Chapter Seven

Beatrice:

Lexi didn't look very happy after I shook hands with Smarty. After the Toon Patrol left us alone (Smarty wanted to leave me and Lexi alone for a few minutes, probably because he is letting me say any last words to Lexi, in case if I'm not going to see her again), Lexi walked over to me and said,

Why did you have to do that? I'll be all right, even if I lost the challenge.

I replied,

No, you wouldn't be all right. If you lost the challenge, then the Toon Patrol will probably do horrible things to you. They might even try to kill you.

Lexi looked at me with horror.

Really? She asked.

Yeah. I replied. And I even promised myself and your mom that I would keep a close eye on you and I wouldn't let anyone to do bad things to you. That's why I'm taking your place in the challenge.

But what if you lose? What if you die?

I'm not going to die but if I do, then I want you to remember the things that I've done to help you and I want you to tell my mom and your that I died trying to save you. I want you to remember that, okay?

Lexi looks at me with the saddest face that I've ever seen and she hugs me. When she stops, she says to me, almost like Rue (from The Hunger Games) with her hands trembling,

Please win, Beatrice. You have to win.

I will win…I replied…I will win for both of us. I will get us out of here…I promise. Be a good girl while I do the challenge, okay?

Lexi nodded her head nervously and we hugged again.

We walked over to Smarty and he crossed his arms.

"Okay, Smarty. I'm ready to do the challenge. Where do I have to start?" I asked.

"Hold on, hold on." Wheezy said. "We're still trying to decide if you're going to do the challenge that we thought of first. *cough, cough, cough!* So first, you're going to hit the hay and Boss will tell you in the morning."

"You're not going back to your house because there's a 'clearance' that you'll escape from us." Smarty said.

Rats! I thought. He's one step ahead of me. And he should have said 'chance' instead of 'clearance'.

"But to give you a head 'spark' on the challenge, you're sleeping in one of the rooms in that house." Smarty said.

I looked William T. Gallagher's house and I was kind of hesitant.

"What's the matter, broad? You scared?" Smarty teased.

"No." I said and trying to pull myself together. "I'm not scared."

"Then, go ahead and find any room…except the main room on the first floor."

" 'Kay."

I took a deep breath and walked to the house and Lexi stays behind with Smarty. As soon as I walked to the house, I thought I saw Smarty shooting me with an evil grin. I tried not to think that he was up to something. I even tried not to think about how Smarty would go crazy and scare Lexi because he doesn't understand sign language (I think that Smarty is one of those guys who can get frustrated real easily and even lose control the next second.).

This is probably not the smartest thing to do. I thought. I should've just called the police…but then again, the police, my parents, and Aunt Maddie would think that I'm nuts. I'll just go ahead and do the challenge…and hopefully bring Lexi back home.

With a combination of courage and fear, I entered the house. Probably due to the Toon Patrol staying for a certain period of time, the inside was not so clean because of some papers on the floor and cobwebs in the corners of the walls. The sources of light came from thick candles in lamps and made the room pretty dim. The carpet was littered with dusty footprints and broken flowerpots with dead flowers in them. An old oil painting of William T. Gallagher hung over the door frame that led to a room, a long hallway, and a stair case.

I was observing many of the details and making mental notes as I looked. I realized that I was making too many observations when I saw Greasy standing in the middle of the door frame, smiling, probably with a hint of lust. I hope that he still remembers the idea of staying friends instead becoming my enemy or crush.

"I got distracted." I said. "I was just making observations when I was really supposed to go to the second floor."

"Eso no es problema en absoluto." Greasy replied.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said, 'That's no problem at all'. I'll take you to your room if you like."

With a blank but stern face, I said, "That'll be wonderful, thank you."

Although I was a little suspicious with Greasy, I walked up the stairs with him. He didn't hook arms with me or anything that was considered creepy to me. While we walked down a long hallway (with numerous paintings of flowers on the walls), Greasy said to me,

"You seem to be really close with your cousin. What is it that makes you really close to her?"

That was the same question that Mom would ask me.

With mild nervousness, I replied,

"Since I found out that Lexi can only communicate with her hands and head, I always made sure that she doesn't wander around any place that she's not familiar with and get herself in trouble."

