Hazel didn't return to the tent after her talk with Alden. She wasn't really sure what happened, only that Liam had simply ordered the chief butler to escort her out of his residence safely. All she knew was that Liam needed to 'sort something out with Chester', according to Alden.
She could only hope that the two did not have a fight or something like that. They were good guys, both of them. And she was growing rather fond of their company, although she was still too embarrassed to admit that to herself.
After another fifteen minutes of walking, Hazel found herself back on the streets of a nearby neighbourhood. The familiar sights would have been comforting to her, if not for one thing.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
An eerie feeling ran down her spine as she took another glance at her surroundings. The street lamps were still functioning and cars were still parked along the streets as usual. But not even one of the apartments or shops was lit. It was as though this place had turned into a ghost town overnight.
The girl's heart raced against her footsteps as she broke into a jog. An unusually thick fog had also settled in for some reason, but she couldn't care too much about that right now. Her house was only one street away from this neighbourhood. Hazel shuddered at the memory of her grandfather's premonition.
By the time she could see what was in front of her again, Hazel was right in the middle of a dark forest. It wasn't the same one as before, but it felt just as creepy. Deja Vu crept into her mind as the girl tried to turn back, only to see more trees in her path.
"Hazel!"
She almost screamed in shock despite the familiar-sounding voice.
"T— Tomoko? What the hell?" Hazel's mouth hung open at her classmate, who was still dressed in her school uniform on a Saturday night for some reason. "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you, of course!" Tomoko giggled enthusiastically. "I just pulled off an amazing prank; you're going to be so proud of me!"
The Japanese girl tugged on Hazel's hand like an excited child, leading her deeper into the forest.
"Look, look! They're all trapped!"
Hazel looked at where Tomoko was pointing. Her mouth fell further, and her hand flew up to stop it from dropping to the ground. More than a dozen bodies were hanging by their feet from the trees around her. Ropes bound their feet and snaked along their bodies up to their mouths, gagging them tightly.
Recognition flashed as Hazel's eyes met the pleading gaze of one of the victims. They were all residents of that deserted neighbourhood she passed by earlier.
"Jesus Christ, Tomoko!" she yelped, reaching for the nearest knot on a tree. "What are you just standing around for? Help me get these people down."
"Huh, so quickly?" Tomoko's voice was filled with genuine confusion. "But we haven't even played with them yet."
Hazel froze. "What do you mean?"
She watched in horror as Tomoko began tugging on the loose ropes dangling from the trees like a crazed puppetmaster. Frightened wailings began to murmur around them as the ropes tied to the people's bodies began jerking their limbs up and down.
Hazel rushed forward and shoved her classmate roughly. The two girls yelled as they crashed onto the ground.
"You were the one who did this?!" Hazel exclaimed. "How did you even tie all of them up?"
"I'm so glad you asked!" Tomoko piped. "I went into all of their houses and misplaced their possessions. I left obvious hints to make them think a thief stole them. The hints lured them to this forest, where I laid my traps. All of them stepped on my traps and tied themselves up! Isn't that hilarious?"
"No, no! What the hell is wrong with you?" Hazel shook her head angrily. "Do you know how many laws you just broke? It's not funny. None of this is funny at all! You're hurting innocent people. You have to let them go now!"
"Are you...? You are angry... You truly are mad at me," Tomoko muttered, her expression darkening as well. "But what did I do wrong? What's wrong with having a little fun?"
"Do they look like they're having fun?"
Tomoko paused momentarily to look at the struggling people, before turning back at Hazel.
"Why won't you play with me? You're just like them. You just want to spoil my fun..."
"What are you talking about?" Hazel asked.
"Some trickster you are." Tomoko's body was visibly shaking as her lips contorted into a terrifying snarl. "I just wanted somebody to play with, but you... You're just a boring spoilsport like everybody else! You just want me to attend to my duties too, don't you? You're no fun at all! This place is so boring!"
"Attend to... your duties?"
"Go away! Screw you and your boring responsibilities!" she screamed in Hazel's general direction, although her eyes seemed to be fixated on something else. "I won't do it... I won't!"
Tomoko Sanada ran off into the darkness at an alarming speed before Hazel could react.
~ ~ ~
Fifteen minutes later, Hazel was practically sprinting on the streets. Thankfully, it did not take much time for her to free the trapped people; all she needed was to untie a few knots before the traps undid themselves. Hazel fled the scene almost immediately after. She didn't want to deal with the consequences of Tomoko's actions.
"Pops!" Hazel flung the door open, dashing into her house. "Are you alright?"
A chair toppled to the ground with a resounding crash as the girl chucked her bag carelessly on it. She rushed up the stairs. Please be okay... Please be okay...
"Hey, hey! What's going on? What's— Hazel? Woah!"
The old man stopped midway down the stairs as Hazel cut him off with a tight hug.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're okay..." she sobbed in relief.
Grandfather patted her head awkwardly. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? I didn't even leave the house today."
"You had a premonition... Death... You said..." Hazel babbled between choked sobs. "I was so worried..."
"My premonitions are barely accurate nowadays anyway." Grandfather smiled wryly. "Sorry for worrying you like that. Maybe I should've kept it to myself—"
"No. No, you shouldn't."
Hazel wiped away her tears hurriedly and stared straight at him. "I... met someone today. My parents... They didn't actually die when I was born, did they?"
If her grandfather was shocked, he was doing a world-class job at hiding it. Instead, he continued looking at her with his usual inquisitive gaze with not even a hint of a frown forming on his face.
