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Chapter 43: 43–Demon Hunt [3] Noah was streaking towards the ground with the crying girl, wondering how much simpler his life would be as a normal human. A surge of white light rose on the ground, swirling and lighting up the entire park. At the center of it was Madeleine. She’s gonna catch us. As he got closer to the ground, the white energy surged up and swallowed them. Noah closed his eyes till his feet softly landed on the grass. When he opened them, the white light was fading. Madeleine waved at him awkwardly. "I’m so sorry about that." He gave up glaring at her, checking on the girl in his arms. "Sorry about that." The girl nodded and turned to Madeleine, also waving her apology slowly. Madeleine blushed and waved back. "You don’t have to make that dummy feel better," Noah said with a smirk. The girl returned his smile while Madeleine pouted. "How are we going to talk like this?" She wondered aloud. Noah turned to the back of his shoulder. "Do you have a piece of paper and a pen?" Madeleine’s golden eyes lit up. She rushed to get the notepad and pen out of her bag and handed it to the girl. The ghost glanced at Noah shyly, because he was still carrying her. "Sorry, bud, we’ll have to do it like this in case your powers activate again," Noah apologized. The girl nodded and turned down to the notepad, writing in a messy style. "What’s your name? I’m Tammy." "Noah." "Madeleine, but you can call me Mads." He leaned over her notepad. "Is it okay for us to talk about how you got here?" Tammy shook, her face turning paler than normal. She just stared down at the notepad for a long time, before writing chilling words. "I died. He killed me." Noah’s swallowed. Now that Tammy was under control, her body felt warm and too solid; it was strange to think such a young child’s life was stolen. "Who is he?" Noah asked slowly. Tammy’s eyes closed, her grip on the notepad tightening. She trmbled in his hands, whispering something he couldn’t hear. This fucking sucks. He didn’t often feel the dark twisting sensation in his chest. He felt bad for people now and then, but never this intensely. He held her a bit tighter and Madeleine put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. When the courage to continue returned, Tammy shivered as she wrote, "Someone, I couldn’t see their face in the dark and I can’t remember much, but they dragged me away. I never saw where I was trapped, but it was underground." Noah nodded rapidly, turning to Madeleine. "Um... is there a way we can get her memory to try to see the man’s silhouette at least?" "I don’t know that brand of dark arts," Madeleine said, lips pursed in frustration. "That’s Seer stuff. I don’t... what can we even do?" Noah closed his eyes to think for a long time, drawing on his memories of tracking people down. There had to be a way to piece things together. Then his eyes shot open. "Tammy, you know where your house is, right? We can go there and at least get a start." "Yeah, that’s a good idea," Madeleine agreed. "We’ll have to go in the morning. Going to her house in the middle of the night will be... weird." Before they could say anything else, Tammy began writing something else. "Can I see my mommy? Before I forget who I am again." Noah and Madeleine both looked at each other, indecision warring inside them. Finally Madeleine broke the silence. "Okay, we can scope out the place first." She nodded. "But I will have to seal you afterwards so you don’t hurt anyone. It’ll be like finally going to sleep." Tammy nodded, writing down. "I don’t like not being myself. I don’t like hurting people. I just want to see my mommy. She was supposed to wake me up in the morning, she’ll be scared because I’m not there." Madeleine looked on the verge of tears. Noah was somewhat shocked; he knew she was an empathetic person, but the contrast between her and Hadrian was jarring. "Shall we?" Madeleine said, sweeping her hands through the air dramatically. She becomes more expressive the sadder she is? It was just a guess though. Noah started towards the entrance of the park, reading the address as Tammy put it down. "It’s not far from here," He told Madeleine. It only took them thirty minutes to get to the place. A dilapidated house sat under a flickering streetlight. The lawn was overgrown and messy, creeping through the concrete in cracks. There were a bunch of things just littered around the porch and yard. They only walked up to the porch. Noah cringed as the floorboards creaked under him. Madeleine pointed inside. "She’s awake." They looked through the window and found a woman slumped on a reclining seat. Her skin was smudged with dirt and her hair was a chaotic grey mess. The TV’s light flashed over her face in the darkness of the living room starkly. Her eyes were just wide open, blankly watching. Tammy’s face scrunched up. She reached towards the glass but Noah pulled her back, whispering, "We can’t let her know we’re here. The fright would kill her." That brash anger children had lit up in Tammy’s eyes, but something dulled it almost immediately. Her eyes grew distant, lost in memories. Then she just nodded. They left afterwards, feeling even worse despite honoring the girl’s wish. Noah turned to Madeleine. "So what’s the plan?" Madeleine cleaned her tears. "Go home. I’ll seal her. Grab your body before you head back, we’ll meet in school tomorrow at 12. The second cafeteria in the dorm area." Noah handed Tammy to Madeleine reluctantly then faced the little girl one last time. "We’re going to fix this," he promised, before sinking into the ground. Moments later, he shot up out of the ground and into the sky with a silent hiss.