HI HI HI! I'm back my lovely readers! Sorry. I've been really busy this summer. And I was totally gonna update sooner buy then my iPad broke and that's I'm writing this story on it with the app A Novel Idea (get it. It freaking rocks. The non-free version is slightly better, but it'ssame some either way. GREAT way to organize characters and ideas and stories!)
Then I learned I can now upload my stories FROM MY IPAD. THAT'S SO CONVINEINT. I'd be expecting faster updates from me nowww(:
OKAY, SO, THATS ALL WITH THAT.
Oh yeah, SO GUESS WHO'S 18TH BIRTHDAY WAS ON JULY 23RD? THIS GIRL'S! I'm a fucking adult now. Shit.
ENJOY THE STORY.
I do not own Soul Eater
Soul Eater: What Happens Next?
Chapter 10
"How long does it take her to get up?"
"Calm down, she'll be here soon!" Sierra grumbled and hit Lance on the head. He'd been whining for an hour straight about how long it was taking Maka to get ready. Soul had gone to get her after he first started complaining but showed up minutes later alone. Sierra looked to the albino.
"Please tell me she's almost ready?" He just shrugged.
"She probably had to take a shower. That's the most time consuming thing she does, so she should be out here soon."
"Wait, why does it matter? Ember isn't down here yet. Actually, Trace is the only one who has come down besides you two..."
"HA. Ember being ready before 12? Wishful thinking. Hunter is probably trying to get her up. And actually, Kiara has probably been up and about for awhile now." Liz looked quizzically to Sierra and Lance. She was about to ask yet again about why it was such a big deal that Maka wasn't here yet when both Ember and Hunter were still no shows as well, but stopped when she saw Maka emerge from the hall.
"Maka's here!" Patti announced loudly. The others turned and greeted her. When Maka sat down, Soul pushed over a plate of food. She thanked him and ate it quietly and just listened while the others decided on who should go where and ask about what.
"I know Ember isn't going to want to go out into the cold, so I say we let her screw around here today." They all nodded, not seeing any reason to argue with Sierra.
"Patti and I can go to some of the shops with older owners. Old people always seem to love Patti, so maybe that will make them tell us something." The older brunette nodded.
"It's worth a shot." She looked to Kidd. "I think you should talk to this town's Mayor. Maybe he'll be more forth coming with information since you're Lord Death's son."
"Okay."
"Me and Hunter can go to the bar. I saw its blinking light last night." Lance was met with a grumble.
"Do NOT let him drink anything." She turned her attention to Chrona. "Hmm.. I'm not sure where to send you.. Or Black Star for that matter." The blue haired boy spoke up.
"I'll be training today! I need to get used to fighting in this cold." Lance looked at him.
"That's actually a really good idea.. Okay, you and Tsubaki can train. Chrona?" Said boy looked at him. "Do you wanna go train with them? It's your choice."
"S-sure.." Sierra looked at Soul and Maka?
"What about you guys? It's your call on what you wanna do." Soul just shrugged.
"Well, I was planning on just staying here and asking employees and guests about the situation." Sierra nodded.
"Okay. Ember can snoop and you can get lip service." She looked at Maka. "What about you?" No answer. "Maka?" Maka was staring at her empty plate, completely zoned out.
"Maka!" Soul nudged her roughly as he said her name loudly. She jumped up, completely startled.
"W-what? Oh, um, I actually think I'd like to go with Kidd and speak with the Mayor. If that's no trouble."
"I'm fine with you coming with me."
"Okay, great! Now we've all got something to keep us occupied for the day." Tsubaki looked to the older brunette.
"What exactly are Trace and Kiara going to be doing?" Sierra shrugged and stood up.
"I have no idea what Trace is going to do today or this whole week, but I know Kiara will be working on finding out where that witch is hiding out." With that she turned and exited towards the elevators. Lance sat back in his seat and looked at the younger group. None of them showed signs of getting up anytime soon.
