Chapter 127 – Sudden Arrangements – Silver Brooks

The Killing Cat didn’t linger around after showing me the materials regarding her next target. She left a single picture with me and took the rest with her. The speed at which she fled my room gave me pause. She was moving like she was in a hurry, as if she had other work to do that night. That was as ominous as the things she showed me.

I sat in my bed and stared vacantly at the image of the woman in the picture. She looked normal. There was nothing about her that immediately stood out to me as dangerous. It was hard to imagine that this person could be a killer, but the Killing Cat had obviously done her research.

If she was already staking out the target then why did she need me? She knew how I felt about this type of thing. She wanted me to pay her back for saving me from Leigha, but this was across a serious line. Accepting her attack on Leigha in my defense was one thing. Becoming an accessory to murder was another.

The Nyx doll spoke loftily about justice, but this felt more personal than that. The Killing Cat wasn’t the ice-cold killer she presented herself as. She was targeting these other killers with heavy personal investment. It was why she was going well out of her way to scout her targets like this. What role would I play in the grand scheme of her plans?

It was a quiet Tuesday afternoon and my suspension was nearing its end. I’d be able to return to school the very next day, along with many of my friends. Naomi would still be out of school until the start of the next week. She got her cell phone back from her parents and was happy to update everyone on the news. Things were finally returning to normal.

My suspension went by faster with my cell phone to entertain me. Since this was my last day off before returning to school I decided to take it easy and relax. I was sitting on the living room couch with my mother. She was off work already and watching some popular game show. I was tuning out the TV and focusing on the game I was playing on my phone.

The doorbell rang and my mother gave me a look that told me I’d be the one getting up. With a small sigh, I stood up to go answer the door. At this time of day on a Tuesday afternoon it was probably a door-to-door salesperson. We had a lot of those in this neighborhood and they weren’t shy about hogging our time to advertise their goods.

When I opened the door I wasn’t surprised to find a middle-aged woman in a nice business suit. Her appearance wasn’t unusual from the sellers that we normally got. She was cradling a binder stuffed with documents close to her chest. Her dress, hair, and make-up were all so nice and neat that I felt slovenly to be meeting her in my pajamas.

“Hi.” She said sunnily.

“Hi…” I said, still a bit groggy from waking up so late.

There was a short moment of silence before she gestured behind me.

“So, may I come in?”

“Are you here to sell something?” I asked in confusion.

“Oh heavens no… I wanted to talk to you about your college application.”

“College application…?” I asked.

“Are you not ready to talk about this…? I was sure that I had the right time... Maybe I’m a little early...” She said, “Anyways, I have some material I’d like to present to you in case you’re interested in choosing our college.”

“Oh…” I said, still not sure what was going on. “Sure… My mother’s in the living room. If you’re here to talk about college then she might want to hear.”

“That’s great! So this is a good time after all.” She said happily.

I had several questions, but decided to save them. A college recruiter was the last person I expected to show up at the door today. My mother looked as confused as I was when I brought this stranger into the living room. She muted the TV and gave me a strange look.

“Mom, this is…” I said, gesturing to the recruiter.

“Hi, my name is Miss Josie Emilia. I’m the college recruiter that’s been in contact with Sylvie. You must be Mrs. Brooks?” She said.

My mother gave me a shocked look, and I returned the exact look. Luckily Ms. Emilia didn’t notice or care that we seemed to be perplexed about the entire situation.

“Yes, that’s me.” My mother said as she stood up to shake Ms. Emilia’s hand. “You say you’ve been talking to Sylvie about coming to your college?”

“Yes, that’s right. Her application paper was well written and the emails about her interest in our art program have been enlightening. I thought it would be best to have a conversation in person and see some of her artwork for myself.”

My mother, again, gave me another shocked expression like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Neither could I. My mother rebounded from the confusion faster than I did and smiled happily at our guest.

“Ah! Where are my manners! Please, have a seat here, Ms. Emilia. Please wait here while I fetch everyone some drinks.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that.” Ms. Emilia said as she said down on the couch, “It was a long drive over and traffic in this area is relentless, even during normal working hours.”

My mother tried to keep her composure, but couldn’t hold back a quick glare at me, like I was at fault for not telling her about this surprise visit.

“Sylvie, dear, why don’t you go up to your bedroom and bring down some of your artwork to show to our guest? You’ve been practicing a lot these past few days, haven’t you?”

“That’s true!” I said in realization. “I actually have a lot of work to demonstrate for this! I’ll be right back!”

I ran upstairs to fetch my art notebook and a few of my small canvas paintings. This may have been unexpected but I relished the chance to show my artwork to someone that operated at a school with an art program. I was going to make the most of this sudden visit.

The most confusing thing about this was her talk about my application. I didn’t remember applying. Was this something that Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls organized on behalf of its students? I was the head of the art club, so maybe that was the source of this. Did one of the administrators recognize me?

My mother met me downstairs, just outside the living room. She was returning from the kitchen after getting some drinks.

“Why didn’t you tell me a college recruiter was coming to visit you?” She whispered.

“I… I didn’t know that she…”

“And god Sylvie, look at how you’re dressed. Would it have killed you to get changed while you were in your room?” She whispered. “No matter, just go in there and be polite. We can’t let this opportunity go to waste.”

My mother pushed me forward with her free hand while carrying the tray of drinks with her other. Ms. Emilia was pulling some papers out of her bag. They looked like application forms and information documents about payment plans. I placed my art journal and paintings on the table as well.

