Blackport PD: Paranormal Detectives

Chapter 48

Third Person’s POV

“Are you all ready to win the game and be the best among all teams? If yes, then... Let the battle, BEGIN!” Sir Ichigo disappeared as soon as he announced the start of the battle. You can see from the eyes of the students how prepared and excited they are while staring intently at the door. As soon as the door sprung open, a tiny sheet of paper appeared in front of all the leaders. When they read the content, the first two groups ran out of the door as the other groups are still staring at the piece of paper.

“I grow up big and tall and lose my clothes in the fall,” Mica reads the riddle from the paper and looks at her team. They were all thinking of answers and another group leaving the room is quite pressuring at all.

“They get the riddle fast, that must be easy...” Gene said while looking at the last group going out of the room.

“I grow up big and tall and lose my clothes in the fall...” Nathan repeated the riddle. The frown on his face slightly faded when he realized the answer.

“Is it clothesline? You know, clothes in the fall –“

“It’s a tree,” Maria muttered and everyone looks at her direction.

“Trees grow big and tall and lose their leaves during fall...” Nathan continued and nodded at her as he also has the same thing on his mind.

“Tree it is... Let’s go!” They hurriedly went outside and saw that another paper appears in front of the other groups. They are scattered everywhere and starts to the next one.

“Which tree?” Remus asked. Everyone just shrugged their shoulders and keeps running outside the field.

“Let’s just pass every tree; for sure it will give us another paper like it did on the rest of the teams,” Carina suggested and they all agreed. They continued running until they enter the opening of the forest where another paper appeared in front of them.

They stopped running and immediately grab the next paper and read it aloud.

“What goes black when you buy it, red when you use it and white when you throw it away?”

Carina’s brows furrowed as it seems like a tricky question. She roams her eyes around and also sees the twigs, leaves and fallen branches off the ground.

“Does anyone know the answer?” Remus asked but they didn’t answer and continue looking around, thinking of any possible connection of the first riddle’s answer.

“There are no other groups here so... We really need to think by ourselves. Besides, time is ticking...” Mica said and showed her watch. One rule for this group is that we only have five minutes to answer each riddle or else we’ll be out of the game.

“Give me that paper and let us get this over with...” Gene irritatedly grab the paper from their hand and read it to himself. His brows furrowed and you can see in his eyes that he is not happy that they are getting behind the game. A small flame escape from his hands and almost burns all of the paper. It’s just good that Remus grabbed it before it totally went to ashes.

“Come on, dude. You almost burn the half to ashes tsk.” He scoffed and looks at the paper that has its sides burned. The part gets black in color as the ashes from it went with the wind.

“Hey wait!” Gene shouted and grabbed the paper once again. He intently reads the riddle as his eyes widen with glee as he realized the answer.

“It’s a f*****g coal and I’m a f*****g genius!” He shouted and laughs maniacally. He grabs a fallen twig from the ground and set it on fire.

“It goes black when you buy it...” He said as everyone watched the twig getting all black.

“Red when you use it...” It started to glow and emit red flame as Maria grabs a big leaf and use it as a fan.

“And white when you throw it away...” They all muttered in unison as they watch the once twig now turns to ashes and is carried by the wind.

Another paper appeared in front of them and Gene gladly grab it and handed it to Nathan. There is this proud look on his face especially when the other members starts praising him.

“Yeah, you’re a f*****g genius man.” Remus said and taps him at the back. After a few moments, they stopped as they saw how Nathan’s brows furrowed and handed them the paper.

“My spine stiff, my body pale and I’m always ready to tell a tale. What am I?” Mica read the question aloud and their face shows visible confusion.

“Spine is stiff, like kind of hard...” Carina muttered while trying to digest and break down the riddle part by part.

“Body is pale and ready to tell a tale...” Remus continued and makes a more confused face.

“Is it a story teller? You know... Always telling a tale,” he continued and was about to read it again when he felt a warm hug from behind. He became stiff as he slowly turn his body to see who did that.

Everyone went silent when the unexpected happened right before their eyes. It was Maria, the most quiet one who hugged him from behind. Even Carina, her twin sister is shocked because of what she’d done.

“Thank you...” Maria whispered and grabs the paper from his hands. She took a glance at it and back to her team mates who are still in shock.

