18 Eighteenth

One week passed, thankfully nothing much happened. Although, Tamitha has noticed how Pearl got extra clingy to her. She doesn't know if it is because of what she's encountered last week that made her best friend got anxious about her safety or is it because she's scared to be alone. After all, Pearl even insisted to stay in the room with her.

She got no problem with that, but she would often see her best friend looking for something in her room in the middle of the night, which is kind of odd. She tried asking about that to Pearl, but the lass can't remember doing such a thing which is why she ended up ignoring it. She's probably sleepwalking, she even thought.

"A penny for your thought?" Castor teasingly stated while walking beside her. Tamitha's currently on her way to her lab. She gave him a small smile before answering. "Nothing… By the way, any news from your brother?" Castor's face immediately shifted from bright and jolly face to straight face.

"I don't know. It's very complicated." He sighed. Tamitha just nodded and shrugged it off. "Anyway, where are you going? Are you going to do your prototypes?" Castor's mood swiftly changed once again getting all excited to see how Tamitha does her inventions. She laughed at his reaction and shared some of her ideas about her latest invention.

"It's so cool! You got a big brain out there." Castor getting pumped up with Tamitha's creation. The lass just laughs it off while entering her lab. They finally arrived at their destination. A familiar figure welcomed them.

"Hi, Tammy!" Pearl excitedly welcomed making Tamitha creased her forehead. "H-Hey, Pearl. What are you doing here? And how did you get in?"

She noticed how Pearl panicked. "W-well, I saw one of your colleagues entered the place. Y-yeah, that's it." Tamitha's very keen. She quickly noticed how Pearl's acting up lately. But she doesn't want to doubt her best friend, which is why she's trying very hard to ignore this weird feeling she's having whenever she's around.

"I actually want to see your work on your latest creation!" Pearl acting all giddy, making Tamitha crease her forehead more. The feeling she's having kept intensifying. "Since when did you get interested in my inventions?" Tamitha teasingly stated. She noticed how her friend tensed up with her question.

"Anyway, you can go seat on that couch. Just please avoid touching things here. Everything's fragile or flammable, so for your safety, please keep your hands to yourself." Tamitha reminded. Her two friends gladly obliged. She let her phone out and check something out before wearing her lab coat.

Her laboratory right now is jam-packed with all kinds of scraps and metals for her ongoing experimentation for her newest product. But it's still spacious enough for her and her team.

She felt a piece of paper placed in her lab pocket. She tried taking it out from her pocket, but then she glimpsed at the two sitting peacefully in the lounge room. She doesn't know, but she can't trust the two of them right now.

She put it back and just waited for the right time. She started organizing the things she needs for today's trial-and-error experiment. She would often call her audience out to let them have a glimpse of how her inventions made. Both looked very mesmerized. It filled them with all kinds of emotion, making Tamitha enjoy what she's doing more.

Moments later, a cold entity entered the laboratory, making the three of them look at the direction where it came from. It was Pollux. He gave them an intense look, but as soon as his stares landed on Tamitha, his stares softened for a second. "I received your text."

Pollux started as soon as she got near Tamitha. Tamitha excused both of them before opening the topic. "What do you think?"

She messaged Pollux saying that Pearl's acting all suspicious, thinking she might be a 'Flicker' like the thing she encountered last time. Those creatures made her doubt every person in her life right now. All she could trust right now is Pollux since he knows something about those things more than anyone.

She saw Pollux look at their friends' direction intensely, examining whether Tamitha's feeling was right or if she was just being paranoid.

"I-I don't think she's just an ordinary Flicker." He whispered, but it was loud enough for Tamitha to hear. "What do you mean?" He diverted now his attention to the lass and gave her a serious look. "Are you sure you want to know?" That held Tamitha back.

She noticed how she's slowly getting dragged to whatever Pollux is into. She's scared because she got no idea what was happening. She almost got killed twice too. Is she ready to know what's happening? Is she willing to bury herself in this situation? She sighed and massaged her temple, thinking hard whether she's willing to take part in this.

"Alright. Tell me everything. But I don't want to drag Pearl into this. I don't want to put her life in danger too." She confidently stated. Pollux nodded. "Let's meet later on the rooftop. I'll tell you everything." They both agreed to that. Tamitha headed back to her workspace and continue fixing the wires for her product. While Pollux headed towards the lounge room where Castor and Pearl peacefully talking with each other and silently observe them.

