Chapter 20: Green

Parvati's room was somewhat dim due to the cloudy sky outside, as Greg stepped out from underneath her bed. He looked around; sure enough, she was nowhere to be seen. He looked down at the letter in his hand, which he had found on his kitchen's table. It stated that Parvati would be leaving for her job much earlier than usual during that week, and therefore she would not have time to entertain him like she always did before leaving for work.

Greg sighed and crumbled up the letter, before tossing it behind him to the floor. Parvati's neat and tidy room was empty and quiet; in fact, it seemed as if the entire house was quiet. He wondered if Trish was still around, but he doubted it; she tended to always leave in the mornings as well for a slew of her own reasons.

He wandered into the hallway, where he saw that Trish's bedroom door was wide open. He was still getting accustomed to seeing it without the mess that had been inside for the past several months. As he drew closer to it, he saw that she was indeed not inside.

"...I guess that leaves only one person," Greg said to himself as he approached the kitchen. "...I guess it's not the first time I've been left here with Heidi, but..."

He heard the sounds of the television from the living room as he walked through the kitchen. Either someone had left it on before leaving, or someone was still in there. Judging from the sounds, whoever was inside the room would have been watching a daytime talk show; definitely not something either Trish or Heidi would watch.

Minutes later--having exited the kitchen and walked across the front hallway--he reached the living room, and was somewhat surprised to see Heidi sitting on the couch, albeit looking through papers on the coffee table. He looked towards the TV, and saw supermodel-turned-talk show host Tyra Banks talking about fashion and what people should not wear, while throwing her own eccentricities into her "advice".

"...Why is this woman still on TV?" Greg pondered to himself.

Heidi had taken notice to his arrival. "...You're finally up."

"Meh. I thought you'd be outside. Instead, you're in here watching this crap."

"I was outside earlier," Heidi said. "Besides, it's going to rain in a bit. All day, too." She looked towards the television. "And I'm not really paying attention to this; it's just background noise."

"What are you doing, anyway?" Greg asked.

"I'm looking through these reports," Heidi answered. "...I'm investigating something."

"I thought you were on vacation."

"This is something personal. ...And very important."

"Oh? What about?"

Heidi hesitated for a few seconds before speaking. "...I suppose I can tell you a little bit of it. Remember when you were attacked by Irene last week?"

Greg shuddered. "How can I forget? If it wasn't for you, I'd have been fried."

"Right, and you saw me freak out when she began to charge her last spell..."

"Yeah... A dangerous spell that no witch should know, or something."

Heidi nodded. "I'm looking into seeing how knowledge of that spell leaked out. The fact that a run-of-the-mill Witch such as Irene knew it is highly disturbing to me."

Greg folded his arms. "Hmm... You also never told me what that spell does."

"That's a secret."

"You don't think I should know about a spell that might've killed us both?"

Heidi shook her head. "...Not now, at least."

Greg sighed. "Well, whatever. ...Wait, where'd you get those reports from, anyway?"

"My subordinate delivered them to me," Heidi answered.

"Oh..."

Greg began to walk closer to the coffee table in front of the couch. As he approached, he took notice to Heidi's usual bare feet underneath, both set flat on the carpeted floor. Ever since his dream with her in it, as well as when she has showed him the clean bottom of her right foot, he had found somewhat of a new respect for her feet. He also noticed that ever since her showing him her foot, she had kept her feet clean; he had no idea what sparked this sudden change, however. What he did know was that now he believed that she could possibly rival Parvati when it comes to their feet.

As he was lost in thought, he realized that he was standing right in front of those gigantic peds. He examined both of them rather closely. Indeed, there was not a speck of dirt to be found on or between her toes. No doubt that magic played a part, but he could not argue with results.

"Can I help you?" Heidi--slightly annoyed--asked above him.

"Ever thought about painting your toenails green?" Greg asked. "I think they'd match perfectly with your eyes."

Heidi stared at him for a few seconds. "...Not really. But stop gawking at my feet. You already have Parvati and Trish to appease you."

"But your feet are much better than Trish's," Greg said. "Don't know if you'd beat out Parvati, though. Not until you put on some polish."

