Cover Art Chapter 24-
The two of them leave the DSO and take a cab, and since they have the boxes with the files, it's difficult to carry them back and forth to Grandpa Han's house, since they didn't come by car after Derick didn't even remember that he has a car now, they arrive at Grandpa's house, greet Grandma Becker, since they haven't seen them for a few days, before the Test they came every day for training with Grandpa Han, They go to Grandpa's office and as usual he is reading and looking for something, he seems a little frustrated, it doesn't seem to be the information he needs, Luan notices that they are some very old manuscripts, so he soon understands that he is probably looking for information about the Bone Breaker Demon, titled by Luan as "the thing", Luan greets his grandpa with a pat on the back and says:
"No new information on that subject?"
Grandpa Han sighs, and replies:
"Hello, my dears, nothing that can be useful for now Luan, well you want masks right, there are in the Depot just after the Winter Garden, but it must be a bit dusty where the artifacts are, I haven't touched it in a while.
All said and done, Luan and Derick arrive at the warehouse and Luan starts sneezing non-stop:
Atchoo, atchoo
"Cool, first time I've seen something that Grandpa Han left clean...my rhinitis, atchoo"
He immediately sees two masks, they look like skeletons with a long beak, Derick looks to see if they don't look a bit uncomfortable, but to his surprise they seem light, they wouldn't hinder his vision, so they could cover their faces, he then comments.
"Let's take these, we'll tell Grandpa Han."
They go back and tell him that they're going to get the two masks, Grandpa Han tries to remember who gave them to him, it's been 70 years since he worked as a Time Conjurer, but he suddenly remembers, it was a gift from an old friend, but that friend mysteriously disappeared, it's been so many years, and they still don't know the whereabouts of that friend, he had even forgotten about these masks.
"Oh, these masks, now I remember, you can take them, it was a present from an old friend, but I still don't know exactly where they are."
Luan looks at the mask, he can see colors that indicate a missing person, there's a chance it's lost, possessed, but he didn't see any coloring, he gets pensive:
(Strange if a friend is missing, would I still be looking, or would that friend be hiding and not want to be found? But these masks don't look like they were made here, this is probably bone from a demon's head).
Derick remembers something, when Luan mentions colors on objects that belong to missing persons, he doesn't really like to talk about it, but he feels that sooner or later he's going to have to tell Luan, Luan must already know about it, but at no point did he ask anything specific, so he waits for Derick to talk about this very delicate family matter.
"Luan, I need you to help me with something, but let's leave it for another day."
When Luan and Derick are on their way out, they run into Luan's father, Luke Becker, who has come to drop off some shopping for his grandparents. He sees them both carrying the archive box and offers to take the boys home. They can't refuse, because Luke picks up both boxes at the same time and takes them to his car. Luan and Derick stare for a moment at the size of Luke's arm, he has the same physique as Justin, Derick's father, they are real gym rats.
"Hey Derick, will my arm ever be that big too?"
Derick looks at Luan's arm, he's only 15 but has a good physique, but the difference in size is clearly evident, as he's a sincere person we don't expect him to lie, and we already know what to expect from him.
"Your father is 40, mine is about to turn 41 and they're in perfect physical shape, so I'm sorry Luan, I don't think you'll ever reach their size unless you train hard!"
Luan is frustrated by Derick's answer, he doesn't even know why he asks certain things, knowing his answer, he looks at Derick's arm who is 16, he is stronger than Luan, he even gives up the idea of comparing, he sighs and goes towards his Father's car, it's a sports car Luan stares at the car and says:
"What a thing, there are people who get a car and don't even remember to use it, well I'll take the lead!"
Derick pretends not to have heard and sits down in the back seat. Luan looks like he's 12 at times, at others he seems so experienced, but he knows he's had to mature quickly on many issues, for the others he's learned to take everything in his stride, it's the way he's found to make things seem lighter than they are.
