Chapter 15: Maria

  Maria was in a rush; she knew time was dwindling. The birds no longer sang and the bees no longer buzzed. Nightfall was upon them, and soon enough she and Jonathan would need to sleep. Even Anna couldn't help but let out a yawn every now and then as time went on. It seemed like the only person in the entire room with any energy to speak of was the demon.

  "The presence of the godslayer makes me uneasy. Did us demons visiting you humans little ceremony really scare you all this much? So much you had to make her a guard?" The demon said, the disgust clear on its face.

  "Godslayer. I spit on that name." Said the demon. "Call her what she is, a murderer of demons."

  It did dawn upon Maria that Anna may have been the perfect person to choose to guard a woman known to consort with demons; Anna was one of the few known living people to ever kill one. Hell, she was one of the few who even knew how to kill one. Maria knew that if another demon made their visage known or that if she stepped out of line, she had Anna there to slay a god once again.

  "It's nightfall now, detective." Said Anna. "We should wrap this up and begin again tomorrow."

  "Soon," Maria said. "I think I'm onto something."

  "Soon?" asked Jonathan.

  "Another hour," Maria said. "I'm still going through the relevant memories, cross-examining what I find."

  In the time she was given Maria had discovered that Jonathan was a photographer with a schoolboy crush. He was simple, maybe a little too simple. Frankly, she was beginning to doubt that the teenager in front

  of her was even capable of murder. She knew that the Earl would demand information on who killed his daughter, but it took time to go through the entire memory of someone. In that time she couldn't find any evidence of that demon from before; it was like a ghost gone from Jonathan's memories.

  Every life was a work of art made of a million memories, and even the most mundane memories were still part of life in the same way that every mundane brushstroke made up a beautiful painting. So Maria, even without time being by her side, went through every memory she could.

  With nightfall upon her, the last memory that Maria decided to explore was Jonathan's arrival into The Garden. She was curious to see it herself, as she had never seen the town with her own eyes, and she knew in her current state that she may never get the chance.

  A month had passed since that fateful day Jonathan first met the princess; the young photographer was smitten, yet the princess did not know it. In fact, he was not even sure if the princess would remember him or recognize him if she saw him again.

  He arrived in The Garden by way of train; he had secluded himself in a solo cabin, where he had plenty of time to prepare himself for his first trip into the great city.

  It had been difficult to convince his parents to let him go alone to the biggest city in all of Eden and Earth, but eventually they relented. Sending their son away to The Garden of Eden, not knowing he would return home in chains.

  Jonathan frowned as he looked at his calendar on his phone. He had made it the day of the party; he knew he had little time to waste and he refused to waste it.

  The teenager went from the train to a nearby hotel that was as grand as it was huge. 20 floors, each one with genuine platinum and titanium in the lining of their walls. Beige colored floors and abundance of flora. If New Paris was the urban world and nature living in harmony then The Garden was when nature reigned supreme and took over everything. The hotel was bolted to the ground with not steel, but via roots harder than any natural tree one would see on Earth. The Garden was the first city the first king built, and it was one he had the biggest hand in creating. The roads grew mushrooms, vines covered every building, mosquitoes and bats grew fat off the fruits and blood that was plentiful in the city. You couldn't look too far in any direction without seeing an animal or a plant living their life, this was not a city that humans owned this was a city that humans shared.

  Jonathan went to his room and laid out his bags. He found a mirror in the bathroom and pulled out his camera to take a picture of himself. To hopefully remember just what he looked like before his life would change forever, before he would take pictures of celebrities and become a renown photographer.

  Soon enough, Jonathan made it down to the lobby with his hair slicked back and a dress shirt on his frame. He walked with confidence; his head was held high, and he had a little swagger in his step. He walked past many people whom he paid no mind, but these people stuck out to Maria like a rat on a flytrap. She saw many people in the lobby, but two people drew her notice immediately: a man with hair that was so blonde it nearly looked white and a younger, short Hispanic woman with curly hair.

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  The posture of these people, they were clearly something more than they appeared. The way they shifted their weight. It was obvious they were not just mere travelers. There was a certain anxiety about them that Maria could not yet pick out.

  Jonathan shifted his attention briefly; he looked at his phone and pulled up a map that he stared at intently. He curled his lips as he stared, and then he began looking around.

  For a moment the memory stuttered, and then it was clear. The older man and younger woman seemed to come out of nowhere, but now they were in front of him.

  "Hello there, Sonny, you look lost. Need any help finding where you're supposed to be?" The man asked.

  Jonathan tilted his head, puzzled. 'Where did they come from? Why did the memory stutter?' Wondered by Maria.

  "Do you know where the Toadflax Manor is?" Asked Jonathan.

  The older man pulled out a cigarette and put it in between a toothy grin. To Jonathan's surprise, the man had no trouble speaking, even with the cigarette in his mouth. "The Toadflax Manor? Oh, what a coincidence. This lass and I are planning to go there ourselves, but we lost our tickets. If I recall correctly, the Toadflax Manor is in the square with the bronze buildings with the mint."

  "Yeah, the place with all the brown buildings that always smells like toothpaste." The woman added. "Like plant mint, not money mint."

