Chapter 11 - The Floors
As quietly as she could, Idalia pulled Arik to herself, stood up from her chair, and took a step back from him. "I was merely joking."
Louie blinked, sucked in a quick breath, and took a step back. "I made you scared, I'm sorry." He began to clean the mess as quickly as possible. "I'm just trying to look out for you and Leo, that's all."
Idalia nodded, although she didn't believe a word he was saying.
What was that?!
Was that how Louie was?
If so, then of course he had no friends. He was crazy. Louie was a crazy man!
He had cleared the table so quickly, and then he was back from the kitchen. "You just have to stay away from him. Everything will be alright if you do."
"Has anything happened to those who had gotten involved with him in the past? Is that why this place is so empty? Do his workers just—-"
"Don't tire yourself, Julie. Just stay away from him, okay?" Humour glinted in his eyes. "He is kind of crazy, and to properly stay out of his way, you'll need a tour to know places you have to stay away from."
And so a tour began, and while Louie showed her different rooms and different electronic appliances around the house, she couldn't shake that uneasy feeling Louie's swift in attitude had sent shimmering in her veins.
Indeed, she had planned to stay away from Mr. Lythoryn, but with Louie telling her to do that, and with the eerie feeling that crept down her spine with the shift in the atmosphere, she saw two options laid out in front of her.
It was either that Mr. Lythoryn was indeed very dangerous, which he definitely seemed to have the potential to be, and Louie was indeed looking out for them.
Or
That Louie was crazy.
Or wait, a third one.
That Louie himself was dangerous and her mere joke - which he had believed to be true - had the potential of getting in the way of his plans. Mr. Lythoryn didn't seem to have any family. If he were to die, he didn't seem to have any heir, and maybe Louie had eyes on his properties.
With what Grandpa Alfred had told her about humans. They seemed capable of such horror,s just like werewolves.
Idalia had complained about the door in her room and requested a key. Louie took action immediately. He had led her to a room at the end of the hallway, and easily pushed it open. He made a comment about always forgetting to fix the door.
The room had a lot of things in it. It was definitely a storage room. Louie grabbed a bundle of keys from the wall, then they headed to her room and unlocked the door that had made Idalia so worried.
There was nothing important there, just Louie's things packed in two small traveling bags.
"You used to stay here?"
"Yeah, I had no place to stay after I got to Echelon. He was kind enough to let me stay here. I guess I'll finally move out today. I've been putting it off for a while, but I found a good apartment in this estate."
Kind enough? So what? Was he good? Bad? In between?
"Why didn't you stay with your brother?"
"We both lived here. We only moved out recently, and we are happy about that. The freedom is nice, and the air in this mansion sometimes feels… well… heavy."
That made Idalia feel even more uneasy. The mansion seemed not to have much life in it.
"You can move in with me till you get an apartment, once the case is over and he gets approval from the government to begin his extermination process. That is before you get your own apartment, of course. I'm sure, Mr. L.Y's recommendation letter and the sum he would pay to you would set you up for life! You'll never have to worry about those loan sharks or not having money again. You can just stay right here in Echelon."
Recommendation letter and a huge compensation? It must have been in the contract. She had just been too pressured to read it.
"Mr. Lythoryn sounds so powerful. What exactly was his place in Echelon? He can't just be a detective."
Louie hummed. "I think we should continue our tour."
Well, it was obvious that they were all hiding something. Whether finding it out was integral to her and Arik's safety here, or just leaving it as Louie had suggested was what would ensure their safety, she couldn't tell, and right now, she didn't trust Louie at all.
Louie had handed her the key to the door, wheeled down his traveling bags to the sitting room, and headed back up for the tour.
The first floor, where her room was, was definitely for the servants, bodyguards, and any help of the like.
If Mr. Lythoryn was so comfortable with none of his bodyguards living with him, then he must… well, be something.
The second floor was for the guests. She wouldn't need to clean those except there was a guest occupying it or about to, Louie had told her that.
"You'll probably never have to worry about that while you are here, though."
So, he hardly had guests over.
What a strange human. Everywhere was so big and so empty at the same time. He was odd.
When she began to climb the stairs that led up, Louie stopped her. "That's his floor. You won't have to clean it. Neither would you have to attend to the last floor. He takes care of everything himself, which is good, less work for you."
There seemed to be more he wanted to say, though, but he had refused to.
Don't go there. Don't you ever go there. Stay away from him for your sake and your baby.
"Fantastic," Idalia said with a smile, she could feel beads of sweat on her back and she was too pleased to turn away and leave.
But then even as she did that, a strange feeling coursed through her veins, like she could feel a pair of eyes on her.
So she looked back.
Up the stairs and into the dimly lit hallway that almost felt like it was physically tempting her to come up, to come in.
Her breath halted.
There, right there, perched on a rod attached to the ceiling was the raven.
His black eyes staring right at her.