Chương 85: The source of all drama strikes again

Get out of there. She was running. Which wasn't wise in a place so infested by monsters, but what could she do? She had to make distance. The girl is a mind controller. She was panting, reconsidering again if she should drop the backpack, before shaking her head, and pushing further. We're sending a car to pick you up. But you must lose them before that. They can't know. A confrontation with that boy would be disastrous.

Her little miracles worked tirelessly, checking every nook and cranny, keeping her on a safe path. About a block to her left, a monster made of thorns and vines was hiding in a shaded alley. On the second floor of the house ahead of her everything was covered in thick cobwebs. On the next street, one of the shadows was darker than all others. She avoided them all, even if it was quite a close call a few times. It wasn't like in the Echo, where threats were stationary.

She didn't think that Dennis understood just how much easier he was making their journey, just from being nearby. I know it doesn't make sense, Mary. Doesn't feel like it. You have to trust us. Trust the logic. That girl is messing with your head. With everyone's. Lily was such a sweet girl. Troubled, yes, absolutely. Possibly traumatized like hell, which could only be expected, really, with the end of the world and whatnot.

Mary had no real idea what the girl was going through, but she could see clear as day how Lily was trying. She was kind, thoughtful, and concerningly mature. Funny, when she allowed herself to relax, which was a pitifully rare occasion. Snarky, in a good way. She reminded Mary of a lost kitten, and there was nothing more she wanted to do but to aggressively hug the horrors out of the girl until none remained. She wanted to make her happy, like she wanted to make everyone happy.

It could also, possibly, all be a lie. She didn't know. She couldn't know. Mary was hiding behind a dumpster, waiting for a pack of wolves to pass. She didn't see them, but her miracles did. She pressed her palm against her mouth to quiet her frantic breathing, and prayed that they couldn't just sniff her out. The quiet growls and the scrapes of paws against pavement got further away.

She counted to twenty before allowing herself to take a deep breath, waited a bit more for her heartbeat to calm down, picked up her trusty and totally magical staff, and moved on. It didn't particularly matter where she was going, as long as it was far enough from… Far enough. Her miracles would lead the rescue squad to her. Rescue squad. As if she was being rescued. It still didn't make sense. Which, in a way, made sense. Not talking to the girl because she didn't want to.

Going back to rescue Dennis despite having absolutely no means to contribute to that battle. Staying in that apartment to wait for the boy instead of going with everyone. Deciding that it was fine to leave Ellie and the girl alone and not push the issue just because she said so. Countless other little moments that made perfect sense for her, all became nonsensical to her friends after some time without contact. Mary trusted Lily implicitly.

Honestly, she was also warming up quickly to both Ellie and Dennis, both of them fascinating people with their own charm, even if she had to admit that it took some–a lot, but she was trying–effort to see Dennis' charm. But she also trusted her friends. And if they told her that she couldn't trust her own decision making, then… It was all probably some kind of misunderstanding. But still. What if it wasn't? So she was running.

Because in a world where magic existed, you didn't just ignore it when people warned you that you were being mind controlled. She had read way too much fiction to underestimate the danger. Mary trusted people easily, saw good in them where others looked away, but to live a life like that one had to be careful. She wasn't a fan of the 'trust, but verify' approach, but there was a limit to how 'naive' she could allow herself to be before placing herself in genuine danger.

Sure, most people needed just a little smile and kindness, but she could bitterly remember a few times where her kindness was clearly misplaced. One might think that it was stupidly dangerous to go out alone and risk being eaten by a random monster. And it would've been, except for the fact that Dennis existed, and Lily said that as long as Dennis was somewhat nearby, she wasn't actually in any danger. Being rescued by Dennis would kind of defeat the point though.

Unless he was also under Lily's control, and she could somehow break him out of it? How exactly were they supposed to break out of it? Evan had said that distance was the most likely cause. Get enough distance, and question your choices – that was how they had broken out of the supposed control, so that became the plan. Was she far enough already? Was there a time limit? What if all of it was just a false alarm and there was no control to begin with? Damn, that would be awkward to explain.

