Chapter 13: The Cost Of Duty (Part One)

Hazel didn’t sleep well that night.

Images of her parents being torn apart by various supernatural creatures plagued her nightmares. Mysterious men in black suits crept through her mind, striking at her throat and shoving bags over her head.

Again and again, she’d wake up in cold sweat, wondering if she had somehow managed to recall her past through sheer force of will. And without fail, she’d simply drop her head back on her drenched pillow after realising that her dreams were too bizarre to be real.

Thankfully, the next morning arrived without incident, accompanied by her ringing phone. Hazel was already wide awake by then, so she pulled her phone from the drawer beside her bed and made sure to check the Caller ID this time before answering.

“What’s up, Liam?” the girl mumbled, blowing a stray hair from her face. “You’ve been calling me for two mornings in a row. A girl is going to get the wrong idea, you know.”

“I need you to come over to the Yokai migration tent immediately.” Liam was clearly not in the mood to joke for some reason. “Something terrible has happened— You know what? Never mind, I’m coming over to your house right now. There’s no time to waste.”

Hazel had barely gotten dressed when her doorbell rang. She scurried down the stairs, almost tripping over her feet in the process. It had only been five minutes and Liam was already at her doorstep. He sure wasn’t joking about about having ‘no time to waste’.

The girl thanked the Heavens that the doorbell wasn’t loud enough to wake her grandfather up. The sight of a boy her age at their doorstep was going to raise questions she didn’t want to answer.

“That was fast.” Hazel opened the door to a very worried-looking Liam. “Did you teleport here in broad daylight? Isn’t that dangerous? What if someone saw you?”

Liam practically dragged her out of the house.

“Not as much danger as Chester is in,” he whispered, casting a cursory sweep to make sure there were no witnesses. “Hold on tight. I’m bringing us to the tent now.”

Darkness engulfed Hazel.

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The commotion in the tent was deafening even from the outside. Hazel wasn’t exactly surprised after hearing Liam’s account of what went down in the tent the previous day, from Chester’s tantrum to the full lockdown of the whole tent to prevent the Kappa from escaping again.

But nothing prepared her for what she was about to witness.

“Why didn’t you go after him? Why did you—”

“How was I to know he’d throw such a big tantrum and run off like that? He should’ve been strong enough to protect himself—”

“Stop making excuses, dammit! If you hadn’t been so harsh on him, none of this would’ve happened. This is on you!”

The wall shuddered as something metallic crashed into it.

Hazel stepped over the overturned laboratory table gingerly as she walked into the room, casting awkward glances at the middle-aged couple. Luca was crouching on the floor with his head buried in his palms, while Ava stood facing away from her husband with a bloodstained note gripped tightly in her hand.

Liam brushed past Hazel, practically stomping up to the woman with a phone in his hand.

“While you were busy arguing over who to blame, I found Chester’s phone on the street. If I know him well enough— and I do— he left his phone behind to tip us off.” Liam’s tone was a lot harsher this time, and he was glaring at Ava. “If you’re finished wasting time thinking about that ransom note, I suggest we get a move on to start searching for him now.”

“There’s no need,” Luca said, holding up another piece of paper with some kind of picture on it. “We received a second note. It has a clear location this time.”

“Chester got kidnapped?” Hazel asked. “By who? How much money do they want?”

“By the two Yokai that he failed to catch,” Ava replied sharply. “They don’t want money, or they would’ve taken his phone too. They want an audience with us about their ridiculous demands.”

“It’s all my fault. I would never have left him to handle this alone if I knew how dangerous these Eastern monsters could be,” Luca sighed. “If anything happened to him…”

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“Sitting around here isn’t going to get him back.” Liam pocketed Chester’s phone. “These monsters were stupid enough to give away their location. Let’s go already.”

Hazel’s throat clamped up without warning as she felt a familiar heat run through her body again. She threw herself against the wall at the unbearable fire coursing through her veins this time. Her heart raced as though she was sprinting a marathon. Her lungs squeezed every ounce of air from her mouth. It felt like she was drowning in boiling water.

