LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 6: the ghost of the library and the red skull
Seeing that the abandoned wine cellar offered them no clue as to how to get out of the house, the three friends went to the room passing the black cat and the medieval armor.
“Lets open the northern gate," suggested Lydia, and Viola and Percy went after her.
As they passed through the door frame, they saw that they had arrived at the library of the old house. The whole room was just as dimly lit as the rest of the place, yet it could be noticed that the floor was made of floor tiles that formed a simple pattern, but had the characteristic of appearing to change its color from beige to ochre, depending on how close the floor was to the light.
“Look, Lydia, there are a lot of books," said Percy, who looked at the small bookshelves that made up a total of eight and were very far apart.
The gilded titles on the back of the books seemed to give off a glimmer of light, a rare sight considering that the enormous room was almost dark.
“There's something on the right," Percy noted.
The library did not have a perfect square surface area; to the southeast it extended a wide bend, but unlike the rest of the room, this sector was disordered. Several books were scattered around the place, some open and others piled up as if to form towers.
“There's another ghost in this place," Lydia said as she approached the pile of books, "I can't see him, but like the cook's ghost, this other ghost casts a faint shadow on the floor.”
“Do you think it's wise to approach?” asked Viola.
“We won't talk to him, but maybe there's a clue we can find out," said Lydia.
The three nodded and surrounded the ghost and searched the place.
“Don't touch the books," Lydia warned them.
The three friends could find nothing and when they were about to return to the booksellers the ghost muttered: "Stacking these books is not going well, I need something to tie them together".
“Let's keep exploring," said Lydia and the three of them went to the booksellers.
SPLASH.
A bloodstain appeared on the wall, right in the corner.
“Let's not get distracted, let's go see the books," said Viola, and everyone went to the booksellers.
The books seemed to touch on mundane subjects, but those whose backs emitted soft sparks seemed to have themes of interest to the group.
"Keys don't open doors in the witch's house, something else must serve as a key."
"The shape of the house changes depending on the witch's magic."
“You were right, Lydia," said Percy, "this explains the wine cellar room on the second floor.”
“Let's keep looking at more books," said Viola and went to the second row of booksellers with a book called "A funny story".”
"Once upon a time, there was a rich man pushing a wagon full of treasures."
"His wagon broke down in the woods, but a hunter and his dog appeared."
"The rich man begged the hunter to look after his wagon, which the hunter agreed to."
"The rich man went to get a new wagon. Meanwhile, the hunter kept guarding himself."
"Night fell early, and the hunter became increasingly concerned about his elderly mother still at home."
"So the hunter told the dog to watch the wagon and went home to see his mother."
"When the man returned, he saw the dog on guard duty. So he gave the dog a reward for his master, a silver coin, to carry on his snout."
"The dog ran all the way home and brought his master the coin. But the hunter rose in fury."
"I told you to look at the wagon, and what did you do? You stole something from it! So the master killed the dog."
ÑIA, JA, JA, JA, JA, JA, JA.
A witch's laugh came from a corner of the room, as one of the chairs moved back and forth, as if someone invisible were sitting on it and laughing his head off.
As the laughter began, this and the movement of the chair ceased abruptly.
Viola who was angry put the book back in its place abruptly.
There was only one more bookcase to explore. The books were not of much interest, but in the middle of them were some clippings from a very old newspaper, many of the letters could no longer be read.
"Day... residence consumed by fire... and his wife... was found dead among the remains."
"Their bodies were found with stabbing marks, so they are suspected of being killed and the building burned down."
"Also,... Ellen the only daughter (about seven years old) is missing since the fire. The police..."
“That's all the newspaper clippings say," said Lydia, "I don't think we can find anything else of interest here.”
The kids came out of the library and went to the door right in front of them.
The room seemed to correspond more to a room on the ground floor than on the floor where they were located. The walls, unlike the rest of the house, were blue and the floor was ripe with carefully laid pebbles, giving it a much better appearance than the abandoned wine cellar.
In front of the door there were apparently two insectary of a museum nature, as they did not have live insects, but rather dissected insects. The two insectary were both locked up.
“I think we should take the blue butterfly from the insectary," said Lydia.
“You want me to break the glass?” Percy asked her.
“No, if you do, you'll set off a trap," said Lydia. “Remember that the house is challenging us, we must solve this puzzle, let's go to the other side of the room.”
The room was divided by a narrow corridor with a low relief picture of a white cat made of wood.
They kept moving along the hallway which split and went up and down, going up and up, found at the end of the hallway a dusty, battered shelf containing a note.
"Rope in the barrel"
Returning back in their footsteps and going to the end of the corridor, they discovered that there was another one, this time there was a painting of a lady with an umbrella by the river. The corridor led to a tiny room that contained only a tall bookcase.
