04 Oct Desperate Measures

I shouldn’t be posting this here.

I shouldn’t be saying anything about this case, or any of my cases. But I’ve been told the people in this area of the internet understand things…most people don’t. Things most people don’t want to admit could be- well, real.

And I’m at my wit’s end. I’m willing to look just about anywhere for advice. Even a bunch of people on a ‘scare me’ section internet of all Goddamn places.

For privacy sake, I’m going to give fake names for everyone involved, including myself. I like mythology and I like themes, so we’re gonna go Greek on this one. It fits. You’ll see why.

You can call me Zephyr. It’s the name I give my clients, to keep myself safe and my personal and work life separated. Now, understand; I’m not new to….weird….cases. I’m not even new to really weird cases.

I’ve experienced some things that- well let’s just say you don’t see and experience some of the things I have without having an open mind at the end of it all. But I’ve never seen anything concrete. Never seen any ghosts or monsters or…it’s all been weird and vague. People showing up in places they had no business being or way of getting to. Weird phone calls from people who I can’t find later that lead me to abandoned houses.

That kind of shit.

So when I got the call asking me if I could keep an open mind and heart for a few extra hundred bucks, well, it didn’t take much time for me to say yes.

The man that walked into my office didn’t look like he’d sounded on the phone. He’d had a deep voice- really deep, like basement baritone- but was skinny and lean, almost emaciated. I’m not sure if he had a hollow leg or a fat man in his backpack, but that voice did not match that body. The laptop bag, slung over his shoulders, looked like it was just about pull him over.

His eyes were pale, pale grey, and danced with a kind of- amusement, like he knew a joke no one else did. His lips seemed to tip up in the same way. Laughing at some private thought. At the rest of the world. He looked tired, too; bags under those eyes, dark against pale skin, a tremor in his hands, a limp in his step. All the same, he carried himself like royalty. From under the sleeve of his black t-shirt, as he pulled off his coat, I caught a glimpse of a detailed, complicated tattoo- a rearing horse of some kind. The thing looked like it’s been expensive to get done.

“Zephyr Sacramentum? My name is Arion. We spoke on the phone.”

“Pleasure. Wanna sit?” I asked, because he looked like he needed to. He nodded, easing himself into the chair on the opposite side of my desk.

“Drink?”

“No, thank you. I’d rather get to the point.”

Alright, straight to business. It wasn’t unusual, and I shrugged, pouring myself one anyone. Hey, no one said I couldn’t enjoy it. With that tremor in his hands, though, the kid looked like he could have used one.

“Alright, so get to the point.” I drawled, and he smiled, just a little.

“I told you on the phone that my sister is missing.” He said, and he had such a lazy way of speaking; most people would be alarmed, maybe crying, scared and shaken and desperate to find a loved one. He seemed…bored, by the whole thing.

“You seem really torn up about it.” I drawled, unable to stop myself. He laughed, soft and chuffing; less amused, and more bemused, like I was stupid but also just so damn cute. I felt myself bristle.

“You’ll excuse me. I’m not. She and I have never been on…what you would call good terms. But I’m her only remaining family, and therefore, this…situation…falls on me to handle.”

“Why bother?” God knew I wouldn’t have. My family and I had mutually decided, a long -ass time ago, that we didn’t give a shit what happened to each other. Honestly, I don’t know anything about them even now; I think my parents might be dead.

Fucking good.

He cocked his head to the right, like a curious dog. “She is still my sister.” He drawled, in that lazy way. “I don’t agree with…the life choices she’s made…but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about her.”

Sometimes I forget not everyone strictly hates their family. Most people are more well-balanced than I am.

“Well, I don’t judge.” I shrugged, “I just take the money. And the details, which I’ll need more of.” That was …sort of a lie. I do judge. It’s part of the fun of my job. I feel better about my life for every case I take.

It’s the little things.

The slim man reached down, pulling up his bag. The laptop inside was expensive and heavy, and it seemed difficult for him to hoist it up onto my desk.

“Everything you need to know is here.” He told me. “Keep it. Consider it part of your payment.”

Now, my paranoia- otherwise known as good sense- told me that might not be a great idea. I had no idea what had been done to or put on that laptop. It could be bugged. The man in front of me smiled, like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“It’s not bugged. I have absolutely no desire or reason to watch you.” He replied. “Or hurt you. I need you. And I’m not masochistic enough to make that harder on myself.” He nudged the laptop towards me. “There is simply- too much to explain in words. Beyond that, there’s pictures and some documentation in there you’ll want.” He leaned back, crossing his long – long– legs at the knees.

