CHAPTER 7. LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Three weeks later. 12:00

"I'll have to tell her how bad the date ended when we swap again". That's what he'd thought when he'd left that bridge and returned to his apartment after the disappointing date he'd had with Zatanna. However, for some reason he couldn't figure out, the exchanges he and she had had no longer occurred again.

This was beyond surprising to him, and it had to be surprising to her as well. So, like any person who had been in an awkward situation that they didn't want to talk about again, he focused on getting back to his normal life, without changing his body and without having to argue with that girl over and over again about what she did when she was in his body, or because of something he had done in her body.

However, he was unable to return to the normal life he longed for once the trading stopped. He had tried to go back to being the highly disciplined straight-A student who couldn't enjoy himself so freely because of his social status, not forgetting his job at Mr. Zatara's agency and his friendship with Dick and Tim without her doing anything that he would never do (like what his two friends had told him about, the dogs loved him that day, but now they all hated him again), but he didn't succeed. He wasn't focused on college, or his friends, or the friendship he and Zatanna had had to settle for after their bad date, or his job, or their trips on the monorail across town, or of his parents, he…he thought of her.

He wanted to go see that girl, he wanted to see how she was, how her life was going now that they weren't swapping bodies anymore, he wanted to know more about her, or just see her in person, and end this matter once and for all. If he didn't, maybe he would continue with the same lack of concentration that he had been with recently.

It is the desire to see that girl possessed him. So much was his desire that, being in his room, he began to investigate about the small rural towns that were close to the city. He was looking for images on the internet for a long time, but none matched the image that he kept seeing about that town with the lake in the shape of a circle. This led him to look for books both in stores and in his school library, but that strategy also proved fruitless, since no image of those books matched the one in town.

Seeing that the internet did not give him the answer, he began to draw all the places he remembered seeing in the same small town. Anything would be useful, the church, the altars, the little houses, and most importantly, the great circular lake. Being sure that this would help him, he completely drew a large view of houses and small buildings that somewhat overshadowed the large circular lake of the town. He hoped he wasn't wrong when he finished doing it.

He was acting that way for those three weeks, he even tried to phone her many many times, and all with the same negative result; he also sent her several messages, which were never received, and the internet did not give him any response either. To make everything worse, he didn't remember the name of the town, even though he must have seen or heard it at least once, but since he was more attentive to what he was doing in that girl's body and how he wanted to get out of that situation as soon as possible he hadn't learned it. With this unpromising panorama, by his own decision, in part, and because something told him that he should do it, he decided to take a lot of money saved and go only to the outskirts of the city, hoping that the town he wanted to find was in that area.

He had put on a black jacket, hiding a gray T-shirt, brown pants, outdoor shoes, and his red bracelet that he wore from time to time, grabbed his backpack for school and filled it with a few bottles of water, blankets, a jacket nightwear, nightwear, flashlight, ropes, cell phone charger and another change of clothes; and went to the city train station.

Obviously, he needed to leave a message so they wouldn't worry about him, so he texted both Dick and Zatanna to tell them that he was going out of town at the train station for a day or two, and that they could cover him with his activities, if it wasn't too much to ask.

He arrived at the city train station when he saw that the two people he had sent that message to were there, dressed like him, with caps, sweaters or jackets, pants and sports shoes, and also carrying a backpack each.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"We are going to accompany you to do what you are going to do. We want to help you" Dick said.

"We want to help you, and I'm meeting someone other than you or my father" Zatanna said. This was right. She met Dick in this day, they started talking by no reason at all, and asked why they were there, and they answered the same, so, they decided to join forces and go with their friend.

"You should go back and let me do this alone" He said. He did not want to explain this complicated situation to them.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Bruce. I could go to your parents and they'll track you down and find you in no time if you send me back" Dick threatened, keeping his face a bit serious, but it was obvious that he wanted to smile.

He sighed at Dick's threat. He knew his parents, and if he sent him back, it was obvious that they would persecute him or send their butler to find him, and it would be easy for them, seeing their financial resources. Finding himself cornered, he approached his two friends and told them that he was going to buy them tickets for the train.

On the way to the rural area on the outskirts of the city, both Dick and Zatanna did not stop showing concern about their friend's actions. For him to send them a message that he was going to leave like this for a few days seemed somewhat unorthodox, especially when he didn't do something like that. They wondered what had happened to him to do this, and that it was not something dangerous for him, and they expected that it was something not at all or a little risky. They were quite surprised when he told them that he wanted to go to that place to find a person he knew, since he had never spoken about her, to either of them, especially Tim, but he had only told them so that stop asking him why they were going there.

