The Sisters: The Curse of Gabriel's Gardens

The Goblin Thief

The snow in Gabriel's Gardens didn't last long, but its mere presence on Christmas day was enough. The following months were calm and peaceful, interrupted only by a few customers whose haunting was either fake or caused by a wandering ghost which could be easily sent to the other side. Alexis and Anna used it to strengthen their relationship, Diane was glad for a time to rest without any stressful events.

The end of April was coming; that meant the sisters' birthday, which was on April 30th, was close. The girls spent some time trying to find out something about their mother, but they weren't successful, mainly because they had no idea where to start.

They started to settle with the fact that the search was futile until they find some sort of pointer.

On the brighter side, their sisterhood got a brother. After the Christmas celebration, Augustus finally opened up a bit and gave up the image of a prickly nerd... well, mostly.

"Ah, I love spring," Diane said and opened the window to let in some fresh air. The temperatures were pleasantly warm, but the best thing about spring in Gardens were the flowers. The city was, despite its strictly modern nature, covered in large, beautiful flowerbeds which were the most prominent near the Angel Square and here in Serenity Square. Upon opening the window, the room filled with a pleasant, fresh smell.

"Wish I could say the same," Alexis muttered and blew her nose.

Diane tried hard to hold back laughter. "Allergy?"

"There's nothing funny about that," Alexis said.

The fair-haired girl looked miserable. Her eyes were red and swollen and her nose looked like the girl was drinking excessively. Even though Alexis also enjoyed the colorful spring time, she spent the first days after everything started to bloom with a runny nose and irritated eyes.

"I know. I'm sorry, sis. Did you take the pills?"

Alexis showed her a small box of loratadine pills she took to ease the symptoms. "I'm afraid I'm gonna be useless for the rest of the day," she said with a nasal voice.

"Day? I think that I wouldn't be able to count on you for the rest of the week," Diane said. "I hope you'll be feeling alright on our birthday!"

"I hope so," Alexis wailed. "The goddamn allergy already ruined my birthday more than once."

Dante rushed into the room; he was already almost a year old and looked less like a clumsy puppy. Alexis worked hard on him. He was already able to respond to some basic commands and Alexis wanted to train him as a ghost-hunter dog even though Diane had no idea how exactly she was going to do that.

The dog put his paws on Alexis' thighs and barked several times. He did it every time he wanted to be taken for a walk. Alexis patted his head and gave him a tired smile. "I can't right now, my boy," she said. "I'm glad I'm able to breathe at least."

Dante yowled, turned to Diane and wagged his tail.

The girl rolled her eyes. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

At that moment, their "business phone" started to ring. Alexis already trained Dante to fetch the phone as soon as it starts to ring; the dog bursted to the table, gently put the phone in his mouth and brought it to Alexis. The girl pointed to Diane. "Answer it, please," she said. "I sound like a zombie."

Diane answered the call and turned on the speakers. "Warren sisters, paranormal investigation," she announced. "If the ghost is ruining your day, we can help to scare it away. How can we help you?"

Alexis gave her sister a menacing look. Diane just smirked and shrugged.

The other side of the conversation was silent for a while, then the client finally spoke. It was a deep, mumbling male voice. "Good morning. I hope that your services are as good as your rhymes, since I request your assistance. Do your services also cover monsters?"

"Of course," Diane replied. "We cover ghosts, monsters, demons to some degree, aliens, cryptids, mutants, yōkai and people with magical powers. We just don't mess with zombies. They're gross."

"I've seen your photo in the newspaper," the client replied. "I bet that you are that brunette one."

"For the right guess, you receive a one percent discount!"

The man sighed. "I'd prefer to meet you in person. Do you know the Wavehouse in Icaria?"

Of course. Everyone knew the creation of an eccentric architect, a 10-floor building curved and shaped like a sea wave. At the first glance, it was a wonder that the whole thing was still standing, but it was balanced so well it was able to survive a hurricane. It wasn't, however, suitable for living. It served as a multipurpose building for auctions, expositions or important meetings.

"Oh well... there's one... tiny problem," Diane said. "My sister, the mature and responsible one, is indisposed at the moment. How long can you wait?"

"Until tomorrow," the man barked.

Diane looked at Alexis. The ill girl shrugged and nodded. I will be alright tomorrow, she mouthed.

"Is that a problem?" the client continued. "Sorry, but I am in a hurry. If you can't arrive tomorrow, I'll have to hire some specialists from the outside."

"That won't be necessary," Diane replied. "We'll arrive."

"Good. See you soon, then," the client ended the call.

Diane looked at Alexis. "You sure you can do it, sis?"

Alexis shrugged. "I'll have to. If I take some medicaments, maybe I'll be able to function properly. We can't afford to lose a contract, right?"

"Yeah, but only as long as your health isn't at risk!" Diane objected.

Her sister smiled. "That sounded almost adult, Dee."

<<>>

The next day, Alexis was in a slightly better condition.

Slightly.

Her eyes were still red and teary and she spent most of the time with a tissue in her hand, but at least she was able to meet the client in Icaria.

The girls, however, took the TEx even though the distance was relatively short and suitable for a walk. The blooming trees and flowerbeds would worsen Alexis' condition, so the dry, artificial air in the monoral was a much better choice at the moment.

Icaria district resembled the cities often depicted in science fiction art with sterile white skyscrapers, buildings of eccentric design and neon lights. It was the centre of technology in Gabriel's Gardens; the stores near the centre of the district usually contained the latest models of phones, tablets and computers as advanced as their advertising, frequently talking robots or interactive holograms.

"At least there aren't many flowers here," Alexis said. They were walking the Silicon Avenue leading straight to the district centre where the Wavehouse was located. "I love to appreciate their beauty, you know, but I have to build some tolerance first."

They passed a store offering the newest model of Reality+ glasses, a device for augmented reality worn on eyes like regular glasses. A robot similar to a white version of C-3PO from Star Wars stood in front of the store and waved at the bypassers. "Upgrade your reality now!" it shouted. "The knowledge of the whole world right in front of your eyes! Reality+, now even better!"

"Sorry, we don't have money for such nonsenses," Diane uttered.

"Oh no! The new Reality+ glasses can be afforded by anyone!" the robot replied. "We have a special offer - buy the Reality+ glasses and pay them in installments with no additional cost!"

"Wow, this is actually pretty advanced," Alexis noted. "It has to have some kind of voice recognition. It heard you talking about money and immediately started to offer you discounts."

Diane shrugged. "We still don't have cure for the cancer, but at least there are dealer robots."

Alexis laughed, but her laugh quickly escalated into bursts of cough. "Goddamit," she spat out, briefly forgetting about her religious roots.

After a while, they saw the Wavehouse. Its ridiculous curves made the girls queasy, but overall, it was a beautiful piece of architecture made of white-painted concrete, metal rods and big glass panels which made the building look fresh and airy. It wasn't very tall, compared to average skyscrapers in The Centre, but it compensated its lack of height with its design.

"That dude didn't even tell us his name," Diane said. "He really seemed to be in a hurry."

"Let's hope we can find him somehow," Alexis replied and sneezed.

They entered the Wavehouse. Its interior was filled with modern and abstract art pieces which didn't make sense even to its authors. The atmosphere was further emphasized using a soft jazz music coming from the omnipresent speakers. Several stairways and elevators led to various parts of the building.

There was a reception operated by a tall, strict-looking woman in a white skirtsuit, eyeglasses and sleek blonde hair. "We're looking for a man," Diane approached her. "He called us here, but didn't tell us his name. Based of his voice, he's fat, rude and constantly in a hurry."

After the last three words, the woman smiled. "In a hurry, you say? In that case, I bet you are looking for Director Popov. He's in the highest floor."

Diane bursted into laughter. "Popov? Really? This goes to the second place of my leaderboard of funny names, right under that Chinese man named Sum Ting Wong. Trust me, I've really met him!"

"Dee," Alexis hissed. "That's not very nice."

"I am not nice," Diane sneered.

Her sister approached the elevator and pushed the button. Before the car arrived, Diane examined a piece of modern art in a form of a statue looking like a humanoid figure made of crazily twisted rods of bronze-colored metal. "Annie's art is much better," she told her verdict. "At least you actually know what it actually is."

The girls stepped into the elevator and Alexis pushed a button to the 10th floor.

<<>>

They couldn't miss their destination; right after they arrived to the highest floor, they saw shiny ebony door with a golden, handwritten name tag:

Maxim Popov

Director

Diane giggled again? "Maxim? I'm seriously considering giving him the first place. Maximum Poop!"

Alexis rolled her eyes and knocked at the door. "Come in," someone said; it was the same man that called them. Diane grabbed a golden handle and opened.

The most prominent part of the office was a worktable made of the same material as the door. The second most notable part was the man sitting behind it. He wasn't only overweight - his body was shaped like a perfect sphere stuffed in a dark blue suit. Thanks to his stumpy limbs and equally round head, he looked a bit like a snowman. His face consisted of chubby cheeks, tiny dark eyes, fleshy lips, funny thin moustache and a combover hairstyle. His fingers were decorated by several golden rings.