"You must be bored. What do you usually do in the mornings?"

"Well, play with Parvati before she goes to work," Greg answered. "Then hang out with Trish, but she's been out doing other things lately..."

"...I see," Heidi said, before standing up. "...Well in that case, I guess I could go figure out something to keep you occupied."

Greg stared up at her in slight disbelief. "Really? You?"

"Don't act so surprised. I'm perfectly capable of having fun."

"But everytime I see you, you're all super serious and stuff..."

"Because for much of the time we've known each other, I was on the job. Now I can relax a little." She looked towards the window behind the couch. "...I needed this vacation too. I've been working almost nonstop for the past 200 years..."

"You look good for someone over 200 years old," Greg commented. "Not a grey hair or wrinkle on you."

"...I don't know if you're complementing me, or being sarcastic. Regardless, wait here while I go set everything up."

With that, Heidi began to exit the living room. Greg watched her leave, and then looked back towards the television, Tyra Bank's image still on the screen. He shivered.

"Hey!" He shouted towards where Heidi had exited. "Can you at least change the channel!?"

No response. Greg sighed, and sat down underneath the table, having no choice but to watch the eccentric talkshow host on the television until Heidi was ready.

~~~

Greg had dozed off; he had no idea how much time had passed when he had come to, but when he glanced at the television, he noticed that an entirely new program was airing at that moment. He then stood up and looked around. Heidi was nowhere to be found, and rain was beating against the window behind him.

"Damn, how much time does it take for her to set up whatever it is she's going to do?" Greg asked himself in frustration.

He stepped out from underneath the coffee table and took a few steps away from its shadow.

Suddenly, he found himself falling forward into the carpet. Grumbling at his perceived clumsiness, he looked towards his left foot and saw that he had tripped over something embedded in the floor. Said object resembled a handle, and also glowed with a white light. He had not noticed it before when he entered, so there was only one explanation as to where it had come from.

He stood up and pulled the handle out of the floor, surprisingly with little effort at all. The handle was attached to a small case. Greg sat on the floor and opened the case; inside was a note and a green flag. He pulled out both, examining the flag for a few seconds before turning his attention to the letter:

Congratulations! You're unearthed the first of five flags hidden across the house! This will be the only letter you receive during this game, so pay close attention... You must scour the entire house for the four remaining flags. You have two hours to do so. If you succeed, then I might just honor your request to paint my nails (fingers and toes) green as you so insisted. Fail, and... well, that will just be tough luck for you. Personally, I don't care either way whether you win or lose, but I am interested in seeing how far you get. ...Well, the game will officially start as soon as you're done reading this. Right about... ... ...NOW!!

The letter then burned away in a strange white fire, though instead of leaving behind ash, the letter was reduced to white sparkling magic that blew away as if the wind had carried them off. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his right hand. He looked at its palm, and saw that a timer had been embedded into it; it reading 2:00:00, then 1:59:59, then 1:59:58, and so forth.

Taking the first of the flag in hand, he stood up. "Well, I don't have much time. I better get started. ...But where do I start...? In here? ...Would she hide two flags in the same room? ...I don't think so."

Deciding to search elsewhere, Greg started to walk out of the living room, towards the front hallway and soon into the kitchen. A quick look around the kitchen did not reveal anything out of the ordinary, but he knew that the flags would not have been easy to spot in the first place.