"Is she a trouble-maker?"

"Oh, no. Lexi is just really curious because, naturally, she's a little kid. I just want to make sure that she doesn't get herself in a dangerous situation or in an accident that would take her life away. She even thinks of me as her big sister because she doesn't have any brothers or sisters."

"That sounds nice. Do you ever think of your cousin like she was your sister?"

"Yeah. I thought of Lexi like she was a little sister of mine. I've thought of her that way after I studied sign language."

Right after I said that, Greasy and I paused our conversation. As I made observations of the hallway, I wondered about things. I wondered how the Toon Patrol managed to come to the world of reality when they're from a place that exists in a movie and I wondered if Lexi is doing all right. I even wondered why Gallagher made the decision of making his house look small on the outside but look big inside.

I stopped my wondering when Greasy led me to a room at the very end of the hall.

"Sorry that we had to walk at the very end of the hall, muchacha." Greasy said.

"It's all right, Greasy. I don't mind long walks at all." I replied with caution.

(That was partially true. Sometimes I like to go on long walks because they help me think about things and sometimes I don't like long walks because I sometimes think that they don't lead me to anything good.)

Greasy takes out a small ring of old gold keys and picks the one in the middle. He unlocks the door and as I carefully walked into the dark room, Greasy says to me,

"Dormir bien, hermosa chica. Tienes un largo día mañana."

"What did you say?" I asked.

"I said, 'Sleep well. You have a long day tomorrow'."

"Oh, all right."

After that, Greasy closes the door and locks it. Probably Smarty's orders, I guess. It's also good that he didn't try to kiss me or anything that was disgusting or inappropriate.

Anyway, I looked around the room with my flashlight (I do have a single window but the moonlight is almost completely blocked by the trees.). It wasn't as messy as the main room on the first floor and the walls are bare and cracked. An old rusty bed had stuff under it and the mattress was a little torn. Although I'm not really a stranger to old beds, I was really tempted to open the window, slip out of my room, and sleep on a tree branch.

But what would Smarty try to do if he finds me sleeping on a thick branch? I thought.

I immediately dropped that thought when my curiosity was drawn to the stuff under the bed. I found two old boxes and I looked through them. They were just full of old papers, a dull Bowie knife, a roll of tweed string, some old love letters written with a combination of old English words and phrases and modern American words. The only useful thing that I found in the boxes was a hand-drawn, blueprint-style map of the house. Taking the map as a possible tool and an advantage to use in the challenge, I folded up the map, cut up a long length of string with the Bowie knife, and tied the map on to my left arm.

After rolling up my hoodie sleeve, I put the papers, the string, and knife back into their boxes and pushed them back under the bed. I noticed that there was something else under the bed and I reached in and grabbed…a book. I looked at the details of it with the help of my flashlight.

The color of the cover was a dirty white and it felt like a cotton coat. There were three red stains on the front of the cover and I wanted to know if those stains had a smell that I could make a note on. As if the book were a toxic liquid in a graduated cylinder, I held it six inches away from my face and began to waft the hidden smell to my nose. What I smelled for gave me excellent and interesting results.

"Hmm…" I said to myself. "…by judging the shape of these stains, I'm guessing that these are wine stains. That funky grape smell is definitely no stranger to me."

I never even tried drinking a glass of wine but thanks to a family trip to Colorado, the smell of wine is very familiar to me.

But anyway, I found a smudgy, bleeding, black-inked title that said "Las Damas" on the top of the front cover and "The Ladies" and Greasy's name on the bottom.

I think that the room that I'm in right now is probably Greasy's room. I thought. But why would he give me his room and leave behind this? I think he's probably writing a mystery book or maybe a horror novel whenever he has the time. I could give Greasy a couple of reviews and maybe some tips to make his book a good-selling product.

I was prepared to open the book and then, I thought again.

It could be a book with personal information written in it...but I guess I could have a little sneak peek of one page and then, it goes back under the bed.

I looked back at the bedroom door and listened for any approaching footsteps. I didn't hear anything and I looked back at the book. I took a deep breath and opened the book.