cHApTEr 16. on vAcATion (1 of 3)

Not long after that, Kevin called everyone to gather in Erinel’s room. The greanrips had something to share, but they had to wait since the guests couldn’t hide their amazement at the sight of the meadow and the teak tree growing in the middle of it. Mioray could understand why they were so taken aback. Even Amika and Jean couldn’t hide their astonishment.

“Lokiel and his friends will stay with us for a few weeks,” Erinel announced once the admiration settled. “They will help with soulwork, but otherwise nothing changes. They will operate on their own, and our work continues as usual.”

“So the situation with the souls of the dead isn’t very good after all?” Mioray asked.

“Don’t worry, my friend,” Lokiel replied instead of Erinel, wearing the triangular grin that was beginning to get on Mioray’s nerves. “You are not to blame for your underperformance. Otherwise there would have been no need for us to come.”

“Are you mocking us?” Farah stepped forward toward the greanrip, her arms crossed. “I’d like to see you prove that first. I’m not saying Mioray isn’t useless, but you should know he doesn’t represent all of us.”

She just had to add that last part, Mioray thought irritably.

“So what are you proposing, young lady?” Lokiel’s green eyes flashed with predatory interest.

Farah’s stare was just as defiant. She slowly reached for the zipper of her puffer coat, but before she could do anything, Kevin stepped in.

“Nothing,” he said. “We’re not here to fight. You’ll have plenty of time for that outside.”

Mioray unwillingly glanced at Amika, only to find her grinning ominously at him. Was she still thinking about demolishing him?!

“Besides, that wasn’t everything Erinel wanted to say,” the lawyer added.

Erinel sighed, her gaze fixed on the far wall. It was unusual to see her so downcast. Mioray cursed inwardly, convinced he was partly responsible for her mood.

“Thank you, Kevin,” Erinel said with a polite smile. “Indeed, there is something else I want you to know. Two weeks from now, don’t make any plans on the weekend. We’re going to the hot springs.”

Mioray nodded in understanding.

Hot springs, right. Earlier that day, or rather yesterday already, Erinel had mentioned wanting to visit hot springs, and Mioray had even offered to go with her. So the announcement wasn’t entirely out of nowhere. It sounded perfectly reasonable.

“What?!” Farah exclaimed, letting Mioray off the hook, because he had been about to react the same way.

“Well, I can’t say no to that,” Kiriya said instead, her reaction completely different. She even looked excited, her eyes shining brightly.

The others remained silent, keeping their thoughts to themselves and waiting for further explanation, since nothing was really clear yet.

“Sorry, love, but we’re not going,” Lokiel said, placing an arm around Kiriya’s shoulders. “Turns out it’s quite expensive. Money matters, the most ridiculous thing humans ever invented. Anyway, we’ll stay in the city and keep watch while Erinel and her little friends take some time for bonding. It seems to me they’re in dire need of it.”

Kiriya’s shoulders slumped.

“But I have some good news too!” he added quickly. “They’re going to pay us generously for the work we will do in the city! Turns out having a rich man in your ranks can be quite handy. If I ever get my hands on another resurrection serum, I’ll definitely use it on a billionaire, and then we can simply get rid of him with the blade. Am I right, Erinel?”

Was that a jab at Terry? There was no real need to wonder. It was definitely a jab at Terry. Lokiel was implying that Erinel had chosen the racer only for his wealth and then disposed of him when the time came. That simply wasn’t true. Mioray had been there when it happened. He had seen Terry lose his mind, mutating into a beast with wheels for limbs. It was a terrible memory, and Lokiel dared to twist it further, showing no respect for Terry at all.

Mioray stepped forward, but froze when Erinel called out to him.

“Two weeks works for you, Mioray?”

The question caught him off guard. Had she drawn attention to him to stop him from doing something rash?

“Why me?” he asked, suddenly aware of many eyes turning toward him.

“Didn’t you say your exam session was coming up soon?” Erinel raised a brow. “I thought it was important to you. I don’t want to interfere with your schedule.”

Was he mistaken, and she was simply being considerate? Mioray felt his brain melting.

“Yes, two weeks is fine!” he hurried to confirm. “I’m all good!”

“Then it’s settled,” Lokiel concluded, clapping his hands. “You’re free to go now. Let me catch up with my dear old friend here.”

