Amanda Maisel had lost everything- her detective husband to a gunfight ten years ago, and her firstborn daughter to the unknown. Since then, only one thing urged her to live on- one thin layer that prevented her from drowning into the abyss of insanity- her second daughter, Sarah.
And that thin layer- ruptured.
"She is gone! She is gone!" Miss Maisel cried as she clasped Eulene's soft shoulders harder and harder. The sternness she had shown while teaching Eulene was gone; all that remained was anguish.
Her desperate cries scared Eulene. She spread her spiritual sense, only to find the house behind empty, devoid of any sense of life.
"Auntie, calm down!" She grabbed the middle aged woman's shoulders. "What happened?"
"Sarah… she's gone…"
"Auntie!" Eulene jolted Aunt Maisel's body, waking the woman up. "Tell me what happened."
"When… when I returned to the house…" the matron sobbed and sniffed, barely uttering the words, "I could not find her anywhere… I waited, thinking she went for a walk close by. After an hour, I was scared. I visited her friends' but she was nowhere to be found. It was the same as that day… that cursed day…" Aunt Maisel broke down again, closing her eyes as tears endlessly streamed out.
"When was the last time you had seen her?" Xavier stepped forward.
Seeing that the man was with Eulene, Miss Maisel decided to trust him. "It was a few minutes past six thirty. I kissed her bye and departed for Eulene's tuition."
Xavier turned to the direction of the forest. "According to the Natural Disaster Act, a disastrous scenario will require all the public transport services to lock down- be it boat or trains." He turned back to the women. "As this place is far away from the station or docks, whoever abducted her could possibly not reach the docks or station after the impact. Your daughter is still in the city."
Xavier's deep and confident voice somewhat calmed the worried woman down. "But-"
"Trust me. I will be able to search the entire city in 30 minutes," Xavier assured.
The lady widened her eyes. Though his words seemed unbelievable, hope was what she needed right now.
"30 minutes?" Eulene scowled. "Anything can happen in that time."
Xavier calmly looked into Eulene's eyes. "I believe you have a better idea then."
Eulene took back her hands and removed her aunt's hands from her shoulder. She took a few steps back. "Auntie, please don't get scared. I am doing this for Sarah."
Xavier observed with intrigue while Miss Maisel nodded steadily.
Eulene closed her eyes, putting both of her palms together and began to soundlessly chant something. Xavier could read her lips. It did not match any of the languages he knew, but as he chanted the same words in his mind, he could feel an unknown but mysterious power coursing through his body.
Finally, she opened her eyes. But along with her two eyes, a third opened on her forehead. It was vertical, and unlike normal eyes, it did not have any pupils. Only the blue image of a sky could be seen within.
Aunt Maisel subconsciously took a step back, but remembering Eulene's words, she steadied herself. Xavier, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow at the paranormality.
Eulene could see what could not be seen with her celestial vision. The night seemed as if it were day, as if the sun was still up in the sky. There was a strong yellow aura surrounding Aunt Maisel, symbolising her worry. But most remarkably- there were several white strings originating from the matron's heart and spreading towards all directions; most were thin to the point of being invisible, like the one that connected to Xavier's heart. Few were thicker, the strongest of which was connected to Eulene's own chest. But the strongest of them all, which was a few centimetres thick led to the East.
Found it! Eulene sighed in relief. It was there means Sarah was still alive. Eulene's feet left the ground as she began to float up in the air. She needed to keep the subject in sight to perceive all the karmic links. But before she could take a meter off from the earth, Xavier grabbed her wrist and tugged her to the ground.
"What are you doing?!" Eulene yelled.
"I don't know what you are upto," said Xavier, "but I assure you, this nation has enough power to kill even you."
"Then, should I just leave her?" She frowned.
"No." Xavier shook his head. "I am sure you found a clue with that eye of yours. You can leave the rest to me."
Eulene sighed, composing herself. Her third eye closed. She yanked her hand out of Xavier's clasps and pointed at a certain direction in the East. "She is at that direction. I don't know how far, but she is there- unmoving."
A smile formed on Xavier's face. "Seems like you did most of the work."
"Can you do it?" Eulene asked. The rare smile on his face gave her confidence.
"Absolutely." Xavier took off his hat. "Give me a minute."
He faced the direction Eulene pointed to and looked up. His silver eyes formed a golden hue.
Peak level lumomancy allowed him to manipulate the light particles in a range of 10 kilometres. Meaning he could see everything in that range. But even his brain had limits, being able to focus on one particular area at once.
Now that he knew the accurate direction of the target, it was an easy task.
"Does she have brown hairs?" Xavier asked, "14-15 years old? Wore a blue dress today?"
"Yes!" Miss Maisel rushed to him, life returned to her almost lifeless body. "It's her!"
"I'll go get her," Xavier said.
"I'll go too. She knows me." Eulene turned to her Aunt.
"Go." Miss Maisel urged her. "Bring her back."
Eulene nodded and gave Xavier a look.
He donned his hat back on and disappeared from the spot. The lady had already seen enough paranormality today. This much was nothing.
Eulene disappeared as well, following Xavier at supersonic speed.
They coursed through the silent alleyways and reached an abandoned wool factory. There was a hole in the wall hidden by bushes a few meters away. But none of them bothered to use it and hopped to the other side of the ten feet tall wall, into the front yard.
The factory seemed not only abandoned by humans, but nature itself. The trees were dead, grass- withered.
Even though the full moon shone brightly as ever, the moonlight seemed to be repulsed by this place. It was dark. The absolute silence formed from the absence of the slightest noise from even insects made the atmosphere even more suffocating.
At one corner of the medium sized ground, laid a young girl on her sides with her legs curled up. Eulene rushed to her, but Xavier stood still.
He frowned. With his control over all the elements, he could sense some peculiarities in the scene. Just beside the girl, the ground was soaked. Clearly, a considerable amount of water was spilled there not long ago. Moreover, though it was not apparent to the naked eyes, there were ashes mixed with the dust not far away from the girl. And they formed not long ago. Evidently, something burnt here, and wind scattered the remainings.
Furthermore, he looked around, the area was open- not the best place to keep a kidnapped child. And most peculiar of all- the child seemed to be abandoned by the culprits.
Something happened here, he thought.
This was more than just a case of abduction.