"Uh, so are you all planning on telepathically asking your questions? The people here have work to do, and you guys interrupting midday won't help get anything useful from them. And if you don't claim a training area now, you may have to fight a bear or two for one..." They all flashed red and got up swiftly, hurrying to their rooms for warmer clothing. Except for Soul, who just went to get more food. When he came back he heard a soft chuckle from the blonde boy across from him.
"What?" The older male just shook his head.
"Nothing... It's just that that's your sixth plate. Aren't you even remotely full?" Soul just shrugged and stuffed more food in his mouth. He chewed quickly before answering.
"Not at all. My stomach is like a bottomless pit. Hahaha Maka always yells at me cause I eat so much. She says she's gonna stop paying for everything and make me buy it myself cause of how much her trips to the grocery store cost."
"Sounds like Sierra. Between the six of us, she spends like, 300 plus dollars when she goes to get groceries." Soul's mouth fell open.
"Three hundred dollars? That's sounds like so much food... And you all eat all of it?" Lance nodded.
"Heh, yeah! Every single crumb. But it's annoying, Sierra always complains about spending all that money but whenever I tell her I'll pay for it one week or give her enough for everything I want she always insists that it's not necessary."
"Women..." Lance sighed.
"Heard that." The pair continued to chat and laugh for awhile until they stopped at the sound of yelling. Lance groaned. "Really? It's like 10:30 and they're already having a pissing match?" Soul raised a white brow.
"Who? Sierra and Hunter?"
"I wish...that would be way easier to break up. It's Ember and Hunter." He looked at Soul completely. "When those two get into a fight, it lasts for at least a solid day. And it ALWAYS involves them hitting each other.."
"Hunter hits Ember?"
"HA. Like she gives him the chance. Soul, she abuses him... See, Ember can get really infuriated at the smallest things and she has a nasty tendency to take it out on Hunter. She even admits that she starts it all. And she admits that she does most, if not all, of the hitting." Soul almost chocked.
"Are you serious?" Lance nodded. Both boys turned when they heard the yelling get even louder. Within seconds Hunter came through into the lobby area with his hands deep in his jean's pockets and a scowl on his face. There was a new bruise on his cheek and he had scratches all over his arms. 'How did he get those? They look like cuts that you'd get from a knife or something like that...'Seconds later a fuming Ember appeared. There wasn't a hair out of place or any kind of bruising on her, but she seemed a hundred times more pissed than Hunter.
"YOU ARE SUCH A DOUCHE!"
"..."
"LIKE WHAT KIND OF FUCKING ASSHOLE PULLS A MOVE LIKE THAT? I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! EVERY FUCKING TIME YOU SAY YOU WON'T DO THAT, YOU TURN AROUND AND FUCKING DO IT! EVERY FUCKING TIME!"
"..."
"SO NOW YOU AREN'T EVEN GONNA FUCKING ANSWER ME?" The petite girl stomped her foot down in pure rage. She grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be a very expensive looking vase, and hurled it at the older boy. "GO BURN IN HELL, ASSHOLE." The vase made direct contact with Hunter's lower back and he cringed harshly at the sudden, sharp pain that shot through him.
"FUCK!" He turned and saw that it had shattered into a hundred tiny pieces and that the girl who threw it was gone. "I swear to Death she's fucking insane..." He turned when he heard a loud laugh that was sharply covered. He glared at the two boys. "Enjoy the show?"
"What the hell did you do to get her to throw a vase at you?" Hunter came over to them and collapsed on a nearby couch.
"I don't even know.. She just freaked out on me and started punching me for no reason." Lance sent him an accusing look.
"There's always a reason. Seriously man, she threw a vase at you... Why?" The brunette's dark eyes went to the ground. "That bad?"
"Yeah.. I don't see her being over it for a few days."
"Now you need to tell me what you did!" Hunter groaned. His eyes went to Soul and the younger boy started to stand up.
"I'm gonna head up to my room and get a shower. I'll see you guys later."