"Greetings, Mr. Popov," Alexis said. "I hope it was you who called us."

The man stood up - he was shorter than Alexis. "You're late!" he bursted out. "You have to remember my golden rule: Time is money. Hear me? Time is money! And the early bird catches the worm!"

"It's ten in the morning," Alexis objected.

"I have already been awake for five hours!" Popov called. "After four long hours of sleep. Time is money and I don't want to sleep through one third of my life! Okay, I'll overlook it just for today, but next time, you have to come here earlier because time is money!" He looked at Alexis. "Excuse me, have you been crying? Did something happen? You look..."

Alexis smirked. "It's just a horrible allergy. Nothing to worry about." She sneezed and blew her nose.

"So, what's the matter, Mr. Director?" she asked him, using his rank instead of his name. She wasn't confident enough to try and say Mr. Popov with a straight face.

"Well," Popov took a deep breath, "You should know that my amazing building, the Wavehouse, was chosen to hold an exhibit of valuable jewels which are then sold in the auction. But yesterday, some of the jewels disappeared! They're gone!"

"But that's work for the police," Alexis objected. "We are all about the paranormal."

"Didn't you say something about monster?" Diane added.

"I was getting to it," Popov gesticulated impatiently. "One of my employees claims she caught the thief red-handed, just before it escaped with the stolen jewels. She described it as a goblin."

Alexis frowned. "A goblin?"

The man shrugged. "That's what she said." He left the room and led the girls through the hallway to larger, white door with a sign Exhibition. Upon opening it, they entered a large room where one whole wall was made of windows offering a beautiful view of spring Icaria. They walked on a red carpet like some Hollywood stars between numerous vitrines. The glass cubes on the top contained various stands made of red silk which served as a display of all kinds of jewels.

Alexis fascinately looked at pendants and earrings made of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other valuable gemstones. "Beautiful," she voiced. Below every piece, there was a tag telling the visitors more about its origin, purity and estimated price. Most of them cost more money than the girls ever saw, including the time they received money from Gray Forrestal.

However, Alexis wouldn't trade any of them, or even all, in exchange for a modest golden ring on her right index finger. Anna's Christmas gift meant everything for her and sometimes, mostly during her blue moods, she even let a few tears run down her face when she looked at the ring.

"My assistant who witnessed the heist should be here shortly," Popov said. "God, she's always late!"

<<>>

The assistant appeared several minutes later. It was a tiny woman in her late twenties resembling a little bird. Her insecure smile was contagious and her blue eyes looked like she was waiting for serious scolding at any given moment. Her attire consisted of a dark blue blouse, long skirt with stockings and a cute headdress in her shoulder-long, dark brown hair.

"Did you request my presence, Mr. Popov?" she said with barely audible voice.

"Of course I did, Arletta," the man replied. "Meet Alexis and Diane Warren. They'll be able to solve the mystery of the stolen jewels."

"Oh, these," Arletta put on a devastated expression. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Just tell us what did you see," Alexis encouraged her.

"Oh, okay," the woman's face turned red. "So, it was about one in the morning. My shift was almost over and I was ready to come home. I left my office and passed this room. I heard strange noises. I decided to open the door and..." her voice and her hand started to treble.

"Come on, woman!" Popov urged. "I can make million dollars before you make a coherent sentence!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Arletta squealed. "So, I opened the door and saw something in the dark. It was small. Not small like a short human, I mean that it was less than a meter tall. It was all black and really thin, with thin long limbs. Before it escaped, it looked at me. It..." Arletta started to shake again.

"Come on, don't worry," Alexis calmed her down. "It's gone now."

"It had big, glowing eyes!" the woman yowled. "Perfectly round. Green. It just stared at me and made some weird noises. And it had creepily long fingers. It was holding the stolen jewels. Then it leaped into the shadows and disappeared... I screamed and ran away. I should've stayed. Who knows where it went!"

"At least you are able to describe it," Alexis said. "Don't blame yourself."

"Do you have, like, zero security?" Diane turned to Popov. "One would say that such valuable things will be protected like Fort Knox!"

"Of course we have security," Popov uttered. "At night, the whole room is filled by invisible laser beams which turn on the alarm systems when interrupted. It's impossible to touch any of the displays without turning on the alarm. The beams are so close to each other..."

"Maybe for a human," Arletta interrupted him. "I've seen a goblin."

"As you can probably see, I'm not a man who'd believe in goblins," the director said.

"Are you calling be a liar?!" Arletta bursted out, suddenly full of confidence. "I know what I saw, Mr. Popov. I don't know what it was, but I definitely know it wasn't human. It was hanging exactly on this window, looked at me with glowing eyes and disappeared into the shadows! Do you think that I took the jewels? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a thief! Besides that, I have no idea how to turn that alarm off."

"Nobody is accusing you, Arletta," Popov halted her. "Also, you should let me finish my sentences. I wanted to say that I'm not a man who'd believe in goblins, but I know one thing for sure - the security systems can't be surpassed by any human being. And I'm also an open-minded man - I am willing to admit there's something I can't understand when there is no other explanation. That's why I called you two."

Alexis examined the window Arletta pointed at. She used a special ultraviolet lamp able to highlight fingerprints on the surface - she purchased the device shortly after solving the case of Gertrude Chandler. There was, however, nothing visible.

"I cleaned the windows in the morning!" Arletta gasped. "I'm so sorry. I'm stupid! Stupid!"

"Well, what can we do," Alexis sighed. "Next time, remember to not clean the crime scene."

"Force of habit, I guess," Arletta smiled shyly.

"Needless to say, there's nothing much we can do right now," Alexis told Popov. "All we have is a vague description from a scared assistant - no offense, Arletta - so we need more evidence. Our biggest chance would be if the thief returns. Mr. Popov, I recommend you to install several security cameras covering the entire room. Also you should replace the jewels with identical, cheaper copies so it won't hurt so much if it returns and steals something. We need more evidence about the being's identity so we can advance."

"What do you mean?" Popov said. "You aren't doing anything now?"

"We're already at a dead end," Alexis shrugged. "We need to know more. Where did it come from, how did it disappear, how did it bypass the security. Then we can make some plan."

"Okay, okay," Popov muttered. "I hope it'll be soon. Time is money, you know?"

<<>>

After coming home, Alexis spent some time recovering from the trip. She washed her eyes irritated by pollen, her hair and glasses, took a shower, changed her clothes and took a dose of an anti-allergy nasal spray. And even after the whole procedure, she still looked like she spent the night crying and drinking.

"This is going to kill me," she wailed.

"I saw you looking at that tiny assistant," Diane smirked. "Annie wouldn't be happy."

Alexis blushed. "Cut the crap, Dee. I admit, she was cute, but too much of a hothead."

Diane changed the subject. "So, whaddaya think about our new case?"

Her sister blew her nose. "It's strange," she said.

"All our cases are strange," Diane rolled her eyes. "We're paranormal investigators, in case you forgot."

"Your sarcasm is worse than my allergy, Diane. I mean, all we have is Arletta's story which seemed pretty odd. It was dark in the whole building, after all - her mind could be playing tricks on her. No offense towards her, but she seemed a bit like a chicken, easily scared. And the imagination of these people is able to run wild."

"But how do you explain the stolen thingys?" Diane objected.

Alexis shrugged. "They disappeared, that's without a doubt. But maybe they did before Arletta went by and the connection between the events may be only a coincidence. Maybe Popov is trying to pull an insurance fraud - he's afraid that regular police would find out, so he called us. Maybe he forced Arletta to make a story about a goblin to make the whole case seem supernatural.

"That's a possibility," Diane nodded. "But now, let's say that the chick really saw something. Does your inner Wikipedia contain info about a thing that can fit her description?"

"All I can think of is the Kelly-Hopkinsville incident from Kentucky," Alexis replied. "A local family fought similar beings with long limbs and shining eyes, described as 'goblins'. However, this case is mostly filed as an UFO encounter - and I'm done with aliens since last November."

Diane laughed. "Right. The case with Scarredsoul and The Messengers."

Alexis continued: "We would basically have a little creature able to sneak into the room somehow, avoid a network of invisible laser beams, get into glass display cases, steal the jewels and disappear into darkness. This sounds crazy, right? And there's another question - why would some kind of monster need human jewels? Is it attracted to shiny things? Or just wanted to hone its skills?"

"We should also find if this was the first heist," Diane said.

"That's a brilliant idea, Dee," Alexis nodded. "But how are we gonna do that?"

"We have to ask friends," Diane smirked and dialled a number on her cellphone. "Alyssa?" she said after a while. "We need you to do us a favor. We have a new case and we need a list of people who reported a loss of something valuable, especially expensive jewelry."

"No problem," the police officer said through the speakers. "Be prepared that I'll ask you what happened once you invite me for a coffee. Well, I theoretically shouldn't give such info to civilians, but nobody's gonna question it since I'm the boss here. Wait a few minutes."

"Thanks, Alyssa," Alexis said into the microphone.

"Have you been crying, Lex?" the woman wondered. "You sound strange."

"It's just an allergy," the girl replied.

