Fiona led the young witches to a former witches' sanctuary for fieldwork.
Cordelia also left the residence, apparently to see her husband.
Only Rai and Spalding were left at the witches' academy.
When he had no duties, Spalding would lock himself in the attic and play with a roomful of exquisite dolls that would make little girls squeal with delight.
Rai didn't disturb him.
He first went back to his room and caught up on sleep to restore his energy, then kept poring over information he'd found online about places in New Orleans where the supernatural might exist.
So as not to be contained himself, he could only grit his teeth and deal with these things of legend, whether he liked it or not.
He hoped to make some gains.
Rai wiped down the Glock and, like in the movies, soaked the bullets in holy water (though to him this so-called holy water looked no different from ordinary water), hoping that bullets work on supernatural beings.
Finally, cramming at the last minute, he memorised a couple of "just-in-case" prayers against ghosts. Seeing it was already noon, Rai went downstairs to treat himself to a good meal.
Before long, the sound of the girls chatting came from outside.
"Hey, Rai." Zoe pushed the door open and greeted him warmly.
"Hey, Rai." Right behind her, Madison took off her sunglasses and called to him in the same tone.
Zoe glanced back at her.
Seeing this, Queenie wordlessly pushed Madison aside, came up to Rai, and said, "Rai, got anything to eat? We've been walking all morning, and I'm dead tired."
"Of course, I just happened to make something," Rai said. "By the way, what about the Supreme Witch? Didn't she come back?"
Zoe came over to help and said, "She left on some business."
Rai understood.
After eating a fairly satisfying Rai-style lunch, the young witches dispersed.
There weren't many classes at the witches' academy, which meant everyone had plenty of free time for what they liked.
Nan took a book and her noise-cancelling headphones to a secluded corner to read.
Queenie, still not full from lunch, ordered another popcorn delivery and planned to spend the afternoon watching a Black film.
Zoe was the most diligent of the witches; back in her room, she began earnestly reviewing witchcraft. She wanted to resolve her "constitution" problem as soon as possible so she could give her boyfriend loving care.
As for Madison, by her usual habits, she would have gone to a bar or gone shopping for designer brands.
But now she stayed by Rai, chatting idly.
Which was just as well, Rai needed to find her.
"Interested in going out for a walk this afternoon?" he asked.
Madison's eyes lit up; the corners of her mouth curled in an excited smile. "Is this an invitation to a date?"
'So direct? Miss, do you not know I have a girlfriend?'
Rai hurried to say, "Just an invitation between friends. You know it's my first time in New Orleans, I need a guide to show me around."
"No problem. I'll be your intimate tour guide then." Madison put special emphasis on the word "intimate," then deliberately asked,
"Do we need to tell Zoe about this?"
"No need, let her study in peace."
"I got it~~~"
Saying that, Madison stepped forward on those long, straight, white legs, leaned her head in close, and with sultry red lips breathed in Rai's ear, hinting with temptation:
"I don't mind."
Rai: "…"
Damn!
This enchantress!
Rai chanted the Mantra in his heart, quickly clearing his mind.
Ignoring what she'd just said, he hadn't forgotten he still had something to explain, he finally added, a bit shy and embarrassed:
"Um… I don't have much money on me. When we go out, I'll have to trouble you to pick up the tab, Madison."
Madison: "…"
…
Though a fading star, Madison had acted since childhood; a former child actress, she still had considerable savings,
even if her unscrupulous parents had siphoned off most of it.
She could certainly afford to treat.
What surprised Madison was that she was always the one being treated by solicitous men when out; this was the first time anyone had so righteously wanted her to pay, especially when he was the one inviting her out to play.
But just as with someone you find pleasing to the eye, you can always find a fitting explanation for whatever they do.
After last night's drugging incident and this morning's reminder, and with Rai's good-looking face, Madison agreed to foot the bill this time.
Her first time treating a guy, call it a new kind of experience.
With that mood, and still dressed in a cold, elegant black outfit that Rai praised, Madison followed him out; following the provided tourist route map, they started roaming New Orleans.
At first, it was fine.
They visited several famous New Orleans sights along the way.
But as time went on, Rai seemed to lose interest in those historic, beautiful buildings and instead kept heading for all sorts of strange places, even cemeteries, which made Madison start to have doubts.
Until Rai pulled her to the gate of the famous Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.
Even under blazing sunlight, the place was steeped in a gloomy atmosphere. This was nothing like the date she'd imagined, and Madison couldn't help asking:
"Rai, why are we coming to a place like this?"
After all his efforts, he hadn't run into a single supernatural incident; the countless "I swear I was there" accounts online had been for nothing. Rai let out a breath and said:
"Forgot to tell you I'm a supernatural enthusiast. I also wanted to try my luck today and see if we could run into a ghost or something. I've heard Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is one of the most haunted places, and there are legends about vampires, zombies, and the like, so I wanted to see it for myself."
Madison nodded in understanding. "Didn't expect you to have that hobby."
Though a taste for the supernatural was niche, compared with the various self-destructive, back-door-loving, exhibitionist, cross-dressing kinks she'd seen in men before, Rai's hobby was still within the normal range.
Madison asked curiously, "Do you really believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, a flaming-skulled Ghost Rider, and the like?"
"If witches from legend can exist, then naturally those other legendary beings might exist too." Rai pointed at Madison as the best proof.
"Fair point."
Hooked by Rai's words, Madison's interest flared; contrary to her earlier impatience, she looked around eagerly.
"If there really is one, we can catch it and bring it back to scare Queenie and the others."
Thinking of Queenie, who was always at odds with her rolling on the floor in fright, Madison couldn't help wanting to take action right away.
"Great idea!" Rai clapped.
He had been wondering how to persuade her; he hadn't expected her to be so proactive.
No wonder young people in horror movies are looking for death.
-
The cemeteries of New Orleans are famous not only across America but throughout the world.
Because much of the ground beneath the city is swamp, the region adopted aboveground "vaulted tombs" for burials.
Inside the graveyards stood pyramid-shaped, church-like, even castle-like tombs, all together forming a "city of the dead."
Almost every family shared a tomb; new coffins were placed on the upper levels, while below lay the remains of their ancestors.
Generations truly rested under the same roof.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was one of the oldest cemeteries in New Orleans and among the most famous in the world. Here one could find the graves of many historical figures.
Among them was the tomb of the Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau, on whose stone people kept drawing "X" marks.
To protect the grounds and gravestones, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was closed to the public most of the time.
Right now, it is closed.
With her "wall-climbing" practice run that morning, the experienced Madison didn't say a word; she simply led Rai to a secluded section of the wall and vaulted over in a few swift moves.
"Where would the ghosts be?"
In the graveyard, where rows of towering tombs cast a sinister atmosphere, Madison looked around with eager anticipation.
'Let's see if you'll still be that brave when you really spot one.'
Realising he wasn't as bold as this girl, Rai touched the cross in his pocket, glanced at the already yellowing sky, and, recalling his earlier fruitless searches, said:
"Hauntings mostly happen at night. The sun's about to go down, let's wait a bit. In the meantime, we can wander around. I heard there are plenty of vampire legends here, too."
"Vampires?" Madison's eyes lit up again. "Compared to ghosts, I'd rather meet a vampire noble dressed to perfection, refined in manner, handsome face, centuries of experience."
"But he'd drain your blood dry," Rai teased.
Madison looked even more expectant. "We could still try it. I heard that during the bite, the pleasure is a hundred times stronger than usual."
Unlike the others, Rai had long gotten used to the boldness of girls, so he answered without missing a beat: "Want me to prepare a big pack of tissues for you?"
"Of course!" Madison winked. "And when my heartbeat's about to stop, just pull the vampire off me. Dying after only one taste would be such a waste."
Rai put on a "serious" face. "No problem. Once we catch a vampire, we'll do exactly as you say."
Their back-and-forth banter dispersed much of the graveyard's eerie "city of the dead" atmosphere.
Night fell.
Compared to daytime, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 looked even more terrifying.
Even Madison wasn't as nonchalant as when she first arrived.
At any rustle around them, she snapped her head up nervously.
If even the battle-hardened Madison was like this, what about Rai, an ordinary man?
He wasn't like some novel protagonist born without fear.
Watching horror movies was enough to make his heart race. Why would he willingly approach things that made his skin crawl unless he had no choice?
He looked at Madison, pressed close beside him, their palms somehow tightly interlaced.
He thought, 'Calling in backup this time was absolutely the right choice.'
If nothing else, having another person nearby was a huge comfort.
And so, the two of them lingered in the empty cemetery for over an hour, hearts pounding.
Then… nothing happened.
Aside from some mosquitoes buzzing around, there wasn't a single ghost, vampire, or zombie in sight.
"Looks like my dream of a vampire is a bust." Madison shrugged, her tone carrying both regret and relief.
Tense when he expected to find something, then cursing when he didn't, Rai glanced at the Grimoire of the Eternal Prison, which remained utterly still.
Wasn't this supposed to be a haunted hot spot?
Why hadn't even a shadow appeared?
Or maybe he'd just come at the wrong time, when ghosts and vampires weren't interested in showing themselves?
Whatever the reason, Rai could only leave with Madison, both of them losing interest.
They stopped for dinner at a French restaurant called Muriel's.
Though the food was good, the rumoured ghost of former owner Pierre Antoine Lepardi Jourdan, who had ruined himself gambling and committed suicide here, never showed up either.
Clinging to his last hope, Rai took Madison to another heavily rumoured haunted spot, Hotel Monteleone, at 214 Royal Street in the French Quarter.
When they arrived, Madison shot him a surprised look, but after a moment's thought, she didn't refuse and walked in holding his hand.
Using Madison's money, the two of them booked a room.
Just as they were about to step into the elevator, the doors opened and a man in a heavy coat, completely out of season, hurried out with his head down, not even looking ahead, and collided straight into Rai.
Rai was fine.
The man in the coat, however, was knocked to the ground.
"Sir, are you alright?" Rai instinctively reached out to help.
But the man, silent, scrambled up without a word, ignored Rai entirely, and shot off like a rocket.
"This guy…"
Rai pulled back his hand, shook his head, and was about to step into the stairwell when he noticed a bag on the floor.
It seemed the man had been carrying it under his arm and dropped it in the collision.
Rai picked it up, kindly calling back: "Sir, you dropped something."
But instead of stopping, the man only ran faster, disappearing in an instant.
"What's with him? Doesn't he even want his own bag?" Rai muttered, baffled, holding it in his hand.
Madison, watching, suddenly said: "Have you thought it might be a bomb?"
"Huh?"
Rai froze, then his face twisted in horror.
Damn!
He'd almost forgotten this was America.
Thinking of the man's hurried escape, he instinctively wanted to toss the bulging bag away. But then he thought, 'What if bumping it set off some button and it exploded right here?'
Breaking out in a cold sweat, Rai quickly turned to Madison, hoping this native with plenty of experience had some kind of solution.
"Just open it and look," Madison said casually, for once not choosing to run.
Influenced by Madison's calm demeanour, Rai carefully unzipped the bag.
One quick glance.
And he immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Not a bomb.
"What is this?"
Seeing no danger, Madison curiously reached into the bag and pulled something out, surprised.
"An arm? Looks pretty interesting."
Rai looked over.
It was a golden arm cut off at the elbow, five fingers clearly shaped, covered with intricate patterns, gleaming like a work of art, now being toyed with in Madison's hands.
Then, brimming with excitement, Madison tried sliding her right hand into the hollow inside the golden arm.
A bit of a squeeze, but she managed it.
"How is it? Beautiful?" Madison stretched out the golden arm proudly, asking Rai.
Seeing one hand normal and the other transformed into gold, Rai said sincerely: "It really does have a strange kind of beauty."
Gold always gave people a sense of wonder.
"By the way, is this solid gold, or just painted over?"
Rai tapped his fingers against it, asking.
Though he knew about gold, someone as broke as him had only ever seen it on TV; he wasn't clear on what real gold felt like.
Should he bite it, like they do in movies?
Looking at the golden arm now covering Madison's right hand, Rai thought about it, then shook his head.
Too tacky would ruin his image.
If you asked Madison whether money was real, she could tell you. But gold? She had no idea either.
"Just ask a jewellery shop and we'll know. But judging from the way that guy ran without a second thought, it's probably not pure gold." After playing around with it, Madison slipped off the golden arm.
Rai nodded, then frowned.
Whether it was real or not, this golden arm was still a fine piece of craftsmanship.
No matter how rushed he was, that man shouldn't have just abandoned it and fled.
Something felt off. Could it be stolen goods?
He muttered, "Should we wait here a while? Maybe he'll come back for it?"
"I don't want to waste time on some nobody. Besides, we already called out to him and he didn't care, so this golden arm is ours now." Madison's appetite was bigger than Rai had imagined. "If it's real gold, we melt it down and split it fifty–fifty. If not, we hang it up as decoration."
"Rai, this could be a fortune." At that reminder, Rai nodded in agreement.
After all, he was the guy who'd needed his girlfriend to pay for their outing today; he really did need some cash.
Damn, life without money, you couldn't do anything.
Rai took the golden arm, packed it back up, and went upstairs with Madison.
Though they'd been interrupted just now, he hadn't forgotten his real purpose.
The Damocles' sword of the ten-day deadline still hung above his head.
If he couldn't find anything here, he'd have to grit his teeth and head for the swamps around New Orleans, praying he wouldn't get fed to the alligators.