Free Web NovelChapter 13: Harvesting Souls
Percy spoke before Vanessa could start crying again.
"I wanted to ask you about what happened before you died. Do you remember what killed you?"
Vanessa nodded.
"I-I was standing on the balcony, reading one of the textbooks. But then I saw Dalia rushing towards me. She slammed her hands into my shoulder, and she... she pushed me off the balcony."
Viva felt a surge of anger fill her body as she heard what happened to the girl. Viva had already been certain that this girl’s friend was responsible for her death, and after hearing this, Viva was even more certain! But what Viva heard next surprised her. Vanessa raised her voice and spoke quickly to add more to the story!
"But I don’t think Dalia meant to do it!"
Percy’s brow furrowed curiously, and Viva spoke up from behind him!
"What do you mean? You saw her running at you, didn’t you? You said she pushed you."
Vanessa frowned.
"I know I did! But I don’t think she wanted to do it! She wouldn’t do something like that to me! We’re best friends, and we’ve known each other all our lives! And – And when I was falling, I saw the look on her face! She was just as shocked as me! She didn’t mean to do it." free𝑤ebnovel.com
Vanessa had somehow become very defensive of her friend by this point, and Percy put his hand on her shoulder and told her to calm down. Vanessa hugged her knees again as she nodded before Percy asked.
"Did you notice anything strange after you died? Was there anyone else with you and Dalia?"
Vanessa scowled thoughtfully as she tried to think of something, and Percy waited patiently for her to organize her thoughts. Behind Percy, Viva was frowning as she watched the interaction, and she could feel a little bit of doubt beginning to take root in her heart. If even the dead girl was saying that Dalia might be innocent, then was it possible that something else had really happened that day?
’Isn’t she just letting her friendship blind her? I don’t think anyone will want to believe that their best friend killed them. It’s possible that she’s just trying to convince herself.’
This thought went through Viva’s mind, and Viva was about to say something to Vanessa, but Vanessa’s head suddenly shot up, and her eyes widened as she spoke to Percy!
"I remember something!"
Percy brought his hand down to tell Vanessa to relax a little. Getting too excited wasn’t going to change anything.
"What do you remember?"
Percy asked curiously, and Vanessa spoke while trying to bring up the memories.
"It was after I died. I was looking at Dalia, and I saw something white leaving her body. It looked like a ball, but it had a large mouth with sharp teeth. It vanished before I could see what it was, but I’m sure it was there! Dalia didn’t want to kill me that day! Dalia was possessed by that thing!"
"Possessed?"
Viva’s eyes immediately narrowed in shock, and she watched Vanessa’s face very closely to make sure that she was sure of what she was saying. Vanessa had a look of absolute certainty as she stared at Percy, and Viva felt the doubt in her heart expand even more! Had she been wrong all along? Was Dalia really innocent? If Dalia was really innocent, that would mean they had put an innocent girl in jail right after her friend was murdered. Viva put a hand over her mouth, and she felt the doubt in her heart changing to guilt, but Viva stopped her emotions from overwhelming her, and she cleared her mind quickly! There was no guarantee that Vanessa was telling the truth. It’s possible that all of this was just a plan to free her friend. They still had to carry out some more investigation before they could be sure that Dalia had really been possessed.
Percy hadn’t said anything for close to a minute now, and he was simply staring at Vanessa curiously. Viva looked down at the librarian, and she asked him what he was thinking about, but Percy ignored her. Percy’s eyes glowed with a blue light, and his vision changed to show the magic essence all around him. Vanessa’s body vanished along with all the books around the library, and they were replaced with coloured silhouettes. Vanessa looked like a blue silhouette, and many of the books on the shelves had black silhouettes.
The skill Percy just activated allowed him to see the raw magic all around him, and the colour of the magic was usually determined by what sort of aura that object had. Vanessa was a pure soul, so her magic was blue, but the books around them were cursed or dark books, so they had black auras.
Percy looked up at Vanessa’s head, and he frowned as he saw a single white string floating up from the top of her head towards the ceiling, like it was trying to pull her somewhere. The string had been cut, so right now it was just floating aimlessly, but it was obvious that something had been attached to the other end.
’Someone tried to harvest her soul.’
Percy realized that something tried to grab Vanessa’s soul immediately after she died. The only reason Vanessa wasn’t taken away was because the library had strong magical protections around it. The library must have cut the string that tried to pull her away before it could take her soul.
With this evidence, Percy became certain that Vanessa was telling the truth. Dalia hadn’t been trying to kill her friend. Someone possessed Dalia’s body and pushed Vanessa, and it was the same person who tried to harvest Vanessa’s soul.
"Did you find something?"
Viva spoke up from behind Percy when he had been silent for too long, and Percy turned off his mana vision, and he spoke to Vanessa in a kind tone.
"Do you remember anything else about what you saw that day? Like the direction that white ball went in?"
Vanessa tucked her chin into her raised legs and shook her head. Even remembering the ball had taken a lot out of her, so she knew she wouldn’t be able to remember what direction it had flown in. Vanessa had been too busy grieving over her dead body to think about things like that, and Vanessa realized that Dalia might end up in jail for the rest of her life because of her! Even though Vanessa was sad about her death, she felt even worse that her friend wouldn’t get to live a normal life either!
A hand landed on Vanessa’s head, and Vanessa looked up to see Percy smiling down at her.
"You don’t need to worry about anything, just leave it to me. I’ll make sure Dalia is free very soon, you’ll see."
In that moment, Vanessa felt a strange feeling rising from somewhere deep inside her and spreading through her heart, and it took a moment for Vanessa to realise that this feeling was hope. Vanessa had never spoken to Percy before today, so she had no reason to believe in him, but the look in Percy’s eyes and the confidence in his voice made Vanessa believe that maybe everything would really be alright. Vanessa still didn’t know what Percy planned to do or how he was going to prove Dalia’s innocence, but Vanessa decided that she would put her faith in Percy!
Vanessa nodded to Percy shyly, and Percy smiled as he stood up and put his hand out to her.
"Come on, let me introduce you to the others. They’re all really nice kids, so I’m sure they’ll love you." freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Vanessa looked at Percy’s hand with a bit of fear in her eyes. Vanessa was still just a kid, so being murdered and having to live as a ghost was obviously going to terrify her. But Percy’s kind smile assured her that everything would be alright, and she only hesitated for a moment before she reached out and took Percy’s hand.
