The Scars of Qulin Moore

Chapter 26

"I really made him angry, huh," Lucas said, grasping at the seam of his shirt.

"It's already been said," Som replied. "He won't do anything. He's smart enough to not draw more attention to his work. Especially, when we are so close. He'll cool down, we'll collect the toads and you'll tell him what he needs to know about the orchids and that'll be that."

Lucas raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess." He shifted towards the stairwell. "I have to go talk to him, there's still more that he has to say. There's more to his story I want to know. He can't keep that stuff inside. Trust me, I know how much it hurts not to have anyone to talk with. I at least have to try."

"Maybe now isn't the time," Som responded firmly, gesturing for Lucas to sit. But before he could confer his reasoned defense for not pushing the topic, Lucas had darted up the stairwell with the diary in his hand.

Brisk cold air bit down on Lucas as he exited the basement. He spotted Qulin staring out of the opened front door, his fingers tapping anxiously against the frame. No mystery whose house he was staring down. Loud pellets of rain fell like gavels on the front porch.

Lucas placed his hand on Qulin's arm. "How did you Cora curse you?"

Qulin sighed. "You truly want to know about my...damnation?" He took one last longing stare at the Huston's home then shut the door.

Lucas thrust the diary into Qulin's hands. "I'm sorry, but I do. If we are going to fix you."

Qulin grabbed the diary. "Get me fixed—" he scoffed and sat on the living room couch. He searched through the pages of the diary. "While I hid in the bluff, watching the flickering column of orange flame soar towards the sky, I had an idea. Fighting my fear the best I could, I willed myself back into town and made for our house, careful to hide in the shadows. I knew if they spotted me, they'd burn me like Cora without hesitation. The streets were deadly quiet, vacant—every soul attended Cora's burning. I arrived at our house, it was in tatters, pillaged beyond recognition. Our spell books were gone, used to ignite the fire that burned her. I located her diary which she had hidden safely under a stone plot in the foundation. It was the spot we had agreed to hide our most precious effects in times of emergency."

Qulin stopped on a particular page in the diary.

"As I made my way back towards the Bluff, her screams became louder, flooding down the streets from the churchyard—and then my name—I heard her call out for me. How could I ignore her? I tried to turn my back, to run as I did before, but operating under the false pretense of courage, a morbid curiosity scolded me, demanding I go see what I had done to her. I came upon the churchyard and hid behind a broken horse carriage. She was bound to a broken beam, burning, melting, howling my name, until..." Qulin stammered, placing his hand forcefully on the page, "...until she turned to me, to where I was cowering. Her glare hammered nails into my flesh, holding me unmercifully to the floor. That's when her eyes questioned me—how could I let this happen to her. How could I lie still and hide, not come to her rescue. How could I betray her? I remember it so clear—it passes by my own eyes at this very moment. Her eyes settled on her diary I held. It grew crimson red, hotter than the fire tearing her apart. The diary began to quake, as if something was crawling inside, trying to get out. The pain she was feeling, she wanted me to know it. I sensed this, right in the core of my chest. I shuddered, damn near giving away my position. Then she shrieked the words: 'Proper Innocence, Proper innocence,' and drew her last breath."

Qulin handed Lucas the diary. "I ran faster than before, not from the people, but from her. That diary, it took on a feverish feel, glowing brighter red in my hands as I fled. The same bloody red glow in her eyes. The same bloody glow in their eyes."

Lucas examined the page, unsure as to what he was seeing. Whatever had been on the page looked as if it had been burned out. Blackened singe marks lined the edges where the image had been. His confusion compelled him to wait for Qulin's explanation however after a longer than expected silence, he looked up and saw Qulin pointing towards the fireplace directly at the two-headed cat painting.

"She painted that," Lucas said, shocked.

"It was never a painting but only a sketch in that now empty page," Qulin replied, a tightness gripped his voice. "It was a spell. A curse. Now the image looms coldly overhead, watching all I do."

Lucas was a bit confused. What harm could a painting do? "If it's such a painful reminder, why don't you just take it down? And toss it out?"

Qulin sighed. "If it were that simple, Lucas, I would have been cured a long time ago. Our woes are never remedied so easily."

"I don't get it though, if Cora had written the orchid elixir ingredients down in her diary, why has it taken so long for you to figure it out? Just follow the instructions, right?"

Qulin grabbed the diary and stood. "Again, it's not so simple. Her last dying admonition—proper innocence—was also written in her diary as—procure the essence of proper innocence—it's the final clue. The final ingredient but its meaning eludes me."

"Sounds a lot like one of those riddles you get on a popsicle stick," Lucas said, "I got one once that said, 'everyday starts well that begins with a laugh.'—I remembered that because it really wasn't that funny. What's so bad about a cat painting, anyway? Besides that fact it has two heads."

Qulin glanced once more at the painting, the feline's cardinal red eyes daring him to drag Lucas deeper into his disorder, into its clutches. As much as Lucas was finding out about his secrets, this was where he had to draw the line. He didn't need to know about the monster that comes from the painting.

"All we need to focus on is the blue halos."