There was another surprise when the person Dick and Zatanna had decided to accompany was the one who had spoken first, but not on good terms.

"I told you to cover for me with your father on the days I'm away, not to come here with me, Zatanna. I'm sure he'll punish you when you get back" He said, looking directly at Zatanna, because she was sitting across from him on the train seats.

"My father can be overprotective, Bruce. But, he is confident when I told him that I will come to your house for a day. At least what we had before hasn't made him distrust you" Zatanna replied smiling at him, not noticing that she had caught Dick's attention.

"Did something happen between you that I don't know about?" Dick asked, quite curious.

"It's none of your business, Dick. Besides, you shouldn't have come. I was just telling you to cover for me while I was away" He told her. He still didn't like that they had come for something they wouldn't understand.

"Calm down. The good thing is that Tim will strike us, look" Dick said, turning on his cell phone and showing him an short video.

"I'll take care of it, but you owe me a hundred dollars" Tim said with a smile, raising his right thumb in a positive sign.

"I keep saying that you shouldn't have come to accompany me on something that I want to do" He said, averting his gaze.

"We care about you, Bruce. Also, the girl or person you want to see may be cheating on you" Dick told him, looking at him fixedly.

"A hoax?" He asked him. He wasn't liking Dick suggesting that this girl was out to trick him. This conversation was joined by Zatanna.

"Well, you met this girl or person online, right? If that's the case, I'd tell you that you're taking too much of a risk" She said.

"I didn't meet her like that" He said raising his voice, causing people to react somewhat fearful and annoyed by the noise. "Not exactly" He added, softening his voice.

"He met her on a dating site" Dick whispered to Zatanna, knowing that the person they had accompanied was still listening.

"Of course not!" He yelled, more annoyed than before, stirring up the other passengers again. He didn't like being told that about that girl. Knowing that he was making him furious, Dick was kinder with the next sentence he said.

"You've been acting very strange these past weeks. That's why we come here to be close to you."

"I'm not a child who needs babysitters" He said, causing Zatanna to chuckle slightly at her friend's response. She felt that he was defending that person as if he really was in love with her. "See you when we get there" He said, taking his backpack and going to another seat, he didn't want any more of this conversation for a while.

When the train reached the designated station, he hurried off the train, with Dick and Zatanna following at a normal pace, even though he was rushing them, they still had another train to catch and they couldn't miss it, or well, he couldn't miss it. Fortunately, they did arrive on time and were on their way to the area he wanted to reach.

During this second train ride, Zatanna and Dick ate a small snack that they had brought, since they had gotten hungry. When she was halfway through her meal, she couldn't help but wonder where exactly they were going. The person she was escorting with Dick hadn't told them anything other than that they were going to the outskirts of city. Therefore, she decided to ask him, especially now that he was in a better mood and was sitting next to them on this trip. But, another surprise arose when she heard his answer.

"I do not know exactly. The only thing I know is that I will find her in that region" Was what he had said.

"Don't you know then?" Zatanna asked.

"No, I don't know" He said.

"Don't you know the name of the place?" Dick intervened.

"No, I don't know either, and I've been mentally torturing myself for not knowing" He said without looking into his eyes.

"So we're going to this area for a person you want to meet aimlessly?" Dick asked, almost annoyed.

"Not quite, Dick. I have this drawing of the town that I did, which I hope is enough to find the place where she lives" He said, pointing to his backpack. He wasn't going to let the drawing get roughed up until they got to the countryside. It was his most reliable clue to find her.

"What a lousy tour guide you are" Dick told him, annoyed, but resigning himself to continue on the trip. Well, he was already there with him and Zatanna, coming back would take a long time.

"I'm not a tour guide" He told Dick. He was already getting desperate in this situation where he couldn't explain anything to them about what had happened between him and that girl. The most obvious thing is that they would think he was crazy, or that he had hit his head hard, and would alert his parents more, the last thing he needed on this trip that had already become very uncomfortable for him, and a bit for his two companions.

"Okay, calm down. If Bruce has no idea where we're going, and the drawing of the town is his only clue, the best thing we can do is help him look for her, and that's what we'll do" Zatanna said, calming the two men down.

"Well, I just hope the next trip we make is on a steady course compared to this one" Dick said, sitting up and folding his arms.

