Nalda sat by the front door of her house. The reason? She forgot her keys and her sister still wasn't home.
She was about to start regretting not going with Irene when an old lady called for her. "Nalda, dear, come here!" Her voice wasn't loud but Nalda heard her.
She immediately recognised who it was. "Mrs Michelle!" Nalda immediately got up and ran towards the old lady and hugged her as a greeting. "Good morning."
Mrs Michelle shook her head. "Sweety, it's almost time for dinner, the morning has long passed."
Nalda didn't give up. "Good morning."
Mrs Michelle probably knew that Nalda wasn't going to back off so she just patted her head. "Come stay with me and help me with a few chores."
As much as she hated chores, if it was Mrs Michelle asking, Nalda would go. She followed the old lady to her home which wasn't far, just on the opposite side of the street.
While walking there Nalda made sure to pay attention to anyone walking there. She didn't forget that she was supposed to eliminate a few possible suspects from her list of possible serial killers.
Actually, Mrs Michelle was also a suspect. As much as Nalda hated the idea of suspecting an elderly person like her, Mrs Michelle had a surprisingly good cover. Everyone in the street knew her as the grandma who liked to bake cakes for everyone but what if that person turned out to be a serial killer? No one would suspect a thing.
Nalda really hated how distrustful she had to be in order to survive but there wasn't much she could do about that.
'There is more than one murder, it is a collaboration.'
Without any warning, the letters appeared on the wall. It almost made Nalda yell at the top of her lungs.
She had completely forgotten about the letters. She quickly read the information they had given her.
'Why are the letters still calling the serial killer a murderer? No wait, there's multiple of them. Maybe that's the reason. Ach, I feel like I'll go bald faster than my dad at this rate.'
Well at least she got another clue even though it was random. Maybe she could use it soon. That was probably the reason why the letters told her, right?
She had been thinking so much that she hadn't even realised that she was entering Mrs Michelle's house. She was thinking really hard after all.
She'll be fine in the suspected serial killer, killers, murderer or murderers' house right? No seriously she was confused on what to call the person who might end up being responsible for her death.
Well the name wasn't important, as long as the essence was the same.
'I think I'll be fine for now. Mrs Michelle is just a suspect. She isn't the actual serial killer, just one of the possible serial killers… okay that doesn't sound good at all…'
Nalda really only needed an excuse to eat pie, Mrs Michelle's apple pie to be precise. Maybe Mave's comment about her survival instinct being worse than a potato's was actually right.
The letters would've warned her if there was any real danger probably so it was obviously going to be fine.
Once inside the house, Mrs Michelle already started to give Nalda instructions on what to do and how to do it.
That's how Nalda ended up spending quite some time at Mrs Michelle's house instead of investigating who her possible future murderer might be. She had completely forgotten about it until she looked outside of the window and saw someone directly staring through the window.
She instantly felt a chill run down her spine. When she blinked the person disappeared but Nalda didn't move.
She jumped when a hand was put on her shoulder. "Nalda?" It was just Mrs Michelle.
Nalda's flight or flight almost kicked in.
She was genuinely regretting not going with Irene. What even made her brave enough to look for the serial killers on her own?
Mrs Michelle looked at her with a worried expression and put the back of her hand on Nalda's forehead. "Sweety, did I overwork you? You were probably tired from school and then I made you do the chores. Go sit, I'll give you some pie…"
Nalda smiled shakily and hid her trembling arms behind her back. "Ah, no it's alright. I'll be heading home. Mave will probably be home by now."
That was a lie. Nalda hadn't gotten any messages yet from Mave. She just needed to get out of here, away from Mrs Michelle.
The idea that this kind-hearted elderly was actually a despicable serial killer made her sick. How can somebody be so two faced?
Nalda quickly gathered her stuff and brushed off the worried Mrs Michelle. Once she was on the street she had calmed down a little.
She calmed down enough to get another stupid idea that she'll probably regret very soon.
'Should I stay outside to see what will happen…? I have a gut feeling that I might get something out of this… but will I be safe?'
She didn't think very deeply about it before she went through with that horrible idea. She went from running from a potential serial killer to going outside where there certainly was a serial killer or serial killers.
A good spot to run away but still be very obvious was what she needed. She wasn't sure whether she was faster so she needed an area she knew very well.
However the moment she began thinking of all this, she received a phone call. She pulled out her phone to look for who it was and found out that her father was calling.
She accepted the call with great confusion. "Dad? Why are you calling me?"
"Hello Nalda, what are you doing right now?" He asked instantly, it sounded like he was in a hurry.
Nalda couldn't tell him that she was trying to catch a serial killer so she gave a different excuse. "Uhm, I just left Mrs Michelle's house. I helped her with her chores and I'm heading home now."
