Published at 12th of August 2024 7:18 am

Chapter 62 A Good Actress

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It was not until the square had grown a bit too scanty before they had decided to call it quits.

There were still a lot of fliers in their hands, but what more could they do if people were no longer around to receive them?

With a tired voice and a sigh, Kate had asked her mother and Elmer to stop so they could go home as well. She’d mentioned that she needed to both practice her piano skills and also study for the exams coming up the next day, and therefore they did not have any more time to spare here.

There was also the issue of the wind that had begun to blow about, bringing forth the unique, earthy smell that usually arrived upon land to act as an emissary for the rain that was to come.

This was the one that actually bothered Elmer the most, as he believed the downpour was probably going to be upon Ur anytime soon. And it was seeming to be anything but a light one. But he resolved his mind that even if it came he would make sure to complete his job tonight. It was today that he would join the Pathway of Time, no other.

Elmer firmly wrapped his left arm around his paper bag of divination materials while he slid his palm onto his chest. His mind had silently reminded him of the Crest of Souls which was engraved onto it as the trio comprising of him, Ms. Edna, and her daughter, Kate, proceeded to leave the Time Square.

He had also forgotten to search for the dream haunters the boy in dungaree had told him about since his thoughts had been completely occupied. But now that he’d remembered, he kept his eyes moving about in hopes that he might catch any weird dressings or countenance that would indicate people with such an absurd occupation name.

There was no one though, none he could see.

“I’m seventeen,” unexpectedly, Elmer heard Kate’s voice, and he turned his head to his side to see her matching his steps with the leftover fliers she was holding tight within her fingers crowned by neatly trimmed nails. “How about you?” she asked.

Elmer found the abrupt way she’d brought up the subject as weird, but he decided not to deny her his answers as he knew ladies did not take the revelation of their age lightly. Well, that was him considering what Ms. Sally had told him to be true. So the fact that Kate had said her age meant he better said his or there would be war.

“Eighteen,” Elmer answered, and he caught a quick dart of Kate’s eyes toward him, causing him to pull down the corners of his lips. “Is there a problem?” he asked, knowing there was none, owing to the fact that she was probably just, to some extent, envious of him being an Ascender despite how close he was to her age.

“Nothing,” she answered, her low pitched voice almost falling into a whisper. “It’s just somewhat weird.” Elmer said nothing but raised a brow at her words.

She turned to look up at him and said, “How come you have the same job as my mother so early? You’re an Ascender, aren’t you? How did you go about it at eighteen years of age?”

Elmer dropped his palm from his chest at long last, allowing it to swing languidly beside him as he walked.

I understand you Kate, but I think it would be best if I kept my methods to myself, both for your sake and mine…

Noticing Elmer’s reluctancy, Kate turned away from him with a heavy sigh before shaking her head. “Why was I even expecting to get an answer?”

I promise you, if the Church really has a way to reduce the effects of turning into a Lost, then going through the college is far better, young lady… You do not want countless tiny hands punching your stomach from the inside, believe me… Well, let’s hope that the Church’s methods actually does away with that particular scenario…

Elmer pursed his lips, and he was happy to let the matter fade away into oblivion. But in order to make sure that happened, he decided to change the subject by bringing up one that was bothering him.

“Have you heard about the dream haunters?” he spoke to Kate, and she peeked at him for a moment before scoffing. Elmer’s head jerked back at that.

“Trying to change the subject, huh?” Kate rubbed the fliers she held with her fingers.

Elmer chuckled weirdly. “Why would you think that?”

Dealing with ladies like her and her mother is a great deal of hard work…

“You’re not from Ur, are you?” Kate asked, pushing aside the question he had asked to frame ignorance at her words.

Elmer shrugged. “I’m not. I’m from Meadbray, the countryside.”

They momentarily put some space between themselves as they each passed through the other sides of a metallic bench.

“I hope you don’t mind that I asked, it’s just that the dream haunters are popular in Ur, and since it sounded like you didn’t know them I guessed you weren’t from around here,” Kate explained herself, but Elmer had not even thought too deeply about her inquiry on his place of origin.

His life had been full of such because his ignorance always oozed out whenever he was with well-learned people. Although, he had already grown so used to it that hearing such a question was now as equivalent to him as eating bread.

“I’m not offended,” he told her. “Can you tell me about these dream haunters, that is if you don’t mind?”

“Well, you did not answer my question and now you want me to answer yours.” She turned to her side and shot her sleepy eyes in a hardened manner at him, her shoulder just slightly beneath his. “Isn’t that what is usually termed as double standards?”

Elmer’s breath hitched for a moment as those words flew into his ears, and he almost ceased his walking. He tried to smile, but the edges of his lips twitched instead, and Kate made sure she did not miss it.