Luke leaves them at home, and goes upstairs to drop off one of the boxes of files at Luan's house, he enters and everything seems quiet, when he notices that Luan's mother Ana, is asleep on the sofa, he took a few days off, it was a very intense year for her, a year of changes mainly, he notices that there is a box of tissues on the coffee table, it looks like someone is sick, he takes a blanket that is on the sofa and covers her.
Luan quickly climbs the stairs to his house, his father has already left the file box near the armchair in the living room, he goes to stroke Fluffy the kitten and looks at the file box, puts his hand on his head and sighs.
Pheww
Luke notices that he seems distressed about something and asks:
"Are you all right, son?" Luan is surprised, as normal as it may seem, he can't remember the last time he heard the word son from his father, he feels something pleasant coming from that word "son", he disguises it by saying yes, he looks at his mother sleeping on the sofa, he gets up to cuddle Fluffy and decides to go and cook something while his father goes to the pharmacy to buy medicine for his mother Ana, she has a cold but isn't taking any medicine, Luan hasn't cooked anything for a long time, so he decides to make some soup for his mother and something for himself and his father, he looks at his mother sleeping on the sofa, she's really tired, everything is going so fast, time seems to pass so quickly now, he looks at his watch, he feels that things are going to get faster and harder, he can only stop time when he opens a portal, he keeps thinking, when will he be able to open the next portal? I can't open as many as I like, it takes up too much of my energy, it's only for a few specific cases and emergencies, she also remembers that she didn't take Derick to the Portal he created, he only mentioned that he intended to create a portal almost a year ago when he was trying to convince him to be his Awakening Test Partner, He said that tomorrow after the Disciplinary Council, he would take him to the portal he had created. Only he knows the coordinates, so Derick will know, but the only one who can open and reach the portal is Luan himself.
His father returns with the medicine, and this brings Luan out of his numerous thoughts, he needs to focus on something else, otherwise he will feel overwhelmed, he decides to wake up his mother and tell her that the soup is ready, and make her take the medicine, if he were the one who was sick, Mothers will always put themselves aside to look after their children, regardless of whether she is ill or not, she will look after her son first, Luan knows his Mother, he knows how hard she has worked over the last 10 years, nothing has been easy, he really blamed his father Luke for his absence, each being in a different country, but he discovered that there are protective enchantments that don't allow others to enter his house, he discovered that his maternal grandparents had this enchantment in the house they lived in together, and he also knows that at Grandpa Han's house it's like this: no one enters or leaves without his permission, and he needs to make one for his house too, the current one was made by his Mother, but it will really be necessary to make another stronger one, Luan puts this on his list too, I hope he remembers everything he has to do, the list only gets longer. The three of them end up having dinner together, Luke is recounting some of his exploits when he was a Hunter, Ana complements them, for a few moments they seem to be a normal family like others, Luan feels a pleasant sensation as he looks at both his Father and his Mother smiling as they talk, he feels that he used to be jealous of other men trying to get close to his Mother, as a way of protecting her, but he doesn't feel that way with his Father around, he doesn't feel jealous or that he should protect her from him, he feels that his initial anger towards his Father has passed, he honestly wishes he could stop time and freeze this moment, when will be the next time he will stop and appreciate little things, that make all the difference.
His father says goodbye, he makes his mother take their medicine, and arranges to take the rest in due course, Luan still needs to read some files, he focuses on that before going to sleep, he's pretty sure that Derick has already read all the part that was with him, so he decides not to stay so far behind him, he writes down what's missing in the online system, since they both have access to the DSO system now, in parts, Luan has just discovered that a specific area of the system, which he doesn't have access to, shows up as restricted or denied access, another thing he needs to find out now, where all the dead files are stored, and what's in this restricted area of the system at DSO, it's no surprise to Luan that a lot of things are being hidden, this only increases his desire to investigate DSO even more, he's going to come up with some plan about it.
.....Part 2...
