To say that I was glad Voluptia and I were able to find the waterfall. And one with an active blue mana source, before the interviews in the afternoon, would be an understatement.

Without that, I would never be able to use magic to heal my wounds. Of course, the doctor was essential to keep me alive until she took me there.

I had been at death’s door before. Many times to be honest. But, never for being reckless.

I was always prepared for an eventuality.

Even things not going how I planned, our contingency plan worked well.

Mistakes are not allowed in the line of work of a private investigator: they tend to be deadly.

Lack of focus is the difference between failure and success. Between life and death…

And I am not talking only about the investigator.

When dealing with the supernatural, it gets worse. Life is not the only thing in jeopardy.

There are a lot of things far worse than death.

The soul itself is a coveted prize. Considered an exquisite delicacy, an object to bargain, or currency in some underworld societies.

It is not rare to find deranged humans helping evil creatures in return for some personal gain.

Once the door to darkness opens to someone, it is impossible to close that door again. Those creatures and their mysterious and miraculous powers are seductive enough. To the point of encouraging and fueling ambitions of the weak minded; or those too greedy to care.

Becoming a “detective of the supernatural” means to understand all that. Accept the risks involved, for the sake of a greater good. Not everyone is able to withstand this enormous responsibility or resist the temptations.

That is why I became such a control freak, in the first place.

When I chose to be that kind of detective, I found a way to combine a wish to help others, with a passion for solving crimes.

However, when I saved Vol. from a meaningless death, it changed everything for both of us.

No wonder, she appeared in my bedroom that same night, asking me to be her new master. I was sleeping after reflecting for a long time about her and Ambrosius. Marveled by all the wonders that I saw that afternoon.

She woke me up with a tender touch. She seemed upset and in despair.

Still shaped like a winged teenage girl.

Begging me to accept her in a special bound.

She needed a real master, in order to avoid being forced to take in another contract by her mother and sisters again. Like they obliged her to do the day we met.

I wonder, if they would act differently if they knew that they were sending one of the first born daughters of Lilith to an elaborated trap.

One where she was supposed to be destroyed, in order to hide a real killer.

However, that fate was avoided, and with our meeting, a new set of opportunities revealed. A chance to be much more than a policeman or CSI technician. Chance to make a real difference. Something I have been searching for a long time. Since my Eye opened.

Since I became a freak to everyone that I knew.

A new career that gave me the chance to put my gifts to good use. Like Ambrosius, my future master, suggested when we first met.

What later became a process to help my partner cope with her own nature, and have a place to belong: by my side.

But, that night, when we faced the Amber Moon, it became a lot more...

Before leaving the waterfall, I started to review every angle of the case.

What bothered me, more than anything about that case were the huge amount of coincidences...

Experience told me that coincidences are bullshit.

And my dreams warned me about those.

First: A man I saved two years ago, gives my old foster mother my number to call during an emergency.

Second: A homunculus used as a sacrificial offer. A thing that cannot be done. Killed by a bonsai animated and growth by magic.

Yet, a summon circle was below the homunculus and there was sulfur residue, near the dead tree. So far, I had not found any trace of a summoned creature.

Third: The boy that nicknamed himself “Luciano” and Father Thomas came to the school at the same time. Luciano worked in the hospital, which means he was one of the members of the doctor’s staff. That said they must have interacted before.

Father Thomas had a great interest in the story of every building in the place. And seemed to be the one with more knowledge about them. Where they working together? If so, doing what? Trying to avoid the release of the creature or making sure that it will be freed?

And more:

An old gardener found dead in a greenhouse, hanged by Christ Thorn, apparently, animated by magic.

Lots of pagan symbols hidden in the school grounds. Symbols united by Ley lines.

Some sort of green animated construct attacked me. An analisis of their constitution, the way it imploded when Grotheske defeated it, indicated that was an artificial being. Or was it something else?

Those were the pieces of the puzzle so far. It was up to me to connect them in a way that made perfect sense.

And I did it.

I was able to finally realize the real purpose that brought me to that school.

I understood my true role in that devilish plot: a plot that would never unfold without my presence there.

And the Doctor and what he knew about me, were the missing parts of the puzzle.

The only pieces that were always in plain view.

My master always said, " the devil lies in the details".

Were I not distracted with my particular issues, it won’t take me almost twenty-four hours, since the night call, to see what was really happening.

To see that was not only my old mother and Dr. Rochard that requested my presence in those enchanted grounds.

I underestimated my enemy, he always knew everything about me, in fact, he expected me to do part of the job for him.

How do you lure a prideful detective?

It is very easy in fact.

Give him a puzzle, scatter some hints and let him think that he is solving it.

And that way, I showed to them the location of six symbols holding the prison together.

When they no longer needed me, they decided to get me killed.

Simple as that!

My master would hit me in the head with his cane if he was there...

If not for both my partners' dedication and the expertise of Doctor Rochard, I would be dead.

