Amongst the dozens of portraits of various size, one specific painting stood apart. It did so not only through the fact that it had a 2 by 2 chunk of wall dedicated to it which it almost exclusively occupied, leaving only a few centimetres of free space for the ornate silver frame around it, but also because this had been the painting that the shadow creature stopped before.

The painting depicted a landscape; a meadow or a field, with a European-looking castle far in the distance. The shadow of the creature that had led me here wavered one last time before vanishing. It took me a second to realise that it had slid onto the canvas, reproducing its vaguely, but not quite, humanoid shape.

This answered the question of where the creature had come from, but it did not explain why it had brought me here. Part of me wanted to think about similar situations I had read about or seen on TV, but there was also the knowledge that things in this world did not necessarily work the same way they had back in my own.

The creature stood still, contemplating the painting. Its head shook ever so gently from left to right, as if moving to some unheard melody. It seemed so harmless, as it was now.

I glanced back a few times, as if I had just now been allowed to think about going back to the expo. But the creature must have picked up on it, as its gaze snapped away from the painting and towards me. Oh, how I wished it had had a proper face so I could have at least attempted to read its expression before it launched at me with its skeletal arms.

It aimed for my exposed neck, and I had barely had the time to duck out of the way, as the thing proved to be so much faster and agile than a creature of that height should have been. We moved almost simultaneously; me towards the large painting, it blocking the way I had come from.

I lifted my sword in a guard. The creature tried to strangle me with its flaking arms once more. I moved back, stabbing it in the wrist. Its head was just out of reach, as it held its long thin arms in front of it; not quite in a guard, but in a position that protected it well enough.

For a brief moment, we stood there facing each other, perfectly still, like two cowboys ready to draw their guns. Then, we repeated our little dance. The monster tried to grab my neck, I tried to push it away and do some damage. We both failed at our respective tasks, pirouetting around one another.

I glanced back, at the hallway behind me. The way out was so close but –

The creature attacked me once more, using my lapse of attention to its advantage. I dodged out of the way at the last moment, but its hand did brush against my cheek. It didn’t do any damage, but I could feel some cold and oily residue left behind on my skin.

Left without much other choice, I changed my strategy. I ducked under the creature's arms aiming for its chest. It moved out of the way at the very last second, grabbing my neck from behind.

I lost balance, and stumbled forward, as my feet slipped on whatever substance it had covered the floor with. My free hand somehow grabbed hold of a painting frame, allowing me to change the trajectory of my fall and aim for the creature's chest once again. It did come as a surprise when the tip of my blade made contact. It slid through the creature, filling the room with a horrible dry ripping sound.

Then, the creature moved backwards once more, proving that it could have very easily avoided my blade. It mumbled something intelligible.

Having lost my momentum and support, I continued my fall and landed on my knees just in front of that large painting. I raised my sword up, ready to parry another attack. But the creature was gone. As I looked up, all I saw was that painting; the one where the not-human-enough shadow had nested itself. Except now there was a person attached to the shadow. A tall and very thin person with feather-like colourful hair, and a gown made of gems and flowers.

My face twisted into an expression of horror, as I saw the tear that ran all through the centre of the painting.

Had this monster been a product of my imagination? The by-product of a curse I unknowingly had on me? A thousand theories and excuses flashed through my mind as I tried to figure out what I would do with this probably priceless painting I had just destroyed.

I touched the floor below me, feeling its dry surface under my fingertips. It couldn’t have all been in my head. I had a skill to prevent that. I reached to the back of my neck where the thing had grabbed me, and where I could still feel that oily substance over my skin.

I pulled back my hand and rubbed my finger together.

“Paint.” I softly stated.

Things always did go from bad to worse with me. I should have just bared with the annoying System screens and stayed at the expo. Instead, I had managed to find myself a painting-monster, and destroy someone’s painting.

“Well,” I tried to reassure myself as I got up, “at least my father has deep pockets.” Plus, the monster hadn’t done me any physical harm.

Not wanting to get paint all over myself, I avoided straightening out my dress, and instead headed towards the nearest bathroom. The first order of things was to make myself presentable again, so I could go up to the hostess of the event and ask her how I could make up for the damages. The idea of pretending it wasn’t me did cross my mind, but I wasn’t sure ‘Black Trail’ would go as far as to cover my actions and not just my location.

As I walked out of that oval room, I glanced back at the painting, half-expecting it to move; to come to life again. It did no such thing, of course, remaining lifeless and still, or dare I even say dead.

The paint washed off my neck and my face easily enough. Under the bright light of the overly ornate bathroom, I could clearly see the colourful stokes of green, red, blue, magenta and yellow that had in many places mixed together to form a foul brown reminiscent of a stagnant marshland.

Once that was done, I redid my hairstyle. Thankfully I had decided to go with something simple, so I simply took out the hairclips on the left side of my head and readjusted everything, smoothing my hair out and brushing it to the other side with my hands before putting the pins back in. Thankfully my makeup hadn’t even so much as smudged, because I had not brought anything with me to fix it.

“Alright, back to the party.” I told the girl staring at me from the bathroom mirror.

It truly was amazing how fast I had gotten used to living as someone else. Laura looked nothing like I had in my previous life. Bleached hair and green eyes aside, I for one had been at least half a head taller. And-

Mind Stop

Effects of Blind Jellyfish negated.

“What now?!” I rolled my eyes.

Footsteps resonated in the empty hallway behind the restroom door. I threw a handful of paint-covered paper hand towels into the bin, and dove into the second of the four bathroom stalls. It really was a good thing that I hadn’t put my sword into ‘Holding Void’ quite yet. I slid the little metal lock closed and waited.

Sure enough, the restroom door creaked open.

“Mhuum. No, I know daddy.” They said in a semi-distracted voice.

Since there had not been a second pair of footsteps, I assumed they were talking on the phone.

“Yes, I have tried.” They spoke again, in an exasperated tone this time. “There were no traces of him or the pendant. And believe me when I tell you that I have searched. So I think your intel was wrong-” They paused, then clicked their tongue. “Well he isn’t here, no matter how much I asked. He’s not exactly an easy man to miss, or hide.” They paused again. “Daddy, that was the first place I went.”

There was a longer pause, accompanied by the sound of a purse being put down and things being taken out of it.

“- ‘m just sayyin’, sweetie, that you shouda talked with the heed of the fourteenth. He’s got ‘n eye for lost things, especially the ‘ncient artefact kind.” A male voice with a thick accent that I couldn’t quite place came through the phone speaker.

“Daddy, I know him better than you do, so trust me on this one. Give me a week, get back to whatever you were doing with the Chinese, and if I don’t have the necklace by the Solstice, then I’ll follow your plan. Okay?”

The ‘daddy’ on the other end of the line let out a heavy sigh.

“Okay sweetie. I trust you. Just promise to be careful. I know you trust him, but I don’t. Men as powerful as him cn’ot ever be trusted.”

“It’s taken care of daddy,” the person softly replied. “I’ve gotta run, I have a buyer to find. I will call you again in the evening. Love you.”

“Love you too sweetie.”

I waited for that person to pick up their stuff and leave the restroom. Then, I waited another few minutes for good measure. Under different circumstances, I might have waited a bit longer. But, between the painting situation, and the fact that I had left Gerard alone for too long (as boring as he was, he was still the reason for my presence here), I had to rush back to the main part of the expo hall.