Ch. 97: Reunion Of The Black Angel And The Ghost Detective
The old woman chuckled nervously, her shaky laughter doing nothing to disguise the fear radiating off her like heat from a flame. She had come back, why? I thought something might have been in the air but I felt nothing now.
I turned to the woman, I could see the tension in her frail frame, her bones trembling beneath her skin. Beads of sweat had begun to form on her forehead, betraying her terror. “Sorry for the joke earlier, don’t take it to heart,” she said, her voice cracking. “I am the landlady of this house, so I have to be uptight about the security here.”
I narrowed my eyes. What was she talking about? “Why not just hire a security guard?” I asked, my tone deliberately neutral, though the question itself was meant to dig deeper.
The landlady scratched the back of her head awkwardly, clearly caught off guard by my directness. “No thanks,” she muttered under her breath. “Why would I waste good cash when I can pay myself half the price to do the same job?”
“You pay yourself for security?” I repeated, disbelief creeping into my voice.
She nodded with an odd sense of pride. “The tenants do, but they don’t have to know that, do they?”
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Stinginess on a level I hadn’t seen before. “Is she in?”
At my question, a flicker of panic flashed across the landlady’s face. She quickly regained composure, but it was too late; I’d seen it. “She pays for the room, but I don’t see her much. Haven’t for months. But she paid last week, so… she’s not dead, I guess.” Her eyes darted nervously over my drenched clothes, as if the rain soaking into the fabric was a physical manifestation of something darker creeping into her life. “Would you like a cup of tea? A change of clothes?” Her voice wavered as she added, “It’s said when the god of the underworld enters a house at night, a soul departs by morning. I hope it’s not my soul you’ve come for. I still have dreams to achieve…”
I fought the urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. “What kind of half-assed belief is that?” I thought. But I kept my expression calm. “Do you have something in black?” I asked boldly, testing her even further.
She stammered, visibly flustered. “Uh… what?”
I chuckled softly, placing a hand on her bony shoulder. She flinched as if my touch was death itself, which amused me more than it should have. “Relax, old woman. I wouldn’t want to take advantage of you. Just know I have my own way of doing things.”
I left her there, frozen in shock, and moved swiftly to the nearest window. The rain outside had picked up, sheets of it pouring from the heavens. Without hesitation, I leaped through the open window and spread my wings, the white feathers catching the wind as I soared upward into the storm. The rain pelted me from all sides, soaking me further, but I welcomed it— it sharpened my senses, made me feel alive. I flew around to the window of her room and knocked gently three times.
No answer.
That wasn’t like her. Talos was the kind of person who would always be working, no matter the hour. She wasn’t one to be lying around lazily, not with her mind constantly in motion. I knocked again, this time a little louder, hoping the sound would break through the rhythmic hammering of the rain. Still no answer.
I frowned, then took out my smartphone and turned on the torch, aiming it through the window into the dark room. The beam of light cut through the shadows, illuminating the scattered mess inside. Papers, blueprints, and gadgets littered every surface, but no sign of her.
How long do I have to wait here? I was starting to feel like a stalker.
Just as I was about to give up and break the window, I felt a shift in the air. Someone was inside, moving towards me. I could make out her form from the window. She hesitated for a moment before a clicking sound echoed softly in the rain, and the window swung open, letting in the cold night wind.
Then I saw her.
Talos stood before me, her short dark hair tousled by the wind, her pale skin almost glowing in the dim light. Her glass-like eyes were filled with wonder and a trace of something I hadn’t seen in her in a long time—curiosity. But more striking than anything was that she was completely naked.
What in the world? Who works naked on a rainy night?
She didn’t seem embarrassed by her state of undress, though she clutched her arms to her chest as the cold air hit her. Her lips parted as if to speak, and her voice was soft, almost reverent. “Hades, you came. You really ca—”
I cut her off quickly, before this turned into some kind of awkward spectacle. “Go put on some clothes before you freeze to death, you dummy,” I said with a smirk, trying to break the tension.
Her cheeks flushed a bright red, this time out of embarrassment, and she turned quickly, her footsteps soft as she trotted away from the window. I chuckled softly to myself. She was always like this— so composed, so methodical, until something human slipped through her cracks. It was nice to see, even if just for a moment.
I slipped inside the room, shutting the window behind me. The room smelled of oil, metal, and old books— a perfect reflection of her, really. Nothing had changed since I’d last been here. Messy, chaotic, but full of brilliance. Though I did not know she was into gadjets.
“So why did you come today?” she asked from across the room, her back to me as she pulled on a black singlet. Her voice was casual, but I could sense the undercurrent of curiosity. “You must have been in the neighborhood or on Olympus, right?” She turned slightly, slipping into a pair of blue boxers. “And stop dripping water everywhere. I don’t want to have to clean up your mess again.”
“Yeah, I missed you too,” I replied dryly, watching as she finished dressing.
She shot me a look. “It’s not like it’s been a century. Why so serious all of a sudden?”
“I thought you might still be upset about Hephaestus,” I said quietly, the words hanging in the air like a storm cloud about to break.
Her entire demeanor shifted. Her hands paused, and she lowered her head. “Yeah… thanks,” she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Did you just appreciate me?” I asked, half-joking, trying to pull her out of the dark place I’d just dragged her into.
Talos let out a heavy sigh, brushing her hair out of her face. “Go change in the bathroom before you soak my floor, you idiot. I don’t even know where I left the mop after all these years.”
I rolled my eyes and muttered a curse under my breath as I headed toward the bathroom. “Lazy shrimp,” I grumbled, but the weight of our conversation lingered in the room, the unspoken memories of Hephaestus and the past neither of us could ever forget.
If I revive a magic castle I will mass release 10 chapters
