Chapter 9: The Pattern
It's been a while since Thomas and his father has a bonding but then, Thomas became preoccupied by the things he discovered and experience. His father removed the trench coat he wore , there the black collared shirt his father wore showed. He approached his son and gave him a hug.
"Dad, I'm sorry I haven't been home for a while." Thomas apologized.
"It's okay."
"Dad, Are you okay?"
"Yes, It's just, another murder began yesterday."
"What?" Fred stood up shocked.
"Yes, another student a senior."
"What's the info about it?" Julie asked.
"It's a Senior, John Klein Montgomery. Sheriff and I studied the bodies and the pattern of the stabs were just the same. "
"Why are they attacking students?" Miss Finch asked while she moved her plate away from her showing that she lost her appetite.
"We don't know but I felt something strange about the students."
"Wickeds?" Julie suspected.
Alexander looked at Julie as if she was right. But on the other the others are still confused. Alexander sat where Fred used to sit. "Yes, they were."
"I'm guessing the Hunters are killing Wickeds to summon out the Shadow Caller of the Prophecy, or these specific Wickeds are part of a bigger plan." Alexander suspected.
The look on Thomas' eyes were in great shock when he heard his father said prophecy, he walked by his father and he stood closer to Fred and whispered on bis ear. "How did my dad knew about the prophecy?"
"I don't know. I was shock too, but for a bit. I mean he's one of the elder Wickeds and a prime Shadow Caller."
"Then, why didn't he tell me that before? About me or you know? A Wicked?"
His Father stopped talking and looked at him. He just smiled and with those precious smile he began to talk. "You two are forgetting something. I am a Wicked, I'm not deaf. My shadow spoke to me soon you'll master that. It's for your own good Thomas. If you knew your life will be worst than this, and besides gaining a Wicked ability by being inborn of a full or a half one takes time, ages 11 or 15 sometimes 5 or at birth."
"My life's complicated now, and I almost killed someone."
"Then let me teach you how to focus, how to control. Let me teach you how to become a Shadow Caller."
The look at Thomas' eyes showed joy and he his emotions mixed. Anxiety, sadness and joy combined, he was blank, but the moment he was about to talk a scream of a girl was heard. They all looked at the glass window and there stood a citizen who has her hand placed on her mouth to prevent her from screaming again, she was really scared and it was really obvious on the look on her eyes. But what they saw was nothing, there were no evidence of a body, or something at the direction the girl was looking.
Alexander stood up, and looked at the window harder.
"You can't look at it with a mundanes eye. Use your Wicked eye" Miss Finch said.
Alexander closed his eyes and focused on his inner self, his eyes changed into a glowing scarlet colored eye. Then a figure showed. Another student hanged on the tree. Fred and Julie also did what Miss Finch said. Julie covered her mouth and Fred, he exclaimed an O my god.
"What is it?" Thomas questioned, he never knew what the others saw, but then his father looked at him. "Focus, this the first thing you should learn, clear your mind and feel your shadow, feel your inner Wicked, it will change your eye color."
With that Thomas shut his eyes and focused. The murmurs at he heard were combining in his head, screams, whispers and voices he never wanted to hear. He tried and tried. "Try focusing on your center, on the one thing that can calm you, think of Artemis." Fred suggested.
"Thanks." He said while his eyes were shut.
He tried focusing even more and he started to imagine Artemis' face, her clumsiness and the first smile Artemis showed him. He started to calm and slowly opened his eyes, his eyes changed in a much brighter scarlet colored eyes. He looked at the glass pane and he saw a student hanged on the tree. "I see it."
"Congratulations, you have your first eye changed. Now try returning them to normal, same process, but you must feel yourself being human." His father told him.
Thomas shut his eyes and again he tried focusing on Artemis, it has no use, he tried again, and again, and again. It has no use.
He then changed his strategy, he felt his love for Artemis, his willingness and it worked. He opened his eyes and it turned back to normal.
"That took you so long, but it's normal." Julie said.
"Thanks for the compliment, did anyone called Sheriff?" Thomas asked.
Fred just nodded a yes, and they all went outside and crossed the road, good thing it was clear outside and there was no traffic, they stopped by an oak tree that stood in front of a shoe mart. They Alexander approached the lady, "Are you a Wicked?" He asked.
"I am, I'm just walking over here and bumped on something, I was curious so I opened my eyes saw an Unseen hanged with stabs."
The girl said.
"We'll take it from here, the Sheriff alone is near."
"An Unseen, I haven't seen these before, just heard it from tales." Fred said.
"Unseen?" Thomas curiously asked
"Core Class Wickeds, they are very rare and special ones, have the ability to be invisible when they hold their breath." Julie explained.
"Then why will they be invisible if they can be seen by Wicked eyes?" Thomas asked.
"They can only be seen by Wicked eyes if they are dead." Miss Finch said "That's how I knew it was an Unseen when a girl shouted and there were no visible evidences."
