AFTERLAND and The Cryptic Prophecy

20: The Girl in Red Riding Hood

The grand lady gave us golds for an important reason, that's what the blacksmith said. I hadn't had the pleasure of discovering more secrets since we entered the Afterland, but I needed to spread the hollow in my brain to welcome more information.

Afterland adored keeping secrets, and I hated it, A LOT! The grand lady of Chalcedon tormented me with two questions. Why did she give us golds and why did she not mention anything about our parents being suspects in her husband's death?

"You better hurry now so you can reach the Thorned Castle right on time," he suggested.

"You're right. Thank you so much! We will never forget this." I gave him a smile with a sincere expression of gratitude.

"No worries, young lady."

We were about to leave, but something tugged behind my head that flashed a memory. It made me remember of something, I mean someone.

"Wait, Wolfang, I forgot to ask you something."

"What is it?" he asked, holding the doorknob made of wrought iron.

"Do you know a man named Romighro?" I asked. "Romighro Redlake," I added.

"Oh yes, why did you ask? Did you meet him?"

"Ahm, yeah. Honestly, he's the one who told me where you live, but he suddenly disappeared."

"He loves doing that, acting mysterious," he said, placing his hand beside his mouth like a gesture of whisper.

I smiled and didn't bother to respond and ask more information about Romighro. I also didn't want Diordin and the others to think that I had an interest in a man I just met.

"We should keep going then," Harris said in a strange tone, a serious tone. He looked jealous, but since I didn't want to appear assuming, I just thought he was not in the mood.

My friends and I had our farewell to the oldest and cheerful blacksmith of Chalcedon Region. We ate lunch at Piccolo Diner where they served us their best-selling toasted reubens and blueberry milk shake, and then we resumed our journey. After we got our horses from the Equine Parking Space, we trod the grandeur Colewaki Bridge that helped us cross the Autumnraine River.

I felt a distinct joy in finding out that my parents had other friends in Afterland other than Aunt Leona and Uncle Ermund. I always wondered why they didn't have so much friends in the human world, well in fact, part of their job was to associate with different people. They also avoided having visitors in our house.

"Wolfang is funny," Diordin said.

"And scary too!" mouthed Franco. "You saw his muscles? They seem like they're gonna explode anytime."

Harris laughed a little. "Do you want to have those muscles?"

"Of course not! I'm already satisfied with my muscles!" Franco exposed his biceps and did some poses like a roman sculpture.

Everyone laughed at what he did. He looked weird and funny with his facial expressions. If I were Franco's horse, I might knock him down laughing. We were already entering a forest, where we could pass the border between Chalcedon and Ametisto Region.

"You look happy," Dior said to me. "Your face looks bright."

"I'm just glad because I'm slowly having a glimpse of my parents' background."

"Really? Maybe because of that guy? That Romighro?"

I crimped my eyebrows. "How did you say so?"

"You seemed delighted after you met him," Harris said, which surprised me. I didn't notice he was listening to our conversation. "And obviously, you look interested." I didn't want to appear assuming, but his tone said it all. He's jealous.