Chapter 12
Sucy's life had always been chaotic and disturbing. It was an ordinary day in Sucy's life where she had been reading the black ancestral tome in her spare time. Enjoying as she marveled its information of millions of methods and ways to curse people. Such as instant painless deaths, slow gruesome deaths, excruciating torture, and puppetry. Sucy's favorite would be the curse her ancestors were known for.
Barang and Kulam, the spells were called. To infest the victim's body with insects and to inflict illness. She had attempted to use the curses to a random rat she caught days ago and failed to accomplish such task early on.
Frustrated, Sucy started with the simple spells. In time, when she harnessed the energy and the endurance she can endeavor another high tier spell.
Gone were those short happy days.
At this present moment, Sucy spiraled into despair at her failed attempt to kill one blonde girl.
She fantasized about how to kill her endlessly and painlessly so many times that she could derive pleasure from it. Sucy could kidnap her, trap her into a remote location, starve her to death, then flay her alive slowly, or even twist her fingers in ways unimaginable.
Her personal favorite fantasy so far was killing the Brit's loved ones in front of her as she begged for mercy.
"Kinky, my dear, you're just like your grandmother in that aspect."
Sucy was aggravated that sometimes Loa would read her mind without permission. Not to mention that only she can hear Loa talk was plenty annoying. Annoying because every so often an ancient spirit trapped inside a doll can be lonely and would often talk hours and hours to her when Sucy was in a middle of a fantasy or when she was busy listening to the professor or writing down her essays for class.
"Had I mentioned that your great-grandmother would have sex with her victims before killing them?"
Loa would often talk about the glory of the old days and how she loved how eccentric Sucy's matrilineal ancestors were. The doll would even let out a rant of criticisms about young people nowadays leaving paganism and forming religions about resurrecting humans or fallen angels who became demons.
Sucy had also been exasperated, debating whether to discuss the hair problem with Akko or the fact that the Japanese girl had been busy texting on her phone ever since classes ended. Nevertheless, she just watched as Akko's faces light up the second she received a phone message.
Since both girls didn't belong to a club, they both headed out of school and decided to have dinner at an affordable shop called Last Wednesday Society. Sucy was in no mood to cook and they did have extra cash. The shop would put American Hot Topic to shame with the unique and weird things they sell. The antiques and second hands as well were marvelous. They even have repair and maintenance services. If Sucy was lucky, she would be able to buy mushrooms for a sweet deal.
"You may not have noticed but the shop is dedicated to the sale of different magical items as well."
"You got me the wrong hair," Sucy said, bluntly, pushing Loa's thoughts away.
"Ah... finally you started a conversation with her." Loa chimed in. "Sometimes it's annoying when your head is filled with thoughts because only I can hear them. If I hear another thought about your lust for revenge for the Cavendish girl I will—"
"Akko, you got me the wrong hair," Sucy repeated, this time louder to shut Loa up.
The Japanese girl was about to shove a forkful of cake inside her mouth. "What?"
Sucy was not amused, her visible eye widened with anger. "You didn't give me Diana's hair. It was a different person's."
"Whoa slow down there." Akko brought down the fork after shoving a huge slice down her throat. "I have like... had to let that sink down first... and a couple of questions to ask because all of a sudden you wanted to talk about Diana's hair."
"She's such a blabbermouth. Makes me wonder your rationality why you are so attracted to her." Loa observed, a little annoyed. Sucy hated it when people talk bad about Akko even when it was slightly true.
"How did you know it wasn't hers?" Akko asked.
Sucy nibbled her lower lip, careful nitpicking the words to come out of her mouth. "Because it's shorter than her usual hair and it's not as blonde as hers."
"Oh, are you like those girls who say that raven, coal, and ebony are different?" Akko waved her arms all around, it seemed like she was dancing while on a class presentation.
"Yes, I'm pretentious like that," Sucy said, and unlike Akko, she kept her arms rested on her sides when talking. Sometimes, her limbs became invisible as they merge with her torso. "It's not Cavendish's hair. Get me a piece of her hair."
"Okay, but why would it not be hers when you saw me grab it from her shoulder?"
Sucy slammed a fist to the table. "She must have shagged some bloke and she didn't get rid of all the evidence!"
"Whoa, she's not like that at all, right?" Akko's cheeks became puffier.
"Of course she's not. I'm being sarcastic, Akko." Sucy gritted her teeth. "If she did shag somebody it would be another girl's hair."
"Whoa slow down again. Are you telling me, she's gay?" Akko perked up. "How are we sure the hair isn't from a boy?"
She was so close to pulling her own hair in frustration. "Akko we've talked about this."
"I know!" Akko raised her hands up, surrendering. "No judgments!"
"Akko, you're bisexual."
"You don't get to label me of my own identity!" Akko pounded the table, causing other patrons of the shop to stare at her. "I'm still figuring it out, okay! And maybe she is too, but why would she glance at girls when she can have every guy she wants."
