Realizing that he had been caught in his lie, Geralt was startled and shocked. Unlike Jinn, he was truly just a fourteen-year-old with no experience in how to handle situations like these.
"Jinn... Let me explain. The Captain of the law enforcement squad was walking in our building a few minutes ago, and I met—"
He frantically tried to come up with some sort of excuse, an explanation for why he did what he did, but Jinn raised a hand to stop him from speaking any further.
"There is no need to make excuses; I have known you long before you even started following me around. I know what kind of boy you are, ’Two-Faced lord’."
Hearing his mocking tone, Geralt blinked in surprise. His eyes widened, and he took a step back unknowingly.
"You know, I always wondered why the gods choose a certain group of people and reject the others. Is their fate any less extraordinary than those who were chosen? It can’t be right?" Jinn chuckled at his reaction. He did not bother to block his path and continued to ask. "Now I wonder if the gods choose someone because they feel that their successors are just like them."
He then looked Geralt in the eyes and pressed, "Like you and the two-faced god."
"What are you talking about, Jinn? I—I don’t understand anything." Geralt understood what Jinn had said more than he was letting on. His eyes glistened with tears of confusion that threatened to spill at any moment.
Jinn scoffed and turned to walk away. "No need for all the drama, Geralt. I realized what a snake you are the moment I laid my eyes on you. You got close to me to find out what I was doing to get such high grades. You always had this... need to show others how much better you are than them.
How you are better than... me!"
"I am better than you!" Geralt’s mask finally slipped as Jinn’s words managed to set him off. With a loud cry, he lunged at the boy with his hands raised.
Just as he tried to punch Jinn in the back of his head, his fist slipped through his body. Chapters fırst released on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚·𝔫𝔢𝔱
Geralt stumbled and almost fell. "What?"
He turned around in shock and with a slight fear in his heart. He even thought that Jinn might have been nothing but a ghost, but seeing the boy still standing there with his ever-confident smile, he froze.
"You are so predictable." Jinn smirked, interlocking the fingers and stretching his arms. "This is why you always came second, and you always will."
Jinn did not wait for a reaction from the still boy and walked past him, making his way back to his room.
Once Jinn walked past him, Geralt snapped out of his daze and turned around. "I know you killed them, Jinn. I know you did. Right now you must be thinking you have won, but it won’t be long before everyone will see you, see you for what you truly are..."
He growled, but Jinn did not turn around; he kept walking.
Jinn entered his room and closed the door behind him, leaving a very enraged boy in the hallway.
"And I will expose you myself. Once I do, I will be the pride of the Orphanage and you will be the outcast."
With a final declaration of his pride and goals, Geralt turned and walked down the stairs, unable to see the twisting gray smoke mixed with ominous red orbs in the hallway of the second floor.
"Everything alright? What did he want to ask you? Why did he come here without any of the teachers?" once she saw Jinn entering the room, Sally jumped in his face and fired one question after the other. She spoke with a demanding tone that left no room for refusal.
But Jinn shoved her face away with his hand before walking toward the bed. "Nothing you need to worry about. He was just asking some questions."
Sally was enraged by his actions. Even when she wanted to rip the boy apart, she controlled herself. With a huff of annoyance, she climbed into her bed and even ignored Kyle, who was sitting in her chair, waiting for her to teach him.
’Did I do something wrong?’ The innocent boy thought, looking at Sally from the corner of his eyes. ’Big sister Sally is angry.’
"Why does she keep bothering Jinn when she knows how he will react?" The other kids in the room did not remain silent and started gossiping among themselves.
"Yeah, even when he ignores her, she goes looking for trouble with him." Another boy nodded in agreement with the girl who spoke first. But the girl did not seem very happy about his interference; with a disgusted look on her face, she snapped back. "Why are you butting in on our girls’ talk? Go away, you creep."
"It’s fine. It only means I will have to alter my plans a little." Jinn whispered under his breath while scribbling something in his notebook.
"Are you not going to deal with him?" The voice asked with a heavier tone. Its chilling message had already reached the boy.
Jinn did not reply instantly; instead, he looked down at his notebook, on which he had just finished scribbling.
On the plane sheet, there was a sketch drawn with thick colored traces of pencil.
He had drawn a small face of a dark being with hollow eyes and sharp teeth, ready to bite into someone. On top of this figure’s bald head were two seemingly smooth yet deadly horns.
"You really are creepy." Jinn turned his head and saw Sally standing on her knees on the bed, peeking at his creation.
With a blank look, Jinn spoke out loud, "now is not the right time to kill this idiotic kid."
After leaving the dorm building, Geralt ran under the dark sky, rushing towards the front gates. His breath was uneven, and his eyes were blazing with fury.
Even from the distance he could still see the figure of Captain Hunt stepping out of the tall metal gates.
By the time he reached the man, he had already walked out. When the guards saw Geralt, they immediately stepped in to stop him.
"You should go back, child; it’s already about to be nighttime. We cannot allow you to leave this place alone."
One of the guards blocked his path and tried to stop him, but Geralt ignored his words and shouted, "Captain Hunt, I have some information you would like to hear. It’s about the three murders."
His voice, though low-pitched, was loud enough to reach the old man walking down the street. The man paused and turned around with a sharp glint in his eyes. "This better not be a prank, boy."