Shining among Darkness

By
WingzemonX

Chapter 33.
You have captured my curiosity

After two days of resting locked in that strange little room, Lily Sullivan could get out of bed. However, she required crutches to be able to walk, since her wound still hurt too much to support her right leg. Luckily, her kidnapper got them suspiciously fast. Esther got her some new clothes too, plus a short brown wig and ugly thick black-rimmed glasses. Had also bought a blonde wig, somewhat more discreet glasses, and a hat larger than her head for her. They looked ridiculous, at least from her point of view. And on top of that, Lily also needed some makeup to hide the ugly bruise on her face, which had already faded but was still visible enough. Luckily, Esther had plenty of powder for her personal use.

It turned out that they were not in the middle of the forest or in front of a police headquarters, or in any other strange place. In fact, they were in a modest old hotel in an equally modest old town a few miles north of Portland. Lily never knew the name of that place, and she didn't care.

Esther bought them two tickets for a bus to Olympia, which they boarded quite early in the morning. The trip lasted about three hours, and at least two worried people asked them the same questions: "What are two such pretty girls doing traveling alone?" and "What happened to your leg, little one?" The last one came as soon as they noticed Lily's crutches and the thick bandage around her thigh, discreetly noticeable under her outfit's yellow skirt. For both questions, Esther always went ahead to answer with fantastic ease.

"We're going to visit our aunt in Port Townsend. Our dad is already waiting for us in Olympia," she replied to the first, with a wide, friendly, and innocent smile. With her totally fake and made-up face, this made her look like the most adorable girl in the world. And about Lily's leg, she only answered: "A dog attacked her, a very big one... But it was her fault. She annoyed it and misbehaved. But I'm sure you learned your lesson. Right, sis?"

In those moments, Lily preferred to just keep quiet, smile discreetly, and nod. Interestingly, no one questioned them much more after that. She had to give her captor credit. She could be crazy and totally false from head to toe. However, she knew how to manipulate and control people, and she did it even without powers.

They got off at Olympia and disappeared before anyone asked them more questions, including their supposed father, who should be waiting there. They hadn't been lying when they said they were heading to Port Townsend, although that wasn't their final destination.

They had to wait for the next bus to leave in two hours, so they decided to go get something to eat. On the other side of the avenue in front of the station, there was a shopping plaza. It seemed to Lily that it was a bit absurd to go to such a crowded place and risk being recognized by someone. From another point of view, Esther affirmed that it was better to be precisely in a place full of people, where they could be mixed with the crowd. She had said something about how, when more people are around them, the persons looked less. It did not seem coherent to Lily, but she wasn't the professional psychopath, so what could she know?

They entered the plaza without much trouble. There were indeed enough people, but all too busy with their own affairs to care about the two girls who were out there alone. They did not get too complicated about food: they went directly to a McDonalds that was there inside the square. There would be many kids with their parents, so they hoped that two more girls wouldn't attract much attention.

Lily sat at a table, leaving her crutches on this one, while Esther ordered. She had been sitting most of the day, but the little use of the crutches had been enough to tire her. And although she wasn't putting weight in her wounded leg, it still hurt. And yet, she was sure it was not even remotely close to how it would hurt if it had been infected, gangrenous, and dead. She had been taking antibiotics and anti-inflammatories as her deranged nurse had instructed. And adding to the two days of rest that had apparently helped. But she feared all the hustle and bustle of that trip would reopen the wound or complicate her recovery.

She placed her hand on the bandage, squeezing a little and vividly feeling the burning that this contact generated. She didn't understand people's taste for doing that kind of thing, but she was apparently doing it unconsciously. After being in it for a while, she felt a curious tingle on the left side of her head… a familiar itch. She raised her cautious gaze and caught a woman at another table, looking away, hurrying, and pretending not to see her. But, had she done it? Or was it just her imagination?

The woman was accompanied by two small children, as blond and pale as she was, but they were seated so that their backs were turned to Lily. She stared at the woman silently, seeing if she could detect something coming from her head. The only thing she noticed was annoying anxiety but did not identify the cause. Inadvertently, she stared at her for quite a bit longer, long enough to see her subtly trying to turn in her direction again but realizing she was looking at her too. The woman quickly lowered his gaze back to her tray and greasy burger. The anxiety Lily felt coming from her increased relatively.

Esther's abrupt appearance at her side, carrying a tray with her meals in her hands, brought the girl abruptly out of her concentration, startling her a little.

