Prose Magica: The Ballad of the Seventeenth Part 2

Odette pushed open the revolving doors and stepped into the busy, white marble halls of the First Canadian place, headquarters of the Seventeenth Officio. Or at least, the operation's front. The first three floors of the towering office building were more like a small shopping mall than anything business-like. It was the perfect disguise, Odette thought. No one would think it strange for large numbers of teenage girls to be wandering around a shopping centre. There were even a handful of cake and pastry shops that Odette had a habit of frequenting.

The girl glanced up and grumbled to herself as she made her way to the elevator. Did they really have to put it right in middle of a cluster of women's clothing stores? The incubator probably thought he was being real clever with it, but the sights only made Odette more conscious of her rather plain clothing. A black jacket, plain white t-shirt and a scuffed pair of jeans wasn't exactly the pinnacle of fashion, but she rarely put any thought into her wardrobe these days. Seeing the pink and pastel coloured girly clothing, though, that made her wonder.

Odette sighed and jabbed a finger at the down button. Within seconds, the doors slid open with a hiss and the one-eyed girl stepped inside. With one hand, she held down the 'close doors' button, while the other punched in her destination. Two, nine, six, eighteen, fifteen, nineteen, twenty; it had taken her months to remember without having to write it down somewhere. With a clunk of pulleys and machinery, she felt the elevator begin its descent. Exactly nine floors below ground. Odette could still remember when the underground section of the tower was built, green as she was at the time. For the time, it was fun to figure out secret codes and security measures to keep outsiders on the outside. These days, it just seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.

The doors slid open as they reached the lowest floor and revealed a barren, concrete room lined with yet more elevators. Each flank was occupied by three sets while another stood alone at the far end of the square room. Seven elevators, each for a colour of the rainbow. Odette watched the security camera in the corner of the room track her as she strode confidently up to the furthest elevator, coloured with a bright violet.

The girl waited for a few moments before casting a glare at the camera. "Seriously?" She muttered.

"You know the rules, Odette," a cheerful girl's voice called out over the intercom. "You need to identify yourself just like the rest of us schmucks. No hat, no free pass!"

"Oh my g- Fine," Odette grumbled. "Odette Brighton. Clearance level violet. Now open the damn door, Holly."

"Was that really so hard?" The voice replied as the purple doors on the far side of the room slid open.

Odette scowled and stepped in. Her only reply was to flip off the camera just as the elevator closed again.

Holly Corbin. One of the twin Vanus rank magical girls in charge of running the technical and intelligence aspect of the entire Officio. Holly kept track of internal affairs while Molly watched the other Officios. Dozens of rumours circulated about them - very few had ever actually seen one of them in person, fewer still claimed to have met both. Even Odette hadn't actually met either of them in person, despite having worked with them for years.

The interior of the violet lift wasn't any different from the previous, save for the arrangement of the buttons. Seven rows of three buttons, each row a different colour of the rainbow. Odette flipped out her cellphone to double-check her destination before hitting the middle green button. The tired girl took a deep sigh and leaned back against the far wall just as the elevator began to descend.

✱✱✱

The elevators in the sub-levels of the building had always baffled Odette. There was a distinct sense of movement, but she could never tell exactly what direction it was headed. Maybe left or right, forward or back - sometimes it even felt like the elevator was going up when it was supposed to be going down. Stranger yet, it always seemed as though no matter which floor was chosen, the ride always took exactly one minute and thirty-nine seconds and never a moment off. The compartment itself was no different than a standard elevator, save the fact it was missing any sort of maintenance hatch. On no small amount of occasions had Odette been tempted to simply break through the ceiling and see what was outside. It never worked.

Exactly one minute and thirty-nine seconds after the doors had closed, they slid open again, revealing a sterile white corridor with a green stripe racing down the centre of the walls. Directly in front of Odette stood a rather peeved looking girl with short brown hair, parted directly in the middle and held in place by a pair of hair-clips on either side.

Odette cringed and put up a pained grin. "Heeeey, Tyler. How's it goin'? Love to chat, but I've got a thing I need to do," Odette forced a laugh and turned to leave, only to feel a hand on the back of her collar. The silver-haired girl slowly turned her head to stare into the other's eyes. "I'd suggest you take your mitts off me. Or do I need to remind you what happened the last time you got a bit too physical?"

"I've been asked to escort you to the interrogation room and observe," Tyler said, voice stoic and professional. "Believe me, Brighton, I have much better things to do than babysit your washed-up ass, but orders are orders."

"Great," Odette grumbled. "Now take your hand off me or you'll be cleaning it off the walls."

"That's no way to talk to a warmaster's aide, Brighton," Tyler growled, tightening her grip.

In an instant, Odette ducked and grabbed the other girl by the arm, sending her careening over the one-eyed girl's shoulder and into the ground, landing flat on her back. The adjutant barely had a chance to blink before she felt a boot on her chest and the razor-sharp point of a spear under her chin.

