Harvest Moon, Part 2

“They’re twins,” I asked, unflinching. “Right?”

The woman was about to speak up, but Dietrich cut her off. “Yes, Mr. Reardon from my previous wife.”

Her face flared a little red, but quickly subsided. I made a note of that. “So, not your not the mother?”

“Of course not!” She turned her nose upward at the question. "Why would you even suggest such a thing?"

“The times, they are changing,” I said, and jotted another note down. "When is the big day?"

"Hoping for an invitation?" she said with a huff.

"I'm not holding my breath." I looked up to her and set the pencil aside, "I'm curious. If the kids ran off because you're nearing the big day. They may have stumbled into Faery on accident. In which case, they were most likely taken under Rites of Claim and there's hardly a thing I could do were that the case."

They both exchanged a look and nodded. Dietrich spoke up as his eyes returned to me, “we’re to be married in a few days. After the deals went through with the Earth Court so that at least for a few months, I’d be able to be focused on living a married life. But that is not why my children would have run, they love Joan dearly. Like a-” He hid his face once again.

I tapped the pencil, and scribbled something else down all the while watching the soon to be Mrs. Dietrich through the corners of my eyes.

“Could you tell me more about when you learned Jacob was a fetch?” I asked.

I jotted down the name of the school and the boy’s teacher who discovered him bleeding. They told me she would be the best person to ask for all those details. They went on to say that when not at school they were never not under the watch of their future mother, or at the very least a member of the help. All of which were quite trustworthy, they did their best to reassure me of that.

I had them go over some minor details twice. I hadn’t missed a single note, but the jazz was the same each time. Down to the beat. It told me one thing. They had rehearsed the story.

I ended up departing shortly after, both claimed they had an early morning. I said I’d get in touch with them as soon as possible. There was something else about this case that I was missing. If the Earth Court was looking to play hardball with the children, why bother having their fetches made at all? The point of a fetch is so the parents never know the kid is gone to begin with. Unless it was suppose to be a last ditch bargaining chip.

Either way, I knew something was up when I left the Dietrich’s place. There were more than a few questions flying around in my head. Before I knew it the elevator had deposited the driver and I at the lobby level, and we were heading out the door into the rain. The gargoyles didn’t mind it and neither did I. I just shrugged deeper into my jacket before climbing back into the Rolls with the driver.

“Take you to your office, Mr. Reardon?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “Chinatown.”

“Chinatown? Are you sure I-”

I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, “yea, I’m sure. Just drive.”

He grumbled and pulled the car out into traffic. He was silent the whole way up to the gates.

Chinatown isn't specifically filled with people from China. Plenty of other cities had them, so it was easier for the residents of Notion City to call it that when it would be better described as Asiatown. You’d think a town that was suffering from racism towards Fae and fetches would find a way to unite within their own species but I guess it still didn’t stop people around here from seeing a person of different ethnicity and just lumping them in with the next closest look alike.

The place got a bad rap mainly because it didn’t just house a few Asians, but a couple of their Fae that got caught in the Fog years ago. No one really knows how they were here to begin with, tagging along with the beliefs of the people maybe. Either way, they were here. And even the Courts considered most of them pretty strange. Chinatown was a place for the most dejected members of society, cut off completely from their homeland.

I always felt a little better each time I came here.

The driver pulled up to the main gates, most of the streets through Chinatown were still pockmarked with vendors. He wasn’t about to drive through them, not in that boat.

“Alright, Mr. Reardon. Here you go.”

I just tipped my hat at him and stepped out into the rain. Even on the Edge, right where the Fog begins, Chinatown lost much of the usual gray haze of Notion City. Bright reds along with vibrant gold lit the place up like a candle. While Notion City slept, Chinatown was still working.

Through a small alleyway, and the backdoor of a building I arrived at my destination. A little bit of cloth hung about a foot down from the top of a sliding door. Strange characters where printed on the cloth. Japanese lettering. I brushed them aside and stepped into the little bar.