"Hey, Tammy! Do you want to eat something? I'll order food for us." It was already half-past seven when Pearl asked them. She getting kind of hungry, but she doesn't want to leave the place alone.

"Sure. I'll just have what you'll have." Tamitha responded while still busy encoding and encrypting data. They ended up having Chinese food.

They feasted on Chinese cuisine while talking about their day. When it was time for them to open the fortune cookies, Tamitha's cookies stand out the most to them.

'Beware, for I swear friends cannot be trusted.'

That sent a shiver down to Tamitha's spine. It was as if this is a message from the universe telling her to trust her instinct. Pearl is like a sister to her, she doesn't know whether to believe such a thing or just ignore it.

She stared at Pearl, who's eating peacefully across her. 'If this is not Pearl, then where's my best friend?' She asked herself. She immediately panicked, scared for her best friend's life, but she can't go all berserk now. This thing might hurt her best friend.

She can't wait to talk to Pollux any longer. So, she grabbed him away from the others and led him to the rooftop. She needs to do something now. Her best friend might be in grave danger.

"P-Pollux, that's not my best friend. Pearl might be in danger. Please, help me! What should we do?" She started as soon as they arrived on the rooftop.

"How sure are you, that she's not Pearl?" Pollux curiously asked. "P-Pearl hates dumplings, but the one out there seemed to enjoy our dinner so much!" She's now crying, thinking about what could happen to Pearl. She won't ever forgive herself if anything happened to her precious friend.

Pollux tried to calm her by caressing her shoulders and wiping her tears while whispering to her some reassuring statements, making Tamitha calm down a bit.

"Here's the thing, the one out there is not a Flicker…" Pollux started. "That one out there impersonating your best friend is way powerful than a Flicker." Tamitha's eyebrow furrowed, trying to understand what Pollux was trying to say.

"Flickers are demons, but that one, she's a goddess." Tamitha flinched and pushed Pollux away from her. "What? Is this a joke to you? Am I… a joke to you?!" The lass blurted, getting all frustrated with what the lad is trying to say to her.

"Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but it's true. I don't want to hide anything from you anymore… I'll tell you everything." Tamitha's mouth left agape. No words were coming out from her mouth. She's dumbfounded. Pollux led her to a seat in a hair because he noticed how stiff Tamitha was.

"Tamitha… I'm not just an ordinary person. It's very complicated, but I need you to trust me on this. I don't know why my Father's sending you some messages instead of me, but I think he has his purpose. Some gods and goddesses are unto me and my brother because my father did something that was against their beliefs."

"Are you for real? Gods and Goddess? Do you think I would believe such things?!" She exclaimed. The lad looked at her intensely. "I'm telling the truth, Anika." All her doubts vanished the moments he called her Anika.

There's something about her name whenever Pollux would call her. "Alright, fine. I believe you. Then, how could we defeat a goddess? And where's Pearl?!"

"I don't know yet. But I promise you, I'm going to sort this out. I'm sorry for dragging you to this mess once again?"

"O-once again? W-what do you mean?" Instead of answering, Pollux just ruffled her hair while giving her a small smile. He shook his head as an answer.

The moon shined so brightly on the rooftop, but they were too busy to adore the beauty of the moonlight. They were planning to head back to the laboratory to apologize to their friends for leaving them behind. Pollux also instructed Tamitha to act normal around the fake Pearl she's with right now. They need more information for them to do something and save Pearl wherever she is right now.

"By the way, I almost forgot. This paper was in my lab pocket. I haven't checked it yet." She brought out the piece of paper in her pocket and gave it to him.

IZRHV GSV UOZT = IVHXFVW UIRVMW

"What's this?" Both asked in unison. They looked at each other with no idea what the message means. They were trying their hardest to decipher the message when suddenly they heard a noise coming at the entrance of the rooftop. Tamitha's was too quick to hide the letter back in her pocket.

"Finally! We found you. What's wrong? Did something happen?" Castor asked the moment they finally found the two.

"N-Nothing. I just talked to him about some misunderstandings we had last time. But we finally settled it. I'm sorry for making you worry. S-shall we head back to the laboratory and continue eating?" Tamitha nervously stated. Pollux just laughed at her quirkiness.

Castor and Pearl could not respond because they got immediately dragged back to the laboratory. Tamitha sighed in relief when she saw that both seemed to buy her excuse.

'Wait for me, Pearl. I'll rescue you.' She wondered to herself.