Strange Man

Secrets have ears.

Strange Man

May Alex have the most severe headache possible for a month for all the worry he causes me, seriously. Why is there so much trouble with him?

I snorted and barged to Ruben's door, then knocked on it — what might more accurately be called banging. The camera focused on me and Ruben found himself face to face with my very nervous image on his monitor.

"Scram!" he crackled over the loudspeaker.

This time he didn't even ask me what I was doing there — but he might as well have known.

"Let me in, rat!" I barked, "I'm not in the mood for arguing!"

"Okay, okay, you came for information," he said. "But what do I get in return? If I keep giving you information for free, I'll go bankrupt..."

I gave him a killer look and he hissed softly.

"If you let me in now, I can promise to spare your life," I offered.

The door clicked softly. He knew very well that he wasn't in a position to play games with me — especially not with my nerves stretched to the breaking point. I ran upstairs to him, and he was curled up in his armchair in front of the monitors, as usual.

"What can I do for you?" he said, with a slight edge in his voice.

"I want to know where Alex is," I said.

His face grew somber.

"I knew you were up to something again!" he whined, "And it's my darlings who have to pay for it again!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"My rats, which I send to a certain area, disappeared without a trace. There might be something over there," he explained, "Your friend was heading that way the last time my darlings saw him."

"What could be there?" I demanded.

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I told you the rats disappeared before they could bring information," he said.

"Fuck!" I slammed the table, then gave Ruben a murderous look, "You're useless!"

The rat curled up as much as he could, put his hands in front of his face, and looked up at me from behind them, whimpering softly in a squeaky voice.

After that, I simply left.

"Simon," I called him. "Simon."

No answer. I hoped that he was with Alex and headed for the Goblin.

Zénó expected my arrival, as there was a mug of hot chocolate waiting for me on the counter. With most of the night behind us, there weren't many people left in the café. I thanked him for the drink and sipped it.

"How can I help you?" asked Zénó with a slight smile.

I sighed deeply. "It's about my best friend again."

"Did he manage to change back?" he asked.

I nodded. "But now, I think he's got himself into something."

Zénó pondered.

"I'll look into it if you'd like," he finally replied.

"I'd appreciate that," I sighed.

Zénó smiled slightly. "Everything will be alright."

I gave him a dry smile, even though I knew that was the sort of thing you usually said when you knew that nothing was going to be all right. After I finished my hot chocolate, I was about to leave when Grizzly barged through the door of the café.

When he found me with his gaze, his eyes almost lit up.

"Hey, kid," he greeted me in his deep, growling voice, "Long time no see. What brings you here?"

"I came for information," I replied.

"I see, I see," he patted my shoulder.

"Well, I should be on my way," I announced, rather suggestively.

Grizzly finally moved out of the way but stopped me for a moment by putting his hand on my shoulder again. This touch was completely different from the last, he placed his huge palm lightly on my shoulder and squeezed gently. This touch was a warning.

"Watch out, kid," he said quietly, "Town's getting rowdy."

I nodded slowly and left the café behind me.

When I got home, Rolo almost jumped up from his chair in the kitchen.

"What happened?" he asked excitedly.

He couldn't help noticing that I had come alone.

"If only I knew," I said, "I went to see two other informants. They don't really know what's going on either."

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

Well, I'll wait for Simon.

"First of all, we're going to go back to our rooms and pretend to be asleep," I explained, "I don't want Alex to know that we found out about his absence."

"But why?" he frowned, "Don't you want to question him?"

I grinned. "I have a better idea: next time I'll follow him."

(...)

Alex came home soon after. I could hear by his heartbeat that he was extremely nervous. For the sake of authenticity, I went into the kitchen yawning. He was sitting on one of the chairs looking grumpy — I pretended not to notice.

"Morning," I muttered and stifled another yawn.

He looked up at me and relaxed a little — perhaps he was afraid one of us had found out he'd slipped out for the night. Maybe he was wondering how to explain it. The naive little thing!

"Good morning!" he grinned, but I could tell he was still nervous.

"Shall I make you some cocoa?" he added.

Well, do you feel guilty? I waved at him and sat down at the table, blinking sleepily as I watched him pour and warm the milk.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I'm a bit nervous about school. It's our last year, after all," he laughed, his laugh still a little forced. Maybe no one else would have noticed, but I knew Alex better than anyone else. "Nothing will be the same, right?"

I pressed my lips into a sharp line. He was right. Nothing will be the same without Jo. We remained silent for a long time after that.

"Today is the book distribution," he announced, "You haven't forgotten, have you?"

He read the answer on my face immediately, I didn't even have to say a word. Damn, is it the twenty-eighth already? And August at that? My God, it's almost September!

