Chapter 109: The Cellar Again

The lanterns were unlit, and the amusement park was dead. The rides had ceased, and only crickets laughed in that late hour. Sliding from shadow to shadow, I stalked the clown restaurant. I reached the back door and found it closed. I used [telekinesis] to draw open the bolt without a sound. With the utmost care, I pulled the door open. It was pitch black  inside. The cooks were gone, and Reem was asleep upstairs. I closed the door behind me and created a [lightning] ball the size of a pea. With a pea-sized light as a guide, I descended to the cellar.

***

“Reem.” A caramel-skinned man shook the woman lying beside him awake. “I think I heard something.”“You were dreaming,” Reem grumbled and turned to her side. “Go back to sleep.”“Didn’t you hear it? Like a door opening?” Her fiance insisted he wasn’t dreaming.“Go back to sleep,” she grumbled.“Hm.” He huffed and smashed his head on the pillow. “I know I heard something.” A hushed moan escaped him.

He couldn’t sleep anymore. His ears became too attuned to the noises below. “You should go check it out,” he moaned, but Reem was asleep again. He tried to stay in bed, but he couldn’t; the noise bothered him too much. “Fine, I’ll go check it out.” He slipped on his slippers, donned his  robe, and left the room to investigate.

***

Someone had blocked my bottles with another one. So I had to use [telekinesis] to move the bottle of wine out of the way to pull out my potions. Three bottles were in the air when the light came on. “What?” I muttered in surprise. I almost dropped all three bottles, but thankfully, I caught them the moment before they shattered. I sighed. The sound of footsteps and the creaking stairs jolted me to my dire circumstances. I had no time to put the third bottle back on the rack, so I placed it on the floor, retrieved the two bottles that were mine, and extinguished the pea-sized ball of light. “I’m screwed. Fuck…” I grumbled and searched for a spot to hide. I crawled behind the barrels and squeezed into a nook.I heard a man’s voice mutter, “Did they come down here?” And after a pause, he added, “Didn’t I see a light?” I sighed in relief when I realised it wasn’t Reem. I watched him from behind the barrels with [look-a-look]. I followed his footsteps with my ear and held my breath… “Who left the…” I heard him mumble. He was standing in front of the bars that protected the expensive stuff. I couldn’t quite tell what he was doing, but I heard him opening the bars, and I guessed he had noticed the bottle on the ground. “I know you’re in here! I can smell you!” He announced after putting the bottle I had left on the floor back in its rack. He was being too loud. My ears filled with the sound of my pounding heart. I was afraid Reem would show up… “I might be a man, but I have [dog-sense]. I can smell you. I know you’re in here…” Are you fine admitting that? I screamed in my head! If the church or the state finds  out… “Come out and surrender, and maybe my fiancee’ll go easy on you.”  Like hell, I could do that! He wasn’t lying; he could sense me… and was slowly encroaching toward me… I was in a panic! Thinking quickly, I used [telekinesis] to bang against the stairs and created the impression that I was running upstairs. “What!?” He spun on his feet. The moment his back was turned, I rose out of my nook and shot him with a bolt of [lightning]. “A,” he choked before losing consciousness. His eyes turned white, and he fell stretched out on the floor. He fell with a loud bang and caused my heart to beat even faster. I had only used enough volts to stun him, so he’d be fine in a few hours.I held a hand over my face and ran up the stairs, ready to fight my way out if I needed to… though if things had gone wrong… Thankfully, no one was upstairs, and I was able to run out the back door.

***

“Oh! Kan, I heard that!” Reem jolted up, then turning to her side, she learned her fiance was gone and thought, “Oh, it was you…” She collapsed back down on her pillow. “So annoying…” She could no longer sleep and waited for him… But when he didn’t return after ten minutes, she began to worry… “Kan!” She yelled with no response. “Goddess dammit.” She put  on her slipper and donned her robe. Annoyed, she stomped down the stairs.The light was turned on in the basement. And she began to reprimand him even before she saw him, “What are you doing in here? Come back to-” She was startled when she saw him on the floor. “What happened!?” She screamed and ran to him.“I’m all numb,” he moaned, struggling to move his limbs.“Who did this to you!?”“I don’t know. I didn’t catch her face. I feel like I was struck by lightning.” He managed to sit up.“Lightning…” She tried to recall all the people she knew who had lightning powers. “Cipa. But why would she…”“No, it wasn’t Cipa.” He shook his head. Why would one of Silva’s most loyal members sneak into the cellar?“Right.” She agreed; it was unlikely. “Don’t try to get up.” Reem stopped him and picked him up. “I’ll go get the doctor.” She said as she  took him up the stairs to their bed. “Then I’ll let Silva know…” Her nostrils flared, and her brows crunched. “We’ll get whoever did this to  you.”“This wouldn’t have happened if you’d listened to me,” he nagged.“I’m sorry,” she admitted and put him down on the bed.“Well, as long as you understand,” he smiled.“You’d rather get shocked than be wrong,” she muttered.“What was that?”“Nothing, honey.” She beamed. “I’ll go get the doctor now,” she chimed and ran out the door.

