LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 9: The music box
The horrible mouth painted on the wall connected to a very narrow, low passageway. Lydia and the others had no choice but to crawl over the cold metal floor.
The kids reached the end of the passageway, which opened to form a small room with the same metal floor. In front of them there was a door and next to it there were openings in the floor where metal spikes came out at regular intervals.
“If we had gone another way," Percy said, "we would have ended up impaled.”
The three kids exchanged nervous looks at the prospect and then decided they had no choice but to open the front door.
Right in front of the door was a mysterious note.
"Make sound in all four rooms."
“Another puzzle," said Lydia, when in that, coming out of the shadows of a corner, came out Kira, the black cat.
“Hello, this room is very quiet.”
Except for the wall with the three horrible painted faces, this room was the most dimly lit so far. The floor was made of dark brown parquet and the walls were upholstered in navy blue, an elegant combination, but not very effective when it came to giving the room a natural shine.
At the front of the room was a slightly narrower corridor and in this there were four gas lamps that were off at the time.
“Lydia, what's that?” Percy pointed to the statue that was right next to the door.
“It looks like a nutcracker doll but it's life-size," replied the gothic girl as she tiptoed to see the nutcracker's eyes better.
“You don't think the dummy's trying to attack us when we try to get through the door, do you?” Viola said nervously.
“I don't think so," Lydia replied, "remember that the house doesn't want to restrict us, it wants to challenge us.”
After getting some air, the three kids opened the door and found a room that seemed to have a white marble floor. There were several elegant chairs against the walls and all of them directed to the center of the room, where there was an elegant red Persian carpet with a golden frame; and above it, an elegant grand piano in the color of ebony; besides, next to the piano, there was a very expensive vase with a sumptuous arrangement of flowers.
“Look, another note," said Lydia.
"You don't need to touch."
“It's a shame you can't play the piano, Lydia," Percy said, "you know how to play musical instruments.”
“Can you play the piano?” Viola asked her.
“Among other things," Lydia replied, "at Miss Shannon's school I wanted to form a band for the school festival.”
"The Brides of Frankenstein," Percy recalled, "it's a shame you didn't want to be the vocalist. With your beautiful voice, it's a waste not to sing.”
“I'm very embarrassed to sing in front of the others, Percy. Besides, the girls wouldn't help me.”
“How's that?” asked Viola.
“Bertha and Prudence, I thought they were my friends, but in the end...”
“These idiots betrayed Lydia," Percy continued, seeing that Lydia was silent. “After going with Lydia to the Peaceful Pines cemetery, they told Lydia they would be her friends, but guess what, Claire showed up and gave them a choice as to whether they preferred her or Lydia.”
“They said they'd be your friends, but then they left with that Claire girl?” Viola said and then looked at Lydia as if she were seeing her for the first time.
“They told me they weren't that strong," said Lydia with a sad smile and look. “Well, it doesn't matter. As for the singing, I just need to sing for you, Percy.”
“When we get out of here, sing me the trout song," asked Percy.
“You always like to hear that song when you eat," replied Lydia as she stroked the cat boy's face and he rubbed his face sweetly against the long, soft, snowy fingers of his girlfriend's hand.
“There's a bookcase in a corner," said Viola, who frowned again.
"People have different eye colors."
"We know the following about women in this particular region."
"A woman's eye color depends on her hair."
"The four hair colors are silver, black, gold and red. The four eye colors are brown, green, blue and red.
"Women with silver hair have red eyes, and women with brown eyes may have blond or red hair."
“If this is a puzzle, I have no idea what to do next," Viola sighed in frustration as she closed the book.
“The northern door can't be opened," said Lydia, "it's best to go back and try our luck with the door next to the corridor of the nutcracker.”
The kids returned to the corridor and fortunately the door was not locked.
Apparently they went into a meeting room. A small carpet was just in front of the entrance and to his right was a dressing table whose mirror clearly reflected the image of the three kids.
The floor was made of parquet, but unlike the main corridor, this was not huge, but rather small, ordinary, dark brown parquet.
In one corner of the room there was a display case and as the kids passed by, a dark image was reflected on the glass and moved at full speed to the other side.
“What was that?” Lydia asked.
“I don't know," Percy said, "it happened very quickly.”
The children continued to walk around the huge room and saw that it had furniture upholstered in red, as did the walls.
