Louisa's POV
When the two giant salamanders walked into the cave, the black one didn't look happy at all.
"I won," she said.
"Whatever you say, sis," the brown one rolled his eyes.
"I'll never talk to you again!" she said and disappeared into the darkness.
The brown one didn't follow her, moved next to me, and said, "Do you want me to show you around the cave? We've got some pretty awesome wall paintings."
"Let's take a look at wall paintings with Mr. Salamander," I said to Darren.
Darren looked a bit doubtful.
"Are you sure you want to go? The cave can be a very dangerous place. People can't breathe inside," he said.
"I promise to you that I won't get myself killed this time. Let's go, Darren. I want to see wall paintings. We might find something for Mr. Weasel to eat," I dragged him and said.
Mr. Weasel was sleeping soundly in the basket.
Darren sighed, took up a wooden stick as a torch, and followed Mr. Salamander into the darkness of the cave.
"How long have you been living in this cave?" I asked Mr. Salamander.
"We moved in here as soon as the vampire left. It wasn't a long time ago," Mr. Salamander replied.
"The vampire?!" I exclaimed in surprise, holding Darren's arm.
Mr. Salamander replied, "Yeah. He used to live here with his son. I used to play with his son all the time. He was a quiet and polite boy. The vampire left as soon as his son passed away. Sometimes we could still encounter his ghost in the cave. Spooky."
I didn't like a small boy's ghost lurking around in a dark cave.
I told Darren everything I had just heard.
He just nodded slightly, without saying anything.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" I asked.
He thought for a while and said, "There's no such thing as ghosts in this world, Lisa. What people see is the consolidation of their own remorse and grievance."
"I don't understand a word of what he has just said, but it sounds very persuasive," Mr. Salamander said.
Then, he stopped.
"This is where the vampire used to live," he said.
The dim light of the torch illuminated the decorative paintings on the cave walls.
Darren lifted the torch, looking up and around.
Following his gaze, I saw the beautiful decorative paintings on the cave walls and the remains of antique furniture.
Wiping away the dust covering their surface, I could see the exaggerated ornamentation and emblems carved into them.
"V... Is this some sort of initial for his name?" I murmured to myself.
"HUman names are very confusing. I don't remember at all." Mr. Salamander said.
Everything was decaying or rotten in this cave, but I could tell that they had been very expensive in their prime.
"Such an extravaganza style of living," I said.
Mr. Salamander said, "When we first arrived, there used to be more stuff. But all the silverware and valuables have already been stolen, leaving these bulky pieces of furniture. I like them because rotten wood attracts worms and insects."
As he said, his tongue flicked out of his mouth into a half-open chest of drawers and caught a bunch of worms into his mouth.
I looked at Darren. Obviously, he didn't like what he was looking at.
Darren said to me, "Lisa, I have a bad feeling about this place. Terrible things have taken place here and I really think we should go back now."
"OK," I nodded despite hoping that we could linger here to explore more about the vampire.
When we got back, the black salamander was caught standing in front of the basket and watching Mr. Weasel.
I instinctively knew something was wrong and rushed at them.
To my relief, Mr. Weasel was still in the basket.
I shouldn't have left him alone with a larger predator.
What was on my mind?! I couldn't stop blaming myself.
I held up Mr. Weasel and found that his body was twitching.
I touched his head, but it seemed that he was unconscious.
"I wasn't going to eat him if that's on your mind. He's acting weird, that's why I stare at him. You can't blame me for staring," Ms. Salamander said.
"What have you done to that poor weasel?" Mr. Salamander looked at his sister and said.
"I'm not talking to you," Ms. Salamander said.
"But I'm talking to you," he said.
"Why do you always blame me for everything? I'm the only family you've got! You've never taken my side!" she said.
"Because you're always wrong," he replied.
"Please don't fight... I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble... I guess it's time for us to go," I said, looking outside.
The rain had already stopped.
Mr. Salamander moved to the entrance of the door and blocked our way out.
"It's getting dark outside. I don't think it's safe for you to walk in the forest when it's dark," he said, moving his giant head in front of my face.
I patted his head and said, "Thank you for saving my life. I really wish I could stay with you, but I have to take Mr. Weasel home and get him treated properly."
"He's cursed," Ms. Salamander said.
"Shut up," Mr. Salamander said.
"I'm telling you, he is cursed. I've seen people twitching like that before and they all died eventually." Ms. Salamander said.
I panicked.
"What happened to Mr. Weasel?" I asked anxiously.
Ms. Salamander said, "This rat went into the cave as soon as you guys went away. He was fine at that time. I thought he was about to look for something to eat, but he came back rolling an egg. He wanted to eat it, but he couldn't break it. Then, he became sick."
"What did she say?" Darren asked me.
I told him what Ms. Salamander had just said.
As I was speaking, Darren's face was getting darker.
"Where's the egg?" he asked Ms. Salamander.
"Here." She replied, knocking the basket over.
A shiny golden egg rolled out of it.
It was the size of a quail egg.
When I was about to pick it up, Darren stopped me.
"Don't touch anything, Lisa," he said with a serious look on his face.
I looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Darren didn't answer me but asked the two salamanders, "You've said you met a little boy's ghost in this cave before? Are you sure he looked like the count's son?"
Mr. Salamander said, "Not really. He was covered under a white sheet."
"But... How can you tell who he is if he's covered by a white sheet?" I asked.
The salamanders looked at each other and said in a voice, " We can't."
Mr. Salamander said, "But I heard people screaming when they saw him in this cave. They said he's the little boy's ghost."
"You've met other people in the cave?" I asked.
"Yeah. A lot of people came and tried to take away the vampire's possessions," Mr. Salamander said, "very bad people."
Ms. Salamander said, "I saw them twitching just like the weasel before they got out of the cave. And then the little boy's ghost would come, pull them out of the cave, and disappear. It's rather strange."
I translated everything I'd heard to Darren.
He looked at the golden egg and said, "I think I understand what this whole thing is."