Kanari unsealed the door of her room, and because her mind was filled with many intricate ideas, she didn't notice or remark on the change that occurred to the furniture.
She was exactly like a half conscience doll that looked but did not see, eyes in the void and mind stranded in fear of her mother knowing what she and her sister were doing. The matter of Mr. Hendrickson double-crossing them or being also a victim didn't interest her anymore.
In case he became proud of himself to the point of being an obstacle, she should just be prepared to eliminate him. Perhaps her sister and mother still feel grateful for his assistance in what had happened ten years ago. However, Kanari believed they had paid all their debts to him, and even more.
The only thing that disturbed her trail of thoughts was the rotten odor that found its way sneaking across the unlocked window.
After that awful odor made her senses sink into a swamp-like atmosphere, she couldn't keep her string of reasoning intact, thus she quickly hurried to shut the window glass and proceeded to spray her preferred perfume on her clothes and in the air to get rid of this feeling of filth.
When she felt satisfied enough and regained her awareness. She returned the aroma bottle to her place. There was a moment when her perceptions ticked on. An impression of peculiarity surrounded her entire presence. There was something strange and different she couldn't describe it or determine its essence. This strange thing gave the room a touch of familiarity and easiness. Her heart rhythm accelerated steadily when she started to define in general the different areas in the room that got affected by the change.
It took her slight effort to remember that she didn't leave the window open when she left earlier or drop her notebook on the bed for anyone to see. She wondered if there was someone who had entered this room while she was away. Maybe it was one of the maids. Considering she has never seen — in her life — this number of servants in one house before. Those boastful aristocrats who needed to be served day long should start learning to do things by themselves.
If that was the case. Hereby, she decided to request from them, tomorrow, to not - whatever they were doing here - enter this room again during all the time of her stay.
She threw herself toward the bed to pick up her notebook. She wasn't actually stressed if somebody of the servants had browsed through it. Since she was confident that they wouldn't understand the base of her cipher. It was a good thing that she has encoded all her notes and remarks.
While she was checking her notes, she heard the door of the washroom open from the inside. She froze on the spot, and a growing voice came from within her head, warning her that this wasn't one of the servants…
The vague smell of the diluted blood mixed with the water escaped from the small opening, wave after wave in harmony with the sound of the flow of the water.
In glimpses of an eye, she hid her notebook under the pillow and searched for something, anything, that could be used as a weapon. Her hands settled on the silver candlestick, then she approached slowly, close to the door of the annexed washroom. Before she could collect her courage and tried to push the door with her full force.
The door got open without her getting a chance to even touch it.
The candlestick fell from her hand due to the sudden shock. She was going to scream, but a wet and cold hand concealed her mouth, while another hand stopped the candlestick from falling to the floor and causing a racket.
Kanari held the hand that covered her mouth. Then she cast it away furiously, her eyebrows pulled down, causing a deep line to appear on her forehead. And despite her intense anger, she managed to control herself and blame the other person without being loud: "Savannah! You almost killed me."
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Savannah had taken the opportunity to place the candlestick in its former position before she sat on the bed while listening to her sister's condemnation and nagging.
"Where were you all this time? What is this smell? Isn't it the smell of blood? What happened? Weren't you supposed to get in here before me? You are giving mother another reason to suspect us."
"Don't worry, everything is under control."
Savannah answered all the worries about her sister with those vague words. Nevertheless, she was rather confident in what she had declared just now. She let her backdrop on the soft mattress. The bed shook under the weight of her body a few times before it became balanced; she closed her eyes, enjoying this faded vibration, and waited with awareness for the continuation of the torrent of the questions her sister was going to bombard her with like rain.
However, the unbroken silence made her open one of her eyes and observe the expression on her sister's face to find that the anger had yet to leave her face.
She said revoking: "Did you expect me to enter by the main gate?"
"This is not what I meant."
Savannah took the seating position again and said, trying to seem apathetic by changing the subject of the argument: "Do you remember the Amarok?"
"Oh… my god, that's why you were late. Was his physical condition improved? Did you two fight?"
"Yes, no. Be patient, one question at a time. But I must congratulate you, your theory was right…"
"I told you."Kanari's face brightened at the compliment. "Well, it's not exactly my theory, but I didn't find any record if my mother tested it." She said, trying to be humble as much as she could. "It was a big risk. But if that Amarok is walking on his feet, that means our fake doctor is operating at a top-level."
"I hope it will work," Savannah said as she recalled the Kerit talk. For her, it didn't matter if he was a cheap copy as long as she will fulfill her goal.
"I think mother won't be pleased with what we are doing behind her back."Kanari couldn't stop herself from adding this remark.
The atmosphere seemed a little bit darker than before. Savannah inhaled and said, her tone carrying a bit of hidden anger: "Kanari! I told you I would take all the blame."
She stopped, then she tried to change the subject: "Besides, I don't want to trouble her more than I already have."
Kanari too didn't want to start an argument. This was not the place or the time for it. And the last sentence of her sister melted her heart. She picked up the other edge of the bed to sit on it, letting her back oppose her sister, yet she didn't say another word. Savannah understood that this movement didn't bode well, hence she took the initiative and asked: "Things are no better?"
"Maybe… I think; mother is suspecting us, plotting something behind her back…"
"Are you sure, not over-worried like every time?"
"Maybe…" Kanari highlighted, "It's not like she is a Seer or something, you know how much her receptors are sensitive."This was Kanari's attempt to lighten the air.
Savannah got up and flew toward the closed door. She placed her ear on it and indicated to her sister, using her index finger on her lips to hush.
After a second she said in a low voice: "Two people are approaching."
As the steps became clearer, Savannah rested her forehead on the door before she turned to her sister and declared: "Don't worry, it is Ma with someone…"
It jumped to Kanari's mind that it was Hendrickson, who escorted her mother before she got a signal from her sister, reporting that the second person had retreated.
It took Akila a few minutes to get to the room where her daughters were. She wasn't that near to their place.