Lost Ones

by Rute Canhoto

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  The effusive joy of Marina didn’t go unnoticed. When Ana asked her what was happening, Marina lied and said that she was excited, because she had just received a message from... huh, her mother, saying that she had a gift at home that she had requested a long time ago. Ana wasn’t convinced. Marina was hiding certain things from her in the romantic forum and that made her get suspicious. But who was she to judge her? She knew how it was to be in love with someone. Thinking of Dennis, she shortened the distance that separated them and tuck her arm around his.

  Finding it odd not to see Joshua around, Marina turned around to look for him. She found him behind them, walking slowly and with a downcast expression that reminded her of someone whose puppy had been hit by a car. Seeing him that way made her sad. It wasn’t fair that she was so happy when he felt miserable.

  She slowed down, to wait for him. She wanted to tell him something, but didn’t know what. After some thought, there was light in her mind. She cleaned her throat, impressed some joy to her voice, and asked, “What did you think of the text we translated? Does it portray the American way of life for real? I mean, I've never been to America, but you lived there for a few years, so you have an insider's view on the subject.”

  Joshua didn’t answer. He just shrugged, as if not even a little interested in what the text said.

  Marina didn’t give up and persisted, “Hmm, I don’t know if you realized, but that text was chosen especially for you by ‘Joshuette’ senior fan number two. I supposed that’s, kind of… a compliment, right?”

  The boy released a deep breath and continued without verbalizing anything. Marina shut her mouth and did the same for a short period. Maybe it was best to go home and forget the ​​party. What was the advantage of having a party if they were angry and not exchanging a single word? There was no atmosphere for fun, so she made a decision: she would make a final attempt to try to dispel the dark cloud that hung over Joshua and, if it didn’t work, she would go home.

  Fulfilling her plan, Marina began throwing words into the air, “Chuckle-head, silly, selfish, insane, unconscious… When I approach the word that best characterizes me let me know, because my thesaurus is limited.”

  Joshua knew that Marina would keep trying to engage him in conversation. He muttered something aside. At that moment, all terms she spoke seemed to describe her, since he was revolted, because she had chosen Lucas. How could she prefer that guy over him, an outcast who had nothing to offer and would only hurt her? He was the opposite. He would give her the world if she wanted – she just had to ask for it.

  He exhaled loudly, stopped and faced her, “Why don’t you knock it off? You're making yourself ridiculous.”

  Marina shrugged and quizzed, “Why should I stop? I don’t like to see you sad.”

  “I have no reason to be happy. And why does that even matter to you?”

  Offended, Marina shot, “Because it does! Who told you that I want to see you hurt? I swear I’ve done everything to avoid it.”

  Joshua snorted in derision. Obviously she wasn’t doing everything, otherwise she would be with him and not with Lucas. Moreover, it was hard to stick to the ‘good friend’ role, although he knew that, if he continued to be her friend, he could prove by his actions that she had made the wrong choice, and persuade her to go back. He himself had said to Lucas that he wouldn’t give up. Still, the latest news had left him possessed. He needed time to placate the anger that grew inside him.

  Seeing him increasingly exasperated, Marina said in a low voice with dismay, “Maybe it's better to go home. I don’t think you want me around you.”

  “No way,” he responded. “I’ve already ordered the pizzas. We won’t go back now.”

  “And how do we do it then?”

  Joshua took a deep breath; he had to calm down. It was her birthday and he was ruining it with his attitude. He didn’t want her, one day, to tell him that he was the one to blame for a bad birthday. In fact, if he wanted to persuade her to go back on her decision, that was a good opportunity. He extended a hand to her by way of a truce and she accepted it. Nevertheless, he didn’t return it to her. He entwined his fingers in hers instead and began the march back home.

  They took only a few steps that way, as Marina didn’t feel comfortable walking hand in hand with him, when she was with Lucas. She pulled her fingers back gently, not to offend him, and asked with an enigmatic grin on her lips, “Joshua, have you already installed the PlayStation in your room?”

  Hesitating a little, the boy answered, “Yes, I did it early in the week.”

  “And have you got any fighting games?”

  Joshua assented with his head and furrowed his eyebrows. He didn’t understanding why she asked that. What did she want? The answer didn’t take long.

  “Good. I think you’d feel better if you beat me, although I think that you’ll go down first!”

