046 Real Or Surreal

"She is brilliant!!!" Iapetus exclaimed with applause, as if he just discovered some treasure.

"Iapetus, not now." Metis warned him with a low, calm voice.

Kitty was not at all affected by his passion. She was now all sullen and sad in her memory. No, the people there wasn't particularly good to her. Yes, she lived a miserable life there. But it was still her home, they were still the people who helped her to survive by occasionally giving her a bread or so. And there was her family, to cute little sisters and a naughty but brave young brother. All of them, gone overnight, because a witch wasn't sure which life to take!

"But the witch wasn't there. It was just her spell that came." Kitty said slowly, her thoughts were again on the riddle. There had been so much mystery around her life lately that she was desperate to garb some sort of clue that makes sense.

"Yes, and there is one more clue, given by Signo the Imprimerer" Iapetus nodded, "The Vita Collybus spell, it exchanges only the imprint of a soul, not real life. It's what they witches identify one another with. Meaning, the blue witch just exchanged her imprint with the couple, well, the wife, to be precise, to hide her identity, highly likely from the owner of the red spell."

"But nothing happened to the couple when that imprint was with them. The red spell only followed the blue one to our village after their death." Kitty mumbled.

"And there's only one reason for that." Iapetus said slowly, "It couldn't find anything, before that spell was triggered."

"Triggered?" Kitty caught that weird word immediately.

"Triggered. I looked into the police record; their murder was solved. It was a random robbery, nothing to do with supernatural whatsoever." Iapetus said, not knowing Kitty had been accused of this horrible crime just a few days before.

"So their death was an accident that was out of the blue haired witch's plan. And that gave away her daughter's location--? Wait, why would the spell go straight to her daughter though?" Kitty suddenly found the broken part of the logic.

"Ohh, you don't know!" Iapetus said with amazement, "Wow, then it's really impressive how you deduced so much with only little knowledge of witches."

"Iapetus." Metis called his name with a warning tone. Iapetus can be not very sensitive to other's feeling sometimes, but especially when he is excited about riddles.

Erebus took over the topic and explained to Kitty: "When a witches spell was broken, it would returned to the witch. It's a common way to track a witch, to break one of their spells and follow it. But if a witch is already dead when the spell was broken, the spell would go to her blood, meaning, her children, and never her older generation."

"Ohh, so... right, the witch on Maple street did say that the blue haired witch IS dead." Kitty nodded. Now she knew why it all made sense to them.

"So what we know now, is that the red witch," Iapetus raised a finger, "OR, a red wizard, was tracking the blue witch with ill intention. The blue witch, who died three years ago, exchanged her imprint with a couple living in another city, while hiding her daughter in a small village. The couple died of accident, and the red witch finally found a trace of her and went on a killing spree. Not knowing who was exactly the target."

"Wrong." Kitty suddenly said, and this time, even Iapetus was surprised and stared at her, "She could have narrowed it down if she wanted to. The witch on Maple street thought I was the daughter because of my hair, which frankly, is not that common. But the red witch didn't tell the werewolves to kill only blue haired people, instead, she gave the order to the werewolves to 'leave no survivor'. Maybe for insurance, but more likely--"

"Because she wanted to hide her target from them too." Erebus said with a soft voice, "She doesn't trust the werewolves either."

"And with good reason." Kitty nodded, "because they didn't kill Emma. They knew, somehow, that Emma was the target, and they kept her hidden from her."

"Bravo!" Iapetus yelled with yet another applause, forgetting Metis's warning again, "You are even more brilliant than I thought! This is amazing!"

"So the question remains," Iapetus said, "Who is the real daughter."

"What?" Kitty exclaimed at that conclusion, "It was Emma, that much is assured."

"How do you know?" Iapetus asked calmly.

"Well, first of all, it could only be me, or Emma. And it wasn't me. I don't have a shred of magic in me." Kitty shrugged, trying hard to not look disappointed. She wanted to hide from this fate not too long ago, and now that wish was granted, and she felt only pity in her heart.

"Okay, and secondly?" Iapetus asked with extreme patience.

"Well... do you really need a 'secondly'? That was pretty certain!" Kitty frowned at him.

"Hahaha..." Iapetus burst into laughter, "That's not how deduction works, little girl."

"Iapetus." Erebus suddenly said and warned Iapetus, and this warning was much more effective than Metis’s. Iapetus didn't see Kitty's disappointment in her eyes, but Erebus knew it would only cause her pain if a hope of her being part of the supernatural world was given and taken yet again, so while he also thought there was a chance that Kitty would be the real witch daughter, he didn't want to bring that up before he could confirm that.

"It could easily be Emma, as much as you, yes. But I found out that the couple registered as your parents, they were residence of your village before they moved out, three years ago. And they, abandoned a new born child." Iapetus said with a much serious tone now, explaining his thoughts instead of leading Kitty through a painful deduction, "The blue hair IS rare, but if Emma was their child, then she is definitely NOT, the daughter of the witch."

That, was a lot of information for Kitty to take in.

The parents registered to her happens to be Emma's parents? What an odd?! Or, maybe that wasn't accident at all? Did the blue witch plan all these? Could she be, the daughter of the witch after all? But--

"The witch on Maple street said, she saw the break of the blue haired witch's life line. It stopped three years ago, and from where it grew out a new line, which could either be a resurrection, or a new born baby." Kitty said, with the calmest voice she could manage, "Emma was also blue haired, also three years old. And while I was in there with the witch, she didn't feel the pulling of the blue witch from me. So, it means the pulling of the witch could only came from Emma."

Kitty shook her head before Iapetus could say anything else. It was not the disappointment that she couldn't bear no more, it was the false hope that was torturing her.

Iapetus wanted to say more, but he just opened his mouth, only to be cut off by a sudden knock on the door:

Knock, knock knock.

Deep, hard and slowly, as if in a rhythm.

Apparently, the rain pouring out of the door didn't stop this strange guest from getting to their door, and it sounded like the knocking took away all his strength.

They all turned to look at the door, and Erebus stepped up towards it.

"My Lord, let me." Metis said and ran in front of him.

"No, I'll handle it." Erebus pulled her on the arm and dragged her behind him. It was rare to see him so alarmed with no obvious reason. The three behind Erebus now were all nervous.

Erebus went ahead and opened the door, and before the three could take a good look at the dark figure on this stormy night, they heard Erebus's rough voice:

"Welcome, my King."