She summoned another miracle, sending an update about her position. They were on the way. / - /"A lone party member gets separated from all others for a mundane reason, and disappears without a trace," Dennis intoned gravely, doing his best 'impartial narrator' impression. He nodded to no one in particular.

"That makes total sense. She's dead."

"Isn't that a hasty conclusion?" El'el asked, still searching the area for signs of struggle or any other clues.

"It would sadden me to lose a new friend so early. I believe we shouldn't give up so easily." Lily was silent.

"No, you don't get it," Dennis shook his head.

"She got separated, and then disappeared. It's a bit weird that it wasn't during the night, but things like that happen all the time. She's deader than a corpse. Or getting her life-force sucked out of her by an invisible spider as we speak. Or maybe a clown? Invisible spider-clown." He paused for a moment, thinking about it a bit more.

"Probably." If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"A monster such as that is known?"

"Dunno," he shrugged.

"It could be?" Lily remained silent, looking listlessly at the road ahead. El'el continued pacing, worried, trying to trace Mary's steps in hopes of finding at least a small clue.

"There was no sound, no signs of battle," she kept muttering.

"Her skill should've warned her of danger. If I had something she treasured, I could've performed a minor divination… Damn it all, what could it…" To tell the truth, Dennis wasn't as unaffected as he tried to appear. For one, his skill didn't fucking trigger, which was worrying like hell. People randomly disappearing was also pretty fucking scary. And, well… Mary… He was trying not to think about it too much. Dodging dangerous thoughts was an art, and he was currently creating a masterpiece.

Trying to act like he didn't care worked surprisingly well. There was something profoundly simple in impersonating his usual self. Speaking of impersonating…

"Can't you do a Sherlock Holmes impression?" he asked Lily. Her head snapped towards him as he felt a wave of dread coming off of the girl.

"No," she said quickly, almost stuttering.

"Absolutely not."

"This really feels like the time to whip out those 'detective arrived on the scene' vibes, if you know what I'm–""No," she turned back, looking at the road. What the hell was so interesting about it?

"Please don't ask me."

"Why the hell not? Look, I may not seem like it, but I'm also maybe kinda sorta worried about Mary, and there's someone with bullshit reality-bending pretend powers right here, so–""Dennis," she snapped.

"Please shut up." Yeah, okay, it was becoming obvious that Lily had some weird hungups about her skill. Which he usually wouldn't mind, she could do whatever she wanted after all, the last thing Dennis cared about was what someone did and didn't with their newfound superpowers. But he kind of didn't see another way to save Mary, if she was even still alive. Invisible spider-clowns that bypassed his skill were a bit beyond him.

Dennis quietly approached the girl from behind, and stood upright beside her, looking far away at the same road. With his hand, he adjusted his nonexistent glasses.

"Detective," he said, lowering his voice, as if in greeting, trying to sound somewhat tired and burned out. Play along, will ya? He was pretty sure she was going to explode on him. Almost certain, really, there was a moment where Lily tensed and all he could feel was her screaming at him, but it was all in his head. Or, in her weird emotion projection aura? Her robo-self won, in the end. Lily just released a sigh, and slowly crouched down, hugging her knees.

"I'll get stuck again," she mumbled. Ah, so that's what it was.

"Again?" he asked.

"You mean– Wait, are you telling me that you were pretending to be dead all that time?!"

"You didn't know?"

"I kinda forgot to question it," he said.

"Thought El'el resurrected you or something." She chuckled.

"Figures," she mumbled.

"Anyway, there's no point in pretending to be a detective. I'm pretty sure she just ran away." El'el was standing nearby, listening attentively with a complicated expression on her face.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Her butterflies can carry messages," she said.

"She seemed worried after the last one. Your skill didn't trigger. You don't need a detective to figure out that she bolted. I– I don't think we should go to the city anymore. It was a dumb idea in the first place." El'el sat nearby, watching Lily like a hawk.

"Why?" she asked quietly.

