Hotel Selten

Taking Refuge

“Miss Eve, I can explain—”

“I just told you minutes ago not to go out nor meet any human.” Ophelia gulps, “I know miss… But…” The lady holds her hand, “We’re going home.” Johannes joins in, “Hey, lady, I am her friend, you don’t need to wo—” Miss Eve turns to him and looks at him, it was not an attitude of hers, she stared at him as if this is his last. “You don’t know anything, come on, Ophelia.” He grabs Ophelia’s vacant hand, the one with an aching shoulder, he pulls her back.

Ophelia screamed slightly, Johannes looks at her, concerned. “What happened to you?” The brunette teenager was holding her shoulder, hissing in pain. She looked at him, “Just, please… Don’t find me ever again…” The lady pulled her away as she looks at him one last time, this time her pupils became thinner like a snake’s eyes. 

Johannes felt a little chill as both of them leave, just standing there and watching. He is so confused right now. He just watches them disappear into the trees. He sat under the tree out of frustration. He sat there for a while and decided to leave the forest.

He went back home with Ophelia’s statements just repeating and repeating in his mind. He lays on the couch lazily as if he wouldn’t do anything. His apartment is so quiet as he stares at the ceiling. He decided to rise and had one idea on his mind. He grabs his phone as he went outside again. After minutes of walking and jogging, he arrived in a small building where there are some men in black just wandering around. He dialed someone on his phone.

“Dad?”

Ophelia was again looking from her room’s window, she is not happy this time. She is looking at the area where she confronted Johannes. The sun is already setting and the feeling is quite sad, “I hope those words are enough to stop him from worrying and following me.” She sighs as she approached her bed and sits on the edge of it. “I hope those police didn’t saw him talking to us.” 

She decided to go out of her room and walk upstairs. She saw some residents doing their thing. The dinner was not yet served. She looks to her right as she saw the living room, with the sofa and shelves of books and other kinds of stuff. She approached the shelves and looks at the books. ‘Reading might be a good pastime with my situation.’

She grabbed a random book and flops herself on the couch. She opens the book and starts reading to let time pass. Minutes later of reading, she starts to hear some clanking, she looked at the dining table and the servants start to serve their food. She rises and sets the book aside as she approaches the dining table, sitting on her usual spot. The residents start coming to the table and taking a seat. Ophelia serves herself some breaded pork and some salad on her plate. 

The lady, at last, sits on her seat, “Good evening, Miss Eve.” They all greeted her in chorus. She smiled, “Good evening too, eat well.” She serves herself as they all eat. While she was chewing, she looks around and she noticed Ophelia. She was examining her as she notices the necklace she is wearing. The familiar pendant of it makes her think.

“Where did you saw that, Ophelia?” She asked, still looking at the necklace. Ophelia raised her head and turned to her. “Hmm…?” She mumbles as she chews her food. She followed where was the lady looking, “Oh! Thish necklash-e?” She swallows her food, “I just saw it on a drawer in my room.” The lady nods as she continues to eat, minding her own business once again.

“Why you asked, Miss Eve?” Ophelia looked at her confused, “Is this yours? I am sorry—” The lady raised her hand, “No, no. Just asking. It’s beautiful.” She smiled as Ophelia blushed. “Thank you miss…” Miss Eve giggled, “You are very welcome, Ophelia.” Inside, the lady seems getting bugged on something as she looks at the necklace. She avoided looking at it, avoiding raising another awkwardness. 

The next day, Ophelia had a happy morning. She went out of her room with new clothes and a brand new day. After eating breakfast, she decided to finish the novel she is reading. She’s on the couch the whole morning, just reading the novel. She finished it and it’s exactly lunch, so she ate right away.

She returned the book to the shelves after lunch, she explored the main building in the afternoon, just to ease her boredom. She learns how to navigate in the building she is staying in and met some new residents that haven’t able to talk to her.

She encountered a teenage girl who has black hair and a strange attitude. She seems nervous. “Hello.” She greeted her. “H-hi…” The girl was hiding behind her long hair. “Why are you nervous?” Ophelia asked her, comforting her. “I am not! Well, I maybe am! But this is just me… Don’t worry.” The brunette teenager nods, “Uhuh…” The girl looks at her, “Did I made a bad impression on you? I-I’m… sorry!” She covered her face and starts whining.

“No! You didn’t, I just understand, please don’t be sad.” The girl looks at her again and smiles, “I am M-Marceau… It’s n-nice to be friends with the newcomer.” She keeps stuttering as if she’s speaking in public. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Ophelia smiles at her. Marceau notices the necklace and becomes more terrified. “How did you get that necklace!?” She said, looking at her necklace. “Uhm… In a drawer…?” The girl runs away and enters her room. She went to her bed and curls up. Ophelia follows her and looks at her, “Why…? What happened?” “Don’t come in! You are wearing the necklace of a monster!” She looked at the necklace, it doesn’t seem that bad. 