“Ok,” I said, slowly, arching my eyebrows at him. “So let’s say I trust you, listen to you, and take this little gift of yours. Sue me. I like the human connection. Why don’t you tell me what you can?”

Human connection. Fuck, I’d like to make one with this tall, dark drink of water. He was strange as all hell, but that didn’t change that he was pretty as all hell, too.

What? I’m absurdly gay and have zero sense of client boundaries. It’s sure never bit me in the ass!

“I told you it’s-“

“I know what you told me. I want to talk to you.” My libido aside, face-to-face communication was important in my line of work. You could tell things about people when you talked to them in person. Little tells in posture, body language; verbal and facial tics, the cadence of certain words spoken certain ways. You could tell lies and truths and a mix of both with enough practice.

You also learned when someone really, really didn’t want to talk to you, it was generally red fucking alert. He didn’t seem to mind, though; mostly he seemed curious and bemused, if not a little put out. He didn’t really, really not want to talk to me- but I was annoying. An insect. He had better things to do then tolerate me, especially when he’d gone out of his way to make sure he wouldn’t have to. I was fucking with his plans and his air of mystery, and he didn’t appreciate it.

A smirk formed on his lips, and he shrugged. When he did, I noticed the glint of an earing catch the light; a tiny pentagram.

“I like your earring.” I told him, honestly. “Protection symbol. Do you have a reason to feel like you need it?”

His smirk turned into a smile, more honest, and he touched the earring lightly. He shed years when he smiled; his severe features softened, and those cold grey eyes lightened to a near-silver. “You know it’s origins?”

“You’re not the first- strange case I’ve been asked to see.” I admitted, shrugging myself. “I decided to make sure I was as educated as I could be.”

“Ah. So you’re a believer in the supernatural.”

“I don’t know what I believe.” I answered, honestly. “But I’m not stupid enough to think that we’re the end all be all on this planet- or any other.” That would just be stupid and arrogant on a level even I didn’t have in me, and that was saying something.

“Wise.” He leaned back slightly, cocked his head at me like a curious dog again.

“You didn’t answer my question.” I pointed a pen at him, feeling like Phoenix Wright. Objection! “Do you feel like you need it?”

“The protection? No. Not from-” He stopped; his lips thinned, and then he picked up again, “-not from anything you’ll be involved in.”

Whoa. Big, huge, blinking red button, waving red flags. Danger, danger! I sat up, brow furrowing.

“That sounds like you know more then you’re telling me, here.”

His lips twitched again. “I know a lot of things. Some I feel like telling you. Some are on the computer. Some are none of your business.”

“When you’re coming to me with a case, it’s all my business.”

“No. It’s not.” The laconic humor left his voice, and turned into something sharp and waspish. “Understand something, Mr. Sacramentum. I don’t need you, specifically. You were just the most convenient option. I am not in any way against a wall here.” He sat up, lips tight again, something- more then anger in his eyes. Something…deeper then that. I didn’t have a word for it, but it made my skin crawl, something creep up my spine like an animal picking up on a predator.

“I will give you the information I want to give you, and not a word more.”

“That’s not how this works.” I snapped back, sitting up myself. I forcd myself to swallow the fear, to hide it, as if I was in a stand down with an aggressive dog. I couldn’t shake, though, the feeling that he saw right through me. “I don’t work on half statements and lies and-“

“Then you don’t work.” He snapped. “And I know for a fact that you need the money, Zephyr. Bills are piling up, aren’t they? Rent? No family to bail you out?”

“I- how did you know-“

“I told you. I know a lot.” He smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes. “A lot.”

“Have you been watching me?”

“Does it really matter?” He relaxed back down, slowly. ” I’m no threat to you unless you chose to make me one. I just- make certain I know who I’m allowing into my personal affairs.”

Boy you weigh about sixty pounds soaking wet, I don’t think you’re a threat to a Pomeranian.

“And how to hold their leash, huh?” The bitterness in my voice was sharp and sour to my own ears. He was right. Let’s just say I have a few expensive vices, and I’m not exactly the most loveable or likeable guy. Most of the people who know me gave up on me a long time ago.

And this job, while it doesn’t pay poorly, does pay sporadically. I’d have been out on the street years ago if my old landlady didn’t treat me like her long-lost son. She’d lost her actual son; I think I filled the hole from his passing. She gave me more leeway then I really deserved.

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Bullshit.”