“Ah, very good,” She said, looking over the paintings, “I’m not an artist myself but I’ve been heavily involved with recruiting students for our art program. These paintings look promising for your age.”

She picked up my art notebook and began leafing through it.

“I see you’ve been studying your foundations and anatomy in this sketchbook.” She commented lightly.

“Yes, I borrowed some of my mother’s books to study. She’s an artist too.”

“So the genes run in the family, huh?” She asked playfully, and turned another page.

This page held one of the many practice sketches I made of the Killing Cat. It was gruesome compared to the rest of my notebook and I could see a dramatic change in her expression as she cringed away from the image. My mother gave me a sharp glare and I reached over to turn the page.

“Ah… Umm… That’s just something I heard about in the news… I…”

“It’s okay.” Ms. Emilia said, regaining her professional demeanor. “I understand that this masked murderer has been the talk of the town recently. I shouldn’t be so surprised to see that an art student has tried drawing descriptive images to raise public awareness.”

She was being generous with my reasoning for sketching that and I wasn’t going to correct her. Instead, I turned a few more pages to direct her to my perspective practice sketches. Ms. Emilia nodded along as I flipped through pages and gave brief explanations of each sketch. My mother actually looked somewhat proud as she watched from the side.

“This is all very good! The art staff is going to absolutely adore you.” Ms. Emilia said. “We usually struggle to find such dedicated students that can juggle both school and their artwork. Your work is proof that you can manage both of these things without problems.”

My mother gave Ms. Emilia a dubious look.

“You mean… The fact that she goes to Meredith’s School for Troubled Girls isn’t a problem?” She asked. “You are aware that she goes to an alternative school, right?”

There she goes, dropping the bad news on the recruiter and ruining the mood. This was something I was wondering about myself but unwilling to mention. Normally college recruiters were risk averse towards recruiting people off the ‘standard path’ of academic performance. It was no secret that my school was far off that path.

“On the contrary, this fact helps her a lot.” Ms. Emilia said. “Our school is a women’s college. We’re dedicated to acquiring as many students as possible who are already attending all-girl schools. Our students from coed schools need time to adjust. Sylvie should have no such problems.”

“Interesting…” My mother said thoughtfully. “I’m sorry, but did you mention which school you represented?”

“Oh, my mistake,” Ms. Emilia said idly and reached into her bag. “I’m with the Women’s Institute for Art and Humanities. We’re a small local college. We’re on the lookout for passionate girls on their journey to become scholarly, educated women. Our school has strict expectations, but I believe your daughter Sylvie can handle them.”

Ms. Emilia took the school brochure out of her bag and sat it down on the table. Everything clicked into place the moment I saw the school logo on the brochure image. This was a setup. The Killing Cat had set up this meeting long before she even showed me the material she had on her new target.

“Sylvie, would you like to take a look through the brochure?” Ms. Emilia asked politely.

I didn’t realize how long I had been spacing out while staring at the brochure on the table.

“Oh, right…” I said as I reached for the brochure.

I opened it up and was flooded with a reminder of the images I saw the night before. Places on the school’s campus were easily recognizable from the photos that the Killing Cat showed me. The Killing Cat’s target was on this campus and she wanted me there for some reason.

“So, what do you think?” Ms. Emilia asked.

There was no way for me to answer that truthfully since my head was filled with thoughts of the Killing Cat.

“It… It looks nice…” I eventually said.

“It looks wonderful!” My mother said enthusiastically. “Of course Sylvie is interested in what you’re offering!”

“That’s great! We’ll need proof of her high school diploma once she graduates and any relevant information regarding trouble with the law.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” My mother said.

“Great! I’ve brought some payment plan information that you can look through at your own leisure.” Ms. Emilia said and stood up. “Now if you’ll excuse me I have a few other students to talk to in the area.”

My mother stood up and shook her hand vigorously.

“Thank you! Thank you so much for stopping by! We’ll look over everything and give it our full consideration!”

“In case you’re interested, all prospective students are free to visit our campus for tours. If you’re ever interested in looking around just bring this paperwork as proof that I visited you.”

This was the Killing Cat’s goal. I gave Ms. Emilia a grave look, although she likely dismissed it as nervousness.

“Thank… You…” I said robotically.

“Thank you so much!” My mother said. “Please, let me give you my phone number. We can talk again anytime you’d like.”

“Sure, you can contact my work phone at this number…”

I let my mother handle that and sneakily slid out of the room while they talked. I ran upstairs and went into my bedroom, closing the door behind me quickly. I ran over to my nightstand and picked up the Nyx doll that was resting there. The doll’s smile lit up before I even said anything.

“I take it my plan is already in motion?” Nyx asked.

“Why?!” I said heatedly, trying to keep from shouting. “Why are you getting me wrapped up in this?”

“Didn’t I tell you before? We have a pact.”

“I don’t want to kill anyone! I said I wanted the world to be a better place, not become part of what makes it so grim!”

“We make the world a better place by forcibly ridding it of the grim. There is no peace without violence.”

“I’m not hurting anyone!”

“And I’d never ask you to.” She said casually, “That’s not why I’ve recruited you for this operation.”

“What?”

“Your job is simple. You’re going to contact my target under the guise of being a future student. I need you to get some information out of her. I’ll take care of the rest from there.”

I sighed and sat the doll down beneath my bed. At least there it wouldn’t look so obvious to anyone entering my room.

“What sort of information?” I asked.

The doll’s smile lit up again now that she knew she had me.

“Oh, nothing too serious…” She said playfully.