expression as she prepared to incinerate me.
When Liz said she she shoots first and asks questions later, she should've told me she meant it literally!
Sigh.....
"Are all witches this high maintenance, or is it just you?"
She froze for a second
"So you do know about witches, huh? Seems I'm right to kill you"
"NO, WRONG CONCLUSION!"
"Huh?"
"Did it ever occur to you that I might have information you need?"
Her cute, airhead-like reaction told me she hadn't.
"You didn't come to Stone Valley just for some serial killer, did you?"
"Tell me what you know"
"Put the finger down first, and let me go while you're at it, being unable to move is annoying"
"What makes you think you're in a position to make demands?"
"If you kill me, you'll lose a valuable source of information. Oh, and killing me is a surefire ticket to the slammer, cremation or not"
"Huh?"
"Did you honestly think I was working alone? Go ahead, check my phone, the PIN is 0318"
Yep, I changed it since Liz easily guessed my last one.
The news lady took it out of my pocket and looked through my chats. When she saw it, her eyes widened in shock
"Lizbeth Andrews... you're working with the STONE VALLEY'S HOLMES?!"
Ofcourse a reporter knows who she is, and precisely due to that knowledge, she was shivering a little right now, she's aware of Liz's feats even more than I was, making it obvious to her that killing me was the worst possible move.
The tide had shifted and I now had the upper hand, despite how it appears to any onlookers
"Now then....how about you free me and we'll have that talk"
She complied almost immediately and we took a seat In the living room across from each other. What shocked me however, was that she went a step further and served me tea, despite the fact I'm breaking and entering.
I took a gamble on Liz's notoriety but it's working even better than I had hoped
Calmly sipping the cup of tea before me, I got the ball rolling
"So then, why don't you start by telling me the real reason you came to Stone Valley"
"Don't you already know?"
"I want to confirm the information I already have, better to hear it from the horse's mouth and all"
A lie. I couldn't let her find out just how little we know— Liz wasn't able to dig so deep given the timeframe as well as the fact that occult stuff isn't really her speciality.
"Go on, news lady. I'm listening"
"Well, as you know, I came here to hunt a witch"
"Hmmm..."
"You see, around the same time as the chameleon's prison break, I received a correspondence from one of comrades—"
"The fortune teller?"
"Yes. It contained details on a clue for tracking the witch of wrath...."
Witch of..... wrath? Just like the seven deadly sins? Is it safe to assume that there are only seven witches?
Well, once all the drama is over, I'll ask Sara about it. Can't risk having her catch on to the fact that I'm actually clueless about witches.
"... You see, she has a habit of placing traps wherever she goes, triggering them curses you. Anyway, some of her traps were discovered in that haunted hotel so I went to investigate with my comrade, but I got knocked out and found myself a captive, I've been there for about a month or so"
"With your powers, you should've been able to fight back, or at least escape, so why didn't you?"
"Well, because I'm the witch of sloth"
"Huh?"
"Aside from a few exceptions, The witch of sloth is able to do anything she can imagine within a certain area. The payoff is that I have to carve out that certain area by drawing a boundary. I didn't have time to draw a boundary around the hotel before I was knocked out so I couldn't use my powers....."
Translation— Without prep time, she's useless. Well, that explains the strange markings I saw on the fence
"Anyway, once we finally got out last night— or, I guess, this morning, I grabbed the guy and gave him a piece of my mind, guess what he said, he told me he had no memory of contacting me or even accompanying me to the hotel, weird, right?"
"Yeah, that is weird"
Not like you're one to talk, you're the whole damn circus.
She leaned back, facing the ceiling
"Anyway, I guess the info was bogus, damn it. Still.... I refuse to leave empty handed. Lucky for me, I felt like scouting a little the moment I got here and I happened to find something good.... "
"Oh?"
A smile formed on the corner of her lips as she said
"There's a witch at Stone High"
"You already know who it is?"
"No, but I can sense her. We witches can sense when another is close by, kinda like a homing beacon, but I won't know exactly who it is till we're face to face"
"Okay..... and what will you do once you find said witch?"
"I'll kill her"
Damn, that curve ball came out of nowhere
"Why is tha—"
"Because I hate witches, I loathe them with every fiber of my being"
She hates witches despite being one herself? As much as I would like to grill her for details, the murderous look on her is sending chills down my spine.
I could tell this wasn't some petty racism or anything like that. Something must've happened to her to make her hate witches..... Something painful she'd rather not talk about.
Best not to poke the bear, especially when that bear is the type who'd let emotions cloud her judgement.
A "shoot first and ask questions kinda girl" in Liz's words.
Noticing her own tense demeanor, Eleanor switched to a forced smile
".....Besides, they won't be happy if I return empty-handed"
They? And earlier she called the fortune teller a comrade. Does that mean there's some organization out there interested in witches? Like an adult version of the occult research club?
"I assume they are the ones who got you this house?"
" Yep, they purchased it at my request"
Damn, how much did that cost? Even I'd be pissed if she came up empty-handed
"Tell me more about them"
"Can I not? It's...private"
She replied, a little embarrassed. Well, it was worth a shot.
"So, are you just going to barge into the school after spring break and drag the witch by the hair?"
" As much as I'd like to, I can't"
"Why?"
