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StLQ Chapter 17 - Suspicion
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 14:57:13 +0000 UTCThe next morning, the sun was just starting to show itself when a knock came to our front door.
Mom was out shopping with Nelly. My sister didn’t want to leave, but mom insisted, probably to let Nelly see the outside world every now and then, and possibly to offer Luna and I some alone time. I appreciated that, though with mom gone, I was in charge of protecting us from whatever noises came from outside.
A knock, for example. Luna flinched, hearing it.
“Head to my room for a bit,” I told her. Luna nodded, as if already certain the house would be raided.
I checked the peephole on our door. The hemline of a familiar brown robe showed underneath a thick black winter jacket. I opened the door and bowed. “Headmaster. Thanks for coming. I’ve been waiting.”
Donovan bowed ever so slightly. “Forgive me for interrupting. The situation is currently underway. The head investigator, and a representative of the Mages’ Association has arrived. Your warning has been relayed to them, and the Association is ready to interrogate the witness personally. That would be you.”
I was surprised to see Donovan treat me so formally, using big words like interrogate. “They’re ready right now?” The headmaster nodded, and I added, “I’m coming. Wait a moment.”
I closed the door and ran straight to my room. “It’s the headmaster. The Mages’ Association has come. They’re solving this right now.”
I slid into my jacket and boots and headed outside. The morning was still grey, the snow tinted blue-ish due to the lack of light. The shape of a four-wheeled carriage parked at the end of the street was clear, however. The carriage was black with glowing lines running all across its facades. No horses pulled it; carriages operated by mages typically ran with mana and wind magic.
A lone man stood before the closed door of the carriage. He spotted me and waved. “Kai Willswort?” he asked, though he didn’t bow like Donovan.
I figured I was the one supposed to bow. I did and said, “Yes. Thank you for coming.”
The man nodded. He had wrinkles on his forehead, chin shaved some days ago, having started to grow back. His leather uniform was a darker shade of blue with scrapes and other signs of wear all over. Certainly not an outfit fit for winter, but he was a capable mage, probably casting a cold resistance spell. The association's insignia, a fireball blooming from a flower bud, was embroidered on both shoulders.
“I’m Curtis Wakeflen,” the man said, “the forensic investigator of alchemy and black magic, as well as the head investigator of this case, representing the child protectors, as well as the Mages’ Association. Headmaster Zettel Donovan has informed me of your involvement as the witness to this crime.”
Forensic investigator of alchemy and black magic? I thought. Whatever that title meant, I hadn’t heard it before. But it sounded important, and this man was a decent mage, evident from his lack of reaction to the freezing winter around him. Only the best mages could step out to Lokora’s winter with their uncovered fingers retaining color.
“I saw the scene from beginning to end,” I said. “With my ears and eyes open. I will relay everything. I need this case solved.”
Curtis opened the door to his carriage. “A horrific scene, if what you claim is right. Step in. All this snow makes it hard to think.”
The carriage was separated into two halves with a rectangular table. I sat on the cushioned benches. Curtis restacked his papers, picked up a pen, and sat on the opposite end. Then he asked, “Let’s begin at school. The fifth day of the week, your last class. What prompted you to spy on your classmate’s home?”
The interrogation began, and it lasted. I answered most questions honestly, mentioning that I suspected Luna of lichcraft. I left out lich sight, instead explaining that I saw the scene through the windows. As for how I heard them talking, well, the house wasn’t exactly the most insulated shack in Lokora. And with their loud voices, I could easily hear what they said.
This drew suspicion from Curtis, who asked me why there were no footprints in the snow anywhere near the house, to which I responded that I’d hidden my trail well, of course.
For some reason, most of Curtis’s follow-up questions were related to my presence at the house as opposed to the crime itself. By the sixth question about the way at which I spied on them, I started to think, Why does this feel like I’ve committed the crime here?
Nevertheless, we eventually moved to the scene itself. I explained the entire situation, mentioning every sentence the two had spoken, and I gave a detailed explanation of how Luna looked under the influence of magic, and I mentioned the color of her mother’s fingers.
Curtis frowned, hearing my description. He tapped his pen after writing everything down. “This is very concerning.”
“Do you think it’s mind control?” I asked.
“Highly likely, if what you claim is true,” Curtis said.
The interrogation continued for long enough that spears of sunlight poked inside through the carriage’s curtains. I retold the entire tale inside Luna’s house. Curtis looked more and more concerned as I spoke. He wrote down his final sentences, and the carriage fell into silence.
“I am very sorry you had to witness this,” Curtis eventually said.
“I am thankful I saw it,” I said. “Otherwise, Luna would still be in there.”
“Luna’s whereabouts is another mystery I wished to ask about,” Curtis said, looking me in the eyes. The subtle frown returned to his face. “Luna is currently missing. A short investigation shows that you are the last person who talked to her.”
“Luna is…” I considered my options for a second before deciding that lying wouldn’t help. “She’s staying at our house. She came willingly. And yes, I know hiding her is not lawfully right, but I hope you understand when I say I could not allow her to go back to her mom after what I witnessed.”
“What matters is that Luna is safe,” Curtis said. “She can stay with you for the time being.”
“Thank you.” I bowed and asked, “Has her mom thrown a tantrum about her daughter being missing?”
“She has been cooperative and calm,” Curtis said. “Which is the usual response with child protectors outside her home.”
“I see. Please solve this case.” I bowed deeper. “If there’s anything I can still help with, please contact me.”
“I believe the situation is quite sorted,” Curtis said. He smoothed out his stack of papers and stood, stretching his shoulders. “Thank you for your time.”
I stood and instinctively stretched as well, though my young body wasn’t sore in the slightest. I smiled, and Curtis returned a vague lift of his cheeks. He wasn’t the most pleasant investigator to work with, but he was undoubtedly more competent than I was. I stepped out of the carriage feeling satisfied enough.
I passed Luna’s house on my way home. It appeared vacant, as it always did. Nobody was surveying outside, and I couldn’t see any lights through the window shutters.
Did the Mages’ Association and the child protectors actually only send one investigator to this case? Where was everyone else? I would have thought a case like this would prompt a large-scale raid on her house.
Maybe the investigators wished to be subtle. I really didn’t know. And I wasn’t about to question their line of work. I stepped past Luna’s house, to our porch, and—
I paused, my heart skipping a beat.
Why was there a void hole flickering inside our house?