  The comment had the desired effect and Joshua outlined a draft of a smile, although he soon returned to his sullen self. Despite that, Marina no longer fell silent: she chattered over the silliest issues that came to her mind to distract him. At long last, Joshua decided it was time to stop being grumpy and started paying attention to her fiddle-faddle. She was struggling for them to get along, and, if he was smart, he would do the same. How could he try to win her if he pushed her away? Lucas wasn’t there; it was his turn to shine and dazzle her.

  Once at home, Dennis found a note from his parents, saying that they decided to go out for dinner, to spend some quality time alone. The friends applauded their decision, since they preferred to have no adult supervision. The brothers went to put their things in their bedrooms, while Ana and Marina left theirs in the lobby. Joshua returned shortly afterwards with the DVD that Marina had chosen: a comedy. Who knew if it wouldn’t help him to be more cheerful?

  Dennis and Ana sat on the ground pretty close to each other, while Marina and Joshua stood on the couch, seated at either end. To the Marina’s relief, this time there was no popcorn bowl circulating, so there was no danger of hands touching each other, even under a mantle of innocence. She focused on the movie that broached the adventures of a young woman who wanted to dazzle her prince. To fulfill her purpose, she tried everything, from cosmetic surgery with strange instruments, to attending pick-up classes with a man who was terrible at it. The intended effect emerged in the middle of the story: Joshua laughed at the comic scenes and he seemed more relaxed.

  When the movie ended, someone rang the doorbell. Joshua went to the door - it was the pizza delivery guy. Realizing who was at the entry, Marina ran to pay the order. With the bill cleared, the delivery guy withdrew and Joshua closed the door behind him, looking annoyed.

  “There was no need for you to pay for the pizzas. Dinner was your birthday gift,” gasped Joshua, showing his frustration.

  “But that's not the present I want you to give me,” said Marina playfully, as she winked an eye.

  He had no idea what she meant, but he was careful enough not to add any ulterior motives. It was better not to have false hopes.

  Upon seeing that Joshua wasn’t moving, Marina snagged the pizzas he was holding and took them to the table. Dennis rubbed his hands as he licked his lips, ready to attack his share. With all four seated at the table, Marina distributed the boxes according to the specifications in the purchase order. However, no one served themselves; it was as if they were waiting for her to start. Marina felt observed, although she didn’t understand why. Only when she opened the lid of her pizza box she understood everything: the cook had arranged the bacon strips to form the word ‘congrats’. Ana got up with a leap and ran up to her bag to get two candles, that she stuck on Marina’s pizza, lighting them with a lighter.

  Marina was quick to ask, “Please, don’t sing me happy birthday! It embarrasses me a lot every time I hear it. Come on, don’t be childish!”

  Her request was ignored. While she was speaking, Ana was already singing very fast so that she couldn’t stop
her from completing the song. Dennis joined his girlfriend singing the lyrics from the beginning, which resulted in an authentic jumbled-up creation. Joshua just laughed at the cacophony. When the singers finished their versions of the birthday melody, Marina blew out the candles and pulled them out of the pizza.

  “Bite the candles and make a wish,” Ana suggested.

  Marina didn’t believe in such thing, but it was best not to let her friend down. She took both candles at once and touched her front teeth slightly on them as she requested, “I want to be with Lucas forever.” It was egocentric, but that was her wish.

  The next few moments were spent devouring the slices of pizza while listening to music from the MTV channel. From time to time Ana sang, but her vocal talents left much to be desired. When everyone finished, they cleaned the kitchen.

  Marina winked at Joshua, while she imitated a weak boxing gesture in a defiant posture. That reminded him that she wanted to challenge him to a video game. He rolled his eyes and gave her a hand gesture to follow him. Not wanting that his parents found out that his relationship with Ana was a very colorful friendship, Dennis led her after them.

  Joshua turned on the TV and the PlayStation, while Dennis and Ana lay down across the bed, leaving enough room for him and Marina to sit at the bottom and do whatever they wanted. Joshua put the game running and passed a second control pad to Marina, who received it and pretended to look very scared.

  With a trembling voice, she begged, “Please, don’t hit me too hard. It hurts, okay?”