"It seems the witch erected an invisible barrier around the school to prevent other witches from getting in, so I can't enter"
"Is that so?"
"Now it's my turn to ask a question"
" Yeah? Shoot". No pun intended
"The witch at Stone High....is it... Lizbeth Andrews?"
And there's the question I've been waiting for, although I kinda wish I had wringed out more information from her.
When she had me on the ropes, I first let her think I knew about witches which would usually suggest I was affiliated with or working for one, it's not common knowledge after all. Next, I had her confirm I was working with Lizbeth Andrews, getting her to wrongly deduce Liz was the witch I was working with.
Lizbeth Andrews as a witch would scare anyone who knew of her exploits, that gave me the opening to get some useful info.
However, sooner or later, she'll want to confirm her "deduction", that's the opening for me to begin negotiations— My main reason for being here.
"She's not"
"She's not?"
"She's not. We're also in the business of hunting down witches"
Her tension subsided almost immediately, I guess she's relieved she doesn't have to face Liz.
Too bad our witch is far more dangerous
"Since our goals align, I propose a little alliance"
"An..... alliance?"
"Yeah. Liz is working on uncovering the identity of the witch at Stone High and has narrowed down the list considerably. Once we uncover her identity, we'll require your help in capturing her. Ofcourse, you can do as you like with her— Kill or otherwise"
"While I appreciate the terms, what's in it for you?"
"I'm only after a particular witch, the rest doesn't matter to me. And after I've gotten what I need from said witch, what happens to her is irrelevant as well"
"And what is this thing you need?"
"That's private"
"So you're looking to break your curse, huh?"
"How do you know about...."
"I'm a witch so I can tell when someone's been cursed..... Hmmm.... Alright, let's join forces. Wait here for a sec"
That was easier than I expected. She went rummaging through her things apparently looking for something, then she pulled it out.
It seemed to be a....ball with a red button in the center and the same strange markings I saw outside haphazardly occupying every square inch of the ball, creepy.
"This is for you"
"Huh"
Why the hell would I want that!
"It's a beacon of sorts. Pressing the red button will automatically activate a space around yourself where I can use my powers, and I'll appear before you"
"Okay..."
I replied with a touch of skcepticism
"Basically, press the button and I will appear. Once you find the witch, I'll be sure to come back you up"
"Got it"
I took the creepy ball and got up to leave, but then a thought crossed my mind.
"Quick question, if you're able to do anything you imagine within a given space, are you able to break curses as well?"
"That falls under one of the few exceptions I mentioned earlier— I can't directly interfere with another witch's curse, sorry....."
She keeps getting more useless by the minute.
"... Another thing I can't do is overturn the results of a Malefis"
A Malefis? What's that? ... Well, it's of no consequence to me so best not to ask, I'd rather not do anything extra and get myself killed when I'm so close to escaping.
"Got it, I'll contact you once we're ready"
Calmly, I exited the house, still looking at the creepy ball, I get the feeling she only gave me this damn thing cause she didn't want me having her number, Sigh.
Nevertheless, this works out nicely for me. I needed something to prove she was a witch anyway, it's the reason why I was looking through her stuff to begin with.
I placed the ball in my pocket and gazed up at the sky.
"So Sara's a real life witch, huh?"
It's not as though I saw two people whose minds I couldn't read then concluded "since A is a witch, B must be too" , That'll be stupid.
Eleanor Clark being a witch simply served to confirm my deduction, or rather, you could say it was the evidence giving substance to my speculation.
There were a few nuggets of information which led me to drawing the conclusion that "Sara is a witch" , so let's go over them, shall we?
The first thing that drew my suspicion was the story Adrian told me on our to Michelle's home, about how the club's VP launched a terrorist attack to smoke out the witch and was stopped by the student council president.
It's been over six months since that incident and Stone High isn't that big, I find it hard to believe someone as capable as Sara was unable to find the witch all this time, unless she herself was the witch or she knew the witch and was protecting her.
"It sure will explain her deep knowledge about the occult.... and how she's able to manipulate people like they're toys"
That knowledge of hers brings me to the second point of interest— in an attempt to break Liz's curse, I had Sara tutor me on the occult. She taught me a lot of things and I'm grateful, however, she didn't teach me a single thing about witches.
I mean, c'mon. You'd assume that's the very first thing she'd shed more light on, perhaps she was making sure I wouldn't have any information to deduce she was one, too bad it backfired.
Then there's the lack of background information on her, Not even Liz could find anything which is tantamount to her pretty much not existing in the first place, similar with Eleanor Clark's records as well as Liz's statement that she's not sure Sara even has a curse— She doesn't bear a curse, but surrounds herself with the cursed.
Finally, there's the line she said to me at the beginning of this whole farce
"You make me sound like an evil witch...Huh? Was she implying she's a witch but not evil? Or does she know she's an evil witch at heart?"
Furthermore, what's her reason for finding the witches? I doubt she hates them like Eleanor.
The girl's still an enigma, and I bet I haven't even scratched the surface of the person known as Sara O'Neil. However, that is irrelevant right now, I have all the information I need to save Michelle's future so it's time to move forward.
"My preparations are all set and my strategy's ready to go, guess I'm burning the witch" —pun intended