Gifted | Sleepy Bois Inc

Chapter Seven

I barged into Philza's office with all the bravado and audacity of a person who knew they were about to get slapped.

There wasn't really a "set time" for the job of being a bounty hunter. You sort of just went in whenever you wanted, did your thing, and tried not to get killed. The Heads had to actually work all day, though --- what with compiling bounties and checking through the list of hunters and maintaining a social image. 

That's why you could be walking in the streets and suddenly see a man chasing after another man, yelling swear words and waving a sword in the air. A perfectly natural occurrence.

But most bounty hunters (like me) preferred working under the cover of night. That was when bounties were most active, anyway. And besides, I had stuff to do during the day. Like not failing my exams, as a random, unrelated example.

"Philza," I said, raising my voice in the silent room. "I want to know who Lapis was going after."

Phil raised an eyebrow at me. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his eyelids were slightly drooped from exhaustion. He didn't look like he had the energy to deal with me at the moment.

All the more reason to continue. Looks like I wasn't about to get slapped.

"What are you doing here, Techno?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "You're supposed to be with Wilbur right now."

"I didn't want to sit around during his photoshoot, doing nothing," I responded. "Also, my brain miraculously decided to work and connected Storm's death to Lapis's."

Phil froze. He set down the papers he was examining and turned to face me, giving me his full attention. His gaze was suddenly more alert. "What do you mean?"

I folded my arms in front of my chest and frowned. "Lapis was after the same bounty you Heads sent Storm after, wasn't he? Storm died, so he became her replacement. Now he's gone as well. Who was he after?"

My adoptive father stared at me, and I stared back, unwilling to break eye contact. There was absolutely no harm in me knowing. So why were the Heads so secretive?

"His name is Smiley," Phil said, finally looking away. "His bounty showed up about a week before we sent Storm out, provided by an anonymous funder. No real name, just an image and a general idea of where he might frequently go. Because the bounty was so high, the image we put on the wall wasn't a clear one to discourage people from going after it. There wasn't any information on the bounty, like why he had a price over his head or whether he was a Gifted or not, so we sent Storm."

It made sense. Storm technically had control over two elemental powers --- air and water --- because she had control over weather. She would be the best bet against a bounty when you were unsure of their skill level.

"Why 'Smiley?'" I asked. "That's an odd name to give someone."

"It's because of the way he leaves his victims," Phil explained. "A wide, red smile across their necks, happy flowers painted around their bodies with their blood."

I narrowed my eyes. That sounded like a horrible way to go. Not only was this Smiley character skilled at killing, but he also disrespected the bodies as much as he wanted. An interesting combination.

"Apparently he's been causing ruckus all around the country for a while now," Phil said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Not big things, but enough that he's earned his name. The people who know him know that he's an excellent fighter. That's about it."

"Did you find the bodies?" I asked, referring to Storm and Lapis.

Phil sighed. "Yes. We've given them proper burial, but we're not releasing any photos to the public. I don't want to disgrace them any further."