"I have searched the main building, but it was a dead end, including all the secret passages."
"The Dorm has no secret rooms either."
"We have searched everywhere."
Officer Chen let out a frustrated sigh as he and the two investigators regrouped in the compound—the empty stretch of cobblestone between the three main buildings of the orphanage.
The rain had finally stopped, leaving the ground slick and dark, puddles glistening under a sky still heavy with clouds.
The sun had yet to reveal itself, making everything look gray and dull. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝕟𝕖𝕥
For a moment, no one spoke.
The air was thick with the sound of dripping water from the eaves and the faint rustle of wet leaves.
Angelia stood with her arms crossed, her face cold as stone, while Acosta glanced toward the gates with a distant frown, as if half-expecting to see the missing children walk back on their own.
"There has to be something we’re missing," Angelia muttered. Her sharp eyes swept over the compound, narrowing at every shadow. "She couldn’t have disappeared into thin air with three children."
Officer Chen rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze wandering. That was when he caught sight of it.
The cart was old, covered in droplets, and parked directly in front of the church at the far end of the compound.
"There wasn’t a carriage there before..." he murmured, his thoughts racing back to when he first returned.
He clearly remembered the gates, the staff rooms, and the matron’s absence.
The churchyard had been empty. He thought he heard something around that time, but he clearly saw the area empty from the corner of his eyes. But now—
"Did you say something?" Acosta asked.
"Yes." Officer Chen pointed toward the carriage, his voice firm now. "That wasn’t here when I came back. Someone must have brought it here after, but we have ordered the teachers to stay inside."
The two investigators followed his gaze. A silence stretched between them, heavy, before Angelia’s lips parted.
"The church," she said flatly, her eyes narrowing to slits.
Acosta’s face darkened in understanding. "We never searched it."
Officer Chen raised his voice. "Then that’s where she is. The matron... and the children."
"Sir! Lady! Please wait." Before they could even raise their foot, a shouting guard called out to them from a distance. He came rushing in their direction and exclaimed, "There is another child missing."
"What? Why did you not mention this before?" Angelia asked, seething in anger.
"We had only checked Jinn’s room before, but now, after completing a scan of every room, we have discovered that another child is missing: a fourteen-year-old boy named Geralt. He had been missing for a while before the others disappeared."
Hearing the name Geralt, Officer Chen’s eyes flashed with recognition, but he refrained from saying anything.
"Anything else?" Angelia asked impatiently, her feet already spinning towards the church.
The guard spoke no more, so the three finally moved to search the small church. Its stone walls were damp, and dark shadows loomed inside the hall.
After a quick sweep, they found nothing, until Officer Chen activated his ability, and he saw a shift in the space underneath his foot.
"There is a basement below; we have to look for an opening."
Investigator Acosta brushed his hand in his hair, activating his powers, and saw the trails leading to the gap between two walls.
"There." Pointing at the small space behind the sculpture, he stepped in first, with the other two following behind him.
Once he arrived at the right spot, Acosta crouched down and knocked the trapdoor inside before looking at his partners.
"Allow me to enter first." Officer Chen showed initiative to go first. "I will see if there are traps inside first and then call for you."
The others had no objection, so Officer Chen jumped in the dark floor.
Once he landed on the hard wooden floor, he almost fell but stabilized himself. With his eyes still shining under the effects of his power, Officer Chen saw everything inside the room beside the darkness.
Once he took everything in, he did not delay a second before calling out to his partners. "You have to come in! Hurry! There is no trap!"
"Oh No!" Officer Chen rushed towards the boy lying in the pool of his own blood with his face down. As he knelt down behind him, two faint, dull thuds echoed behind him, one after the other.
Angelia and Acosta rushed to check in on the other students.
Angelia pressed her fingers against the neck of the girl, then shifted to the smallest boy.
Her movements were quick and efficient, but her brows pinched tighter with each second that passed.
"They’re alive," she finally announced, her voice sharp but carrying a trace of relief. "Their pulses are steady, just faint. Likely sedatives. They won’t be waking any time soon."
"Where is the matron?" She snapped her head to look around but saw no signs of the woman.
"She is not here." Officer Chen said with a sigh as she stood up and turned around.
"What about your boy? Looks like there was a fight here." She signaled with her eyes at Geralt lying behind him.
"Dead." Officer Chen shook his head and let out another sigh. "Seems like he was killed in a fight."
"This one was also in a fight. He is alive but won’t last long. He is losing blood very fast." Hearing the feminine voice, the two of them turned their heads towards Acosta, who was checking on Jinn.
Their eyes drifted to the boy’s bloodied chest and then landed on the wooden stake lying nearby him.
"Guess we know what killed that boy." Officer Chen said before moving towards Kyle and picking him up.
"We will get all the answers we need once Jinn is awake. He seems to have some sort of relationship with trouble." Angelia growled as she hoisted Sally on her back. "Right now, he is our only hope for finding out what happened here and where that woman went."