Several minutes ago, a letter from Alyssa landed into Alexis' e-mail account. It contained five names with phone numbers. "So, I guess that we'll have to call all of them," the girl noted.

Diane started right away. First two crime victims really confirmed that their mostly valuable jewels were stolen in some mysterious way, but they didn't know anything about the culprit - they just woke up one day with their valuables gone. The third person hanged up immediately after Diane started to talk about the topic.

The fourth person, however, offered a breakthrough.

The young female voice claimed that she saw the thief.

<<>>

"This case is merciless," Alexis wailed. "Why did it have to appear now, when I have to focus on mere surviving?" She sneezed several times and rubbed her eyes, causing them to itch even more.

"Look who's whiny now," Diane teased.

Their destination was the East Haven district. On its main square, they were supposed to meet the robbery victim. She said they should look for a red-haired girl in a black hat.

They saw her shortly after arriving to the gray town square made mostly of brick and concrete whose most prominent feature was a monumental clock tower similar to London's Big Ben.

The girl was wearing a long-sleeved black dress and an old-fashioned hat. Her round, freckled face was framed by bright red curls. She was about fifteen, but her expression and choice of attire made her look like a fresh, mourning widow.

"Warren sisters? My name is Jodie," the girl said, then looked at Alexis. "Sorry, but... is something wrong?"

"It's just an allergy," Alexis replied with a trace of irritation on her voice.

The sisters took Jodie to a nearby coffee bar. "So, about the heist," Jodie said as soon as they got their drinks. She spoke with a soft, cultivated voice fitting more into The Centre. "To make it clear, I live in a flat on the 12th floor. That day, I was pulling an all-nighter because I had so much schoolwork to do. Everyone thought I was asleep, so I sneaked into our family's workroom to use the desktop computer. It allows me to do my work faster. Later, it was about two in the morning, I heard strange noises coming from my room."

Alexis interrupted her with a sneeze. "Sorry," she said. "Go on. What did you see?"

"I was scared to death, as you can probably imagine," Jodie continued. "I carefully opened the door. I didn't make any noise, so I managed to see what was in there." The girl sneered like she saw something disgusting. "It was... little, looking like a... humanoid spider, if that makes sense. It had disgustingly long limbs and fingers and also a long, sleek tail. But the worst thing about it were eyes."

"Green and shining," Diane noted.

Jodie frowned. "How do you know?"

"You are probably not the first victim of that being," Alexis replied. "Would you be able to call it a goblin?"

"Yes! Goblin. That's the right word. Small, black, nasty. It was standing on my worktable and it was holding a necklace I inherited from my grandma. It's old and really expensive. Something like my most valuable treasure. God, I feel so ashamed that I let that... thing steal it. But I couldn't do anything - after it saw me, it just jumped and disappeared through the window. When I finally gathered my wits, it was gone."

"Don't blame yourself," Alexis said. "That thing was able to steal from the heavily secured Wavehouse."

"I should have taken better care of it," Jodie sighed.

"Did anyone, besides your family, know about the necklace and its value?" Diane asked.

Jodie blushed. "Actually... a few days ago, it was an anniversary of my grandma's death. So I decided to post this." She pulled out her mobile phone and after a while of tapping, she showed them a post shared on the social network. It was a photo of Jodie, edited using artistic-wannabe filters. She had a beautiful golden necklace between her fingers. There was a caption:

This jewel you gave me may be valuable, but not as much as your advice and presence. Thank you.

"I have to say it wasn't very smart move," Alexis noted.

"Now I know," Jodie stooped in shame. "If you somehow manage to get the necklace back, I'd be eternally grateful. My parents are mad at me even though I'm not responsible for it. And I feel that I disappointed my grandma so much. Please, catch that thing."

"That's why we wanted to talk to you," Alexis said. "You helped us a lot."

Jodie frowned. "Did I?"

"If I'm right," Diane joined, "you just confirmed existence of some kind of goblin internet. It's clear that the being probably uses the cyberspace to look for possible loot. The exhibition of Mr. Maxi Poop was there, too; that's for sure. The other victims also had to do this mistake. Is that right, Mrs. Brain?"

Alexis nodded. "Exactly."

<<>>

The girls had to call the victims once again to find out whether they bragged about their valuabe belongings in the cyberspace. One of them, another teenage girl from The Centre, reluctantly admitted that she always made sure that her latest fashion trends appear on her blog. The second person, an older man, was making business with antiques and he had a catalogue of his goods available on his webpage - the thief took several rare Central-American idols. And the last victim, a young metal musician, lost a guitar which previously belonged to a famous rock star. Its value was almost incalculable and the man wasn't ashamed to talk about it.

"So it's confirmed," Diane said. "Our goblin roams the internet and makes a hit list of things it could steal. Heck, I bet that nobody in history said this exact sentence!"

"And it's not only about jewels," Alexis added. "Why would it steal a guitar? It collects all valuable things. If it didn't sound so weird, I'd say that it wants to sell it for money."

Diane shrugged. "Maybe it's broke and has to pay rent somehow. Who knows. Maybe the goblin landlord is a huge asshole and demands payment for the living hollow."

Alexis laughed. "Jesus, Diane."

"Lex, why are you blushing?" Diane asked. "I didn't say anything embarassing, did I?"

"Me? Blushing?" Alexis frowned. She looked in the mirror - really, her face was red. She also suffered from a headache and wasn't feeling well overall, but she blamed everything on the allergy. She, however, decided to check her temperature. "Looks like I have fever," she said with a surprise.

"That damn allergy is getting out of hand," Diane stated.

Alexis shook her head. "The allergy has many symptoms, but I've never had a fever. Besides that, I felt like crap all day... well... even more like crap than usually during this period. I have no idea what's wrong with me." She sat on the couch and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Get some rest, sis," Diane said. "The case can wait."

"The case is always a priority," Alexis objected. "No matter how I feel."

Diane stood firmly with her arms akimbo. "Look. Normally, you are the mom out of us. But now, I have to take the role. The case means shit when you're not feeling well! That goblin can wait. We have to wait until you get well. And I'm not arguing about that!"

"Our language is lovely today," Alexis smirked.

"Don't change the subject."

"Dee," the blonde girl sighed, "I'm feeling bad, but not that bad. I'm already used to it and I'm able to function properly even when my condition is not at its best. Don't worry about me. I know my limits."

"That's what an alcoholic says when they get plastered again. I guess workaholics work in a similar fashion. I can't let you ruin yourself, Alexis!"

"You chose the worst possible time to act responsible. Have you seen our client?"

"Mr. Maxi Poop? Of course."

"His pateince seems to be limited," Alexis continued. "We have to solve the case as fast as possible, otherwise he'll be able to cut our salary. And I ain't willing to work for free."

"Let me solve it!" Diane bursted out.

Alexis sneered. "You? Solving the whole case by yourself? Give me a break."

"Why do you underestimate me so much?" Diane was so angry that she didn't even try to turn it into a Revenge of the Sith reference. "I get it. You are the smart one, the one who always does the biggest portion of work and sees me only as a sidekick. And you know what? It's starting to piss me off. Have you ever seen the name tag on our door? It's Alexis AND DIANE Warren. It's not all about you."

"That's not what I-"

"You know what, Lex?" Diane interrupted her. "You should get some rest. I'll be in my room, making no noise, pretending I don't exist. That's how do you like it, right?"

Before Alexis could respond, Diane walked away and locked herself in her room.

<<>>

The sisters didn't see each other for the rest of the day. Alexis' remark about her sister's competence hurt Diane more than it probably should. Her anger faded away soon after she vented her emotions using the right music (screaming the lyrics of the song One Step Closer alongside Chester Bennington was the right kind of therapy), but even when the anger was gone, something still remained.

The unexplainable feeling of inferiority remained. Even though Alexis probably didn't mean the remark too seriously, it was enough to put a dent in Diane's confidence.

Diane realized that her reaction was probably too thunderous. Her sister looked genuinely shocked after Diane attacked her so intensely. It didn't happen often, but the next morning, Diane felt like apologizing, especially after long hours of being separated from Alexis.

She didn't want the whole thing to end like in those days.

Those days she hated to remember and couldn't talk about them at all.

She got dressed and left her room. She expected Alexis to be doing the everyday chores, maybe still upset about yesterday's argument. Diane was, however, ready to make things right. She didn't regret what did she say, but how did she say it. Maybe if she discussed the matter in a different tone of voice...

Alexis was nowhere to be found. The kitchen was empty and the living room was occupied only by Dante, patiently waiting for his breakfast.

"Lex?" Diane called. "I behaved like a bitch yesterday. I'm ready to negotigate."

Nobody answered.

The girl decided to enter her sister's room. Maybe she's just sulking. The girls rarely entered each other's rooms - it was something like their holy ground where they could always expect privacy, but Diane hated when someone was mad at her. She wanted to make it right as soon as possible.

She really found Alexis there - but differently than she expected. She was laying in her bed, with messy hair, not wearing her glasses. Her face was red and small drops of sweat were dripping from her forehead. She was breathing heavily, looking at Diane with hazy eyes.

"Alexis..." Diane gasped. "What's wrong with you?"

The girl managed to give a tired smile. "It looks like I caught a flu," she said with a hoarse voice.