  Joshua laughed. He had to admit that he had a strong desire to grab her by her shoulders and shake her until she changed her mind. Besides, it wasn’t her who he wanted to beat, but his competitor. Lucas would not lose for the delay – he would slaughter him.

  Joshua chose as avatar a guy who looked like a mountain of muscles, which contrasted with the lanky athletic girl chosen by Marina. "Fight!" indicated a voice in the game and the battle began. Joshua was more used to playing, nonetheless he lost the first round.

  Marina put out her tongue in clear disapproval and protested, “Hey, no holding back! Take the chance to unload everything in the virtual world. Soon I'll get you seriously scratched up and you'll see stars. Do not hold back, because I won’t.”

  Joshua figured that, if that was what she wanted, he wouldn’t detract. As a result, the following two matches were won by him. He wore a triumphant grin, happy with his virtual vengeance.

  “Are you feeling better?” Marina inquired. Joshua nodded and she laughed, adding in a threatening tone, “Good, because now I'll drum you up! Prepare those muscles of yours for the shock. Here I come.”

  A new fight began, and this time, Marina won. Her success was repeated for a few more games, which amazed Joshua. She learned very fast, or she had played that game before and was deceiving him.

  Ana called their attention to the advanced hour, “My lovely people, it’s already nine. My mom is coming to get me. Do you want a ride home, Marina?”

  Marina agreed that it was getting late, she should go home too. However, she was having a blast and Joshua seemed to be getting closer to his usual humor, thus she didn’t want to stop. Ana still had Philosophy homework to do, but she already had everything handled. Maybe Joshua also wanted to get his duties done. The best thing was to ask him. “I’m enjoying playing and I’d like to stay for a bit longer, but maybe you want to do your work on Philosophy, Joshua?”.

  The boy shook his head with vehemence. They would only have a new lesson of that subject on Friday, so he could do his homework the next day. He too was enjoying playing, especially now that Marina had proved to be a worthy opponent.

  Joshua had made the decision for her: she would stay another hour and then would go home. A premonitory little voice of warning, coming from a recondite place in her soul, tried in vain to reach her insight with clarity and to alert her that it was better to leave with Ana, to arrive in safety. Nevertheless, it got lost amid the complex labyrinth of her mind, withered and extinguished.

  Marina ended up saying, “I’ll stay for a little longer. See you tomorrow then, Ana.”

  “Be good, kids. No playing house or doctors in my absence,” joked Ana as she got up from the bed.

  “Don’t worry, mama. And the same applies to you. No shameful action by the door, OK?” answered Marina back, as she rolled her eyes.

  The couple left the room while Marina and Joshua faced each other virtually. Dennis returned soon after, informing them that Ana’s mother was already down stairs when they got there, so they didn’t have the chance to say goodbye. To boost his morale, Marina questioned, “Do you want to play too? We can play the ‘send-off’. Whoever loses stays out and gives turn to another person.”

  Both boys agreed; that way they could all enjoy the game.

  Marina continued to be lucky and she won the next battles; Joshua was the first to go out to give his turn to his brother. New virtual clash: "fight!" Occupying the place erstwhile held by Dennis, Joshua took the opportunity to study Marina: she was focused on the game and seemed to like it. Her joy was contagious and it was impossible for him not to feel better. His confidence had also gone up and he felt that he could conquer her if he put an effort into it. She was with Lucas, but she hadn’t closed the door on him entirely. There was a narrow crack to get to her heart and he would have to squeeze himself through. It was worth trying.

  Dennis was also defeated, which was a surprise as that was his favorite game and he was a real ace at it. Joshua regained his place, but not for long, because Marina received a text from her mother asking if she would be long. She stared at her watch and got startled when she noticed that it was already 10.15p.m. She replied to her mother, saying that she was leaving Joshua’s building and would arrive soon.

  “Well, boys, it was very good, but I gotta go, since my mom is losing her mind due to my delay. Anyway, thank you both for the best birthday party ever.”

  And she hugged them both, under Dennis’ protest that he didn’t want to be embraced along with another man. Marina got up and stretched; her body was sore from sitting so long in the same place. She left the room followed by Joshua, who escorted her to the door.

  With a sparkle of concern looming in his sight, Joshua quizzed, “It's quite late. Don’t you want me to accompany you? I don’t like the idea of you walking around alone at night. You never know who you might find.”

