“Julia?! What happened?”

Alessandro rushed from the dining room as soon as he heard the noise.

"Don't come!" I shouted as his figure appeared on the landing. If the scream belonged to one of those-who-live-under-the-waves, you couldn`t just drive that away with a blade.

The dancing torchlight broke the thick gloom into splashes of shadows. One of them, a shadow of the vase, turned long and there was a dark little figure of a man, not a scary octopus. He rolled out of the corner, shrieking desperately. I recoiled as the vile jester trotted past. He hardly reached my waist.

"Help me!" She tried to burn me to death!”

I was so shocked I couldn`t utter a word. What on earth was that?! The nightmare turned into a farce right before my eyes.

"Scarpa?” don Arsago`s voice thundered down the stairs. “Where have you been hiding, you little bum?"

One by one, the other guests followed the Count out onto the landing. I wished for the ground to swallow me – or, better say, the water, as don Arsago`s house was built on the lagoon. Suddenly I remembered my first visit to don Arsago`s house, that heavy feeling as if someone was looking at me… So the ugly jester had been watching me the last time! Just imagine, I got scared of a fool!

His appearance was very curious, indeed... Short and plumpy, with disproportionately small arms and legs which looked even more ridiculous compared to his huge ugly head. The jester was dressed in a smart jacket and he was holding a three-horned cap with bells in his hand. Until that moment, the cap was kept somewhere else, so that the ringing of bells did not give away its owner. His thick lips were curled in a malicious grin and his small dark eyes looked like raisins in crumbly dough of his plump cheeks. I thought that the jester`s nickname suited him perfectly well (Ital. scarpa - "shoe").

But what about that muddy smell? Those vile tentacles that reached out to me across the candy-smooth tiles? The hall looked perfectly normal now. Not a trace of anything that could have caused such a heavy feeling. Very strange. Was it my imagination or was there really something mystical about that house? I really wanted to go to my room as the chuckles and whispers of the Count's guests made me dizzy. Maybe that was how Enrique felt after his fiasco at the race. I was surrounded by sympathetic faces but on the inside everyone was probably making fun of me for trying to hurt a harmless little man. Everyone except Alessandro, who carefully took the torch out of my hand. Don Arsago gave me his hand with empressement.

“Please, spare his life, donna Julia! He's just a fool, of course, but we'll be bored without his jokes. As for you, you little rascal," the Count fumbled behind his back and grabbed the wriggling jester`s ear. “Don't hide in the dark corners anymore and don't you dare to frighten our ladies, or I'll hang you by your ugly tail in the stable!"

The terrified jester uttered a cry and got lost in the laughing crowd. Even Pulcino felt my nervousness. "What happened? Was someone poisoned again?" he asked with interest.

Not yet, but I'm already thinking about it, I said in my mind, and again my gaze fell on the damned fool who was standing outside the dining room door and making faces at me. I wonder why he disliked me so much.

"Well, well. I can tell you a couple of places to hide the body."

After such good news my winged friend disappeared. As for me, I spent the rest of the evening with donna Arsago, trying to keep myself busy with something completely harmless like books and embroidery. Aunt Assunta, with her lips pursed, never left my side. In another corner, Scarpa was entertaining the Count's friends and giving me occasional mocking glances. Under the watchful eyes of those two, I couldn`t even think to keep looking for the crypt. I sighed and remembered Melina`s words. She was right. When the morning is not set, the whole day is for nothing!

***

Although there were plenty of empty bedrooms in the huge house, for some reason I was put in the same room as Ines. I really wanted to be alone that night, so my face twisted involuntarily at the sight of my unexpected neighbor. The girl looked embarrassed.

“I thought you'd be happy... it's better not to spend the night alone in this house."

To be fair, Ines could hardly disturb me. The room was so large that it could easily accommodate four people. Against the wall on a raised platform there was a large bed with carved posts and a velvet moss-green canopy. The fire was crackling comfortably in the fireplace, casting golden glow on the squat chairs and ornate chest of drawers. All the furniture was made of walnut wood. An old hexagonal mirror gleamed mysteriously on the wall.

"I brought you some cookies and honey," Ines added timidly, giving me a full basket carefully covered with a white napkin. “I noticed you didn't eat much at dinner."

Apparently, she really wanted to make friends with me. The cookies were deliciously crumbly and the honey, judging by the aroma, was picked from fiorella flowers – the only ones that could survive on the swampy ground of our island. The honey taste was slightly salty, like tears.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

While I finished the cookies, Ines combed her blond curls and then, to my surprise, carefully draped a shawl over the mirror.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "And by the way, since when are you afraid to sleep alone?"

The girl sat down on the bed beside me and tucked her bare feet under.

"Well, I've just heard some rumors about this house. Strange things happen here sometimes. People say that the former masters were too closely connected with the sea. They worshipped those-who-live-under-the-waves so much that they still haven't forgotten their way here.”

I understood at once who the word they referred to. Cold salty wind blew through the window, making my toes curl involuntarily.

"Did donna Joanna tell you that?"

Ines shook her head stubbornly.