Greg took to searching all around the kitchen; against the walls, in the corners, under the table and chairs, and in front of the appliances and counters. His search came up fruitless.

He sighed as he made his way to the center of the kitchen, particularly under the table. He looked at the timer on his palm; it read 1:41:31.

"I still have plenty of time," he said as he walked underneath the table, "but where is that damn flag?" He looked around himself. "It's gotta be around here somewhere. ...Or is there one even in here?" The prospect of him having wasted his time in the kitchen when the flag may not have been in there at all aggravated him.

At that point, he happened to look up above him, and saw it; right on the bottom of the table was the second flag. Seconds after his eyes locked onto it, it detached itself from the table above him and fell down to the floor in front of him. He reached down and picked it up, holding both of the flags in his left hand.

"Two down, three to go," Greg said. "...I guess it's time for the bedrooms."

As Greg made his way towards the back hallway, he suddenly heard the familiar sound of magic, from the direction of the front hallway. He wondered if it was Heidi doing something, but he quickly threw that thought out of his mind, as he had not seen her anywhere in the vicinity. Could it be another infiltrator like Irene? Someone who also had a score to settle with Heidi?

Letting his curiosity once again get the best of him, he turned around and rushed towards the front hallway, flags still in hand. He knew that he once again ran the risk of being attacked like before, but he wanted to see who exactly was breaking into the house this time.

Upon reaching the hallway, he was met with the sight of a young woman with a caramel skintone and curly brown hair, suggesting a biracial ethnicity. She wore an amber tubetop with a blue denim skirt, and black heeled boots. Around her neck was a silver necklace with a red jewel--perhaps a ruby--hanging from it, as well as small but similar earrings. She was quite attractive, but that did not change the fact that she had entered into their house without permission.

"Can I help you!?" Greg yelled out against his better judgement.

The woman looked towards him, and an expression of shock and astonishment appeared on her face. "Whoa! Are you what I think you are!?" She approached him and kneeled over him. "...Are you an Imp?"

"Hell no!" Greg answered. "I'm a human!"

"A human!? But why are you so small?"

"I'll ask the questions around here!" Greg said. "What are you doing here?"

"She's here to see me," answered a familiar voice from behind.

Greg turned and say Heidi standing in the kitchen doorway.

"There you are!" the new woman said. "I've gotten some new info on the Forbidden Spell situation, but first, what's up with this little guy right here?"

Heidi walked into the front hallway, standing right behind Greg. "It's an idea Parvati had... Well, both her idea and his, I guess. He's into that kind of thing, being a little vermin and all."

"I see... That's weird."

"Who are you, anyway?" Greg asked.

"My name is Deja Noir-Gibson," Deja answered, "and I'm a General Witch-in-training under Ms. Light here."

"Oh really? Then you must be the subordinate Heidi mentioned earlier. But still... You ever heard of knocking?"

"Greg, be quiet," Heidi ordered.

Greg turned towards Heidi behind him. "But you know what happened here last week." He turned back towards Deja. "For all I knew, she could have been another rogue Witch trying to beat you up. Plus, even if you know her, I'm not comfortable with a Witch I don't know just appearing in here unannounce-"

Before he could finish his sentence, something heavy fell upon him and pressed him hard against the floor. It did not take him long to realize that Heidi had stepped on him, perhaps to shut him up. He tried to move, even free himself, but the force that she was exerting onto his tiny body prevented him from doing much of anything. Eventually, he gave up, opting to listen to the conversation of the much larger Witches, or at least what he could make out from underneath Heidi's foot.