"And that's no way to talk to a former warmaster, Argente," Odette spat, watching with no small amount of amusement as a thin crimson stream trickled down the dark-haired girl's neck. With a smirk, the spear dissolved into thin air as Odette removed her foot and held out a hand to help the fallen girl up.

"Things like that only prove him right," Tyler snarled, pulling herself to her feet without assistance. "Still don't know why he doesn't have you terminated."

Odette smirked. "Neither do I."

Mumbling all the while, the dark-haired vindicare pulled out a rather brightly coloured band-aid from her many pockets and applied it to the small wound. Though the cut was little bigger than a paper cut, she still found it prudent to prevent infection.

"Winnie the Pooh?" Odette asked, snickering at the bandage.

"Don't even go the-"

"I've got Disney Princess ones," The silver-haired girl said as she turned down the hallway.

"O-oh," Tyler mumbled. Head hanging low in a mixture of disappointment and embarrassment, she followed after Odette, making sure to keep a good distance behind.

Tyler Argente. Aide to the Seventeenth Warmaster, former Vindicare rank leader. For months, she had found herself in a one-sided rivalry with Odette. Somehow she just couldn't bring herself to respect the former warmaster, never mind like her. She couldn't even remember how or why the bad blood started, only that it had been there for quite some time. Tyler had always been someone who had to work for her position - the total opposite of Odette, who seemed to be naturally talented in every way. At the same time, Tyler had always managed to keep a level head despite all of Odette's provocations.

"So seriously," The one-eyed girl piped up as the two made their way through the quiet halls, "where's Terry? Was hoping to see her."

"The warmaster is busy at the moment. Fubey requested her presence for an urgent meeting," Tyler sighed quietly. "I was not informed of the details, nor permitted to attend."

Odette responded with little more than a muffled 'hmph'.

"And," the dark-haired girl added, "for what it's worth, Therese seemed rather excited to see you again."

Odette nodded to herself. " 's been a while."

"Two weeks by our count. She couldn't stop talking about you," Tyler let out another sigh, although more drawn out and exasperated the second time around. "Every time she gets a compliment, she can't help but mention how she's nowhere near your level. 'It's not talent, it's just hard work and luck!' she says. 'I still can't match Odette!'"

"Damn straight," Odette replied.

The pair continued to walk down the barren halls for several minutes, passing the odd occupied break room or interrogation chamber. Green level had traditionally been used for keeping less dangerous persons of interest, such as normal, non-magical humans and non-hostile witnesses.

"Sure is empty," Odette observed.

Tyler nodded, making a small grunt of acknowledgement. "Therese had traffic moved to Green One and Three. She didn't want you to be forced to deal with your... 'fans'."

"How considerate."

Being so well known had its downsides, as Odette had learned. She spent so little time in the building that most of the junior girls clamoured for a picture or an autograph every time she actually showed up. Odette had long gotten used it to it, though it was most certainly an unnecessary hassle.

After several minutes of navigating the halls, the two finally came upon the interrogation chamber, guarded by a pair of eversors. One was shorter, with messy black hair and an enormous battle axe held firm to her shoulder, while the second was tall and thin, her hair tied back into a tight ponytail and a rapier sheathed at her side. Both of their faces seemed to contort into a mixture of shock, fear and reverence at the sight of Odette.

"Mi-mi-mi-miss Odette!" the shorter one yelped as she snapped to attention. "Vindicare Heidi Dalia is waiting for you inside."

"Don't recognize them," Odette whispered, leaning over to Tyler. "Therese's recruits?"

The warmaster's aide nodded silently and stepped off to the side. "I'll let you handle this alone. Don't screw it up."

Odette rolled her eye and shook her head as she stepped toward the solid white door. As her hand landed on the knob, the taller of the two guards turned to her and held out an old picture of Odette in her warmaster's uniform and cap. Back when she still had both eyes, the silver-haired girl noted.

"Tiny wanted an autograph, but she's too afraid to ask. You mind?" she asked, pulling a pen from her pocket.

"M-Mona!" the shorter girl wailed. "Miss Odette, it's fine, really, you don't ha-"

Odette held up a hand, silencing the guard in an instant. With a gentle, practised smile, she took the picture, signed it, and handed it to the shorter of the two. "It's fine. It's my pleasure."

The smaller guard gently took the picture with shaking hands, nearly dropping it several times as she did so. Her bright eyes glistened as she stared at it, as if stuck in some sort of trance.

"Manners, Meg," the taller guard chided.

Her partner fumbled with the picture, trying to put it away when she desperately wanted to keep her eyes on it. "Th-th-thank you! Thank you very much, ma'am!"

Odette winced. "Anything but 'ma'am', please. Just... not that."

"Ah, oh," the shorter girl mumbled. "Um, madam? I-I've heard some others call you that, b-but if it-"

"It's fine. Listen, I gotta get going," Odette smiled gently and lightly ruffled the girl's hair. "Take good care of that. I don't do that kind of thing very often these days."

