A large house towered over Sal, Lea and the constable. It covered them in its shadow. The house glittered it seemed and the concrete walls were covered in fuschia bougainvillea vines and the windows decked in expensive Caligarian glass and winding pillars. It looked so much like a castle.

Lea repeated what she’d been parroting earlier. “Tiya Edihna would open her door to roaches than let us in. I know her more than anyone else. She’s a witch! If that Lawyer or whatever he may be was not a jerk, I wouldn’t need to ask for Tiya’s help.”

“Hey! You have your trusty constable here.We just have to knock by her door, like tok-tok-tok. Nobody can say no to this face. “ The constable remarked.

“Impossible,” Lea groaned. “ I’d rather get caught by constables and be exiled out of here than put up with her face.

 “ Well, Sal thought the impossible had just happened. Sal clutched the bag she got from Comaco’s apartment. Amidst the mess, a small bag caught her attention then. She pointed to it until her hands moved on their own, felt the texture on the hands and imagined what would be inside. The housekeeper allowed her to keep it, citing that the Sgr. Comaco had too much junk lying around.

 A soft, mournful familiar melody from a harp fluttered from inside the house, a melody she heard as a child. She followed the sound as conversations in Caligarian trickled in. She then found herself in front of a steel gate guarding a vast yard filled with various kinds of flowers and lush grass divided by a neat pathway.

 Lea showed up just then and hung an arm around Sal’s shoulder so she pointed at where the music might be coming from.

 Lea didn’t seem to be interested. “What? No. Point me somewhere else. I don’t want to get caught.”

“Get caught by me, of course!” the constable popped up behind them. And then ensued the dance of Lea and the constable. They would sing in screeching sing song voices, pointing back and forth statements. 

Suddenly, a voice boomed, asking who was trespassing in the yard. Sal froze on the spot as she roamed her eyes around only for watching Lea bolt away before being dragged away herself. 

Tired and a bit nervous, Sal stayed behind seated by the shade of a tree while the two bickered. Eventually, Lea did concede to the constable’s plan so they walked up to the gate like proper guests.

Sal kept herself hidden behind the tree as she watched the constable call forth for the Ms. Edihna and meet dead silence. A few more minutes and a few more tries, the constable was met by a man a little bigger than the constable himself. The big tower that must be the Ms. Edihna’s butler, judging from the almost Mercantile-like clothes he wore, was unmoving unlike the constable who punctuated his words with his hands.

Sal contented herself to stay behind and watch and sift through the sounds she heard and look for that familiar melody. Then, it stopped. So did the Caligarian conversations. Up above the second story, the window moved ever so slightly. 

A woman clad in black skirt with a sheer dark veil over her head appeared between the glass-encrusted windows. The figure eyed the people below. She stayed in her spot, unmoving. A specter.

 Sal wandered close with her eyes fixed on this specter. She watched the minute movements in the woman’s dress or the turn of the figure’s head. 

“A ghost.” Sal whispered. “A ghost.” more assuredly. 

The window slammed shut and the butler promptly yelled at them to get out.

                                                                                       ***

The constable closed the door from behind him and sat on the floor between Sal and Lea. “ I already talked to ‘Nay Rosa. She was concerned that we were out the whole day so I had to explain things to her.” 

“I owed you one there. “Lea replied. 

There was quite a bit of silence. All the energy in the two’s conversations seemed to be drained as only the sounds of the night whispered to each other. 

The constable started, “ Let’s get some rest for tonight. And tomorrow too.”

“No,” Lea interjected. “We’ll be dead meat in here by tomorrow. We can’t stay here tomorrow. ” She stood to her full height as she approached the constable. “ To put it simply, the constables will come for me. Someone said I’m the Cuorre’s child.” 

The constable laughed, the lips not quite reaching his ears. “Now, that is not funny. Besides, little girl here hears you.” 

Sal’s ears flinched at the mention of a little girl. She leveled a long stare at the man who looked like a stupid waiting dog. “I’m seventeen.” 

“Child, I-” 

“I was almost married.” 

