Chapter 16

"But that's not your ability."

The sentence left Peter's mouth without him thinking about it. He immediately regretted it and was very much afraid of Helen's reaction. But she just started laughing before regaining her composure and speaking again.

"Actually, Manda said something similar when I first met him. I don't know what either of you are talking about because my only ability is future vision. But that's not important right now."

It crossed Peter's mind to tell her what he knew, or at least suspected, but he was asked another question before he could do so.

"What are your plans for the future? I'm interested in what you want to achieve with this night time vigilantism."

There was a slight pause before he answered. He was conflicted whether to say his actual plan or not. In the end he went with the excuse he made up beforehand.

"I want to make money."

"That's the best lie you could come up with?"

There was an obvious misunderstanding between the two of them. Helen thought that no bounty hunter worth their salt would pass up their hard earned rewards, she based this on her belief that every missing firefly was taken out by the boy in front of her.

Peter on the other hand was under the assumption that Helen saw through his lie either because of her abilities that seemed to be connected to communication or because she knew about the interface from Manda. Whichever was the case, he would be forced to tell the truth, or something close to it.

"I want to get stronger."

From Helen's perspective this seemed like a much more reasonable explanation. It was hard to judge further without specifics, but if the twins really were like her son then they would be capable of rapid growth as well.

The talk didn't go as she planned but she was satisfied with the results regardless. She knew what she was dealing with and was happy to know there was really nothing to worry about.

"Then there's nothing left for us to talk about. I hope you three can be friends."

With that, both of them left the office and went back to the lobby where they found Sarah and Manda watching a historical documentary about the old world's religions. The two seemed to be getting along just fine.

Then Sarah said something that shocked everyone present.

"Peter look, they are talking about my patron!"

Peter and Manda were shocked because neither of them knew who their patrons were and this gave them a clue towards figuring it out. Helen's shock on the other hand was a result of her understanding of what was on the TV screen at that moment.

They were talking about Hel, the Norse goddess of death.

She quickly sent the two guests home then rushed back to her room to rethink her position regarding the children, including her own.

When they got home, Peter immediately locked himself in his room and started searching on his phone, trying to find his own Patron. While he was doing that, Anthony got home from his work. He was already close enough to hear the kids coming out of the Drage mansion before arriving.

A half an hour of searching later, Peter found what he wanted. He managed to figure out who his patron was, Nyx the goddess of night. The information he found was very limited, but he was happy to have a lead in the first place.

[Achievement unlocked: Learn about your patron.]

[Reward: MGC +0.05, EXP +100]

[Level up!]

[Heart of night LV2 unlocked.]

[You can now see in darkness]

Later that night Peter would sneak out as usual but instead of following immediately, Anthony paid a visit to their neighbors. He walked up to the still awake Helen without trying to hide himself.

"What do you think you're doing with my kids?"

"Take a guess, Mr. Investigator. I want to protect them, and I think I will be doing a much better job than you are."

Anthony was annoyed at her nonchalance and even more so by the fact that he was basically called negligent.

"And how do you want to protect them exactly?"

"By giving my name to them. I was a little uncertain before, since my ability doesn't really work on the kids, but with you here I have the full picture now. You can't protect Peter from the shadows forever and you probably have no idea about the trouble Sarah can get herself into.

They don't need a shadow, they need a guardian as a deterrent, and you can't give that to them, even if you wanted to."

This exchange hit Anthony on a deeper level than he would ever admit to. He was about to leave to do the one thing he was responsible for that night when Helen said one last thing.

"A word of advice, for your own sake, stay at home tomorrow."