He meant Erinel, but his impudent green eyes drilled straight into Mioray. For crying out loud, what was this stupid bowl cut’s problem?!

Mioray hurried for the exit, avoiding everyone’s gaze. He had already drawn far more attention than he ever wanted. Now everyone will think Erinel had arranged the hot springs trip around his availability. She hadn’t asked Farah or Mia whether they would be free in two weeks, even though both of them had jobs. So what was she thinking? Was it a genuine wish to bring Mioray along, or some petty retaliation for him losing the mask?

“Hey, you!” someone called after him as he jogged down the corridor. “We need to talk.”

He turned and saw Amika coming after him, her hair shifting dangerously under Jean’s fedora. Great. What did she want now? Follow Kevin’s advice and go fight outside? Hadn’t she had enough at the residential complex?

“Relax,” she scoffed, her shoulders trembling with amusement. His thoughts must have been written all over his face. “I’m not going to bite. It’s just a talk.”

Mioray shrugged and invited her to his room. It was clear she wouldn’t leave him alone until she got what she wanted. Better to deal with it now than spend the next two weeks avoiding her. And if she was bluffing, at least she would take him down in his own room. The memory of her ambush, his feet severed by her hair, was still fresh in his mind.

“So?” Once they stepped inside, Mioray walked around the sofa and leaned against its back, keeping the piece of furniture between himself and Amika. “What did you want to talk about?”

Amika took her time answering. First she looked around the room, a trace of uncertainty crossing her face. She was probably surprised by how bare it was after seeing Mia’s place or Farah’s, if she had been there. To someone who didn’t know his circumstances, Mioray’s room could easily resemble a prison cell.

“I was told you were killed by my husband,” she said at last, still scanning the room as if trying to piece together Mioray’s character from what little was there. It wasn’t much to go on: a sofa, a desk, a few plastic crates filled with books, a bicycle, a projector and screen, and some electronics scattered here and there.

“Did Lokiel finally decide to share the whole story?”

“Your friend Farah told me.”

Mioray snorted. Farah had been reluctant to talk about her own death, yet she had no problem revealing how others died? Especially how Mioray died, given the grudge she seemed to hold.

“Well, it’s true,” Mioray said bluntly. “But that’s not why I took him out. I didn’t do it out of revenge. Your husband turned into something sinister. He was killing people left and right. We had nothing that could stop him except the Cursed Blade. We sealed his soul inside it to make sure he couldn’t kill anyone else.”

“Do you know why he became like that?”

“Sort of.” Mioray began picking at small pieces of black fabric that had melted into the burned flesh of his arm. “It has to do with our emotions, how we experience them in our undead state. They exist only on a mental level, completely detached from physical or chemical reactions. If they overwhelm the mind, the soul breaks or something along those lines. After that, the body mutates. Something similar happened to our friend Terry.”

Mioray shivered as he remembered the last time he had seen Terry, barely recognizable, frozen in ice by Farah’s power and trapped in Matt’s amber resin. He had screamed like someone possessed, desperate to finish the race he had died for.

“We don’t know if it’s possible to bring someone back from that condition,” Mioray continued. “When I faced Herman for the last time, it looked like he briefly regained his senses, but the monster took over again almost immediately. During that short moment of clarity, he said he had been looking for you.”

Amika clicked her tongue in frustration.

“I’ve made a mistake,” she said regretfully. “I wanted to see Herman one last time before I left the city. I climbed the wall with my hair and stopped in front of the window. Herman was asleep, but he woke up because of the noise I made. I hid right away, but I guess he caught a glimpse of me. If he did, that might have planted the idea in his head to look for me. I led him to his death.”

“He might have died either way,” Mioray said, ignoring the flinch that crossed Amika’s face. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but Herman was in debt. Some loan sharks threw him out of a window. If anything, the search for you gave him a second chance. It led him to the Order and the resurrection serum. Locking him up and turning him into something that rampaged through the city, that’s on them.”

“How did that happen?”

“We can only guess. Most likely he escaped using his explosive ability. After that, already unstable, he started searching for the undead by killing people, dismembering them, and collecting their left arms. After he killed me and realized I was Restored, he mutated into that gigantic form of his.”

“Did he kill the people who murdered him?”

