The Beauty and the Idiot

Chapter XXV

Two days before the catastrophe...

After yesterday's events, none of us talked with the other any more. Or, well, not much. 

Allegra and Paola both continued to chat together and were also the ones trying to somewhat lighten up the mood. Jaku hasn't let go of Juru since, and it was clear she has seen some fucked up shit while being possessed by the plant, and Lika?

She barely came out of her room. The only time when she did leave her room, it was for breakfast or using the restroom, that's about it. I've never seen her like this before. Usually she would've been the one lighting up the mood. 

I've been trying to reach out to her, but with no success.

I'll admit, we all didn't do much that day. The weather wasn't the best either. It kept on getting darker outside, the first raindrops started to fall. It was going to be a storm, no denying in that. For how long, however? Something I didn't bother to think too much about. 

I used the free day to explore the mansion a bit. I had to do something, otherwise I would've gone insane that day. 

Even if I don't like the cat all too much, I felt sorry for her. 

She was an annoying cat, but around that time she was petrified. It sent shivers down my spine when you could see the terror in her eyes. Juru wouldn't let go of her from that day on. I wondered what those two saw... That was all I thought of that day, to be honest. 

I figured I probably should leave Lika alone for the day, so I tried to talk with Paola and Allegra, but they were busy to figure out from where those plants came and how we can stop them from spreading. 

Was stopping them from spreading even possible? 

We would need to destroy them when they're still weak. But we didn't even know why they were there. We didn't even know how they kept on spreading or what their purpose was. 

All we knew they exist, were bad, and dangerously strong. 

I didn't have any idea on how to stop those plants, so I didn't even bother to join the conversation. Instead, kept on walking through the long halls of this mansion. 

I probably spent several hours just going through the mansion, the storm started to begin. Faint thunders were the only thing lighting up the place.

I checked out some of the books in the library they had. The books were mostly about gardening and different countries.

Or cookbooks. 

But a few were about different mythologies or urban legends. Like the story about Icarus flying too close to the sun. I wonder from where they got those stories...

I also found several stamps from different countries. Allegra seemed to have been collecting those. Paola was collecting herbs to dry them and glue them into her book. They both had a huge variety of herbs and stamps...

I continued to walk through the library. You could find a book about anything in there, everything you would desire. I bet there was a book about the meaning of life or whatever. 

Eventually, I reached the first floor, basically the same. There was one huge aquarium, however. In the middle of the first floor. I probably spent an hour or two just watching the fish swim around. 

Would've been better to have them in my stomach, but watching them was also nice.

By now the storm has started to go wild. You could hear the wind from outside. The raindrops were heavy, I actually was worried they would shatter one of the windows.

After having checked the first floor, I looked for the staircase to the second floor. Turns out, the second floor was already the attic. In the end, I found the entrance to the attic and climbed up. 

The attic was mostly filled with unpacked boxes, dust almost everywhere. Should've expected that, to be honest. I found more books up there, mostly about magic this time. At the end of the attic I found a mirror again. 

Been a bit since I saw one the last time. I don't really recall when I last saw one. I'm not the best at remembering.

However, a mirror in particular stood out the most. I think the last I mentioned something about mirrors was when I discovered a crack on one of them. This one in the attic had way, way more cracks. It looked like someone actively punched it with all their might. Several times as well.

I wondered who could've done something like that? I doubt it was Paola or Allegra. Juru had the power too, but she stayed in this mansion for maybe a day only. She also stayed on Jaku's side the entire time.

Lika? Nah, she was in her room the entire time. Why would she even want to break one? Lika never goes near them...

I don't know any more people. Kirai perhaps, but she wouldn't smash one of the mirrors of this mansion, would she? I bet she smashed one mirror, but not this one. 

It was a dead end. Without any other hint, it was impossible to figure out who could've done it. Thus, I let it be at first. Only thing to explain it, if all the mirrors were connected to each other in some sort of way, then Kirai could've done it. I just put a blanket over the cracked mirror and headed back into my room. It was late by now, I was probably the only one awake. 

Before calling it a day, I looked outside for one more time. Still the storm raging outside, everything was still dark. I closed the curtains, and got myself some sleep. 

That day, nothing in particular happened. Everyone was just quiet.