"It's not going to be like this next trip, Dick" He assured.

"Well, like I said before, we'll help you look for her" She promised.

She had promised that, not explicitly with that word, but they would help him, or that's what she was planning to do while she was on the train, because, when they got to the rural area and got off the train, and while he was trying to find the name or some hint of the place he wanted to go to, both she and Dick didn't take a minute to be distracted by the motley they saw in the place.

"Oh, how cute. Look, Bruce!" Zatanna told him to see the bottarga.

"I should have imagined" He said to himself, making an angry look, clenching his blade and rolling his eyes up. He knew he was better off coming alone.

"Oh, he moved" Zatanna said when she saw that the motley had moved, while Dick had taken a picture of that cute motley.

And, as he imagined, he was better off alone, because, for three hours, he was so absorbed in finding some clue or the name of the town where that girl must live, while his two friends were just behind him or doing something that amused them. He would be checking his cell phone, trying to find a geographical area that would give him the answer, while they just went behind doing nothing or were eating some sweet or appetizer; at other times, he would be asking all the people who lived in that area if the drawing he had made of the town was known to them, receiving pure negative or diffuse responses that they did not remember anything and his friends would be having fun in the beautiful places like stairs of a natural site, a great panoramic view, taking photos of the place or even playing with cards that Zatanna had brought (she was starting to get familiar with performing magic tricks now that her father was asking her to do it, although, as a beginner, it was not going very well); and at other times, he kept investigating his cell phone or looking at a nearby map in a store, and they would go in to buy a candy, food or water. This was the fun they hadn't been able to have when they were focused on their studies or their jobs, so it was something they wanted to do subconsciously, and to this was added that they didn't know the girl their friend had come looking for.

This amusement they had had been so pleasant and pleasant, that it had caused them to fall asleep when they were on a bus to get to another part of the area, their amusement-weary heads were resting on the shoulders of the person they had come to "help" while he was just frowning in his frustration with how fruitless this search was turning out and how they were "helping" him.

They were sitting on another bus stop, both Zatanna and Dick were amused and happy by the situation after waking up and continuing with their friend in their search, but the friend had had enough with this situation, so he spoke.

"This is useless" He said, shaking his head and ducking. This did not go down well with both of them.

"What?!" They both asked at the same time.

"Are you saying that after everything we've done for you today?!" Zatanna asked, being helped by a nod from Dick. The friend they were accompanying shook his head once more and looked up to retort.

"And you say that when you haven't done anything" He said, almost wanting to scream.

"How ungrateful you are, Bruce" Dick said, looking away.

"You would have ratted me out to my parents if I hadn't agreed to bring them here. I say that I would have preferred that to being accompanied by you" He said getting up and looking to see if he could get to a bus or some form of transportation to get to another part of the area.

At this, Zatanna was angry, but, she thought she could make him reconsider what he had said.

"You haven't eaten anything since morning. Have you, Bruce?" She asked.

This made him stop. He had been so absorbed in finding the place that he hadn't even noticed that he hadn't eaten anything, so this was the only thing he had to be thankful for.

"Then let's find a restaurant, Zanna" He said, using the nickname he uses for herself when he's in a better mood, though his tone wasn't friendly at all.

XXX

17:00

At the restaurant they managed to find, each ordered a different dish. He had ordered Fish Fry, Dick ordered Chicken fried Steak and Zatanna a cole slaw. The friendly brown-haired waitress took their order and went to order with the cook. They were silent the whole time until their plates were brought to them, mostly because, even though he wanted to, he still couldn't stop thinking about why he couldn't find the town where that girl lived, while the other two were they asked if he would still be upset by the current situation. However, what he said was unexpected.

"Can we go back to Gotham today?" He asked looking at his plate, not looking at them. Although Zatanna was surprised by this, Dick was fine with it.

"I don't know, let me check" Dick said before taking out his cell phone.

"Hey Bruce, are you sure?" Zatanna asked, she didn't think he was going to give up so easily with this quest they had been forced to take them on.

"I don't know. Something is telling me that I've been looking in the wrong place, which makes this search much more frustrating than it already was, so going back is much more appropriate" He said, still not looking at their faces and eating the last of his Fish fry.

Dick and Zatanna just stared at him in surprise and uncertainty for one second, then continued eating the next. They had gone out of concern, but if he hadn't found anything in the end and was okay with coming back, they were fine.