"No, not just my mother. Everyone keeps talking about the Arsagos. The Count himself was always looking for people who could talk to the sea. He wanted to marry Enrique to a patrician woman with a strong chiamata gift because it is believed that only women can have it. But one day a fisherman came to the city, boasting of his bravery and swearing that he had bathed more than once in the Orfano canal – on a bet, of course – and remained unharmed.”

They drowned convicts in the Orfano Canal. The morays considered this place a kind of personal dining room. To swim through the channel even to the Bridge of an Honest Woman, you needed to be a really desperate person.

“And the morays didn`t touch him?”

“They didn`t!” Ines whispered. “People said, he knew words to tame them somehow. I heard that don Arsago immediately offered him to become his servant. That was a long time ago. No one knows what happened to that guy after that. There were gossips that he and the Count tried to tame paurozo, but they didn`t succeed. In the end, the fisherman disappeared without a trace. But since then, at night, you can hear knocking and scratching here and there, and sometimes there is a terrible howl, like paurzo`s singing. Sometimes, for no reason at all, mold spots suddenly spread across the walls or there is such a terrible smell in one of the rooms that it is impossible to come into! And once the maid was cleaning the mirror and saw in the reflection…”

At that moment there was a loud crack. We both jumped.

“It's just a log,” I said.

Ines turned as pale as a sheet. I firmly closed the bed curtains, leaving only a narrow crack for light.

"That's better. By the way, have you heard of the crypt hidden in this house?” I asked with my heart sank. "You know: a secret sanctuary or something like that?"

If what she told me about that brave one from the channel was true, then there was definitely a crypt in this house. But Ines only shook her head. Her pale blue eyes were filled with fear.

“I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something. I'll help you search it.”

"Oh, no, you shouldn`t! I was just curious about it, that`s all," I said with the most careless smile of my own. I didn`t need any help, not from Ines, for sure.

“I've noticed that you seem to be looking for something. Or someone... If I can help…”

“I'm not looking for anyone! I'm just interested in that old mural story and wanted to take a look. Good night.”

I fluffed the pillow and lay down, turning my back to her. The conversation was over. However, Ines didn't move. She was still sitting with her hands clasped around her knees.

“You don't understand," she whispered softly. "It`s Enrique I want to help. He doesn't like all these rumors. He doesn't believe that don Arsago could have done anything bad, but he thinks it's dangerous for us to play with the sea. They even had a big argument about that. Enrique says it's better to leave those-who-live-under-the-waves alone not to make things worse.”

I was glad to hear that Enrique was on my side, too. Such a good thing he didn't share his father's beliefs. I turned to Ines with interest.

“It's all about politics! " she went on. “I`m sure that half the rumors about Arsago are spread by liars like this ... Faliery. Our Doge wants to pass the golden cap and ring to his nephew! It is against the law, but the Doge has many supporters who are afraid to lose their power after his death. If Soranzo's kinsman comes to power again, Venetta would be mired in skirmishes and negotiations with the League of Four, which would make the pockets of the Doge and his people fill with gold while the Tarchis will invade our southern regions, one by one! Don Arsago wants to stop this.

"Did Enrique tell you all this?"

I was quite surprised. I didn't expect Ines to be so knowledgeable. Such speeches were more in Bianca`s style.

“But it's none of our business. Why do you want to help him?” I asked bluntly, hoping for a sincere answer. If Ines admitted that she was in love with Enrique, then there was at least one sincere person in my circle who could be trusted!

I could see the outline of a slender figure in the firelight, the cream lace of her shirt, the girl's puffy goldish hair. Her breathing became fast as my question confused her.

“I... I have known him since he was a child, and… I am sure that he is not capable of a low act!" Ines blurted out. “Neither he nor his father!”

I nodded thoughtfully. Well, apparently. I couldn`t rely on her. So sad. But I couldn`t make any mistakes, so better safe than sorry.

With a deliberate yawn, I lay back on my pillow.

“It's too late already and I'm sleepy. Take my advice and don`t bother with all of this. Let Enrique figure it out for himself. He`s a man, after all. Well, he seems to be.”

I could hear her indignant sigh.

“You... he's your fiancé! How could you… How could you be so heartless? If only I…

Come on, just say it, I thought cheerfully. “If only he could be mine!”

Alas, Ines was not prepared for such frankness. I felt sad. Secrets, secrets were everywhere. Since I got to Venetta I felt like a pawn that everyone wanted to win to his side. Not every secret leads to a crime, of course. But every crime inevitably begins with a secret. Someone`s deep secret, dark instincts and desire for forbidden fruit. Any murder is built on a corpse buried in the cellar.

I didn`t want to argue so I just pulled the blanket over my head and pretended to be sleeping. Ines finally lay down by my side, too. I could hear her sobbing even through the blanket. Then she finally fell asleep. I felt sorry for her but how could I comfort her?

"You`re so heartless," her voice kept saying in my head. That was a lie. If I didn`t have a heart, then what had been aching in my chest since I entered this house?

I knew as well as Ines what the words hopeless love meant.