"Alright, later Soul." Hunter just waved him off. Lance turned his focus back to his friend. "Okay, start explaining."
"She walked in on me and this hot maid. I was wasted as fuck too, just to add insult to injury." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Ember is fuming about it because she had made the comment last night that she didn't like her. Like, she actually said 'You can fuck any maid but her.' And what do I do? Get shit faced and fuck the maid she didn't want me to." Lance shook his head.
"Wow...all of my pity just disappeared after hearing that. You're actually hopeless..."
"Yeah, I know." Hunter put his head down and groaned loudly. "How do I fucking fix this?" Lance just shrugged.
"I seriously could not tell you..."
"Well what do you usually do when my sister gets pissed at you?" Lance thought for a second.
"Uhhh... Cook her dinner? I mean, she gets mad at me for like, leaving the toilet seat up and other stupid shit like that... It's not really comparable to your situation at all."
"Well fuck." Lance cocked his head to the side.
"Have you tried apologizing? Or did you just start yelling back at her?" Hunter lifted his head weakly.
"Huhh... The second one..."
"Maybe you should try saying sorry. Give her the day to cool off and screw around here, and then tonight just take her aside and apologize for fucking up. Again."
"I really hate when you have good ideas." Lance just laughed. Moments later, Sierra came into the lobby with Patti, Chrona, and Tsubaki. She handed Lance his snow coat and then turned to her brother.
"What the hell did you do this time? Ember stormed passed us in the hall mumbling 'That bastard is fucking dead. I fucking hate him.' and the slammed the door to MY room shut..." Hunter groaned once again and slammed his head down onto the couch he was laying on. Lance ended up giving a short and vague version of what happened.
"He fucked up. As usually he did what Ember told him not to do and now she's pissed." Sierra sighed.
"When will you learn? Did she kick your ass again?" Hunter lifted his head slightly, allowing his sister to see the new nasty bruise that decorated his cheek. She just laughed. "One day you'll think before you act and you'll wonder why you never did that before." Before Hunter could give her any kind of answer, Sierra headed towards the lodge's door. "Now I'm going to go and ask some of the people who live around here about everything that has happened. I'll see you all later." After receiving some goodbyes, she exited the building. Five minutes after Sierra had left, everyone else started to make an appearance. Liz and Kidd entered and were followed by Black Star, and a few moments later Maka emerged from the side hallway. Black Star immediately started getting Tsubaki and Chrone out the door to train. After they had gone, Liz turned to Patti.
"You ready to go?" Patti faced her older sister.
"YUPP! Let's move out!"
"Haha, okay then!" Kidd and Maka headed out at the same time as the Thompson sisters and quickly parted ways to go to the town hall. Liz gave her friend a word of advise before heading out though.
"Try not to take him anywhere but the main destination. He'll start trying to reorganize anything that isn't perfect... And if you see anything that's asymmetric, block it from his view. I'm only saying this because we've never been here before and Kidd gets weird about new places and how symmetrical they look."
"Thanks for the tip, Liz. We'll see you two later."
"BYYYYEEEE!" Maka smiled at Patti's loud goodbye. She turned and walked quickly to catch up with Kidd. The two settled into a fast walk, trying to make the trip go quickly since it was cold and they had to go to the opposite side of the town.
"It's larger than I was expecting. Who knew so many people liked living in this unforgiving climate."
"They're all nuts if you ask me." Kidd let out a laugh.
"Agreed." His golden eyes focused on the girl next to him. "Now Maka, why did you want to accompany me to see the mayor? Don't get me wrong, I'm not against it or anything, it's just I would have assumed you would have wanted to go with Liz or stay at the lodge with Soul."
"You know me too well, Kidd. I actually wanted to ask you about something..."
"Hmmm? And what is it?" Maka took a breathe of the ice cold air before speaking.
"Well, okay. This isn't going to make a lot of sense right now, but do you remember that one lesson towards the end of last school year when your father covered the class?" The young shimigami nodded.