  Joshua’s remark made her shudder. He had a point and she could say so! Just thinking about the possibility of having another strange encounter, she felt frightened. Anyway, she couldn’t ask him to take her home when she had had the chance of being taken by car and had opted to stay. It had been her choice, thus she would have to handle what came in the sequence of that.

  She took her sports bag, turned to Joshua and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll follow along the river’s rail. There’s good lighting there and cars are always passing by. Tomorrow you'll meet me to go to school together?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  Marina smiled. “See you tomorrow and thank you for having me in your house when it was the last thing you wanted.”

  “Don’t say that. It was super fun.”

  “And the most fun part was the beating you took! What a shame... defeated by a girl. You need some more practice,” she joked.

  Continuous act, Marina grimaced, put the sports bag on her back and left chin up, an immodest winner. Why wouldn’t she feel proud about her victories? She had beaten two guys in a game they played often and that was the first time she had touched a PlayStation control pad.

  When she reached the gate, she was surprised by the cold. The streets were abnormally mute, and the weak lights from the street lamps casted hideous shadows. Something moved, hidden in the penumbra. A stray animal maybe? Marina had the sensation that she was in a ghost town, just like those from wretched spirit stories. She felt a chill. A hazy presentiment took over her; she shook her body to repel it. She closed her jacket up to
the top to protect herself from the cold, put her hands in the pockets to keep them warm and began her march.

  Marina travelled at a fast pace, until she was forced to slow down towards what was happening. She stared with strangeness at the meteorological phenomenon that she had observed so many times before, but that that presented itself before her in a suspect and bizarre way. Near the river predominated a dense fog that closed around her as she approached the rail. The doubt ran through her: wouldn’t it be better to walk down the main street and not by the railing? She vacillated, feeling afraid. At the last minute, she decided to carry out the initial plan. She followed by the side-walk close to the river wall, pushing through the white blanket that enveloped her like cotton. Curious, she looked at the south bank. Not even the contours of the skate park could be distinguished such was the compact density of the thick mist.

  Closer to her home, the fog narrowed and condensed into a cool brume that nearly froze her bones. The air seemed too heavy, and occasionally, she heard some noises that reminded her of branches breaking. Suddenly, she stopped and listened with attention, as if on red alert, the maximum on the scale of danger. She held her breath and closed her eyes to concentrate. The sound she was able to distinguish was more like fire creeping, and she could swear that, behind that, she heard what seemed like moans. Marina unveiled her eyelids and ordered her laboring heart to decelerate; she felt it throbbing in her ears with small clicks. She turned around herself, scrutinizing the locks of fog in search of the reason for that state of siege within her.

  The lights of the closest street lamps twinkled, as if a result of a power failure, and those near to her went off. A sinister laughter echoed through the night, making her retreat with small hesitant steps, while she removed the protective bracelet from her wrist and held it with firmness in her hand. Out of the blue, she struck something with her back. Shocked, she turned around swiftly. With his black coat fluttering in the wind, the baleful figure stood before her once again.

  “Barbatos!” Marina exclaimed, stupefied.

  Not again! She had already seen him that morning. What did he want from her? She had to run away.

  To her astonishment, and before she could tack any escape plan, Barbatos began applauding her. In a happy tone, he said, “Well done, you know my name. Finally! But do you know who and what I am? I bet not. I doubt he would give you that much information.”

  Marina remained rooted to the spot, while Barbatos moved in a predatory way around her at a short distance. She had all her senses awakened and felt ready to react to the slightest sign of danger.

  Barbatos receded two steps and decided to lie down along the marble surface of the river wall, lodging his hands over his chest. Marina peered at him from the corner of her eye and was puzzled to note that his abdomen was going up and down in the sequence of the breathing. She could only conclude a terrifying fact - he did not breath.

  His voice assumed a tone close to stress-free, but without losing the intimidating harbinger. “Relax, girl, I’m not here to hurt you or your darling. For now. In fact, I brought you a birthday present, and don’t say I'm not generous. Well, I'm not, but anyway...”

  “I don’t want anything from you, thanks,” shot Marina.

  ‘Thanks’? How stupid! Why would she be thanking him: for not stopping in pursuing her, or for constantly making promises of nothing good about her future and Lucas’?

