LYDIA DEETZ AND THE WITCH’S HOUSE
Capítulo 5: The cook's tribulations
The door opened with the sound of dry wood and the kids entered a spacious but poorly lit dining room.
“It's strange," said Lydia, "some parts of the house are covered in cobwebs, giving the impression that the house is abandoned. But the tablecloth on the dining room table is very clean and neat.”
“ What's that over there, Lydia?” Percy asked, as he approached a bowl on the side of the table.
“I think it's poison," said Viola.
“How do you know that?” Lydia asked.
“What else could it be? So far we haven't seen Ellen. I'm sure this is her trap.”
“Viola's right, Lydia," said Percy, sniffing the bowl, "this is not for eating.”
The children surrounded the table and saw another worn and moldy paper sign next to a door to the north.
"The cook is tired, give him a hand"
“What can this mean," asked Percy.
Lydia shook her head, nodding to the cat boy that she didn't know what the message meant either, and when she put her very white-fingered hand on the doorknob, she was stopped by Viola.
“This door gives me a bad feeling, we'd better find another way out," said Viola with a nervous look.
“All right. I see another door out front, we'd better get over there.”
As they walked through the door, they saw to their surprise that they had reached the previous corridor.
“You scared me! Don't just come out of nowhere!” The black cat shouted at them as he bristled his fur.
“Hey, are we back in the hallway? What's going on?” wanted to know Percy, who, like the black cat, bristled the hairs on his black tail.
“Apparently the house changes its structure or part of its structure, depending on which door we go through," Lydia explained, "if that is the case, it would be very dangerous for us to separate to cover more ground. Not that I was considering the idea in the first place, since the worst thing to do in these cases is to separate.”
“What can we do?” Percy asked.
“Viola, there's no alternative. We must go by the north gate, there is no other way.”
Viola accepted with a resigned face and the three friends returned to the dining room. The black cat, however, decided to stay in the hallway.
“Lydia, look!” Percy said.
The bowl had changed shape and was now equal to a person's skull, with the exception that the top had been cut off and now the skull served as a macabre replacement for the bowl.
“The poison is still in the bowl," said Lydia.
Then, the boys got up the courage and opened the northern door next to the sign.
Apparently they had arrived at the kitchen of the old house. The floor was made up of small blue stone cobblestones that formed mushroom-shaped patterns and on top of them a small black mouse rushed from place to place that reminded them of a piece of charcoal.
“Easy, Percy," Lydia calmed the catboy, who immediately put his ears on alert and each of his hands made a fist. It was obvious he wanted to chase the rodent.
“Look," said Viola as she pointed her finger at the back of the poorly lit kitchen.
TICK, TICK, TICK, TICK.
At first Lydia couldn't see anything, all she could hear was a constant, repetitive sound, it seemed as if someone was using a knife on a wooden stand.
And then when Lydia noticed that sound, she could see what Viola was pointing to.
The kitchen knife looked like it was cutting vegetables, yet no one was holding the knife.
“A ghost," said Lydia, seeing how the invisible ghost cast a faint shadow over the cobblestones.
“You couldn't see the ghost Lydia?” Percy said strangely.
“The house apparently nullified all my magical powers, including those relating to perception, what about you Percy?”
“I couldn't see him either. I can't see ghosts or turn into a cat, I bet you I can't catch that ghost either.”
“What are we going to do, Lydia?” Viola asked apprehensively.
“We'd better go through the door on the right.”
The door was locked and it seems that the house also cancelled out Percy's extreme strength, as the cat boy couldn't force the door even though he tried.
“I see a spice rack and a book right behind the ghost," Lydia said, "maybe we'll get some clues.”
“And the ghost?” said Viola, frowning.
“If he had wanted to hurt us, he would have attacked us already. The ghost is trapped in a loop of reasoning, a repetitive task that will not interrupt it until an external factor exits the loop, so we should not talk to him or touch him.”
The three boys nodded nervously and went to the back of the narrow kitchen. There was not much room between the ghost and a table, but they managed to get to the spice rack very carefully.
The spice rack was ordinary and they could not see anything out of the ordinary.
“We'd better read the book," Viola suggested, as she read the title of the book: dining with aristocrats.
"People of power and wealth have long enjoyed the silverware dinner."
"Using utensils so difficult to clean, they could employ servants to demonstrate their wealth."
"Also, the silverware changes color on contact with the poison, which makes it very useful."
“I don't think there's anything useful in this book," said Percy sadly.
“The book actually gives us a clue as to what we should do next," said Lydia. “Since there are no silver utensils on the shelf or anywhere else in the kitchen, all we have to do is talk to the ghost.”
