The clock reached twelve. The two sat next to the couch in a hug, relaxed and asleep. Aper's eyes opened slowly; it took a while until he understood where he was and what happened. For a long time, he had not done an outburst like that. It felt strange.
He knew he was bipolar sometimes, but it happened way too many times since he met Skyleene. No doctors could help him control his emotions, and he then needed more help than he could get. He was an outlaw - if you could call it that. He did not belong in Condemned City, and he knew that. The reason why he was there was that his parents gave him up when he was born. The child would be a sacrifice, and the parents would live better lives – that was what he understood. He was taken care of by one of the pneuma teachers from the academy – that was how he met Skyleene for the first time. Since he was a living soul with an alive vessel - a human - he would grow normally. He was twenty when he first saw her: a lonely girl, followed by a cat and always on missions. When he tried getting closer to her, his soul felt heavy, and he almost had an outburst in the open. His guardian told him that since he was from the living world, he might have a disease. He lived with the thought that he was ill and never tried having conversations again, but it was hard for him to keep his distance from Skyleene. He was attracted to her. He kept following her around the academy, day and night, and he began having outbursts more often. His guardian, Aaron Fling, kept trying to help him but could not do anything except some calming teas and pills. Aper could not bear seeing his protector sad for him, so he left one day without a word. He made sure to drown in his work, and when he found out that his guardian has left for Lights City, he received a letter from him in which it wrote: "I am so proud of you, my son". Since then, he kept keeping his disease in check and his work in the first place.
Aper tried to move but felt an unknown weight on his shoulders. A female hand fell in his lap, a small sigh escaping from her lips. She was sleeping peacefully, with her hands around him and her head on his shoulder. Aper looked at her in disbelief but could not gather up the courage to push her away. He could not understand why she was still around him when she could leave and never look back. It was the longest time someone stood beside him - even J. disappeared when he had enough.
She started moving, her body shifting from pose to pose until she had enough and opened her eyes. Her eyes met the honey orbs, studying her figure. For some time, they only looked into each other's' eyes, feeling at peace.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Nothing."
"You do not remember what happened?"
"I do, but I do not know why I am at your house and why you did not send me to mine."
"You looked scared and sad. I did not want to let you go."
At those words, he smiled sincerely. At least someone did not push him away after an outburst. After some minutes of silence, his voice echoed:
"I have been thinking - maybe we can work together."
"You are kidding." She looked at him, shocked.
"No, not at all."
After a moment of silence:
"Why?"
"Because you are innocent, and I think it is time for the whole town to know that."
"Did you hit your head? Do you have a fever?" She said, reaching for his forehead. "No, you might be telling the truth."
He laughed.
"I'm bipolar. I change pretty fast. My guardian used to give me teas and pills to ease my mind. Some doctors tried to help me, but they could not. They said something about a pneuma doctor."
"It has something to do with your pneuma. It happened to me when I was alive. I did not know what was happening to me back then, but now I know it has something to do with pneumas. It is called dislocation, and basically, your soul loses the power to keep functioning."
"Do I have a cure?"
"You do, but it takes time and your wish to have the treatment. When I get patients with this disease, I usually send them to someone who can give them the treatment because I do not own the necessary plants. "
Skyleene got up and turned the lights on. Aper watched her without saying a word but missing her embrace. Her house was in a mess due to Aper's messed up pneuma, but it did not matter that much because something caught her attention. Next to his leg, there was a drawing of a door. It looked similar to the one she entered when she died and met Mushu for the first time.
There was a possibility that Charlie Nim found one of those doors by accident and entered it. She never heard of something like that, but everything could be possible.
"This door reminds me of when I met Mushu and went to the Judgement Chamber. It worked like a portal to another world. There is a slight chance that Charlie opened one, and that is how he entered Condemned City. It is possible since there are open portals on Earth."
"Maybe, but entering Condemned City is by entering the gate. The gateman gives us the information about every soul who enters this town, and Charlie does not have a file here. I have been around the gate a couple of times, and I must say, if the gateman does not open it, you can't enter.
"How did you get there? I thought you are very busy with maintaining a reputation."
"Vacation."
"You are full of surprises, Aper Koden. You do not know how to lie, but trying it without any fear of getting caught is a new trait of yours."
"I like to jump in front of the danger."
"Then you will like what I suggest" she says, going to the hanger and taking her long coat.
❧
They had been walking through the city. Mushu followed close by Skyleene's feet, making sure to guide her well through the dark. Around that time, almost every night, a lost soul would find her, and she would have to give him or her help before they lost hope. After reaching Condemned City, the souls have one job: to prove themselves worthy of Lights City. They were never with their soul guides, a very peculiar thing for Skyleene since she was always with Mushu during those 35 years.
She always wore her coat when going to meet the man. It was like her ID card when she got to the destination. That man was the one who gave her the house near the forest. He knew almost everything she needed help within her missions from the Pneuma Master; he was more like his right hand. She never knew who the master was and their relationship, but she was happy that at least one person does not think of her weird and helped her. His location constantly changed, which is why the man gave Mushu a telepathic GPS.
"Where are we going? I feel like we have been walking for two years, Skyleene."
"Aper, shush! I need to hear the instructions."
"What instructions? Can you at least tell me where we are supposed to get?"
"We will meet Old Dulles. He is an aged man that knows more than me about this Charlie Nim case."
"You don't know much about the case though."
"Paranormal speaking. It's not even paranormal - it's spiritual. We are about to find out if my theory is plausible or not."
"Can you tell me this theory?"
"I think that Charlie Nim might have entered by accident through a White Door and entered through the gate of Condemned City."
"It seems plausible, only if no other stop would be in between these two gates."
At that statement, Skyleene froze. He was right. She forgot the Judgement Chamber. Charlie Nim would have had to go through it to get to the gate of the city. That meant: he either opened a portal or was brought there by someone who was already inside.
Her legs started moving again, passing two blocks, reaching an old restaurant turned into a bar.
"He wanted to drink, like usual" she said, getting her coat off.
She went to the back of the building, finding the known basket. She placed her coat in it and went inside, with Aper following close.
"Is he always found in places like this?" Aper asked when seeing all the drunk men laughing at thin air.
"Pretty much. Sometimes I am asked to go to some lost ruins that I pass by in the forest. That is when I know it is serious."
The two of them reached the bar, and both asked for a drink. The barman recognized Skyleene and gave her the usual. He shrugged when Aper asked for a whiskey.
"Well, well, well, looks like the cat brought to me more than just a girl."