Chapter 9

"By the way, what are you doing with a man? I thought you would be exploring Paris. It's strange seeing you with someone. You, such an awkward moon saint, who couldn't even engage in a normal conversation."

"I used to engage in conversations. What are you saying all of a sudden? You are looking down upon me. I don't believe my best friend is doing that," I raised my voice unconsciously.

"Certainly, if I was a psychopath, you were a crazy one. Who talks to themselves? I am really confident you should go for an author career."

"I was thinking how to find a lead," I forced a smile on my lips. "I will go this way, you go that way. I have my phone to light my surroundings. You don't have to worry about me."

"Are you finally starting to appreciate working? This works as well and if you find anything, call me. You already have my phone number."

"Yeah, I do. One I saved on my phone as a psychopath."

"I told you I didn't like compliments. I know I am amazing and all but Don't keep complimenting me. It will flatter my ego."

I cringed watching him leave, so full of himself. Back in the shadows, I pulled my phone and activated my flashlight, branches trashed and snapped. I forced my breathing to slow down to allow my ears to be sharper.

My heart slammed against my ribs, showing the anxiety rising inside me. Nothing was going to happen and I was fine; Elodie was next to me, even though she was the size of my finger.

"What are you looking for?"

"Something to lead me to a girl who disappeared. It's my new job so I have to do my best."

"Oooh! Wouldn't it be better to leave it to the police?"

"They gave up because there was no lead. She left a letter behind but nothing was found. So now, my boss asked me to investigate it with the help of that man. Can't you do something with your powers? I know we have limited powers but I will help you with your mission, letting you save more energy for later uses."

"I already used some of it finding you but I can help you with something; there is a store proper to the magical beings, you can find special glasses there or anything you might find useful. However, you will need another type of coins; ones belonging to the hidden side of the world."

I sighed, exasperated. "Such a pity! I thought we could find a lead together. I have complex feelings about this case like it is something I mustn't investigate, but what to do. Anais wanted this job so I am only keeping this because of her. I don't want her one day to come back and find her opportunities faded like wishes."

"Oooh! This is why you never had a rank up. You keep helping others to the extent of your own time. Why can't you be selfish? You can't be Anais and she can't be you."

"You don't understand. I feel something towards this Anais. It's strange but I feel like I know her. She has many people she is trying to protect and sustain. Brothers trying to get a future, parents demanding a monthly income and a sister in a coma for years that made her broke. What will happen if she isn't back by then? I don't feel her at all inside me. It's like she doesn't exist."

"When you put it this way, it's hard to not like her. I will help you but only this time. I will rely on you bringing together the mates I am working on."

She altered words in the moon saint languages and my eyes felt hot. I had to scrub them and the pain slowed down a little.

"What did you do?"

"You will see what I see. I don't know exactly what you want to look for so better see for yourself. The forest is warming with unseen spirits."

It was certainly the case; there were many horrific creatures and spirits. No wonder it is called the hidden world. I walked like I didn't see them and looked for clues. Now that I saw what the detective didn't, maybe I could find something.

Elodie used some of her powers and she can't regenerate it unless she is on the moon so better be careful and help her later.

"Maybe the body is buried somewhere around here and maybe not…" I whispered talking to myself. All the spirits didn't care for me, they were used to humans. Nevertheless, there was one spirit, I didn't recognize as belonging to the hidden world. She hovered around with dull eyes. In fact, her eyes were missing and it was terrible.

When she heard me speaking about a corpse, she floated around me trying to get to my hand but she was immaterial; nothing she did allow her to touch me. Therefore, she ran away like chased by an evil spirit. At that moment when she walked through me, I felt a coldness I never felt before and her voice resounded in my head. Help me…

It was like she screamed; I had to press my hands against my ears to chase the echo out of my head. It was painful. I closed my eyes for a second before engaging after her. She was running when something made her crush against the ground.

I followed the path where something I didn't see dragged her and magically buried her inside a tree. Nothing was left behind. I stared at the tree, watching the soul that once again returned to the starting point and replayed the same thing.

Was it her way to show me what happened? Thank goodness, this ability Elodie gave me dissipated soon. Everything stopped; all the howling, the screams, and the dreadful feelings I had. Humans were blessed by not seeing these.

I called the detective.

"Hello psychopath."

"Hello, crazy one. Did you find something?"

"Bring a hatchet and come quickly. Call me when you need to head back."

I hang up but he quickly called me back but I didn't answer. Instead, I shouted psychopath. It took him ten minutes to reach me.

"What made you think I had a hatchet in my car?"

"Your tank has a Bazar in it. Why not a hatchet too? Do you see this tree? I find it suspicious."

He walked around the tree examining it. It was the biggest one in all the trees present in the forest and its leaves had a pitch of darkness at their pointy edges.

"So aside from the big size, I don't find anything worth checking."

"We need to cut it."

"Huh? Do you want to put us into trouble?"

"You said you didn't find a lead before. So trust in me. Start cutting it, you are the man here… You know what, hand me this hatchet," I snatched the hatchet from his hands. "I will do the work alone."

"What are you trying to find exactly?"

"A corpse inside it. Maybe something else, who knows?" I started cutting the tree but my strength wasn't enough to make it budge. The detective grabbed the object from my hands and did the work in my stead. It took him hours of cutting, he was sweating all over and finally, the tree fell. Unlike what I expected, the corpse was cut in half inside it.

"What the hell? Shit!" the detective opened his eyes wide.