"Yes, I remember that. He was explaining to us all of the different beings that have come into existence in order of their power, and the different realms. Why?"
"I was just trying to remember the order he had said and why. I don't know why, but I suddenly just thought about that lesson last night.." She met his gaze. "Would you mind telling me?"
"Ha, uhh, no. Not at all. I'll go weakest to strongest. The weakest of all beings are humans. They have no unusual abilities or powers. After that would be Kishin Eggs because although they're powerful, they're undeveloped and more vulnerable. The next three will mostly depend on /Miester pairs, Witches, and full blown Kishins, for obvious reasons. Then it would be Shimigamis like my father and myself. Guardians are the next most powerful, though they keep within their own realm and don't leave it, thinking no one else is worthy of their presence. They could cause a lot of deaths if they did come to our world. Above them are the beings of Light and Dark. Only one of each can be in existence at one time, and they keep the balance of the two elements. And they do all of that without ever needing to leave their realms." Maka nodded, taking in all of that information. She remembered most of it from when Lord Death had said it, but she had forgotten about the Guardians.
"Speaking of the realms..."
"Yes?"
"Has your father ever mentioned a realm between realms?" Kidd stopped abruptly at the question and stared at Maka. She turned back and cast him a questioning look. "What?"
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"I'm gonna take that as a no.." Kidd continued walking. He thought for quick moment.
"Sorry Maka, but I've never heard of a realm between realms... And my father has never mentioned it before. Why do you ask?"
"Oh no reason.. I was just reading this book a few weeks ago and it mentioned it once or twice.. I don't know why but I just thought of it yesterday."
"I see. What book was this?"
"Uhmm, I actually do remember.. Sorry." Kidd chuckled.
"It's fine. If you happen to think of it, do let me know. I'd like to have a look at it." Maka nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course!"
With Ember
"Okay, so this leads to the laundry room too..." Ember backtracked her steps and ended up in a back hallway. She looked to the three doors she'd already went through and shook her head. "These people really like going to the laundry room." She headed down the empty hallway quietly and stopped at a red metal door. It had a sign that said something in Russian, and then a giant black 'X' underneath it. "Ooooo, this door looks promising." She went for the handle, only to find it was locked and required a key. She laughed quietly to herself. "Psssshhhh. They couldn't have made this any easier." After looking around the hall to make sure no one was around, she lowered her finger to the keyhole. In a flash of light, it morphed into a long pointed needle. She moved her other hand down and her middle finger changed into the same long needle as her right pointer. She worked them around until she heard a click. Without a word, the red velvet haired girl slipped in and closed the door. Once it closed she turned to see where she had ended up.
It was a dimly lit, small space. Nothing was in it except an old throw rug and the three overhead lights that were dying by the second. "Hmm... No way. There wouldn't be a heavy door like that if this was just some empty closet. And it wouldn't be locked." She crouched to the ground and examined the rug. "And a trap door would be waayy to easy." She stood and looked up. The lights flickered on and off, and their wiring was loose. Very loose. "Hmm.. Could it be?" She turned and saw a light switch and It was in the on position. She stepped towards it and flicked it down. When that happened, the lights didn't turn off. She heard loud gears moving from somewhere beneath the floor and after a few seconds, the wooden square started going down. "YES! Just like Brody's hang out!" The walls went from being wooden to being dirt and the floor sunk lower and lower. She watched as the light's wires started to tighten up, causing the lights to get brighter. After five minutes, a tunnel's entrance came into view. When the floor stopped at the bottom, Ember noted another light switch, only this one was in the down position.
Lookimg ahead, she saw that the tunnel was all hard rock and dirt. There were pipes that shot out of it overhead and went into the sides or back up at the top, and some were dripping water. Most had duct tape wrapped around them. The light's that lined it were bright and seemed to all be on the same wire as the ones from the elevator. Quietly she walked off the wooden floor, onto a damp dirt ground, and down the now brightly light passageway. She came to an old wooden door and heard loud mechanical moans and groans on the other side of it. There was no lock on it or handle. Embed pushed it opened and let out a whistled. "Well helloo! What have we got here?"
