My mind is focused on unpuzzling this shit. "Magna! Magna!" he sounds like he's about to cry. "Agradecida is two faced as hell. She's a Jekyll Witch! She's two faced by birth!"
I slide off the wall, clinging to my head. "Remember, she had two faces! She was created with a defect!"
"Defect?" the ground is shaking again. Scottie grunts, "This isn't the fucking time. Magna! Get off your ass!"
I'm dizzy. "I bet if I said, there's a damn gargoyle in the halls you'd run." Scottie threatens. "And he's 8' feet."
I don't want him to tell me shit like that. My head is fucking pounding. The ground under me is rocky. In my head I see red curtains and a hand clinching the fabric. What is this vision?
"Lead me out!" I shout. I pick up the sound of shuffling papers, "Level one flooring: The Gargoyles Den. This floor there is no door out, the gargoyle doesn't have legs but instead hops on a podium."
My soul sunk into my ass. "What?"
"The gargoyle is not made through a ritual. It's possessed. Magna, you must take down the paintings. I can reset you but also… you're looking for something behind the picture. It's a lever."
"So, I have to find a picture with a lever. Easy."
"Nope."
Fuck me. "The problem is there are 86 pictures. And here it says…" he trails off, muttering to himself. "Equal to the sum of—this is nonsense…"
"SCOTTIE!" the ground trembles. I look behind my shoulder and catch a brown edge. "SCOTTIE!"
"The number 86 indicates that the angels are aware—that's what they all say…"
"SCOTTIE!
"There are 86 pictures and out of 86, you have to get 14 right." Goddamn it. My eyes search the room, already there is a painting in front of me. "This is actually really tricky." He adds. "Why!"
"Out of 86, 14 have the lever and out of 14 one if the actual painting." Says Scottie.
"Ok…" what does this have to do with—
"Magna, you don't understand. The gargoyle on the podium is fake. It's being manipulated by the demon—Devil Thing—in the paintings."
"Ok!" I'm getting irritated. "Magna—I know you don't wanna listen—Out of 86, there are 14 levers. There is no specific order. Once you pull the 14, you then have to find the real painting and kill a demon."
"Ok—"
"Stop fucking saying ok!" If he's heated, then he feels my pain. I hear howling behind me. "Magna fucking Carta, you need a DOORSTOP! You have to kill the THING then GET A KEYWORD TO SHOW THE WAY OUT."
"Reveal the door?"
"Nah, we just playing dungeons and death. Your very fucking life is on the line but fuck that. Gay ass fucking—"
"I don't even—"
"SHUT UP!" he demands.
The floor shakes, "I ma tahW .hcaerp dna esiarp shtuom dnasuohT A .ees tonnac tub ,netsil srae fo sdnasuohT."
The podium growls. I turn around, backing up slowly. "I ma tahW .hcaerp dna esiarp shtuom dnasuohT A .ees tonnac tub ,netsil srae fo sdnasuohT."
It is a two headed gargoyle with its stone tongues sticking out its mouth. The two have arms that seem to beckon one to it. "Magna! There's one more thing!" calls Scottie.
"Not right now, B."
What is it saying? Why is it down here? It hops towards me. It repeats. I squint my eyes, "Is it a riddle?"
The gargoyle breath is visible, it doesn't feel cold in the room. "enola uoy evael t'now I dnA .luos yrev ym si tI."
"Leave?"
"Magna! Find the fucking picture."
It's eyes are red on the right head and pink on the left head. Is it half drunk? No… it's either conscious or unconscious. Whatever it is, I can't stop looking. "Who are you?"
"i AM ti-oRUkỌ, tHe brIgHT BORN. I aM lA DAMa'S demON In THe closet." He answers in a disembodied voice. "we hiDE SeCRets UnDeR bEDs, It's NoT haRd. WhEN YOu FacE YoURSelf. When YOU DON'T CONFESs. you brEed US."
"And that means!"
"lA DAmA'S last wisheS. sHe wanTEd bLoOD. He AlsO wAnTeD bLoOd." It explains. "A VaMpIRe is JuSt a DemON. wHerE DO yOu MEeT yOUR DeMoNs?"
What is this thing talking about? He's using a metaphor? Where do you meet your demons? I really don't get it. "Speak English!"
"It'S Easy." It says and there is a soft chuckle. "YouR not A reAl vampire."
.
