Chapter 29

A week zipped by. Amanda was chilling in the living room, watching the news. It was saying how a bunch of programmers, engineers, and scientists had gone missing over the last four days. Indra came downstairs and walked over to Amanda, who was totally focused on the TV and the news.

"Oh, missing people cases, huh? My social media's full of it too," Indra piped up.

"Yeah, but if it's on TV, that means it's serious, right?" Amanda replied.

Suddenly, Amanda just froze. She looked like she was seeing something in her head. Indra looked at her, a bit puzzled.

"Manda, what's up?" Indra asked.

But before Amanda could answer, Shin touched Indra's shoulder. Indra turned to see Shin standing next to Amanda. Shin put a finger to his lips, signaling Indra to be quiet for a sec. Then Amanda grabbed her sketchpad and started drawing furiously with her pencil. Indra peeked at what Amanda was drawing, with Shin hovering beside him. Amanda drew fast, sometimes stopping as if remembering something. Indra was shocked when he saw Amanda's drawing: the sky above the Monas monument, with huge black clouds swirling into a big circle, and a hole in the middle. The year Amanda wrote was 2025.

"What does this mean, Manda?" Indra asked.

"I don't know... but it's definitely the future," Amanda answered.

"Hmm, a hole in the sky? It can't just be a sign of rain, can it?" Indra mumbled, thinking.

"Right now, I don't know, but usually when I draw something, clues come, and eventually I figure it out. Like when I picked you up at the station, I could know the exact date from two fingers earlier, then knew what time the train would come because my drawing had a clock I added the night before you arrived when I got an extra vision. One drawing can't be finished in one go," Amanda explained.

"Oh, okay. But this drawing is creepy," Indra replied, looking at Amanda's picture in front of him.

Ding...dong. The doorbell rang. Amanda and Indra looked towards the door. Indra and Amanda stood up and walked to open it. When they opened the door, they saw a girl in a white and gray school uniform standing there.

"Good afternoon, sis," the girl greeted politely.

"Good afternoon," Amanda replied.

Indra and Shin, standing behind Amanda, saw that the girl looked anxious and nervous. She kept rubbing her hands together and looking down.

"What can we help you with?" Amanda asked.

"Um... is this really the detective office listed on this website?" the girl asked, showing her smartphone.

Amanda immediately looked at the phone screen. She saw the site with the ad she'd put up for her services.

"Yes, it is. Please, come in," Amanda invited.

They led the girl inside. Indra closed the door again. Amanda took the girl to the living room, then went to get her a drink and her sketchpad. Indra sat in front of the nervous-looking girl, who was looking around the room, with Shin floating above Indra. Seeing how nervous she was, Indra started a conversation to break the ice.

"Just relax, no worries. You can tell Amanda everything later. What's your name?" Indra asked.

"My name is Tari. Nice to meet you, brother," the girl replied slowly.

"I'm Indra. Nice to meet you too, Tari," Indra said.

Amanda came back with a bottle of mineral water and her sketchpad, complete with pencils. Then she sat down next to Indra, right across from the girl.

"Please drink up. How can I help you?" Amanda asked.

Tari opened her bag. She took out a notebook and a smartphone that wasn't on, then placed them on the table. After that, Tari opened her own smartphone and showed a photo of a middle-aged man on the screen. She opened her notebook and showed it to Amanda. Then she explained that her dad was an inventor. He'd gone missing for two days a week ago and then came back home, but his behavior had changed. He wasn't like himself anymore and felt like a stranger to Tari. He spent all his time in his study, writing everything in that notebook.

Amanda took the notebook. She showed it to Indra next to her. They both looked at the contents: drawings of a tall machine reaching up like a tower with a blooming flower on top, and the bottom part shaped like a truncated pyramid. Below the drawing, there was strange writing, totally different from modern alphabets, but even further down, it said "dimension gate." After that writing, the next page had a photo of a gemstone and a pendant taped to it, marked with writing neither of them understood.

"Hmm... your dad wrote all this?" Amanda asked Tari.

"Yes, sis. But Dad seems out of it, like he's possessed or something. Yesterday he was raging about nothing, then suddenly held his head and started talking about something," Tari replied.

"Where do you live?" Amanda asked.

"In Sunter, sis," Tari answered.

"Is your dad home?" Amanda asked.

"Yes, sis, he doesn't always lock himself in his room," Tari replied.

"Okay, let's go there," Amanda said.

"Are they coming?" Indra asked, pointing behind the wall.

Amanda turned and saw Alex, Nara, Diaz, and Fani peeking out from behind the wall. Since Indra had spotted them, they finally came out. Nara, seeing the photo taped inside the notebook, immediately widened her eyes. She stepped forward right away.

"Hey, this is my pendant necklace!" Nara exclaimed, taking the notebook.

"Oh, seriously?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, seriously! Where was this picture taken? Why is the stone separated?" Nara asked Tari, her voice a bit sharp.

"Sorry, sis, I don't know. After being missing for two days, Dad brought this photo home," Tari replied.

Amanda explained the situation to Nara, Alex, Diaz, and Fani, who had just joined them.

"So that's the story. Sorry, I didn't know," Nara apologized to Tari for being sharp with her.

"It's okay, sis," Tari replied.

"Alright, let's go. We can take my car, it fits everyone," Diaz said.

"Yep, let's roll," Alex added.

"Agreed," Fani added.

"Come on, Manda, Tari, let's head out now," Indra invited, standing up.

"Okay, let's go, Tari," Amanda added, also standing.

Finally, everyone left the boarding house. Diaz went into the garage to get the car, while the others waited outside. After that, they headed to Tari's house to check on her dad and investigate the whereabouts of Nara's pendant necklace by asking him. Nara kept looking at the photo of the separated pendant and aquamarine stone, frowning. Her face showed anxiety and worry behind her mask.