“No. They were caught and sent to prison.”

Amika shook her head and clenched her teeth.

“Damn it, Herman, why would you do something so stupid?” she snapped at her dead husband. After a moment she drew in a slow breath. “We were always struggling financially, even though we both had jobs. To earn extra money, I participated in various clinical trials. At the time, the Order of Mercy was running their own. It looked suspicious from the start. I had to sign an agreement to stay home for twenty-four hours after taking their serum and to consent to observation in their facilities, with no clear deadline. I agreed anyway because the payment was generous. The best I’d ever seen. That one trial was supposed to keep Herman and me afloat for a few months.”

Another piece of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. So that was how the Order recruited people to become Restored. No wonder they had those Restored in yellow hazmat suits working for them.

“How did you get away from the Order of Mercy?” Mioray asked.

“I didn’t,” Amika said with a shrug. “They never got the chance to take me. I took the serum and died a few hours later, before I could even get home.”

“From the ischemic stroke?”

Amika looked genuinely surprised.

“How did you know about that?”

“I have a friend in the police. She was investigating you,” Mioray said, pleased to see he had managed to startle her. “She suspected that was the cause, and it looks like she was right. I just don’t see how it connects to your hair ability.”

“Have you ever heard of beauty parlor stroke syndrome?”

“No. Never.”

“Neither had I,” Amika laughed. “At least not until I died. A week before I took the serum, I went to a hair salon. While they were washing my hair, my neck stayed bent back for too long. Apparently that kind of hyperextension can tear a blood vessel and form a clot that leads to a stroke. I doubt the Order of Mercy expected me to die so soon after taking the serum. When I woke up, I was already in the hospital, so I just left and that’s when I ran into the greanrips.”

Huh. That felt like déjà vu.

“What about your grave in the cemetery?”

“That was the Order’s doing. They stage the deaths and funerals of their subjects, then erase all publicly available information about them.”

Natalie had said it was almost impossible to gather information about either Amika or Herman Clopton. Now Mioray knew why. It had been the Order’s cover-up all along.

He looked at Amika, standing there in her rust-colored shirt with the hole in the shoulder where Jean had shot her. She and Herman had not had an easy life. Or death. Both of them had been victims of the Order’s experiments. There was something deeply sad in realizing that the Order of Mercy had torn them apart, leaving them unable to reunite even in death.

“Was he really a monster?” Amika asked, her voice steady.

That steadiness gave her away. Mioray could tell she was trying to hide her pain behind a mask of strength. He sighed. In a way he pitied her. And Herman too. But that wasn’t a reason to soften the truth about what Impact Corpse had done.

“Besides me, sixteen other people were killed by his hand while he was known as the Dismantler. After my death he killed my friends, along with many others at the university. Then he massacred the police force sent to apprehend him at the abandoned factory where he was hiding, and more innocent people while escaping. I suppose those Restored in hazmat suits in the back alley don’t count, since they were technically already dead. So I’ll leave it to your judgement whether he was a monster.”

For a minute Amika stood in silence. Then she stepped closer. Mioray backed away until his shoulders hit the wall.

“You’re an asshole, you know that?” she said, stopping beside the sofa.

“It takes one to know one,” Mioray shot back. He couldn’t help himself. The night had been full of humiliation for him, much of it because of Amika. She had cut off his feet and impaled his hands. He had lost his belongings because of her, most importantly the mask Erinel had given him. Because of that, his relationship with Erinel might take a turn for the worse.

Amika pulled something from behind the waistband of her jeans and tossed it onto the sofa. Mioray looked down.

It was his mask.

It was no longer the clean white and blue it had once been. Ash had darkened it to grey and black, and several of the crown-like twigs had burned away. But it wasn’t destroyed. In the middle of their fight, Amika had made sure to keep it safe.

“You mentioned the abandoned factory,” she said coldly, in a businesslike tone. “Can you tell me more about it?”

Mioray shifted his gaze from the mask to Amika, struggling to understand how the situation had turned around so suddenly. Was he the bad guy here? He had every reason to be wary of her and angry after what she had done. Yet he had still agreed to talk with her. And somehow now he felt guilty. Mioray couldn’t read Amika at all. For all he knew, this might just be another trick to lower his guard before she struck again.

