While the three gods were securing their lead at the zoo, Sam Nicholas arrived at the edge of the lake near the Gravitus home. The area was illuminated by the powerful floodlights of the forensic excavation team, casting long, distorted shadows across the water. Sam had received the shocking news earlier that evening, and he had come to witness the discovery with his own eyes. The air near the lake was stagnant and cold, carrying the weight of a mystery that was about to reach its peak.
The excavation team was using a specialized crane to lift a large, heavy object from the silty depths of the lake bed. Sam stood at the edge of the yellow tape, his breath hitching in his throat as the object slowly broke the surface of the dark water. It was a human form, preserved by the cold and the lack of oxygen in the deep mud, but still recognizable. As the body was lowered onto the grass and the mud was rinsed away, the light hit the face, and Sam felt the world tilt.
It was the body of George Gravitus, the man whose disappearance had started the entire investigation only days ago. However, the condition of the body suggested that George had not been killed recently; he had been in the water for much longer than three days. Sam stared at the face of the man who had supposedly been living with his family until a few days ago, realizing the horrific truth. The man the police had been searching for was already a corpse in the lake.
Sam Nicholas was totally shocked, his mind racing to reconcile the timeline of the last week with the physical evidence before him. If George's body had been in the lake for weeks, then who had the family been living with in the suburban home? The realization that an impostor had been living inside the Gravitus household, playing the role of the grandfather, was a psychological horror Sam couldn't process. The killer hadn't just taken the children; he had replaced the patriarch.
The mystery of the killer had now moved to its absolute peak, revealing a level of deception that went beyond simple murder. This rival was someone who could mimic the appearance and behavior of an elemental god well enough to fool a devoted family. Every conversation Sam had imagined between the "George" in the house and his son had been a lie, a performance by a monster. The discovery of the body in the lake proved that the enemy was already deep inside their world.
Sam pulled out his phone and called Patel, his voice trembling as he described the scene at the lake. He told his assistant that they were no longer looking for a kidnapper, but a master of disguise who had been hiding in plain sight. The discovery of the real George Gravitus meant that the war had been going on much longer than they suspected. As the rain began to fall over the excavation site, Sam knew that the next part of their journey would lead them far away from home.
TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 9: THE JAPAN TRIP
TO BE CONTINUED...
WRITTEN BY P.E.N.S :
P NADISH
D SENTHIL
D K SANJAY KRISHNA
S RITHIK
E J PRADHANJAN