II - A Décima Vela | II - The Tenth Candle

NINE FLAME AND ONE PROPOSAL

JULIO POV

I've never hated being cast on a round night so much. When Hope and I finally get together the way I always dreamed, her dead ex-boyfriend appears more alive than ever. I didn't even want to rest, I ate something when I returned home and went straight to the Complex, even though I knew it wasn't like Hope to be dishonest and betray people, her story with Landon required a confident posture on my part. , I needed to mark territory and show him that I was determined to conserve what Hope and I had built these past few months. The place was silent when I arrived, so I decided to call:

J: - Hope?!

H: - Up here! – She replied promptly.

I went upstairs and saw her sitting next to Landon on the studio sofa. He didn't look very good, in the sense of disposition, and she had a very worried expression. I noticed he had changed his clothes, normal after taking a shower, but whose clothes were they? Hope didn't have men's clothes in her closet, from what I heard from Elijah, clothes that cost less than five thousand dollars didn't deserve to be in her closet. Hope let you wear her father's clothes? I know it was just clothes, but that really bothered me. Hope didn't even like them going into her parents' room, and this guy was wearing my dead father-in-law's pieces? I decided not to focus on that, it was too childish insecurity to keep.

J: - Did something happen?

H: - Landon is not doing well.

J: - That's noticeable.

LA: - I'm cool, it was just a discomfort.

H: - We know it wasn't just that.

J: - What exactly happened? – I asked curious.

H: - Landon felt bad when he saw my painting. – She said pointing to the screen.

It was an incomplete picture, but it didn't make much sense to me. Reddish dots forming a circle and a dark background. It looked like a harmless screen.

J: - It doesn't look like a dangerous work of art.

LA: - The problem is not the screen, it's what it means.

J: - What do you mean?

LA: - Hope painted a scene analogous to what I was in when I woke up back in the living world.

J: - How is this possible if she wasn't there?

H: - I don't know either, but I know I need to go to this place.

J: - So come on, I'll take you.

LA: - It's not that simple, I don't remember where it is. I just remember the grid-shaped passage. – He said upset.

J: - Well, it should be close to where we are, we just need to go the other way around.

LA: - Turns out it can't! I wouldn't know how to go the other way because I left and entered many streets and alleys until I reached where you found me.

H: - Let's not get discouraged by this, I have an idea that might work.

J: - Which one?

H: - I'll need your shoes. – She said looking at Landon.

Didn't know exactly how Hope would do magic to find a place just using Landon's shoes, would they come to life and guide us to that place? He obeyed her and took off his shoes, so Hope went to the office and grabbed a map of the city. When she returned, she began to recite a spell and, magically, the dust from Landon's shoes turned to sand and moved across the map until it stopped and made a circle on the paper.