We stopped, staring each other down for a moment. After what felt like a tense eternity, he let out a breath and a low chuckle, ducking his head and avoiding my eyes.

“Now, now, is there really any need for this?” He asked, in a low, bemused voice. “We’re on the same side of the situation right now, are we not?”

“I’m not sure, at this point.” I drawled, honestly. I didn’t know what the hell was running through this guy’s head, and he’d told me he had no intention of changing that. How were you supposed to trust someone like that, even a little?

“Well, I can assure you, we are.” He smiled again, the same thing, humorless smile that didn’t really touch his eyes.

“Or at least, I’m on the side of the person paying you, and you’re on the side of someone who rather badly needs to be paid. I think we can work past our differences, don’t you?”

In the end, he was right. I needed to be paid more then I needed to worry about my own personal moral stance. And whatever he did or didn’t think or want; he did have my payment.

And he really did look like a strong breeze could snap him in half. I could break him if he tried any shit- and if he tried to vanish? I’m a damn PI. Good luck.

So I took the damn laptop and I let him walk out without getting what I was after from him. Information or…anything else. I was disappointed about both of those things.

Whatever I told him, I was, in fact, backed into a corner.

So what was on the laptop??, I hear you asking, hungry for drama and knowledge like the little tea-sipping assholes you are.

Not a whole damn lot. And most of what was there was hard as fuck to understand. There was some information on his sister- cute as hell, by the way, tall and slender like he was with the same raven black hair and sharp blue eyes but without the exhausted weariness to her. I wondered if that was because of the situation or if he always looked like way; with the limp, he seemed ,like he might be ill or injured.

She seemed healthy and fit, though, and in the pictures, happy. She was always smiling with what seemed to be honest contentment, and in two she was with Arion himself, who had that same, small, tired smile. It seemed more honest, though, and touched his eyes in a way just that one smile of his had.

There weren’t many, and even less with himself or any other family members. He’d said she was his ‘last remaining’ family, but hadn’t told me if that was because everyone else was dead, or simply…not in the picture for one reason or another.

There was her personal information; name- I’ll call her Persephone- age-seventeen- height, weight, and, last but certainly not least, places she most often was and people she was most often with. I’d give it to him; he’d been thorough on that part, and I appreciated that. I might have wanted to talk to him more, face and face, but to be fair, most people would rather have the detailed list of notes and information intended to make my job easier.

Apparently my girl had recently gotten involved with a guy brother dearest didn’t care for so much. Shocking no one who knows anything about mythology, I’ll call him Hades.

Hades smacked of trouble to him, and I wasn’t actually the first PI he’d gotten involved with his sister.

There had been another, who he’d hired to do a background check on and keep an eye on Hades. That one hadn’t come up with anything particularly interesting, from what I could see. Everything implied the guy lived a pretty normal life- even boring.

He went to school, went to church, wasn’t even a trouble maker in the most blasé of senses; great grades, no history of trouble, no drugs, not even smoking.

But apparently Arion hadn’t been satisfied, because there were a few notes in there making note of his opinion on the boy. I frowned, wondering where the hell this ire and vitrol came from. I made a note to ask him; one of those ‘human connection’ things I mentioned earlier. Of course, it could have been- and likely was- simply over protective brotherlyness. Especially if he had health issues; it was pretty likely that they were close, and when the threat of losing her to someone else sprang up- of having to share her time- well.

It did happen, after all. Dads, brothers, they tended to be the worst for it, but moms and sisters could fall prey, too. Best friends were particularly susceptible. I noted it and set it to the back of my mind, then continued on.

My best bet, no matter what the brother’s feelings, was the boyfriend. He likely knew where she’d last been, or at least had some idea of where she was likely to be found. I closed the laptop and pushed myself back, looking up on my own computer where I might find the kid- easy enough to find him. You might find this creepy or invasive. It sort of is, I guess. My only excuse is I have a license for this shit. It’s more then most people who might look you up do.

It didn’t take long to find the kid; along with having a totally uneventful life, he wasn’t exactly trying to keep himself out of the public eye. He had several social media accounts and wasn’t shy about where he lived or who he was. He was a streamer and a Youtuber, and not a small one. A quick Google was all I needed to find that out. One of those stupid kids who never thought someone might be trying to track him down, even while semi famous and well known.

I sighed, pushing up from my chair and taking one last drink before grabbing my gun and my keys and heading out the door to go and see what I could fish up.