~~~

Deja looked to be stunned at what she had witnessed, Heidi having stepped on Greg to keep him quiet. She felt him struggling underneath, but did not pay it too much mind.

"Hey wait, is he alright?" Deja asked while looking at her foot. "You didn't squish him, did you?"

"He's fine. Don't worry about him," Heidi replied. "Tell me what you found out."

"Okay..." Deja stood upright. "...I got permission to look through the vault containing the Forbidden Spell scrolls, and... How many scrolls are there supposed to be, again?"

"Seven," Heidi answered. "...Don't tell me..."

Deja nodded. "Three scrolls are missing, including Cephei Aldebaran."

Heidi's mouth dropped in horror. "How did the guards even let anyone inside!? No one is allowed inside except for the Head Witches and us, and we need explicit permission!"

"The guards don't remember anything or anyone out of the ordinary," Deja said. "...In fact, they don't remember anything at all."

Heidi folded her arms. "...Something’s not right. Irene knowing of Cephei Aldebaran is bad enough, but you're telling me that someone has also leaked out two other spells? Which ones are they?"

Deja looked upward, as if she were pondering something. "Umm... ...I think..." She looked back towards Heidi. "Mu Carina, and Polaris."

Heidi let out a slight sigh of relief. "...Thankfully Cephei Aldebaran is the most destructive of those three, but as long as its scroll is still out there, we're not safe at all. I should have used physical force when I was interrogating Irene. Now it's too late; once the doors of the Abyss close, no one is allowed out under any circumstances until their time is up."

"Ms. Light..."

Heidi looked towards the living room. "I'm glad that I was able to stop her from using it, though. If I were not there, I fear what would have become of this entire region."

"You know that a Witch of Irene's level would have ended up killing herself if she managed to unleash it."

"And she would have taken millions of lives with her," Heidi said. "We can't let another Witch--or even a Human--find that scroll. We need to find it as soon as possible."

"I'll get some people on that," Deja said. "As well as finding who took them in the first place."

"All of the signs point to one of us," Heidi said as she turned back towards Deja. "The guards are not supposed to let anyone inside the vault except for--as I said earlier--us and the Head Witches."

Deja sighed. "It's scary that not even the General Witches can be trusted. ...But then again, I overheard some of them talking. They were talking about this world's current events and how if Witches did not have to hide themselves, they would have fixed most of the world's problems."

"...Interesting... But that could have just been banter."

Deja shrugged. "Maybe. Plus, I don't see how Cephei Aldebaran would solve anything. It'd just make things worse, unless their idea of 'fixing the world's problems' is genocide..."

"Deja," Heidi called. "Remember what Mu Carina does?"

Deja stared blankly at Heidi for a few seconds, before a look of realization appeared on her face. "Oh, right! ...Do you want me to investigate the others?"

"By all means," Heidi answered. "But make sure to keep a low profile. I don't want any of them catching on to what we're doing."

Deja nodded. "Right. ...Wow, it almost seems like you're not on vacation at all." She giggled.

"I'm starting to think I shouldn't have taken one at all," Heidi said, before letting out a deep sigh. "But it was the only way I could have started investigating all of this on my own. ...And with your help, of course."

Deja smiled. "I'll do my best! But anyway, I'm going back to the Aurora Realm now. I'll let you know if I find out anything new."

Heidi nodded. "Please do."

Deja then kneeled down on the floor, her attention on Heidi's right foot. "See you later, little guy! Don't stress her out too much!"

Standing back up, she walked towards the front door, and did a motion with her glowing right hand . After which, a portal opened up in front of her. Deja looked back towards Heidi and waved farewell, before stepping into the portal. Once she disappeared completely within the dimensional vortex, it shrunk until it had disappeared completely.

Heidi stood there, reviewing in her mind what Deja had just told her. Indeed, at this point, it was more than likely that a General Witch had stolen those three scrolls, and even leaked them to the outside world. She briefly considered that one of the Head Witches had done it instead, but she concluded that that was highly unlikely, as they all took a sacred vow to upload the honor and dignity of the Council. Whatever the case was, the fact that those three spells were out there was a serious concern for her. She could only hope that she and Deja would be able to solve this case before anything else happened with those spells; she knew that they had to hurry as well, as any one of those spells could be unleashed at any moment.

The one that worried her the most was Cephei Aldebaran, but luckily with the tremendous amount of energy and magic required to use it, only a fool would even consider unleashing it. However, Mu Carina and Polaris were still a concern, as while they're not as destructive as Cephei Aldebaran, they could still pose a problem for both the Human Realm as well as the Aurora Realm. All seven spells were forbidden for a reason, after all; in the wrong hands, they could render both realms uninhabitable.

In any case, all Heidi could do was hope that Deja was able to uncover something, if even a small clue that could give insight as to who the culprit is.