It fit ten people, though at maximum capacity it was more than a little claustrophobic. Tonight, I lucked out. I was the only one.

Ono was behind the counter. As he always was, cutting up little sections of fish and placing them upon rice. It was a dish I’d never developed a taste for. The alcohol he made from rice though…

“Ono, one sake, please.”

“Sah-keh.” He corrected me with a smile before placing the little cup on the counter as I sat down. He lifted the warmed carafe and poured a small amount for me. “You will have some tuna neta as well.”

A little plate of the uncooked fish was placed before me. The older man grinned beneath his goattee, “you aren’t serious, are you?”

His aged eyes brighten as he wiped the back of his hand on his headband, “know know the rule Mr. Reardon. One piece of sushi for one question asked. At least until you gain a taste for it.” He spoke in his usual broken English. He had lived here for a time, probably long enough to lose the accent but I’m guessing it made him seem more mysterious to the outsiders who stumbled into Chinatown for a good time.

I picked up the little fish dish and popped it into my mouth as he began to cut up more.

“What brings you in tonight?”

“I need some information on the Earth Court.”

“Ah,” he didn’t look up while speaking. “What kind of information?”

“Why would the Earth Court have an interest in twins?”

“Oh, it could be all manner of reasons. Just the same as any other Court taking any other child. Sometimes there’s nothing special about it. They just take them, maybe they liked the way they looked. Right now though, the Earth Court needs workers, last days of harvest. Two boys for one would make strong workers.”

I lifted the little cup to take a sip, “it was a girl and boy actually.”

Ono’s knife slipped.

He set it down softly, and went about cleaning it. I hadn’t even realized the woman had sat down beside me until she spoke, “twins, male and female are seen as a step towards a perfect or divine being by some.”

I would have to praise myself later for not jumping out of my skin. I'd like to think I'm not that easy to get the drop on. I turned my gaze towards the woman at my right. She was gorgeous, pure snow white skin. And black hair that nearly shone blue. I had seen her some nights in Ono’s bar. When I first asked him about her, he said she was his wife Inari. Ono was always extremely careful when the woman was around, walking on eggshells. I had to guess he saw her as delicate, even though the only thing that came off that way was her voice.

“Many cultures view twins as two parts of the whole. Beings of perfection. Divine and imbued with special powers. There are many reasons why they might have been taken by the Earth Court. And very few of them are good, Mr. Reardon."

I looked back to Ono who remained quiet before speaking up, “why do you say that?”

“It is most likely they are to be sacrificed.”

“What?!” I stood up from the bar. The ceiling was low, and I turned my head to the side quickly to avoid hitting it. When I looked back down, I found Inari’s seat empty.

“Forgive her please, she’s easily frightened sometimes. But she always comes back.” Ono spoke up, he had begun to cut again. This time with a fresh knife.

“What did she mean sacrifice? Why?”

“I;m, Mr. Reardon. My wife knows more of these matters than I, but she doesn’t know them all. I can guess that she meant, as a symbol of divinity they must be sacrificed in some manner to obtain it. It is still possible she’s wrong, of course. She is not infallible. Only wise.”

I shook my head, “no, not this case. It’s had bad news written on it from the start. If I had to guess, she’s right.”

“Which means you have very little time,” he withdrew the little carafe and the cup. “And means no more sake for you tonight.”

“Hey-” I started.

“No, you go home. Get some sleep. You’ll get more when you bring those children back alive.”

There was no intimidating Ono. He just stood there, his arms crossed with a big knife in his hand. He could have been from a different era, in armor with a large sword. Instead he was a man about a foot shorter than me and easily fifty pounds less.

I still moved away from the bar and tipped my hat to him, “goodnight Ono.”

“Goodnight, Mr. Reardon.”

The rain was still coming down, even in the small alley when I finally stepped out of the building. Nonetheless, the smell of tobacco was in the air. I don’t recall many smokers around Ono’s. Normally just the smell of food.

That’s when the fist came out of the shadows, and struck me across the jaw.