Caught in the Act

Let's rewind the time a little bit. To the time when Diego and Mawmaw met Lucia and her other nephew, Owen.

Diego was stiff. A lot of things were going on in his head as he agreed to follow the peculiar woman he just met. Only if it could be considered following when both Lucia and Owen just hitched a ride with him.

Owen got inside the coach to catch some sleep while Lucia sat beside him on the driver's seat.

She made herself comfortable, putting Mawmaw on her lap. Then she pulled out an eyeglass from her bosom, a yellow tinted one.

He seriously wondered how she put it there but that wasn't what surprised him the most.

As soon as she put the eyeglasses on, she started pointing which direction to go. As if she knew the moaning lake by the back of her hand. It took him a while to realize the eyeglasses probably weren't normal.

And he was right! For it was the lenses of truth. And there were two others like this. The blue tinted ones and the red ones. But that will be a story for another time. It didn't take them long to find the true path again.

The moaning lake was expansive. Although the lake itself was fairly small, its surrounding was wide enough a small village could be built around it.

It was about to go dark when they finally got out of the moaning lake. They could have taken the shortest route but they will have to encounter many weird creatures along the way. And Lucia didn't want that.

"Why are you wasting your Manda-Taki?" Diego exclaimed. Surprised Lucia was lighting one. "I have normal candles. Wait, I'll get them."

"There is no need, stranger. Unless you wish to fight the hounds of Phulas then go ahead." Lucia told him as she threw a dried fish into the grill. Owen was rinsing the rice beside her. They decided to camp for the night.

"W—What do you mean by that?" He asked. "And also, I have a name. It's Diego McKenzie."

"Okay, McKenzie. McKenzie it is. Like I said, the hounds of Phulas will come if we don't light this. We also want a graveyard residency like my nephew but unlike him, we might have angered the guardian a little bit."

"Ha?! Guardian? Which guardian? There were four that I know of."

"Fobela Taki-Taki." Lucia answered nonchalantly.

"Huh? Come again?" Diego couldn't believe what he just heard.

"We may have angered Fobela Taki-Taki a little bit," she repeated. "Hey, my other nephew! Say something too."

"What should I say?" Owen asked as he wiped Mawmaw's shell. A whole forest of moss started growing in the crevices of his shell.

"Ugh! You're no fun. George would have said a joke or two by now. Though none of his jokes were funny, it was the thought that counts."

And Diego was actually confused about George's supposed aunt's behavior. She was so nonchalant. Even after he told her George had been kidnapped. It's as if she didn't care at all.

'But they might have angered who?' Diego thought, unbelieving. He was still processing what he just heard.

***

And speaking of George, if one would ask what he was doing at the moment, it might be a little hard to explain.

Well, let's say it this way. Nico, Tina, and him started rolling down the stone platform, literally.

Embarrassing and not the most pleasant to look at. Sure. But what other choice do they have? Rolling was the best they could do given their circumstances.

The platform wasn't that high. Probably around a meter tall. They wouldn't break a bone if they fell.

Nico was the first to get down. Followed by Tina. And then it was finally his turn.

He hesitated at first. After all, he was still sore from the rope rubbing against his skin. Plus there was still the large scrape from the night he first met Diego. It hadn't fully healed yet and it stung all over. The bondage Diego gave him didn't really do much for the sting.

After much deliberation, he finally got down.

"So what's next?" Tina asked.

"Let's get one of the bird's knives. Should be safer than breaking the mirrors, don't you think?" Nico suggested, referring to the mascot.

"Okay, genius." It was Tina. "And here I thought you had some groundbreaking escape plan. That won't work. I already tried that on my first attempt. The knives won't budge. Stronger than my father's will to leave me and my mum. Don't ask me how I did it."

"Oh! I… I didn't know that. The mirror it is."

And so they rolled to the nearest mirror. Something the three of them didn't like at all. And it might be the most humiliating thing they've ever done their whole lives. They were cringing the whole time.

"Guys, I don't think it's gonna work." Said George. "Can't you see how tightly we are bound? Besides, I don't think these are normal ropes either."

He could feel a pulse from it, very subtly. As if the rope was alive or something.

"You just realized that?" Tina spat. "But breaking the mirror, huh. Although I was the one who suggested it, I still think it's impossible. And you probably know why."

Just like the door, the mirrors also stretched from the floor and into the ceiling. It was also questionable how three people whose limbs were tightly bound by magical ropes could break one.

"What're we gonna do? Roll and bump on it and hope it cracks?" She added.

George didn't say anything. Even he couldn't think of anything.

"You know what? Good idea." It was Nico. He had the determined look on his face before he started to roll sidewards into one of the mirrors, picking up speed as he went.

"It's useless," Tina muttered, shaking her head.

But the result wasn't what they expected. As soon as Nico made contact with the mirror, the surface rippled and morphed into a rubber-like texture. Three large gooey hands sprung from it and pinned the three of them to the floor.

"Ugh!" Nico groaned.

And that, however, was when someone drew a knife on George's neck.

"Don't damage the sacrifice, Kadita." It was from a man named Marco. And the three of them froze.