"Flu? In April?" Diane frowned.

"It's because of the allergy," Alexis explained. "It weakens my immunity, so it's easier to catch a virus. Needles to say, it seems that I'll be off for a few days. I could barely walk to the toilet by myself. So it seems that the case will have to wait for a bit."

"Well, about it," Diane wriggled nervously, "Yesterday..."

Alexis halted her with a raised hand. "Don't worry about yesterday. I chose the wrong words and your reaction was appropriate. I didn't mean to underestimate you or hint that you are useless. I just wanted to say... no offense, Diane, but you are just too reckless. Some things, you know, require thinking and systematic approach. But, to be fair, I wouldn't be able to solve most of the cases without you by myself. You have the common sense and creative ideas I lack. We complete each other and are a perfect team."

This long speech seemed to tire Alexis more than it probably should. She coughed; it wasn't a nice sound, it sounded like a buzzsaw in her throat.

Diane smiled. "You know very well how to patch it up with me, right?"

"This knowledge is essential," Alexis replied. "But now listen up, Diane. Don't do anything stupid. Don't try to advance the case by yourself. We don't know anything about what we're facing and rushing into it recklessly may not be the best idea. The team needs to be complete."

"Uhm... okay."

"Diane! Promise me you won't try to catch that goblin thief alone."

"I promise, sis."

"I knew that you are rational after all," Alexis looked relieved.

"You are not leaving bed today," Diane announced. "I'll get you a caretaker."

<<>>

Several minutes later, Anna arrived to the flat. When she saw exhausted Alexis, her eyes widened in fear. "Lexie!" she gasped. "You look horrible."

Alexis gave a tired smile. "Yes. This is something you want to hear from your girlfriend."

"You know very well what I meant. And I'll stay here all day to nurse you until you get better."

"You shouldn't. You could catch my infection and become ill, too."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"Can you handle our sickie, Annie?" Diane asked. "If you can, I'll leave you two here and take Dante for a walk. And since Alexis doesn't feel like cooking today, I'll bring some Chinese food."

"That sounds like a good idea," Anna nodded. "Bring me some chicken and rice noodles, my favorite."

Diane put on a leather jacket and whistled at Dante. "Come on, boy," she said. "You're coming with me today." The dog didn't mind - actually, he loved walks with the girl with dark fur on her head; once the girl left the couch, her energy reserves were almost endless and she was able to play fetch for hours without getting tired. The girl with strange eyes and yellow fur was too calm, unable to keep up with his playful nature.

In the hallway, she met a lonely man preparing for a walk - Augustus. "Diane! Nice to see you."

"I know," Diane smirked. "I always offer a pleasant sight."

"Annie left to accompany Alexis again," he sighed. "Since they started dating, I feel a bit left out sometimes. I presume you feel the same, right?"

"Don't tell me," Diane rolled her eyes. "But this time, it's justified. Alexis caught a flu and Annie offered to take care of her. You can't expect her to return today."

"I know. Well, it looks like another lonely day. Mind if I go with you at least now?"

"Sure, why not? At least I look more beautiful next to your ugly ass."

Augustus laughed. Just like Anna, he wasn't easily offended and was quite aware of the fact that his appearance cannot be classified as handsome.

The duo stepped outside. Dante immediately rushed to the nearest park, happy to be finally able to vent his excessive energy. The girl no longer had to worry about the dog straying somewhere; his loyalty always commanded him to return.

Diane pulled out a tennis ball and threw it. "Fetch!" she shouted. Dante accelerated and ran for the ball and brought it back a few seconds later. He smiled in his canine way and wiggled his tail, ready for another throw.

"I'm not very fond of talking, as you probably know already," Augustus said after Diane threw the ball. "I'll leave it to you since you never seem to shut your mouth."

Diane laughed. "I've always wanted a friendship where we can insult each other."

"What are you working on right now?"

"Well, the case is on a hiatus since Lex forbid me to work on it," Diane replied. She briefly explained the case of the goblin thief. Gus listened closely.

"I'm not gonna fall for it," he smirked after Diane finished. "You're obviously kidding me right now and you're laughing inside since I almost believed you."

"But I'm not joking!" Diane objected. "That's legit the case we're working on right now."

"So you're saying, in all seriousness, that there is some kind of tiny sucker which breaks into homes and takes valuable things. How am I supposed to believe that?"

"In our case, you just have to. And that's not even our weirdest case."

"Wish I could help somehow," Gus said. "But I admit that I'm a chicken. If I saw something like that in my bedroom, I would probably scream like a girl and run away."

"That'd be a nice sight," Diane smirked.

"So, you're really gonna do nothing about it and wait for your sister to get well?"

"Of course not, who do you think I am?" Diane put on a mischievous smile. "I promised Alexis I won't try to investigate the case alone."

<<>>

Augustus was a pleasant company even though he didn't talk much. Diane, however, was talkative enough for them both. Gus sometimes uttered a remark which caused them both to burst into laughter.

"Maybe we should hang out more often," Diane said. "Since our beloved sisses started dating..."

"As long as you won't try to pick me up," the man uttered. "Madcaps like you aren't really my type."

"Don't worry," Diane grinned. "At least I won't have to explain why I'm dating Frankenstein's monster." They both laughed.

Finally, they aimed towards their favorite Chinese restaurant to pick up some food for Alexis and her impaired caretaker. Then they slowly started to return home.

"I kinda enjoyed it," Augustus admitted, "even though your endless talking gave me a headache."

"I wonder why you act like a caveman all the time," Diane replied.

Gus sighed. "Well, taking care of Annie wasn't always easy. These loads of responsibility that suddenly landed at me probably made me a bit bitter."

"Wait, wait, wait, cowboy, let's not get sentimental. You can actually shove your darker days away if you don't talk about them. I have it tested."

"You don't look like you've experienced darker days," Gus noted.

"That's where you're wrong, my pimply friend," Diane said with a grim smile. "If you think I'm a madcap, you should've seen me a few years ago. I did some things I'm not proud of."

Gus kept silent. He probably didn't want to pry.

"Do you know those delinquent gangs your mom warns you about?" Diane continued. "Well, when I was fifteen, I briefly joined one of them. As I said, I'm not proud of it at all."

"You told me to not talk about it, remember?"

"I just thought you should know."

Gus smirked. "Friends for three hours and already telling each other secrets?"

"Okay, let's leave the darker days for later," Diane said. "Let's check how our sweethearts are."

Diane entered her flat; Augustus decided to follow her. "Mommy brought something good!" she yelled.

"Woof woof woof!" Dante seconded her.

"Oh, good good good!" Anna looked at the white food boxes with lust with her eyes. Then she looked at Augustus. "But... why is bro here?"

"Oh, great," Gus muttered. "My own sister is fed up with me."

"Today, we'll eat like one big family," Diane replied. "He's here with me."

Anna opened her eyes wide. "You are DATING?" she exclaimed.

"Hell no," Diane and Gus said in unison.

"How's Alexis?" the brunette girl asked.

"Nothing too awesome, but she's holding on," Anna replied. "She's able to talk, but that's pretty much everything. Imagine the absurdity - a girl on a wheelchair has to carry a healthy person to the toilet!"

"You promised me that you won't talk about it," they heard a surprisingly firm voice coming from Alexis' bedroom. "I don't want to look completely powerless."

Diane put Alexis' food on a wooden tray and served it to her sister. "A kung-pao, your favorite."

"Do you want me to feed you?" Anna smirked.

Alexis gave her an annoyed gaze. "Annie, I have a flu, not a muscle atrophy. I am not completely helpless." To prove her words, she grabbed the chopsticks and started to eat.

"You usually don't mind me feeding you when we dine together," Anna noted.

"Yes, of course, but during our romantic dinners, we feed each other. There's a difference."

Diane looked at Augustus. "Don't you sometimes feel that they share too much information?"

"Yes," the man replied. "Way too much."

<<>>

The next day, Alexis' condition got a bit better, but she was still too weak to do anything. "I don't mind the illness that much," she told Diane. "But I'm angry because I just have to lay here and do nothing."

"At least something forced you to relax," Diane smirked.

"I can imagine that the house is a mess," Alexis groaned.

"You're wrong! I try!" Diane defended herself. "I know I'm not even close to being as diligent as you, but I try to keep the house in acceptable condition."

"Let's hope so. Now, let me get some rest." Alexis fell asleep within seconds.

Diane walked into her room and turned on her gaming system - her conscience was clean since she really tried to keep the flat neat. Her efforts were a bit clumsy, but acceptable. But before she could turn on the game she was actually dived into, she was interrupted by their business phone.

She picked it up. "Diane Warren, how can I help you?"

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" she heard a loud, angry voice of Maxim Popov. "I expect results and I want my jewels back! I told you to keep me updated and you didn't call me once! What does that mean?"

"The matter is," Diane replied, "Alexis caught a flu. She's not even able to get up."

"Why should I care? You accepted the task, I expect results! The auction begins in three days and I'm not willing to cancel it because some teen girl took a day off! I should've called the police after all!"

"Please, give us some more time," Diane said. "Sis is really feeling horrible."

