The Finders Keepers

by R.G. Strike

  Over the next few days, Nolfavrel had gone utterly silent that it was almost deafening, rarely coming out to mingle or perhaps to socialize with them. And Godfrey was greatly confused of what was suddenly happening with him. Nolfavrel never came out of his room.

  On the following days, however, no one seemed to be interested talking to Godfrey, like he had possessed something they completely dislike, leaving him savor the bitterness of the solitude they had given. The rest of the house had looked rather sultry and empty most of the time. Mr. and Mrs. Luciens had finally called Alex one time and privately locked themselves to discuss something that Godfrey was not supposed to overhear or know. On the contrary of all the tight secrecy they were doing, Godfrey tiptoed in the upstairs room and pressed his left ear against the wooden door.

  He was not, at all, surprised of what he had ever expected to hear because the best audible sound was soft whispering, the clarity of which was entirely obscured in the sanctuary. He dropped his unsuccessful attempt, feeling immensely unhappy of the fact that they were hiding something from him, as though there would be a great danger had he listened.

  Godfrey had never felt so depressed before, ever, in his whole life. He was slowly being shabby probably due to the fact that he was deprived to talk to anyone since the meter-long wand had protruded its flummoxing suggestion of the usage of the E-spell. He was perfectly aware that Nolfavrel had sensed something horrible about that, not just because it was a dark magic, but because of something else . . . something that was keeping them all tied out of him.

  He let out a long breath and slowly turned around to sit on the topmost step of the dim stair. There was nothing as sad as the look of everything being black and white around the doze of silence and the cold, dry smell of the old furniture. Godfrey could see from above through the tiny chink of the only window the abating harshness of the winter snowfall.

  Just recently, the joy of Christmas had filled every cavity of the house and every kindness of their heart: The merriment of which had caused gallant behavior to Godfrey as he was at loss to explain why he was not feeling bad about Alex anymore. In fact, he had enjoyed playing with him during the past days, but Godfrey noticed that Alex was limiting the information he gave.

  A crashing sound of continuous breaking china erupted from the inside of the room where Alex and Mr. and Mrs. Luciens were discussing, followed by a cursing shriek and wail. Greater china was shattered inside, entailed by louder shouting.

  “GET OUT!” Mr. Luciens exclaimed. “GET OUT – NOW!”

  Godfrey flinched and turned to look at the door.

  “I SAID – GET OUT! YOU’RE SCORNFUL, INTERFERING – GET OUT!”

  There was an echoing silvery laugh that followed and Kimberly eagerly soared through the door, stopping in front of Godfrey, feetless, as she continued giggling sadistically and less uncontrollably.

  Godfrey, surprised, looked up at her. “So you eavesdropped . . . ?”

  Kimberly let out the finale of her guffaws before settling to answer. “Yes, I did! As it’s obvious, the rabbits saw me not so long – thought they’d caught me and stopped talking! They must’ve forgotten I’m bodiless because they pummeled me with the vases!”

  “Really?” Godfrey asked stupidly. He was quite happy of what she did.

  “Yes!” she bellowed, falling into a laugh once again.

  “It must be really important, they won’t be that surprised seeing you if it wasn’t.”

  The door banged loudly. Mr. Luciens popped his furry snout and shouted, outraging.

  “EAVESDROPPING A HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL – HOW DARE YOU DO THAT – KIMBERLY! YOU OUGHT NOT TO TELL HIM ANYTHING YOU HEARD – ANYTHING! EVEN A SINGLE WORD MUST NOT BE LEAKED!”

  With another startling bang, the door closed shut by itself. Kimberly burst into a high laughter, looking over at the closed door where Mr. Luciens had just appeared. She seemed gleeful.

  “Oh, yeah, what was that for?” Godfrey asked her.

  “Nothing . . . n-nothing,” she chuckled out. “They’re really upset at what I did. . . .”

  “Why did you do that, by the way?”

  “Nah, I’ve been stuck deserted in this house for so long – and I’d say it’s a sort of luck when you arrived to make it – just made it noisy, but it was liberating! It was long, long time ago since we were really glad and joyous inside this house.”

  “That’s . . . that sound’s cool – it’s nice,” Godfrey said falteringly. He realized, at last, that they were indeed talking about him. What for? For his hopelessness being an elder brother of a princess who was captured by a half-breed?

  His sudden silence seemed to have great impact to Kimberly because she, too, had halted laughing. She was perplexed as she ducked to face him; they were almost nose to nose. She raised her eyebrows.