His apartment was a decent one- he lived in a nice part of the city and I’d have to buzz him to get in. I entered the number Arion had given me, and after a minute or two a voice came through the little box, obnoxiously tinny.

“Who are you?”

Well. Blunt.

“Hades? My name is Zephyr Sacramentum. I’m a pri-“

“-vate detective. Oh good, another one. Look, Persephone hasn’t been here in weeks. I haven’t seen her. I don’t know where she is. Leave me alone.”

“I’d love to just take your word for it, kid, but I need to ask you a few questions in person. Look, I’m not accusing you of anything. I just wanna talk.”

There was a long pause on the other end, and then, with a soft sigh-

“I’m getting really fucking tired of this shit. Come on up, but make it quick. I’ve got shit to do.”

Not work, if the YouTube thing was any indication.

He let me in, and I immediately felt out of place as hell as I entered the plush complex.

The apartment itself was surprisingly sparse for someone who lived in such a laviash place; the first thing my eyes went to the computer set up in the corner; two monitors and an entire gaming nest. A nice set up, too- a couple consoles just to round everything off. I had to wonder if he was good, or if mommy and daddy funded his goals. To be successful as he was, I guess he had to be doing something right, besides having a nice voice and a body to die for.

Though uh, that goes pretty far.

“You any good?” I asked, motioning at the setup. The kid- who was built like a linebacker, not a gamer, with crystal clear blue eyes and a shock of red-blonde hair in a braid halfway down his back- shrugged at me with half a grin. “What do you think?”

“Fancy shit doesn’t mean anything other then mommy and daddy love you.” I drawled, and his smile dropped fast. In that moment, I could see why Arion had reservations about this guy; those clear blue eyes went cold as ice, and he curled the corner of his lip in a sneer that was closer to a snarl. He was a big guy, and I’m…well, not. I’m what you might kindly call ‘vertically challenged’ and unkindly call ‘a fucking shorty’.

I can count on one hand the amount of people I’ve ever had to kill or even shoot. I really didn’t want to have to up that number.

He tensed, like he might throw me out or throw a punch; then scoffed. “I don’t need you to believe me- I have enough followers and viewers that I don’t have to work my ass off like losers like you. I just need you to tell me what you want and get the fuck out of my apartment.”

Okay. Okay. Pissing him off wasn’t going to get me what I wanted, and while big guys don’t intimidate me, I could at least wait until I got my info before I went full troll- as fun as it might be to see him hulk out, bulging muscles and all.

“Alright. Alright, big guy, let’s start over. I’m just trying to make sure your girlfriend is safe.”

“Maybe ex.”

“What was that?”

“I said maybe ex. After everything she’s pulled lately-“

“What, exactly, has she ‘pulled lately’?” The way Arion talked about her, she was a sweet little ray of sunshine; everything he gave me in that notebook backed that up. She was tiny, smiling constantly, surrounded by friends, pretty and outgoing and friendly.

Muscles snorted, flopping himself down in a chair. “Look, everyone’s gonna tell you Persephone is a ‘good sweet girl’ who’s friends with everyone and everybody’s best friend and blah blah blah. But the thing is it’s all hiding this- tiny fucking tiger. Like, I’ve got a bunch of followers and viewers and shit. For real.” He pulled a smoke out of his pocket, offered me one. I shook my head- I don’t take anything from strangers, let alone potential suspects in a case.

“And people see me, and they hear me, and they think I’m this big, combative guy who’ll go off at people.”

“You sure weren’t beating those allegations, the way you just looked at me-“

“Okay yeah I don’t take shit, but like- she’s the one who’s going to go off like a damn bottle rocket when someone kicks up shit, not me. My mods and I have to rein her in when people kick off in my chats when I’m live, or pull some shit in person. She’s gonna go at them before I ever get angry enough to.”

“I’m guessing this didn’t make her very popular with a lot of people.”

“Mostly people think it’s funny and charming. They like to poke her and watch her go off, or just call her my chihuahua or something. But- yeah. Some people get pissy about it.” He sighed, leaned back in that chair and arched a brow at me.

“Bet Brother Dearest didn’t tell you about that little detail.”

People never do. Tell me everything, that is. Someone always leaves something out. You get to where you expect it. It wasn’t as much of a gotcha as he thought it was.

“So out of all these people she pissed off, anyone in particular stand out? You said something about ‘the shit lately’….”

He let out a puff of smoke, chuckled darkly. “So there’s this follower of mine, right? Really cute girl, but kind of…obsessed. She sends gifts and shit, spends a lot of money on merch and donations. Minthe.” That wasn’t the name he gave me, but like the other names in this story- a cover. Because my knowledge of Greek mythology is impressive and I want to show off.