With Patti and Liz
"Okay, so that was the eighth store owner who 'Had no idea there had been attacks or disappearances.' Ugh!" Patti looked to her sister.
"Wasn't it her son that went missing too?"
"Yes, it was. Which makes this even more frustrating. That, and the fact that her story was the same exact one the other seven had told! There were no differences in them whatsoever!" Liz grumbled. "It all seemed too rehearsed to me.." Patti nodded in agreement. "Let's see if the town's butcher has anything different to tell us." The two continued down the snow covered road until they saw their desired building. When Liz opened the door a bell rang out and echoed throughout the small front area of the shop. Liz went to the front counter and hit the small bell on it. While she did that, Patti examined the display case. "Hello? Anybody here?"
"Heey Liz, check this out. The food in here smells really old and rotten." Liz walked over to where Patti was and instantly covered her nose.
"Eww! That smells horrible! Hasn't this guy ever heard of throwing old stuff out?" She took a few steps back and looked around. "Where the hell is he anyway? This shop isn't that big..." Her eyes landed on a wooden door. "Oh, maybe he's in the back.. Heh. Okay Patti, stay up here, I'll go check back there."
"Hehe roger that sis!" Patti took to looking at the things in the isles. Liz carefully opened the door leading to the back and poked her head in. When she saw no one was in there she entered it and flipped on a light switch. It was a small room with tools hanging up on the walls and boxes all over the place. Right across from her was a big metal door. She walked over to it and opened it. Immediately she felt the room's coldness escape towards her and she shivered. Liz once again stuck her head inside first and this time, she nearly gagged. Right in the middle of the floor was a half cut up bison, the butcher's knife was still lodged in its neck. Hanging from the ceiling were six headless chickens, and on a side table were four skinned rabbits. Blood stained the walls and floor, and the stench was unbearable. Liz quickly retreated from the cold room and headed back to the front. She saw Patti still looking at random merchandise. "Well, there's nobody here.."
"Why wouldn't he at least put up a closed sign or something?"
"I'm not sure..." At that moment Patti's stomach growled loudly. Liz smiled softly. "But I guess there's no use sticking around here. Come on, we passed a bakery on the way here." The two quickly exited the shop and headed back down the road. Their pace was fast and in a few minutes they reached their destination. When they walked in they were immediately met with the smells of freshly baked pastries and breads. As the Thompson sisters looked around for a place to sit, they heard a soft voice call them. When they looked, they saw Sierra sitting in a booth by the window.
"Hey Sierra." The two walked over to her and sat across from the brunette.
"What brings you two here? All done talking to the store owners?" Liz groaned.
"We only talked to eight of them.. The butcher was a no show at his own store, and the eight we talked to had the exact same stories. Hardly any differences between them."
"Let me guess; it was all really rehearsed and they said they had no knowledge of anything that was happening."
"Uh.. Yeah actually. How'd you-"
"Same thing happened to me. Every family and local I talked to had the exact same story. Call me crazy, but I think they're being coached."
"But I don't understand why.. You'd think they'd want our help. So why lie about it and try to cover it up now?" Patti, who'd been finishing Sierra's cinnamon roll, entered the conversation.
"Maybe everyone here has something or someone else to be afraid of? Something scarier than the witch and her monsters?" Liz and Sierra looked blankly at the younger girl.
"Patti... That would actually make so much sense!"
"Yeah, but that would mean that someone who holds a lot of power over these people would ave to be responsible for it."
"Isn't the most powerful person in most towns the ma-hmmmphh-" Liz was stopped mid word by Sierra shoving her hands over her mouth.
"SHHHHH! Not here! We'll talk about it tonight when we all regroup in Kiara's room. Got it?" Liz just nodded. "Okay. Sorry about that..."
