Oh, where was I? Ah, it was where we harvested the souls of children and sent them to the Underworld before our flight departure to London. Our guest had teleported to the town and said we would know if he is nearby after our arrival. I suppose he did not want to teleport us along with him out of spite after our unpleasant first meeting. Regret, tension, and melancholy were detected from Peter which I could only surmise it to be returning to a place from his past. Despite his immaturity, I had felt pity for the young man and understood his silence well. No one wants to speak of a tragic past. I decided to wait for the right moment to give him consoling and counsel.
We landed upon a public park while invisible during the early evening hours. In the distance, Big Ben chimed six times which indicated that it was six o' clock. Children were running from the field of lush grass in opposite directions, returning to their homes as to not upset their parents. "This is where the abductions had taken place." Wyatt said. Victor sniffed the air briefly and said, "I smell recent fear and homicidal mania." "It is pretty strong." I agreed with him. "We need to look for clues." Wyatt ordered. With that, we separated again to allow our senses to guide us in our investigation.
A certain, gnarled tree has caught my eye by its foreboding energy which spoke of occult power and a sinister pleasure. Fireflies surrounded it, winking their lights randomly in the midst of a light fog. I approached it with fascination and knelt at its base. From inside of a hole which resembled a mouth, an interesting trinket sparkled silver inside the compartment. Reaching forward to lift the item, I discovered it to be a ring and examined it beneath the dim light of the setting sun. It had the inscription, 'Bride of Zalgo-1849.' My eyes widened then smiled with satisfaction and sent a telepathic message to my partners, "Hey, I found a ring linked to our mission!"
I had given the ring to Wyatt once he arrived along the with rest of the group. After his examination, he looked to us and said, "This had been dropped here forty years ago. The owner must had been a sister to this cult and was a handmaiden to Zalgo." "Do you think she wanted to be freed from it and threw the ring in here?" I asked. "Good question, little lady. Her abandonment must had been a change in their schedule of evil. We could be seeing some mutiny here." he said. Victor took the ring and blew upon the surface which began to have light splatter of glowing white. "Just as I suspected, blood. She had met a gruesome demise." he said gravely. "Well, she could had died here or just had been wounded then survived. It is not a solid conclusion." I said, civilly adding a suggestion. "Then tell me what could had happened, smart one." Victor said sharply. "That this woman had spoken to a cult member about her doubts and wanting to leave the cult. The other did not like that and wounded her while she wore the ring. Blood was shed on it while running away from her attacker. She threw the ring into the tree and ran to a sanctuary or possibly died from blood loss." I said with tinge of insecurity to my tone. Victor was about to release another outburst until Wyatt interrupted him and said, "That is actually very possible. We have to look at all options before making a conclusion. " then said firmly, "So, put your pride down, Victor, or I will send you back to Hades." Victor grumbled his displeasure in German which I did not bother to translate. It did give me confidence that Wyatt took my theory seriously.
We were about to part to our next destination until I felt a hand tugging upon my sleeve in mid-stride, stopping to see that the hand belonged to Peter. Turning towards him; I asked with concern, "Is there something wrong?" "Not really…" he replied, then sighed and said, "I can not lie to you, can't I? It is annoying about you." Chuckling at his comment; I said, "It is annoying that I can not lie to you either. We are angels with these abilities after all." My tone changed to concern again, "But you have a reason for pulling at my sleeve. Would you mind telling me what that could be?" His face seemed to be serious, the eyes holding a suppressed sadness to them as they met mine. "This is not easy to say…I was a member." This fact shocked me, but only for a moment and said with urgency, "Peter, you have to tell them. This is very important. Any information you have will help us." "I know! It's just that I am nervous to tell them. They will think ill of me and will lose their trust. That ring belonged to my aunt." he explained. "So, you were born into it. It was a family obligation to you?" I inquired, being hopeful. "Yes, it was like that. I eventually ran away and became a pickpocket." he replied, wiping away a stray tear. I had done something that was a little out of character, I took his hand which held my sleeve and pulled him into a comforting hug. "Go ahead and cry." I said softly. He was stiff with surprise in my embrace, then felt his arms enfold me, weeping silently into my shoulder. "Let it all out, it will just be on your mind while here." I encouraged gently. "I'm so sorry, Hope, for everything. You will not believe the shame I carried for so long. I teased you because I knew we were similar. Hades chose me for this mission because I know this area so well. Being here brought so many bittersweet memories for me." he ranted while crying. I rubbed circles into his back to help him relax and said, "It is also your time to repent, maybe you could have your soul purified."
"Never thought of that. Your name suits you now. You just gave me hope." he said affectionately. My cheeks became warm and said firmly, "Only for you, I am Saturday to everyone else." "Right, you are a scary girl, I should not forget it." he said sarcastically. I ruffled his hair and said, "Oh, hush."
We released each other and said, "Come on, we need to catch up with the knights." "Let's go." he said with determination. I turned to their destination and was caught off guard by Peter's sudden kiss to my cheek then running away leading me to chase them down.