She turned to her left and walked towards the living room, stepping off of Greg on the floor below her.

~~~

The weight lifted off of Greg's body as light returned to his world. He watched as Heidi walked into the kitchen. Standing up, he was still surprised that Heidi of all people had chosen to silence him in such a manner. It was almost as if his dream from before had become real. Except that he was still alive. While under her foot, he also noticed that her sole was surprisingly soft for someone who walked barefoot everywhere. Once again, he knew that magic played a part, but as he determined before, he could not argue with the results.

He then glanced at his palm, and was surprised to see that the timer was still ticking away; it currently read 1:17:21.

"Hey, Heidi!" Greg shouted. "What's the deal!? This thing's still counting down!"

Heidi reappeared in the kitchen doorway. "I know."

"Why didn't you stop it while Deja was here!?"

"It wasn't me who made you come out here to meet her; you made that decision on your own. It's not my fault you wasted you time on a matter that didn't really concern you." She then turned and walked away.

Greg sighed as he watched the timer in his palm. "Can I even make it now? ...Well, I got nothing else to do. Might as well try."

As he walked into the kitchen, he recalled the conversation between Heidi and Deja, or at least what he could make out through Heidi's foot. Apparently, there was a traitor among the General Witches leaking out Forbidden Spells. He believed that there were two other spells having been stolen aside from the one he knew about.

He wanted to ask Heidi what those spells did, but he knew that she wouldn't tell him; he still didn't even know what the first spell did, aside from it being highly destructive. He thought that it was unfair of her to withhold such information from him, especially when that spell could have killed them both. However, he figured that it must have been the Witches' equivalent of the government's highly-classified information. ...Not that he wasn't curious about those, as well.

He walked into the back hallway, and his thoughts shifted to Deja, Heidi's subordinate.

"Deja really is a cutie, though," Greg said to himself. "I wonder if she'll come back around here anytime soon. ...Hopefully without those boots next time. Maybe I'll put in a word to Heidi. ...Wait, you're getting ahead of yourself, Greg. You already have the nail polish thing to deal with."

As he reached Trish's room, he looked at his palm. 1:04:02. Thankfully, without the mess, the search in Trish's room would not be as hard as it could have been.

"...Well, let's get this over with," Greg said as he entered inside.

~~~

Greg sat underneath the coffee table in the living room, looking begrudgingly at the five green flags that he had uncovered. Indeed, he had found the remaining three.

He looked again at his palm; it displayed 0:00:00, and had not changed in the past several minutes. He had run out of time before he could find the last one.

The third flag was inside Trish's bathroom, and the fourth was underneath Parvati's bed, right outside of his dollhouse. However, against what he had thought before, the fifth and final flag was indeed in the same room as where he had found the first flag; it was placed on the right side of the television, out of clear sight from where he was standing when the game had begun.

The worst thing was that, had he not had been trapped underneath Heidi's foot for so long, he could have made it back to the living room with enough time to complete the task; in fact, had he searched the room from the get-go, he would have made it even if he had had the run-in with Deja and Heidi.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself. "I can't believe I lost that one. I was so close, too."

He then heard footsteps approaching from his right. He looked and saw Heidi entering into the room. She immediately saw him sitting underneath the table.

"Looks like you lost," Heidi said. "That's too bad for you. I guess I'm sticking with my natural nail color," she taunted.

"Not cool, Heidi," Greg said.

"Like I said, you made the decision to stop and meet Deja. You have no one but yourself to blame. ...Maybe next time you'll do better."

Greg's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You're gonna give me another chance?"

Heidi shrugged. "Why not? A part of me actually wants to see you succeed. But you're going to have to wait for your next chance."

"...How long?"

"A few days, maybe a week."

"Oh..." Greg was a bit disappointed.

"...But in any case, now that you've met her, what'd you think of Deja?" Heidi asked.

"I think she's pretty cute," Greg answered. "A little bubbly, though."

"Yeah, she's a bit high-spirited, and she can be a ditz sometimes, but I can see that she has great potential. ...She reminds me of me when I was younger."

"How young is 'younger' for you?"

"That's a secret," Heidi answered. "Anyway, you'll probably see her again soon, so don't freak out when she appears in here again like you did today."

"I definitely won't," Greg replied.

Heidi nodded. "Good." She then turned around. "If you need me, I'll be in the dollhouse. There's still some things I need to go over." With that, she walked out of the living room.

Greg turned his attention back towards the five flags in front of him. He then looked at his palm; the timer had disappeared.

"I'll get it next time," Greg said to himself as he balled his hand into a fist, now more determined to win Heidi's game. "For the sake of beautiful green nails."



[End Chapter]