"Here you go, a Big Mac," the blonde-wigged woman murmured in a crafty voice, placing the tray on the table in front of her. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a Happy Meal?"

"No," replied the girl with the brown wig, as she took the small box that contained her hamburger. "And you?"

Esther just smiled and took her respective food herself, including the fries and the soda.

Lily glanced at the woman at the other table, who at that moment seemed to be concerned about cleaning the dirty faces of one of her children while saying something slowly. Should she tell Esther about it? She considered it but decided better to see where it all went first.

"How is your leg?" Her captor questioned.

"Do you really care?" Lily answered right after with a sharp tone.

Esther shrugged.

"As I have to give you alive, yes."

Lily watched her for a while in silence, noticing how she began to remove the bread from the little hamburger, and strangely began to separate its parts. Using the two parts of the box, she put the meat and cheese on one side, and the few vegetables on the other. Also, using a plastic knife, she tried to remove as much of the dressing as possible from the bread and meat. Lily just wondering who the hell ate a hamburger like that.

"My leg's better," she answered her question after a while. "Or at least as good as it can be after getting a shot."

"Why don't you say it louder?" Esther murmured with apparent calm, as she continued in her task of removing the dressing from her food. "I think they didn't hear you at the cashboxes."

Lily snorted slowly, and then she took her burger and took a big bite, like a "normal" person. In doing so, however, she ended up staining the large glasses she brought with him, so she had to quickly remove and place them on the table.

"It's uncomfortable enough having to carry these crutches. Are these stupid costumes really necessary?"

Esther had already started eating, or something like that. Using a fork and a plastic knife, she began to cut the hamburger's meat into small pieces and put one by one in her mouth, also chewing them carefully.

After swallowing the bite, she commented:

"Do you think the police would forget so quickly about a strange child-looking murderer who killed one of them and escaped with an innocent and harmless ten-year-old girl?" She ended her comment with a small wry giggle. "If they knew what you really are, they would care more about me."

"Don't be smug. You don't even know what I really am."

Esther continued to eat, though she regarded her with an amused expression that even Lily found conceited as she did so.

"I know better than you think. In fact, you and I are quite similar, or not?"

"Not at all."

"Seriously? Well, how we both came to this world is indeed different. Still, despite everything, we ended up traveling quite similar paths, even crossing right here and now. We both apparently murdered our parents and a few others along the way, for example."

"I've never killed anyone," Lily stated sharply.

Indeed, she had never directly shot or stabbed someone. She had only played with their minds and fears, making them do it themselves: even her father and even Emily.

However, her response caused Esther to laugh, low-key but still quite noticeable.

"Yeah, of course not. You're the type of person who would push someone off the ledge of a building and claim they were killed by the pavement, right?"

"It wouldn't be a lie. People are so… fragile."

"Is that why you do it?" The woman asked, looking at her with fervent curiosity. "Is that why… you pushed all those people off the ledge of the building? Because their weakness bothers you? Because do you find it funny? Or because do you enjoy it?"

Lily was silent, in a small reflective silence.

Did she enjoy it? Yes, there was probably a bit of it.

Since she was little, she had had that fascination, almost morbid some would say, to the tragedy, the pain, and the suffering, as if it caused her some satisfaction. In his image of her as a demon from hell, her father said that she fed on it. Was it like that? She didn't really know, and… she didn't really care.

"Do you enjoy it, do you?" Lily murmured a bit defensively, eating some of her potatoes. "Did you enjoy killing all those men fantasizing that they were your father? What did you like the most? Sleep with them or kill them?"

The smile faded from Esther's lips quickly, and that did bring joy to the ten-year-old girl. Her captor turned back to her food and continued tasting the pieces of meat one by one.

"You'd better eat your hamburger in silence," she answered in a dry voice.

"You started."

After that, they ate in silence for a while. Out of curiosity, Lily tried to capture a little of what her companion was thinking at the time but did not perceive much beyond a cold and dark sensation. During those days that she had spent with her after waking up, it had seemed difficult to inquire into her head. She wondered if the medicines she had to take had something to do with it, or perhaps a part of her was reluctant to enter Esther's thoughts further after hearing the long story of her deplorable, but still interesting life.

