Chapter 82: Cards On The Table

  Alabaster

  Alley, Darius and technically Denderra sat around a table in what had once been a kitchen, but like the rest of the mansion was now really just a home for overgrown and under tended plant species. To anyone else, it would have appeared that the pair of boys were doing their best to question an empty chair.

  The fact that Darius could see Denderra at all was something of a mystery to both boys, a mystery they were presently trying to figure out along with about half a dozen other questions they were hoping the ghostly maiden could answer. A proposition that had become a lot more plausible since earlier today when Alley had battled Lady Astley.

  He was pretty sure it was a result of the sheer amount of Undeath Resonance the tree woman had pumped into him, but Alley could always see and hear Denderra now. In fact she couldn’t even disguise her voice to him anymore either.

  That hadn’t been the only change, Alley was now Rank 11 or one of the ‘Emboldened’ in the old terminology. Considering he should have needed to win another three or four Challenges to achieve that growth on his own, this was a drastic acceleration. That was probably good, he was in a roundabout way chasing after a Rank 5, he would need to do everything at a drastically accelerated pace if he wanted a hope of catching Soren Creed.

  “Okay.” Said Alley slowly. “So a Deck Sprite is a spirit that has been captured, or created before being put into a Dealer? And you absolutely are not one, even though you are connected to my Deck”

  The ghostly maiden nodded and went back to playing with her long white hair. She had been willing to talk but her patience for the boy’s needing to ask follow-up questions or confirm things was clearly drying up.

  “And you are also the voice I have been hearing?” Pressed Alley.

  “Correct,” she replied without meeting his gaze and projecting intense boredom with her every movement and word.

  “So why was your voice all spooky and gravelly, but isn't it now?”

  Finally, Denderra met Alley's eyes before glancing at Darius and back to the table.

  “I was nervous! You two were and are total strangers, and I don't talk to strangers if I can help it, especially not without disguising myself. And I stopped doing it because there isn't a whole lot of point when you can see me.”

  Darius who had been content to let Alley lead the questions finally decided to pipe in with one of his own.

  “So if you can make your voice all deep and scary, even though you are almost the size of my little sister as a hunter I only really want to know one thing.”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Both Alley and Dederra looked to the redheaded boy who smiling widely, a clear sign he knew the question he was about to ask was a pointless one.

  “Can you show me how to do that? I know all sorts or monster mating calls, but past a certain size of creature I just can't get the tone right.”

  Alley watched as Denderra tried to keep her unimpressed demeanour in the face of such a massive change in question type.

  Alley had been grilling her for the better part of an hour, doing his utmost to cajole whatever secrets he could out of her about the nature of his Deck and her existence.

  It had turned into something of a battle as she tried to be cautious about what she shared and Alley tried to batter open the potential font of knowledge.

  Darius on the other hand had out of nowhere made what was essentially a joke, though Alley knew if Denderra could in fact teach his friend to change his voice Darius would jump at the chance.

  The ghostly girl’s composure teetered on the edge for a few seconds before tipping over it entirely. With a shake of her head and the bringing of a palm to her face, Denderra burst into giggles.

  “Are you kidding?!” She cried in mock irritation. Having seen her indignantly pinned to a wall, and after spending time trying to interrogate her, Alley was pretty sure he could tell the difference

  “I can do that because I am a ghost, a ghost! You want to copy my moves step one is to get killed.”

  Darius seemed to consider for a moment before in a tone so serious it had to be a joke as well he replied.

  “That might weaken my spear arms a bit too much, probably not worth it for a better monster call.”

  At that Alley joined in the laughter, though internally he still chaffed a little. He had been unable to get Denderra to explain how The Dead Man's Hand worked or what precisely it could do beyond the uses of a big hand.

  He had also failed utterly to get her to elaborate further on who or what she was, but he supposed if Denderra was really tied to his Deck and he had some fairly strong evidence she was. He had no need to rush, not when he could in theory win the girl over with friendship far more effectively.

  While Alley had been able to Summon The Hand easily enough, he was unable to access the linked item within his collection.

  “Alright, you can go.” Said Alley. “ We can talk more soon, and besides Darius and I need to go figure out how rich all those Undeath Crystals are about to make us.”

  Denderra let out a long sigh and a quick thank you before vanishing back into his Dealer.

  It seemed she couldn’t use her ability to be invisible here while there was so much Undeath Resonance in the area. It made her just a bit too real. The girl could still retreat into his Dealer’s storage by the look of it though.

  Darius climbed to his feet still grinning.

  “You are right, you know?”

  “Huh?” Asked Alley with a raised eyebrow.

  “Those Crystals are going to make us a fortune and that's before we even salvage Astley's Deck.”

  Alley snorted.

  “Lets just try to actually get the thing this time.”

  And now its kind of a team of three