Chapter 12

　　Wednesday Morning, Lump Day

　　To say that Maria was somewhat anxious about today would be an understatement, akin to saying Star Wars was a somewhat successful movie. Maria wasn`t just anxious, she was flustered, panicked, and above all not ready for today. Still, she decided that today she would do her utmost to lay low, not get noticed and stay with her sister for the whole day.

　　Granted today should be different from the past. A case in point was the fact that she had, according to her own internal map, been able to make it so the entire community surrounding her Washington High was safe and secure. The monsters and creatures that were supposed to spawn today and had spawned in her previous life had all been cleared up. At least, they shouldn`t be able to produce anything that would go against her wishes. In fact, as far as she was aware, the nodes would not be able to produce anything at all, other than mana that would affect people on a spiritual level. Even the more aggressive fire and earth aspected energies would be gone, meaning that the safe area should be a calm nexus in the storm that was going to come. Yet just because everything should go smoothly, doesn`t mean that it will go smoothly.

　　The school day started like every other, well like Monday, as she had been absent, as she had been at the doctor`s office yesterday. And while her mother had argued that Maria could stay home today and continue to rest, Maria felt she was a little too anxious for that to happen. On a side note, her soul tattoo, the one displaying her true name that she would use to properly cultivate had healed. Now it just looked like a few odd black lines that mostly blended into her shoulder blade, at least that is what she was able to notice when she tried to view her own tattoo in the morning after her nighttime escapades, where she killed the various node holders. While the different node holders had followed her to the real world for cooking and enchanting related items, she had been under a time crunch and was unable to remove said creatures from the area. Also, she wasn`t sure, but she believed there was something about leaving the bodies of the old node holders behind, so their body could be reabsorbed by the node to help them grow and mature faster. Again, it was all sort of fuzzy in her mind, but she did feel that there might be some truth to that idea. At least, that was another reason she had for leaving the dead and slaughtered rats, snakes, and a goat behind. The rooster she might have gone back for, but figured something likely got that creature, as everyone loves chicken. So she had done a great job, creating a suburban safe zone, and there was nothing to remind her of her success. Well, there were the two lucky rabbits feet that she had managed to retrieve from Anita`s waste bin, but that was something different. Soon, Anita will be able to realize that it wasn`t meant to be a cruel prank, and that she really had only the best intentions for her sister.

　　"Your shoes are wet." Anita said, looking at Maria`s still wet chucks.

　　"Oh, I guess they are." Maria said, she hadn`t expected them to be otherwise, Maria was not a flame aspected warrior anymore, and had not even touched a whiff of fire mana, thus there would have been no way for her to have dried out her chucks from the time of her shower when she got back and washed away the grime from all those slaughtered animals to now.

　　"How did they get wet?"

　　"With water."

　　***

　　Anita just stared at Maria, wondering if she had once again been made the brunt of a joke, one that she could not for the life of her understand, nor fully comprehend. Finally, after a few moments of staring, Anita realized Maria had gone off into her own little world. As she watched, she noticed how the normally calm and sedate sister she knew suddenly changed before her eyes. Watching her, Anita saw signs of nervous energy coursing through her.

　　"Everything okay?" Anita asked, a note of concern filling her voice.

　　Hearing the question, Maria`s slightly bouncing body stopped still, as she turned to look at her sister. "What? Yeah, of course."

　　Anita watched her sister and couldn`t help but feel that something was off about her. She had been off since she awoke suddenly on Monday morning, and while Anita had managed to put many of the concerns away after her visit to the doctor`s office yesterday, where their mother oversaw her tests and the doctor pronounced her as healthy, Anita was still worried about her. Particularly with the fact that at one-point last night, she could have sworn that she saw Maria get up and exit the house through their window.

　　The whole act had been so odd that at first, she discounted the idea as just being a strange hallucination. She remembered looking over, seeing her sister`s sleeping form in the blankets on her bed. At least they were what she thought of as Maria`s sleeping form, and not wanting to wake her in the night to let her sleep. Only to be awoken a few hours later by the sound of running water. At first, she thought it had been their brother Juan, but no, looking at him, it was clear he was not prepared to job search at all today.