Suddenly, Lily noticed that Esther was looking ahead surreptitiously while continuing to eat her meat. Lily turned in the same direction. The woman who had surprised looking at her was no longer at the table, and neither were her children. In fact, she was right outside the McDonalds now, talking to… a policeman. Or so it appeared to be, from her dark blue uniform. He was a tall and somewhat thin man with reddish hair. Both conversed quietly, while the lady held the two children against her legs. And at a certain point, she turned in their direction, and the alleged officer did the same. At that very moment, Lily managed to catch a clear thought coming from the woman. Thoughts fueled by fear were always much easier for her to grasp: "I think it's the girl from the news, the one who was kidnapped in Portland."

Lily glanced at Esther; this one might not read minds, but it was pretty evident that she didn't need to figure out what was going on.

"Grab your crutches and let's go," Esther pointed out sharply, quickly setting the plastic cutlery on the table.

"I'm not done yet," the little girl said calmly, although she was only teasing her, in fact. She even took one more small bite of his burger at that point.

"Let's go, I said," the killer snapped, getting to her feet and shifting her large suitcase back to her shoulder.

Lily took another bite, again mostly to annoy her, and then took her time picking up her crutches and following her as they allowed it.

The place had two exits, so they quickly left through one, while the officer entered through the other. He apparently moved cautiously as he followed them; most likely, he was not entirely sure of his actions. For one thing, if they weren't who he thought they were, he would be chasing two innocent girls for no reason. On the other hand, if indeed they were, they would have warned him that this mad murderer was dangerous. She had already killed one officer in Portland and wounded another. Plus, they were in a public place; he couldn't just scare people if he didn't have an apparent reason for that. Esther hoped she could use that to her advantage and lose it in the crowd.

Both began to move among the people who walked through the corridors or entered and left the stores. Esther frequently looked over her shoulder to make sure they were still being followed, and indeed there it was, each time a step back, but still trying not to lose sight of them.

At that moment, Lily caught a word in Russian, or something like it, echoing in her captor's mind. That she had clearly perceived, so her powers weren't atrophying so much. It was not precisely fear what she perceived of her, but it was very similar. But not by being trapped in itself, but rather by being… locked up?

Esther then pulled her in the direction of a hallway, which led to the bathrooms according to the signs. This corridor looked lonely at those times. And when they entered the women's restroom, there was no one in the washbasins, and all the cubicles looked empty. In fact, as soon as the automatic return door was closed, there was a rather profound silence, in contrast to the hustle and bustle outside.

"Looks like your costumes didn't quite work out," Lily commented wryly.

"Silence," Esther replied with marked stress in her voice. Then she opened that huge bag that she brought with her, where in addition to clothes and several cash bills, she carried some firearms. She did pull out a pistol, checked the cartridge to see how many rounds it had, and then put it back in the gun, all in just a couple of seconds. "Go to the cubicle, now."

She pointed the gun at the first of the cubicles. If her idea was to hide there, it sounded pretty desperate. Still, Lily did what she said and entered it. Esther followed her and closed the door behind them. However, Lily noticed that she didn't lock it, which struck her curiously.

The girl sat on the closed toilet bowl and put her crutches to one side. On the other hand, Esther stood right in front of her, turned toward the door with her weapon held in both hands, and pointed straight up.

"Are you planning to shoot him right here?" Lily murmured skeptically. "What a professional killer you are. Why don't you yell at the top of your lungs, so everyone knows you're here? How long do you think it will take before they block all exits and surround the building with patrols? And after that happens, what? Are you planning to take all the people as your hostages? Yes, that will surely end very well..."

"Shut up!" The foreigner snapped, turning to see her annoyed over her shoulder. "Do you have a better idea?"

"Actually, yes," Lily replied seriously, then reached out with a hand and placed it just on Esther's right shoulder. "Don't do anything... leave it to me."

Esther glanced at her with a confused face. Then she heard how the bathroom door opened abruptly. That put her entirely on alert, and she gripped her weapon tighter between her fingers.

"Don't do anything, I told you," the girl whispered to her slowly, and then she stared at the door.

Cautious footsteps were heard from the one who entered the bathroom and approached the cubicle. It was him, Esther was sure of that. Regardless of what that brat said, she was tense. Her finger ready to pull as soon as she got her sights on. However, the closer she heard his footsteps, the more Lily's fingers tightened around her shoulder.