" This must be a pattern." Fred suspected.
They all just looked at Fred. "What? I watch how my father work"
"What pattern then?" Alexander asked.
Before Fred can answer a police car stopped by in front of them, the door opened and there showed Sheriff Sanders with a matching cap in his head. Fred just smiled and back to what he was about to say. "Okay, there were 4 things detectives should know in a case, first an accident, second a coincidence and the third a pattern. This unseen is a pattern for sure."
"It can be but before that let's removed him there so his lungs can receive air so that he can be visible." Sheriff ordered.
Alexander volunteered himself to do the job, " Hey don't forget to cover your prints." Sheriff added. Alexander just smiled and his hands started to turn black, his shadow never showed fingerprints and with that he climbed on the tree and removed the noose tied at the neck of the student.
The student was down but he is still invisible, Sheriff knelt down and gave the students' lungs air. "Dad ew, that's disgusting." Fred said to his father.
"This is part of my job and I'm getting used to it."
The body became visible, it was a male student and there were blood on the shirt the dead student wore. There were exactly five stabs similarly placed on it's body the same placement like those of the first two bodies had. At the middle, at the bottom of the left chest near the ribs, at the top of the bellybutton, the upper right chest corner and at the neck.
"Holy Friday the 13th" Fred disgustingly said.
"Exact stabs, a Wicked and a student, probably a pattern." Sheriff agreed.
"What kind of Wicked was Marcus?" Thomas asked.
"A Moon-Cruiser?" Sheriff answered.
"How about Montgomery?"
"Hyperior."
"A Moon-Cruiser, a Hyperior and an Unseen…"
"A Shadow Caller!" Julie excitingly answered.
Everyone looked at her. They looked questioned. Sheriff turned his attention on the witness while the others think why.
"A Moon-Cruiser is a Runner a fast one, a Hyperior is Core a strong one." Julie explained in details.
"How about this guy? He's also a Core." Fred said.
"A Core yes, with the ability to be invisible, to be unseen, like a Shadow Caller. So the abilities of a Shadow Caller is present if all of their abilities are combined."
"Julie your brilliant! So Mr. Smith was right they want to summon out the Shadow Caller!" Fred said.
"What other abilities do we have?" Thomas asked directly to his father.
"To shape shift."
"Then that maybe the next victim." Sheriff suspected.
"Woah, among a number of people hear at Hoverdrive what is the possibility to find a Wicked who is a Changeling plus not to mention look for them without being suspected by others?" Fred insultingly asked.
"We don't have to find one actually, There is one Wicked who is willing to sacrifice himself for something not to mention the prophecy, The Rising? Might be their king, General Shade. Luckily that Wicked is a Changeling, A Grine Hunter" Thomas proposed
Everyone looked at each other, Thomas expected the others knew who was talking about but it took time before they find out who.
Thomas just stared at them, ready to give up to them, but as he is about to say who. "Coach Lee?" Miss Finch got the answer right.
"Man that took time." Thomas said.
"Wait, speaking of Coach, why did he lied about the meeting?" Fred asked.
"He didn't, he looked like he really forgot. That actually only meant one thing. His memory of that day has been erased and I'm guessing, A Memorant did it." Julie suspected.
"You got a point Harpson, principal Hugh also suspected that." Miss Finch said. The three were froze for a while, they didn't expect that one coming. They never knew that Principal Hugh was a Wicked too. "What? You didn't told your kids the school's principal is a Wicked?" Miss Finch asked the parents present that time. "Son of a Breathing Wicked, uh, Yes kids, Principal Hugh is a Wicked. He is a Mind Mover, a Telekinetic Wicked. He never uses his abilities nowadays, only for emergencies." Miss Finch added.
"Wow, the school's principal, a Wicked? Man that's just, boom, a 'mind moving' and blasting one. Get it?" Fred unbelievably said.
"Man, there are so many secrets in this town." Thomas whispered.
"We are wasting time, I should train you Thomas, you should be ready if you really wanted to face your fate and try to change it." His father advised.
Sheriff looked at Alexander proudly. "What a thoughtful father, haven't seen that for a while since…" Sheriff cut off his words as he heard his son cleared it's throat. "Sorry."
Thomas looked confused but he didn't mind it, his Father called everyone's attention and asked everyone to take a rest while he and his son will head home and train, practice and get ready for what can happen soon. The team took their routes and separated ways.
The Sheriff and his son together with Julie entered the car and drove off, before they took off sheriff honk and took the road. Miss Finch took the alley between the barber shop and the food stall nearby, she removed her gloves and touched the garbage lid that is placed on the ground with her bare hands, as it flew she jumped on it and balanced herself a bit and flew up, she then jumped off it and over the rooftop of the barbershop. Minutes later she just disappeared. Alexander and Fred walked home together like a bond between a father and a son that he hasn't felt for a while now.
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