  "I think I know what you're talking about, The Mint District," said Jonathan.

  "Is that what's it called? You must be a local, then I assume." Said the man.

  "I'm not," said Jonathan.

  This caused the man to smile even harder. Still expertly keeping his cigarette put even as he did. "That's good. Neither am I. Say, I noticed that handy camera of yours. You wouldn't happen to be going to that party, would you?"

  Jonathan grabbed his camera and held it in his hand like it was a trophy. "I am! Are you?"

  "It looks like three of us are all together. Say, Why don't we accompany you to the party? Buy us both a ticket We've been here a few days. It'll be good for learning this town if we're together." The man said, ash falling from his cigarette as he spoke.

  Jonathan hesitated; he was only in town for a few minutes yet already conversing with strange people he knew his parents wouldn't approve of, but he also knew good stories weren't made by being hesitant.

  So, he reached out and shook the man's hand.

  "That sounds like a blast! What can I call you all?" Said Jonathan.

  "Well, I am Atmos." He then pointed at the woman. "She's Aramis."

  Jonathan laughed. "It looks like you're missing a musketeer!"

  Atmos laughed too. "Oh, so you know the old tale? You could say our parents had a strange sense of humor."

  "You're siblings?" Jonathan asked in disbelief.

  Jonathan disbelief was shared by Maria. Atmos was an old man of great height, at least six feet and three inches, with pale skin and blonde hair; Aramis was a short Hispanic woman with short ear-length curly hair who looked to be in her early 30s. They resembled the cover of a college brochure more than they did a family tree.

  "Found family. We're all children of God, are we not?" Atmos said.

  Aramis spoke next. "Yep, found family." She added quickly. "Not any cult shit or anything like that though."

  Atmos coughed. "Definitely no cult shit," he said.

  Jonathan smiled awkwardly.

  "Oh, okay. On second thought, I don't know how I feel about traveling with others. I'm more of a lone wolf." Jonathan said.

  "Well then. Hopefully we get a chance to meet again, and you can show us some of the pictures you take." Said Atmos.

  The memory once again stuttered.

  "Uh. Yeah maybe." Said Jonathan before turning away from the trio and making a brisk walk further and further into the city.

  Maria sighed and exited the memory. "I think I'm too tired. The memory is jumping around, acting strange. It's never done that before. I need some rest." She declared with a frown. "We'll start again tomorrow. Anna, please show the prisoner to their cell and have the cell moved." Said Maria.

  "You want it moved?" Anna said.

  "To another part of the crypts. I don't want the prisoners so close to each other during the investigation." Said Maria. "I don't want them collaborating on any stories, and I have a feeling there are other factors at play. Daemonic factors and not just me."

  "On it, detective. It will be moved." Said Anna.

  "I'll be going to my chambers." Said Maria, and with that, the blind detective left the room and breathed a sigh of relief. It sent a calm through Maria like water through a stream; the second she was out of earshot, she pulled out her phone and let her messages play.

  "You have missed calls from Lindsay, Grandma, and Grandpa." The phone chimed.

  Maria felt a pit in her stomach; she had never been so far from home for so long. She wanted nothing more than a good cup of tea and to curl up in her own bed. The sacrifice of comfort was something she was familiar with but not something she had gotten used to.

  The desire for tea was so strong that the blind woman found her way to the palace's kitchen, where she steeped tea leaves that had been plucked from one of the many stairwells in the palace. She let the tea simmer for a long while and poured herself a cup that sipped on until she heard footsteps in the distance. To her surprise, she was not the only one awake at that time, for Orin had snuck off to the palace's kitchen late that night as well.

  "How's Malachi?" She asked almost as soon as Orin entered the room.

  "How did you know?" said Orin.

  "Your mind, I recognized it." Answered Maria.

  Orin smiled and leaned on one of the countertops of the kitchen. "He's fine; he still has that burning hole in his stomach, but he's up on his feet. He wants to train with me now too as a knight. So that's pretty cool."

  "You know, I feel bad," said Maria.

  "Why?" asked Orin.

  "I could not protect him in those crypts. When I was young, I wanted to be a knight, save the day, and protect the innocent. Kinda hard to do that without my eyes." She said, scrunching her shoulders.

  "But with your magic, you can protect a whole lot more people than any knight can." Said Orin.

  "You say that, but your magic didn't cost you your eyes." Said Maria.

  Orin came closer, standing next to Maria and leaning on a nearby wall. "You know, if you need eyes, I'm here for you."

  "Are you now?" Maria asked.

  "Yeah, of course, and my offer to give you a tour of the palace is still on the table if you want it." Said Orin, grinning.

  Maria hummed a little song, and she then nodded at the knight.

  "I would like that; it has to be an actual tour though. Don't just show me your room. I want to see every floor." She said.

  Orin laughed. "Oh, you're flirting back now? That's not going to help with your succubus of Eden nickname now, is it?"

  "You can call me a succubus only if you actually get me into your bed." Replied Maria.

  Orin laughed. "I suppose I can agree to that."

  Orin went to take Maria by the hand, and she accepted. Hand in hand, the two of them—the young knight and the blind detective—explored the palace into the quietest hours of the night.