Popov blew a raspberry to the phone. "Tomorrow," he said. "I'll be expecting a report about your case tomorrow. If you won't advance anyhow, you're fired!"

The call ended. Diane had no idea what to do. Her first impulse was to wake up Alexis and tell her everything, but after thinking about it for a while, she decided to leave Alexis out completely. If she told her sister about the phone call, she would probably insist to work at the case not minding her health. She could easily overwork herself and worsen her condition even further.

Diane sat down and began to think about the whole situation. She had something like a plan even before, but she was still in doubt if she should actually work on it. Now it seemed to be inevitable. She remembered what she told Augustus earlier:

I promised Alexis I won't try to work on the case ALONE.

But Popov demands results tomorrow. She has to act quick.

First of all, she called Anna and asked if she'd be able to nurse Alexis one more day. "Of course, I was actually secretly hoping for it," Anna said. "But why can't you take care of her?"

"Some old friends invited me to hang out," Diane replied. "It's hard to say no to them."

"Oh, understandable," Anna replied. "Well, then, have fun!"

In fact, Diane wasn't invited by her friends. It was the other was around - she wanted to invite her old gang. As soon as Anna arrived, Diane turned on the computer in her room and launched a chatting program. It supported also group chats. The girl opened one of them, named simply The Gang. There were three more people in it; their names were shown on the top of the screen: Ajay, Kelly, Trent.

She started to type the message: Hi guys, it's me, Deedee. Y'know that I rarely ask for stuff, unless I'm on a tight budget, but I need to ask you for a favor. Could you meet me ASAP in front of our former school?

She wasn't really surprised when Ajay replied first; that guy spent the majority of his waking hours by the computer. Sure, sweetheart. You just have to buy me a coffee. You aren't getting my ass of the couch for free.

Kelly and Trent replied roughly an hour later. They both agreed to go right away. Ajay hesitated for a bit, but in the end, his friends were able to convince him.

Half an hour later, Diane was standing in front of the Blue Street public school. She remembered the most known legend about the place: some of the students say that about twenty years ago, the current principal was brutally murdered in his office. Some sources, mostly the former students, say that he was found in a puddle of his own blood with his throat sliced with a paper knife. Diane didn't want to guess how much true this is, but since she was in Gabriel's Gardens, it was pretty well possible.

<<>>

Diane had mixed feelings about her school years. Of course, her extroverted, outgoing personality caused her to be, unlike her sister, one of the popular kids, but this fate had also its darker side. During her early teenage years, her desire to rebel at all costs led to the worst weeks in her life.

You are a torch, Diane. You can either keep living your boring, dull life and slowly fade away, or burn out with us. Your choice.

If the girl knew what will it involve, she would never take his hand inviting her into a dangerous world of school delinquents full of problems, violence and even substance abuse. Her only luck was that she, with help of her father and sister, was able to escape the clique's clutches before it was too late.

She finally saw her gang. These three friends helped her to recover soon after she left the delinquent group and together, they formed a brand new team. Ajay, Kelly and Trent were also mischievous and often dared to do things good kids don't do, but it never turned into anything dangerous or illegal.

"Oh hey, Deedee!" Trent yelled at her as soon as they made eye contact. The tall Afroamerican was wearing a black-green jersey with a name of a soccer player Diane had never heard of. His long, lean legs caused him to take long steps, much to the misfortune of the other two members.

Ajay, the chubby video game maniac, was already a little sweaty from keeping up with his slimmer friend. His T-shirt for today had the words Talk nerdy to me emblazoned on it. Kelly, the second female member and Trent's girlfriend, walked next to the nerdy guy; she also had problems with Trent's pace, but it wasn't because of her weight. She was only 149 centimeters tall and her steps were about half as long as Trent's.

"Hey hey, madcaps," Diane greeted them. "You probably wonder why I dared to interfere with your important schedules and organized this secret meeting. Well, I'll go straight to the point. I need y'all to help me with a case I'm currently working on."

"Case? You mean these ghosts and stuff?" Trent said. "In that case, don't count on me. I can't even watch horror movies - it's always Kay who comforts me while I'm terrified to death."

"Sometimes, he even cries," Kelly confirmed.

"This time it's not a ghost," Diane replied. "I need you to help me catch a goblin."

"Goblin? Seriously?" Ajay joined the talk. "Goblins are in almost every fantasy game I've ever played. It's usually the first enemy you encounter, with 45 Hit points, armed with Common Rusty Dagger. Sometimes it serves as a tutorial. But goblins in real life?"

"I got it!" Trent grinned. "Diane wants to introduce us some new game or something. Right, Deedee?"

"I'm afraid it's a real deal," Diane said and explained everything that happened in the case of the goblin thief so far. Ajay listened with fascination, Kelly looked a bit sceptical and Trent's brown skin went pale. Finally, Diane got to the part where Alexis caught a flu."

"See my problem?" Diane finished. "Maximum Poop wants results and I can't do it alone. I need your help. If we succeed, I'll buy a KFC bucket for everyone."

"Make it two!" Ajay demanded.

"I'm 'fraid that no fried chicken can force me to interfere with paranormal stuff," Trent said.

"Come on, Trent, it will be fun!" Kelly smiled. "To be honest, I've always wanted to learn more about Diane's job. And now I have the chance. Pleeease. You do love me, right?"

Trent rolled his eyes. "Kay, what did I tell you about the blackmail?"

The girl blinked several times with her large brown eyes. "Please, Trentie. Prove that you are a fearless man. Fearless men turn me on, y'know."

"Okay, my little Hobbit, I'm going," Trent sighed. "Gosh, I'mma so regret it later."

"So, Mrs. Ghostbuster," Ajay said. "What's your plan?"

"Point one: Lure out our creepy friend," Diane replied. "We've already figured out that the goblin is able to browse the Internet and social networks. It seeks those who brag about having something expensive, then it just breaks into their home and steals it. But this time, we'll be waiting."

Kelly nodded. "So you're gonna set up a bait on the internet to lure him into your flat where it would attempt to steal some valuable thing. But we will be already there, waiting for it, and we'll try to capture it as soon as it enters the room. Seems easy enough."

Diane smirked. "That's right, except one tiny detail. It won't be my flat where it'll go."

<<>>

"Why does it have to be here?" Trent complained. The gang went to Kelly and Trent's flat in Blue Street. It wasn't anything too big or luxurious, but it was enough for the young couple until they both find some decent jobs and marry each other. The flat was surprisingly neat, with only the necessary furniture. There were photos of Kelly and Trent in every room.

Diane remembered the time when Kelly and Trent weren't able to admit feelings for each other even though it was more than obvious. Ajay and her started to work together and arranged several occasions where Kelly and Trent were left alone. In the end, they were successful and the couple was already together for two years.

"I'm already too famous," Diane shrugged. "It'd be pretty suspicious if the goblin had to rob a flat of the most known paranormal hunter in the city. It's like trying to lure a cow into a slaughterhouse. But if I use a flat of you peasants, it won't suspect anything."

"Peasants," Kelly spat out.

"But... we don't want our snuggery to get destroyed!" Trent wailed.

Diane nodded. "Yes, of course. Go to your room and move everything fragile or otherwise destroyable somewhere else. In the meantime, I'll set the bait with Kelly. Kay, do you have any expensive-looking things that could be passed off as a valuable jewel?"

"Just this," Kelly pulled out a silver necklace from the cleavage of her T-shirt. "It looks neat, but it's more or less a dud, no bigger value."

"It looks neat," Diane said. "And that's important - it has to look great for the photo. Let's do it right now. Just hold that necklace in your hand, smile and look at it like you've never seen such beauty in your life. You have to be authentic. Our goblin has to believe that it's worth stealing?"

"Like this?" Kelly put on a heartfelt smile and posed with the necklace.

"Yeah. Awesome," Diane said and took a photo using Kelly's phone. She looked at the result and nodded in satisfaction - the short girl looked genuinely fascinated by the piece of jewelry. "Now you need to post it on the internet. Ajay, come here. Try to write a post which will convince the goblin that Kelly's bijou is something actually worth stealing."

"With pleasure," Ajay took the phone and started to type in the message. After a few minutes, he showed them the result of his work:

I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE IT! ♥♥♥ My BELOVED boyfrendie got me THIS for our anniversary! He said it's not a big deal, but I know DAMN WELL how much do these things cost. He had to save money from his paycheck for, like, TWO YEARS before he could afford this! ♥ I will ALWAYS cherish it and this night, this beautiful thing will be by my bed to remind me who I love before I leave for a few weeks tomorrow.

THANK YOU SO MUCH ♥ TRENT ♥

"Well, the thing is I don't write like a bimbo," Kelly said. "But I guess it'll serve our purpose well! But why did you add that remark about leaving?"

Ajay shrugged. "Deedee said she'll need the results tomorrow, that means we have to catch the goblin tonight. The thief will be also required to act quick and that may cause him to make mistakes."

"I hate to admit it, but you're a genius," Trent said.

Ajay tapped the Post button. "Aaand the trap is set," he said. "Now we wait."

"Shouldn't we, like, arm ourselves?" Trent suggested. "We have no idea how dangerous is that thing. I'd feel much safer if we had at least something."

