What Will Mother Say?

Griselda glanced at the elegant invitation. She held her forehead. "We planned to. However, Ring Garden is taking advantage of its monopoly. Menorosa County has become a tourist destination. They are the only hotel in sight. They are trying to control our guest list and other aspects of the party. Normally, this isn't acceptable, but Father wants to celebrate his birthday in his hometown."

Rhodes spun the invitation against the desk's surface. "…how about looking into Faded Rose? Will you consider something ridiculous?"

"Are you trying to poach our party from a competitor?" Griselda chuckled and stopped the invitation from spinning. "You can forget about Faded Rose's reputation. Have you seen the state of your hotel? I don't think anyone will host a party in your function hall."

"We're renovating the hotel to make it look marketable again. Of course, that will take time. Our target date is the twentieth." Rhodes tapped on the invitation stuck under Griselda's fingers. "We can have what we want. You get a peaceful birthday party, and I will have my re-debut. We will give you the liberties of a client. You can even invite whoever you want."

Griselda narrowed her gaze and sighed. She looked in a direction before turning to him. "All right… I will consider it, but I am not the main organizer of that party. Have your proposal ready by tomorrow morning. I will ask my daughter to check with you. If you can't impress her, I can't help you anymore."

Rhodes wanted to smile at the small victory. However, he gazed at the invitation again. "Will your guests see the entities? I will get them to hide if you plan to destroy them."

The woman chuckled, much to Rhodes's slight surprise. Griselda shook her head. "Convince Kathy first. Then let's discuss the particulars. The Iveren family might be known spirit hunters, but the highest ones don't like opposing spirits too much. Also, Faded Rose is a gateway left to run amok. Choosing to host a party there might help us gauge the state of the gate.

"Don't forget to mention that to Kathy." Griselda sighed and leaned against her seat. "Rhodes, if only your mother could see you right now…"

"What will she say?" Rhodes retrieved the invitation from the desk.

"She will cry." Griselda got up from her seat. "I'm sorry if I can't keep you here for long. The club has its responsibilities. We have to attend to them now. However, tell me something about the girl with a knife. How did your friend drive her away?"

Rhodes also got to his feet. He smoothed his clothes. "Sent her flying to a wall. After that, she left. If she returns, please get rid of her. She will kill again."

Griselda nodded. "Thank you for saving two victims, Dr Huxley. Even if you're not a doctor anymore, you continue to save lives. I guess Desiree got that going for her…"

"Makes two of us." Rhodes hummed and walked off to leave the office. When he got to the door, he paused. He looked over his shoulder. "I will wait for your daughter tomorrow. If she doesn't come, expect me to show up somewhere more disruptive for you."

"She won't be late." Griselda chuckled and sat down again.

…

The Gloom continued to weigh down on Rhodes's mood. He wanted to ask her a lot of things. However, she seemed to be mindful enough to play games. If he got manipulated because of his amnesia, wouldn't it be sad? Rhodes should take precautions in showing off. He felt like dangerous people had set their eyes on him. Their gazes felt nothing better than Lionel's.

Rhodes got home and worked on the proposal. He was in the library, listening to the struggling eldest daughter. Frieda kept glancing at him as if cursing him for every question she had to answer. Who said he couldn't obtain a reviewer's set for the college admission examinations?

The wall phone didn't ring again. Rhodes stayed up with Frieda until three in the morning, and they didn't hear any ringing sounds. The only ringing sound was Frieda's phone in a locked chest.

"Oh, my God… Make it stop…!" Frieda cried. She wanted to check her phone, but only her father had the code for the locked chest. She sobbed. "I should have turned it off."

"You're surprisingly dedicated to this." Rhodes stared at the translucent locked chest with a timer. He wondered if he had one when he was studying. He couldn't remember anything about examinations, however. It didn't feel fun… unlike the puzzle in the theater.

Frieda finished a test, and the computer checked it. She leaned back in surprise. "Uncle, look! I got a 95% on this one! Oh, my God!"

Rhodes chuckled, his hands minimizing the windows related to his proposal. He glanced at the results page. "That's great. It's paying off. Less than a week from your testing date. We can do this. Why don't you go to sleep now? Wake up at noon and eat lunch before starting your review. A little reward should take you a long way."

"Thanks, Uncle. I'll just leave my phone here. I mean, I will be here after waking up, anyway." Frieda left her seat and stretched out of sight. "Good night, Uncle."

She spied a glance at what Rhodes was looking into. Instead of leaving, she leaned against Rhodes's chair and pointed at the screen. "That's not Latin—it doesn't make sense. Is someone making a bogus chant or a victory cry? Per igne et aqua? It's probably a butchered version of 'through fire and water'."

Rhodes glanced to his side from where Frieda's arm came. "Go to sleep, Frieda. Don't solve the word puzzle and lose precious sleep."

Frieda didn't listen and tilted her head. "Orslay ad evansa… 'ad' is 'to'… Blah-blah to blah-blah, through fire and water… Sounds like a passphrase…

"Uncle, are you trying to get into a secret organization or something?" Frieda gasped and slightly shook Rhodes's chair. She then laughed. "Plenty of those things exist here in Menorosa! Do you know? Even Gino got pulled into one of those. Poor brat. Got sent away to a summer camp because of it. Dad doesn't like those sneaky organizations. Before you know it, they're asking for your money!"

"Really? What if a rich family backed them? Will they still ask for donations?" Rhodes chuckled. He minimized the search window, leaving the screen to show the wallpaper. "Go to sleep."

Frieda wordlessly patted his arm and left the library. Rhodes pulled up the search window again and inputted another query. He stared at the foreign name on his search bar. The name was written in his documents, but he couldn't recall much about it. Perhaps he didn't normally see his mother's name written down.

[Desiree Coles]

He didn't expect anything to show up. However, the search returned with a merits page from Wester-Coles University. His eyes glistened at the photo of the young Desiree Coles, a woman he now clearly remembered as his mother.