When he finished his plate, he opened his backpack and took out the drawing he had made, and he was beginning to consider that he had made a mistake or that he had done everything wrong, which would explain why no one recognized the drawing of that town.

"Hey, it's Little Volos, right?" Asked the waitress. The three young people were surprised that that kind waitress was the only one who recognized it, and the surprise was even more when she spoke again. "It is a very beautiful drawing. Honey, come see this" The waitress asked, raising her voice for the cook to hear.

The cook, being a man with fairly tanned skin, a shaved beard and mustache, and short black hair, approached the table, and the artist behind the drawing gave it to him to check. This could be the opportunity he has been waiting for.

"Yes, it's Little Volos" Said the cook, staring at the boy's drawing with narrowed eyes to capture all the details he had done well. "It brings back memories" He added, but without letting out a smile.

"He was born there" The waitress said with a smile, referring to the cook.

"Little Volos" The author of the drawing repeated in a whisper to remember it. "That's the place" He said raising his voice a little. "It's close, right?" He asked the couple of the waitress and the cook, very hopeful to finally know what the place was.

"You do not…?" The waitress tried to say, her smile fading, replaced with sadness and confusion at the boy's question.

"Little Volos was..." The cook was trying to say, making an angry and sad face. He didn't like to talk about it.

"Little Volos?" Dick asked, surprised by this. Zatanna was also surprised. "It can't be" He said, turning to Zatanna.

"That was where the comet was..." Zatanna said, without finishing the sentence, also with a surprised face to see where the person they had accompanied wanted to go.

He just kept quiet, but he had an attentive look on them. He knew they were going to say something bad about the town of Little Volos, but he wasn't prepared for what happened next.

XXX

18:30

At the top of a hill where you could see a great view of a destroyed bridge, train cars near the lake, houses and buildings destroyed, statues sliced and covered in dirt, hundreds of stones and metals destroyed and sliced, where the eagles flew over it and made their classic screeching, that's where Dick, Zatanna and the friend they had accompanied so he could find a certain person, a girl, in the town where she lived.

Upon arrival, he had run faster than his two friends and jumped the yellow tape that said 'Keep Away' as well as other signs on the sides that said the same thing and some orange cones put up so that people would not receive the same message. Even if he or anyone ignored those warnings, there were metal fences around the entire area so that no one could enter again, although perhaps someone would if they were as unaware as he was about what had happened.

The covered area of the town he wanted to reach was no longer a single large lake surrounded by houses, altars and other small buildings, it was now a large ruin in which the large circular lake was the smallest part, because there was a section even bigger with the same circular shape in front. The two circular sections of the lake formed a giant '8' that could best be seen on satellite imagery without the line separating the two circles.

Seeing this terrible sight, Dick and Zatanna 's questions towards their friend were not long in coming.

"Is she from this place?" She asked, not looking away.

"No, it can not be. Bruce must have been wrong" Dick said, hastening to reply, looking at her, averting his gaze from the horrible sight. This answer was immediately answered by his friend.

"I was not wrong. I'm sure this is the place" He said, still staring at the giant 8 formed by that great lake. "This yard, this school, these mountains, I remember everything" He said, now turning to his friends, with a very serious look, almost wanting to get angry.

"It can't be" Dick said, hastening to answer again, scratching his head and taking three steps forward, very doubtful about his friend's attitude and what he was saying. "You do know about the disaster three years ago? Hundreds of people died" He said, somewhat hesitantly.

"Did they die?" He whispered, confused by what he had just heard. "Three years ago?" He asked again whispering. At that moment, a memory came of one of his most precious memories, the sight he had witnessed together with his parents and his butler, but it couldn't be that the girl he wanted to see in person and who lived in this town had died three years ago. With this in mind, he spoke again. "It isn't true. I still have the messages she wrote me" He said, trying to smile and taking out his cell phone at the same time. He went straight to her diary, and found all the notes she had written to him from days gone by, but from there, everything got a bit sinister and confusing.

The messages she had written to him when she was in his body, with their funny emojis and sense of humor, quickly disappeared, one by one, until there were no notes left from her, only the ones he had written. He rubbed his eyes to confirm if what he was seeing was real.

"They're disappearing" He whispered again. This had no explanation. Now, the only thing left to do was to figure out how she could have been dead for three years, since the most logical thing was that she was alive, if they always exchanged bodies three days by week, so it didn't make any sense that she was dead. And if that was possible against all the odds, there had to be a written or confirmable explanation, and the only way to find that explanation was an investigation.