Her father was silent on the other side of the phone. "Return to Mrs Michelle's home until Mave comes back." He suddenly said.
"What? Okay but wait dad how did you-"
Nalda could almost see him smiling through the phone. "Alright, that's it, I'll see you tomorrow." He hung up without letting Nalda ask her questions.
Nalda hesitated before she hesitantly nodded on Mrs Michelle's door. After a minute of standing outside in the cold, Mrs Michelle opened the door.
"Nalda dear, you're back, did Mave not come back home yet?" She asked, sounding a little surprised.
Verena nodded. "Can I stay until she comes back…?"
Mrs Michelle smiled gently. "Of course, just come inside. You didn't even eat before you left."
Nalda followed her inside and found the apple pie on the dining table. The table had already been set and Nalda sat down opposite Mrs Michelle and served herself a slice of apple pie.
The pie was as good as ever. Nalda could never doubt Mrs Michelle's apple pie. Someone who made stuff like this couldn't possibly be a serial killer, right?
No actually, her dad sounded more like a serial killer. How did he call her the exact moment she was planning on doing something stupid? That could've been a coincidence but then how did he know Mave wasn't home yet? Well, he could've spoken with Mave first but then how did he know Nalda couldn't get inside the house? She had no explanation for that. She was pretty sure she didn't even tell Mave about it.
Luckily her father was nowhere near the neighbourhood and didn't even know much about the whole serial killer situation.
'Well, dad has always been a bit strange. This isn't the first time he dropped words like that before hanging up.'
Now that she thought about it, her dad might actually have a superpower as well. Nalda wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.
Well she'll just have to wait and see. Now that she was suspicious, she'd definitely catch any clues that came from him.
'Are superpowers genetic?'
That was definitely a question she needed to ask because if Mave and her dad had these powers then it might've been genetics? And what even was Mave's superpower? Was it related to information? It seemed like her dad's supposed superpower was related information.
The letters popped up on the table cloth of Mrs Michelle's dinner table. The beautiful pattern twisted into the form of letters. Nalda glanced at Mrs Michelle but she didn't seem to notice anything amiss. That confirmed that no one, except for Nalda, could see the letters.
'Curses and gifts are partially generically. The genetics only decide whether someone is able to have an ability or not. Whether you manage to receive one or not is random.'
Nalda suddenly remembered when the letters were information bombing her last Friday evening. Were the letters just especially talkative on Fridays? Well talkative is a bit wrong… typative? Was that even a word?
The letters twisted again and another lengthy explanation came.
'Mave Solace (Akili) does not have an information type of gift. Her gift remains a question with many conflicting opinions and views. As for Solace Rhodes, it is just as unclear for others. Here the confusion is whether he has an ability or not.'
Nalda just stared at the letters. "What kind of chatGPT response is this…?" She questioned whether she could really rely on the letters if the answers it spew sounded awfully similar to AI.
Now she was starting to understand why her teachers always said that they could tell when someone did their homework with AI or not.
Mrs Michelle looked quite confused by Nalda's mutterings but probably chalked it up to Nalda's usual nonsense. She must really be used to Nalda's antics at this point.
Nalda couldn't decide whether that made her more suspicious or not.
No wait, she was getting sidetracked. The point was that she got a lot of information from the letters and she needed to process it somehow.
So superpowers weren't genetically decided. Genetics only decided if you got one or not. That much was clear.
However, the second part was unclear. What did the letters mean by 'conflicting opinions'? What did opinions have to do with this? You either had a superpower or not.
Nalda realised that the letters were being unclear on purpose. They probably already knew the answer but didn't explain. It was the letters' way of telling her to go figure it out on her own.
'Rude. If you didn't want to tell me, why bother saying anything at all? Just shut up and stay quiet.'
The only information she got from the second part was the name 'Akili'. It might be a group? Or a division or something. It definitely was important though.
'It is a nickname.'
The letters appeared in her slice of pie that she was about to eat. She didn't hesitate to put it in her mouth and eat it. This was her revenge towards the letters. She really hoped her mouth smelled bad.
Well at least they gave her useful information this time.
From what the letters said, Nalda could conclude that her sister's nickname was Akili and not the K.O.er. That was a bit unfortunate. What did Akili even mean?
She'll have to look it up later, maybe it was a clue to her sister's superpower. She hoped it was something ridiculous so she could make fun of her.
It was at that moment that the doorbell rang. Nalda quickly stood up and ran towards the door. She couldn't let Mrs Michelle do it, she was an elderly person after all.
Nalda confidently swung the door open and froze at who she saw on the other side of the door. When she saw this person's expression she knew instantly she was in trouble.