2. The Ripples of the Lake

Present Day.....

​The dining room of the Mayor house was draped in the heavy, polished silence of a family that had learned to eat without speaking. Mayor Qin.....the younger son of the man who had once broken the town's darkest law(Joanna).....sat at the head of the table.

The clink of silverware against porcelain was the only music until the heavy oak doors swung open with a frantic bang.

​"Mr. Mayor... Mr. Mayor!"

​A servant stumbled into the room, chest heaving, face pale under the warm glow of the chandelier.

Qin looked up, his brow furrowing as he set his napkin aside. The authority in his posture was tempered by a weary kindness. "What is it? Calm yourself."

​"A visitor, sir," the servant panted, glancing nervously at the Mayor's family. "A villager. He's at the gates... he's in a state, sir. Deeply worried. He refuses to leave until he speaks with you."

Qin didn't hesitate. He stood, offering a brief, apologetic nod to his family before following the servant into the grand foyer.

​

​Standing by the entrance was a man Qin recognized......a hardworking local whose clothes were dusted with the soil of the valley. He wasn't just upset.....he looked as though the world was collapsing beneath his feet.

​"Mayor Qin, please," the man gasped, grabbing Qin's sleeve. "My daughter. She... she's missing. She was supposed to be home from the school hours ago. I've searched the paths, the neighbors' houses... she's nowhere."

Qin's expression hardened into one of serious concern. "Missing? Since when?"

​"Since the final bell," the man stammered, his voice breaking. "And Mayor... I'm scared. Two days ago, she... she broke the rule. She lied to her mother about having a stomachache because she didn't want to go to school. She was caught, of course. She was given her punishment, and we thought that was the end of it."

​The man began to shake, tears finally spilling over. "But what if it isn't? People are talking, sir. They're saying the old ways are coming back in the dark."

​The villager collapsed into a chair, burying his face in his hands. Qin felt a cold chill settle in his bones. He knew exactly what the man was thinking.

​In recent months, the Mother Nature beauty of Silent Town had been stained. It started with one, then another.....small, broken bodies found near the reeds of the Silent Town Lake.

The police had no leads, and the town was whispering that the lake was claiming those who lacked the purity the village demanded.

Qin looked out the window toward the distant, dark shimmer of the water. "I will call the station immediately," he said, his voice low and firm. "We will find her."

​But in his heart, Qin wondered if they were looking for a living girl.....or another grim discovery for the divers at the lake.

*****

The City

​The sun beat down on the pavement with the intensity of a spotlight, turning the bustling city into a giant air-fryer. In a cramped alleyway, a pickpocket sat slumped against a dumpster, staring in disbelief at the contents of a leather satchel he'd spent three blocks sprinting for.

​"Broken glasses? A set of dentures?" He tossed a prosthetic tooth-plate back into the bag with a clatter. "What has happened to the people of this city? Their condition is worse than beggars! It would have been better if I'd robbed a literal beggar.....at least I would've gotten a penny or two for a bus ride!"

​"You don't need to worry about the poor. The government is there for them."

​The pickpocket froze. A second voice chimed in from the mouth of the alley.

​"Just worry about your own safety. Specifically, how you plan to escape our Chief."

​The thief spun around, expecting the cold barrel of a pistol. Instead, he found two officers, Mike and Eric, looking less like the long arm of the law and more like two kids on summer break.

Both were aggressively attacking double-scoops of strawberry ice cream that were melting faster than their dignity.

​The pickpocket blinked, unimpressed. "The gun must be in hand when making the threat, officers. It's more... professional."

​"Aiyo..." Mike groaned, pausing to lick a rogue pink drip off his thumb. "It's so hot. Can't we both enjoy some coolness in between work? My brain is literally boiling."

​Eric nodded solemnly, his mouth full of strawberry cream. "You would know our pain if you had a selfish Chief like ours. He makes us do all the work, never pays for the overtime, and finds any excuse to deduct our bonuses. We're basically working for exposure at this point."