With Kiara
Kiara sat on the lodge's roof clad in black athletic shorts and a black tank top. Her dark eyes were glazed over and she was mumbling incoherent words and phrases. Below her was a black circle that seemed to be alive and moving.
"V zasneženej krajine, bude čarodejnice vyniknúť. Jej zlá duša sa nikdy miešať s bielou. Nájsť jej temnotu, vyhľadajte jej zášti. Cez hory a rieky, ona nemôže byť skryté.. Nič sa nemôže schovať pred Nič sa veľkým okom. To všetko vidí. Nemôže to byť zavádzajúce. Zlo duše, odhaliť sami. Prekliata duša, ukáž mi svoje miesto. Prekliata duša, bude vám odhalí svoju stopu. Nič si ťa nájde, a nič je to, čo sa stane. Tento osud bol napísaný a tak to musí byť vykonané." Her eyes closed and opened sharply, only this time they were completely dark grey. The black circle beneath her expanded tremendously and then without warning, sharply contracted and disappeared. Slowly her eyes shut and when they opened again they were their normal dark color. "Hmph, found you, bitch." Kiara sat on the snow covered roof for a few more minutes just watching the small flurries that started to fall. She extended her hand out and examined the ones that landed on her palm. They melted almost instantly against her warm skin.
"You're going to catch a cold if you keep coming up here in those clothes." She turned her head slightly to address her weapon.
"We both know that's not true. And aren't you supposed to be doing something productive?" Trace walked to her and put a heavy coat over her shoulders.
"I am doing something productive. Making sure you don't catch pneumonia." Kiara scoffed lightheartedly.
"Because you really care that much."
"It doesn't matter if I care or not. If you get sick, you'll be less useful." He moved next to her and crouched down. "So you found the witch?"
"Mhmm. She's in the mountains. Actually, to be more accurate, she's under the mountains. There most be some underground passages and caves that she's made home. It'd be warmer under there so she wouldn't have to worry about the cold or having a fire." Trace raised an eyebrow.
"How would it be warmer underground?"
"Not a clue. But it is." He shook his head at her answer.
"Well, that's about as convincing as a person can get.." She didn't bother to answer him and instead stood up.
"I'm going to get some food. Coming?" Trace turned his gaze to the mountains.
"No." She nodded and wordlessly went back through the door leading inside.
Later. Around 8 o'clock. (It was like, 6 when Kiara went to get food. Everyone took their grand old time snooping and talking to people. Yeeeaaaahhh.)
The group was once again gathered in Kiara's room. Everyone had something to share, but by that point, no one had said anything. They had been waiting for an hour for Ember to show up, and Kiara made it clear nothing would be said until the redhead arrived.
"Where is she? This lodge can't be that difficult to navigate.." Sierra and Lance both signed at Liz's statement.
"It could be one floor and she'd still find a way to take the whole day to explore it." The group groaned collectively, except for Trace and Kiara.
"Can't someone just fill her in with what she missed later?" She looked to Kiara, directing the question to her specifically. The older girl was silent and after a few seconds closed her eyes and exhaled a long breath.
"Fine. If it gets you all to stop complaining." The dark haired girl looked to Hunter, who was once again sprawled out on her bed. "Hunter, make sure Ember gets informed." He huffed.
"Yeah yeah, I will." After receiving his answer, Kiara took a seat next to the fireplace. She have Sierra and Lance a look that told them to take over.
"Okay, so today we all did something to find things about the attacks and anything that could help with this situation. We need to start connecting that information."
"I say that we start with the surrounding area. Black Star, Tsubaki, and Chrona, wanna tell us about the area you trained at?" Black Star jumped to his feet when Lance asked that.
"OF COURSE!" Tsubaki placed a hand on her miester's shoulder.
"Would you share a little quieter? There are other people at the lodge.." Black Star's face turned bright red.
