Let’s not split up, gang (I’ve got my eye on you, secret villain)

“Look, I can tell you’re trying to bribe me with food,” the woman, who called herself Trudy, said, after swallowing a large slice of steak. “Don’t overspend right away, it makes it too obvious you’re trying to make me feel good before you go in with the sell.”

“So, you don’t want this cheese bread pastry,” Constance said.

“I said, ‘do as I say, not as I do’, miss. Now keep that plate where I can see it.”

The need to feed didn’t take much to shuttle the doppelganger to a small restaurant in the area, and while Constance handled the small talk and budget, Zel couldn’t help but keep peering oddly at their new acquaintance.

Lissandra had been a legend when Zelfie entered her first year, and it was only recently, while rubbing shoulders with the remaining faculty that the researcher finally got a glimpse at what the venerable spiritualist had worked on, and frankly, it could be argued that her theories about the Menace might have helped dictated how the war went, before she even packed her bags and traded a pen for a hat and joined the war herself.

And then she died. At least Harow, Beacon of the Kingdoms said so.

That was how the story went, which is why it continued to be more surreal that this Lissandra-looking person was back home, fully oblivious.

What did it mean? Did it mean anything? Furthermore, what were they going to do after they fed her?

Zelfie decided to go for the sell, since it was what Trudy was expecting. “I, uh, we’re part of a neighbourhood watch, and we figured you could help us.”

One of Trudy’s fine brows rose with clear skepticism. Constance also spared a side eye, though Zelfie countered with a light kick under the table to make her look elsewhere.

“Well, you see, you have the bearing of a seasoned spiritualist, and the city’s been looking for volunteers!” Zelfie kept insisting. “To check for the presence of Malevolence?”

“Malevolence, huh…”

There was something in Trudy’s tone that made Zelfie’s inside squirm, and consider things she was too afraid of. But she pressed on, nonetheless.

“We’re really short-handed, but if you give us a hand, you can come back to the University with us and we’ll put in a good word for you!”

Trudy just grinned, “Say what, I don’t need the good word, but if you pay for dinner, I’ll tag along.”

With that, Constance surrendered her map and allowed Trudy to take the lead in Zel’s so-called community effort as they exited the restaurant. This way, the two students were free to whisper to each other over Trudy’s sing-song humming about “big fish, small fish, potatoes and cheese”.

“This is the best idea you could come up with?” The syhee muttered.

“Look, I don’t know how else to keep her in sight,” Zel argued, jerking her head to the latest mystery. “But you also get the sense that there’s something off with her, right?”

A woman sharing the face of someone who died years ago, emerging right after Fortress Town…

“Sure, but saying she has the bearing of a spiritualist?” Constance questioned.

“Look, whatever gets her to the University. We have a restaurant, too.”

“I hope you two aren’t foisting work on me!” Trudy called back, making the two jump back into their assigned lies.

“Of course not!” Constance cooly answered. “The professors already did that to us.”

“Yeah, I’ve had my fair share of those when I was your age,” Trudy laughed.

“Speaking of which, you were in pretty rough shape when we met,” Zelf asked, not quite innocently. “Where did you come from?”

“...North?”

The uncertain tone was more enlightening than the answer itself.

“And you just wandered your way here?”

“It’s easier than it looks, I assure you,” Trudy huffed. “Just pick a direction and walk. What’s harder is finding money. My resume isn’t exactly applicable out here.”

“Well, if you stick with us, I’m certain the University is willing to make an exception for wayward spiritualists,” Constance suggested. “We need all the help we can get.”

“Well, I assure you I’m not a spiritualist, but I do know that Malevolence is bad news, so I can at least help you there,” Trudy offered with another shrug.

Trudy wasn’t sure if she believed in serendipity, fate, or anything else, though Bao had odd thoughts about the Spirits of the world.

It perhaps wasn’t out of the question that she, who was probably made out of pure evil, was being herded by higher powers to fall in with the equivalent of exorcists who would be more than ready to blast her to smithereens, had they not instead kept cajoling her for a job position.

It was tempting, even though, again… the University these two came from still probably wouldn’t get second thoughts if they knew the truth.

Nonetheless, having two guides to the city would be useful – Paul, once again, was providing direction by reminding Trudy that as much as she’d like to duck her head, someone else was already using Malevolence to make the situation worse, regardless of how she felt about the situation.

Glass beads full of the evil juice. But even if she had a sixth sense for the stuff, it wasn’t like-

Her teeth itched, like sandpaper was running along their edges. Almost unconsciously biting down, the woman almost felt her head following the distraction until she saw something that made her roll her eyes at the cliche.

“Oh, for the love of…”

“Huh? What?” Zelfie asked, nearly stumbling as her hired help stopped suddenly. Along with Constance, the three of them stared down the way, at a particular house packed in between all the others in the neighbourhood. Nothing about it seemed out of the ordinary.

“Why are you looking at it?”

Trudy focused her stare, and the more she did, the more she sensed something faint and evil, despite the outward blandness of it.

“Because I’m going to kick its door down.”

“Wait, what if it’s occupied?” Constance complained as the older woman began stalking towards it.

“Then you’ll fire me, and I’ll have to worry about dinner myself.”