Pocketville Lost Diamonds: VOLUME 2

Chapter 32: Musika is in the castle

Eva jumped back, trying to get as much distance as possible from the fading picture toward her.
This instinctive action cost her the loss of balance, which made her stagger. Alice moved just in time, arriving behind her and holding her before she fell down.

The cat made a loud and high meow, then collapsed down on the floor with a groan and got a defensive position, raising the back part of her body and inflated all the hairs on the tail and the back.

She stared forward, where Talia’s psycho smile disappeared in the air and the small sun-like globe got smaller and smaller until disappearing.
The room got back to the usual darkness, mixed with the shadows of the night.

- Eva… - whined the cream female dog, lying down on her side.

She tried to get her eyes, but the feline pupils of the other one were fixed on a no longer existing point toward her, dilated into the blue iris.
The gray ears were flat on her head and her chest moved fastly, panting just like after a crazy run.

- Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart! Are you okay? It’s gone now, it’s alright. - Mrs Penny ran to her and licked her snout.

The Royal Cat looked all around and studied the room, still too terrified to do anything else.
- S-she…
- It’s over, sweetie.
- Eva, it’s okay, it’s okay! You’re safe.
- She’s… b-blood…
- Maybe you should lie down, little angel. Come on. - Penny pulled her side with her nose, convincing her to move on one side. Alice did the same and guided her to the sofa, where the trembling cat climbed on with difficulties.

She breathed in several times and blinked, trying to wake up from a confusing state. She shook her head and touched her own forehead with one paw, maybe looking for herself inside her mind where she got lost.
Taking control back took a long time, but in the end the thin feline appeared to be calmer.

Alice wondered if this skill had been learnt with time and experience, maybe developed with the need of composing in a little time to not let others notice her distress. Something inside suggested to her that it happened many, many times.

What happened if Ava was there? Maybe she would have been able to help her sister, better than how she could ever do.
But anyway, she wasn’t there. Again.

Pushing this thought away, Alice lied on Eva’s side and hugged her by putting her head on her neck, careful to not hurt her paw.
The cat cuddled up against her body and the dog felt her warmth, alive and fragile.
Both their hearts were beating fast, uncoordinated but spelt by the same rhythm, and remembering that she was still there in that world was a big relief for Alice.
Something strong was tying them, but it was impossible both to define and both to not notice.
For a moment, Alice wished she was never, ever going to move from there. She felt like being too delicate to leave that safe place that was her side, otherwise anything in that room could break her down forever.

- I’m okay… - mumbled Eva, in the end.
- No, of course you aren’t.

- T-ta… my… she… that blood was hers.
- Big luck, isn’t it? This meant that she wasn’t able to hurt anyone.
- No, no, no! Now we lost anything that could belong to Musika! We have no more traces of her, nothing to say that she existed! We’re less close than before!
- Eva, Eva, calm down! At least we know that she didn’t kill her!
- No, don’t! We can’t say that my sister is still alive, maybe she is dead but we can’t know it!

Alice looked at her:
- You called her your sister?
Eva raised her ears, surprised. For a moment she looked even more vulnerable.
- ...have I?

- Ah, that cat! Damn her! - growled Mrs. Penny, staring at the floor - I’ve never liked that stupid Talia, I was sure she was a fake smiling doll. I was right about her, I’ve always said it! Her look was an angel's, but those eyes… they were worthy of a devil!  Ah, if it was for me she had to end up back in her iced lake, not near the kittens! If my opinion counted, of course... dirty killer, she deserved the worst part of the hell! I wish she was there so I could bite her throat off!