"Heh, um, sure! Okay, so we ended up going towards the way we came into town. Probably like, 15 minutes away. It was really cold, there was a lot of snow, and we didn't have any kind of delays or interruptions." Tsubaki added on to what her partner said.
"I noticed that as we walked, the snow's depth increased significantly. The temperature seemed to drop even lower too." Black Star and Chrona nodded in agreement with her. More minor details started to be stated by Tsubaki and Black Star, but a fact that seemed to even catch Kiara's interest was brought up by Chrona.
"I don't know how important this is, but Ragnorok and I noticed that the whole time we were all out there, there wasn't a sign of any kind of life. Not a single animal came to investigate and there were no far off noises from birds or anything.."
"Well, that's really something." Tsubaki looked to Kiara.
"Why?"
"Because, no matter how timid or scarce, the wildlife makes itself known somehow. The fact that nothing made an appearance, even 15 minutes in the wrong direction, means there's something around here to be afraid of." Maka raised an eyebrow.
"Wrong direction? What do you mean by that?"
"We'll get to that, Princess." She huffed at her answer and glared at Kiara. Sierra quickly got back on track to try and stop any kind of yelling from starting.
"Lance, Hunter? What did you two find out at the bar?" Hunter lifted his head slightly to answer.
"That your boyfriend is a little bitch." Lance glared.
"You're just pissed that you couldn't get any kind of alcohol." He turned to Sierra. "Only one guy in the whole bar would give us an answer. He said that these monsters have been coming into town on specific days at specific times, and that they always seem to be looking for a specific person. They ignored 10 people who tried to make them leave just to get the first kid they took."
"Or so he says. The guy was an old delusional drunkard. He was talking to himself when we approached him."
"I'd say it's more than what we learned.." Everyone turned their attention to Liz.
"We talked to eight store owners and they all had the exact same stories. They claimed to know nothing of the monsters or the disappearances, which was obviously a load of crap because the food store owner's son was taken by those monsters. And then when Patti and I went to see if the town's butcher had anything to say, he wasn't even there."
"Yeah, the display case's meat smelled really bad." Sierra sighed.
"I had about as much luck as them... All of the people who lived here would either claim to know nothing or just slam the door in my face. A few people didn't even answer the door when I knocked." As an afterthought she added what Patti had said at the bakery. "We have a feeling that someone who has a lot of power of these people is scaring them into silence." Liz nodded.
"Yeah. And the most powerful person in small towns like this tends to be the mayor..."
"I'd buy that."
"I wouldn't." Kidd cleared his throat before continuing. "Though that is usually the case, I don't think that this town's mayor is forcing everyone into silence. When Maka and I went to speak with him, he seemed terrified. He was tripping over his words and tried to get us out of his office as quickly as he could. When we asked about the monsters, he acknowledged the issues, but he claimed it was 'under control' and not to worry. I think his situation is much like the rest of the town's.."
"Well there goes that theory.. But then who could be forcing their silence? There's no one more powerful."
"Maybe the witch herself is?"
"Maka may be right.. The mayor and everyone else would be in no position to go against her now." Lance turned his gaze from Sierra to Soul.
"What did the employees say?"
"Nothing helpful. They're just as scared as the rest of the town. The guests that I talked to were too. No one would say anything other than 'I have no idea what you're talking about' or 'sorry, but I can't help you'." Hunter groaned loudly.
"So basically this is one giant mystery, no one will help us, and we have nothing to go on except this witch is running everything." Sierra and everybody else's heads dropped.
"Basically."
"So I guess I was the only one who had any luck?" The room looked up and over to the door at the new voice.
"What took you so long?" Ember moved from the door way and over to the windowsill.
"Oh nothing, just hitting the jackpot with clues. Did you guys know that 80% of the 'employees only' doors in this place lead to the laundry room? And that 19% lead to the kitchen?" When she was met with blank stares she continued. "It's that one percent that really throws you for a ride." Kiara smirked.
"I take it you found a dirty little secret?"
"Only the dirtiest." She paused for a second before explaining her findings. "This place has an underground elevator. It's behind a big red locked door."
