A pillar of fire, like a human torch, illuminated Jenkins's face, yet it failed to reveal the true form of the inverted husk. All the flas contracted, flowing back into Jenkins's palm, and the sea of fire surged toward the hanging shadow.
The writhing shadow resisted, cursing. On the ground, bizarrely shaped shadow creatures lurked, trying to creep closer as whispers echoed from the depths of the Shadow Realm. Though it was rely a husk, it seed to have provoked so distant entity.
Unfortunately, before so high-level, grotesque creature from the depths of the Shadow Realm could extend its consciousness into the material world, the inverted woman plumted from the air.
The dark clouds finally drifted past the twin moons, and the revealed moonlight illuminated a motionless, charred lump of flesh lying amidst the ruins.
"Even for a re shell, that was far too fragile."
Jenkins muttered to himself, stepping over broken tiles and splinters of furniture. He quickly dug his pistol and cane out of the rubble, first confirming the fates of the three won—one crushed, one killed in the explosion, and one freshly burned to death—before retrieving his rope.
He waved to the cat in the tree.
"A good deed's done, no need for fa. Let's scram!"
He whispered, and once Chocolate had scurried over, he scooped up the cat. He nimbly vaulted a low wall, his form shifting several tis in the instant he landed—from a short, stout noblewoman to a tall, slender gentleman, and finally to a shabby young man with a limp.
A grin unfitting his current guise spread across his face. He reached up and pinched his cheeks, settling his features into a more appropriate expression before lting into the panicked crowd.
"I'm getting much too skilled at this..."
Instead of heading ho, Jenkins left the neighborhood just before the police arrived to cordon it off, narrowly avoiding a collision with an approaching Nightwatch Squad. He took a long, winding route through the city before finally arriving at the riverside residence of Hathaway, the one he'd visited before.
The young noblewoman couldn't be called exceptionally wealthy, but she owned several properties in Nolan City. Jenkins stood in the shadows at the mouth of an alley, patting Chocolate and sending the cat to slip onto the property and see if the red-haired lady was ho.
Watching the cat flick its tail as it leaped the fence, Jenkins felt that his inexplicable impulse to get a cat all that ti ago had been absolutely the right decision.
He leaned against the wall, waiting. It wasn't until a distant coachman's hand-rolled cigarette had gone out for the second ti that the iron gate to the garden finally swung open.
The maid he'd t before appeared, one hand clutching the side of her apron and the other gripping the iron bars of the gate. She glanced around cautiously, and Jenkins quickly stepped out of the alley.
"Is it finished?"
In the warm drawing-room, the fireplace crackled softly. The maid brought tea and refreshnts, then discreetly withdrew.
"It's done."
Jenkins and Hathaway sat together before the fire, Jenkins sinking into a high-backed chair with a soft red cushion. After rushing about for so long on such a cold night, the simple comfort of a hot cup of tea by the hearth was exquisite.
"That was quick."
Hathaway watched Jenkins stroke the cat curled on his lap, his eyes half-closed in contentnt. The sharp, dangerous aura he'd carried that afternoon was completely gone, and she felt herself relax.
"These things are best dealt with quickly. My... friend, you could say, also helped settle the score for that gunshot this afternoon. But I'll need to stay here a while longer. I need an alibi, after all."
The firelight illuminated Jenkins's face, casting a golden glow upon his already youthful features.
"Oh... hmm? Oh, ahem. Of course. Briny has been forbidden from leaving the house by Marquis Mikhail, so I don't imagine I'll have any other guests tonight."
At that, they both recalled the awkward scene from the previous night and subconsciously steered the conversation away from it.
"Would you mind telling if you learned anything from... that business? I'm worried sothing like this could happen again."
"I—that is, my friend, the one known as 'Twin Demons'—said the maid who attacked us was from the Witch's House. She had two accomplices in Nolan, but they were all killed just now. One of them could use shadows to mimic the form of the higher being they worship, but it wasn't particularly powerful..."
"The Witch's House?"
Hathaway cradled her teacup, lost in thought. "I've heard of that illegal organization," she murmured. "It's composed entirely of won. Ever since committing a major cri in Bel Diran three years ago, they've kept to the shadows."
"A major cri three years ago?"
"Yes. You weren't yet an Enchanter, so you wouldn't have heard about it. But at the ti, it was the most serious supernatural incident in the kingdom. It pales in comparison to what Nolan has seen this year, of course, but after that, the Enchanters of the Witch's House vanished completely."
"Do you know anything else about them?"
Jenkins pressed on. "If they all worship this so-called Inverted Shadow, what's their goal? They must have one."
"Yes. They claim their object of worship is a creator deity, and their goal is to summon the Inverted Shadow into our world to manifest its glory. How to put this... based on that alone, it's certainly no true god. What deity needs mortal aid to descend to the world? At the sa ti, the organization is dedicated to helping unregistered female Enchanters. While that part is admirable, we generally wouldn't associate with such an illegal group. They've done so truly disgusting things..."
She was amused by the puzzled expression on Jenkins's face as he held his cat. She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh, and once it passed, she added:
"mbers of the Witch's House usually infiltrate high society as tutors to young noblewon, ladies visiting from foreign lands, or daughters from impoverished aristocratic families. They rarely resort to outright murder—today was an exception. Seduction, deceit, and manipulation are their preferred tools, and poisoning is quite common. So, you must be careful around any unfamiliar female Enchanters you et lately... Oh, never mind. Why am I even telling you this? It's not as if you're likely to..."
Jenkins felt a little underestimated. He did have female Enchanter friends—Hathaway, Miss Miller, Audrey... Three was plenty.
"So, was the reason they were targeting Marquis Mikhail discovered? I an, my friend is rather... ruthless and was more focused on killing than searching for clues. So I'm still in the dark about what information the Marquis might have."
Jenkins was too embarrassed to admit he hadn't found any information at all, so to save his "friend's" face, he simply pretended he hadn't looked.
"I don't know. But it must be incredibly important."
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