Valen caught sight of the mayor and Sheriff Galpin just as they walked through the morgue doors.
The steel door was closing, creaking on its hinges, when they moved in.
One sharp tug on Enid's wrist and they were through, slipping inside before the lock sealed them out.
The cold hall swallowed them in.
It was colder than outside, cold enough that Enid's breath puffed white. Her skin prickled as though needles of ice dug into her, she really disliked the cold.
The lights overhead buzzed faintly, casting a sterile glow across white tiles that stank of bleach. Beneath that, a sour smell lingered, rot, iron, the kind of stench that clung to memory even after you perfume it.
The mayor and sheriff moved deeper, their footsteps clicking hollow against the tiles, their arguing voice echoing throughout the hallway.
Valen tugged Enid back, holding her close to the wall. They couldn't follow without being seen... there were no things to hide behind.
The mayor and sheriff pushed another door and walked in.
Valen raised a finger to his lips. Enid nodded, though her curls bounced nervously and her eyes looked ready to bolt.
The reached the door, and he leaned forward and cracked a small line open.
Cold air licked his face, it was a refrigerated body chamber.
Inside, a man stood hunched over a body stretched on a metal slab. His shoulders curled forward, his hands arranging the instruments quietly.
A tray of tools glimmered in the light, scalpels, forceps, a bone saw. Every movement radiated the detached care of someone who had spent years elbow-deep in desecting bodies.
Valen narrowed his eyes, it's a coroner[1].
Wednesday and him would really get along.
And the body, it was the same corpse from the woods.
I knew it.
His focus sharpened, tuning out everything except the voices inside.
The sheriff spoke first, his tone gruff. "Reggie, I brought the mayor. Tell him what you told me."
(Image of Reggie Anwar)
Reggie removed his glasses, his fingers trembling slightly as he polished the lenses against his coat. His lips pressed into a pale line.
He waved them closer.
The mayor stepped forward, his eyes landing on the corpse and he froze.
His face hardened, but not fast enough to hide the flicker of revulsion that crossed it. Even after years of law enforcement, this sight struck deeper than he expected.
"What you see here," Reggie began, voice steady but grim, "is not humanly possible."
The words clung to the air.
He pointed with his glasses, tracing the body. "Limbs, pulled and torn apart. The stomach ruptured from the inside, and here-" He gestured to the blackened marks around the neck. "Handprints, something choked him... Hard."
The mayor swallowed. The sheriff's jaw flexed, but he stayed quiet.
Reggie leaned closer to the body. His voice dropped lower, as though lowering it could make the horror less real, "The body's drained. Not just blood, everything. Organs collapsed... muscles shriveled, the eyes gouged clean..." He took a deep breath, "Whoever did this didn't just kill him... they tortured and stripped him dry. And it was done fast... too fast for anything human." He finished with a serious face.
The mayor exhaled through his nose, his lips pressed into a flat line.
Reggie slid open a freezer drawer and the metal clanked faintly.
He glanced at the mayor. A curt nod gave him permission, and the corpse disappeared in with a hollow rattle.
"This still doesn't prove Nevermore's behind it," the mayor muttered. "Just because it looks supernatural... doesn't mean it's Nevermore's doing."
Sheriff Galpin smirked faintly, reaching into his coat.
He produced a battered notepad, flipping it open like a magician about to reveal a trick. "You sure about that? Cause the things I found say otherwise."
The mayor's head turned sharply, concern crept across his face, but so did curiosity.
Even Reggie paused mid-motion, his hand hovering above a drawer handle.
"All the victims we've found this week," Galpin said, his voice calm, "the ones who are butchered, thin like bones, or barely alive with amnesia, they share one thing... they have one thing in common."
The silence stretched, dramatic.
What missed the scene was a fucking drumroll.
Reggie slammed his hand onto the tray, making scalpels jump, "For fuck's sake, man- spit it out! I'm dying of curiosity here."
Galpin coughed theatrically. "Well, they all had ties to Nevermore. Not recent. Old. Thirty, forty years. Some worked there and others… had contact. But all roads point back."
The mayor's brows furrowed, deep lines creasing his forehead. His eyes clouded with thought, then sharpened again. "And this body? What have you found out?"