“A book is missing from this bookcase," said Viola.
“What do we do now?” Percy asked.
“Let's go out into the main hallway and go into the back room," Lydia suggested.
As they left the room, the boys went to the left and tried to open the door at the back but it was locked.
“Look," said Percy and then bent down to take a note.
"Save the butterfly."
“Should we take the yellow butterfly?” Percy asked.
“I don't think so," said Lydia, "let's go to the wine cellar and get the rope.”
The group returned to the cellar and sought the rope in haste as the fog did not give them much confidence.
“I found it!” Percy said, and they all came out of the wine cellar fast.
“Where are we going now?” wanted to know Percy.
“Let's go back to the library," said Lydia, "I think we should give the ghost the rope.”
CLANCH.
On their way to the library they passed the armor holding the spear in front of them and suddenly the arm holding the spear dropped a couple of inches. Everyone jumped out except the black cat who was grooming at the time.
“Come on, let's go," Viola rushed them and they all went into the library.
Lydia approached the ghost and without speaking to him, she only offered him the rope.
“Ah! Are you giving me this?” said the ghost, “Thank you! take this.”
Suddenly the rope in Lydia's arms disappeared and was replaced by a hardcover, worn-out book.
The book of death -Lydia read the title.
“The cover of the book looks safe, but I don't think you should read it," said Viola.
“A cursed book can be read if you are in the middle of a pentagram," Lydia told her, "the pentagram drawn on the floor protects you from any evil spell that a book might have. However, you're right, the magic of the house can interfere with the protection of the pentagram.”
“The bookseller in the insect room is missing a book," Percy said, "do you think this is it?”
“It's the safest thing," Lydia replied, "let's go back to the insectary.”
As they walked through the library door, they saw the armor in the middle of the hallway moving toward the stairs.
“Let's not follow it," Lydia asked, "let's go to the bookseller of the insectary in a hurry.”
The children went into the room and walked through the interior corridors of the room until they reached the bookshelf. Once there, Lydia put the book of death in the empty space.
SLISH.
The boys heard a glass lid open, it was one of the insectaries.
“Let's go to the insectary," said Lydia and everyone headed for the place.
Halfway under the lady's picture with the umbrella, Percy stopped the group while his ears moved nervously.
“Do you hear that?” It looks like steps, or rather something bouncing in front of us.
Both Lydia and Viola put their hands by their ears and they too could hear the strange noise.
“Lydia, let's go back to the bookseller," asked Viola and everyone agreed.
The kids waited in the bookshelf but nothing happened.
“What are we going to do, Lydia?” asked Viola.
“What do you think Percy, can you tell us something?”
Percy put on a focused face and his ears rotated to the front hallway.
“Because of the noise, it's big and heavy. The bounces are too fast, whatever it is moves too fast.”
“It's a good thing your sense of over-developed hearing has nothing to do with magic," Lydia said. “Viola, I think it's best to confront this thing.”
“Are we going to fight whatever's up ahead?” Viola asked incredulously.
“No, we don't have the means to deal with whatever lies ahead. My magical powers were neutralized, and Percy does not possess his extreme strength at this time.”
“Then what do you suggest," said Viola.
“We'll have to beat that thing in a race. When he sees us and chases us, we'll lead him to this place, circle the bookshelf and then run down the corridor, remember the ghost of the cook? I don't think the thing up ahead will follow us past the door.”
“It's a very risky plan," said Viola, "the bookseller's room is very small, there's no room for error if anyone stumbles...”
“That's why it's best for you and me to pull up our skirts and secure them so that they don't get in the way of our running," interrupted Lydia.
The three friends exchanged glances and seeing that they had no better idea, they decided on Lydia's plan.
Little by little they advanced and suddenly something big like them and red appeared.
It was a skinned head that was bouncing fast towards them. There was no time to waste, without saying a word, the three kids ran like never before in their lives and went to the bookseller.
The huge reddish skull was on their heels and when they reached the bookshelf, they surrounded it. The skull followed them and the three kids rushed to the door, the skull followed them very closely and as soon as the three of them went through the door, they closed this one right on their red face.
“Ugh, we were... saved for very little," said Viola, who seemed to be more tired than Lydia and Percy.
“Percy, go to the door and hear if that thing is still back there.”
Percy went to the door and placed his ear against the surface of the door for a few moments.
“I think that thing is gone, Lydia," said Percy.
Lydia frowned, from now on things would get more difficult and she could not guarantee that her friends would survive the other challenges of the house, but they had no choice, they had to gather courage and intelligence to get out of the witch's house.
CONTINUARÁ...
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