***

I was frightened out of my mind when I reached Marmar’s trailer. A decision needed to be made, to use the potion right then and there and abandon the points, or continue with the plan. Of course, I chose to continue with the plan. Reem’s boyfriend hadn’t seen me, and Silva wasn’t the type to kill; she’d rather break your will. As long as she doesn’t know about the tattoo removal potion, even if she finds out about today, she’d reason I snuck in to steal more wine. So with that in mind, I dug a hole behind Marmar’s trailer and hid the bottles. With [telekinesis], I was able to conceal it perfectly. “I’ll be fine. I’ll  be fine.” I repeated to myself. I filled my head with every positive  thought and possibility I could muster and reentered Marmar’s trailer. She was still asleep.I washed my hands and gave myself some good advice, “I should get some sleep. I’ll feel a lot better after a good night’s sleep.”

While I slept, they began their investigation.

***

“Who’s knocking at this hour?” Silva turned over, annoyed.“Make it stop,” Barbar, her husband, complained, pulling the sheet over his head.“Fine.” She threw the sheet off and sat up with a yawn. She put on her eyepatch, which was lying on the bedside table and made her way to the door. She opened the door and grunted, “This better be important.”“It is,” Reem assured.Silva’s gaze shifted from Reem to Nia, who nodded. “Fine, come in.” She left the door open, wobbled over to the drawer, and slipped on some panties.Reem burst into the trailer and cried, “Someone was in the cellar.”“Again? What did I tell you about leaving the door open?” She stretched and twisted her body as she strolled to the sofa chair.“No, the door was closed!”She crashed on the seat, crossed her legs, and warned, “Don’t yell. Barbar’s trying to sleep.”“I’m already up.” A grumpy voice came from under the bed sheets.Silva smirked before turning her attention back to the two ladies in front of her. “So, what did they steal?”“Ah… I don’t know.”“You don’t know?” She raised an eyebrow.“Ah… It doesn’t look like they took anything, but that could’ve been because of Kan. They attacked him.”“They attacked him, not you?”“Ah… that is… I was in bed.” Reem avoided her eyes. “I thought it was just in his head. I mean, he’s always jumpy.”“You let your man go alone to be attacked…”“Ah… that is…”“Never mind. So, did he see who attacked him?”“No, but he said he’d be able to tell using his [dog-sense].”“Right, you’re dating that one with the sniffing fetish.”“I’m engaged!” She exclaimed, clenching her fists. “And it’s not a fetish… I think.”“So what does he want to do? Go around sniffing everyone?”“Ah…”“I was thinking of writing up a suspect list and letting him sniff them. It’ll be better than having him sniff everyone.” Nia reasoned.“I see.” Silva nodded.“Plus, it could’ve been someone from the outside.”“Another one like Sheryl. Two in one week.”“It could’ve been Beans. She’d been stealing food from the kitchen. She thinks I haven’t noticed.” Reem suspected one of her cooks. “Maybe she needs another beating.”“Hmm…” Sliva meshed her fingers and rubbed the pads of her thumbs together. “Make the list. Your fiance and I can interrogate them together. Would that satisfy you?”“Ah… yes.” Reem bowed.“Alright, then I leave it to the both of you.” She gave Nia a meaningful glace. She trusted her.“Alright, let’s go, Reem. We have a list to put together.” Nia gave Silva a friendly bob and left the trailer.“Ah, yes!” Reem chased after her.“Now I won’t be able to fall asleep,” Barbar complained, popping his head out of the sheets.“Well, what do you want me to do about it?”