"We'll just be a little while," Eddie told the coachman as they all highlighted from the private carriage, the dark sky filling their bodies with its tears since their umbrellas were nowhere to be found.
It had been a collective decision against bringing their umbrellas with them owing to the fact that they saw little purpose for it at this point in time. It would only be a hindrance during whatever conflicts they might encounter.
The coachman did not fight back with Eddie's request to keep him waiting as they were going to pay for however long his service went on. And as well he was not concerned about what the time was because they were licensed bounty hunters. As long as he was with them he would not be punished for staying out late. At least that was what Elmer chose to believe from the middle-aged man's reactions.
He suspected there would be something more though, like a written contract or the sort, since none of them would follow the coachman home. If he was caught then no official would just give ears to his words. They would think he was lying.
"If I'm being honest, I'm not still on board with you going face to face with the corrupted one," Ms. Edna whispered suddenly from beside Elmer, forcing him to turn sharply to her to view the rain falling harshly upon bun-packed red hair. "But that's just me, so I won't force my thoughts on you. The real issue is what will you do if something goes wrong with your plan?"
He shook his head and said, "Nothing will." Her expression told him she had very little belief of that—same as he—so he continued on in order to fill her with certainty. "But if I notice things going badly I'll blow a whistle as a call for help."
Ms. Edna looked at him. "Do you have a whistle with you?"
"No," Elmer answered. "I'll use my fingers. Like this…" He demonstrated by forming a circle with his thumb and index finger and placing them into his mouth, sealing them beneath his already curled up tongue before taking a deep breath and blowing softly. A silent whistle emanated, and Ms. Edna's brows raised up slightly in what seemed to be fascination.
Elmer was not surprised. She obviously would not know how to do things like these. People like her would just simply purchase a whistle if they ever had a need for one.
At Meadbray it was different. Wasting money on a whistle when you could use your mouth was pure insanity. Those notes and coins had to be saved in any way possible for greater future purposes.
And now that he thought about it, that seemed to have been etched solidly into him.
He had not had the chance to sit down and calculate how much his earnings were yet, but he suspected it to be about four hundred mints at this point.
A hundred and fifty should be what had remained from his expenses during Eddie's job, and he had obviously spent from it for both Mabel's meals and his transports. At this moment he was currently having three hundred mints from his current job after paying off seven hundred to the boy in dungaree. This was him not taking into consideration his after-pay once the job was done.
He had grown quite a bit rich. He could even afford a cheap pocket watch, a cheap stove and some cooking utensils, and as well the necklace he had promised to buy for Mabel.
These were not thoughts he should supposedly be having right now, but he could not push away the excitement that came with his understanding of his newfound ability to make Mabel's life even a bit easier.
He had thought this night to have a gloomy feel about it because of all the coincidences that had led to now—and also the heavy rain. But once everything went the way he had planned he was going to be in the Pathway of Time, and also receive six hundred mints for the job's completion—even though he was going to be returning a used product.
He had decided to blame that on the corrupted one. This was not the time to be clinging onto morals and whatnot.
Maybe tonight will be my best night in this city afterall…
Elmer smiled indistinctly, then took his attention back to his and Ms. Edna's discussion.
"I can make it as loud as I want, so you won't miss it," he assured the young woman standing beside him of his plan to seek her help with a blow of his natural whistle.
"I see." Ms. Edna's tensed shoulders visibly dropped. "Once you do that, Dick and I will come for you. There's strength in numbers after all."
Elmer's slight smile, which was watered by the rain, instantly crept away.
"I'd prefer only Eddie," he said, causing Ms. Edna's brows to fall down as he instantly disregarded her 'strength in numbers' proposition. "Like I said before, we might not be the only ones at the dock. The corrupted one might have an accomplice. So both of you can't come to my aid. One has to remain to prevent any other thing unexpected from happening. And I think you would be the best person for that."
Of course that was hardly his reason. Ms. Edna coming before the corrupted one would surely—most definitely—force her to use her charms if anything ensued. That was certain death on her part. She should remain far away.
He only hoped that his guess on the maggot-faced man having an accomplice would prove false. But even if it was true, at least Eddie would be there with her since he was not going to blow the whistle. There was no way he was going to do that. Using 'The Warlock's Torch' would be out the window with such an action.