"Ahh, dear customers," the proprietor of the shop approached them slowly. He was a Chum Lee lookalike. "Quiet down, some people love the dark, mysterious and quiet ambiance the place gives."
"Oops," Akko gulped, bowing. "Sorry."
"That man over there is Koschei the Deathless. It seems like he's sick of abducting men's wives and now into the business of selling dark arts."
Sucy blinked. She mentally added on her to-do list to ask Loa about that later. So she gave him a nod, to show that they got the message then stared back at Akko, "Okay you know what? We've gone off topic. Just make sure you pull it off from the roots of her hair this time."
"Well, you're lucky." Akko waved her phone. "She asked me to hang out with her this Saturday."
"She did what?" her voice rose a little louder.
Koschei the Deathless, now a proprietor, stared at her disapprovingly.
"Quiet down I say!" Loa warned with a feverish tone. "Sucy, it is needless for me to remind you not to let your obsession get us into trouble with other supernatural creatures."
Sucy took countless of deep breaths before her temper finally calmed down while dozens of ideas were forming in her head as she schemed to sabotage their little date. "I'm sorry, Akko. What was it you said?"
Akko decided to tread on carefully. "I said... that Diana asked me to hang out with her this Saturday."
"How did she get your number? Did you give it to her?"
"I don't know, maybe she has her resources!"
"Oh," Sucy's heart dropped. She had duties to do at her part-time work in the flower shop; her shift was always during weekends because of the schedule.
"Yeah," Akko laughed awkwardly. "I'm pretty sure I did something wrong or one of the students or professors complained about me and she will give me an earful."
"I doubt that. Sucy's head wondered about. She didn't like that Akko have sympathy for the blonde and she hated the idea of them spending time together. But to remove Cavendish from their lives, Akko needed to get close to her.
Sucy couldn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. As twisted as she is, she scooted towards Akko, pulling a loose strand of her hair for demonstration. Akko watched her in a daze. Her chocolate brown hair somehow contrasted the oddly pale skin of her friend.
"You should go, but this time. Get me her real hair strand. Don't let her know of course."
"What are you doing here, Miss Cavendish?" The man in a white coat asked. "Do you want to be an intern?"
Diana and Andrew luckily arrived at the Blytonbury Police Service Building before closing hours after school. True to what Andrew told Diana, they might have a hard time convincing the medical examiner at the police morgue to let them see the body.
"Nope, I'm only here because I was born with a type of inquiring mind that often gets me into trouble," Diana answered. "Also, we want to see the body."
The medical examiner looked blankly at her, blinking a few times at her request. Diana knew he would cave in, for his familiar relations with the Cavendishes.
Gradually, he asked. "Do you, Miss Cavendish, have the nerve... the audacity... the unmitigated gall... to see your friend's corpse again?"
"I've seen worse," Diana said. A faint memory of her mother in her deathbed emerged from her deepest memory.
The medical examiner sighed but he relented. He brought them to the mortuary cold chambers and pulled one chute out.
There he was, lying down on the cold metal, clad only with a white blanket to cover his nakedness. Frank's body was pale and stiff. The sight of him set an uncanny feeling to rise up from her stomach.
Diana could tell Andrew was close to fainting.
"Well, this autopsy report is just as mysterious. He had suffered from hepatotoxicity, a chemically driven injury that causes liver damage. Furthermore, his other organs begun to fail, leading to his death. The forensic team also reported that there was nothing in the food or drinks or anything else in that funeral. It was as if the poison miraculously appeared in his stomach."
Diana crossed her arms, pensively. "There is no way it simply miraculously appeared as you put it. Perhaps inhaled or injected."
"Then we would have seen some poison in his bloodstream. He had no wounds or abrasions apart from a thorn cut on his index finger."
"And it didn't prove to be the entry point of the poison?"
"There was no powder or liquid residue." Doctor Parker said. "With our kind of technology, I would be able to tell even a small amount. But alas, the forensic team searched everywhere and found none."
"What could you tell us about the poison that killed him, Doctor?" Andrew asked.
"The poison can be found from a death cap mushroom which is to say unfortunately for the reason that it can be easily found in forests. Even kids or adults who aren't accompanied by experts would gather edible mushrooms and mistake it as harmless. To the untrained eye, the mushroom is rather plain looking. It's one of the two fungus species contain which deadly amatoxin where symptoms take between five hours and a day to manifest and difficult to reverse when it's too late. Ingesting just one mushroom is typically lethal. The amount of which he took was from two whole mushrooms."
"So that means... Frank could have ingested it somewhere else." Andrew nodded.
"There are other options still." Doctor Parker said. "Some poisons are transdermal and can take effect simply through touch. Some require being swallowed; some are more effective when given through an injection. Some have a very strong taste or a distinct texture, while others might easily dissolve in alcohol and not water."
