Collateral

Chapter Five - Arsen

Arsen's father was angry, to put it mildly. 

"Relax," Arsen tried. "It's only 10:00." 

"Only ten? I almost called the cops!"

"I can take care of myself, Dad," Arsen said in a low voice. "I'm an adult now." 

"Not to me. I'm your father, I'm always going to protect you. You're grounded until further notice." 

"Dad!" Arsen said. "Must I say it again: I am an adult. You can't just ground me." 

"Whose roof are you living under?" 

"If you've forgotten," Arsen dropped his voice, "Holly is sleeping upstairs." 

So Arsen left his father downstairs, fuming. But he was feeling satisfied with himself but a little guilty. He would apologize later. But right now, if Reyna wouldn't help him, then he had to help himself.

But, priorities: Arsen was tired and his bed was looking extremely appealing. 

When he woke up, it was completely silent. Not even the birds were chirping. His father must've already left for work and Holly for school.

He checked the time. It was almost noon and his phone had a dozen messages and three missed calls, all from Reyna. 

Arsen messily pulled on some random pieces of clothing from his closet: A hoodie with the name of a sports team that was unknown to him and sweatpants that were nowhere close to fitting. 

At that moment, Arsen really wished he had a car. But if he had a car that would mean he passed his driver's test. He gave up on it after the second try. 

There were always subways, but Arsen had never liked them. And he still wasn't exactly sure about the location of the building...

Better to just call Reyna, he decided.

When she pulled up, she gave Arsen a disgusted look. 

"You sure you don't want to take a few more minutes?" 

Arsen ran over, "Just drive." 

"I'm not your personal driver," Reyna warned. "I'm just being nice." 

"Right, right. How late am I?" 

"Very, but no one expected more." Ouch, that hurt a little. Reyna glanced over apologetically. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. It came out wrong. What I meant is that all of us started out rough, too. It's a pattern."

"Right."

They drove in silence for a while. "Have they started?" Reyna asked finally. "The effects." 

"I don't know," Arsen replied. "Am I supposed to feel it?" 

"It's different for everyone," she said, but there was a glint of worry in her green eyes. 

"Is there something off? Have I started growing bright pink horns and vampire fangs?" Arsen felt around his head in mock worry. 

"No, it's just... usually, you should be feeling some nausea at the very least. A fever, maybe?" Reyna reached over to feel Arsen's forehead. 

"Hey, focus on driving," Arsen said. "I'm not dying in a car crash, not after my life just got ten times more complicated." 

Reyna gave him an odd look that couldn't quite cover her worry, "You're weird."

* * *

Magnus crossed his arms. "You're late," he said to Arsen.

"Shut up, Magnus," Reyna said. "From what I remember, you kept on going to the wrong building. For, like, a week. ELK Tech was not happy with you." 

"Let's all calm down," Daren interjected. "Now that we're all here, we can discuss what we will be doing about the assassin. Because we have more important things to worry about other than petty malice, yes?" His words sharp but his tone was calm. "And we should all introduce ourselves to Arsen." 

After a brief hesitation, they started introducing themselves. 

Rylan was one of the more experienced, like Magnus and Daren, but it was clear that he didn't like either of them. He was a forensic psychologist and something of a loner.

Then there was Damon, a kill-all muscled man, Calix, soft-spoken and mild-looking but at the same time, he could be Magnus's brother. Lincoln, Adonis, Rhian, and Hunter all seemed to fit the ENTJ personality type and stuck with Magnus like glue.

There was really no solid plan except look for suspicious people, share their names, and go through them all. 

"Is that clear?" Magnus finished giving his instructions. "Good. Find me the assassin." 

"Actually," Arsen interrupted, "I may have a suspect already." He heard Reyna sigh. Magnus raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really? And who, do tell, is this suspect?" 

Arsen lifted his chin and stared Magnus down. "You."

There was silence for a moment. Then Daren said, "Are you sure you're in a place to be making such accusations?" 

"He fits the profile you gave me, doesn't he?" 

"You gave him a profile?" Magnus demanded. 

"I gave him an idea," Daren corrected instantly.

"Tell me it's not a possibility. For God's sake, he was paying someone for their silence!" 

"You followed me?"

"You're not denying it. And you had an affair with Ilana Douglas. Gives you motive." 

"You just had to bring that up, didn't you? It was a rumor, not the truth, and it was a long time ago. I wouldn't kill her for that, I never even knew her."

"But there wasn't any way to prove the affair, was there? So, therefore, there wasn't anything proving that it didn't happen, either."

"This is hopeless," Reyna cut in. Her eyes were ablaze like a wildfire. "Listen, all of us here, we're all innocent. That includes Magnus," she added towards Arsen. "We need a solid suspect. The suspect was hired, suspect leads us to the employer. The suspect was not hired, then it just makes our job easier. Honestly, it's a miracle you all haven't killed each other yet." 

"Don't give me ideas," Damon growled. Arsen mentally noted that Damon had a tendency to turn to violence.

Daren murmured quietly to Magnus, who was glowering at Arsen. Finally, he turned away with Daren. 

The hostility lingered in the air even as they all turned and left.