　　Part of Anita wanted to harp on him for that, but right now, the bigger concern for Anita was her twin sister, for if it hadn`t been her sister`s form that she had seen last night, then didn`t that mean that her sister might have actually gone out the window to do what exactly? Then to go immediately to take a shower. At the very least, if she had been in the house, then how had she managed to sneak past her, on her way to the shower. Her sister was normally as loud as a buffalo trampling on a drum set, but this morning, when she apparently got up, she had been so quiet as to not even awaken her. That or, if she left last night, the only reason she even noticed that something was off, was due to the sudden cool breeze that rushed into the room.

　　At least that is what she thought. But she had been there, listening for a sudden fall, or a crash, something to indicate that her sister had dropped down from the awning outside their room, but there was nothing. In fact, the only sound her sister made now was the random squishing sounds her shoes made, as she walked through the house and to the car. In fact, the shoes had been so incongruous with her overall silent movements, that her mind alerted to it almost instantly as being off. Only now, after several moments of intense observation, did the reason for why that sound stood out so much to her make sense. Her sister had become a graceful dancer almost overnight, or at least since Sunday night.

　　The bad thing was, she was so normal, so comfortable to be around. Now it was as if she had been replaced by a near complete stranger.

　　Screech.

　　The car ground to a halt right within the student parking lot. Without a question Maria grabbed her stuff and got out, while Anita couldn`t help but cringe slightly at the abuse her baby was being put through by their dead-beat brother.

　　Anita too left the car, not saying a word just like Maria, though she did happen to look in the rearview mirror and lock eyes with Juan, during that look they both said everything and nothing. The baseline look was clear, watch out for her. If something else happened to her, like another ditch scene, they would both be miserable. Then there was the second layer of conversation that the two had with that stare, the one that spoke to the fact that they were both worried about their sister. With a crisp nod and an intake of breath Anita rose from the seat and exited the car.

　　As she got out, she looked to see that Maria had already begun making her way through the crowded student parking lot. As she walked, seemingly unobservant about her environment, Anita couldn`t help but notice the way an over grown energetic puppy made his way towards Maria.

　　"Hey." A nervous Mark Price said, still as awkward and goofy as ever. But now he seemed to have changed, now he seemed to have both somehow cleaned up, while also looking terrible. His normally greasy face has been scrubbed clean, but now he looked like he hadn`t slept a wink these last few days. Then again, Anita had told him her reason for not being at school yesterday, that she was at hospital. "Are you okay?" He asked when Maria didn`t answer.The author`s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

　　"Yes, thank you." Maria said, then began walking away, as if talking to a complete stranger.

　　There was a complete moment of shock in Anita, as she watched her just go past him with little more than a cursory greeting. The poor boy scanned the parking lot, looking to see something. At one point Anita swore that he locked eyes with her, and that is when she turned to duck her head away.

　　"Oh, this is so awkward." Anita hissed to herself.

　　"I know." Juan agreed.

　　At that, Anita paused, realizing that Juan was still here, still watching their sister as she made her way towards the school.

　　"Hey, why are you still here?"

　　At that Juan just cocked his head to the side. "Isn`t it obvious, mom made me swear that I would make sure she entered school grounds."

　　"Oh, wow, that sounds terrible." Anita said.

　　"Not so much really, as it at least means I don`t have to go job hunting today." Juan admitted.

　　"You don`t?"

　　"Nope, I am to be yours and Maria`s personal chauffeur today. If you two go to the practice fields, I am to sit here and wait for you all to return." Juan said.

　　"That is, wow." Anita said.

　　"Ah it`s fine, got nothing better to do."

　　"Yeah, you do, you at least need to go and take a shower." Anita said, looking at her bedraggled brother, who looked like he had crawled through an all night binger, after staying up all night while cramming for his final exams.

　　"Yeah, fortunately, she is all your job until end of school, which is when I was planning on leaving and taking my shower." Juan admitted, touching his shirt and seeing that there was some form of grease stain on his clothes.

　　Shaking her head, Anita was sort of jealous, their older brother got away with everything. Though it did feel better for their golden child older brother to be taken down a peg or two.

　　Anita backed up and was about to leave, so her brother could get out of the parking lot without clipping her, when she was stopped.