“It’s an abandoned furniture factory on the left bank of the Xyst River,” he said.

A bittersweet smile appeared on Amika’s face.

“I know the place. Even as a monster Herman kept his memories. When we were younger, that abandoned factory was our safe haven. We spent most of our time there, and it’s where he proposed to me. It was our special place.”

Without another word she turned and left.

Mioray waited a few seconds, then let out a breath, hopped over the sofa, and collapsed onto it. He picked up the mask and stared at it absentmindedly.

Life was hard. Death was turning out to be even harder.

For the next two weeks Mioray focused mostly on his exams and rarely saw the other residents of the storage facility. He also paused his John Doe activities for the time being. His wounds were healing neatly, and he bought a new phone using funds from Terry’s account that Kevin was managing.

Kevin had also made an interesting proposition. He offered Mioray a position as his paralegal to assist with legal work. Mioray hesitated at first, but the extra income wouldn’t hurt, so he agreed.

Even though he wasn’t spending much time with the others, he still knew what they were up to. Matt spent most of his time with Niles, endlessly fascinated by his ability to see without eyesight. The boy played games while Niles “watched,” and they studied together under Mia’s and Saria’s supervision. Niles had never attended school because of his difficult life, so there were gaps in his knowledge that were normally expected to be filled by fourth grade.

Mia eventually accepted Kiriya’s offer to help her improve on bass guitar, and from time to time they jammed together in Mia’s room like a fledgling underground band. Their sessions were short, though. Mia had a day job, and as it turned out, Kiriya had taken a part-time job as well. Occasionally Mioray spotted her on the streets wearing a pink dress, handing out flyers to passersby and inviting them to a club party scheduled for the end of June.

In a similar fashion, Farah found Amika a temporary job at the clothing store where she worked, and the two women began spending time together both during and outside work. Mioray tried not to bother them unless necessary. Judging by the interests they seemed to share, he had little doubt that hating him was one of them.

It seemed that these days everyone was busy either with a normal job during the day or with soulwork at night. Only Jean, the lone wolf that he was, kept searching for souls regardless of the hour. Saria explained that Jean alone guided half as many souls as the rest of them combined. She and Mioray concluded that Jean must be either an exceptionally smooth talker, a very patient listener, or both, if he had no trouble earning the trust of the souls. After all, it wasn’t as if he forced them through the portal to the realm between realms at gunpoint.

Saria had become Mioray’s closest companion during those days. He wasn’t sure whether Erinel was avoiding him, but he hadn’t seen her once during those two weeks, and she hadn’t asked him to participate in soulwork. From what he heard, Lokiel was constantly at her side, which only made Mioray more irritated. He had hoped for a chance to speak with Erinel in private and explain what had happened to the mask, but that opportunity never came.

Together with Saria, he met Natalie once at a coffee shop. After spending ten minutes scolding Mioray for his arrogance, the detective listened to what had happened during the fire and about the new Restored appearing in the city alongside Lokiel. The conversation then turned to how Lokiel had figured out that Impact Corpse was Amika’s husband in order to orchestrate his manipulation. Saria explained that Lokiel shared the news about Herman's death using his full name, so if Erinel had been sharing the news with other greanrips, she must have told them everything. And if Lokiel knew that Impact Corpse, whom Mioray had sealed with the Cursed Blade, was Herman Clopton, it would have been easy for him to connect the dots and realize Amika Clopton was his wife.

Aside from that, nothing particularly significant happened during those two weeks. The exam session passed quickly, and before long it was time to prepare for the trip.

Borrowing the spacious car that Lokiel and his companions had arrived in, Mioray and the others traveled to a place called Relefe Thermal Baths. It was one of the more famous hot springs in the region, visited by people from several nearby cities. The baths were located on the mountainside, with multiple hot spring sites spread across the area. At the foot of the mountain stood a small tourist village, along with several hotels for visitors who wished to stay longer.

Kevin had booked two rooms for the weekend, one for the girls and one for the boys. As they unpacked, Mioray still felt as if he were in the middle of a fever dream. After everything that had happened, the trip felt… too normal. Matt happily chewed on a lollipop and wondered aloud about visiting the village to try the sweets sold in the local shops. Kevin listened with his usual sulky expression. Although the lawyer had organized the trip, he seemed the least interested in enjoying it.