"Who did you meet?"
"It's not important—"
"My dear, it is exceedingly important if you want your answers," Grandfather said calmly yet sharply. "But if you must know, you are indeed... different from everyone else. Although, I suspect that is something you're already aware of."
Hazel sighed softly. Her grandfather had her in a checkmate.
"Alright, fine. His family name is Alden." She relented. "I don't know his first name, though."
Grandfather squinted his wrinkled eyes in deep thought for a brief moment. "You've been to the House of Davies, haven't you?"
"How did you know—" Hazel gasped. "Hold on, how do you know of that name? Oh my god, Alden is right... We are Magus, aren't we?"
Grandfather shook his head slightly, chuckling to himself.
"After everything I did... It seems you still found out, after all." He glanced at the family altar. "Fate truly works in twisted ways."
Hazel kept her silence, urging him to continue.
"Alden is a good man, and he was our butler. The chief butler of the House of Adams. If his judgement saw fit to let you on the truth, then I see no reason why I should deny you as well."
Grandfather took a seat, and Hazel followed suit.
"If you've been to the House of Davies, then I assume you also know about the Union of Magus. Yes, I was a part of that organisation and so were your parents. You would've been a part of it as well, if we hadn't found out how little our society actually cares about us."
Hazel blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Those from the House of Adams have a rare gift. The gift of prophecy, and in exceedingly potent amounts too. Practically every single prophecy we foresaw came to pass. In fact, some people have postulated that our ancestor, Charlie Adams, used this gift to avoid any potential trouble while setting up the Union of Magus. As such, our House became extremely valuable to our organisation, helping them achieve a near hundred per cent success rate on all their missions."
"Woah..." Hazel breathed.
"We were glad to oblige them because of our duty, but they never cared about us." Grandfather continued darkly. "About ten years ago, it was your parents' turn to be the Chief Clairvoyants. They prophesied that a mission would go terribly wrong with no possible outcome of success. As such, they advised their superiors to call it off and choose another date for a potentially better chance of success. The Headquarters ignored their advice and sent the Magus on the mission anyway. And as predicted, almost the whole team was wiped out by the unruly Wendigos they were supposed to capture, leaving only one survivor. The House of Davies had been reduced to a speck of its former glory."
Hazel reeled at the revelation.
"Enraged by that terrible decision, your parents confronted their superiors. It was only then they found out that the Headquarters actually allowed the disaster to happen in order to cull the House of Davies. Apparently, they were running out of resources to allocate to the new Houses that were getting increasingly common," Grandfather said bitterly. "So obviously, your parents announced their withdrawal from the Union of Mages by relinquishing their gift right there and then."
"That's possible?" Hazel asked.
"I only wish it wasn't." Grandfather shook his head. "Because the Union exploited your parent's loss of precognitive powers to go after you immediately. Those bastards wanted to harness your genetically inherited gift for themselves. After ordering the withdrawal of all our servants, a huge group of Magus barged into our house to drag you away. Of course, I tried to put up a fight and even took down a few of the stronger Magus. But the Union had numbers on their side, and they successfully robbed you from our House."
The old man slammed his fist on the table without warning, causing Hazel to jump. "Those incompetent bastards didn't even know how to take your gift properly, and they accidentally killed you instead!"
"What?!"
Grandfather closed his eyes painfully. "Your body was cold when I caught up with them along with your parents. Those Magus simply dumped your corpse and magicked themselves away, leaving us to mourn for you by ourselves."
"Wait, hold on. I died?" Hazel asked incredulously. "But how..."
"Death isn't absolute in the world of magic, although it comes at a hefty price," Grandfather explained. "And luckily for your parents, they happened to make friends with a celestial being on their missions. A nine-tailed fox that had already ascended to the celestial realm."
"A Kitsune..." Hazel whispered.
"After invoking its presence, your parents managed to get the Fox God to help them. Unfortunately, you had already been dead for more than two days. So that meant that a massive amount of life force must be expended to keep the gates of the afterlife long enough for the Fox God to ferry your soul back into your body without mishap."
A sinking feeling formed in the girl's stomach. She could already guess where this was going.
"As you can see, the ritual was a success." Grandfather gestured at her. "But though that Fox God had also imparted a breath of life back into your body, your parents' life forces were already completely depleted."
"They died for me..." Hazel whispered.
"I had also expended most of my magic alongside them, but I had enough for one last spell. Using whatever remaining strength I still had, I locked your memories as well as your gift away," he said. "Well, most of it anyway. I thought it best to at least leave the embers of your gift still lit for your own protection. I renounced my magic-hood as well and even changed my family name to completely cut ties with our society. The House of Adams may be no more, but our family still lives. I won't let anything change that."
Hazel kept her gaze low. It was a lot to take in, but everything made sense now. The reason behind her occasional premonitions, her grandfather's job as a medium, her association with the supernatural world...
"My memories..." She clutched her head. "Can you lift the memory spell, pops?"
"What?! Weren't you even listening to a word I said? If I lift the spell, not only will your power return, but it will be much stronger thanks to the Fox God's breath in your soul. You'll invite trouble into your life again!"
"But it's not fair!" Hazel insisted. "I want to remember my life before everything happened. I want to remember my parents! Why am I the only one who doesn't have a childhood?"
"No. Absolutely not." Wood creaked loudly as Grandfather got out of his chair. "This is for your own good."
He left for his room, leaving Hazel to glare at his retreating back in helpless frustration.8Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHVxSrdTKPG
