Dangerous Souls

Healing

Chapter 13-The Last

April Day 6 11:29 A.M.

Mai kept her light on her wrist as the men each took their turn in examining the mark. Lin moved his free hand to stroke his chin. "Well, this certainly explains what Yasuhara told me last night," he said with a grim look.

"And that would be?" Monk asked, clearly waiting for an explanation.

"Apparently, Kiko mentioned that Mai should have been the one to find Tomomi's body." He turned to face the young manager. "Hitomi Maeda had the same mark on her wrist and was for some reason obsessed with going into the lake, seeing as that was where the body was found, I think we can assume why."

"And if you said that she woke up with this mark a couple mornings ago," Monk added, also turning to Naru, "then that would match up with the Maeda couple leaving the resort."

"Can you guys stop talking like I'm not here?" Mai asked with a raised brow. She shook her head as all heads turned to look down at her. It was times like this that she realized she was short. "And the question we need to ask ourselves, is since Tomomi's body had been found, why do I still have the mark on my wrist? Not only that, why wasn't I drawn to the lake during the whole date night thing? It's not like we were all that far away."

"It took several hours after the word appeared on Mrs. Maeda's wrist before she started being drawn toward the lake," Naru explained, pulling out a band-aid from his pocket, earning a few stares. "By then, Kiko had already fallen into the lake and discovered the skeleton." He unwrapped it and carefully placed it on the irritated cut. "You have remained on the property even after her body has been found, so it could be that Tomomi's spirit has more to show you and that is why you still have the mark."

Distracting himself from the scene before him, Monk looked at his watch and let out a low whistle. "We should keep going. Madoka and the others should have reached the cave by now and we need to catch up with them."

Everyone nodded in agreement and proceeded forward in silence.

***

"I think we know why Mai and Naru sprinted out of here when they did," Madoka said with a tsk noise as her light flitted around on the cave floor.

"I'm not sure Mai will be comforted to learn that what grabbed her ankle yesterday was a skeletal hand," the priestess added with disgusted look on her face.

"Think it might be one of the Motos?" Yasuhara asked, unsure whether to be hopeful or concerned. "It looks like there might have been another tunnel here, it must have collapsed on them while they were exploring."

"That hand has no ounce of skin left," Ayako argued, crossing her arms. "Wouldn't it take longer than six months for a body to decompose to a skeleton like that? And it's missing a finger."

"We're in a cave, so it's very likely that mice and maggots devoured the flesh off the bone," Madoka replied, moving her light up the wall of the cave. "It's not completely unlikely for that to be the arm of one of the Motos."

"And the missing finger?"

"Mice," Madoka and Yasuhara replied together. They looked at each other and shared a shrug. "Maybe even a rat."

"That does not make me feel better." The priestess shuttered as the three of them continued down the tunnel.

"What's wrong, Ayako? A little mousey giving you the heebie-jeebies?" Madoka teased with a laugh, earning a scowl from the woman as she strode ahead of the other two. The college student took that as his cue.

"Ayako, it's just a little mousey!" he exclaimed in a creepy voice as he placed his light under his chin and popped up right behind her. Madoka ended up making a shape with her hand and pointed her light at it creating the shadow of a mouse on the wall in front of them.