  “You have nothing to thank me for, my dear,” replied Barbatos. “You know, I have to admit that I'm disappointed with you. You’re so clever and still you understand nothing. I expected more from you.” Barbatos gesticulated while he articulated the words and did theatrical exaggerated snoots, as if he was very dissatisfied with her.

  Marina was confused. What was he talking about? Couldn’t he put the charades away and go straight to the point?

  The man forged a sigh and noted, “Sweetie, your darling is a mere LOST ONE. He’s worthless and he’ll have to pay if he doesn’t fulfill the mission he was assigned till the end of the day.”

  “Stay away from Lucas!” Marina screamed in a hurry.

  Barbatos chuckled with conviction. “You really think he deserves your concern?”

  “He deserves everything!” asserted Marina with great certainty.

  Barbatos wove a devilish smirk. He brought his face close to hers, until she felt his nauseating rotting smell, and asked in a low voice “He deserves everything, even... that you give your life for him?”

  Marina was pain-struck. The haunting had stated before that he intended to kill her and Lucas, so there was nothing new. Dying was a hypothesis that frightened her enough; still, her sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain if it was for someone she loved. Marina gulped and assented in a slow gesture, “Sure. If I had to give my life over his, I would do it.”

  “Splendid. Then I don’t understand his hesitation. Anyway, I already gave you your present. Now be a good girl of the twenty-first century and use the technology. Inform yourself about me and your sweetheart. I’d still like you to suffer a lot till you beg me… to be KILLED!” And Barbatos dissolved in a black damp that merged with the persistent night fog.

  As soon as he disappeared, Marina crossed the road and ran home. She took a while to find the right key, and her hands trembled so much that she took forever to put it in the lock. She slammed the door behind her, locked it, and leaned against it to barricade it. She shut her eyes and pressed her chest; her heart distressingly arrhythmic after the appearance of Barbatos.

  “Marina!”

  Her mother calling her startled her so much, that she felt that her throat was closing and blocking the oxygen entrance. She supported her knees on the floor and undertook a superhuman effort to pull herself together. Breathe in, breathe out, she ordered herself in an attempt to recover. The excitement was barely noticeable in her voice when she answered to her mom, saying that she would be right there with her.

  More controlled, she stood up and walked to her mom’s room. Luísa was lying down and had large dark circles beneath her eyes, which showed that the migraine hadn’t yet left. Marina accommodated herself beside her on the quilt and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  “Happy birthday,” greeted her mom. “I was thinking that I wouldn’t hear you coming in to congratulate you in person.”

  “It didn’t matter. You had already said it by phone.”

  “But it’s not the same thing. What about the party, how was it?” questioned her mother.

  “It was good. We watched a comedy, had pizza for dinner, played a fighting game on the PlayStation and I kicked their asses. That's why I got distracted and arrived late.”

  “No problem. The important thing is that you had fun. You have your birthday present upon your bed. Tomorrow tell me what you think of it,” said mom.

  “Okay. See you tomorrow, mommy. Get well soon,” wished Marina as she left her mother’s chambers.

  As she had been told, upon her bed Marina found a package with a large red ribbon wrapping tied around it. Nonetheless, she preferred to put on her pajamas before opening it; that way she had time to settle down a little more. The fact that she had been forced to recover so fast to go talk to her mother had forced her to get into a state similar to numbness, to avoid looking nervous. Only now could she actually liberate the accumulated tension. Despite that ‘releasing’ moment, she was still tense about Barbatos’ words. He had called her dumb for not understanding what was happening. She would find out, but all in time.

  After putting on her pajamas, Marina opened the festive package: it was a new brown leather jacket. Her mother had offered her the black one last year, but she also had requested the brown too, because she liked to match the jackets colors with the sweaters’. This converted to true the lie that she had said to her friends that afternoon when questioned about a text she had received, and that everyone thought it was from her mother when it was, in fact, from Lucas.

