LANGUAGE BARRIER

Curtis looked at Anneliese and right then, the woman broke free of his grip and groveled at her feet, begging her not to kick her out.

Anneliese asked what was going on and Curtis explained everything, but Anneliese said,"Curtis, Oppong Manor is for everyone, even those we don't like, she's more than welcome."

Curtis squinted his eyes then held the woman tightly by the wrist and said,"If you dare try and act smart, you'd realize painfully, how stupid you really are."

He then threw her to the floor and Anneliese went to her aid, calling the children to lead her in.

Anneliese then walked to Curtis after looking to see the woman was gone, then asked,"Okay, so what's wrong? What's really wrong?"

"That woman is some harlot who got impregnated by some guy and came here to run away from her troubles."

"But according to your story, wasn't this man your friend?"She asked.

"Acquaintance, actually..."He sighed,"...my family bribed his which was literally in a financial sink, to sell him to us to aid me on my stupid mission in any needed way, he was my servant, but I ended up befriending him, I was an idiot."

"Don't beat yourself up yet, but quick question...why him? Why didn't they choose some other cheaper family that was actually owing them?"

"Because they saw... potential in him, at the age of twelve, he already had five police officers wrapped around his fingers, holding dirt against them which wouldn't only get them fired, but arrested, the only reason his family hadn't starved to death by the time mine intervened was that he was extorting money from a high class family and this is only the surface..."

"So you fear..."

"That he just wants to use this lady to damage my relationship with the family...with Alexa."

"But you've changed, right? You'd never..."

"That's the thing, the very reason he'd do this is so I'd get so devastated because I've ' changed ' that after getting heartbroken, I'd have nowhere else to go back to but to him."

"But isn't he pretending to be dead?"

"He knows I know it's not true, nothing that woman said was true."

"Then let's get her out, immediately."

"No, Oppong Manor is for everyone, even those we don't like, besides, I think I know how to get to him through her..."

Apollo watched the strange lady walking across the front yard with Alek talking to her nonstop and Jessica trying to shut him up.

Micky and Ricky had already ran away to engage in their own sinister shenanigans, while Nicky silently escorted the lady to a room.

Apollo didn't like her one bit, mainly because he had sensed Curtis's entire conversation with his mother.

He just turned back and saw Sylvia taking baby steps to him.

He squatted and picked her up in one hand and kissed her gently as she squealed and held his nose, then he smiled at her...

"It's been so long! How do we know Felix and Alexa are okay?!"Alex yelled.

"Calm down sweetie, they're fine, they visited me a few days ago."My mom said.

"What?!"

"They've been visiting me ever since Felix began using that mansion in Madagascar to keep their supplies and...Indigo."

"And why didn't you ever tell me?!"

"Because I knew you'd react like this and probably do something rash, your family needs you, go to them."

"Mom, you can't just tell me something like that and expect me to calm down."

"But I can expect you to go back to your wife and children, can't I?"

He sighed then nodded and left, my mother smiled then kissed Alena's forehead, then felt slightly cold and looked back, then gasped...

***

"So, you were just in the process of writing a spell down when your books attacked you?"Alexa asked.

"Well, yeah, but first my spell book began flipping pages crazily after my gem began glowing."Corma explained.

"So it's your gem that did this?"Alexa asked.

"Well, I guess so."

"...which pages did the spell book flip to?"

Alexa went to sit at her desk as Corma tried to remember, she then said,"First, it went to the hundredth and ninety fifth page, then to the two hundredth and third and finally, the two hundredth and thirteenth."

Alexa spun on the rotation chair as she thought with her eyes closed, then opened them suddenly then wrote the numbers down in their word form.

She began deducing a code from it then said,"I have no idea what the numbers mean, I have nothing."

"Maybe they were just random?"She asked again.

"No, the book...the gem was determined to open it to those particular pages."Corma said.

"Why don't you just ask your gem what it means?"

"I don't quite have the same relationship with my gem as you do, you know, it taking full control from time to time, so I can't tell."

"Every wielder has a unique relationship with their gems, mine takes control as said earlier, my brother's talks to him in real time, Toyoran's enables him to feel what other people feel to show what it feels and more, you just have to connect with it... connect with it, connect!"

"What?"

"Do you think you could make some kind of interpretation spell for your gem?"

"I could try, but I'm still not yet fluent in the magic language."

Alexa thought for a moment then said,"Give me a second."

She took a deep breath as the eyes on her gem began to glow, then she opened her eyes again with a cold expression then asked,"What do you want?"

"Umm, me? Oh I...I...Alexa wanted to know if you could help me find an interpretation spell to help me understand my gem better."Corma said nervously.

Alexa... Arachnida sighed then said,"I only work with dark drunes, not light ones."

"What are drunes?"

"The universal and most powerful language of magic, something you would have heard of if you weren't always asking and you actually began listening."

"So, could you like use a dark drune to help?"

"Dark drunes corrupt light, something you'd know if you paid attention to the effects of my venom, only another light drune could affect your gem without damaging it or the entire multiverse."

"But how would I find the right one?"

"There is no ' right one ' it's a language on its own, as long as you say the right thing, it will work."

"But..."

"Toodles."

The gem stopped glowing then Alexa asked,"So what did she say?"

"... let's get started with the spell."