  “What . . . ?” she whispered softly. She was blinking slowly as she looked at him.

  For over the following minutes that had slowly elapsed, Godfrey was feeling droopy; his stomach clenched inside for no obvious reason. He did not know what he felt – whether it was woe or sadness. But it could not be sadness because it was the other way around. He scowled confusingly and for fifteen seconds, he was sure it was dilemma.

  He looked at Kimberly’s vaguely transparent face. She was still waiting for his response.

  “What were they saying?” he asked, pry. “They’re saying bad things about me, aren’t they?”

  Kimberly’s face burned confusedly, looking away hesitatingly for a few seconds, then dropped impassive.

  “I. . . .” She backed away, towering in front of him once again. “I was not aware . . . of that, sorry. I actually focused to prank them so I would have something to pride in case that I need to blackmail them, that’s it.”

  “You don’t need to,” he said. “We’ll be curtly going home after our unhappy sojourn here. All that I’ve been excited about is that they will return to their warm burrow when I have the jauntiness to fight back – for my only sister, Eliezer.”

  Although she was a ghost, there was something that made her eyes shine mistily like she was about to cry. Godfrey eyed her, his perception was quite dizzy. She was stunned, open-mouthed in mid-air. There was something she wanted to say but a set of silent seconds had drowned her words. She looked down at Godfrey.

  “What I’m about to say should not make you hesitate,” she said calmly. “I’m not the bravest ghost, but everything’s been proven lethal and unsafe. You were so much influential with your determination to trudge actions into battle. I suppose we should not argue to connive to save our sister.”

  “Did you say ‘our sister’?” Godfrey abruptly interjected. “Or did I just mishear it?”

  “No, I really said Eliezer is our sister.” She blotched her face with a great amount of mirth. “You see? You’re my brother, she’s my sister. I’m your sister, I’m her sister.”

  “Okay, that’s funny,” he said, hardly imploring to believe her.

  “No, really,” she said.

  “I’m not in to savor jokes,” Godfrey said sternly. “Stop it.”

  “It’s not a joke!”

  “Of course – it’s not a joke? I only have one sister.”

  Kimberly looked away into the dimmer portion, then returned to focus on Godfrey’s face convincingly. She sighed in extreme exhaustion before speaking.

  “Godfrey Zen Algory Meadslev,” she said. “How could you so ruefully deny your biological sister?”

  “I said I’m not into jokes just for now, Kimberly – and let me tell you, once and for all, that I only have one sister biologically. To cut this story short, I admit that you’re my sister – spiritually.”

  “Okay, I won’t press that thought if you don’t want!” she wailed apprehensively. “But let me just tell you, too – well, you’re like that Cobie lad who came imploring here decades ago.”

  “I won’t care a single thing, anyway,” Godfrey retorted tiredly. He shifted his position and continued speaking. “What
did they say about me? I know a lot of bad things were being said and I just want to know.”

  “Nothing – I have told you!” she cried, suddenly bombarded and serious. “I never heard one! And in case that I happen to – I won’t tell you!”

  Godfrey blinked and looked at her. “They warned you not to tell me, I know. It’s really mad that I have no one to side me . . . better get back downstairs. See you around.”

  Godfrey reached the landing; she swiveled and swooped down.

  “Wait!” she called softly.

  Godfrey turned. “What?”

  “You might want to see Nolfavrel,” she unsurely suggested.

  “Godfrey frowned and sighed. “What for? He won’t say a single word if I asked him, anyway.”

  “Stop assuming! You haven’t even tried it!” she barked.

  He opened his mouth to argue for his side, but there was no point. He stomped his right foot angrily and stared at Kimberly’s weary eyes. She appeared rather pitiful than what she actually looked. Godfrey was partially bewildered by his very own conscience and now he managed to lessen his temper and treated Kimberly with a casual face.

  “Yeah, okay, let’s check out your idea,” he prompted.

  They reached the front of Nolfavrel’s room in silence with nothing except Godfrey’s vague shadow. Kimberly looked at him for a short while, and Godfrey had somehow struggled understanding what she meant. Drawing a sigh, he knocked on the door three times.

  There was a scuttling sound from the inside, and in no time, the door clicked open. Nolfavrel stood there, looking shabby and weak inside his crumpled clothes like he had just woken from a long sleep. His eyes were baggy and red as he darted them towards Godfrey.

  Godfrey was about to tell him that it was Kimberly’s suggestion that he was there, but she was not there anymore when he checked his side.