As in the other environments, there was a note here as well.
"Play the music box with twelve."
“There's the music box," said Viola.
“Until we are sure what to do, it is best not to touch it," Lydia warned.
“On the other side there is another door," said Percy, and the kids decided to go to the door, which was not locked.
The boys arrived at another small room which, like the meeting room, had a normal parquet floor and red upholstered walls. On the north side, there was an elegant fine mahogany desk, which was lit by a golden wall sconce.
“Another diary," said Lydia when she saw the fragment of the witch's burnt diary.
"I... all the friends who came to my house after that."
"They were all eaten by the house. But it wasn't enough.”
In the middle of the room there was a stool and above it, one of those toys that consisted of those slingshot dolls that came out as soon as you opened the lid.
“It's a Jack in the box," said Lydia, "the toy made a noise, maybe another part of the puzzle was triggered.”
When the boys came out the door, the toy turned its torso to watch them walk away.
The kids now headed for the door next to Kira, the black cat, and entered the next room.
The room had elegant walls upholstered in navy blue and just in front of the entrance was a small, exquisitely elegant purple Persian rug with a silver frame. The rest of the floor was carpeted by a red carpet as a moquette as it covered the entire extension of the floor, but the carpet had no frame of any kind.
To the left of the door there was a large cerulean vase with several snowy flowers, some lilies and next to it and stuck to the wall, there was another sign.
"The blue eyes see the marker."
“Why is there a pumpkin head like Halloween in this place? “Percy asked, seeing the orange pumpkin with a sculpted face very close to the sign.
“It must be another part of the puzzle," said Viola as she pointed ahead as there were other pumpkin heads in the place.
The rest of the furniture was upholstered in violet as well as another small Persian carpet identical to its twin in the entrance, and which was next to another door which was flanked on both sides by four paintings of La Mona Lisa. The replicas had different hair and eye colors.
Suddenly the painting with the blonde Mona Lisa fell to the floor making a sharp noise and frightening the group.
“That gave me an idea," Lydia reasoned, "the dry sound of the painting falling on the carpet can be emulated by the pumpkins, they are hollow after all. Percy, hit the pumpkins trying to make a musical note.”
Two of the pumpkins didn't sound very good, but the one closest to the squares rang harmoniously according to Percy's tapping.
Lydia's idea bore fruit as the door next to the paintings opened by itself.
As they crossed the door, the kids found a room with a floor made of ochre-coloured paving stones. The room seemed empty with the exception of a chair on the right and a flowerpot with a plant on the left; next to the front wall there were four elements: a full-length mirror; and at the opposite end an old pendulum clock in its tower; in the middle of these were two statues; one of a man and one of a woman.
And right in the middle of the north wall was another note.
"I can be the sun. I can be the earth. And I can be a bird."
"What am I?"".
"I can even be a flower."
"What am I?"".
“What about now?” said Viola with a dismayed gesture, and she wasn't the only one as Percy looked confused and scratched his head anyway.
“Because of the elements sun and earth," Lydia told them, "we must go towards the clock.”
The gothic girl went to the front of the clock and asked it what its nature was and the clock asked her:
“Am I a watch?”
Lydia nodded and the remaining elements in the room disappeared, leaving the old watch as the only furniture present, and in front of it, a queen key had materialized that was taken by Lydia.
“What will this key open?” Percy asked.
“Remember that the keys don't open any doors in this place," said Lydia, "the best thing to do is to read the note on the wall again, because next to the clock, it's the only thing that hasn't disappeared.”
“"Sun: sundial; sand: hourglass; bird: cuckoo clock."
Let's go to the meeting room," Lydia explained, "the musical box says it should be played with twelve, that is, with the key that the watch gave us.”
The kids went to the room and inserted the key into the music box, which played a Gothic melody and the image of Ellen appeared for a second at the scene.
As the boys left the room, a teapot and a garment from the hanger fell to the floor, and the reflection on the dresser showed the blood-drenched faces of the kids.
CONTINUARÁ...
The author's final notes: "Frankenstein's girlfriends", was the death rocker band, by Lydia in the cartoons; something curious, since in the original script of the beetlejuice film, Lydia is not a Gothic girl, but a death rocker.
Bertha and Prudence's cowardice comes from the comic "the witch from Peaceful Pines" by Midori Mizurashi. Comic book that unfortunately was never finished...snif
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