　　"Wait, you have to tell me, what is happening to Maria?" Mark Price, lost puppy love and apparently the former boyfriend of Maria`s asked, a note of desperation in his voice.

　　"Weren`t you the one thinking that you wanted to end it with her not two weeks ago?" Anita asked, recalling a private conversation that he had told her in the strictest of confidences.

　　"I had, but that was back when she was super clingy. Now it`s like she looks at me and just sees me as less than dirt." Mark admitted.

　　"Maybe that`s because she thinks you cheated on her with Marissa." Anita shot back.

　　"You told her?"

　　"I would have, if this farce went on for too long, but fortunately, I didn`t have to, as she apparently noticed you for the scum you are." Anita said, finally feeling vindicated for being able to tell off the annoying hopefully ex-boyfriend of her sister`s off. She had been so infatuated with him before that the one time she tried to tell her of his cheating, she wouldn`t hear it, and they didn`t talk for a week afterwards. Now at least they were talking, even if it was at as near strangers, that was still better as it meant she would no longer trouble herself with trash like this boy anymore.

　　"How did she find out? I had ended it with Marissa, we were done. I was finally going to settle down for her." Mark said, disbelief clear in his throat.

　　"Hey, want me to tell you how to get her back?" Juan asked, still sitting in the driver`s seat, but having heard everything.

　　"Yes, tell me?" Mark said, as he moved closer.

　　Juan gestured with his hand for the kid to get closer, as if he was going to tell a secret.

　　"Okay," Mark the stupid puppy said as he moved forward, not seeing the look of thinly veiled rage that was coating Juan`s eyes. By now, the boy was within inches of Juan, who was still sitting in the driver`s seat, with the window of his door fully down so he could communicate easier.

　　Anita knew what was going to happen, and almost thought about warning the poor boy, almost. But then, her brother acted before she could even explain what was going to happen.

　　WHAM!

　　The sound of a car door slamming into the bean pole of a kid could be heard clanging out throughout the parking lot.

　　"Oh, my goodness. I am so sorry. I didn`t see you there Holms, here let me help you up." Juan said, having slammed the door into the skinny kid`s face. Then with a clawed hand, Juan reached down and grabbed the skinny kid by his collar bone and all but yanked the kid to his feet. Juan was strong, say what you will about him, he was a golden child for a reason, three sport athlete, more than intelligent, but he had just gotten through a very bad relationship where his girlfriend of the past three years cheated on him. This of course, caused a huge bout of depression in the boy, who now saw in this boy, a slight means to release some of the anger he felt towards his own ex. Only after realizing that, Anita silently cursed herself, damnit, she thought as she realized this could turn poorly.

　　Juan hoisted the boy to a full standing position in a second. To most who were watching, it could very well have appeared to have been an accident, a slamming of a door that now had a Mark shaped indent in it, and the man now standing over the teen.

　　"Juan, I think he is able to understand his misdeeds at the moment right, he won`t cheat on anyone anymore, especially not Maria, if she should ever deign to give him a second chance, right?"

　　There was a moment where Juan just stared at Mark, not saying a word, not that he needed to as his posture and the fact that he still had a death grip on the boy`s collarbone spoke volumes.

　　"Right." Mark gasped out, as he fought through the pain that he was now experiencing.

　　There was a moment when it looked like Juan was about to say more, that he was about to do more, but then he took in first one full breath, then a second, before nodding to himself. "Right, seems you already know the lesson, don`t cheat on my sister," Juan said as he let the suddenly shaky boy go.

　　Juan looked like he was about to reach out to pick up the boy once more, but Mark quickly righted himself and took a step away, "understood sir."

　　Seeing that, Juan got back in the car, shaking his head. "I don`t even see what she saw in a pansy like him anyways."

　　VROOM!

　　With that Juan started up the car and made sure to say, "sorry about the door. I didn`t see you there." Juan said, once again, before speeding off out of the parking lot.

　　With that it was just a very visibly injured Mark, who stared at Anita.

　　"I take it you all hate me now?" Mark asked, a bit of concern finally lacing his words, as he finally seemed to realize that he annoyed a lot of people by his actions.