  As if guessing she was thinking of him, her phone rang with a
message from him. Marina stared at the display and read ‘Are you okay? Was the party good? I miss you a lot...’ The girl let out a moan. She was tired… Overall, it had been a good birthday with nice moments. However, that bloody ghost had visited her twice with enigmas that caused her fastidious headaches. Before responding to Lucas, she put her new coat in the closet, grabbed her laptop and turned it on. After getting a notebook and a pencil, she crawled under the sheets. It was good to finally get to bed. She had no desire to do any research, but she had to find out who Barbatos was and what he wanted from her. He had already mocked her for not using her wits; she wouldn’t allow him to underestimate her. She picked up the phone and replied to Lucas, ‘The party was good. Barbatos sent greetings and recalled that your deadline is expiring. I'm exhausted, I’ll go to sleep. I miss you too. See you tomorrow. Kisses.’ For a moment she feared that he would send her another text due to her reference to Barbatos; she didn’t feel like talking about it.

  She pulled the laptop to her knees and accessed the Internet, where she checked her e-mail and read the birthday wishes on her Facebook page. She was postponing... She distrusted with apprehension the step she had to take next, and a rough sense of premonition emphasized her reticence.

  After a deep breath, she entered a search engine. It was time to know with whom she was dealing. Marina wrote ‘Barbatos’ in the space for the search criteria and pressed the Enter button. A list of several pages appeared. The terms highlighted in all of them pointed to ‘Duke of Hell’ and ‘demon’ - this was not a good sign. She gulped to appease her throat that ached as if she had devoured nails, clenched her eyelids and entered one of the links randomly. When she turned to open her eyes, she read:

  “The name Barbatos derives from the Latin (“barbatus”), and it can mean bearded, old man or philosopher. In demonology, this character is taken as the Duke of Hell, who has under his command thirty legions of demons, being assisted by four kings. Among its powers are the understanding of the animals’ voices, he’s able to see the past and the future, allies friends and rulers, and can lead men to hidden treasures using the spells of mages. Barbatos is one of three assistants of Astaroth, joining Aamon and Pruslas.”

  Her body chilled from top to bottom and her eyes widened as she read the text. She felt like she had aged more than ten years due that information. And she was right; it was too much for her.

  The first sentence made her doubt that the data referred to the haunt that had appeared to her, because he wasn’t old or bearded. She recalled, however, that each time she saw his face, it seemed to change and the age was one of the aspects that suffered variations. At times he looked older and others he seemed younger. The text stated that one of his powers was to see the past. Perhaps he could transform himself based on the image of who he was in the past, and his face reflected some of those phases. It was just a theory, but since it seemed valid, she filed it in the mental department of picky topics about that issue. The information she found after the first sentence was the one she considered most important: Barbatos was the Duke of Hell. That meant that he was a demon, not a haunting as she used to call him. Nonetheless, one detail mystified her: if he had thirty legions led by four kings at his disposal, why would he pursue her himself instead of sending one of his minions?

  Marina grabbed her notebook, and began to write a summary list with the main topics. The first impressions she registered said:

  "Barbatos (Duke of Hell)

  - Demon.

  - Commands thirty legions and he’s helped by four kings.

  - Understands the animals, is able to see the past and future.

  - He’s one of Astaroth three assistants, along with Aamon and Pruslas".

  It called her attention that, besides being a Duke, Barbatos was also a vassal. Along with two other demons, he was an assistant to someone (or something?) called ‘Astaroth’. That was the next clue to follow up. She shouldn’t discard the possibility of him being sent by his so-called hierarchical superior in the scale of demonology. The ‘why’ escaped her like sand through her fingers in the middle of a desert. She turned to focus on the laptop screen. Got back to the home page and typed in ‘Astaroth’. Again, Marina obtained several links, but ended up by clicking the first one right away.

  "According to some demonology authors, Astaroth is a Grand Duke of Hell, whose emperor is Satan. He’s regarded by some as a demon of first hierarchy. He’s the prince of accusers, who seduces through beauty and vanity. He has a rational way of seeing the world, thus he is an inspiration to mathematicians, artists, painters, and other liberals artists. He can give the gift of invisibility to men, and lead them to hidden treasures by spells of mages. It contests all the questions and his adversary is St. Bartholomew."

  After reading the text, Marina was naive enough to wonder if he would be that bad, since he viewed the world in a rational way, inspiring liberal artists and mathematicians. That made her go back to History lessons and recall the controversial replacement of the geocentric theory by the heliocentric. The ‘scientists’ at the time had been misunderstood and even accused of witchcraft and pacts with the devil, when they only limited to resort to logic and reasoning. Astaroth was rational - would that make him a vile demon? No, she couldn’t think like that. Evil was Evil, it was not good. Marina picked up the notebook again and registered:

  "ASTAROTH (Grand Duke of Hell)

  - Responds to Satan.