"Why would Mary run away? What was it that made her abandon us? Why is it a bad idea to go to that place now?"

"B-because–" Lily glanced at the elf, and then at him.

"Because… It just is, okay? It's just… You know, you should all leave. I'll be fine on my own." Dennis hummed, narrowing his eyes. Lily averted her gaze. Everything she said made sense. He couldn't see any fault in her logic. It would be a shame to just leave her alone after everything, but, yeah, she would be fine. He should leave. Except, at some point during the conversation, Heroic Senses had picked her up as a valid target. The girl was completely fine. She also needed to be saved.

He narrowed his eyes further, almost closing them really, as he studied her with suspicion. He hummed louder. Lily looked away. He hummed even louder, prolonging the sound as much as he could. She shifted uncomfortably. El'el was doing her own suspicious humming routine, albeit with less humming and more magic. Glyphs were starting to shimmer around her as she was trying to cast some spell.

"Don't," Lily whispered, looking at the ground.

"P-please." The spell destabilized, before El'el shook her head in blind determination and tried again, her gaze not leaving the girl even for a moment.

"Hey, Lily," Dennis said quietly.

"Remember that thing that you were scared to tell me, so you decided to do that after I got my soul back? Now that I think about it, we never got back to it."

"A-and I will!" She turned to him, almost desperate.

"Just– W-when the moment is right. I'll tell you. I was going to! Just not now. I– I can't, Dennis. What if–" She choked on her own words.

"I can't." He believed her, of course. He was pretty sure she also believed herself. About meaning to tell him whatever it was, about looking for the right moment, and about her weird inability to actually do the thing. Considering who he was talking to, Dennis had a pretty good idea what was happening already. This was the same girl who stalked him for weeks with the intention of grinding together, and chickened out of admitting it who knows how many times before he finally caught her.

Not even 'caught', she was deliberately trying to get his attention, while simultaneously running away in invisibility at the last moment. With every glyph El'el created, Heroic Senses screamed at him louder. Obviously, Lily was running one of her mind control mastermind things again. That was a given, knowing the girl and her skill. Instead of pretending to be a little harmless girl, she was doing something else. Usually, he didn't mind. Who cared how other people acted?

She could pretend to be a frog for all he cared. But that was a No-Soul-Dennis thing. Now… Honestly, he was mostly worried about the girl. Come to think of it, wasn't she usually high on magical drugs, pretending to be happy? He couldn't remember her being happy for more than a moment since they got back on Earth.

"Is it villainous?" he wondered out loud.

"The thing?"

"I– I don't know?" the girl stuttered, looking anywhere but in his eyes.

"I d-don't think so, but…" Probably a little bit villainous considering the nature of her skill then, but nothing deliberately evil. He hummed louder, before nodding to himself and making a decision.

"Okay," he said. Lily tensed.

"Ellie, stop doing your thing."

"I must confirm my suspicion," the elf said seriously.

"If I'm right, we are–" He waved his hand through the glyphs as if they were smoke, breaking her concentration. She blinked at him in shock.

"It's fine," he said.

"I'm pretty sure I figured it out."" It is not fine. This is–""She'll cancel the thing once she stops being a chicken," he said, waving the elf off.

"Which, come to think of it, is probably fucking never, so… Lily?"

"Y-yes?"

"You have time before Mary inevitably falls into a pit and needs to be saved. Or half an hour, whichever is faster. Seriously, it would've been fine if it was just the two of us, but if you're weirding Ellie out and making Mary do dumb shit like running away on her own, that's… probably not okay. I think. So I'm giving you a deadline because you're a chicken who's gonna chicken out without it."

"And w-what–" Lily gulped.

"What happens after the deadline?" Physical violence.

"I'm gonna bonk you, obviously, until you stop being dumb," he said sternly.

"A-and if what I did is… wrong?" Physical violence.

"I'm gonna bonk anyone who overreacts." Lily nodded shakily, but he could see her suppressing a weak smile. Feel her gathering her resolve. Whatever he said was apparently reassuring.

"Okay," she whispered.