She reduced the intensity of her gaze after Elmer’s reaction, then turned away from him and curled her lips, beaming slightly.

“I was joking,” said Kate, allowing Elmer to pour out an exhale almost immediately.

He had not thought about it that way, the ‘not answering her question, and then proceeding to ask her one’. But now that he put it into reasoning, that was the sort of impression it had given. He did not like getting on the bad side of ladies, so he was thankful that she had been joking. Although, how come her glares had been so realistic. There had been no faltering on her face.

She would make a good actress, Elmer thought.

“As for the dream haunters,” Kate resumed, and Elmer focused his attention on the explanation she was giving, “I’ve only ever caught sight of them one morning, so I’ve never been to their tents—I’ve honestly never had any reason to be. I don’t know what procedures they usually use or how their abilities work, all I know is that, as their names implies, they haunt the dreams of someone for their customers. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a circus before…” She suddenly put a stop to her words without any external interference. “Have you been to one?”

Elmer shook his head.

He wondered why she was asking him that question. Although, he'd like to visit a circus.

Pip had told him and Mabel when they were kids that the performers there performed with different kinds of things. And also that their animal companions could vary from elephants to lions, snakes, monkeys, and lots more.

Elmer wanted to see a lion, and an elephant, and as well the highlights of circuses, clowns!

He wanted to take Mabel there, since it seemed like she had been so engrossed in Pip’s talk that day. But that would only be possible if she was awake to enjoy the show, therefore, visiting a circus had to be the last thing on his mind now.

Understanding that, he shoved such thoughts away instantly.

“Well, this will be hard for you to imagine then.” Kate sighed. “They’re always dressed in dual-colored tunics. It could have blue on one side and red on the other, or just any color they feel like putting together. They also wear pointed hats with bells at the tips. They look just like jesters, just in a lighter way.”

Elmer nodded despite the hard time he was having imagining them, since he’d never seen a jester before. But from Kate's description of these dream haunters, their dressing seemed quite comical and eye-catching. There was no way he should have missed them.

Then how come he did not see even one?

“They’re only here early in the morning, something between 4:00 to 7:00, just before the square opened up for activities and the policemen guarding the perimeters arrived,” Kate said as though she had heard Elmer’s thoughts, and he nodded again.

“Thank you,” Elmer told her, “for answering my question.”

“You’re welcome,” Kate replied, and Elmer wandered into his mind immediately.

The dream haunters seem to be illegally setting up tents for customers, that’s why they always leave before the policemen arrive… If that’s the case, then why isn’t the Church doing anything…? Their business obviously involves the supernatural, and what’s more, it’s illegal… Shouldn’t the bounty hunters arrest them or something, and deliver them to the Church for punishment…?

Elmer kept trying to find a reason behind the Church’s reason for letting the dream haunters roam free, but by the time he and Kate arrived outside the square, he still had gotten none. He put a stop to his thought process then.

Carriages and steam cars were lined up outside—the number of carriages being the superior obviously—and before one of the former stood Ms. Edna holding her Gladstone bag by its handle with both her hands in a graceful manner while she awaited them.

They had delayed her, Elmer surmised, but she did not look in any way angry. Well, in truth, he should be the one angry at himself. Why had he been walking and chatting like he had the time? He needed to get hold of The Warlock’s Torch tonight, and the fact that a downpour was coming anytime from now should have caused him to hasten his steps.

And that he now did.

As though his legs had suddenly had some sort of boosting mechanism added to them, he hurried to the carriage Ms. Edna was waiting before, forcing Kate to try to keep up with him.

“The rain will be falling anytime soon,” Ms. Edna said as soon as Elmer and Kate bobbed up before her. “Do you still want to go about it today, Mr. Elmer?”

“Of course,” Elmer blurted silently. Those words had been meant to remain in his head, but they had broken free regardless.

“Alright. Since I already agreed to help, I’ll have to do it nonetheless. Let’s go to my house. It’s a charter, the carriage I mean, so feel free to stretch your legs.” Ms. Edna turned and entered into the coach.

Elmer had a question tugging at him that he wanted to ask Ms. Edna, but he decided to leave it caged up in his head until he had gotten to her home. He was of the feeling she would give him a better answer then.

“Mr. Elmer…” Elmer suddenly heard Kate whisper in some sort of mocking tone as he took himself into the carriage. He couldn’t help but smile at the lady’s mild contempt for him being an Ascender and her mother’s job acquaintance at such a young age.

You’ll get over it in time… Plenty of years ahead of you… He lampooned as the coachman set the carriage on its way after Kate had become an occupant of its coach as well.

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