  - Demon of first hierarchy.

  - He’s the chief of Barbatos

  - Connected to rationalism, he contests everything.

  - Direct Opponent: St. Bartholomew."

  So far, she hadn’t seen Astaroth or heard of him, but it could be good to buy a medal with the image of St. Bartholomew to add to her bracelet. The next day she would pass by the store to check if they had the piece she wanted. And Barbatos, would he have a direct opponent as his boss? Perhaps she could get a medal of that too. Marina carried out a new search, but found no reference to that. Following the deduction method, if St. Bartholomew was the direct opponent of Astaroth, to whom Barbatos answered directly, then he might be his enemy too, right? By exclusion of parts, that was the conclusion she reached.

  She glanced at the clock over the night stand, which marked 11.33. She was depleted. She wanted to give herself the luxury of shutting down the computer and falling asleep, but she still had one final search to do. And she was so reluctant to do it! What if what she found turned her away from Lucas? She was so in love with him, she didn’t want to lose him. But what if he was...? No, she didn’t want to think it. With a heavy conscience, she started to register in her notebook all the clues that had been given in conversations she had had with Lucas and those she had with Barbatos. She had to analyze everything she knew, regardless how hard it was for her. She scrawled:

  "LUCAS

  DATA OBTAINED FROM LUCAS HIMSELF

  - He said he didn’t know how it was to be in pain for a long time.

  - Heals quickly.

  - Appears and disappears without explanation.

  - He trembled when I asked him if he was a fallen angel.

  - Said he was a lost one.

  - He warned me that I should stay away from him, claiming that he’s no good.

  - Referred that everything bad that had happened to me was his fault.

  - His body is covered with scars and he said that he deserved them all.

  - He asked me what I would do if I knew that he was as evil as a demon.

  - Asked me if I would stay with him even if I knew he was bad.

  - He asked me if I thought he was worth saving.

  STRANGE DATA REFERRED BY BARBATOS

  - He called him a lost one.

  - He said that he hadn’t fulfilled his mission, whose deadline was ending."

  Her head was pounding and the impertinent pain that had settled right behind her orbits wasn’t helping her concentration. She was about to approach the true nature of Lucas and doubt persisted: would she real
ly want to know?

  She read with attention what she had written down and jumped to her conclusion that, both Barbatos and Lucas, had described him as a ‘lost one’. She appealed to her brain to ignore the crippling ache that nearly fragmented her skull, and put the gears to work correctly to solve the puzzle. She reflected for a bit: if he wasn’t a vampire, werewolf, ghost or anything similar, ‘lost one’ could be a definition. She carried out a new search on her laptop, this time about ‘lost ones’. Several results loomed, but...

  Marina pouted, infuriated, and threw the laptop to the side. She was nervous and her hands trembled so much that she barely managed to type the words in the search engine. She felt the tears threatening to erupt, and had no idea if she could cease them afterwards. She felt… she knew that the data she’d find would drive them away from each other sooner or later.

  She opened and closed her hands several times, in order to recover her domain. When they obeyed her better, she pulled the computer back onto her lap, inspired deeply and glued her gaze to the screen. She initiated the reading of the results, but found no relevant information. The pages that came up had to do with lost objects, lost friends... she even ended up in a lost things section. She moved on to other results and the same happened. She felt almost relieved, until she found a link that might be closer to what she was looking for. She sobbed when she saw it - there was the major reason for her fears. A drop of cold sweat went down her back. Her finger danced clumsily on the key that would open the page, until it came down violently and pressed it. Marina concentrated on the text:

  "Lost Ones are ex-mortals transformed by Perdition, i.e., the one who goes to Hell gradually loses humanity and what remains good in him, eventually becoming a demon: a Lost One. Lost Ones return some times (or they just stay around), and they resemble normal humans, given that they retain the form they had before, although their skin can sometimes have a strange color or even be flaky. They don’t have the ability to reproduce; however, many of them study on how they can turn other mortals and treat them like their children. They may have various powers, but the initial one is usually defined by those held when they were still a mortal. The most common is the gift of Vision."