"Where are you going to get a gun?" Kelly said. "You don't even have a license."

"I was not thinking about a gun. More like a knife, baseball bat or something like that."

"Don't worry," Diane smirked and raised her both fists. "My little friends are weapons on their own. If it tried to hurt you, my beloved friends, you can count on me."

"I'm feeling so much better," Trent said and Diane wasn't sure if she heard a trace of sarcasm in his voice.

<<>>

It was already long after midnight and the night was still peaceful. The gang was waiting in a room next to Kelly's bedroom, ready to interfere as soon as they hear strange noises.

"What about the address?" Ajay said. "How can the goblin find her if she didn't attach the exact place?"

"I've already thought about that," Diane said. "The thief must have some kind of system to find his victims. Most of them didn't have their address accessible on their profile. Is it possible that goblins can magically track their victims?"

"Goblins? Not really," Ajay replied. "These abilities aren't frequent even in RPG games."

"Life isn't a videogame!" Kelly objected.

"It kinda is. When you meet obstacles, it means you're going in the right direction."

"Wow, that was surprisingly deep," Diane said. "However, I'd welcome if I had an option to save and load my progress. Imagine how many shitty situations would you be able to avoid!"

"I would load my game data and dump that asshole Rick before I started dating him," Kelly rolled her eyes. "Those months with him were the worst. I regret them so badly. Trent is the man I've been looking for."

"I would most definitely return that time when I almost won the world championship in Shadeworld," Ajay said. "It still haunts me that I had the Soul Exchange card in my hand and didn't use it. If I did, I would most probably win. That way, the opponent unleashed that one combo which destroyed me."

"What 'bout you, Deedee?" Kelly asked. "What would you change?"

Diane immediately remembered the delinquent group she joined. A tattooed hand offering her an ignited cigarette. Many eyes staring at her, wondering if she's able to become one of them.

"Eh, I don't know," she lied.

"Oh come on, Dee," Kelly insisted. "There has to be something you regret."

"Maybe I don't wanna talk about it right now."

"I don't know you this way, Dee," Trent smiled. "You are usually able to share everything."

"Maybe later."

"Scared?" Ajay said.

"Hell no!" Diane bursted out. "I've fought much worse things than a puny goblin. A vengeful murdering spirit. A ghost of a suicidal metal musician. A giant, scary-ass demon. And seeing my sister kiss my best friend is also pretty scary sometimes. But I have never been scared!"

"Fear is a natural reaction," Trent laughed. "You don't have to be ashamed for that."

"But I really am fearless," Diane insisted. "A chicken can't work as a paranormal investigator. Simple logic, my friend! Okay, I admit. I was pretty scared a few times. But it was always before I got pissed - when I do, all the fear is pushed to the background!"

"Who the hell would piss off a girl with a superhero strength?" Ajay wondered.

"Someone who's asking for an ass beating," Diane smirked, glad that she was able to drag the conversation away from the regrets game.

"I was wondering, how exactly strong are you?" Kelly wondered. "Like the officially strongest man on the planet? Like Colossus, that superhero with metal skin? Or like Superman?"

"I'd say something between the strongest man and Colossus," Diane replied. "Well, I guess I'd be able to pull a Superman if I wanted, but it would destroy my muscles completely. I rather keep it moderate."

"Wow. I wish I had some superhero powers," Trent sighed. "Were you really just born with it? You really didn't have to do anything for it?"

"It's probably a heritage from my mom," Diane said. "I wish I got to know her."

"The last person with paranormal powers in Gardens was The King," Ajay said. "Maybe you are related to him somehow, who knows?"

"Come on, Ajay, you know that The King is just a myth," Kelly objected.

The King was a part of Gabriel's Gardens folklore. The legend told about an assassin who killed hundreds of people about twenty years ago, right before Alexis and Diane were born. Some people claimed that The King had some sort of paranormal powers, but most people think that The King were actually more people, a crime syndicate. Nevertheless, the people involved in the case refused to talk about it.

A discussion about The King's reality would break out if it wasn't disrupted by strange noises.

<<>>

"It's here," Diane whispered. "After all."

"Okay, now I'm scared," Trent noted. "Can I stay here?"

"No!" Kelly hissed. "Try to be a man even outside the bedroom!"

"We have to be quick, so it doesn't escape through the window again," Ajay said. "We should go right now, before it escapes again!"

Diane carefully opened the door and then bursted in, rushing to the window to secure it. The room was dark, but it was clear that something's inside. Right now, it was on the bed. Diane noticed the prominent feature the witnesses described: glowing, round green eyes.

"Come on, you wanker!" Diane shouted. "Come at me, bro!"

The being emmitted something like a muffled scream and jumped at Diane. The girl screamed and tried to fight back. It had long, spider-like limbs and a tail, just like the witnesses said. Also the assumptions about its size were correct - it was really quite small.

What was missing on its size was compensated on its aggresivity. It caused several scratches on Diane's face. The girl raised her hands, trying to protect her eyes. She was, surprisingly, rescued by Trent who tried to grab the goblin's arm. He was successful, but the creature's wrath turned against him. They heard a sound of torn cloth as Trent's jersey fell victim to the creature's claws.

"Hey! Do you have an idea how much that cost?" Trent excalimed.

"INCOMING!" Ajay shouted, holding a huge book in his hands. He swinged it in Trent's direction, attempting to hit and stun the creature. It, however, jumped on the chandelier right before the book hit the mark, causing Ajay to hit Trent's face instead. The young man stumbled and collapsed on one of Kelly's wardrobes. "You idiot!" he shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Sorry! I thought I got it!" Ajay replied.

Suddenly, the whole room became illuminated with a bright light which blinded the gang. It was because of Kelly who turned on the chandelier. The creature gave its unnatural scream once again. They tried to look at the creature to see what are they dealing with, but they didn't see much since their eyes were still shocked by the sudden burst of light.

All they saw was a black, shadowy figure with long limbs hanging from the chandelier. A second later, the creature jumped to the window, squeezed through the space between the open window and its rim and disappeared into the night.

"Shit," Trent uttered, looking at his destroyed jersey.

Diane saw her reflection in the window. Several long scratches went across her face. "My beauty is gone, but I look pretty badass, I guess," she said. "The worse thing: how am I going to explain this to Alexis?"

"You can say that a cat did it," Kelly hinted.

"Yeah, good idea," Diane nodded. "But that doesn't change the fact that we didn't catch it. It escaped. Goddamit, we're gonna lose the contract."

"Maybe not," Ajay said. "You said that the guy wants some new info, not a final result. You can tell him that you managed to see the creature and fight it. That's also a progress, isn't it? At least you have a proof that there's really some weird creature behind all that stuff."

"That's right," Diane said. "Thanks, Ajay."

"Look. I found something," Kelly announced. She grabbed a pair of tweezers from her bag of cosmetics and carefully removed something from the bed. "Hair," she said.

She was right. It was a small bunch of coarse dark hair.

"Hair?" Ajay frowned. "As far as I know, goblins aren't hairy."

"This one was," Trent noted. "There's lotsa hair on my clothes."

"Don't touch them!" Diane bursted out. "Kay? Could you please take some small bag and use the tweezers to put all the hair you can find there? I think I have an idea."

<<>>

Since it was too late to go home, Kelly and Trent offered Diane and Ajay a sleepover. They gladly accepted, even though the couple was a bit uncomfortable to lie in a bed which was occupied by a strange small creature. Kelly had to clean the bed with a vacuum cleaner, just to be sure.

Diane, laying on a couch in the living room, kept thinking about the mysterious intruder. The bag with its hair was basically all she got. Fortunately, she knew about a good use of them.

In the morning, the gang parted; Diane and Ajay went home. Diane felt a sting of guilt that she left Alexis alone all night. She was almost sure that her sister will blame her for that - after all, according to the "official" version, she chose a sleepover with her friends than taking care of her.

Diane entered their flat and aimed straight for Alexis' bedroom. She was surprised to see her sister and her girlfriend in the same bed in the position called "spooning" (Alexis being the larger spoon), sleeping peacefully. Fortunately, they were both fully dressed, so it seemed that nothing more intimate happened.

Anna opened her eyes, awakened by the sound of Diane's footsteps, and smiled at her. "I stayed here all night," she whispered. "You were with your friends and Gus worked a night shift, so I decided to be with Lexie instead of returning home and being there alone."

"Was she... mad at me?" Diane asked shyly.

"Not at all," Anna laughed. "Maybe she will pretend that she is, but we actually enjoyed our time together. Her illness is also getting better, she will probably be able to get out of bed and do something productive today. She said that she's glad that you spend time with your old friends again."

"No, I didn't," Alexis said, still half asleep. "I am so disappointed in you, Diane. Your beloved sister is ill and you hang out with your friends all night?"

Anna smirked. "What about when you said that living with me only would be much easier?"

Alexis blushed. "Annie, you rat. I was only joking!"

"So it seems I'm the one who should be mad," Diane laughed. "She's right, though. Living with me isn't easy, I admit it without hesitation."

