NOVPUBBecause he was hearing this for the first time, grandpa Rufus sneered. He never liked Ruth; he always found her to be to too calculating. She had always been nothing like the rest of the Mayfair's. It had not come as a shock to learn that the cuckoo wave and her plotting had swept her away.
"Ruth is back. Why is that cuckoo back and what is this about a faceless master? Why am I hearing of this for the first time?" He asked in a stern voice.
They all took took turns in explaining everything about Ruth, all the evil she had done, her incarceration in the mental asylum and escape. They did not forget to include the fact that she was back, and she had been to the tower.
Then, David added Ophelia to the story narrating it up to her accidental death. It was either Maureen had killed her or the master she served had put a spell on her soul and killed her when she tried to give up his identity.
David did not think they were back to zero. They had Bradley, Enigma and Bradley's daughter. All of them were links that would lead them to that master. Even Margaret was on his list because she brought Bradley and his daughter to the tower.
All those people were being monitored and sooner or later, something would turn up.
"So, she had this same ring you got from Obed. How are they linked, Azur and Ophelia? There must be something there because there is no smoke without fire." Rufus slowly pulled on his beard. "Think back carefully on her moment of death, how she looked what color the blood was. If her eyes were wide in fright as if she was seeing something nobody else could see."
It made David and Maureen think again.
Wincing inwardly, David admitted that he noticed something strange about how Ophelia died. "Do you remember the guy that was among those men that helped Ruth escape? The one that was brought back from the Silver nation by my men?" He asked Phoebe who nodded in return with her eyes sparkling like she recalled something.
One of those men had been found alive. He was on the brink of death and Phoebe had been unwilling to use her lifespan to resurrect him. He was nursed back to health with her tonics and then when his health was at peak, interrogations started but he died as quickly as Ophelia had done.
Phoebe had not even had the opportunity to question him. She had been on her way to Alfa security when he passed on. Despite this, she had still gone on to watch the video of his interrogation before David deleted it permanently.
"He died with reddish black blood oozing out of his mouth, nose and ears just when he was about to confess!" She shouted out.
David clapped once. "Bingo! I thought the same thing, just when he was about to confess, he died suddenly by chocking on his own blood. It is the same as Ophelia and it was not just chocking on blood, but that blood was forced out of all the holes on their bodies."
"So, do you think that these deaths are orchestrated by the same person?" Rufus asked, his brows tightly knit.
Both Phoebe and David nodded simultaneously. It could not be a coincidence.
"Other than being blackish red is there anything else that is strange about this blood, perhaps its smell?" Rufus asked, taking huge interest in the matter.
"The blood has a thickness to it, kind of porridge like." Maureen tilted her head as she recalled.
Phoebe agreed. "It is quite different from the normal blood." She chipped in.
"The crimson confession." The spirit and Rufus chorused, voices braided into one.
"What?" Maureen blinked rapidly, being that she was hearing of this for the first time.
The spirit feigned a cough. "It is an old rare curse used on those who get the urge to repent or confess."
"Yes." Rufus agreed strongly. "In other words, the victims of this curse are killed by their own blood rushing out of their bodies like a river. The blood is usually black, and it escapes the moment they begin to speak of a hidden truth__drowning their confession in crimson blood." He tried to tell them in a way that they could understand.
Maureen placed her hand on her head. "Ophelia was cursed. How did I miss that? I am a guardian for heaven's sake! Was I not supposed to see or know that? Should I have reversed the curse? What could I have done different!" Anger and self-blame pooled in her eyes, feeling responsible for taking then ten steps back.
She had been cocky, and, in the end, nothing had been gained.
Rufus gripped her by the shoulders and reassured her as he did not need a a guardian that was filled with doubt in the situation they were in. "There was nothing that you could have done, she was cursed by a powerful witch or warlock. This curse is taken on willingly and only the one that spelled it can undo it. The moment the curse was laid upon Ophelia was the day she died." He asserted, letting her go. "I believe it was this master of hers that did this to her as a precautionary measure. Again, there was nothing you could have done for her."
"I understand." Maureen nodded. Next time, she would be more careful. She had learned a lesson from this and she would research this crimson curse intensely.
"Well, Ophelia made her own bed, and she died in it. I am not in the least bit saddened by her death." Grandma Mayfair announced. "Let us move on to something else." She got up and began to walk like she knew where she was going.
The tour continued to the library; it was very similar to the upgraded one in the magic space. But there were differences too like four eyed non-human beings in cloaks which were the librarians. Some of the books were spelled, narrating themselves, pictures jumping out, initiations conversations with the readers.
Phoebe spent a lot of time there although the books that she desired the most were not there. "Grandpa Rufus the books that I want are the ones that talk about the first supernatural war and Ravana, but I see none."
Rufus released a knowing chuckle; he couldn't count the number of times that Phoebe had requested for such books. "The books are here but of course; the librarians are not going to make it easy for you to find them."
She went to the librarians and made a request. Surprisingly the librarians offered Phoebe a bow and chanted a revelation spell. Staircases slithering like serpents appeared, rearranging themselves, leading up to an unknown destination.
"Are they safe to use?" Grandma Mayfair asked because they just seemed endless, if she fell her old bones would crack for sure.
Rufus twisted his hand and summoned a pair of shoes. "You could fly but unfortunately you are not a guardian, so you just have to close your eyes and walk." He smiled at her ruefully. "Hopefully, they don't swallow you."
