Chapter 127: The Connected Cases
Evaline:
At some point, the cold night air became even sharper. Maybe it was the weather itself, or maybe it were the secrets that Kieran was unraveling.
And as if I wasn’t surprised enough, he ended up revealing another one.
"You know, this isn’t the first time I have seen someone in that condition," he whispered, and while his voice didn’t waver, there was a heaviness in his confession.
My heart was pounding as I asked, "What do you mean?"
He let out a slow breath and fixed his eyes on the gravel path ahead. The moonlight was casting half of his face in silver, while the other half was in deep shadow. He was looking like someone torn between two choices - between truth and silence.
He was silent for a while this time. Then, he finally spoke. "Last December," he began quietly, "a final-year student was found Soul Dead."
I blinked. "What?"
"In one of the abandoned classrooms in the basement wing of the old Potion block. We never figured out how he got there or what happened to him. He was supposed to be in class. Professors said he had shown up earlier that day. Then he was just... gone. Until he wasn’t."
I stared at him, completely in shock.
"It’s been nearly a year," he continued, "and we still have no real answers. The area didn’t give us anything useful. And if his friends knew anything... they didn’t say a word. Not one."