The cubicle door swung open, and there she saw him standing: the tall, red-haired officer, holding his gun out front with one hand, while with the other he pulled on the door. Esther was about to shoot unashamedly as soon as she saw the weapon, but Lily pulled her back with a bit of force so that her ear was level with her lips.

"Don't do that," he whispered very slowly.

Esther looked at her over her shoulder for only an instant, and then she turned back to the front. At that moment, she noticed it: the policeman was looking into the cubicle, but he was not exactly looking at them. He looked from side to side, up and down, but said nothing, nor did make any gesture indicating that he was even aware of their presence. He didn't look at them...

Esther looked at Lily again, somewhat confused. She was looking at the man seriously. Was she doing it? Was she making him not see them? Could she do such a thing?

After a while, the officer withdrew and went to the next cubicle, apparently opening it similarly and inspecting it. Esther just stayed still in her place, somewhat tense as she listened as the policeman moved around the bathroom. When he reached the last cubicle, the man backed away in confusion, scratching his head. He put his weapon back in its holster, and at that moment, the radio he carried on his shoulder sounded.

"Owlman, are you there?" A woman's voice questioned, her tone somewhat annoyed. "Where did you go?"

The officer took the small radio and activated it so he could speak.

"Here is Owlman. I was following two suspicious girls, but I lost sight of them. I'll keep walking around here for a while to see if I see them."

"Roger. Do you need support?"

Officer Owlman seemed hesitant about how to answer that question. He was not really sure at all that those he was following were indeed who he thought. And even if they were, those stories about a murderer and kidnapper who looked like a kid... That seemed like something out of a movie; how could that be true? But there was still an alert about it. What was the right thing to do? Alert his teammates or wait to be sure? In the end, he was more inclined to the second option.

"No, don't worry. Maybe it's nothing."

"Ok. We wait for you outside."

Owlman went to the sinks and wet his hands a little, then moistened his face. He had missed for a moment that he was in the ladies' room, but he hoped there was no problem; he was an officer, after all. After washing his face, he leaned against the sink and looked carefully at his face, still with drops of water, in the mirror.

Then he heard a hiss, a peculiar sound that did not identify its origin at first but became more and more noticeable. He lowered his gaze; it seemed to come from the sink drain he was leaning on. He stared at that round, dark hole for perhaps several minutes. The hiss became more noticeable as if something was climbing through it. After a while, the head of a long, completely black snake with big yellow eyes peeked out of the hole and crawled across the white porcelain towards the sink's edge. Owlman reacted in horror, jumping back and then backing further, almost touching the cubicles with his back. He could no longer see the drain from his perspective, but he could see how the black snake peeked over the shore and then dropped to the ground. But it was not the only one; it was followed later by two, five, ten more alike, all falling to the floor from the sink like a waterfall.

The snakes crawled across the ground, right in his direction. Owlman was petrified at the horrible scene, and by the time he reacted and tried to head for the door, it was too late. The snakes began to climb up his legs, both outside his pants and inside. The policeman started to scream in despair, waving his legs and hands, trying to shake them off, but it just seemed to be impossible to achieve. The animals climbed his torso, even reaching his neck. The man's screams getting louder, and his movements more erratic.

But snakes didn't really exist. There was no reptile of any kind crawling up his body. It was all on his mind, caused by the same girl he thought was helping… But this one, as well as her captor, were quite real.

Esther approached him cautiously from behind as the man screamed in despair. Quickly, she kicked the back of her left knee with great force, causing it to buckle and cause him great pain. The officer fell to his knees to the ground, and just a second later, the murderer behind him wrapped the laces of her own shoes around his neck, both tied tightly to his hands. He squeezed them around the officer's neck, while he made his whole small body back, applying all his weight and thus beginning to suffocate him.

The officer was unable to continue yelling. The feel of the stiffness on his neck only made his desperation worse. He instinctively brought his fingers to her neck, trying to shake them off, but it was impossible. Esther had placed her feet against him back and dropped her body entirely back. That, added to his kneeling position, made it difficult for him to get up. And then there were the snakes, hundreds of them crawling all over his body. In his mind, he was actually thinking that the thing that was gripping his neck was, in fact, one of them, pinning and squeezing him.

Esther's face had turned totally red from all the effort she was putting in. Her hands were also burning, and it seemed they were even starting to bleed.

