Secrets and Things (MxM)

Chapter 27 - Do you need friends?

I gave a small chuckle and replied, "Sure."

"Anyway, we usually do it like we did with your employee but one planned and organised last minute. Plus, doing it the other way around would have a greater impact on Murphy since he really cares about what people around think of him. So it kind of just worked out. As for why I went through this process faster... you could say I have some sort of timer. I'm reaching near the end of said timer by now, hence why I'm kind of in a daze right now."

"Timer? Timer for what?"

"Just... a timer."

Ok so he's not cooked enough to elaborate on what timer. Must be top secret. Let's just move on then. "I'm assuming your minimal time for preparation is the reason why you're not wearing another silicone mask?"

"Ding, ding, ding."

"But then why are you changing your voice this time? I'm pretty sure you didn't last time..."

"Wow, you're really curious about me aren't ya? It's definitely a first. Or maybe I'm being interrogated so you can pass this onto the police."

"Who wouldn't be? And I'm not going to lead the useless guys to you. It's waste of time and taxes. Although, it's not like they're doing a great job with our taxes right now anyway."

"No idea. Don't meet enough people. Also, preach sister. To answer your question, I've actually met and interacted with him before. I don't remember whether I've talked to him before but I didn't want to risk the chance of my voice being recognised."

"Interesting..." I gazed towards the other member and linked up all the similarities. I was so in-depth of my analysis, I accidentally blurt out,

"Yeah... you definitely remind me of someone... A bit too well. It's almost as if... you are him."

The boy wasn't fazed, as if the words meant nothing to him. "Oh, is that so? Care to explain who and how you came to this conclusion?"

I didn't expect him to actually indulge himself in my comment. Doesn't he want to hide his identity anymore? No, he would've taken off the mask then. Then is he confident that I'm most likely wrong? "There is quite a lot actually. Now that I think about it."

Demon boy remained silent, quietly urging me to continue.

"Well first of all, your manner of speaking is similar to this certain person."

"That's quite vague. A lot of people talk like me. You're the odd one out, with your posh, British accent and semi-convoluted sentences."

"I hope you know; I do not speak poshly or complexly and I am currently very offended. But I am going to ignore the jab like a mature adult and move on. Secondly, the height similar to each other."

"Again. Way too fucking vague. There is a lot of short people, thank you very much. Got anymore?" The boy was looking extremely bored and began messing around with his nails. Time to step it up.

"Why, I do actually. In the same spot as your seal over there, the person in mind has bandage in its place instead... always. I've never seen him without it. Now it could be a serious injury but don't you think it's too much of a coincidence for it to be just an injury?"

He shrugged a little. "A coincidence. Nothing more. I don't hide my seal when I go out. Why should I hide who I am? I'm proud of it, even if others detest me for it. Evil magic is fun in my eyes."

"You could be lying about never hiding it."

"I could be... but could you prove otherwise?"

"... I guess not."

"Then case closed."

"I still have one more. The person in mind happens to have a really close friend who he seems to confide everything to. But that's not the important fact. That friend of his seems to have a lot of power over the internet as well as have many connections. You also seem to have a partner with similar qualities. From what I've seen so far, I've concluded that it's that sidekick of yours that releases all of the information. My point is, it matches up a bit too well."

The other man hopped down from the table and dusted himself off. He stared at me with blankness but my eyes didn't miss that his shoulders being tenser than 2 minutes ago and the clenched jaw. "Leonardo. A lot of people have best friends... you do know that, right? How lonely are you that you don't know that common fact?"

He sure knew how to get on my nerves. "I am NOT lonely. I do have a close friend for your information."

"Great. But the accusation is bullshit. Do you have proof that the so called friend of a friend has links with people and power of the internet?"

"Well, no. That's why I said seems."

"Then everything you just said is baseless hypothesis. It doesn't hold."

I remained silent and scrutinised him. No, it doesn't hold technically. But you just got really defensive. Probably by accident. Maybe my wishful thinking isn't all that far-fetched after all.

"Now I have a simple set of questions for you." Mystery man moved to the shattered opening and stood at the edge, looking at me.

"Oh? Is it my turn to be interrogated? How exciting."

The other man rolled his eyes in response. "This man you have in mind, at least I hope it's a man or else you're doing a horrible job at this guessing business and need to go check out your eyesight. Anyway, this man you have in mind... is he an Oddity user?"

"He is."

"And do you know what it is that he possess?"

"I do actually. I've seen it in action as well. It's the ability to manipulate shadows."

"Now... is it not common knowledge among us very special people that each person can only possess one Oddity in their lifetime?"

I got the gist of where this was going and said nothing. The other interlocutor went on anyway.

"Tell me Mr. Leonardo Covell, does my Oddity seem to be shadow manipulation?"

I scowled at the man and growled, "Don't patronise me, demon boy."

"Ah, so you do know. And I was not trying to patronise you. I asked you a simple question and you answered indirectly. My Oddity is indeed nowhere near shadow manipulation. It's much darker and much more evil. It'd be nice to have a less taxing power like that though. Regardless, in conclusion, the person you have in mind is not me and with that, I am going to leave."

He faced the outside and summoned his magic to morph it into his wings. Even though it was pitch black, the wings made him look like an angel (with the help of the glow from the moon). A fallen one. Before he jumped off though, I declared,

"You may have proven a point this time and gotten away but I'm not going to stop. I will uncover who you are... for the sake of my curiosity."

He just laughed without looking back and flew away, but not before saying, "Haven't you heard? Curiosity kills the cat, Mr. Leo."

Still staring where he once stood, I muttered to myself, "Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not afraid of death."