22 Seeing Him Again

A barrage of knocks stopped Ley who was about to go out of her room to start her agenda for today. She looked at the window where it came from. Sera was there waving and gesturing to let her in.

She sighed and went to the window to open it. One of these days, she'll either cut the tree by the window or just permanently bar this window from opening.

"Can't you just go through the door? I won't let you in the next time you climb my window," she warned.

"I would if the door was open," Sera muttered, unperturbed by her warning.

"Did you even ring the doorbell? Merda would open it if you actually did it," she stared at her.

"No way. I don't really like seeing Merda. She'll see past my illusions so she can see what I really look like," she answered in a small voice.

Finally, the truth came out. For some reason that Ley doesn't understand, Sera doesn't like showing her real face to other people.

"Don't be silly. Merda can't see what you look like. What she sees are magic signature or something like aura. I don't really understand it myself but she perceives the world differently. Her visions are a different matter though," she explained.

"You should have told me sooner. Climbing that tree ripped a lot of my clothes. By the way, I heard you toured the city," Sera perked up while Ley rolled her eyes.

"Don't remind me. I woke up with my body aching all over. I think my crazy fox spent all night running around the city. Thankfully, Gale caught it or else I can't even imagine what else it would do."

Ley watched Sera laughed but she kept tugging her clothes which she always did whenever she wanted to say something.

"Stop fidgeting and just tell me what you want to say," Ley pressed.

"I heard from Siri that you got a dead body of a magick here," Sera began.

"Yes, I was actually going to ask you to check if it's someone you know."

"Let me buy it please! They're hard to come by and I have been looking for months in Warped Alley but couldn't find one to practice my curses with," Sera unleashed her puppy eyes.

"I'll let you buy it once I have it identified and got all the information I need from it. I don't want money though," Ley acquiesced while gesturing for Sera to follow her to the basement.

"Of course, you don't need money. You're richer than me and make more money just from your part-time job alone," Sera rolled her eyes.

"I need our wards strengthened actually,"Ley looked at her meaningfully.

"That's abuse! Wards are expensive services and strengthening them is even more complicated. All that in exchange for just one body?" Sera retorted.

"It's not just an ordinary body. It's a body of magick at the pinnacle of power. He performed elemental spells," Ley countered.

"Are you kidding me? That's impossible," Sera was stupefied at what she heard.

"I wished I was too," Ley commented while opening the door to the room where the body was kept.

The body on top of the table was in suspended animation to keep it preserved using magic. Sera approached the body slowly with her face still in shock at what she's seeing.

"I can't believe this. I can't understand why this powerful magick is chasing Anita. What does he want from taboos? Can you feel that strange creepy magic from it?" Sera glanced at her in confusion.

"Maybe it's a side effect from using curses? Do you recognize him?" Ley asked.

"I don't think it is. It gives off a darker feeling and it's far more sinister than curses. His body is highly unusual too. I don't recognize his face for some reason. I should be able to since there's only a few known magicks this powerful unless his body radically changed to this," Sera concluded while checking the body.

Ley already felt an oncoming headache. They've spent the past few days, trying all sorts of ways to get a lead using this body. They haven't had any breakthrough at all which have been bothering them. She's got one last chance to try and if that still didn't work then they'll have to prepare for the worst.

"Thanks anyway. I'll let you know once I'm done with the body," Ley told her distractedly.

They went out of the room and went back to the first floor. Ley headed straight for the door when she heard Sera calling her.

"Where are you going?"

"Just across the street. I need to check something on Roma's apartment," she responded.

Ley was still bothered and angry by what happened to Roma. She was hoping to find some clues to the identity of the mastermind who used her as a scapegoat. She can't let them treat her just like that.

"Who is Roma?" Sera wondered.

"It was the name of the secretary that I was imitating."

"Wait. Didn't you quit that job?"

"I revealed my identity in the heat of anger," Ley sheepishly told her what happened.

"That Silas guy totally deserved it but I can't believe that you got tricked. They've got guts, don't they?" Sera commented.

"I'm going to check if the real Roma have been to her apartment and maybe help her get away from the people using her for information."

"I'm pretty bored. Can I come with you?" Sera requested to which Ley agreed.

They went to the opposite building across the street and headed straight to Roma's apartment. Once they were at the door, they stopped and Ley checked with her hearing if anyone's inside.

Ley shook her head at Sera and she fished out the keys she was using before. They entered the room and Ley started snooping around more carefully this time while Sera was just looking around.

She was about done looking when she heard footsteps outside the apartment. She casted a panicked glance to Sera and dragged her by the wall with lots of space between the furniture where they won't get bumped into.

"Cast an illusion to hide us and wipe our scents," she mouthed hurriedly to Sera.

Sera waved her hands and they leaned themselves on the wall quietly. The door opened and Ley soon saw Landon and Sebastian entered.

Of all the days that she came here, she had to bumped into Landon. Ley felt like banging her head against the wall for her misfortune. She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked at Sera.

"Hottie!" Sera mouthed at her in silence, pertaining to Sebastian.

Ley shook her head at Sera's excitement. All of a sudden, Sera darted forward to Sebastian's direction which cause the spell to lose its effectiveness.

She didn't know whether to laugh or cry in this awkward situation.

"Oops," Sera voiced when the attention of the men focused on their sudden appearance.

Ley swung her gaze at Landon and he was gazing at her like someone who've finally found what he's looking for with that devilish smile on his face.