Alexis really looked a lot better. She still suffered from cold and weakness, but at least her fever ceased. She tried to cook and was surprisingly successful, even though she needed to take a rest more often. Completing her daily routine raised Alexis' mood even further.

Diane closed herself in her room with their business phone. She made sure that Alexis isn't listening, then dialled Maxim Popov's number. The man picked the phone almost immediately. "Popov," he bursted out.

"This is me, Diane Warren," the girl said. "I advanced with the goblin thief case."

"Yes? Do you? What about my jewels?"

"No, I don't have them yet. But we managed to lure the creature out and..." she described the night's events alongside everything they knew about the goblin so far."

"Unbelievable," Popov said. "A goblin which picks its victims on the internet? Do you see how ridiculous does it sound? Am I supposed to believe this?"

Diane tried a risk. "That's up to you," she said. "You don't have to, but if you give us a few more days, we will find out more. So... do you want your jewels back or not?"

"Of course I do! Okay, even though it all sounds ridiculous, I will give you three more days. And by that time, I demand results. Not only more stories, but my jewels in my hands! Understood?"

"Understood." Diane ended the call. It actually went pretty good. She has three more days to catch the goblin thief and retrieve the stolen goods. Should she tell Alexis now?

No. Diane knew that Alexis has doubts whether she can solve a case on her own. This case will be a proof that she can. The case of the goblin thief was hers, only hers. She already had enough clues and an idea what to do next. No, she won't tell Alexis. She will catch the thief on her own.

<<>>

"Hey, Dante!" Diane lured the dog to her room using a cookie. Dante stepped inside and ate the treat from Diane's hand. Then he looked at her with his faithful eyes, expecting more food.

"Not right now, boy," Diane said. "You'll have to earn it."

Dante tilted his head; he seemed to understand what's the girl saying.

Diane pulled out the small plastic bag containing the goblin's hair. "Come on, boy, try and sniff it," she said. Curious Dante put his nose into the bag and inhaled the air from the inside, then stepped backwards and sneezed. His yowling gave away that the hair probably don't smell very good.

"It stinks, doesn't it?" Diane smirked. "I wonder if Alexis taught you to track already."

She had to find out.

Diane stepped outside the room. "Lex?" she said. "Dante has been a good boy lately. You seem to spend a lot of time with him, right?"

"Yes! Of course," Alexis smiled. "You mostly have fun with him, I try to train him. That's actually great since he needs both fun and discipline. I have to say that he's a very fast learner. He already knows all the basic commands and I try to train him for tracking. It can come in handy later!"

Diane's interest grew stronger. "Really? Is he good at it?"

"Not perfect, I guess, but great for his age. Tracking is the dog's natural ability, so you just have to train him how to use it at your command. Why do you ask?"

Diane had to quickly come up with a lie. "Well... Trent told me that there will be a competition for dogs in the city. I was wondering if Dante is good enough to take part."

Alexis looked at her sister and frowned. She observed her more closely. "What's the matter with your face, Dee?" she asked. "Are those... scratches?"

The brunette girl tried to look innocent. "Well, Kelly's cat doesn't like me much. I have to admit that I was a bit more friendly to her - I just wanted to cuddle and that little bastard scratched my whole face!"

Alexis' laugh was a sign that she fell for the lie. Diane was actually full of regrets when she had to lie to her sister, but this time, it was necessary. Alexis mustn't find out about her private investigation.

"I should probably look at it," Alexis said. "You can catch an infection or..."

"That's okay, Kelly already took care of it," Diane replied. "Sis, you just recovered a bit, stop caring about me and care about yourself! You're not perfectly well yet."

"Well, you are right, but I've been idle for too long already."

Diane rolled her eyes. "You're so weird, sis. I capture every opportunity to slack off while you return to work as soon as you can stand on your feet!"

Alexis smirked. "Well, at least one of us has to have some sense of responsibility. I can't wait to return to the goblin thief case. Didn't Mr. Popov call while I was ill?"

"No," Diane replied. Another lie.

"That's good. I hope he still wants us to solve the case. I'm actually surprised that he has so much patience. He seemed to want everything NOW, maybe even a few minutes earlier."

"Maybe he liked us," Diane smirked.

"I don't think so," Alexis laughed. "To make him like us, we would have to be green and have Benjamin Franklin imprinted on us."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

For a split second, Diane felt an urge to tell Alexis everything about her private investigation, but resisted. Not only because of her pride, but also because of Alexis' health. She would want to solve the case immediately, doing even more stupid things in the process than Diane did.

"I will go and walk Dante," Diane announced. "I'll be back soon."

"Just make sure you won't stay there all day and night, just like yesterday," Alexis smiled.

"No worries, I will be back for the night. Even if only for your dinner."

<<>>

The girl partially didn't lie this time - she really took Dante for a walk. But she also had a company. She took the TEx to the Blue Street district where she met her gang again.

"So, guys, ready to catch the villain?" the girl announced.

"Oh my god, he's so cute!" Kelly squealed upon seeing Dante. The dog immediately befriended the girl and started to attack her with his tongue. Kelly laughed. "Hey! It tickles!"

"So... that's it?" Trent looked at Dante with scepticism. "I expected some really badass woofer. This one still looks like half pupper. Are ya sure he can handle it?"

"Woof," Dante objected.

Diane shrugged. "I'm not, but it's the best we can do. Good news: that thing we're chasing seems to stink really bad, so that means Dante will probably be able to catch its track. Or maybe not, as you mentioned, he's more or less still just a pupper."

"We'll try and see," Kelly said.

"Okay. We should begin somewhere around your flat," Diane said. "We can be sure that the goblin was there. Maybe its smell still lingers there somehow and Dante will be able to catch it. Their sense of smell is almost as supernatural as my insignia."

They approached Kelly and Trent's flat. They lived on the third floor, that meant the goblin probably jumped from the window straight to the sidewalk and ran away. Diane opened the bag with goblin hair once again and let Dante sniff it. This time, the dog was ready for the smell.

"Track it," Diane said. "Track. Do you understand? Follow the smell. Find the bad guy."

Dante seemed a bit confused at first, then he raised his nose and inhaled. He just ran around the block for a while; they suspected that he's just aiming towards the nearest butcher shop. However, it seemed that Dante takes his work seriously, as far as the dog's expression can be called serious.

"I think he got something," Diane said.

Dante started to lead the way. It was for sure that he caught the track, which was a little miracle considering all the smog and alien smells in the air.

"I think he's aiming towards Daybreak," Kelly noted. Daybreak was the second slum district in Gabriel's Gardens and while it was less dangerous than Morningstar, it was still a place not recommended for four unarmed young adults and their barely grown-up dog.

"I think it's time to call that lesbian cop you told us about," Ajay said.

"Dudette, you're pretty popular among lesbians," Trent smirked. "First that cop, then your sister and her girlfriend... it's almost like you were one of the few straight characters in a book written by an author who really adores some girlie romance."

"Strictly speaking, Annie isn't a lesbian," Diane objected. "She is... how the hell did she call it... biromantic demisexual, if I'm correct."

"Back to the subject," Ajay said. "Are ya sure we can handle it ourselves?"

"I think we can," Diane replied. "We can always call Alyssa later."

"Maybe it will be too late by then," Kelly sighed.

"You underestimate my powers," Diane smiled. "I think I will be able to handle some bad guys if I had to."

There was a green live fence creating the borders between Blue Street and Morningstar. The fence was there to obscure the view of the poor, hopeless district behind it. Blue Street wasn't very luxurious itself, but it still looked splendid compared to unkempt, gray warrens of Morningstar.

The gang stood in front of one of the gates in the fence leading to Morningstar. Dante wanted to go inside. "Some people say that The King lived in Morningstar," Ajay noted. "He had his secret hideout there."

"Here we go again," Kelly rolled her eyes. "The King is just an urban legend!"

"Whaddaya think, Deedee?" Trent asked. "The King. Real or not?"

"After all the things I've seen," Diane said, "I don't have problems believing that The King could be real. I'm not saying he was. I just try to hint it's plausible. Now let's get inside."

<<>>

Morningstar was scary even during the daytime. The people they met were usually indigent and often dirty, looking at the intruders in clean clothes with a mix of envy and anger. Some of them were drunk or drugged. Diane started to doubt her decision to come here without Alyssa's aid.

While majority of the Morningstar buildings were either factories or tiny studios or condos, Daybreak was a sea of dark gray blocks of flats with several unhealthy trees and something that could be called a park when using lots of imagination.

"I can't imagine it here at night," Kelly whispered. "Enter at your own risk."

"I can confirm that Morningstar is pretty creepy at night even when there's a two-meter muscle dude with you," Diane said. "This has to be pretty similar."

Dante led them to a single-floor building resembling a big gray brick without windows or any other signs that someone lives there. Its entrance was a simple metal door with a red sign: For authorized personnel only accompanied by several warning signs.

"Dante says we should go inside," Diane said. "Should we?"

"Slow down, dudes, that would be breaking the law," Trent said. "We're definitely not an authorized personnel. I suggest leaving this for the police."