　　"No," Anita said, letting out a sigh, and she meant it.

　　"You mean it?"

　　"Of course," Anita said with a pause, then continued her thought, "I`ve hated you ever since I saw you cheating on my sister, tool bag."

　　Anita was already walking away as she delivered her line, but she couldn`t help but watch the boy out of the corner of her eyes. There, on the way out, Anita felt pure justice, granted it took her sister nearly dying and being resurrected, and a likely physical assault charge against Juan to accomplish, but the boy finally seemed remorseful. Honestly, Anita tried to care, I mean it was clear that he now had feelings for her and was clearly sad about what he had done, but it was too late. Sometimes you can`t fix something once it is broken; you can only grab all the pieces and hope you can assemble it back together in a coherent way. Just as she was having that thought, her mind skipped ahead towards the actions of her sister, and how she might be doing right now. Had she been broken somehow? And if so, how could Anita help her pick up the pieces? Did she find out about Mark, and that is what drove her to the deep end? Or was it something else entirely, like a mini stroke? Anita had read up on those, saying that they could happen to anyone at any time. Honestly, she was glad that mother made Maria go to the doctor`s yesterday, if only to rule that out. But if it wasn`t a stroke, and she was beyond healthy by all standard tests, then what exactly was wrong with her twin sister?

　　Screech-swerve.

　　The sound of a car peeling out of the parking lot could be heard, Anita looked up, hoping that she had been mistaken, but there peeling out of the parking lot was her brother Juan, and her now slightly dinged up dream car that had been hers and her sister`s, until Juan came back. Still, she was glad that Juan finally proved to be useful for once, if only to get that punk Mark Price to back away from her sister, speaking of which&

　　A slight feeling of dread filled Anita, as she realized she had let the girl, her disassociated twin sister, loose in the halls without supervision. This was a thought that that suddenly caused her to be frightened beyond belief, as she remembered the dream she had for the last two nights, of Maria chasing after bunnies and hitting her head while falling into a ditch.

　　"Dang it." Anita said, as she suddenly started springing into the school, desperate to see if she could somehow catch up to her sister.

　　***

　　Detective Erin Quin of the Washington police department made her way towards the school. On her way in, she saw a car seem to notice her unmarked car and peel off in distress. Normally that would be enough to pursue, but today Detective Quinn had bigger fish to fry, and she had been up most of the night.

　　Click.

　　"Dispatch, this is Detective Quinn."

　　"Detective Quinn, this is dispatch."

　　"I have a light blue hatch back heading south on main street away from the High School, driver is driving erratic."

　　"Roger that, we will send a patrol car to investigate that now."

　　"Roger, let it be known that I have come to Washington High and am going to begin my investigation into the ongoing animal cruelty case."

　　"Roger, update as needed."

　　"Over."

　　Click.

　　Detective Quinn killed the feed to dispatch before she could hear the final response. Normally that was something she wouldn`t do, heck normally seeing a speeding suspect, she would turn around and give chase immediately, but today something felt off. It was as if every fiber of her being was telling her to be here, right now. Being a cop for so long, you begin to trust your instincts, and right now everything was telling her to track down this lead.

　　For a second, she wanted to reestablish communications, to see if they got anything that linked the slaughtered animals, maybe a local farm or something, but then thought better of it, no, there will be other times when I check in, Detective Quinn thought to herself.

　　With that, she let out a breath, and began the process of continuing her ongoing investigation into who would ritualistically slaughter innocent animals. Her gut was telling her that it had something to do with her, she also had her first lead. Or maybe, her first victim to interrogate, pulling up her notes, she looked at everything she had once more, then looked at the name of the person she would ask for.

　　Name: Maria Alvarez.

　　Age: 17

　　Reason for Contact: Possibly saw suspects related to animal slaughtering.

　　Current theory: Believed to have stumbled upon sports team`s plans, while waiting for her sister. Then got knocked out and left in a ditch. This was Monday. Taken to hospital on Tuesday, given everything that happened to her, unlikely to be suspect, but should know who the suspect is.

　　Seeing her notes to herself, Detective Quinn nodded, and exited her unmarked vehicle, ready for wherever her investigation would take her.