Eternal Chains

EC 76: Kidnapped

Thalia's funeral was held with only their close relatives and some friends. Xander stood at the corner and watched them mourn. He arrived and gave his condolences to the bereaved family before going to the coffin to get a last glimpse of Thalia. Just like before, she remained beautiful like the description of brutal did not appear on the news. This must have been done by her family to cover what had happened to her.

"I did not expect this to happen to her. I admit that she's annoying but she did not deserve to be killed or rather no one deserved to be treated like that. It was a good decision that the family decided to restore her face," Carl commented as he stood with Xander.

"This only means that the killer is not discriminating with their kill. I'll need to increase Xerra's bodyguards from now on."

Cartnan was not as peaceful before and Xander don't want to expose his sister to such violence. He knew that it was not convenient to have so many bodyguards but Xerra needed the extra protection.

"If that's your decision then you should let them hide from a distance so as not to distract Xerra," Carl suggested because if he were in Xander's situation, he would also do the same. Xander nodded and the both of them stayed for another half an hour before they bid the family goodbye.

The atmosphere inside the car did not change and it remained gloomy which made Carl uncomfortable but Xander on the other hand was silent and lost on his own thoughts.

"By the way, Mr. Crellac is requesting for a meeting regarding the art gallery," he informed Xander since the information was relayed to him.

"I understand. I'll let Lillian set up a date and inform Mr. Crellac, for now I think I need to go home and rest for a while. This week had not been good..." he trailed off and sighed. Ever since that morning, he was not feeling well. It was as if his body was being weighed down by something he doesn't see and his mood had been unstable for the past days.

"Okay," Carl did not say any more as they dropped him off at the vacation house where they were currently staying. "Rest well."

The house was silent and felt lonely but that did not matter to him because all he wanted to do was to lay on his bed and close his eyes. He walked up the stairs and followed the corridor that led to his room where he removed his coat and the moment that he passed by the mirror he was suddenly startled. He walked back to stand in front of the mirror but he saw nothing abnormal on it. He frowned and remained standing there for a minute before he shook his head and headed to the bathroom.

A black smoke appeared on the mirror just after he left and a face suddenly appeared on it wearing a sinister grin. Xander thought that it was only his imagination but something sinister was with them. The thought of the black smoke did not cross his mind again after that encounter but that ominous thing remained.

His days passed by as always and the world continued to move and people eventually forgot what had happened just a few days ago but the investigation was still going on. The stalking had also stopped for a while and Xander has not received or felt anything weird around him which made him sigh in relief but little did he know that it was only the prelude to something bigger.

It was a normal day for him and for all the people around him. He even sent his sister at school and went to work. He even met with Mr. Crellac and discussed the current construction of the art gallery since he wanted to add something to it. After talking extensively about it, they finally agreed with the added design and Mr. Crellac was satisfied with it.

"Thank you for accommodating my request, Engineer Castillo." Mr. Crellac shook his and Carl's hands after the meeting. "I'm also satisfied with the current work and I'm really impressed to see that there was much progress even though I was gone for quite a time."