“Are you sure?” asked Viola.
“Yes, but we have to interpret the poster notice in a different way. If we offer our help, that is to say, if we offer to "give him a hand", the ghost will surely want to cut off our hand and who knows what else. Viola, give me the teddy bear's arms.”
Viola passed Lydia the doll's arms and then the Gothic girl approached the ghost and without a word put the doll's arms on the cutting board.
“Oh thank you, I needed a hand or two," said the ghost, "let me thank you.”
A silver spoon had just materialized next to the cutting board. Lydia grabbed the utensil and without a word left the kitchen with her friends.
“I don't think with this key we can open the door inside the kitchen," Lydia said thoughtfully, "all we can do is use the spoon with the skull shaped bowl.”
The boys went to the table and Lydia put the spoon in the bowl. Almost immediately, the poison changed from a green to a dark color.
CLICK.
“What do we do now? We give this to the ghost to drink, maybe now it's some kind of wraith poison," asked Viola.
“I don't think so," Lydia reasoned, "we just heard a noise like the sound of a door lock unlocking. We'd better go back to the kitchen and try to open the door.”
CRASH.
As the boys headed for the kitchen, a bottle of wine on their shelf suddenly fell to the floor.
The kids went into the kitchen and this time they were able to open the door, but not before a bunch of black mice fell to the floor and ran around scared.
Percy couldn't take it anymore and started chasing the mice.
“Stupid cat," shouted the ghost suddenly when Percy bumped into him, "you can't even catch a few simple mice. I know what to do with you, there's more than one way to skin a cat. Come on, I'll put you in the pan.”
“Percy, hurry up, let's go this way!” Lydia shouted.
A pair of invisible knives approached the boys as they brushed against each other to sharpen themselves.
The three friends crossed the door and closed it just in time in the "nostrils" of the ghost, which no longer dared to pursue them.
“Ah, ah... this cat is a fool," said Viola, while taking a breath.
“I'm sorry, Lydia, Viola.”
“Don't worry, Percy. We'd better take the bleachers upstairs.”
Arriving on the landing where the bleachers led up to the top floor, for a second the boys saw the image of Ellen, but the image faded almost immediately.
“Was that Ellen?” Lydia asked, and Viola nodded her head as her only answer, while she frowned and gave a hard look.
The three of them continued up the steps and reached a corridor that was darker than the corridor below.
“This place is more neglected than downstairs," said Lydia, "look at all the cobwebs.”
The children continued to move forward and passed by a door to get close to the light and in the middle of two candlesticks that did not illuminate the place, there was a medieval armor and next to it, a black cat.
“An ornamental decorative cat... I caught you," said the black cat in a funny way.
“How did you get here before us?” wanted to know Percy.
“There are many openings between the walls," said the black cat, "it is very uncomfortable to go through there, but there is no other way.”
“And why don't you come with us? That would be more comfortable," said Percy.
“...No, I'd rather go at my own pace.”
“We'd better try our luck with the back door," Lydia suggested and everyone nodded.
Behind the door there was a narrow corridor that seemed not to belong to the structure of a second floor, since the floor was made up of cobblestones more suitable for a street or an underground cellar, and so it looked that place since they soon arrived at what seemed to be a cellar that surely saw better times, as one and another barrel of wine was abandoned by the place.
“This whole place is full of cobwebs," said Percy, as he touched one of the cobwebs.
“Look," said Viola, "another sign.”
"The spider has bad eyesight, can't even tell colors apart."
“We'd better look for clues so we can get out of the house," Lydia suggested.
Apart from the barrels there was a dusty showcase which did not contribute anything, and next to it, there was a huge web which had captured a huge pale yellow butterfly, which moved its wings wearily.
Percy reached out hisr hand to touch the butterfly but was stopped by Viola.
“Don't do it, it's a trap.”
“Viola's right, Percy, let's go back to the corridor.”
The three friends retraced their steps, nervous because an evil mist was present all over the place.
As they walked through the door, a huge black and red striped spider, as big as a horse, peeped its head out from behind the huge web in the corner of the cellar.
The gigantic, monstrous-headed arachnid fixed his horrible, bald face on his precious prey. The butterfly barely moved and the movement of its wings seemed to hypnotize those milky eyes that looked at it.
The spider's jaws brushed against each other in the same way the ghost cook's knives had done. But instead of heading for its prey, the monster decided to dive into the darkness waiting for a more appetising prey... and preferably warm-blooded... human blood.
CONTINUARÁ...
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