But, that was not the moment to regret past errors, or indulge me in self-pity.

It was late in the night and the next one was drawing closer. The dreadful Amber Moon. When the moonlight would bathe the symbols, and allow the interdimensional cage to open.

And the Oak tree was not one of them.

The tree had two purposes: lure me and make me believe their story, and seize my control of Grotheske. To render her useless to me.

But there should be a seventh symbol.

One very well hidden that none of us could perceive yet..

I needed to find that missing symbol before my enemies.

The symbol had to be somewhere inside the school, above one of the Ley lines that crossed below the school library.

We prepared to leave the place and go back to the school grounds. There I would examine every single spot above those lines to find the symbol.

I looked up to the Moon.

There were no visible clouds, which was a bad sign. Nothing to interfere with the light.

The enormous shining disk was almost complete, but to the naked eye, a full Moon was howering above the forest.

At least, no traces of yellow could be seen in the pale disk, so far.

The Moon itself seemed to rush me, like it was defying me. I could “hear” it daring me to stop the events to come.

"Tomorrow it is the night. Look at me, I am almost full. The Amber Night is so close now. What will you do? Stay there laying in your back and let everyone die?"

“Never. Not even in your wildest dreams”, I dared to reply.

I was lost in that chain of thoughts, when I heard an odd sound.

A crackling sound started to come from inside one of the pockets of the doctor's apron, and interrupted my ramblings.

The doctor picked a rectangular device from inside and we heard a muffled voice that we both knew:

"Colonel Whult calling Dr. Rochard, roger"

He moved close to me, knelt by my side with the device in his hand.

Before answering the call, he told me:

"Sergio gave us those old fashioned walkie talkies. Phone lines are dead. The entire school is isolated from the outside world. There are no phone and no internet. But with this, we are able to keep in touch"

That would mean, no access to any outside database, which would make it harder to search for more detailed information about the case.

At least our antagonists seemed to forget about good old radio waves.

He pressed the button with his thumb and a buzz of electricity came out of the device, now alive. He looked up and took the radio to his lips.

"Dr. Rochard here, colonel, roger.", the doctor didn't seem accustomed to using that. He was almost yelling in the microphone of the old radio transmitter.

"Roger is here too, Colonel Roger. I didn't know I received a promotion", I said, not knowing if the old device would be able to listen to me.

The doctor  made a joke, in low voice, while smiling back to me and putting the walkie talk close to my lips, pressing the send button:

"Good to know that a few broken ribs and a punctured heart didn't take away your sense of humor, my friend.",

"Well it is a gift", I blinked.

Another crackling sound followed by a buzz and Sergio's muffled voice replied:

"Glad to hear that our boy is still around us", it seems Sergio could hear what we were saying, after all.

"You couldn't find something older to distribute, could you colonel?"

"Well, we did not have a single Indian with us here. So, no one knew how to send smoke signs. Those dusty walkie talkies were all that was left for us to use. Be glad that their batteries are still working fine."

Amazing, that didn't sound like the moron that I met before in the greenhouse.

That answer surprised me and I replied:

"If you keep talking with me like that I will end up thinking that you like me, colonel, roger"

"You are a bastard son of a bitch, but what you did for the people in the main building was commendable. I still don't understand what is happening, but I know why mother Ana and the doctor have absolute trust in you. So what do you suggest we do now, roger?"

"I suggest that we find another word to end our sentences, can we use chocolate instead? I am getting pretty confused with the roger this, roger that, chocolate!!"

I was not sure but he seemed to laugh. Would that mean that Sergio Whult was a nice person after all?

I got all professional again:

"We need to take everyone to a safe place, colonel and search and protect the places I marked in the map in my office. I will need a few men with me to do some ground reconnaissance."

"The nurses are helping to take everyone to the church as we speak, roger."

"NO, not the church!! Anywhere, but the church!!”, I interrupted.

“Listen to me don't even get closer to that church. Take everyone to the stadium. That will be the best place to hold a big number of people. We need to keep them isolated from any kind of plants or vegetation. The stadium is perfect for this because it is made of concrete and steel."

"Why not the church? It is easier to accommodate hundreds of people inside there, roger. "

"Because the church is not what it seems to be. Trust me and take them to the stadium. As long as no one gets alone they will be safe there."

Doctor Rochard gave me a confused look. I looked back to him:

"Trust me, I know where our killer gets his mana now. And I am pretty sure I know who is behind this."

With hundreds of lives counting on me and two enemies working together, I had to be sure that time.

What I needed to find out was if the two of them were pretending to fight against each other. Or, if one of them, was a hostage of the other.

Either way, I knew for sure that Luciano gave me some false clues to follow.

Colonel Whult was still listening to us. After a pause, he added:

“There is something else that you need to know, Roger. While you were unconscious, Father Thomas was attacked in the library”.

As I feared, the other hand remained pretty active while I was out.

____ _____ _____

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