Chapter 15

15

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Horrible rumors and disturbing speculations flooded the media, sensationalizing Caste's and now Chise's missing persons case, officially dubbed the Bermuda Triangle Case and eventually decaying into the BT Cold Case when all possible leads and explanations had died away and were eventually dropped. Chise had been branded a criminal and painted as a brutal villainess by wayward reporters. But alas, the hopeful Idol was cleared of any involvement further than polite conversation with a woman she'd shared her seat with the day after she'd met her tragic fate on that cold and lonely hospital rooftop. The flight attendant had produced the time-stamped and dated ticket. Chise's therapist had provided sealed, no-longer-confidential documents regarding her sessions. Many witnesses came forward to solidify the truth. Both women had boarded the plane with innocent and well-meaning intent. Haru knew this for fact, not blind faith. Casterline had wanted to reconcile her mother's relationship since the day she'd given birth. Looking into her newborn's eyes and then to Haru's she'd said to him,

"A miracle like this should be shared with the person you look up to the most, shouldn't it?" Being unable to bear seeing her cry like that, he'd called his mother-in-law and gave her no chance to protest. He'd turned his camera to Front-Facing Mode and zoomed in on Harumi's angelic face before Katlyn could even get annoyed. Her heart melted in an instant. But she was stubborn and set in her ways and kept her interactions with them all to the bare minimum. A few calls throughout the holiday season, an exchange of photos through Haru's e-mail, with Caste being too hardheaded to speak nor share her own. No, there was no ulterior motive here, as far as Haru could see. But there was, he concluded, foul play of some kind or another. He felt it deep in his subconscious. A creeping suspicion that something sinister existed somewhere out there, and that it had wanted all of the light Casterline's heart could offer. When he'd reached out to the police, family, friends, they'd all suggested therapy to ease the burden of stress this whole situation had caused him. But Katlyn sensed it, too. "You're not crazy. I'm not crazy. Someone took my daughter from me and that's all there is to it." But when pressed about the feeling they both sensed, both Haru and Kat would shut down. They were equal parts unable to describe the sensation, the energy they felt when investigators allowed them to board the plane and examine Caste's seat for an overly exaggerated cold case television series. No one else seemed to experience the enveloping Darkness, the tingling sparks of electricity, the hair standing on the back of their necks. But when Kat touched the mirror in the lavatory, when Haru brushed his fingertips across the armrest of the seat, they felt it simultaneously. A force this world would never acknowledge with it's supreme logic and higher intelligence in all things spiritual and scientific. The two would never know that what they felt were malicious traces of Magic. Fiaerna's Darkness seeped into the places she'd been viewing Caste from. A cracked and blood stained mirror in the run-down Castle showed Casterline applying lipstick. A camera from a nearby cell phone gave Fi a glimpse at the hand she'd soon hold. Her desire seeped into the mirror, her frustration and impatience crackled through the armrests of the plane. But Casterline never knew she'd been watched like this, nor had anyone. Technology of the mundane world had dulled the human senses so completely that even the most highly sensitive individuals would be hard pressed to pick up on them. Every passenger on that flight and every investigator thereafter had felt this immense power but felt compelled to keep it to themselves. The internet was, of course, a blazing trash heap of hatred and disdain for the suspect, the mourners--and most especially--the missing. Comments like, "Maybe she fell out?" and "Good riddance." flooded the darkest corners of the web. Some of the theory threads were so graphic that Haru had decided to drop television and internet entirely for awhile. With no virtual distractions, he was able to put much greater effort into the time he spent with Harumi.