“Minthe? I’m guessing our girl’s not the biggest fan of that.”

He laughed again, smoke curling around his head like a caress. His eyes practically glowed in contrast- the dim lighting in the room added to the effect. It was intense- overwhelmingly so, and I could suddenly understand how he supposedly did so well. He had a presence, powerful and a little overwhelming when all his attention was focused on you.

“The sky’s blue. She was furious. Just got more mad every time anything Minthe showed up or did- fucking anything. She was sure I was cheating with the bitch.”

“Were you?”

I didn’t expect the truth. They never gave me the truth. Not wanting to be judged is a strong motivator, and one thing I’ve noticed is that it’s not logical. Not logical, and not limited, as far as I can tell, to just one species. You could tell someone that if they’re not totally honest about something or they’ll die, and there’s a solid chance they’ll be meat on the floor in record time depending on what secrets they’re keeping.

“Fuck no.”

And yet there wasn’t a trace of a lie on his face. He grimaced, waved a hand through the smoke of his own cigarette. “Well, ok, ok, she wasn’t a total stranger-“

Ah. There it was. I fucking knew it.

“You wanna stop beating around the bush and just tell me what you did?”

That snarl-sneer again, those intense eyes snapping to me once more. He snubbed out the smoke, gritting his teeth so hard that I practically heard them squeak. “Look, I don’t have to be talking to you, buddy. You’re in my house and you aren’t a fucking cop-“

He straightened up, stiffening, tension in his shoulders, in his jaw. I took a step back, another, aware of the door and how close to it I was.

Like I said, like a linebacker.

“Hey. Hey, big guy, take it easy-“

“I didn’t do shit. She and I were a thing before Persephone showed up, ok?” He didn’t relax back down, and didn’t acknowledge that I’d spoken. I wasn’t a huge fan of feeling like I was in the room with a very annoyed, very hungry predator. H was just some kid, a year or two younger than me. He was just a civilian, a person, and I couldn’t understand or justify the way the hair stood up on every part of my skin.

“She insisted I was cheating on her with Minthe. And it doesn’t fucking help that the dumb bitch would antagonize her every chance she got.” The bitter anger came….sort of out of nowhere, and yeah, okay, I got now why Arion wasn’t this guy’s biggest fan.

I wasn’t this guy’s biggest fan. Any thoughts I had of those muscles were replaced by just how hard they’d be to get off my throat.

“Is that…is that why she’s so caught up in you? Because she wants to get back with you?”

“Obsessed. I’m telling you, man. She’s obsessed. Wants me to get back with her, and thinks she’s better than Persephone in basically every way.” Finally, finally he relaxed back down into the chair, turned his gaze away. It felt like the light came back into the room- like I could breathe again.

I wanted out of that room. I wanted away from that man.

He could have killed Persephone. I didn’t doubt that for a minute. I had nothing to back it up, had no proof, but I knew, somewhere in my chest, in my bones, that this normal, boring, safe Youtuber was fully fucking willing and capible of killing someone.

I wanted. Away.

Human connection. Like I mentioned. Gut instinct. Understanding of body language, of human nature. Arion looked mysterious and dangerous and sly, but everything about him was like an alligator or lion- he didn’t want trouble, didn’t want to hurt you, because he wasn’t hungry and you weren’t a threat to him. He could, and you’d best not be around when he was hungry, of course, but he wasn’t going to bite just because you were there.

This, though- this was a damn rhino. Angry, kind of stupid, and aggressive.

And dangerous.

Had he killed her? Fuck, I didn’t know. But he would have.

“Hades, would Minthe have gone after Persephone?” I was pretty proud of how steady and unbothered my voice came out. Like I said- don’t show fear. Never show fear.

If Arion had qued in on it and seen right through me, though, Hades stripped my damn soul bare. He laughed, tossing me a wink.

“Other way around, Tiny. Like I said,Persephone was fucking psycho, just really good at hiding it.”

“So you don’t think the psycho obsessed stalker-“

“Minthe isn’t smart enough to hurt anyone.” He grinned crookedly. “It’s part of why I ditched her ass.” He sighed heavily. “She’s head over heels for me, but she’s dumb as bricks and wrapped up in how pretty she is and how sexy she is and how hot she is-” He snorted. “Notice what’s not on that list.”

I can imagine why she’s just head over heels for you. You’re just such a charmer.