​"Living the dream," Mike muttered, looking miserably at the sticky mess in his hand.

​"Ice cream! Don't worry, Mom, I'll buy some on the way back home. Yes, the high-calcium kind. Love you, bye!"

​The voice was hoarse, sharp, and cut through the humid air like a jagged blade. Mike and Eric's spines snapped straight, their eyes widening in synchronized terror. They didn't even have to look back to know who was approaching.

Zeus Brooklyn walked straight toward them, his phone pressed to his ear and his eyes narrowed against the glare of the sun. He looked every bit the overworked, high-functioning disaster of a Chief......sharp clothes, sharper tongue, and an aura that suggested he hadn't slept since the previous fiscal year.

​"Call out the devil's name, and he appears," Mike whispered out of the side of his mouth.

​The pickpocket looked at the two officers, then at the approaching Chief, and finally at his bag of dentures. For the first time all day, he felt like maybe being arrested was the least of his problems.

The moment the Chief's boots clicked against the pavement, the atmosphere in the alley shifted from lazy afternoon.....to high-stakes panic.

​In a synchronized blur of motion, Eric and Mike abandoned their half-eaten treats. Without a hint of remorse, they reached out and wiped their sticky, strawberry-stained hands directly onto the pickpocket's ragged jacket.

​"Don't you dare open your mouth," Mike hissed, his voice a low, terrifying vibration.

​They spun around to face Zeus Brooklyn with wide, innocent smiles that wouldn't have fooled a toddler.....but they were committed.

​"Chief! Good timing! We just caught this thief red-handed!" Eric announced, puffing out his chest.

Zeus stopped in front of them, his phone finally tucked away. He looked at the pickpocket's stained clothes, then at his officers' suspicious lack of ice cream. "Red-handed? Looks more like pink-handed. What did he steal?"

​The response was instantaneous and disastrously uncoordinated.

​"Money!" Eric shouted.

"Jewelry!" Mike yelled at the exact same time.

Zeus's eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. A slow, dangerous smirk began to crawl across his face.

​The pickpocket, sensing a gap in the defense, shook his head frantically. "No! They're lying! I didn't steal....."

​"No, Chief!" Eric interrupted, leaning in with desperate intensity. "He's the one lying! He's a pathological liar! He even snatched the ice cream you told us to buy for your kids and ate it all in one gulp! Look at his clothes.....the evidence is right there!"

Mike nodded so hard his neck cracked. "Exactly! A monster, Chief. A dairy-stealing monster."

Zeus let out a short, sharp laugh, looking genuinely impressed by the sheer audacity of the story. "Is that so? Good work, guys. Truly. Now, since he's such a prolific criminal... show me the stolen money and the jewelry."

​The silence that followed was deafening. The pickpocket smirked, crossing his arms over the denture-filled bag. "Yeah, officers. Show him. Show him all that 'gold' I took."

Eric and Mike shared a look of pure, unadulterated soul-crushing terror. They both knew the score......if Zeus caught them in a lie, he would find a way to deduct pay they hadn't even earned yet.

​With a trembling hand, Eric reached into his own wallet and pulled out a crumpled wad of bills.....his lunch money for the next week. Beside him, Mike looked like he was about to pass out as he slowly twisted the silver engagement ring off his finger.

​"Here it is, Chief," Eric squeaked, handing over the cash.

"And... and the ring," Mike added, his voice sounding like it was coming from the bottom of a well as he dropped the band into Zeus's palm.

​The pickpocket's jaw hit the floor. He stared at the money and the ring, his brain short-circuiting.

Where did that come from?!

I'm a thief, and even I think these guys are crazy!

Eric caught the thief's eye and gave him a sharp, triumphant wiggle of his eyebrows. It was a victory, but a very, very expensive one.

Zeus weighed the ring in his hand, his eyes glinting with a mischief that suggested he knew exactly whose ring that was. "Impressive. Very high-end. I'll take these into 'evidence' for now."

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