"What did you say? Green Wilson ran away?" Hiddink's first reaction to the news was disbelief. The head of a local Anomalies Bureau, a director in every sense of the word, had simply up and left!
"Yes, sir. It's been confirmed. According to our current intelligence, he should be on his way to Fleidenburg. I heard Director Nikolayevich ordered him there," Monica said carefully. She could see that Hiddink was in a foul mood.
"Shit! Why would Nikolayevich summon him now? Green isn't even one of his people." Hiddink was furious. Green's departure had dealt a heavy blow to his plans: the channel he had intended to use to feed false intelligence to the Blind Sisters Society was gone.
Hiddink took a deep breath and calmed himself. At this point, he regretted how willfully he had treated Green. He bore much of the responsibility for this outcome, but there was no use assigning blame now. What mattered was finding a remedy. If they delayed Grand Duke Mora's plans, they would have a price to pay.
Meanwhile, at the divination stall on Bakerland Street, Akara received Lola's message. Her expression shifted slightly, her gaze sharpened, and she frowned. Compared with Hiddink's fury, Akara remained far more unruffled, even though Green was, in a sense, extremely important to her.
Akara silently turned and entered the wooden hut behind her. She laid out her tarot cards and performed a divination, but the result was chaotic and obscure. It gave her no useful guidance at all.
"The great Goddess of the Night," Akara murmured, "is this the gift you have bestowed on me? You have veiled the path of fate, letting the one who was bound to appear depart and hiding what was bound to happen. It seems you have driven me into a