Jenkins, however, didn't notice that Chocolate was still fuming about lunch. He spent the afternoon in the basent with Miss Audrey, delving into the sowhat eerie practice of bone divination.
This thod of fortune-telling, handed down from the most ancient of tis, also carried connotations of prayer, blood sacrifice, and more. But by the modern era, most of the grueso elents had been excised. So that afternoon, Jenkins and Miss Audrey simply used a pair of fire tongs to scorch bone fragnts over a wood fire, observing the patterns of the cracks that ford.
It was a rather tedious form of divination, and incredibly ti-consuming. By five in the afternoon, Jenkins had only managed to produce three usable fragnts, and he couldn't decipher any aningful information from the fissures on their surfaces.
There was one piece, charred completely black, whose cracks he could just barely interpret according to the book's instructions. But the ssage it revealed was so bizarre that Jenkins refused to believe it—that aside from himself, an unseen female entity was also living in his house.
He had a party to attend at his neighbor's house at seven, so after having dinner at Miss Audrey's, he took his leave. Before he left, Miss Audrey mysteriously handed him a folded note in the foyer, whispering a quiet instruction:
"The Millstone of Fate has revealed sothing new, indicating the possible identity of the next Savior. The nine Saviors will et one day, and this might be of so help to you."
She told him to wait until he was off this street before opening it, which seed to have sothing to do with a loophole in so confidentiality pact. Jenkins dutifully complied, only unfolding the note as his carriage was about to reach St. George Avenue. Inside, written in Miss Audrey's hand, was a simple ssage:
A guest from a distant land, to forever remain in the mortal world;
A race of ancient legend, to appear once more among n;
An emissary of a great god, to fall from the heavens above;
The curse of a blessed slaughter, a fate none can escape.
"Is the first part about the aberrations? And what do the last two lines an?"
Jenkins thought with a frown, then flicked his fingers, burning the paper to ash. He had noticed it long ago, in fact. Ever since he obtained the first Savior's Emblem, Twin Demons, the emblems had been appearing around him almost without pause.
By that logic, after he had acquired Destiny's Stage, the clue to the next emblem should have already materialized in Nolan.
"Could it really be the Exotic Tide? But that ability..."
He pondered for a mont, unable to accept that such a malevolent power could be a Savior's Emblem.
"Besides, I've never heard of the Exotic Tide being unique. That doesn't fit the rules for a Savior's Emblem."
That point simply didn't add up, so Jenkins ruled out the Exotic Tide. He carefully reviewed the recent events in his mind but still couldn't find any clues.
Then he rembered the rule that Savior's Emblems could not be actively pursued. He set the matter aside for the ti being and began to prepare for the evening's gathering.
Jenkins didn't know everyone who lived on his street. Aside from his imdiate neighbors, with whom he was more familiar, he only recognized a handful of others, like Mr. Bell the lawyer and Dr. Colson.
He had seen his other neighbors on his way to and from work, but he found it difficult to connect all their faces with their nas. So, to avoid the potential embarrassnt of not being able to greet soone properly, Jenkins knocked on Mr. Goodman's door at half-past six, planning to head over to Mr. Bell's house with him.
The party wasn't expected to last very long; not everyone could afford to while away an entire evening at a neighbor's house. Since it was just down the street, Jenkins left Chocolate at ho to watch the house. The cat had initially been against the idea, but it reluctantly agreed after Jenkins promised to leave all the room doors open so it could wander freely about the house.
When the ti ca, Jenkins left with a bottle of red wine. The cat slipped out through the small cat door at the bottom of the main door and sat on the front steps, watching as Jenkins pushed open the gate and walked toward the Goodmans' house next door.
The mont his figure was hidden by the house, the cat shot back inside. It scampered on its four short legs across the living room and into the study, then hopped onto the windowsill to watch as Jenkins entered the Goodman ho.
The little cat's eyes were huge, its amber pupils gleaming with excitent and delight. After confirming that Jenkins wouldn't be returning for sothing he'd forgotten, it leaped down from the windowsill and darted into the basent.
It paid no mind to the various odds and ends cluttering the basent, slipping directly through a secret door into Jenkins's potion-making workshop.
The workbench was covered with all sorts of bottles and jars. A suitcase behind the door held the case of potions that Old Jack had given him upon his return from Shire City.
Various materials were neatly arranged on a shelf to the left. On the bottom shelf sat an iron box that radiated a palpable chill.
This iron box was a custom, double-walled model Jenkins had ordered from a blacksmith. He had placed sheets of ice in the cavity between the walls, turning it into a simple refrigerator for storing ingredients and potions that required cold storage.
But none of this was the cat's target. The cat's target was the fruit platter resting on the highest shelf.
It darted into the basent and stopped beneath the shelf, tilting its head back and staring up at the platter with wide eyes. The shadows in the corner of the room rippled like water, and a pair of large, black hands erged from the gloom, lifted the platter down, and placed it on the workbench.
The cat hopped onto the workbench as well, extending its right front paw to touch the fruit platter.
"ow~"
It said softly.
A black radiance spread from under the cat's small paw, enveloping the entire platter. A blue spiritual light imdiately rose from the platter and rged with the blackness. When the light faded, a blood-red fruit shaped like a heart appeared before it. A network of bright red veins, like tiny capillaries, wound across its surface, giving it an exceptionally uncanny appearance.
"Mrow!"
The cat eagerly stepped onto the platter and gently batted the heart-shaped fruit with its paw.
A tantalizingly sweet fragrance filled the basent. The blood-red fruit trembled with each of the cat's taps, making it look even more like a living heart.
The cat squinted its eyes in delight, took a small step back, and then sat down primly, all four paws tucked neatly beneath it.
It opened its mouth wide... wider... wider... wider... and wider still, and then, in a single gulp, it swallowed the fruit that was slightly taller than itself.
"eow~"
The cat's tail began to swish back and forth—one of the telltale signs of its excellent mood.
It then had the shadows return the fruit platter to its place before trotting back to the sofa. It curled up, its two large eyes fixed intently in the direction of Number One, St. George Avenue, watching Jenkins through layers of solid walls.
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