“Guh!” The girl dropped to the ground as the pain fled from her body abruptly. “No, don’t go… It’s a trap…”

“Hazel! Are you okay?” Liam kneeled by her side. “That resonance in your body was insane! Are there monsters nearby? But that doesn’t make sense… The canal on the note is clearly on the other side of the city—”

Hazel gripped his hand desperately. She still didn’t know how her gift functioned, but if it had something to do with prophecy like her grandfather said…

“Please, there must be another way,” she pleaded. “I have a really bad feeling about this…”

“Hey, hey. What’s going on?” Ava asked. “What just happened?”

“Doesn’t matter. No time to explain,” Liam replied before Hazel could open her mouth. “You two have seen that canal before, right? We’ll head there now.”

“But—” Hazel protested, gripping his arm again.

“I’m sorry; I acted without thinking. I shouldn’t even have brought you here in the first place.” Liam stood up, brushing her hand away. “It’s way too dangerous. Stay here in the tent where it’s safe, alright?”

“What?!” the girl exclaimed indignantly. “No! No way! Chester’s my friend too! Let me come along, Liam— Liam!”

The three Magus snapped their fingers at the same time as they vanished in a puff of black smoke, leaving Hazel alone in the room.

“Oh, come on!”

Hazel kicked a wall in frustration. She paced the room for a few more seconds, before slamming her body down onto a chair with a huge sulk on her face.

It was useless. She didn’t know where the three of them had gone. And even if she did, she probably wouldn’t even be able to get there on time. They had magic on their side to hasten their journey, after all.

Her? She was as good as a powerless human.

Hazel’s thoughts gradually drifted into despair. What started as a fun little adventure into the world of Yokai was now warped into a world of monstrous creatures and even more terrifying humans. Not only were two of her classmates dealing directly with them, they were part of an organisation that didn’t seem to care about their safety in the least.

As for herself, she’d normally be thrilled to find out she was as magic as them. But this wasn’t a children’s story, and she wasn’t exactly expecting a happily-ever-after ending to this tale.

“Hello there, girl. We meet again.”

Hazel’s eyes snapped open as she turned to the source of the deep voice. Komyo had somehow gotten into the room without her noticing and was standing motionless behind her. The girl averted her gaze slightly. The man’s bright green eyes were a little too unnaturally striking to look at for long.

“You’re… Komyo,” Hazel stated, taking a short pause to recall his name. “What are you doing here?”

“I— I work here, of course,” the man replied in a slightly nervous tone. “What are you doing here?”

“My friends work here, but—”

“One of them was captured?”

“How did you know?”

“News spread fast,” Komyo said. “Well, what are you still doing here? He needs your help.”

Hazel threw her hands up in exasperation. “The others have already gone to save him.”

The man stared at her blankly.

“And they left me behind,” Hazel added bitterly. “Not like I’m going to be of use anyway. They’re the ones with magic powers, not me. They can help him.”

Komyo frowned. “No, your friend needs your help. Not theirs. You have a role to play here, even though you may not like the outcome at first. Just keep in mind that not everything is lost, even if it may seem like the end.”

“Geez, you sound like my grandfather. Can’t you just speak plainly?”

“I can help you.”

Hazel froze. “How?”

“I know where your friend is headed,” Komyo said, offering her a hand. “Come, you can still make it on time.”

The girl glanced at the hand suspiciously.

“If you know where Chester is, why didn’t you offer to help earlier?” she asked.

“Like I said, he needs your help. I am only here to help push along the inevitable currents of fate that guide all mortal lives.”

Hazel pursed her lips. She didn’t understand a word of what that cryptic man just said, nor could she even begin to guess how he seemed to know everything. But if he weren’t lying about helping her get to her friends, she’d just have to close her eyes and trust him for now.

The girl took his hand, and the world warped around them.