LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 8: frog sacrifice, cat's blood
After the late challenge of putting the living room as a reflection of its east and west sides, the group walked through the door and found themselves in a small room that had the same floor as the previous enclosure.
The small room consisted of an elegant desk on a red carpet, and beside the desk and glued to the wall was a sign that prayed:
"Go through the next door and don't let anything distract you."
“There's a diary on the desk," said Lydia, who took the diary that was open and was right in the middle of the lamp and the flower vase.
The little diary was very badly treated as many of its pages were burned and many of the notes written there could not be read.
"My mother and father didn't love me."
"So I'll..."
"I've been in this house ever since."
“What do we do now, Lydia?” Percy asked.
“According to the note," Lydia said, "as soon as we walk through the door we have to keep moving forward no matter what.”
“What will the trap be this time?” asked Viola.
The note could have warned us of a particular danger but it didn't," Lydia reasoned, "that means that the danger we'll see won't be real. The danger is to stray from the path, we will surely find one or more illusions in front of us that will try to frighten or tempt us, so whatever happens, we must go in a straight line and without turning around to look back or to the sides.
“Then we'd better go in single file and hold each other's shoulders one after the other.”
“I'll take the lead," Percy offered.
“Better not," said Lydia, "the house can show you an elusive mouse and your instinct could force you to run after it. You'd better get in the middle, Viola will go ahead and I'll go at the end to make sure nothing distracts you Percy.”
The kids agreed and walked through the door.
The next environment consisted of the same long, carpeted corridor as the previous time. It was obvious what they would find next.
The image of a dagger was going to them, but as they had agreed before, they kept running forward no matter what, and indeed, the dagger turned out to be just an illusion.
Near the end of the hall were two entrances on either side of the carpet. The kids could see out of the corner of their eye some fine furniture and other things.
“Don't get distracted, let's go on," Lydia reminded them and the kids walked through the door at the end of the hall.
On the other side of the door they found a small room that had the already known huge stone tiles and bluish rectangular stone walls.
“Oh, we made it, girls," Percy said, "look, there's a note on the floor.”
"He's hungry."
“You know, I'm not so excited anymore," Percy said, as he held his tail to his nervousness.
“There's only one door other than the one we already went through," said Lydia, "Percy, can you hear what's behind this one?”
“There's something behind it, it's like it's crawling," Percy told them, "I see that there's a kind of peephole, I'll see if I can open it.”
“I see like scales and...”
PUM.
Something was knocking on the door, with such force that it made this of its hinges move, fortunately these did not yield.
“HISSS" Percy hissed as he bristled his tail and the hairs on his neck.
“Percy, are you all right?” Lydia asked worried.
“Yeah, it just freaked me out a little bit. I think it's a snake, but a very big one.”
“And now, what do we do?” asked Viola.
“o have shaken the door like that," said Lydia, "it must be a snake as big as an anaconda. We have nothing to confront such a monster with.”
“Why don't we go ask my comrade?” Percy suggested.
“That black cat is not going to help us in the least," said Viola, frowning.
“It's worth a try," said Lydia.
“Well, come on," said Percy.
“That cat doesn't inspire the slightest confidence in me. I'm staying," said Viola.
“But Viola," said Lydia, "it's dangerous to separate. Remember that the house can change its structure at will, the best thing is to stay together.”
“I don't think the case will change until we solve this puzzle," answered Viola, "ask that black cat. I will remain here.
Lydia kept trying to convince Viola, however, she was very stubborn, not only in consulting the black cat, but also in leaving the room.
“All right,” said Lydia, “you can stay Viola, but at the slightest sign of danger you come running to us.”
“Done.”
Lydia and Percy carefully opened the door to the carpeted corridor and saw that just like the other time, the corridor in question had disappeared and in its place was the small room with the elegant desk and the small burnt-out diary of the witch on it.
They both went to the black cat and asked for help.
“Are you sure you have no idea whatsoever about this?” Lydia said to him.
“Nop.”
“This is ridiculous," Percy told him, "we can no longer call you `black cat' my bro, how about... kurokawai.”
“No, I don't think so," replied the black cat as if he had been insulted.
“Well, thanks anyway, Mr. Black Cat," Lydia said sadly.
“Maybe you can give me a name," said the black cat to Lydia.
“...What about... Kira?”
“Kira, yes, I like that name. You can call me Kira.”
