Xhemin could not believe her eyes. The person who visited her during the red moon was right, the Acamilla Apparaus was indeed in the devil"s lure. Xhemin who was still in the state of disbelief walked a little closer to the healing plant, wanting to touch it as if the view of the plant itself wasn"t enough to make her believe. As she took one step more into the bushes to reach the plant, something unexpected happened!"Ahhhh!" Xhemin screamed as she fell into an opening. There was a rectangular deep hole beside the plant that she wasn"t aware of since her attention was all fixated to the plant. Besides the hole was covered by some bushes and vines that was there and so it was not that visible.
She landed at her back and was immediately covered by the soils that corroded with her when she fell. While on pain, she opened her eyes and saw the silhouette of Darryl looking down at her from up above.
"Xhemin!" She heard his call as her hazel eyes looked down at her worried. He must have heard her loud scream from where he was at and immediately ran to where she was "Don"t move I"ll get you"
As if she had not heard him, Xhemin picked herself up from the ground and groggily fought for her balance. Her fall was a hard one which was evident by her aching back.
"I"m okay…" She responded and a.s.sured him. "Just give me a hand,"
"Here.." He reached out to her. The hole"s deepness was a meter away from Xhemin"s head and so Darryl"s hand was a perfect tool for her to get back on top. She extended her hand to him and Darryl pulled her from down below. Darryl was full of strength so pulling Xhemin up came easy for him.
"You should have been a little careful," Darryl reminded her when she was back on foot. "This place probably is loaded with traps as the one who previously lived here—"
"Is as smart a.s.s as h.e.l.l," She continued her husband"s words. She cleared herself from the dust she collected from her unexpected fall "Yeah I know. I"m sorry I should have been a little careful"
Darryl helped Xhemin cleaned up. Her clothes were already all covered with dirt, yet she wasn"t at all bothered with it. Her attention was still on the plant and she kept looking at it while her husband was busy clearing all her clothing"s dirt.
"So that is it," Once finished with her, Darryl"s eyes s.h.i.+fted to the Acamilla Apparaus that was standing few inches from them.
"I"m afraid so," Xhemin replied and held a deep sigh of relief "I had finally found it,"
"What are you going to do with it?" Darryl asked seemingly interested to Xhemin"s next move now that she had finally found what she had been looking for.
"I"ll get some and send it back home to Ziggy. He"ll know what to do" Xhemin told him.
She had already accepted her fate of being locked here in the island forever so before she crossed the par line, she had left Ziggy some instructions what to do in a letter. She left it in the boy"s bedroom in Richmond ranch and Ziggy should have read that by now. "One of these days, the voyage to the mainland will take place and Professor Owens and Baruk Tsu will go and meet grandfather. I"ll have them take the plant with them"
"Do you think it will work on—"
"It should work. It must work." Xhemin hoped for it and went to stare at her husband with glimmering hope that flushed in her ink eyes "I didn"t come here for nothing"
"Don"t worry it will sure work and the Diamond Prince will be okay in no time," Darryl agreed with her, not anymore wanting to put doubt on her faith. She had sacrificed far too much that the least thing he could do for her was to strengthen her faith.
"Who do you think lived here?" Xhemin changed the topic. She had searched the place and found a couple of interesting things and wondered who was crazy enough to live in a place like this in seclusion.
"Someone who doesn"t want to be found," Darryl said. Just like Xhemin, Darryl was amazed how everything in this place was put up together. In his search, he had found a training ground nearby and some wooden weapons. Its as if this place wasn"t just a simple house, it was also some sort of a cla.s.sroom—He can"t really tell.
"Where could he or she be today?" Xhemin wondered. "I mean this place is a beautiful one. If I was the one who lived here, I would never abandon such a heavenly place."
The sun had already risen and so Xhemin had enough look at the entire Devil"s lure. It was completely different from how the Manggan People described it—far too different. She once imagined it a dreadful lonely place but looking at it now, it was like she was in a garden of Eden.
"It"s not a he or she," Darryl concluded. His expression turned serious now as well as his voice, "It was they,"
"They?" Xhemin"s head formed lines as she looked at her husband confused. "You mean it"s more than one?"
"Yes," He replied. "And they are here, they didn"t leave the island if that"s what you thought,"
"What?" Xhemin became more confused. "Darryl what are you talking about. Did you see someone round here?"
"No, I didn"t" He answered. "But I"m sure they are here,"
"Then where?" Xhemin asked quizzically.
"Right here," Darryl stared down back at here.
"In this garden?" Xhemin turned around trying to check whether they had a company, but she didn"t see anyone around. Upset and confused, she asked Darryl again seemingly annoyed with his puzzles "Darry where?"
"Right here," This time Darryl pointed at something. His fingers pointed down at the Acamilla Apparaus plant. "Can"t you see?"
"I can"t see what?" Xhemin dragged her eyes to looked at the plant and only then she realized that where was something odd about the way it was planted. Aside from that, at the far end of the bed, there was a wooden cross that was standing.
The sight of it gave Xhemin a shock!
"This isn"t a garden," Darryl spoke one more time "It"s a graveyard"