"That one is Mr. Lurn," Galpin tapped his notepad. "Veterinarian. His father before him ran the same clinic. And in 1990, Mr. Lurn here killed the dog of then Nevermore's headmaster... Silas Sane."
The name dropped into the room like a bomb, silencing Noble Walker.
The mayor stiffened. His eyes widened, then narrowed. The air seemed to constrict around him. He remembered that name. That man. That pale, severe man with the serpent's smile.
Back when he was sheriff, he had to tangle himself with Silas Sane due to the Garrett Gates case.
His voice came out rough, unwilling. "Silas Sane? That Silas Sane?"
"The same." Galpin nodded and snapped the notebook shut, "And most of the other victims trace back to his time."
The mayor dragged a hand down his chin, expression tight. Finally, he muttered, "I'll speak with Principal Weems... and I'll get back to you."
"But, sir-" Galpin started, but the mayor was already walking away.
Behind the door, Valen was still spying inside, he spotted the two moving closer and without hesitation, he seized Enid's hand and pulled her into the hallway.
Silas Sane… The name pounded in his head.
They came out to the street.
Enid gagged softly beside him. "That body- ugh! I can't get its face out of my head." She hugged herself tight, shuddering.
Valen's eyes stayed fixed forward. His voice was calm, but his jaw clenched, "I have a feeling... things are about to get wild."
*
The streets back to the café were calm.
A cold wind rattled through the trees, carrying the distant hum of town life. Grass danced across cracked sidewalks.
Valen explained everything to Enid, recounting what he had overheard the other night, when he was in the woods.
Enid's head dipped lower with each piece.
"It sounds dangerous," she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. "Why are you even getting involved in this? Shouldn't you leave it to the adults to handle it?"
They reached the café door.
Valen paused, hand on the handle, and looked at her. Her face glowed with concern and curiosity, cheeks faintly flushed in the light reflecting from the window.
Should I tell her? he wondered. But I haven't confirmed if it's because of this yet... Let's tell her when I'm sure.
So, instead, he smirked and winked at her, "Don't you think we should have at least one good story to tell our kids when we're old?"
Enid's blush deepened, she dropped her gaze quickly, mumbling something incoherent as her mind spun in wild circles. Old together? Is he- ohmygod- is he proposing already? Is he hinting at marriage? Is he going to show up with a ring tomorrow? What do I say to mom and dad!?
Valen chuckled, enjoying her fluster, pushing the door open, he stepped inside.
Only to collide with someone.
"Oh, sorry!" he said without looking up. "My bad." He brushed it off, too focused on Enid's reaction to care.
She's so cute!
But the boy he bumped wasn't having it.
A hand clamped down on Valen's shoulder. "Where you think you're going, freak?"
Valen exhaled slowly.
Great...
He turned, tilting his head and let a fist whistle past his cheek.
Without hesitation, he answered back, with his palm ofcourse, a vicious slap across the boy's cheek.
"Tsk, Begone Bitch."
"AHHHH!", the boy crumpled to the floor with a weird cry.
Every head in the café snapped toward them.
Conversations cut off. Silverware clinked back onto plates and heads turned.
Across the room, Alex had been mid-laugh, teasing a miserable-looking Xavier, when the thud drew his attention. Alex's grin died instantly. He saw Valen standing at the entrance, shoulders squared with eyes dark.
That expression... never meant anything good.
"Oh, shit," Alex muttered, springing to his feet, he had to stop him, before he does anything stupid.
Three more boys rushed to the fallen one, dragging him upright.
Valen's eyes narrowed, he slightly recognized them... the bullies from the series.
What was their names again?
Except he clearly recognized the 4th one, an major antagonist in the series, not just another hanger-on or another faceless pest.
And now, that someone was already stepping forward.
Tyler Galpin.
(Image)
His sneer stretched across his face like a wound. His friends steadied the dazed boy behind him, but Tyler's eyes locked on Valen with hatred that felt personal.
He cracked his knuckles, tilting his head and came a low snarl, "How dare you, fuckfreak?"
*
A/N- We meet the HYDE!
Milestone- every 400 power stones - a bonus chapter!!
[1] a public officer who investigates sudden, violent, or suspicious deaths to determine the cause and manner of death