Red Mirror

Chapter Two

Chapter TwoIn Larenville, there was only one place to stay. A place called the Pleasant Dream Inn. It wasn't always a place to stay, that was easy to tell by the looks of it. It was two stories high and each room appeared to have a window. The place was a light green and it stood out intentionally with the mostly red surrounding dirt. The sign was old and the paint was cracked due to exposure from the elements.

The two of them walked through the front door, there was a young elf girl in an equally green uniform there at the front desk “Hello,” she said just as cheerfully as she would any other customer, smiled too. “I don't trust this one,” Cornell said under his breath. Jenny narrowed her eyes and took over.

“Yeah, we'll need one room for an unspecified amount of time,” she said and a black card appeared in her hand and she put it on the desk. The desk clerk took it. “Oh my, Mystic Force cards are pretty rare around these parts,” she said and put it through the slider. A second later the computer beeped. “Looks like everything is in order, you'll be in room eighteen, just let us know when you're ready to check out,” she said and Cornell nodded as the key cards were handed over. They both took one and started down the hall towards their room.

The desk clerk narrowed her eyes as they walked down the hall and turned out of sight. She picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Yeah, those Detectives aren't leaving town anytime soon. They are staying here,” she said quietly. “Alright, you got it,” she said and hung up the phone.

Cornell and Jenny made there way into the room. The place was about as basic as rooms came. “Man, I hope the air unit isn't broken,” Cornell said looking around, he didn't even see anything to make the room cooler. “Don't worry about it, nothing a little magic can't fix,” Jenny replied. “Lome” she said and with a wave of her hand the sweltering heat of the room melted away and it was comfortable again. “See, I got it covered,” she said and smiled.

“Thanks,” Cornell replied and looked out the window. From here he could see where they found the bodies. “Any idea of where to start looking?” Jenny asked. “Not even one, but we know someone doesn't like elves, they picked here for a reason and someone in green did it,” Cornell replied. It wasn't much to go on but it was a start.

“And they don't like Pixies, either,” she said and shook her head. “Yeah, not everyone is over the war, especially the elves. It takes a long time for people to get over stuff like that,” he replied and knew this was going to be a tough case to crack. “But who cares what these people think. We have a job to do,” he finished. “First thing is to find out who the victims were and what their connection to this town is,” she said and he nodded.

“The coroner's tent is only a mile outside of town, it's hidden. They won't have any information yet,” she said and got an idea. “I wonder if this a revenge thing, six elves drained in a dead end town, this place has to mean something to the one who did this,” she added. “I'll ask around town, see what I can dig up,” she said and smiled.

“No, you go to the coroner tent and see if they have anything, if they don't make them work harder. Your presence here has already riled up the locals more than enough. No matter what form you take they'll be looking for you. Let them forget a little bit,” Cornell said and she glared at him. “Trust me on this one. I'll ask around, you find out who the dead ones are,” he repeated. “Fine,” she replied and disappeared in a plume of sparkling gold dust and disappeared into nothing as it hit the floor.

Cornell took a look around the room and walked towards the door. As he walked towards the door. He tossed a silver coin on the floor in a far corner, it landed with the bird facing up. Then he left the room and walked back down the hall. The girl behind the desk wasn't there anymore, he'd question her later.

He walked out of the inn and straight back into the sun and heat. The village was as quiet as it was before, maybe even a little more. Right now, the place almost looked abandoned. The old man in the store was already questioned, but maybe there were other cameras that got a better point of view of what happened. Cornell wasn't going to believe the story about anything without some evidence. It could have all been made up from the wild imagination of a teenager, or a deliberate attempt to throw them off the trail.

Cornell walked to another business, Red King's Diner, it was called. However, when he got the door there was a notice made out of bright orange paper on it and he read it. “Closed for town meeting, will reopen in one hour,” he said as he read it and he was curious. Looking up and down the street, every business around had a similar notice on the door. “Are you serious right now, the whole town shut down, but where did everyone go?” he asked and looked up the road. Like most small towns in the desert, all the main businesses were on the main road in the center.

At the far end was a church dedicated to the Goddess Loa. It was old and stained with the red dust of the ages. It also appeared big enough to hold everyone in town. There was only one place they could have been, so he began to walk down the road.

Something about the place was making him feel off. He had been to hundreds of places just like this, but none of them had ever been like this in the middle of the day before. It was strange.

Cornell made it to the church and put his hand around the handle of the door, then he stopped and looked around. No one was watching him, and his natural elf senses didn't detect anyone sneaking about or standing guard.

“I'll see what this meeting is all about,” he said and took his hand off the door, walked to the side. He pulled out a copper coin and held it against the wall. In a few seconds he could hear the low murmur of a crowd inside.

“Alright, everyone please sit down,” a woman's voice said. Cornell supposed that this was the Mayor of the town, or something like it. There was a shuffling of feet and everything went quiet. “Let this meeting come to order,” she said and Cornell was already getting tired of standing here and wished they'd get on with it.

“As you know we have had a tragic event in this town and we have two Detectives poking around,” she said, and continued. “I want you all to tell them everything they need to know,” she said and Cornell thought that was strange. Why would she say it like that?

“What about the Pixie?” someone yelled out in anger. “Listen, I know you're all upset about that. All we can do is endure it until they go away. If we tell them everything we know about it, they'll go away that much sooner,” she replied to the man.

“Who even called Mystic Force, we have our own cops. Someone in this room is a traitor,” a deep voice cried out. “I don't know who called them, but it doesn't matter,” the woman in charge replied. “They'll all be gone soon enough,” she said.

“So just act natural and relax. If they ask about the meeting, tell them it was a vigil or something for the victims, if they ask why, just say it was tradition for the dead,” she said. Cornell wondered if there was some kind of town secret, why they all had to be reminded not to say anything about it he wasn't too sure.

“But just for a little reinforcement,” she said. “Halivate” she said and the magic of his listening coin and whatever spell she just cast had a horrible feed back effect. The screeching noise made him step back from the wall. “Memory blocker?” Cornell asked himself. He was familiar with the spell. Low life criminals used it to erase memories, but it only lasted a few days at the most.

He learned something. First, someone in authority of the town knew magic, and second, everyone was in on a bigger secret. But that didn't mean it was something illegal, but now he didn't know if it was connected to this case or not. Also, this woman blocked everyone's memories without their permission. Cornell could have arrested her for that, but that would ruin everything. He planned to follow this and see where the trail led.

“Alright everyone, that concludes our meeting, don't forget to come to services tonight,” she said in a totally different tone of voice. Then the low murmur of the crowd picked up and he could hear footsteps starting to move towards the door. Not wanting to be seen by anyone he walked to the back of the building. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, started to think about what to do from here.