He stood by his door after he woke up. He has second thoughts about what to say to her about what happened last night. He felt that he should apologize. He knocked as many times as he could but there was no answer. At first, he thought that maybe she was really upset. But then he realized that the room felt different. It’s too quiet and he could hear the wind entering. He opened the door forcefully and saw an empty bed. Then for a moment, he realized… she left. He called his men to look for her. She won’t be able to escape from this place or him. Especially now that he wanted her more than anything else.
That is why it was strange for her to open up to him. He felt that they had gotten close because they were talking with familiarity yesterday. He thought they were having a good time. They even kiss- is that why she left? No, it couldn’t have been because of that. It didn’t feel like something she would do so it must have been something else. He was lost in his thoughts when his phone starts ringing. He picked up. It was his men.
‘Sir, we found her.’
His heart skipped a beat.
“Where?”
‘In the forest sir.”
He was confused. The forest? He told her there are wild animals in there. He didn’t have time to think further. He hung up and ran outside. His horse ran faster than ever. When he arrived, he saw her. She was sitting on the grass. Her arms wrapped around herself protectively. He ran over to her as fast as he could and kneeled beside her. He put his hands on her shoulder.
“Hey, hey,” he said softly.
Her breathing wasn’t steady.
“I’m sorry. I-“
“I just want to leave.” She looked at him. her eyes were red and teary.
Before he knew what he had done, he pulled her into his embrace, hugging her tightly. She stiffened.
“Please, don’t go…” he felt her relax under his hold.
“Don’t leave me,” he added.
She slowly relaxed and hugged him back. She buried her head in his chest. After some time, she pulled back from the hug, looking straight into his eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. They rode the horse back to their house.
He carried her inside, laying her on the bed. She fell asleep within minutes. He stayed there for a while. He watched her sleeping face. It calmed him. He sat by her side stroking her hair. A small smile appeared on his lips. He was glad she was found. For a brief moment, he hoped she will return his feelings.
‘What could be her reason for not escaping completely?’ he thought.
Then his eyes drifted to her hands. She had bandaged them. She must have hurt herself while trying to escape.
“How did you manage to get those wounds?” he whispered.
He sighed before standing up, then looked at her face again for a moment and left the room. The next day, he decided to check if she was okay. But she was still there not moving an inch. He tried waking her but she is still not waking up. He took care of her wounds himself. He cleaned them with alcohol and bandaged them properly. He even kissed them gently.
He didn’t understand what was happening to her. He called a doctor to check up on her. But the doctor said that everything is normal. Everything except for the fact that she hasn’t woken up. He doesn’t know what to do anymore. She has been sleeping like this for almost two weeks now. And he’s starting to get worried about her well-being. The last few days that had passed, he would sit down next to her bedside table reading the diary, as if it would make any difference in the world. Then he would watch her chest rise and fall slowly.
His fingers caress her cheek softly before placing them back in his pocket. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
“She’ll be alright,” a voice says behind him. It was Harvin.
He came to pick him up. They are going to someplace he read in the diary. He isn’t sure if it would lead them to the item, but he hopes they find something. They arrived at the house in the diary. It looked old, as if it were a ruin of a home, except for the large number of flowers that decorated every surface. They knocked and called for the owner but no one responded. The door was not locked so they entered.
In the center of the room stood a small wooded bed with a small round table beside it. at one end of the table sat a crafted wooden chair. Beside this sat another smaller table which held a book and a pot of tea. There was a small candle next to this.
“Hello, I hope you like tea,” a man said smiling at them both.
They jumped from the sudden appearance of the man.
“Pardon our intrusion. Are you sir Elvino?” he asked.
“Yes. Please sit and sip my tea.” The man replied.
The both of them sat on the cushion on the other side of the room and the man served them tea.
“We would like to ask some questions. If you could-“Harvin said but was cut off by the man.
“I will now go ahead. Try my tea. You will like it.” Elvino said bringing the tea closer to their lips.
They drank the tea and the man was right. It is delicious. They finished it all and sudden dizziness hit them. The last thing he remembered was the face of the man laughing at both of them. Then it all went black.
“Wake up you two.”
He blinked his eyes open only to be blinded by bright light. Everything was white and there was a buzzing sound everywhere he looked. He sat up slowly, trying to get used to everything around him. He woke Harvin who was still unconscious beside him.
“What happened? Where are we? “ asked Harvin.
“I don’t know, just look around, maybe we’ll figure it out later,” he said but to their surprise, Elvino was in front of them, watching their move while drinking tea. He looked at them with his brows up and smiled. That’s when they realized, they were chained.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt you. thought I wish you didn’t make such a mess in my house.” Elvino walked over and untied them from the wall but their hands were cuffed.
“I’m sorry I had to do that. I thought you were HIS men. But I still need to be careful, so I’ll leave it like this.” he went back to his table and drank the remaining tea in his cup.
“Now, let me ask you? Why are you looking for me?” he asked. They looked at each other then back to Elvino.
“Father Wesley told us you were a friend of his,” Alexander said. He learned it from the diary. Father Wesley and Elvino were childhood friends.
“Well, I am. What about him do you mean?”
“He’s dead,” he said with a straight face. Elvino didn’t react. It seemed that he knows of it already.
“I believe he gave you some sort of amulet.” Elvino widened his eyes but then recovered and acted as if he knew nothing about it.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I haven’t met Wesley since he became a priest.”
“Lies.”
“Okay, let’s just say I have it. What are you going to do? How did you even know about it? I won’t believe you if you’ll say that Wesley told you.”
“I’ve read his diary.”
“How did you-“
“Nathaniel gave it to me since Kendrick’s dead,” he said in a flat tone.
Elvino cleared his throat and watched him closely.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Alexander Genovese. The only son of Edward Genovese.”
“So you are her grandson. Hmm… interesting. By any chance, did your grandmother tell you a story about an enchantress who had her heart taken by her lover?”
“Yes. Back when I was still a kid. When my parents are still alive.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But the point here is… the human who was able to go to that place is not just that human, the enchantress’ lover. There were two. And the other human stole something very valuable. An amulet. An amulet that could control other creatures that belonged in that world. If it were in the hands of the wrong people, this world will definitely change.”
“What kind of change?” Harvin asked. Elvino shrugged and refilled his cup.
“So where is the amulet?” Alexander asked.
“Somewhere safe. For now. You better go back. Someone was waiting for your return.”
He remembered Elvino smacked them with a bat and lose consciousness. They woke up inside their car. Their head hurts so much. They went back to the house without the item or the amulet. But at least they had some information. He was tired and walked slowly upstairs. He went to Kelly’s room first to check on her. He didn’t knock and opened the door swiftly. He stopped his tracks and just stood there looking at her. She was sitting in the bed and felt someone’s presence. She turned her head in his direction and they stared at each other. Then it hit him. She’s finally awake.