A short while later Klarion sat at the small wooden breakfast table in the kitchen of The House of Mystery. He had told Cain he was hungry, so the caretaker happily obliged him with a glass of tepid water and some stale old butter cookies. The boy didn't seem to mind, though, he gobbled down everything that was put in front of him like a hungry animal. Cain leaned up against a counter nearby watching his son as he ate.
"So… Klarion, is it? How old are you?" he asked.
"Thirteen," answered Klarion, without looking up from his plate.
"Good age, good age," said Cain.
"Yeah, whatever. So what's the deal here? Are we supposed to bond or something?" said Klarion, suddenly looking up at Cain with an angry intensity that his father immediately found both familiar and charming.
"I suppose," said Cain. "I think what your mother wants is for me to essentially take you under my wing. Show you a bit of the old family business and maybe we can get to know each other along the way."
Klarion grunted and began to gulp his water.
"I'm sure you're curious what exactly this place is," said Cain, grandly gesturing all around him.
Klarion looked at him with disinterest.
"Welcome… to The House of Mystery!" Cain yelled in a loud, scratchy voice, then he gave Klarion an evil look. "Do you dare enter?" he asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Whatever," said Klarion.
"Then let's begin," Cain said excitedly.
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As he led Klarion through the winding corridors of the house, Cain would point out the unique and mysterious things around them.
"That mask there," Cain said, gesturing to an orange and white porcelain mask* that hung on one of the walls. "That mask has a very sordid and bloody past. There are many chilling stories connected with that little item. Maybe if you're a good boy I'll tell you one of them later on."
Klarion rolled his eyes, but Cain was too preoccupied to notice. The mask saw, though. It watched both of them with empty eyeholes as they passed by it, an evil grin permanently stretched across it's face.
"Oh, and here! This is interesting," Cain said, running over to a small metal contraption with a glass ball on top of it standing in a corner.
"It looks like an old, empty gumball machine," said Klarion.
"It is a gumball machine," said Cain. "Or is it?"
Klarion didn't look impressed, so Cain just went on.
"There's no gumballs in here now for the safety of my guests, but let me tell you, the ones that used to fill this machine were… out of this world**. It's a delightfully frightening tale that-"
"Look can we just get on with this tour without having to delve into the penny dreadful stuff?" asked Klarion.
Cain looked affronted, but acted civil since this was his own flesh and blood and because the boy's snarky demeanor reminded him so much of his younger self.
"Very well," he said, leading the boy onward. "You're right, now is not the time for stories, now is the time to learn how to properly take care of The House of Mystery and all that dwells within her. We'll get into how to tell stories later. Now, most items like the mask and the gumball machine just need a good dusting from time to time. You can use a feather duster or damp cloth for that…"
Klarion looked around. There was dust and cobwebs in about every nook and cranny of this house. The only things that seemed to be clean were all the little knick knacks scattered around.
"I think you've missed a few spots over the last century or so," he said.
"Oh no, you never dust the house itself," said Cain, facing his son and becoming very serious. "The house likes its dust and cobwebs and loose floorboards. It's all a part of it's atmosphere. It needs to remain spooky in order to remain itself."
"Oookay," said Klarion. This guy was a few skittles short of a rainbow in his opinion.
"Here, come this way," said Cain. He started practically running towards a door at the end of the hall. Klarion leisurely followed him.
"This is the-" Cain began, as he pulled a key out of his pocket and started to unlock the door, but a sudden crashing sound from another part of the house caught his attention.
"What the-?" he demanded.
"It must be Teekl, my cat," said Klarion. He had let it wonder around the place while he ate earlier and Cain had completely forgotten about it until now.
"Sometimes he likes to knock over things," said Klarion. "Usually old, expensive glass things."
"Just… stay here," said Cain. "I'll be right back."
The caretaker took off in the direction of the noise, leaving the key in the lock of the door and Klarion standing innocently nearby. When he was safely out of sight, an evil grin split Klarion's face. He grabbed the key, turned it and opened the door.
Inside was a good sized library full of old looking books.
"Ugh, more stupid stories," said Klarion. He was becoming thoroughly bored with this entire day and when he became bored he was usually forced to make his own fun. He stepped inside the room and looked around for something to have fun with. Standing on either side of a large window at one end of the library were two metal suits of armor. They would do. Klarion pointed his pale finger in their direction and shot out a small blast of magic that forked in two and went into each suit's helmet. Immediately the suits sprung to life and drew their swords.
"Hee hee hee," cackled Klarion.
The suits marched over to the witch boy and saluted him.
"At ease, my boys," he said.
The two soldiers stood at attention awaiting orders from their leader.
"Hmm, what should we do with you," Klarion said, stroking his chin wickedly. "Eh, I guess just go forth and cause some chaos," he said at last.
The suits of armor saluted again and then marched out of the room. Klarion could hear them clanking down the hall and began to giggle. He then walked over to one of the shelves and began to read the titles on the books. Maybe he could find a really valuable one and destroy it, he thought. As he perused, he ran his sharp fingers along the spines of the books. Nothing really stuck out to him at first, but then all of a sudden one book gave off an energy that chilled his already cold blood. He tilted his head and read the name of the book which was in Latin, Et Non Tanget, it was called.
An sudden noise from behind him startled Klarion. He turned to see Cain enter the room with his orange cat, Teekl, clinging to his chest as he tried to keep a firm grip on the animal. As soon as they were near Klarion, Teekl retracted its claws and ran to its master. Klarion scooped the cat into his arms and hugged it lovingly.
"Not much of a cat person, are ya?" he said, mockingly.
"Actually, quite the opposite," said Cain, as he fingered one of the new holes now in his jacket. "I used to have one of my own once. Oskar was its name."
"And what happened to Oskar?" asked Klarion.
"He died," Cain said, looking right into Teekl's eyes.
The cat hissed at him.
"Now, where were we?" said Cain. "Ah yes, I see you've found the library. Oh I know there are bigger libraries out there: the one at the palace for example, or the one at Shadowcrest…" he trailed off and Klarion wondered if maybe the old man had forgotten to take his brain pills.
"But what this one lacks in size," he continued, getting back on track. "It more than makes up for in mystery. Every book in here has a story, not only inside of it, but also surrounding it. Some are so dangerous, even I don't dare to open them."
"What about this one?" asked Klarion, grabbing Et Non Tanget off the shelf unceremoniously, and showing it to Cain.
"That one… that one is not for children," said Cain with complete calm.
"Oh, how bad could it be?" asked Klarion, beginning to open it.
Cain lunged forward and slammed the book shut.
"First rule of The House of Mystery is, if you want to survive your stay here, you must listen to me," he said, pulling the book out of his son's hands and clutching it to his chest.
Klarion looked at his father with the expression of a dog who had just had a bone snatched out of its mouth.
"Why don't we forget the library for now," said Cain, trying to relieve the sudden tension between himself and his son. "Since you're so interested in animals I think now would be a good time to introduce you to my pet, Gregory."
He gestured towards the door and Klarion reluctantly began to exit the room, shooting Cain a dirty look as he did so. Cain quickly stuck the old Latin book on the top of the nearest bookshelf, well out of Klarion's reach. Then he followed him and his cat out giving the room a final once over before shutting the door and locking it again.
"Didn't I have some suits of armor in there?" he said, mostly to himself, as he and Klarion headed away from the library together.
*See House of Mystery Halloween annual #1
**See The House of Mystery #215