Owlman made an attempt to get up, but he still could not fully maintain his balance. Esther jumped, pulling his body down even harder, causing the policeman to fall back to the floor. The officer's heavy body fell on Esther, hurting her, but she didn't care. Her wig also flew off and fell away from her, but she didn't mind that either. She crossed his arms to completely encircle the officer's neck with the laces, tightening him with all his might. The man moaned weakly out of the air, and his body writhed uncontrollably.

At that moment, Lily quietly left the cubicle, stopping for a second right to one side of such a shocking scene. However, she remained gentle.

"Always so noisy," she sighed seriously, and then she walked calmly to the bathroom door on her crutches and locked it. Then she returned with the same calm, but this time towards the sinks. She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to adjust her wig. She also took off her glasses and checked to see if her horrible bruise was still hidden; it still looked good, but maybe it would require a makeup touch-up. All of this while a man was being killed on the ground a few inches from her.

Esther kept squeezing without giving a bit until Officer Owlman's body began to let go and shake. The growls stopped coming out of his mouth, his hands stopped trying to push away the huge imaginary snake that imprisoned him, and then everything went quiet... The red-haired officer remained totally still, with his eyes wide and almost wide, with some blood injected, her mouth open in a hideous grin. All the suffering, and all the fear and confusion, were carved into his face like a grotesque work of art.

Even after he was still, Esther kept the pressure on her hands almost a minute more before releasing the laces and laying flat on the ground. She was breathing hard, staring at the ceiling. Her body was shaking a little, similar to as if she had just had an intense orgasm, and really the sensation was not so different.

"You finished?" Lily questioned calmly from the sink, and only then did she force herself to react.

She barely managed to lift the officer's body high enough to get out from under him. Owlman's neck was bruised, with the mark of the laces around it. Sitting on the floor beside him, she silently contemplated her own hands for a few moments. The flesh of her palms had been split open by the force with which she grasped the laces. However, little by little, these wounds began to close again. While they did, Esther felt the energy return to her body; in fact, she was starting to feel better, even stronger than before.

When her hands were completely closed, she stood up quickly, grabbed Owlman's body by the armpits, and began to pull him towards the cubicle they had hidden in upon entering. The body was heavy, and it took a lot of effort to pull it off, but she still did it.

"Why did you do that?" She questioned Lily in a low voice as she went about her business.

"To prevent someone from coming in and surprise you, obviously," the girl replied from the sink, referring to the fact that she had locked the door.

Esther managed to carry Owlman to the cubicle and exert even more force to seat him on the bowl with his head falling back. She arranged it as best she could so that she would interpret it only as a person using the toilet from the perspective of someone who saw from the outside. She locked the door from the inside, and then crawled underneath it to get out.

"I mean, why you helped me," Esther explained, as she got to her feet and fixed her clothes. "You could have pretended I had you kidnapped, got me killed, and come back as an innocent victim to all of this."

From the mirror's reflection, Lily looked at her and smiled, amused by her question.

"Do you really think that if I wanted to leave, I wouldn't have done it as soon as I got out of the bed?" She replied slyly, and then turned to her, already in full disguise. "For better or for worse, you have captured my curiosity. I want to know who sent you after me and what they want with me. Until then, I'll put up with you. After that, we will see..."

Esther looked at her carefully in silence, perhaps a little suspicious. Maybe she was lying, maybe not. But anyway, everything was better if she had already decided to cooperate with her. They had accomplished together at the time, using their strange powers as assistance, was something to keep in mind, and could be of great benefit to her from then on. But she still wouldn't take his eyes off her.

"Sounds good to me," Esther murmured in a neutral voice, and immediately set about picking up her wig and fixing her own costume. Finally, she took the suitcase of money and headed for the door. "We have only a few minutes before his teammates miss him. Let's hurry and go back to the bus station."

"I'm going after you," Lily replied simply, following her as she leaned on her crutches.

Surprisingly, the next stretch of their journey was much calmer. By the time they got on the bus, Officer Owlman's body had not yet been discovered; or at least, no movement seemed to have been made yet in the plaza.

The trip to Port Townsend took another four and a half hours. They had to make about three stops, but everything worked out for them. While riding the buses, Lily spent most of her time sleeping; Esther couldn't do it one bit. Maybe it was the adrenaline that still hadn't subsided, but she felt relatively tense and alert.

In Port Townsend, the next thing on their itinerary was to take the ferry to Moesko Island. They had to wait half an hour before getting on, dealing with questions similar to those of earlier about why they were traveling alone, what had happened to Lily's leg, etc. Esther fully maintained their pantomime and attitude, as if what had happened hours before had never happened. Anyway, that helped them get through it all.