Luckily—surely due to the words he had thrown at her in the carriage—there was no resistance from Ms. Edna, and it only took her a couple of seconds before she said, "I understand."
As soon as Ms. Edna agreed with Elmer's words, then did Eddie join them on the granite walkway before the dock's enormous gate of wrought iron, his conversations with their hired coachman having been concluded.
"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" Eddie proposed, and there were no counters from neither Elmer nor Ms. Edna. They both nodded, and with a united exhale from all three, they took their steps forward, approaching the side gate with Ms. Edna in the lead.
Elmer had not even thought about it before since he had been completely engrossed in coming up with a plan that would give him alone time with the maggot-faced man, but how were they meant to enter the dock?
They had left from Ms. Edna's home at about past eight, so it was already most likely nine or something around that time. And if he used the hour the guard at Spearhead Cemetery had left during his job for Lev to judge for whoever was the guard on duty for the dock, then they were probably no longer around.
If that was the case, would they have to scale the fence that went about the vicinity? Would Ms. Edna have to scale the fence? She was a lady!
"Good evening!" Elmer canceled his thoughts as he heard Ms. Edna's voice force itself against the heavy sounds of the rain after she had knocked on the postern gate.
"She's completely soaked," Eddie mumbled, and Elmer took a moment's glance at him before shrugging.
"So are we," he replied. "I hope we don't end up sick."
Eddie scoffed. "Not possible." Elmer's brows went crashing down in confusion at those words. "Falling sick from something as little as cold can be resolved by just directing the essence of vitality into your body. Or you can just warm yourself up for how long you want once we're done. Easy peasy. Hmmm… Do you even understand what I'm talking about?"
Elmer sort of had an idea. Eddie was probably talking about the essence colors. Although, since Elmer did not know which color represented vitality, he still had a question left in him nonetheless.
"Maybe," Elmer answered. "You're talking about the essence colors, aren't you?"
Eddie pinched his lips together and smiled weirdly with a nod.
"Edna has been doing a lot of teaching, I see."
"But which color represents vitality?" Elmer asked, granting leave of that question from taking up what little space he had left in his head.
"Green," Eddie replied without delay. "Wrap your body with it, and voila, you're as good as new. It doesn't work on injuries or fatal illnesses though, mind you. We're not immortal beings."
Ascenders do have very good and handy abilities…
Elmer was completely amazed regardless of Eddie's latter words. It was so that he had almost begun to appreciate becoming an Ascender, nearly forgetting what had caused him to tread down this path in the first place.
He could not have that. And that thought instantly brought back his repulse for the crest on his chest.
Even though he would be in the Pathway of Time after tonight, he had to make sure to hold on to his hate—to his repulse for the supernatural. It did not matter which one had been involved in making his life a living hell, they were all the same. He was just going to make use of the one he thought best to change his sister's predicament. Everything he was doing was to give Mabel back her soul. There should be no enjoyment from it—there was no enjoyment from it. None at all!
It was not long after Ms. Edna's call before a guard came toward the gate holding an umbrella over his head with his left hand, and in his right a lantern cased by glass which brought forth a feeble beam of light in the dark.
Elmer's withheld anger immediately changed into shock at the guard's presence.
Heavy rainfall, late night, and a place where carriages would hardly pass through by this sort of hour, and a guard was still here? Were dock's guards free from the curfew's punishment?
"Who's there?" The young guard who was dressed in a deep black frock coat raised his lantern at the gate, pouring its light upon the three of them who were standing under the rain on the other side of it.
"I'm glad you're still around." Ms. Edna beamed weakly, and those words answered Elmer's question. The dock's guards were not free from the curfew's punishment, this one had just not yet left.
"I'll be leaving soon," the guard said calmly. "What do you three want? The dock is already closed for the day."
Ms. Edna dipped her hand into her gown's pocket and brought out her license, showing it to the guard and at the same time alleviating Elmer's fear of the licenses being able to be ruined by water.
With that action he now understood why Eddie and Ms. Edna had not been guarding theirs from the rain like he had been doing for his waist bag. The licenses were waterproof, and so were the crests drawn on it. Well, he still had a reason to shield his waist bag, his money was in there.
