Chapter 213: An Accusation

The sun had begun to set on the horizon, casting a cool blue on the otherwise hot and humid planet. It wasn’t quite so dark to where humans couldn’t see, but it was dark enough where warm lights illuminated the tree houses.

Erin couldn’t fully focus on the world around her, as the mere mention of the dalki being on this planet had nearly made her lose her center.

’A dalki threat? Can I even take on another dalki? We nearly died to a single spike last time! I don’t think I can—"

Just then, Layla gripped Erin’s shoulders, sending a shock of pain to their heads, snapping her back into the moment.

"Breathe," Layla said, "Let’s hear what else Fex has to say."

She noticed Erin’s breathing had increased, the same behavior she saw back on Caladi. It was clear that something about the dalki brought a special kind of fear to Erin, but Layla didn’t know why.

"Woah, are you okay?" Fex said, raising an eyebrow, "I don’t even think it was the dalki, but something else entirely."

"I’m fine," Erin coldly stated.

In any other situation, they might’ve pressed further, but there were bigger matters at hand.

"Right, anyways," Fex snapped his fingers, "I followed this one girl with purple boots because she apparently had more to say to the military people about what she saw when she went missing."

"Cia?" Layla said.

"Is that her name?" Fex slightly tilted his head, but continued, "Anyways, I didn’t get the full conversation because I was making sure I didn’t get caught, but I heard her say she had seen a dalki city on this planet."

With those words said, Erin and Layla immediately knew that this could be a major problem. It had calmed Erin somewhat knowing that the issue wasn’t actually the dalki, but something else.

Cia was with Peter when Del’s class got swallowed by those purple beasts, but Erin and Layla didn’t know if she was swallowed or not.

"It makes sense that she would’ve seen the city," Fex said, placing a hand on his chin, "I did see her get swallowed since I was the last one to fall."

Initially, they didn’t think Cia nor Peter could’ve survived the fall. When it came to the ones who did, most of them had regenerative capabilities. Even Quinn was caught midair by Layla when he fell.

"But how could she have survived?" Layla pointed out.

"Maybe she landed on a pile of hay?" Fex shrugged, "Either way, as far as I knew, our team were the only people in the city at the time. I didn’t smell or hear anyone else, but it’s possible with the king tier beast there that I was too busy with, you know, a king tier beast to notice."

"Okay, but did she mention us? Did she mention vampires?" Erin said, cutting straight to the point.

Fex looked off towards the village, where several children ran about, "No, all she had seen was a ’dalki city’ and ran away as fast as possible when she saw the king tier beast. If she wanted to mention vampires, she would’ve by now."

This was good news, as it meant they had the time to figure out their next course of action.

It was very possible that Cia had seen them in the city showcasing their vampire powers, but they didn’t know for sure, and confronting her about it might reveal they were in fact vampires.

"We could make her forget about whatever happened in the underground," Fex contemplated, "The problem is that we don’t know what she knows. A random large gap in her memory might cause suspicion.

"To add onto this, but erasing a gap in a person’s memory isn’t a full clean," the system advised, "Her mind may forget, but her body won’t. With you and Cia being roommates, she’ll subconsciously remember what you did."

Overall, the situation was tricky. It wasn’t like Del where they could make him forget a few minutes that just happened, but an unknown period of time that none of them were around for.

Just then, Vorden and Quinn ran over having seen them a fair distance away.

"Hey guys, where have you been?" Vorden asked, "Did you hear about what was going on?"

Fex began explaining the situation to Vorden and Quinn, and Quinn realized something.

"Peter was with Cia when they returned from the caves," Quinn said, "He would know more about how much he knows."

With that in mind, they immediately began searching for Peter. As they did, more and more military officials were on the move, as if preparing for something.

"An abandoned dalki shelter? On this planet?" A man whispered in disbelief.

"He said it was as strong as a 4 spike," Another muttered, "If that’s true then we’d be done for."

’What are they talking about?’ Fex thought, this was something he hadn’t heard about.

Erin, meanwhile, felt her blood run cold at the thought, but had to remind herself that if a 4 spike really was here, the shelter would already be destroyed.

Eventually they found the boy by himself, who was coincidentally searching for Cia. He was startled by the group coming up to him so suddenly, and he feared that he was in trouble for something.

Instinctively, he closed in on himself a little, remembering just how much he had messed up his relationship with them.

Knowing that he was the best person to talk to him, Quinn decided to speak to him first.

"Peter," Quinn began asking carefully, "When you came back with Cia yesterday, did you two enter the underground city with all of us there?"

Peter hesitated, and sweat formed on the back of his neck. Even though he couldn’t see their faces clearly, he knew that they were all staring intensely into him.

"... He’s not responding," Vorden accused in a low tone, and slowly flexed his fingers.

Even though Peter knew that he didn’t want to go behind their backs again, the accusation had put an immense pressure on him to respond. There was a fear that no matter how he answered, they might just ignore what he said, and believe that he betrayed their trust yet again.