Lucas dragged Baltimore from the guest room to the top floor of the mansion where Barron and Belle followed him. The Grim reaper was unconscious and it was hard to believe that a reaper could be knocked out. Right now, he was being taken to a place where the servants never entered or stepped around the parameters. "I thought Grim reapers were stronger and were invincible," Belle commented, looking down at the reaper whose eyes were closed, "Which number does he fall in?" she asked.
"The tenth card of Grim, the whisperer," Barron answered her question who was walking along with her. Barron looked at his body, unhappy that he was put back into this rabbit when he had left the room. Lucas must have placed a spell such that leaving the room had ended up him dissolving the boy like form he had taken to disappear back into the stuffed toy. Bringing his cotton hands up, he rubbed his teeth as he had bit into Baltimore"s hand, "If we were invincible, I wouldn"t be stuck in the rabbit uniform," Barron reminded Belle who gave him a nod.
There was the whisperer, the plague bringer, the oracle who knew about what was going to come; the reaper who could reap the reapers which was Lucas.
Belle wanted to speak to Lucas on what she had discovered but she wondered how he would react to it. To tell that he shared two numbers in the list of thirteen cards.
"Good thing is you met him and we trapped him. All we need to do is, keep him confined here in a way where he will not be able to get out. What are you going to do, Cross? Place him in a teddy bear?" asked Barron.
"He isn"t as obedient as you. Baltimore will hurt Belle and will call the reapers here to let them know about us," said Lucas, continuing to drag the reaper by one leg as the reaper slid around the floor.
"Why not kill him? It isn"t like he"s done anything good and I am not fond of him. Off with him!" Barron declared as if he were the higher authority while forgetting he was in a stuffed plus.h.i.+e rabbit.
"It will be an offence to kill a Grim. A normal reaper, no problem but Grim reapers will create issues that do not exist. We can give him to the Hawverts or when the final verdict appears," said Lucas.
Barron nodded his head in agreement, "If that works sure," and as he bobbed his head, Belle noticed Mr. Fluffs" ear that was going to come off soon.
"Where were you? Your ear looks worse than before," she frowned looking at it.
She had Mr. Fluffs with her for years now and she had been making sure to keep it in good condition but since Barron had started to reside in the body of the stuffed toy, her rabbit had turned much cleaner and the fur around it had been reduced. This was because Barron often went to take the rabbit into the bath and cleaned even if there was a speck of mud. She was grateful for it, but the ears...it looked like it was in the worse condition because he often tore it.
Barron hearing about his ear turned and stopped to look at Belle, "These are too d.a.m.n long," he said touching the ear not harshly but gently that made her wonder if Barron had taken a liking to Mr. Fluffs. She couldn"t get the thought out of how Lucas had introduced him as Master Fluffy so that she wouldn"t be alarmed, "I go walking around, it either gets stuck to the window, the door, the gates, anything sharp. See," he said bending down his head which he didn"t have to because compared to Belle and his height, Belle could perfectly see him.
"You need to be careful with it. He"s a gift I received from one of the servants who used to work here," Belle responded back to him.
"I have been looking after him better than you have," he moved both his hands to wave at him, "So clean."
Belle laughed hearing this, "Yes, very clean. How about I help you in st.i.tching the ear?" she asked him.
"YES!" Barron answered before coughing and turning to look at Lucas, "Did you see that? Did you?" he asked Lucas.
Belle couldn"t have asked for a better pet and she leaned forward to pat his head who suddenly fell silent, "You are the cutest, Barron."
"W-what?! You think that makes me happy? Get your hand off of me!" Barron quickly moved away from her, his words appearing to be shy.
Lucas didn"t heed to Barron and instead continued to drag Baltimore into the coldest of the cold corridor in the mansion without a word. Belle couldn"t help but look at this place differently. She now came to believe that houses did capture memories. What had happened to the maid where Barron had been called as a possessed doll when the bucket had fallen down, it was an echo of memory that would take place as if it was happening all over again. The Grim reaper had attacked her which was why she had felt someone in front of her last time they were here.
"This will be a safe place to keep him. He won"t be able to whisper words into the servant"s ears because none of them come here," said Lucas to Belle, "I will have a word with them as to not enter this floor and to leave this side of the mansion untouched and unmoved."
Belle agreed that it was the best idea, "Do his words affect other Grims or reapers?"
"He cannot touch me! HA!" Barron boasted who had never been under the words or had not been persuaded to do something.
Lucas replied to Belle"s question, "It does affect some of them. People with lower resistance to his whispers. The mortals are the easiest, try not to be around him, Belle. Unless you learn to resist."
And how was one supposed to do that? thought Belle to herself.