“The answer is book. A spine that is stiff, body pale and always tell a tale... It’s always the one I’m holding onto ever since...”

Nathan is the first one to recover and nodded at her. He opened the map that Sir Ichigo gave earlier and shows it to everyone.

“The red dots indicate the possible places where we could find the answers to our next riddle. The green dot is where we currently are which is the forest. So...” He cleared his throat and pointed at the red dot a few inches away from the green one.

“Since the answer is a book, it should be in the library. There is no other option but the library as it stores all of the books in the academy,”  he continued and starts walking out of the forest. The rest follows as they silently went their way to the library.

--

“Here we are and also the other team but... Why is there no paper in here?” Mica asked and shook her head. It’s been almost two minutes that they are here but... the next riddle hadn’t showed up.

“Look at them,” Remus whispered and pointed at the blue group glowing in red color.

“Psychic Magicians group, OUT!” They covered their ears as a voice speaks directly into their minds. Nathan mentally face palm as he’s sure that it’s Ichigo who’s capable of doing that.

“We should hurry or we’ll be out!” Carina said and grabs the map from him. She opened it wide and place at the long table near them.

“We are here in the library but the next riddle is not here... This means we are in a wrong location...” She muttered to herself and tries connecting the dots.

“Is there any place where books are stored aside from this?” She asked and turned her head to Mica who is getting pale while staring at her.

“Why?” Maria asked and was about to touch her when she speaks.

“The abandoned storage room. All of the old books are stored in there but...” She hesistantly looks away but Nathan held her hand and looks directly at her, urging her to go on.

Mica took a couple of deep breath and stare at the open window where an old building is visible from their sight.

They slowly turned their head to the direction she’s looking for and their eyes widen when they realized how far it is.

“Run!” Nathan shouted and hurriedly flee out of the library and up to the old building Mica was talking about earlier.

“We’ll never make it at this pace...” Remus shouted but still continued running. Nathan abruptly stopped and so does the rest did. They already consumed their three minutes and they will never reach the place in time with that speed. They need help...

Nathan roam his eyes around as an idea popped out from his head. They were currently in the field where the higher years are training. He squint his eyes and tried looking at the person who could help them and his smile grew wide as he saw the man he’s looking for.

Without wasting any second, he ran to Ros’ direction and grabs him from the collar. The rest of the team follows him and the higher years stopped training and looked at them.

“Help us, Ros...” He pleaded while panting. Ros just look at them and raised his eyebrows on them.

“Why would I? What can I gain from you?” He asked that made Gene’s head grew hot. He was about to step in when Mica stopped him and let Nathan handle this one.

Nathan slowly drew closer to him and whispers to his ear. Ros’ eyes widen when he heard what he said and his ears starts getting red all of a sudden. A smirk formed across Nathan’s lips as he knew he hit the right spot.

“Fine, but make sure you’ll keep on to your words...” He threatened and let Nathan held him. Remus used his ability to make them all float but since he’s still not used to it, the rest of the group are only an inch away from the ground.

In just a snap, they were now facing the building they were just looking at earlier. They heard another team gets out but their too dizzy to even care.

Ros waved at them and instantly disappeared from their sight while leaving a trace of dust from behind. They took a deep breath and continued running to the front door of the room and as soon as they opened it, the unexpected shows up.

“Hello there... I have a tale to tell, would you mind listening to?” A woman with stiff back, pale color and rotting skin smiles widely at them while holding a big book.

“Is that...”

“Yes, there’s a rumor spreading here about a paranormal creature hiding in here... No one is just that brave or I don’t know the reason why they never talk about this but now...”

“Once upon a time, there was a gorgeous woman named Melissa... She was loved by everybody but –“

“I’m sorry Ma’am but... We are in a hurry. We need to find a riddle and...” Mica tries to interfere but the woman continued her words.

“She is called freak by many. She speaks many languages and throws lots of questionable words to everybody. Many people likes to get the strange power and have the godly beauty in her but only the worthiest and smartest who could answer the question will be given a chance to get the thing they needed the most...”

They kept silent as the woman starts mumbling the words that made their already confused and dizzy mind in chaos.

“I move very fast but I don’t have feet. You can hear me but not from my mouth. I can bring down a building but I’m not a machine...

What am I?”