"I highly doubt that," Diana said. "Those new suggestions don't even add up, Doctor, I reckon you are failing to notice that."
"I kid, Miss Cavendish. Merely a food for thought."
"There must be another angle to this." Diana exasperated, her thoughts wondering all over the place.
"You didn't seem to be the joking sort at first glance, doctor," Andrew said, couldn't pass the opportunity to ask so he buckled up the courage. "Since when have you been itching to ask the unmitigated gall line in real life?"
The man gave him the biggest grin he could muster. "Ever since I caught up with the Night Fall series my daughter has been obsessed with. She doesn't know I started a month ago."
A small smile crept Diana's lips, all those hints were blatantly obvious yet the girl kept hiding her obsession with her best friend. "Thank you for confirming my suspicions that Barbara reads Night Fall, Doctor Parker."
"You're welcome Miss Cavendish." He said. "I know she wanted to hide that she loves it, but I don't think she should. Girls are allowed to enjoy girly things."
"Diana should like Night Fall instead of Sherlock Holmes." Andrew scoffed. "But then again we need that Holmes craze right now and I'm certain there is other girly stuff she likes that she hides right now."
Diana wanted to slap him so hard when her thoughts traveled to Shiny Chariot the magician. "I don't even like Holmes."
"You jest me."
"Not at the moment, no," she said.
Barbara's father was all too amused at where the conversation was heading and Diana doesn't want audiences.
"We appreciate your help, doctor. Andrew and I will take our leave." Diana picked up her pace to leave the building despite Andrew's confused look.
"That's it?" Andrew followed her as she kept walking. "We just show up unannounced and leave as soon as possible?"
Diana had to exercise impressive restraint to stop from replying sarcastically. "I found a lead."
"Tell me this is logical at least. As far as why most of the speculation is too dangerous and implausible to indulge until we know the truth."
"You heard the expert. The poison is slow acting and upon ingesting a person has five to 24 hours left to live. If he didn't get poisoned at the venue then it must be somewhere else. Before school, did he personally go to a flower shop to buy them?"
"Umm no," he paused, recalling. "He did order them."
"Do you know where he ordered the bouquet of flowers?"
"Yes I do, I have the address too," Andrew said. "You're not suggesting that the flower shop delivered an extra package of mushrooms and Frank found himself eating it instead of merely returning it back or throwing it away like a decent person."
"Yeah, the flowers bug me. The delivery could be sabotaged or not. That's the sole reason why we must go there—inquire a little so my bothered little head would calm down."
"Hold your horses. What about the school?" Andrew asked, reviewing all possible options. "What if he got it from there?"
"If you are insinuating that Frank eats raw mushrooms he picked up at school then clearly you've lost your touch. Even if he was that mental, we have botany classes and botany experts teaching those classes. If a rapid death cap mushroom grew inside its perimeters I'm certain they are dealt with and of course, if he was confirmed to be poisoned by someone at school... she will be there."
"She?" Andrew asked, wanting her to clarify. "The late Sergeant Kinsley did call in the Yard. Is she your connection from Scotland Yard?"
"Yes, and I overheard Professor Finnelan earlier today. The teaching staff had an emergency meeting."
"Isn't it about another investigation at the school?" Andrew asked. "Why haven't we got orders that we'll be taking another week off?"
"Because Frank's death had not occurred inside these walls, but it started there," Diana stated.
Andrew's eyebrows shot to his hairline, "And the flower shop?"
"I merely have a good feeling."
He crossed his arms. "Should we add psychic powers to your already considerable list of accomplishments?"
"No, just an exceptionally good sense of solving puzzles," Diana said, heading straight to their car where her chauffeur opened the backseat door for her. She stared at the time on her phone and climbed the backseat of the car. "Now, we have time to spare before we head home, let's go to this flower shop and pay a friendly visit to my connection."
"Had they found anything good?"
"Given your low expectations of authentic police investigative skills, Andrew, you may be surprised to hear that they have found."
"So you mean to tell me, you are lagging behind." Andrew then fixed his tie with a wolfish grin. "I reckon I should help you in trying to win Miss Kagari's favor."
Diana gave him a pointed look.
"Stop staring at me like that, you could burn holes." He scoffed without looking at her. "Overprotective much on a girl, how could you expect to retrieve information if you treat her like you are courting her?"
"Good officers are familiar with the idea of treating people like people. You have to coax information out slowly without any possible side effects!"
"She's not a child!" Andrew raised his voice, similar to hers. "But I will bow to your expertise when it comes to wayward teenage girls. No big rush, no worries, it's not like you are on a thin fine line when pursuing your only potential witness."
"I will do my best, accordingly."
A/N
Hey everyone, we all know that this fic is walking down a dark path. So I was just asking if you guys are comfortable if I would write sexual relationships and endeavors once the characters get to confess their feelings. If yes, should I write somehow explicit ones or toned down/implied?