At that moment, Elmer immediately had a thought flash through his mind. There was something about the licenses—something supernatural. And he quickly recited the prayer for spiritual sight in his head directing it to the essence of Ms. Edna's license.
Once the burning heat that had stormed his eyes switched into warmth, he traced his gaze past the variety of essence colors that filled his view and took them to what made up Ms. Edna's license.
The Crest of Time was there as he had known it to be, an intricate but irregular gear-like clock with one hand which was pointed upward, but only this time it was not of the color red as he had remembered it to be drawn with. It was green, an illusory green, bright and welcoming.
He figured it out at once. The crest was imbued with the essence of vitality!
And this discovery answered the question he had asked himself after receiving back his certification form from Hanky.
If I had fabricated the seal myself I would have been caught because it has to be filled with essence, and I didn't know that then…
Now I see why the forgery was so expensive…
Both a cheap fabrication and the well done one would look the same on the outside, but deep down they are vastly different…!
Wait, doesn't that mean that Hanky is an Ascender…? If not, how could he have been able to imbue the certification seal with essence…? It was either that or he had some sort of tie with an Ascender… But which licensed Ascender in their right senses would happily go against the Church…? Unless they were unlicensed…?
I wonder how many unlicensed Ascenders are roaming around freely without the licenses to keep them grounded…? Elmer took a moment to think.
Obviously, those that became Ascenders through the Church would be unable to escape getting their licenses. But that was not the same for those who went through the same process as he had done.
The illegal one.
He could not see any way the Church would be able to keep them in check. The only one that could work, as Ms. Edna had told him, was by tagging them as corrupted ones and having them hunted.
But that method had a flaw.
Light needed to be shed on them for that to be possible. Someone that remained as an Ascender in secret would never be caught no matter what.
All of a sudden, Elmer had something of a weird inkling strike at him. He immediately narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the guard on the other side of the gate.
In some way, the maggot-faced man was somewhere hidden in the dock, escaping this guard's eyes—at least that was what Elmer should have been thinking. But he couldn't help but have a wary feeling toward the guard.
Was the accomplice thought he had had true?
If some Ascenders had escaped the Church's watch, like he'd done, then he had to start viewing every single person he came across with the likelihood of them being Ascenders. And if he went with that mindset, then the maggot-faced man being able to remain hidden in the dock might not be owing to his stealth skills, but rather due to the possibility that this guard was both an Ascender and his accomplice.
Elmer was probably just being paranoid, but he could not have any mishaps occurring tonight. It was better to be safe than sorry.
And with that he immediately came up with an idea.
"What's wrong? Quite a strong scent of nervousness you're filling my nose with," Eddie mumbled just loud enough for Elmer to hear, snapping him away from his mind.
Elmer had momentarily forgotten about Eddie's ability. Well, it didn't matter. His suspicion was not something he wanted to keep a secret.
He wiped a palm over his glasses, cleaning off the constant streams of the rain that had clouded it. He could barely see at this point.
"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about the guard," Elmer answered Eddie's question.
"And why is that?" Eddie asked another while he, as well, now looked at the guard with downed brows.
"I'm not sure… It might just be me overthinking things," said Elmer. "But I have an idea to prove whether I'm right or wrong."
Once Ms. Edna is done…
Eddie just sighed in response and left him to be.
Possibly because he had little enthusiasm to push for answers at this point in time. Elmer saw it as the man had instead chosen to wait for him to perform his brilliant idea. And that he motioned to do as soon as Ms. Edna turned sideways to them while dipping her license back into her pocket.
He had missed the rest of her conversation with the guard, but he was not bothered in any way. Judging from the way the guard had instantly put down his lantern and had begun to anxiously open up the side gate, all she had most likely told him was who they were and what they were here to do.
He was not buying the guard's actions though.
"A moment, Ms. Edna," Elmer voiced as he crept forward, his tone a tad too strong that the guard had to look up at him in befuddlement.
"What is it?" she asked, her countenance squeezing due to the rain causing countless streams of water to run down her face—it could also have been from her being confused though.
Elmer wiped his glasses one more time before he unbuckled his right sleeve and allowed the divination pendant he had rolled into it to dangle out.
"I'd like to first confirm if the corrupted one is truly here," he said with a low pitch. "And also… if he has an accomplice."