.
.
"Turn left!" Scottie directs me through the maze. I'm sprinting down a corridor and make a sharp left, my foot slides across the floor. Bolting down the way, the podium smacks the wall I pass with its bottom frame. It bounces off the wall, leaping and hurling back down.
"Up ahead is a picture! Get him to smack the frame!"
"If I can!"
The hall is different here. White floors turn into red carpet with black wallpaper. In the beginning the red wallpaper is a neat Victorian inspire and rots into fading colors with it peeling off the walls.
"MOCKER!" It screams, making the ground crack and wobble. Meeting the end, I turn with my back against the picture. Let this one have a lever.
The gargoyle jumps up and aligns itself. "MOCK!"
It slams into the wall above me, I duck and carry on the way I came. "Come on nigga!" I shouldn't be taunting. Ti-oruko is in the painting. Controlling the podium. But I'm still not clear on the matter.
He spoke on vampires, I assumed he meant Drunks.
That makes sense if vampires come from obayifo and—wait
"Magna!" shouts Scottie making the speaker crackle. Ti-oruko is hopping down the hall. I peek, no lever. I murmur fuck under my breath. "No lever! Keep going."
"Shit, Shit, Shit—"
"MOCKERS!"
Listen. I don't know. Something is missing in this story. Ti-oruko is a Devil Thing. "Scottie! What is a Devil Thing!"
"Lucky for you I have that answer because I've been trapped here! A devil thing, Chagamo. It means confessional piece."
"Confessional piece?" I exclaim and turn down a random hallway. "Continue!"
"Devil things come from confession. La Dama kept a diary of a vampire in this place. In the diary, Nanna Remington was kept in a closet by her abusive parents. She slept in the closet, took her meals to the closet, and even washed off with a damp rag in the closet. At night she wrote, she heard things in the darkness."
"Keep going!" The gargoyle roars in the background. My legs are breaking. "Nanna Remington slept on a pillow and that very house is still standing in Epping."
"What's Epping!" I scream. "It's a Street! Nanna Remington lived on Epping. It's a haunted house—apartment!"
"How is this relevant?" How lucky, I'm running my ass off away from this thing. I stop at a painting of Ti-oruko on the wall. I get my nails out and shred the paper. I'm taking a chance and go right back to moving.
"Oh my god, it's so much in this—HOLD ON." Is he taking breaks? Seriously?
"MOCKING!" he bellows. Jesus Christ and still no lever. What about that closet? "SCOTTIE!" I don't hear anything. I pass by another painting. I pull at the bottom of the frame hoping it falls. When it does, I see my first lever and pull it down.
The Devil Thing squeals and shakes off the pain. What did I just do? "FAKE!" he hollers. "FUCK… YOU."
"What?"
It shakes, quivering. The necks of the gargoyles stretch. "ME IS OBAYIFO."
"You…"
"Knock… knock… knock…"
"Scottie!"
"YoUr dEMOns CaMe TO The dooR. AlL youR sinS aND GReed WItH it." It speaks. "eVEN yoUr iMitAtionS ANd lIEs."
"I—what are you. What is your purpose?"
"Barter. Bets. Brides."
"And that means?"
"The last thought of a slave… blOoD OF THe eNemiES. it'S all ghOsT."
I step back. "Ghost are doing this?"
"WE dID iT To HiDE. tHE triBE Was StaRVINg. so, we ATE. wE WeNt into THe HOmeS aNd fEAst.."
"Ok, vampires ate people but—"
"and CHANGed So… WE Do IT AgaIN And AGaIN." The statue is so fucking creepy. It undulates, "Wendigo is not the same. Mindless but a vampire. We think."
"But what is your purpose?"
"Him." It answers. "He summoned it."
"Who is him?"
"Headcount."
"MAGNA, DEVIL THINGS COME FROM INSANITY. ISOLATION. NANNA DIED FROM STRAVATION IN THE CLOSET. SHE GOT STUCK AND HER PARENTS SOLD THE HOUSE!"
I can hear Scottie but I can't see a speaker. "Who is Headcount?"
"Chauncey. He too got locked in a closet. Confessed and lost himself."
"What does that mean?" What is Aleigha going through? I can't help but wonder. What is my brother doing? "Is Nanna haunting people, helping La Dama? What?"
Silence for a while and the stone grins. "History is fun, But also the door. Greed."