"Can you get my books too?" he asked, "I think I might be able to get a temporary job."

"That's great," I smiled somewhat dryly, "It would be nice to eat some lasagne!"

Alex nodded vigorously and put my cocoa in front of me.

"Thanks," I nodded.

"The fridge is empty anyway," Alex said, "We could go shopping in the morning and then I'll go to the interview."

I nodded this time without any enthusiasm.

With that, I went up to my room to get ready. As if sensing my need, Simon was lying on my bed. He looked at me questioningly when I entered.

"Where were you?"

Simon closed the book and sat up. He knew immediately from my voice that something had happened.

"What happened?"

"You weren't with Alex last night." My question sounded to be more like a statement.

Simon shook his head. Now that I looked closer, his aura felt frostier than usual and his face was ominously cold. He didn't need to say anything, I knew from just that much that he'd been visiting his family again.

"Alex has got himself into something" I explained, "I have a request."

"I would like you to accompany Alex to that interview," I continued.

He raised one eyebrow. "You think that he lied?"

I shook my head. "His heartbeat was fine, and he's not a very good liar. But I'm worried, so..."

"So you don't trust him?" he finished.

"It's not that," I countered, "I just sense he's in trouble."

Simon finally nodded.

"Thanks," I said and he shrugged.

In the morning we went shopping as agreed and then split up. Before I even started walking to the bus stop, I felt a cool breeze around my shoulders. I knew Simon was signaling his presence to reassure me. I gave a subtle nod and started walking towards the school.

The book distribution lasted until half past three and I had only just made it there at the end. Of course, I made up for the delay with a charming smile at the teacher and then asked for our books.

We were given four books each, two of which were the first and second volumes of literature, so I reckoned to myself that we had got off pretty lightly this year.

I hopped home to unload my books and then waited for Des to drop by. Rolo had gone off somewhere, and left a note on the fridge saying he'd be back — I figured he'd gone to buy school supplies or something, so I didn't worry about it. After all, at worst, he could just be looking for some cursed magic books, but that's none of my business.

"Hello, little brother," Des greeted me, and I merely nodded.

"Shall we begin?" he grinned broadly.

"I love that enthusiasm!" he said and he really misunderstood, because I was just taking out my unnecessary frustrations on him.

I shrugged and started walking towards the garden. Alice was going on a mission this time, so at least I didn't have to worry about the arrows.

After the breakthrough of the previous training session, this one didn't yield any particular results. Des kicked my ass hard.

After that, I went exhausted to work, where Hajnal gave me a piece of her mind for being five minutes late.

The filthy rich stranger appeared again.

His figure was surrounded by the unmistakable scent of magic, which stirred the senses of monsters. Even if he did not unleash his presence, and even if he deliberately hid it from the other guests, he still gave me the creeps. He ordered the same, and I complied.

I thought that was the end of the conversation. Well, he didn't seem to think so.

"Aldo Aleshio Baldassarre," he introduced himself. "What's your name?"

"Ádám," I answered quietly.

There was something I didn't like about this mage. He chuckled. "Oh, I was curious about your real name."

I knew for sure then that the guy was dangerous. Very, very dangerous.

"I don't tell that to strangers so easily," I shrugged and got on with my work.

"Well, since I've told you mine, I'm not a stranger to you any more," smiled the man.

I still showed no inclination to answer.

"Go to the chamber and get a load of beers," Hajnal ordered me.

The boss's voice sounded unusually nervous, but I didn't answer back. Before I entered the liqueur chamber, I glanced behind me.

Hajnal was standing in front of the stranger, explaining to him with a tense expression and not the most pleasant of gestures. But the dark mage ignored her, watching me the whole time until I disappeared behind the door. Even moments later, I could still see those eyes, those fuchsia eyes.

When I left the chamber, the unknown man had already left the bar.

Hajnal leaned towards me. "Keep your distance from dark mages. You were in dangerous enough situations lately."

Oh, if only you knew I was already in the next one.

(...)

After work, I went home and took a shower, then got dressed again and went to bed. I put on my armour, of course, and hid a dagger between my trousers and my belt, just in case. I put on a baggy black hoodie and prepared my mask in case things got really bad.

Meanwhile, I listened to Simon report that Alex was telling the truth, that he was really just at a job interview. I thanked him, but that was as good as it got. The ghost probably sensed the tension in me and left quickly through one of the walls.

I lay down, closed my eyes, and concentrated hard on the sound of Alex's heartbeat. He seemed quite nervous, and this only increased as time went on.

Around three o'clock, he suddenly started. I waited until he got down the stairs, then he dressed in the hall, stepped out, and closed the door.