"I doubt that goblins are authorized either," Diane said. "We're going inside." She grabbed the door handle and opened. The inside was dark, with a thick smell of dust lingering in the air.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Trent said while nervously looking if anyone was watching.

They stepped inside and closed the door. They pulled out their mobile phones and turned on the flashlights. They were probably in some kind of maintenance complex with a central hallway leading into various engine rooms containing most likely the control panels of public lights.

"What would happen if I pushed some of these buttons?" Ajay wondered. There was no echo in there since the concrete walls were too thick.

"I don't know, but don't do it," Kelly said.

The silence was suddenly broken by Dante's barking. The gang started to swing their flashlights in all directions, trying to find out what is he barking at. They noticed movement in the hallway, but it was way too fast to capture. Ajay screamed as the being landed on his chest and scratched his face.

The glowing green eyes were there. They found the goblin's secret hideout.

A chaotic fray followed. Trent and Diane dropped their phones; only two flashlights remained active. The being injured them all, its aggressivity growing stronger. Dante, however, seemed to know what to do. And the creature knew that, too.

The dog's barking scared the creature which disappeared somewhere in the hallway. Dante went after it and gave his human friends some time to recover from the shock and retrieve their cellphones.

The goblin was nimble, able to jump on the walls to avoid Dante's mouth trying to capture it.

"Let's corner it," Trent said. The gang followed Dante who managed to lure the creature into one of the engine rooms. Ajay and Trent filled the room's entrance. The goblin gave its strange muffled scream again, realizing it was trapped. It tried to escape Dante for a bit longer before it accidentally allowed Dante to get the upper hand. The dog jumped, yanked the creature to the ground and pinned it down.

The goblin screamed and twitched, but Dante's resolve was stronger. He emitted a deep growl which Diane haven't heard yet. The creature stopped struggling, realizing that Dante's jaws can also cause harm.

"He did it!" Ajay cheered. "Your dog is a boss, Deedee!"

"Now it's time to find out what we caught," Diane said.

She started walking towards the defeated creature, then she heard a voice: "Don't hurt him!"

<<>>

Another person appeared on the scene: it was a young man, around twenty-five. He was struggling for breath; it was no wonder, that guy was morbidly obese, much fatter than Ajay who was just a but chubby compared to him. He had long dark hair, a stubble and surprisingly bright blue eyes.

"Don't... hurt... him," he repeated.

"What kind of dude is raising goblins in the city underground?" Trent wondered.

The fatty laughed. "Goblins? So that's what they think?"

"So what is it?" Diane asked impatiently.

"See for yourself."

Diane carefully approached the goblin, still held at bay by Dante. It was small and hairy with roughly human-like features. Upon closer inspection, Diane realized. "That's a monkey!"

"Of course it's a monkey, what did you expect?" the fatty rolled his eyes. "Okay. Could you please ask your dog to let Babi go? He's easily stressed out."

"Dante, come to me," Diane said. The dog reluctantly released the ape, apparently named Babi. He immediately jumped up, climbed on the obese man and seated himself on his owner's shoulder. The glowing green "eyes" were actually some kind of gear attached to the monkey's head. The man removed it and revealed Babi's actual face - confused, wrinkly and cute. It was probably a species called a spider monkey. Their typical features included thin body, long arms and legs and a tail used as a fifth limb.

"That stupid cur almost scared Babi to death," the man complained.

"That goddamn little thing attacked us first," Trent said. "And it destroyed my favorite jersey."

"I think I know what's going on," Ajay pointed at the unknown man. "You trained the monkey to break into houses and steal stuff. I have to admit, that's hella smart."

"You're right," the fatty sighed. "Long story short. My parents died in a car crash and I inherited all their debts. I lost all my belongings due to execution - everything except Babi who has been a family pet for some years already. I became homeless."

"You don't look like homeless," Trent teased him.

"That's a hormonal problem! I was even fatter before. Well... I was barely able to survive. I realized I need money to pull myself together again. So I started to train Babi to steal things. He already knew a few tricks, so I only had to retrain him to be a thief.

"I used the money from the first heists to buy a computer. I've used the social networks to pick my future victims. If I needed an address, I just created a fake account and asked a few people in the target person's friend list. I made up a story about a secret admirer who wants to send flowers, a manager of a competition wanting to send prizes to the winner or something similar. Then it was all up to Babi. Fortunately, I've trained him well!" the man smiled proudly and offered the monkey a treat from his pocket. Babi gladly accepted it and ate the cookie within seconds.

"If you ask me about this," the man pointed at the monkey's headgear, "it's a night vision device also able to see security lasers. I made it myself."

"What's your name?" Kelly asked.

"Bob. Bob Bentley," the fatty replied. "Well, I should have been more careful. You will now call the police and drag me into even deeper shit, is that right?"

Diane sighed. "Do you still have the stuff Babi stole?"

"Yeah, most of it."

"If you return it, I'll do what I can to keep you away from jail. I have a very good friend in the police," Diane smiled. "I admit - training a monkey to steal stuff was hella smart. And you did it out of desperation. I guess we can figure out some solution to raise you back to your feet."

"I guess I have no other choice," Bob sighed. "Okay, I'll return it. But I'm so mad at you. I could've been a millionaire if I sold it just a few days earlier and left the city! I'm just a loser who can't do anything right, even a crime. I guess I deserve to live here and eat the fast food remains."

"Don't be so negative, Bob," Kelly said. "We can do something about it."

<<>>

Alexis looked at the banknotes in Diane's hand in disbelief. "Where... where'd you get that?" she voiced. "You... you didn't steal it, right?"

Diane enjoyed her sister's shock. "No no no no. They're earned. It's from Mr. Maximum Poop. And also a proof that I am able to solve a case on my own."

Several expressions took turns on Alexis' face - disbelief, surprise, anger and finally admiration. She also had to surpass the urge to dress Diane down and disown her as her sister for completely ignoring her requests and doing important things behind her back.

Instead, she said: "You have one minute to explain."

Diane started to tell the story and Alexis' emotions gradually ceased until only admiration remained. She still had to fight the urge to scold her sister, but she realized that she would probably do the same. If Diane told her about Popov's phone call, she would probably stress herself out, slowing down her recovery. And she also had to admire Diane's methods.

"Trust me, sis, I wouldn't have done it if Poop wasn't so impatient," Diane finished her speech. "It was also a chance for me to prove I'm as good investigator as you are. You can't blame me for doing so."

"I guess I can't," Alexis sighed, then hugged her sister. "You did a good job, Dee."

Diane smirked. "Am I a good investigator?"

"Of course you are."

"Can I solve cases on my own?"

Alexis rolled her eyes. "You're really going to shove it down my throat, right?"

"You bet," Diane sneered. "Before I forget. We handed the stolen goods in to Alyssa who promised to not prosecute Bob under one condition - he will find a job and start to work as any normal person until he makes enough to put his life together."

"Did he agree?"

"Of course, he had no other choice. He's not a bad guy, just desperate. And that monkey he has is adorable - well, when it doesn't try to scratch my face off."

"A man who's good to animals can't be a bad person," Alexis said. "That reminds me... I should be so mad at you that you got Dante involved. Luckily, he's alright. And are you sure he tracked the monkey all by himself? That's great! My training is starting to pay off!"

"Woof," Dante replied.

"I should be mad, but I'm not," Alexis said. "After all, you did it for me - at least partially. Thank you, Diane. Just promise me you won't do that again."

Diane raised her eyebrows. "Would you really believe such promise?"

"You're right." Alexis took the money and gave one of the banknotes to Diane. "That's for your friends. It should be enough for a nice party."

"Thanks, sis!" Diane smiled and accepted the money.

"I have to meet that Bob guy someday," Alexis thought out loud. "I wonder what he's doing right now."

<<>>

"Quickly! Quickly! Time is money!" Maxim Popov shouted.

"This is my maximum speed!" Bob Bentley groaned. Popov's office had so many things to clean and Bob had to clean them all. Then he would commence his shift as a window cleaner. He felt like some kind of maid, but he had no choice - Alyssa Lafayette offered him a fresh start and one has to start somewhere.

"It takes more than this to make me forgive you!" Popov roared. "Do you know how much trouble did you and your damn ape cause me? Quickly, quickly!"

"You can insult me as much as you want, but leave Babi out!" Bob said.

"He's just a stupid primate!" the man grumbled, not aware that Babi is climbing up his jacket. He screamed as the monkey bit his ear. Bob started to laugh. "See?" he said. "Babi knows very well what you're saying!"

"Next time, don't take that goddamn animal to work!" Popov said. "I gave you a room for free for a reason. That ape can stay here until you finish your work. Now KEEP MOVING! THESE WINDOWS AREN'T GONNA CLEAN THEMSELVES!"

"Alright, Mr. Poo... uhm... Popov," Bob said and continued wiping the dust off Popov's bookshelf.

"Come to me! Come! Come!" a female voice sounded from the office door. Arletta lured Babi using a piece of fruit. The monkey accepted the fruit and ate it on the woman's shoulder. "What a cute little thing you are!" Arletta smiled at the animal. "But you should feel ashamed for scaring me so much. At least your daddy is useful in here! Finally, I don't have to do these maid jobs and focus on my paperwork."