"Kitra!" yelled Thom, skidding to a halt. Kitra stopped too, and the two of them began a very short search for Skan. "SKAN!" Thom yelled, cupping his mouth with his hands. "SKAAAAN! Damnit!" Thom never cursed much.
"Calm down!" said Kitra. "Thom, calm down!"
"We have to go back for him!" Thom said, spinning around to face Kitra. "We have to go back-now!"
Kitra was about to respond, when a blue light flashed from where the hideout had been. There was a small silence as Kitra and Thom looked back in curiosity, then the blue light flashed several more times in succession, ending with a final burst of light. Then, Thom and Kitra could hear screams of men's pain, screams that no living man could scream. A death scream.
"Kitra, let's go!" said Thom. "Something is happening!"
Thom took off running, and Kitra was right behind him, but only to grab his arm and stop him. "No, Thom."
"WHAT!?" Thom asked incredulously. "Skan could be... DEAD for all we know now! We don't have time for this!"
"Skan is not dead, Thom. There are few things that can kill a Zodiac Demon."
A small shocked silence followed. Thom took a few steps away from Kitra, shaking his head. "No... Skan is to smart for that! He knows the consequences! Why would he do this??"
Kitra shook her head. "I do not know. What I know is, if we go to 'save' Skan, we would be dead, too. Thom, we have to go. Let's think of a plan."
"There. We're gone. Do you have a plan, now!?"
Kitra was pacing back and forth. "Let me think, Thom!" she snapped. They were in the Engineers Guild, in the meeting hall. There was no use for it for several days, so the two of them both decided that it was safe to use. Kitra had suggested that no one should know of this lest they try and kill Skan as he is. Though she doubted it was seriously possible, the fewer deaths, the better.
Both of their nerves were high strung. Neither one knew exactly what was going on or how to remedy the situation.
"OK," said Thom, putting his hands on the desk. "First of all, we have to think about the past. Has anything happened with Skan out of the ordinary? Maybe he was taken by Lucavi, by force, at the very beginning! Maybe it's the Zodiac Monster we've been talking to for the past few months, not Skan!"
Kitra shook her head. "No... for something like this happen, both sides need to say 'yes', it can't be forced." Skan put her hand to her chin, thinking. "However, have you noticed a habit Skan's picked up? How he would feel his Zodaic Stone whenever under stress?"
Thom nodded slowly. "Yes... now that you mention it, I HAVE noticed that! What does it mean?"
Kitra shrugged. "It could be anything. A safe guess would be to assume that Skan was giving in to the seducing powers and was looking at the stone for comfort..."
"NO!" snapped Thom. "No! Skan is smarter than that! He wouldn't look to a demon for help! Never!"
Kitra shook her head again. "Perhaps, Thom, perhaps. Maybe we should investigate Skan's house for anything that could help us."
Thom nodded. "Yeah... OK. I'll drive."
Kitra smiled. "No need."
Within a second, and a flash of white light, Kitra and Thom were gone.
"Whoa..." said Thom, swaying slightly back and forth. They were outside of Skan's mansion of a house. Four stories high, standing next to a three car garage. The top of the building was flat, and used for helicopter landings, as Thom often flew one to and from Skan's house. But from this angle, and most others, you couldn't see any helicopters.
"You're just a bit sick from the magic," said Kitra. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it, it isn't too bad anyway."
Thom just scowled at Kitra for a moment, who smiled sweetly back. Then Thom reached into his pocket and pulled out a large ring, with several keys on it. He was looking through for the key to Skan's house, which he had a copy of, and Kitra opened the door with her own key. Thom scowled again and crammed the keys into his pocket again.
As soon as the door was open, a loud, drawn out beep sound split Thom's ears. Kitra ignored it and typed a few numbers on Skan's security system pad, next to his door. The alarm turned off.
"Why didn't you just teleport us inside Skan's house in the first place?" asked Thom, a bit annoyed. Kitra made an exasperated sound.
"Have you ever seen Skan's security system in action? Without turning it off-at the entrance-it remains on. We would soon be shot at and be surrounded by cops within moments."
Thom didn't know that. "Oh."
The two walked down the hallway of Skan's house for a few moments, then walked downstairs. "Let's go into-" Kitra started.
"Skan's room," interupted Thom.
"I was about to say that!" said Kitra. Thom ignored her as the two opened the door, labelled 'Keep out or Die!', and looked around.
After a few minutes of searching, Thom found a black book on Skan's desk. Curious to all books, especially one without any markings on it. He opened the front page and saw all the 'Keep Out's'. "Hey, Kitra, I think I found something!"
Kitra silently walked over and looked at the book over Thom's shoulder. Thom flipped the page.
Skan, 10/11
Dear Diary. My first entry today. I am 14.
This Diary will be logged with all of my thoughts and feelings of the day. Hopefully, it will be published late after my death, and read my fans like I read Bart Fatima's and Mustadio Bunanza's Diary.
Thom laughed. "It's Skan's journal! He sure thinks highly of himself, huh?"
"He was only 14," said Kitra. "Keep reading."
...Today, I thought I was growing arm pit hair, but it turned out to be hair from my haircut.
Thom started laughing hysterically, and Kitra joined in after a moment. After several minutes of laughing, Thom looked back to the diary. "This isn't doing us any good, he never even had the stone when he was 14. So, remembering that last bit for a future prank, Thom flipped the pages until he found a more recent entry.
"Oh my God... Kitra, read this!" said Thom, after reading about Skan's dream.
"I did," said Kitra.
"What does it mean?"
Kitra shrugged. "Could be anything. Maybe Skan is just a bit preoccupied by the stone and his mind is playing games. Maybe Skan is just still scared from that battle with Ixtchil."
"Or maybe the stone is talking to him through his dreams!" said Thom triumphantly. Then he realized what he just said. "That's not very realistic though, is it?"
"I don't know, Thom," said Kitra. "Read some more."
Thom read the next few pages. "They are all the same! Skan is having repeat dreams!"
"Now that," said Kitra matter-of-factly, "means something."
Thom nodded, putting back the book. "Most definately! Let's continue our search."
Kitra looked around the room. "Nothing more in here. Let's go into Skan's dojo."
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