  As usual, Nolfavrel’s set of eyes were treacherous to cross, though it appeared differently at the moment. He looked at Godfrey like he was expressing his deepest disgust of seeing a cockroach on his steaming noodles. Godfrey, however, dealt with it like the cockroach was a vegetable in the noodles.

  “You haven’t come out of your lair recently so I just thought I could check you out if you’re fine,” Godfrey said, looking over at Godfrey’s smeared plaid.

  “I am not in the mood to divulge into any other form of tosh conversations, Godfrey. I’m fine, if that concerns you a lot,” muttered Nolfavrel limply. He moved backward like a withered stem and closed the door.

  “I will do the E-spell!” Godfrey exclaimed, hoping that Nolfavrel was strong enough to hear him.

  And he did. In fact, Nolfavrel’s footsteps came to a sudden halt, listening.

  “If it takes my life to give invincible protection, then I would die for her,” he added audibly. “I always loved my sister, but she never knew because we often argue. This is different. I can’t pretend the fact that I have to stand my pride and risk her life. Surely, death must be painless; even if it’s not, I would still do all the things I could to save her.”

  Nolfavrel opened the door.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told Godfrey strictly. “YOU THINK IT’S EASY? YOU THINK YOUR FATHER WILL BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT? YOU THINK HE WILL CONGRATULATE ME IF HE KNEW THAT I WATCHED YOU DIE FOR ELIEZER?”

  As he shouted, Godfrey watched him in awe. Then Alex and Mr. and Mrs. Luciens came thundering from the nearby room; Kimberly glided from above.

  “ARE YOU AWARE OF THE DANGERS OF YOUR PLAN – HOW MUCH PUNISHMENT I WILL SUFFER?”

  “I’ll leave a note!” Godfrey bragged.

  “YOU WILL LEAVE A NOTE?” Nolfavrel repeated, startled. “WHAT DO YOU THINK – THIS IS A MESSAGE-RELAY GAME? YOU WILL LEAVE A NOTE?”

  Godfrey felt condescended and was gagged by Nolfavrel’s loud word cracking. Mrs. Luciens moved forward and tilted her snout to look at Nolfavrel.

  “Robert and I thought about something that might . . . well, we would do the E-spell instead. Since we lost our child, it’s clinically nonsensical to go on hoping certainty that our son is still there.” She began sobbing; her red head ribbon was ragged.

  “Yes, that is our plan. We’re doing things we should have done to our baby.”

  “No,” said Nolfavrel authoritatively. “I promised that Mark will help you – he will! None of you should die!”

  “We have to! It’s crucially important that the princess must be saved!” Mrs. Luciens barked.

  “Stop worrying about it! There’s greater mission awaiting all of you. The safety of everything lies on your very own hands, you must be aware of that. Alex needs to prove his valiance, the reason why Vick brought him to the human world.” He gulped hardly, his baggy eyes turning more visible. “Go to Elcid Mountains, you’ll find triumph there beyond anything else – use your travelling book!”

  His words echoed around the room as everyone gaped at him, as though he had just dropped each of them a very stringent task. Nolfavrel scrambled in front and stood still, his eyes tightly closed.

  “It is time,” he said. He opened his mouth carefully, his thin red lips parted in slow motion. “. . . Episkey!”

  The time stopped. All of them looked up at Nolfavrel’s frozen face; his bloody eyes as scarlet as ever and his mouth parting, letting out the silent trail of his last word. None of them had moved as they watched him suck the air around, trembling uncontrollably like a vacuum through the widening cavity of his throat . . . his bloody eyes were sinking deeply, squeezed back into the inside.

  Mrs. Luciens shrieked, aghast; Godfrey ran to Nolfavrel, as though there was something he could do to mend him, but a solid circle of air had expanded around Nolfavrel, whipping them hardly against the walls.

  The watched the man who had made all things possible and clear . . . the man who always had the patience to explain things . . . the man who had always been there. All of a sudden, many things had happened to him: How his skin stretched paper-white while he was deeply and pitifully drained to total emptiness. Then a long, thin spark of electricity stiffened his body, and he collapsed on the cold stone floor with a bang.

  Nolfavrel lay immobile, curled on the floor, and unconscious like a useless decaying vegetable. His body was pale and sagged like bones wrapped on crispy dead skin. There was nothing as horrible as his hairless head. His lips compressed; cheekbones highly prominent. His eyes were gone and nothing was left on his darkly hollow sockets.

  Then something happened. Nolfavrel’s lifeless body blinked there like a low-resolution hologram before turning to ethereal pearly smoke, dispersing above into the ceiling. The wise man had finally passed.