“What’s happening here?” Miss Eve approaches her, “Marceau seems to break down.” The lady went into her room and approached the girl. “Marceau, how are you?” The girl looks at her and hugs her immediately, “Miss Eve…” She starts to cry, the lady caresses her back to comfort her. “Don’t worry… Miss Eve is here…” She looks up as Miss Eve wipes her tears off her face. “The monster is back… Miss Eve… Please be safe…” She hugged her again and pats her head. “There’s no monster Marceau… She’s gone… Ophelia just saw her necklace.”

“Doesn’t it make her a monster too? I don’t want the newcomer to be a monster too.” Miss Eve raises her chin and looks at her eyes, “She wouldn’t infect Ophelia, okay? There is nothing to worry about. She is gone and she wouldn’t bother us again.” Marceau smiles, “That’s the smile of my Marceau.” The girl looked at Ophelia, she approached her and hugs her.

“I am s-sorry, Ophelia.” Ophelia was shocked, but she just hugged her back. “Uhm… It’s okay… I am just gonna throw the neck—” “N-no! You shouldn’t do that! I am okay! I might be spoiling the fun you have… I’m really sorry.” She lowered her head. “If you say so.” Ophelia looks at Miss Eve who approached Marceau and pats her back one more. “I would be going now.”

“Miss, can I go with you?” She looks at the girl, “I will be going too, please don’t be sad. I need to do something. It’s nice to meet you, anyway.” Marceau nods, “It’s fine, see you later… Or anytime.” She smiles. The other two went on their way.

While walking, Ophelia looks at Miss Eve, “Why is she like that earlier? Is this necklace have some sort of magic that I didn’t know?” The lady shook her head, “It’s just a normal necklace, she just has trauma to it. Due to her retentive memory, she can’t move on to it.” The brunette girl looks straight on the way and thinks. “What happened, miss?” Miss Eve sighs, “I rather not say it.” Ophelia just nods, she respects the decision of the lady. But her mind keeps begging to know it. What happened that even Miss Eve can’t say it nor tell any clue about it?

They went down to the first floor, Blaise approached them. “Good afternoon, Miss Eve.” The lady smiles, “Good afternoon.” He looked at Ophelia, “Oh, you are here. Good afternoon to you too.” She giggled, “Good afternoon, Blaise.” He looked at the lady, “Miss Eve, can I have your permission on something?” 

“Tell it.” Blaise draws his gadget. “I need you to remove the barrier for a while as I perform the 91st testing for my machine.” The lady’s face became confused, “Well, according to my 90th testing, I can’t test my machine with your barrier still intact, or else you will be weak again.” She is still hesitating. “Don’t worry miss, you wouldn’t take it off right away. Can I invite you to my lab?” She nods, “Sure.” Blaise smiles, “Awesome.”

They went their way to the laboratory. Blaise keeps tapping and scrolling his gadgets while walking. They arrived, Ophelia looked around, the machine is now in the center of the lab. “You seem getting ready for this, huh.” He approached the machine, “Yep! I am better to have this working once and for all! So Miss Eve wouldn’t be stressed anymore about keeping the barrier intact and making sure she will not get fatigued. It will be so useful!” He hid his gadget as he starts to place the test tubes and one by one, he inserted them into the machine. “Let me just load this big boy up.” The machine then extracts the magic in the test tubes and it exits the machine all finished up.

The two ladies watch him as he prepares the machine. Miss Eve decided to prepare also as she sits on the floor, with her legs crossed. She placed her hands on her lap as she breathes. She relaxes and prepares to remove the barrier. “I will signal you Miss Eve to bring back the barrier if I am already done.” The lady nods.

Ophelia takes a seat, she is preparing if there will be another blast. She’s already done getting blasted and getting her head bump. Maybe that’s the reason why she keeps getting headaches these past few days. 

Blaise keeps loading the machine with magic. As the final test tube went out of it, he rubs his hands and breathes deeply. He pushes and flips some switches. He heaved a sigh of relief. He draws his gadget again, typing on his notes.

Test 91

Loading the magic extracts, complete and fine.

Converting the magic into neutrality, complete and good.

I hope this works.

He hid his gadget, he looks at the lady as he touches the lever of the machine. “Miss, you can take off the barrier now.” The lady breathes as she extends her arm sideways, she stayed it like that for some seconds. An aura of magic reaches her hand as her arm motions on her chest, sealing the aura on her hands, holding it like a ball. Blaise then pulls the lever down, as he holds onto the machine. 

A blast was emitted by the machine, but not as strong as before who knocked them all out. It just blew their hair. Ophelia closes her eyes as well as Blaise. Minutes later, she opens her eyes and looks around. Some of the light devices of Blaise fall off, but she simply ignores that. She decided to go out to the surface. As she went on the ground floor, she can vaguely see, but she knows there is a barrier around them. She was glad, she came back to the laboratory.

“Blaise, it worked!” The blonde boy goes up and caresses his back. Ophelia holds his hand and dragged him outside. Blaise looks around, his mouth gapes. He looks at Ophelia and back to the sky. He jumps in happiness, “YES!!!”

They were celebrating until they heard a voice.

“Das Mädchen! Sie ist da!”