The Harvest of Souls

CHAPTER 28

ASTURIAN ISLAND

10.01.8462 - 1:56 PM

Mila and Scarlet entered Jean's completely turned-up room. All the desk and nightstand drawers were open, the doors to the personal library, bathroom, and closet were wide open. Several objects that originally belonged inside the drawers lay on the floor. The mattress had been removed from the bed, and all the sheets were spread out on the floor. The windows and curtains were closed, and the light that came in had the same reddish hue as the curtains.

The two girls walked through the mess, not understanding what had happened. They looked at several sheets of paper on the floor, pills, headphones, notebooks, pens, and a few other objects. Mila was particularly interested in a small cloth object lying beside the bed. She bent down and picked up the cloth bag.

"Look, it's a totem," said Mila.

"For what?" Scarlet asked.

"Let's open it and see what's inside so we can know the function," said Mila. "But first, let's disable whatever is here."

Mila covered the small cloth bag with her hands and closed her eyes, her head raised to the ceiling of the room. She took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds. When Mila exhaled, metallic purple smoke came out from between her lips. She opened her eye to stare at the smoke that dissipated through the ceiling.

"It wasn't something good," she spoke worriedly.

"From the color, it was an evil totem," Scarlet concluded. "Let's go, let's see the other rooms, and then call the guys."

They entered through the door that led to the bathroom and inside it the same situation as the bedroom: all the drawers and closet doors open, the floor covered with beauty and hygiene products, and several towels. The two searched the entire bathroom but found nothing relevant. Then they crossed the room, looking at the floor and picking up the occasional sheet with some notes, but all of them irrelevant. Then they went to the Closet to find piles of clothes lying on the floor, they looked in every closet and checked every item of clothing, but there was nothing important either.

Upon entering the private library, the room was intact. The place where Jean's library and video collection were located was completely empty. The floor was made of wood, with long clubs that crossed the room. The walls were all painted white, and not a single piece of furniture in the entire space.

"Whoever invaded Jeannie's room did not know how her library works," Scarlet spoke.

Mila made a gesture with her right hand, and one of the clubs on the floor shifted, soaring across the room, 2,3 meters high, revealing several books.

"Nothing changed here. The intruder didn't really know that Jeannie kept all the books and movies and series in vertical drawers," Scarlet spoke.

"This has always been Jeannie's favorite secret of the Manor," Remembered Mila.

The two of them sifted, looking shelf by shelf, trying to find some reference in one of Jean's books. With another wave, Mila made the shelf lower again until it became one of the clubs on the floor, then raised a second shelf, also filled with books.

"The first books were only academic; these are already the ones for hobby time; maybe we are luckier," said Mila.

They opened the third vertical drawer.

"And here the books continue," said Scarlet.

"See, Jeannie collected books about serial killers, remember," Mila spoke, pointing to a section of the shelves with a sequence of books on the subject. "Let's pick it up and take it. Maybe reading this, we have some ideas of what's going on."