LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 12: Fake petals for conceited flowers
An impasse had been reached. Both Lydia and Viola held their gaze as none of them wanted to give in regarding the delicate white flower in the garden.
“We have to show the yellow flowers that the white flower is dead," said Viola, "only then can we go ahead and leave the haunted house and escape from Ellen.
“Lydia...” Percy said, as he watched his girlfriend's hard look.
“If you're afraid of what the sign said about us dying if we killed the flower..." said Viola.
“It's not about the sign," Lydia interrupted, "I don't think we should sacrifice an innocent life like you did with Mr. Frog.”
“And what else can we do? Ellen put us through this puzzle and we have to solve it. You said it yourself, Lydia, we mustn't break the rules.”
“No... this house isn't any smarter. Still won't give up the goth girl.”
“You said it yourself, Lydia," Percy said, "there's always a plan, just think about it.”
The Goth girl smiled at Percy and then her eyes denoted concentration.
“I have a plan," Lydia said almost immediately, "follow me.”
Viola and Percy exchanged glances and decided to go after Lydia.
Lydia, who was leading the group, followed in her footsteps and arrived at the room with the replicas of the Mona Lisa.
The vase cerulean with the beautiful white flowers rested near the entrance, and the ghostly head of the female covered with a snowy veil rested calmly in the middle of them.
“Please, we need your help," said Lydia, "we need some of your white petals. The life of an innocent flower depends on it.”
The ghost smiled at Lydia and handed her some of the white petals.
“Thank you very much," the Gothic girl thanked her with tears poking out of her eyes and returned to the garden with the group.
“That was very clever, Lydia," said Percy, proud of his girlfriend.”
“Do you think we'll fool the yellow flowers?” asked Viola.
“With a little work we'll make these lily petals look like those of the white flower in the garden.”
Lydia, who was skilled at making clothes, had skilled fingers and set to work.
The group went to where the yellow flowers and Lydia with great aplomb gave them the white petals.
"How strange. I didn't hear her horrible cry."
"I didn't hear it."
"I didn't hear it."
"I didn't hear it."
“I covered her with my hands while Lydia killed the white flower," said Percy, with such a face that no one could say he was actually lying.
The yellow flowers suddenly laughed very loudly and the group feared that Percy's deception had not worked.
“As for the pollen...” Lydia said.
"Hmm... ah yes, our promise. Here you go."
Lydia stretched out her arms and on her palms was placed the longed-for pollen that looked like a very fine white powder.
The flowers spoke lively again and Lydia didn't even bother to look back at those wicked ones.
Once the pollen was in their possession, the group returned to the jail and went directly to the sick prisoner.
"I just need a little... please."
Lydia approached the bars and deposited the pollen behind them.
"Hey!... Give me that!"
Instead of a human hand, it was the naked phalanges of a skeleton that took the dust and made everyone in the group open their eyes in surprise.
"...Ah... ah? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't have one... without that one!..."
"Without that I can't use this!"
Frustration from the spectrum shook the enclosure and caused the bird cage to fall to the ground, and as it did so, the lock was opened who prevened the ghost bird from fleeing.
The sound of a flapping of wings surrounded the group and it was lost behind the door leading to the garden.
“Let's go to the vines in the jailhouse," said Lydia and the group followed him.
The creeper disappeared and the boys were able to enter a room. It consisted of a narrow gravel floor corridor and a sign in the middle of it.
"The water is sealed by the skulls."
“I wonder what this might mean," said Percy.
“We'll know when we walk through the door at the end of the hall," said Lydia.
A new puzzle challenged the group. About twenty-one skulls lay on the ground in orderly rows and facing in different directions, and there was a lever on the wall.
“We better look for clues to this new puzzle," Viola suggested and Lydia nodded.
Upon returning to the gravel corridor, the boys saw a vessel and searching inside it they discovered a new skull.
Upon returning to the garden, the children saw that the northern creeper had also been devoured by the invisible bird whose shadow continued to flutter around the place.
“Now we can go through the door," said Percy and was quick to open this one.
It was fortunate that Percy led the march as he did not fall into the trap of the room, which consisted of a poisonous aura that would have killed the group in a matter of seconds.
"The room is poisonous. Pass with discolored shoes" read Percy's ad for a sign in the middle of the room.
“It's a good thing you have that catboy vision," Lydia said to him as she grabbed Percy by the waist so he wouldn't take a step further.
“What do we do now?” asked Viola.
“I don't know, it's too risky to go into the room," said Lydia.
“There are a lot of shelves and other furniture," said Viola.
“Let me do it, Lydia," Percy offered.
“No Percy.”
“Lydia, I'm the fastest. I'll search every corner and get out of the room before anything happens to me.”