“So, what are you guys planning to do today?” Farah asked when they all gathered in the hotel gallery.

“I want to go to the village!” Matt replied immediately.

So far, it seemed that only two of them truly enjoyed the change of scenery. Well, maybe Mia too. She wore a strangely blissful expression.

I want to go hiking. I’ve read there’s an interesting trail here with stunning views, she signed.

“Yeah, we’re doing that today,” Farah agreed, though her voice sounded rather flat. “Tomorrow is reserved for the baths only, though.”

Mioray glanced at Erinel. For someone who had been eager to visit this place, she was unusually quiet. Instead of joining the discussion, she stood by the windows, staring at the mountain forest behind the hotel as if lost in thought.

“Hey, Erinel,” he called cautiously. It was the first time in two weeks that he had spoken to her directly. She slowly turned toward him. “Everything alright?”

She looked at everyone one by one, as if making notes in her mind. Mioray noticed Kevin adjusting his glasses.

Nothing about this trip is going to be normal, is it? Mioray thought.

“I’m sensing a Soul Collective in the area,” Erinel finally said, breaking the silence.

Everyone tensed up. So much for the vacation.

“I’m afraid we should deal with it first before indulging in any leisure,” she added.

The last time they encountered a Soul Collective, most of them had ended up on the verge of collapse. Mioray had no desire to face another one, certainly not now. It had been naive to think they would never run into one again, but why now, of all times? He just hoped it was a harmless one, made up of only two or three souls.

“I’m going to check the village!” Matt said suddenly, jumping up and grabbing Mioray by the arm. “Will you come with me, Mioray?”

“Okay,” Mioray replied, stumbling slightly as Matt pulled him along. The boy really wanted to roam the village streets that badly, huh?

They divided the nearby area among themselves, and before they set out, Erinel shared her spiritual power with them. Then Mioray and Matt headed down a narrow trail that led toward the village.

“I’d have loved to bring my parents here someday,” Matt was saying as they walked. “There are so many places in the world I’d have liked to visit with them. We went on a trip once to another city. I don’t remember the name, but it had this huge water park with so many slides! I tried almost all of them, but some had height requirements and I couldn’t go on them because I wasn’t tall enough. That was a few years ago, so maybe I’m tall enough now? I hope so. If we ever go back, I want to try every single slide!”

He kept talking about that water park and other theme parks he wanted to visit someday. Mioray listened only half-heartedly, nodding and asking the occasional question. His thoughts were elsewhere, drifting from one worry to the next without settling on any solution. There was too much on his mind – Lokiel’s arrival, Amika’s hostility, Erinel’s distance. The Soul Collective could not have chosen a worse moment to appear.

Mioray should be following Matt’s example and relax a little. The boy wandered through every shop in the village, taking his time looking at toys, souvenirs, and different kinds of sweets. At one point he even convinced Mioray to step into an arcade. Apparently the village had one of those too.

Later, Matt bought himself a fruit popsicle. It wasn’t entirely clear whether his body would tolerate it, but Mioray checked the ingredients and it didn’t seem to contain any real fruit. It was probably safe, though Matt still looked a little nervous. He took a cautious lick, then waited a few seconds. When nothing happened, they continued walking, and Matt finished the popsicle with obvious enjoyment.

Since it was a summer weekend, the narrow streets were crowded. The bustle added to the festive atmosphere, and even Mioray felt himself relax a little as he watched people enjoying their day. If the Soul Collective was somewhere nearby, it certainly wasn’t in the village. Maybe the others would find it first and send it on to the afterlife. After the disaster at the burning residential complex, Mioray wasn’t eager to rush into another crisis.

They continued wandering through the streets, looking around at what else the village had to offer, when Matt, distracted by the sights, bumped into someone and fell to the ground. Mioray moved to help him up, but the man Matt had collided with reacted faster.

“Sorry, little fella. Are you okay?” the man asked.

Matt looked up at him. The words stuck in his throat. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even move. He froze.

The man did the same.

Mioray looked at both of them and immediately understood what was wrong. He cursed under his breath. Matt and the man looked far too similar. Both had crystal-blue eyes, medium blond hair, slightly plump cheeks, and the same small sharp nose. The resemblance was unmistakable.

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