"What in the world is an underground elevator?"
"Well, my dear Kidd, and underground elevator is an elevator that goes underground. The lights on the ceiling usually have extremely loose wiring and are painfully dim, and the light switch is normally always in the upright position. If you flip it down, the first thing you notice are the obnoxious sounds from the gears below. The floor goes down and the wiring started to tighten. This causes the lights to get brighter. Once you reach the bottom, the lights are bright enough to diminish the darkness below and the light switch at the bottom is in the down position." Kidd nodded in understanding and Ember continued. "Anyways, at the bottom of this underground elevator is a tunnel. Down that tunnel is a wooden door. Beyond that wooden door is one massive generator that supplies light to the entire town. And that's not all. I didn't notice it at first, but there's a wire that goes down a crawl tunnel and towards the mountains. I'd bet money that it goes to where this witch is hiding."
"Whoa, nice find.. So this witch is threatening to take their only source of power. No wonder no one will talk."
"Um.. I didn't say the witch is doing anything like that..." Lance looked at her confused.
"But you just said-"
"That a wire goes to the mountains, I know. But it's not some control wire. It looked like an add on. Think of it like this; your neighbor's car breaks down so you jump start it for them. That wire is only supplying whoever is at the receiving end with power. They can't control when they get it or how much they get."
"Wait, so they're giving the witch power? What?" Ember shook her head in annoyance.
"Stop putting words in my mouth and let me finish! On the generator is a specially designed keyhole. It's not something that just anyone can use. The wires can only be added to code protected slots. That means only a specific person would have the key and the codes." Understanding washed over everyone. Kidd voiced the others' thoughts.
"So whoever has these items is the one making everyone keep quiet. And what's worse is that they're aiding the witch, if she is infact hiding underground. But who?"
"Anyone speak Russian?" Hunter's muffled response followed Ember's question.
"Why?"
"Because there's something written on the door in Russian. But I don't think it said employees only, because it looked different from the doors that had that on them." More groans. Of course none of them could speak the needed language.
"Look at the bright side. We now know for sure where the witch is hiding out." Kiara's statement re-caught everyone's attention.
"You found her?"
"Of course I found her. Ember was spot on with her assumption. The witch is taking refuge under the mountains." She looked to Maka. "Which is why I was saying it was too quiet in the wrong direction. The way we came into town is going away from the mountains, which means that there should be a sense of normality with the wildlife in that direction. Because there wasn't we should assume that there's definitely something around here to be wary of, whether it's the witch, her monsters, or something else." Maka just gave a weak nod.
"SWEET! That means we can go take her down tomorrow!" Trace shot Black Star's outburst down in an instant.
"No we can't. We still need to figure out who's aiding her." Kiara nodded in agreement.
"We also need to find out if this mystery person is under her control, working along side her willingly, or somehow has her under their influence. Then there's the matter of the missing people. From what Lord Death had said, it's that one kid. But as of now, 2 people." Tsubaki cast her a confused look.
"Two? Who's the second?"
"The butcher. I doubt he'd abandon his shop for no reason."
"She's probably right. The meat smelled days old. And in the back there was a half cut up bison.. Who knows how long that had been laying in the cold storage." Ember stretched out and yawned.
"Hmmmm, so what's the plan for tomorrow? We can't do anything else tonight."
"First thing is first, we find out what that door says. Then we repay a visit to the mayor." They all agreed with that plan for now, and moments later Kiara began to kick them all out. As the group headed down the hall and to their desired rooms, they couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.
ALRIGHT! So that's chapter 10. (: okay, I have to go to work for like, 4 hours, so I'll upload a few morechapters later! Be on the lookout!(:
Rightoh, so that jibberish Kiara is speakingIan is Slovak. I just typed random little phrases about mountains and hiding being found and shadows. Next time I will have the exact thing I typed! Hope you all enjoyed this! Be back soon!
Mwaaaahh!