“Lea, tell me-” 

“She’s seventeen. I’m fifteen.” Lea sat there with a straight gaze. “When did I ever make jokes with you?” Lea rolled her eyes before sitting on the chair nearest to the constable. “I believe you know the rumors floating around the caretakers, everyone surely will blab their mouths around you.” 

“Well, I’m just that handsome and-” 

“Surely you heard, some of them believe that a Cuorre bastard child exists and that person is in this hospicio. You remember Meriang? That mermaid-haired caretaker? She believes I’m that child.”

 The constable scratched his nape, the smile and the lightness in his face fading at every second. 

“It’s another visit tomorrow for the hospicio, right? Meriang. She already called the constables on me.” 

“But you’re not that child.”

“It does not matter. She believes I am. Who will your colleagues believe? The word of the caretaker or a green child like me?”

 The constable sat on the bed staring in space for awhile. “Meriang is a shy one. Surely, she can’t do something like that.” 

“She resented Marcia being adopted away.” 

“Oh,” the constable buried his head in his hands for awhile before he started again. “Alright, you could count on me. I’ll talk this over with ‘Nay Rosa.” He donned a wide smile as he bade the both of them good night. 

Lea stared at the door for quite a while before turning to Sal. “Talk’s over. Now, sleep.”

 Sal retraced the conversation that transpired before her instead. It seemed important yet she could only remember the specter in the Casa. As it was the thing only she has seen, Sal brought it up.“That house has a ghost.” Sal waited for a reply from Lea. None of interest. Sal grudgingly plopped on the bed, making a loud creak.

 Lea sighed, “If it was the Tiya Edihna you’re talking of, she’s more than a ghost. She’s a bitch who speaks like a sheep and stabs you in the back. She’s a wolf.” 

“How bad was she?” 

Lea steadied herself on the mattress, and paused for a moment. “It will take days to tell you the whole story and yet it seems it will still no be enough to see why she’s a bitch.” She raised one finger. “ For one, whenever there’s fights between the mothers, you’ll be sure Tiya Edihna was involved, or is involved, and will be involved. No, she does not go around whispering in their ears to stir trouble. She’ll show up crying to your doorstep and you’d think we’re all ganging up on this poor woman.”

Sal mulled over the words, as she imagined a snake in sheepskin. Rolling around like a worm. Yet, Sal admitted she did not understand how hateable Lea claimed her to be.

 “ The thing is, she has everything . It was unsure if her mother was the Missus, but she was treated better than most of his children. The Missus doted on her! Imagine! An education at the better schools in Pontmari and a bid to attend school in the capital when the best my other sisters and aunts could dream of is a school at Pontmari. We will all be married anyway so what is there else to learn? But Tiya Edihna, she was supposed to be different. She was a genius. She was a perfect princess. “ Lea paused, collecting her thoughts. “ The family used to own a medal bestowed to the previous head of the family or something for his efforts in the war or some story like that. When the Missus died, the medal was gone. No one speaks of it, but everyone of age when the Missus died, knew where it went. ”

 She was a bad person because she stole something? Sal stirred in her seat. 

Lea faced the window, turning her back to Sal. “ The few months before the Missus died and she was still sick on her deathbed, Tiya Edihna came back from Alimpio. She was already studying then. We were all fooled into thinking that the Missus was getting better. Tiya Edihna came back for Alimpio early, too early in fact that she left almost a few days before Missus passed.“ 

“ I’ve always believed that the Missus only accepted Tiya Edihna for grandfather’s sake but when the Missus passed, I was there. She would only whisper ‘Dihna, ‘Dihna, my child.’ the last thing she said.” 

Sal sat silently, almost regretting the story she asked. There was a rush of embarrassment and a need to flush out the last remaining parts of the story from her memory.

 “I guess that’s it. Anymore questions?” 

Sal shook her head.

Lea laid open the straw mat she’s been using as her bed. “Good. Telling anymore about her would make me barf.”

 Sal laid back in bed and stared at the dark, empty ceiling. To be honest, all of Lea’s talk seemed like a story she read from a book. Lea’s telling her that this woman is bad, and she hates her. As of now., this Edihna woman is bad and nothing tells her yet otherwise.