Chapter 10

Aper shifted his gaze over the girl's shoulder. A grey look locked his eyeballs, sending a shiver down his spine. The man had one of his eyes covered with a brown patch, sweaty curly white hair, tanned skin, and a tooth that stood out. The man's clothes were a mixture of a dirty white shirt with a brown shawl and large dark grey pants. His presence made him feel filthy, but he had to trust his partner.

"I hope you don't mind me calling you, but we are here to talk about a serious matter," Skyleene said.

"Well, I do mind. What is in there for me?" the man grinned.

"You get the recognition you want. I think that is a fair trade: information for a good feeling," the girl crossed her arms.

"You have a point," the man scratched his chin. "Alrighty, then. What is the matter?" he sat on the nearby chair.

"The problem is Awo Aro."

At those words, the elder raised an ugly face. He was not happy to hear about that flower. He knew it only brought sadness to his superior.

"What about it?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"It took part in a murder of a living soul. The officers found the vessel in our city, and the man behind me thought I had something to do with it." Skyleene explained. Aper raised a hand at his call and sipped some whiskey shyly, turning his gaze away.

"Listen to me, child" - the elder shook Skyleene's shoulders - "stay away from the one who knows the secrets of the forbidden flower. That plant is a curse to this land and its people. Do not make it worse and associate with it," he locked his gaze with hers.

"What are you talking about?" Aper joined the conversation.

The weird man widened his eyes. His jaw trembled, and his body began to shiver. His fringes tickled Skyleene's skin, but her composure remained the same.

"The man who knows about the flower has a curse on his soul for centuries. Just one touch from him, and you will get cursed too. It is no child play, mortals. It is a serious matter. I do not wish to intervene in thy shit," he explained, switching his gaze between the two.

Koden shook his head and took another sip. Cathle took the elder's hands and tried to calm him down:

"Listen, you may not be able to help, but maybe Old Dulles could. I believe he is here tonight, right?" she sweetly spoke.

"He is... But I do not want to let you to him."

"Please, he might be my -"

"Ahem," Aper coughed. Skyleene rolled her eyes at the intervention:

"Our chance to fix this issue. Would you be kind to take us to him?" she slowly caressed his head.

The man nodded slowly but still had a frightened expression on his face. As he sat up, his body shivered uncontrollably. Skyleene gasped in terror and quickly caught him. Aper approached them and spread his arms forward. The elder walked towards the corner of the bar, where a dim-lit red table had a dark man with shoulder-length white hair. He wore a long black leather coat, a white shirt underneath, black pants, and shiny shoes. As the trio got closer, some of the mysterious man's details became visible. He had a string necklace with a silver rectangle, a brown leather bracelet, and a white beard; his eyes had a grave tone, a dark blue circling his deep yellow orbs. His hand rested on the tablecloth next to the Brandy glass.

The old man finger-pointed the one they were looking for. Skyleene nodded and let him go. Aper followed her movements and watched as the shivering vessel left their sight. The two shifted their gazes to the man who sat beside Skyleene. Mushu left her shoulders and sat in front of him. He lowered his head in gratitude and made himself comfortable on the girl's lap.

Skyleene had her eyes wandering over Mushu's body while Aper studied the other older male's figure. Old, small frame, wide shoulders, curly white hair and beard contrasting with his chocolate skin. For an aged man, his physique was on point.

"It seems like we have more company than I thought we would, Miss Cathle. May I know what this man's business is here?"

"Detective Aper Koden. I am helping him with a case, and I needed some help regarding an important matter" Skyleene said. "Aper, this is Old Dulles, my teacher."

"You know what I think of this type of behavior. I thought you do not want to have friends, nor help some condemned human" Old Dulles says, reaching for his glass of cognac. "I am surprised."

The two men shook hands. Dulles felt the wave of dislocation coming from Aper but shook it off.

"Sir, I am pretty sure we are not friends. We had some old affairs, and now we want to fix them. She said that you have a vast knowledge about this type of subject, and we place confidence in your help" Aper puffed his chest.

"I am more surprised now, Miss Cathle. You found an utterly interesting man to help. A dislocated pneuma and a condemned soul" - he laughed bitterly – "who would have ever thought. Alright, I am listening."

Dulles leaned back in his seat and fixated his eyes on them, waiting for the beginning of the story.

"A month ago, my agency got a call about a murder. I did not think much of it since I am familiar with this type of stuff. After two weeks with the case, I did not conclude the victim. All we found out was: his name was Charlie Nim, and he was not from here. We believe that he was a living soul and maybe reached this place by accident. We also found purple dust on his body. But, after 24 hours since we had the body, it disappeared."

"After I checked the dust, I found out that the purple flower I was supposed to find was mixed with something else and created that dust that killed him. I do not know much about the flower, but I know for sure that it is not lethal in its original form. I do not know what flower got mixed, besides the purple one, but I think it is one of those lethal ones."

"How did you find out the boy is not from town?" Old Dulles asked.

"He was not in our database."

"How did you know what his name is?"

"We found his identification card in the back pocket of his pants."

"Do you have that dust with you? I can take a look at it."

"I do not have it with me. It is at my house."

"Then why are we here? Let's go!" Skyleene said, getting up from her seat. Old Dulles caught her hand and spun her around, looking straight into her eyes.

"I can't go with you to his house due to some rules that I need to follow. It is enough that I let him see me when I could have called you to meet in private somewhere. I want you to do something for me if you want me to help you two out."

Skyleene's eyes wandered all over his face, and when she saw the smirk on his face, she understood what idea he had. At the thought of that, she moved her gaze to Aper, who was casually looking at the two.

Her face changed immediately and made Old Dulles laugh. His body relaxed as he took another sip of his drink.

"What's with that face? It's just an old wish that I told you about a long time ago."

"What is this wish?" Aper asked, confused.

"He wants me to go to some annual conference with him. I never attended such things in my life, and ever since he made his entrance into my life, it was hard to be unknown in that circle."

"What circle?"

"The circle of Pneuma Academics and Students, P.A.S. It is a crucial circle for your life, Mr. Koden, as it can help your case and this world. You see, every year, this circle meets and discusses what issues each circle member has encountered during their lecture times with their students. As a professional academic, the second lead of this circle, I must present myself with my best student. For 15 years in a row, Skyleene was my best student. Each time I asked her to come with me, she would refuse. Now, I do not want to miss my chance of looking good in front of my colleagues."

"Wow! I thought it was something else, but this seems fair. We make you look good in front of your colleagues, and you help us with this case. I agree."

Aper was waiting for a handshake as Skyleene pushed his hand away from Old Dulles and crossed her arms.

"Said Aper Koden. The one who seeks to be perfect. No shade is thrown on you, but I know that you still have some hate left for me, and you want to see me suffer. Don't you think that I should decide this time since I am the one asked? I can sense you know I do not like this."

"Miss Cathle, you are right. I should let you decide, but I know that you will not agree, even if I let you think about it, so consider this a burden off your shoulders" Aper replied.

"You are right - I do not consent. Now let's go."

Skyleene took his wrist and dragged him out of the bar. After some time of harshly walking, Skyleene's hand fell when Aper jerked his hand out of her grip. He did not know what was going on that she suddenly was mad. Aper massaged his wrist and took glances at her. She was acting the way he would have done when not knowing that he was bipolar or something.

"I can't believe I saw you acting like me."

"Don't tell me you know the way you act when you are mad?"

"Yes, I do. I am a pretty calm guy. Getting on my nerves takes time only if you are not on my blacklist. I do not know why you acted like that, but now I know how people feel when I act the same. I understand."