The mysterious lady in green ran faster than all of them that midway through the chase, she disappeared and nobody was able to catch the direction in which she was headed. They walked straight ahead until they came across the remains of a person leaning against a tree trunk.
"It's a skeleton!" The twins shrieked and covered their eyes. Olivia wondered how they were able to get by with all these witch hunting missions if a mere corpse already scared them like this.
Green dress. A weathered basket beside her. It was the remains of a woman.
"She has been dead for a long time," Olivia concluded by the state of the body. "What exactly is happening here?"
"Was she a ghost?" Ama Belaria asked while still keeping her eyes closed.
Olivia couldn't produce any answers. She looked to her familiar for clues, "Mezolas?"
"Verily it was the same maiden, my Lady. I can conclude nothing beyond that," replied the eye of nightmare.
Olivia saw a metal object on the ground beside the corpse. She picked up the item and dusted off the soil that covered half of it. Upon revealing the true appearance of the object, she found it to be a locket with a photo of the lady they were chasing after. It was just what she needed.
"Come on, let's go back to Adrian," said Olivia to the twins.
The three of them and the floating eye returned to the spot where they last saw Adrian. The leader of Royal Red was still there standing on guard alone.
"Find anything?" Adrian asked them.
The twins hugged each other and shuddered. "We got lost in the forest and Olivia saved us! Then we saw this scary skeleton."
"A skeleton?" He raised a brow.
"We saw this lady and tried to follow her then it turns out she's a ghost!"
"Where did the man go?" Olivia asked.
"He said he wanted to go to a safer place, so I let him stay in his house." Adrian pointed at the building.
"We found this locket with a photo beside the skeleton. It seems to be a photo of the girl who died. I figured we could use it to confirm Willow's identity." Olivia held up the locket.
"Let me see that..." Adrian took the locket and opened it. There was a look of recognition on his face. "This is the girl who went missing a few years ago. It was one of the first few cases Royal Red had to handle. Witnesses said they saw someone or something dragging her into the forest. We cleaned out most of the forest, but never found her. Unfortunately, it's a cold case." He returned the pendant to Olivia.
"What was her name?"
"It certainly wasn't Willow."
"Looks like we need to ask that man." Olivia looked at the house where the man supposedly was.
They all walked to the door and knocked, but no reply came. It was unlocked, so they let themselves in and searched for any signs of the man. He was not inside the house.
"Where could he have gone?" Olivia wondered.
"I shouldn't have let him leave my sight." Adrian clenched his fist.
"Foolish Icarus boy." Mezolas pointed at Adrian with a wriggling tentacle. "Did you consider not the possibility of that man being the culprit? How could you let such a man go free?"
He sighed. "I'd appreciate it if you'd cease pointing out my mistakes."
"Verily, he will be inside the forest protected by his guardians if he is the true culprit."
Adrian was about to leave for the forest when Olivia grabbed his arm, making him turn back. She had a feeling in her gut that he wasn't telling them everything.
"Adrian, what else happened a few years ago?" she looked him in the eye and asked.
He realized he couldn't hide the information from the rest of them. The Belaria twins knew nothing about the case because they weren't part of the union at that time. They all stared at him.
"It wasn't a cold case because we couldn't find her. We did. She requested us to keep her location a secret because someone was after her. However, we never figured out who it was. We didn't look into it further thinking she'd be safe under the protection of the fairies, but judging by what you just told me, she didn't survive."
"So that someone found her and killed her?" Olivia's eyes widened.
"That might be the case."
"What do we do?"
"We find the man and determine whether he is the culprit or not."
"We don't even know where he went."
Adrian glanced at the floating eye. "Perhaps we can heed the advice of your familiar?"
Mezolas was amused. He rose higher and wiggled his tentacles with more vigor. "Oh? It intrigues me that you seek my advice, son of house Icarus."
"Time is precious and I believe you already know what's going on." Adrian folded his arms. He took the locket from Olivia's hands and held it up. "You recognize this locket, don't you?"
"The memento of the witchmaker."
"They saw her ghost in the forest. That means her spirit lingers there, perhaps trapped. It's probably his doing."
"I laud your intellect and wise judgment, son of house Icarus. Indeed, such a thing is likely. Deep in the forest, I sense a dark totem. It is likely that her curse offering lies there."
"Then we must go there." Adrian returned the locket to Olivia and turned to leave.
"Stay cautious."
Olivia hurriedly hasted her walking pace to catch up to Adrian's speed. "Who is the witchmaker?"
Adrian explained, "Do you remember the witch you defeated in the hut? He was involved in the making of that witch. He is like a tempter, a witch doctor who relishes the transformation of people into witches. Once they lose their sense of self and gain a certain power over nature, they become his pawn."
"He is like Nox, but more evil," Mezolas added.
"Nox?"
"An old friend." Mezolas shrugged.
Adrian stopped walking and faced her. "Olivia, forget what they teach you at the academy. None of it prepares us for this threat. They never told us about witches, witch doctors, curses, and ancient spirits. Other unions might get more simple and straightforward missions, textbook examples of what they taught us in school. However, Royal Red is a special case. We deal with these types of missions."
He paused and turned around. "In any case, be on your guard. There will always be something more powerful than you. Never forget that."