“But the poison...”
“Don't worry, I promise I'll be careful.”
Lydia bit her lip for worry, but as her boyfriend said, there was no choice.
Despite Percy's speedy career, the catboy had to go in and out of the haunted room more than once but in the end he had managed to find another skull, an empty bottle and a diary entitled: the skull soldier; which the group then read it in the security of the garden.
"Once upon a time there was a soldier. His country perished, and he died, but he did not realize any of these things."
"Even in death, the soldier patrolled. Starting in the middle of the ruins of the castle, he saw in front, on the right, on the left, in front, on the right, on the left..."
“Well, I know what to do," said Lydia and everyone went to the skull room.
The skulls should be placed there together with the others and, following the track of the book, placed facing in the indicated direction.
In the northwest corner, the skull was to face south, just as in the northeast corner; in the southeast corner, the skull was to face east, and in the southwest corner, the skull was to face west.
Once the task was finished, the boys pulled the lever and shook the place up, preceded the sound of the water flooding a room in the distance.
The group returned to the gravel corridor and the vase in the middle of the corridor broke when it collapsed on itself.
“It's a sign, let's run away!” Lydia shouted, and it was fortunate that the Gothic girl realized the danger as they were able to put distance between them and a giant skull that was going towards them with the intention of devouring them.
Unlike other wraith, the giant skull crossed the door and followed them into the skull room, but thanks to Lydia's warning, they were able to escape from it, yet the skull continued to insist and chase them down the gravel corridor. Fortunately, when they walked through the door that led them into the narrow corridor behind the desk of the prison guard, the monster ceased its pursuit.
The boys went to the north gate and saw that the water had filled the previous gap. A small frog watched them as he swam.
"My father is dead."
“Don't mind him," said Lydia, "I met Mr. Frog's children. All of them are safe on the edge of the forest, this is just an illusion of the house.”
“What do we do now?” Percy asked.
Lydia recalled that in the chalet where the yellow flowers were found, there was a small door on the south side.
“We must go to the room on the south side of the chalet," said Lydia.
“But that place is dark," said Viola.
“I know, but I have a plan.”
Lydia filled the empty bottle Percy had found in the poisoned aura room with water, and then went to the white flower in the garden.
Lydia asked the flower for one of her petals, the white flower was surprised but gladly agreed after hearing how Lydia with her intelligence and poise had managed to save her life.
Then, the Gothic girl poured the water on the petal, which immediately gave off a glow and then put the petal into the bottle. This way, they already had a kind of hand lantern.
The group then returned to the chalet and went through the south gate.
Lydia's idea had worked, the petal giving off a gentle amber light. It wasn't very bright, but at least they could explore that part of the house now.
“The corridors are very narrow," Lydia told them, "so stay close together.”
The kids went south and then turned west, in the middle of the narrow corridor turned north where there was a room and started exploring.
It had varied abandoned and semi-ruined furniture so they returned in their footsteps and as they returned to the narrow hallway, they saw how the white walls on either side of the entrance were stained with blood.
The group continued to advance and to the south, they found several sculptures placed on their pedestals. Advancing down this corridor they turned north as the image of Ellen ran behind them and passed them by at lightning speed.
The compound turned out to be a maze but they found a jade pipe, as they overtook one of the busts that seemed to want to chase them. Fortunately, they lost it while exploring a room full of coffins, but when they returned to the corridor, several blood stains in the shape of the palm of one hand received them in a surprising way.
Returning to the busts, they saw that they no longer had heads and heard one of these approaching them.
“We mustn't stop," said Lydia, and the group returned to the chalet's dining room.
The boys returned to the jail and threw the pipe they had found in the cell of the skeleton.
"...Oh, yes. This one's... mine. It's mine..."
The skeleton vanished and suddenly the next cell door opened. They didn't see anyone, but they heard the sound of footsteps of someone leaving the place.
As they entered the cell they saw a book whose title could not be read, and the book's annotations were so worn that they could not be read either.
At the end of the cell, there was a cloth wrapped around red shoes and behind it was another sign.
"Let them bleed."
“I understand," said Lydia and went to the frog and wiped off the red shoes, which were actually made of glass but bathed in blood.
It seemed that the frog was dying, but she was not fooled because it was not real, but an illusion.
The group returned in their footsteps and as they stood near the door to the garden, they saw how the guard book on the desk began to move.
This was the signal for the boys to flee as the giant skull began to chase them, but like the other time, they took a step back and eluded him as he returned to the garden.
“Now we can use the shoes to get around the northern room," Lydia said, "the problem is that there's only one pair.
The three exchanged glances, until now they had managed to deceive the house but each time the luck seemed more distant.
CONTINUARÁ...
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