By the time they landed at Moesko, the day had gotten really cloudy and wet, but not a drop of water fell. Asking the good people of the place for some directions, they came across the Morgan Horse Farm. From the hill on which they both positioned themselves to survey the site, it was wide. They even managed to see a corral where some horses were walking from one side to the other. A cliff could be seen behind the farm, and after this, the immense sea. Esther thought that there must be where horses jumped, according to the news.

"It seems to be there," Esther pointed out confidently. "A horse farm. As a child, I would have liked to live in a place like that."

"Did they exist a hundred years ago?" Lily commented sarcastically, causing the woman beside her to glance at her in annoyance. However, this did not matter much to her. "And what is your plan? Knock on the door and convince them to let you in just because of your cute little face, and then gag and torture them all?"

"You'd be surprised how many times that was enough," Esther answered normally. "But no, I thought instead that you would use that magic of yours again."

Lily looked at her somewhat confused, although Esther did not take long to explain what she meant.

That afternoon, Richard Morgan and two of his employees were mending a fence on the east side of the house, while the rest took care of the horses and some repairs in the stable. He was in the middle of a negotiation to buy five purebred foals, raise them, and somehow replace those who had been lost in that tragic… "accident." He hoped that when his wife returned, it might keep her distracted. But for this, it was necessary to make some adjustments, but mainly to repair the damage that those horses had done when fleeing and see how it would not happen again.

Mr. Morgan and his employees were nailing the fence boards, each on his own side. The farm owner could then see out of the corner of his eye that someone was approaching him from his right. He thought it was one of his workers, whom he had commissioned to bring more nails. Instead, however, he saw two little girls approaching from the property's main gate with broad playful smiles on their faces; one had a cherry-red lollypop in her hand, which apparently had almost wholly painted her lips red. The other approached her from behind, leaning on crutches, which made it somewhat difficult for her to advance in the dirt and undergrowth.

"Hi," the girl with the lollipop greeted once she was close enough, grinning at him. Her face was adorable and delicate, adorned with pretty freckles and beautiful dark eyes. The other also had a charming look, although she did not smile as much as the other.

"Hey, hi, little girls," Richard said, somewhat surprised. "Where did you come from?"

"We are here to visit our aunt, and we went out for a walk," pointed out the girl with the lollipop, accompanied by a couple of giggles. By mere reflex, Mr. Morgan laughed too, though he didn't quite know why. His attention then turned to the girl with the crutches and the bandage on her leg.

"And what happened to you, sweetie?" He asked curiously. The little girl hesitated a bit, but then she replied in a slightly shy tone:

"I was attacked by a… huge dog."

"I get it…"

"The sign outside says you have horses here," the girl with the red lips intervened at that moment, actually holding the lollypop inside her mouth. "Can we see them?"

"Sorry, we're all very busy right now. Come back early tomorrow if you want."

That said, Richard thought the talk was over and took up his hammer again to continue his work. However, the same girl asked her one more question, which made it impossible for him to do that so easily:

"Are there any other children here we can play with?" She muttered suddenly, somewhat incautious. Richard slowly lowered his hammer and turned back to them. "My aunt mentioned that a girl lived here."

The man looked at both of them with a serious, almost stern expression, as if he were facing two unexpected debt collectors.

"Who did you say your aunt was?" He inquired, trying not to sound defensive.

Both girls were silent for a few moments, but suddenly the one with the crutches blurted out the answer.

"Her name is Marie," she muttered quickly. "She lives across the hill."

"Ah, yes... Well, your aunt is wrong. There is no girl here."

"Where is she?" The girl with the lollipop muttered, some disappointment in her tone.

"She's with her mother, they both went on a trip."

"Will they be back tomorrow?"

Richard took a deep breath. That conversation was making him uncomfortable. And even though they were two girls, the truth was that he had no desire to continue talking with them much longer. He especially didn't want to talk about Samara, or where she was at the moment.

"No, I don't think so," he replied dryly. "I need to get back to work. Come back tomorrow, and I'll saddle up a couple of horses for you to ride, ok? In the meantime, don't hang around here alone; it can be unsafe."

"Ok, thank you very much, sir," the little girl said goodbye, making a curious curtsy, taking the folds of the lack of her old-fashioned dress and leaning her body down a little. That act was a bit strange to him, although nice.

