lilith. {series one}

the kaleidoscope secret. {part four}

Lilith would stare at a mystery like she was a lion stalking its prey. And sometimes those mysteries would just be a single wall with single clues and single dead bodies. She would watch them, closely, inspecting them from top to bottom until she found something. Anything. Lilith enjoyed this. She found it fun, although not a lot of ordinary people would understand. She didn't think there were a lot of things that ordinary people understood. She found it funny. Everyone always thought they knew everything and that they were the smart ones. The ones with the extraordinary ideas and the great observations and the supreme knowledge of the world. How adorable.

She thought she was doing a fantastic job at keeping her eye on the clock. She may hate them and their loud ticking and their endless reminders, but they did some good to the world. Doesn't mean she liked them any better, of course.

One minute Lilith was looking at photos of the dead bodies and the next the rose sitting on her table. It was quite a lovely rose with it's lovely petals and it's lovely colours. Once she said to Jade, "I don't understand why people keep growing flowers. It's not like they haven't started growing on their own before. It's a waste of time." And then Jade could only reply with, "There's a lot of things we do that you find a waste of time." And Lilith said, "I agree." Jade had looked up from her book and smiled faintly. "You'll learn to disagree." Lilith didn't think she ever would.

Then she frowned and a tremendous thought occurred to her brain, and she was grabbing her coat and dashing out the door. She did that a lot.

***

"And it appears he was out of town for a few days two weeks ago."

Jade frowned at the sheet of paper in her hands, then at the woman who was speaking to her.

She said, "Where did he go?" The woman, with her pale yellow hair and her gentle smile and her clear white freckles, only shrugged. The lamp sitting beside them on the desk flickered.

"Out to Vibe City. He arrived by plane, and came back two Sundays ago the same way. According to his schedules, he was out on work business."

Now this was some remarkably incredibly puzzling news.

***

Out somewhere in the center of the city, somewhere where many people would go around walking and talking and doing errands and doing whatever it was that those ordinary people would do. Lilith was very much used to this, all the hustle and the scurrying about like little mice. She was in the middle of the streets, right smack in the center of a buzzling sidewalk when she felt the back of another person run into her own as she turned around.

She heard someone mutter an apology but stop when they saw her.

"Oh, it's you," Lilith mumbled, somewhat dryly, as she laid eyes on the girl she so carelessly bumped into. Then she stared her dead in the eye as though she was telling her the utmost important information. "Think about it. Why would the Roses still be looking for the skull even after they successfully killed Marcus? The only other reasonable explanation would be that they felt their job wasn't done, which we know already. The Roses left me with a rose because they plan to kill me as well, just like they did with the man from the flower shop."

"Yes, but-" Jade scratched her ear.

"Then there's Demi, who seemingly is a perfect choice for an ally considering her job and her relationship with their target. What doesn't make sense is why they put so much trust into the girl."

"Okay-"

"Demi was lying to us. About everything. The roses are all fake. Extremely hyper-realistic fake roses. I can recognize them from Sky Toronto's party factory, they don't show evidence that they're fakes until you realize they don't start decaying. And Demi knew this. She was never hired to grow these roses because they weren't even real to begin with. She's a part of the gang, Jade. I did some digging and Demi Hilliard isn't her real name."