“When’s the last time you saw or heard from either of them?”

Out. Wanted out. Wanted away.

“I haven’t seen Minthe in any of my streams for about a week. Sephone and I talked right before she took off, and the last I knew she was in her apartment.” He shrugged, giving me a sideways glance-

-and for a moment his teeth looked sharper. Longer. Fangs. For a minute, an instant-

I blinked.

“Careful,” he said, with normal teeth in his normal mouth and his very not normal smile-snarl. “Like I said, she’s crazy.”

That’s what brings us to now. To why I’m bringing this story to the internet and you. Why I’m desperate enough to come to all of you. Because believe me, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t be looking to be a bunch of random strangers at all, let alone strangers on the Goddamn internet.

Because I went to the girl’s apartment. I almost didn’t. I almost didn’t bother because while you can sometimes find something relevant or interesting at the last known location or home, generally it’s pointless. Unlike what most TV shows and movies will tell you, people don’t leave conveniently placed clues for the protagonist to put together to magically figure out where the missing person is.

But Hades talking about how Persephone was a secret lunatic had me curious as fuck and suspicious as fuck. Arion hadn’t given me a key or any way to get into the house, but he also hadn’t strictly told me I wasn’t allowed to go there, and it didn’t take much legwork to find the apartment with the girl’s full name and knowing she’d dated Hades. And I brought my own key! Home made, just like momma used to make!

Well, daddy, technically. One of the few useful things he’d ever taught me without using his fists.

Another thing he’d taught me was that if you act like you belonged somewhere, people wouldn’t question you. All it took was a quick, casual use of my coat to block my hands as I picked the lock of Persephone’s house, and I was in without so much as the nosey neighbor who’s been staring at my ass like it was water to a dying woman to notice something was wrong with what she was seeing.

Really though, I think even if I’d been sloppy as shit she might not have noticed. When she last got laid I don’t know but I was a little worried about my purity.

I shut the door behind me, finding myself in a very normal little suburban home. It was small- nice, in a nice area, but Hades’ place it wasn’t. Still, she clearly was upper middle class. The file Arion had given me said she worked some kind of job in marketing, and the home checked out. Nice expensive furniture, an ornate archway over the otherwise open-plan kitchen, separating it from the living room with beautiful wooden carved pillars.

There were plants and flowers Goddamn everywhere– I was really mother fucking glad I didn’t have allergies because this place was a nightmare for anyone who didn’t get along well with pollen. Huge, beautiful flowers sat in pots, and she let vines climb the walls and up indoor trellses freely. It was…honestly gorgeous. Peaceful. I felt comfortable there, relaxed, calm, and I’m not what you’d call a nature guy. And by ‘not a nature guy’ I mean the closest I’ve come to camping is once when I spent a week in a cabin to spy on some guy’s wife who was cheating on him with another woman.

And I had heat and running water in that bitch.

But this place made something in my mind quiet. Settle. I took a breath deeper than I had in what felt like a very long time, closing my eyes as the smell of damp earth and green filled my nose, soft sweetness and something earthy and dark.

When I opened them again, I shit you not- really, this is going to sound insane but I swear to God I wasn’t high or drunk, not this time- the sun was lower in the sky. Like hours had passed in the five minutes I’d taken. Shadows fell more heavily across the house, and when I looked out the window, it was damn near mid-afternoon.

I’d gotten there at maybe nine or ten AM. At the least that meant five hours would have passed, but I was stone-cold sober and I’d stopped in that doorway for five fucking minutes.

When I stepped forward, my legs shook. I felt sick, hollow- like I’d been emptied out. Like I hadn’t moved in- well, like I hadn’t moved in five Goddamn hours. I know I said I keep an open mind but that was fucking impossible.

And it wasn’t even the weirdest Goddamn part.

The weirdest Goddamn part was what I found when I looked under this girl’s bed because people, what I found under there was this little plant in a teeny weeny little pot. A teeny weeny little pot with a teeny weeny little plant inside.

And now- okay, this is…this is why I picked the code names I picked. This is why I used them and this is why I’m coming to the internet because I don’t know what to do or what to think or if I should just drop this damn case and vanish. Become someone else again. Create myself again.

Except he’d just be able to find me, wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t they? You can’t get away from-

-it was mint. The little plant in the little pot in the room filled with plants was mint.

And I swear to God- or Gods?- that I could hear faint sobbing coming from it.

Any mythology experts out there willing to help a guy out?

I’ll pay.