For a moment, the thought crossed his mind that he would have liked his daughter to be just as cute and polite as that girl... and not the monster that ended up being Samara. He thought he must feel guilty for thinking such a thing, but he didn't really feel like that.

The two girls walked away, side-by-side towards the exit. The one with the candy apparently walked to the other's rhythm to not leave her behind on her crutches. Once Richard saw them near the door, he went back to his work as if nothing had happened.

"And so?" Esther questioned sternly, but slowly, as they walked away. "Did you catch something?"

Lily took her time answering as if afraid someone was going to hear her. When they were far enough away, she spoke at last, though her gaze fixed straight ahead.

"It is much easier for me to perceive what people are afraid of," Lily whispered slowly. "And that man was terrified of this girl named Samara, not to say that he also hates her."

"A father who hates his daughter? Where have I heard that before?" Esther ironed but also loaded with some irritation.

They passed through the open gate in the fence surrounding the farm and onto the main street that ran directly ahead. They crossed that street, and they advanced down the side of it while they talked.

Lily continued with what she had grasped from the man's mind while talking to Esther.

"Apparently she's not in the house or on the island."

"And where she is? Did she really go on a trip with her mother?"

"I don't know if that's what it is, but I caught a place: a hospital called Eola. That was the first name that came to his mind when you asked where she was, and it seems she's there right now. It is all that I managed to perceive about it."

"Eola?" Esther muttered, somewhat lost.

They both kept moving for a few more minutes until they reached a hollow tree where they had hidden their bag. Lily took advantage of the fact that they were there to rest. She sat very carefully on the grass and spread her injured leg as far as the pain allowed. It was time to take her meds, so she took advantage of that little break to do it too.

Meanwhile, Esther extracted the suitcase from the tree, and from inside, she took out a Smartphone. She quickly searched the internet for a nearby hospital called Eola. The closest, and fitting the description, was the Eola Psychiatric Hospital, located in a community of the same name… in Oregon. It was apparently a few miles from Salem; that is to say, it was located totally in the opposite direction to which they had been going all that day. Worse still, it was in precisely the direction she had hoped to avoid at all costs after that noisy incident in Portland that they were lucky to get out of without being discovered.

Esther then turned to face the tree, pressing her forehead against its bark with some force as a sign of frustration.

"You must be kidding…" she murmured slowly as a thought aloud.

Lily looked at her, confused by that reaction. Her arm with the phone was hanging off her side, so she reached out and took it to see what it was about; it didn't take long to realize.

"Wow, so we have to go back to Oregon," she muttered mockingly, quite mocking. "And half the state police for sure must be looking for you. It's good to know that I still have the option to pretend I'm the victim like you said before. But you…" She gave a little wry laugh. "How much will they give you for each corpse? Do you think they will extradite you to Russia?"

"Shut up, will you?" Esther snapped in annoyance, turning to see her sideways. Then she turned and sat down on the grass as well.

Be that as it may, she had already come far enough to go back at that moment. They would have to travel there without being discovered, enter that place and get Samara out of there, and she had a feeling that it would be much more complicated than Portland. And everything had to be done as quickly as possible...

Esther closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead a little with her fingers, perhaps with more force than required.

"I hate psychiatric hospitals…" she whispered slowly to herself.

Neither Esther nor Lily were aware that at that moment, a man parked in a somewhat old truck further down the road, was watching them in the distance with a pair of binoculars. In fact, he had arrived on the ferry with them; he and his truck. He was also observing them all the time they were waiting for the ferry to arrive. He had managed to keep his distance, not attract attention, and blend in with people. It was something he was really good at, as it was necessary on many occasions for the kind of life he had been leading for a long, long time, even when it came to hiding from people like those two.

With his hairstyle tied back in several braids, the African-American man had to lower the binoculars for a few moments to cough twice with moderate force. He took a deep breath to calm himself before fully regaining his composure.

The boy had told him to keep an eye on them and not intervene unless he deemed it necessary; he only noticed that one did her job. He hated having to fulfill those kinds of assignments, especially for… that guy. But here he was, following two rubes brats at a distance, hoping neither of them would notice his presence. He didn't know where else those two's journey would take them, but inevitably he would have to go as well.

END OF CHAPTER 33

Author's Notes:

—Official Owlman was an original character, without any relation to any other of the characters or the movies or series involved in this story.