"Y-yes, of course!"

Odette nodded and stepped into the other room, the door closing with a click behind her. The taller of the two guards looked down at the other, smiling brightly.

"See, Meg?" she said, watching the girl stare transfixed at the autograph. "Just gotta ask. She wasn't nearly as scary as they say."

Tyler absent-mindedly rubbed the bandage on her neck as she leaned against the corridor wall. "I wouldn't be so sure."

✱✱✱

"Mornin', Heidi," Odette greeted the sole occupant of the cramped, dimly lit room. Keeping the same practised smile she had used earlier, the one-eyed girl took a seat across from the detainee. "Long time no see."

The vindicare quietly lifted her head, her long, dark hair nearly entirely obscuring her weary face and looked into Odette's eye. "I-it has been a long time. And I... I don't think it's morning anymore."

Odette glanced at her watch and tilted her head from side to side a few times. "It's about one o'clock. Past midnight counts as morning in my books." With a yawn, she pulled the case documents from her jacket pocket and slapped them on the table. "I'm assuming you're a bit fed up with waiting around here."

The dark-haired girl nodded silently.

"Then let's try and make this quick and painless," Odette said, shuffling through the papers. "First things first, can you describe what happened?"

"It was r-right around midnight, I think, maybe a little earlier," the girl mumbled. "We went into an alley for a break-"

"-you just went into a random alley?"

"It was a dumb idea, but I thought it'd be nice to have lunch there," Heidi mumbled bashfully. "I... I made us sandwiches."

Odette nodded as she jotted down a few notes in a small memo pad, then waved her pen at the other girl when she had stopped talking. "Go on."

"I, um, I dropped one of the sandwiches by mistake and," the dark-haired girl's gaze bored a hole through the table as her eyes began to sting, "I bent down to pick it up and when I looked up she was gone."

"Just... vanished?" Odette asked, cocking an eyebrow. "No noise? No... anything?"

Heidi shook her head. "Just gone. She was further down a-and there were a lot of cars outside," she fiddled with a strand of hair as she spoke, frantically replaying the events in her head. "N-now that I think about it, if she made any noise, I probably wouldn't have heard it."

"And then you came here?"

Heidi shook her head once more. "I looked through the alleys and climbed to the rooves. I called it in maybe... twenty minutes later?"

"And there was nothing unusual at all?" Odette asked. "Nothing that stood out?"

"There was one thing," Heidi said, finally looking Odette in the eye, "a weird smell. I don't really know how to describe it. It was sweet, but repulsive. Like flowers at a funeral. Like... death in disguise."

Odette scribbled down the description. She found it hard to believe something sweet could also be so sinister. "I'll keep it in mind. Now, uh, your relationship with Freida Goldman. Were you two close at all?"

"N-no," the girl replied, "we had only met recently. We were assigned to hunt a witch together. All I know about her what others say."

"Yet you made lunch for the two of you and took her into a dark alley alone?"

By that point Heidi was visibly shaking as tears glistened on her pale cheeks. "I-I j-just thought that i-if I could make something f-for us, we could g-get closer."

Odette made a shallow nod as she wrote more. "Not good with people, I take it?"

Heidi shook her head without a word.

"I can relate," the one-eyed girl sighed. "I can't guarantee that we'll find her, but I'll do my best. Is there anything else you feel I should know? Any irregularities in her behaviour or people she seemed less than friendly with?"

"Sh-she mentioned th-that she felt like she was being w-watched the past few nights," Heidi stuttered out between hiccups, "but nothing else. I didn't re-really get to know her we-well."

Odette nodded. "Alright. I think we're done here. Go home and get some rest. Take a few days off."

"U-um," the vindicare stammered, teary, blood-shot eyes staring up at Odette, "i-if you see Fubey, tell him I'd li-like a transfer. I don't... I don't thi-think I'm suited for this ki-kind of wo-work."

"I'll keep it in mind," Odette said, snapping her memo pad shut and rising from her seat. "See you 'round. You're free to leave whenever you're ready. Talk to one of the girls outside if there's anything else you need."

“Th-thank you,” Heidi mumbled.

Odette put her hand on the doorknob, but pulled back after a moment's thought and reopened her memo pad. “Uh, h-here's my number. Just in case you remember anything. Or something,” Odette stuttered as she scribbled down her cell number and tore out the page, leaving it on the table.

With a curt nod, the one-eyed girl stepped out of the room and leaned against the corridor wall, letting out a long sigh. It had been a while since she had to be so professional. She was out of practice. There was once a time when being polite and sympathetic came second-nature to her; some people may have once even called her lady-like. Now she had to force it. Odette let out another sigh, managing to sound even more tired. She asked herself how it had all gone wrong, how the elegant and charismatic Odette Brighton had been reduced to... this. The only answer was the sound of her hard-soled shoes against the marble floor.