Lydia and Percy said goodbye to Kira, the former feral cat and now semi-domesticated, thanks to the name Lydia gave him.
“What do we do now?” Percy asked worried.
“I've only got one idea, Percy. Let's go to the sack with the dead cats.”
The kids went to where the sack was semi-darked and Lydia picked it up. The blood stained the goth girl's school uniform, but she didn't flinch.
“I hope this is enough," said Lydia as she frowned.
“Let me do this, Lydia," offered Percy, and then he grabbed the sack and the two kids went back to Viola's.
“Viola," said Lydia, as she walked into the room with Percy, "I think it occurred to me....”
Viola looked at the two boys in surprise, but then her face calmed down, although her eyebrows were furrowed.
“Viola, what did you do?” Lydia asked when she saw the blonde's fingers.
The girl with blue eyes and golden braids, her fingers were covered in blood.
“Why is there blood in the peephole at the door?” Percy asked, and Lydia then opened her eyes like plates.
2There was no other way," said Viola, "the frog lord offered himself and...”
“And that's why there's blood on your hands!” Lydia yelled at her.
An awkward silence fell on the place and no one dared to break it or make eye contact.
“I just wanted to have... to be with my family," said Viola, who was about to sob.
Lydia took the sack with the dead cat and hugged it. Lydia's cheek was covered in blood but that didn't matter, then she put the sack on the floor.
“You're right," Lydia said in a neutral voice, "we must continue.”
Percy took out his handkerchief and lovingly wiped his girlfriend's face, and once it was finished, the boys walked through the door.
Once the boys walked through the door, they found themselves in a room with no lighting and a floor of rotten boards. In one corner of the gloomy room, there was an opening that smelled of blood.
Lydia turned her face and went to the front door, when she opened it, the figure of the frog lord appeared behind her, but when Lydia turned around, she could only see an image of bloody guts all over her field of vision.
“Hurry up, Lydia!” Percy shouted at her as he pushed her out of the room.
“Mr. Frog...” whispered Lydia.
The boys saw that they were in an L-shaped corridor, next to the door there was a small brown carpet and the rest was a dark parquet floor and a wall of medium white bricks.
As they turned down the hall, they saw that it had several snowy statues of anthropomorphic cats, all of them on white pedestals that emulated dwarf Ionic columns, as in ancient Greece. Above each statue and glued to the wall, there were very white silver candlesticks that illuminated the white wall in an ethereal but not very strong way.
There was no statue on one of the pedestals, only the black cat was sitting flirtatiously.
“A cat statue... I'm just kidding," said the newly appointed Kira.
Since the spirits were low in the group, the kids did not want to have any conversation with the black cat and passed by.
“Hey, don't ignore me!” Kira shouted to them as she leapt in frustration over the pedestal.
At the end of the hall and to the right was another door, and when they went to open it, the head of the statue closest to them began to spin around as if it were possessed.
“Poor Mr. Frog," Percy muttered, this time unafraid of grief, and with Lydia and Viola, he walked through the door.
On the other side of the door there were dimly lit bleachers, in fact they were, but the source of the lighting seemed to be a dim, dark red light.
After climbing the steps the children saw that there was another sign in front of the wall.
"Go where only one eye is open"
The boys looked to their right and saw that a corridor apparently formed of a long sheet of metal stretched out in front of them. The walls were very high and were apparently plastered with pale red stucco.
There were no pictures or decorations on the wall, except for three huge faces made up of only the eyes and mouth. All three faces had their mouths wide open as if they were screaming or gobbling up their victims.
“Nowhere is there only one eye open," said Viola, who finally cut out the uncomfortable silence, "the first two faces have their eyes closed and the third has them open.
“I don't understand this, Lydia, I don't know what to do," said Percy, faced with the difficulty of the puzzle.
“Just go to the middle of where the second and third faces are," Lydia explained, "there's only one eye open there.”
“And the entrance?” asked Percy.
“I'm sure It'll turn up," said Lydia.
Where the bare wall used to be, now there was another entrance that had the same shape as the open mouths of the other faces.
“Nya, Lydia, you're amazing!”
“Are you sure we should go in this way?” Viola asked apprehensively.
“Yes, there is no other solution, we must continue.”
The three kids gathered courage and entered through the "open mouth", as one of the huge eyes drawn on the wall moved to see the group move into the open jaws and from there into the beast's entrails.
CONTINUARÁ...
Thank you for reading, don't forget to vote and comment, pretty please.
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