As she emerges from her room, Marisol is surprised to find Sophia standing right by the entrance. Sophia's eyes gleamed with a knowing satisfaction, a slow clap echoing through the once silent corridor, prompting Marisol to push away her initial surprise.
"Well, well, well. Look who's finally decided to come out of hiding. I was starting to think you'd decided to stay holed up in there for the rest of your days." Sophia drawls, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Marisol rolled her eyes, a surge of annoyance bubbling within her. She was not in the mood to deal with Sophia's taunts. Choosing to ignore her words, Marisol attempts to walk past her, but Sophia is quick to sidestep, effectively blocking her new path, a corner of her lips lifting slightly.
"Going for a little stroll, are we?" Sophia continued, amusement was evident in her tone.
Marisol shoots her a glare but opts to remain silent, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of a reply.
Sophia suddenly leans in, causing Marisol to lean away, her voice lowering to mutter her next words in a conspiratorial tone. "You know, it's a wonder you're still in one piece after poking around where you shouldn't."
Marisol blinks at that, feigning innocence. Raising an eyebrow, she replies, "What are you talking about?"
Sophia chuckled, relishing the opportunity to enlighten Marisol about the dangers she had narrowly escaped. "Oh, don't play dumb with me now. We're well aware of your little midnight escapade. Surprised actually that Cedric didn't tear you limb from limb. You really think we didn't know about your newfound obsession with the hidden castle?"
Marisol tries to keep her expression schooled, but her pulse quickens at the last of Sophia's words. She thought she'd had it all under wraps, not expecting to hear that her actions had been under such scrutiny. And Cedric? Where had she heard that name before? It sounded awfully familiar and there was a bit of silence as Marisol wracked her brain until it finally clicked with the context Sophia's words had provided.
Cedric was the red wolf, the malevolent force that haunted her dreams. The one whose existence she was still struggling to accept and hearing Sophia's words adds a little bit of clarity, but not quite. A name meant that creature wasn't always like that, or was he? Who was this 'Cedric' and what could've caused him to transform into such a monstrous entity?
With a false air of composure, Marisol keeps her shoulders high as she asks, "Who is Cedric, and why is he like that?"
Sophia laughs at her confusion, a sound that echoes through the desolate corridor, seemingly finding amusement in Marisol's poorly concealed misery. "Cedric is a ticking time bomb, and your curiosity just had to push you right into the danger zone, didn't it? Consider yourself lucky to even stand on your own two feet right now. Real lucky." She snarks like Marisol couldn't already see the malicious undertones of her words.
Marisol's mind races with the new discovery, trying to piece together the fragments of information she had. Cedric, the red wolf, was evidently a menace, but the particulars of his transformation are, once again, another mystery, the word now synonymous with Redwood itself.
"But..." she started, but Sophia had already whipped around with a scoff, deeming the conversation over and leaving Marisol to stand alone with the added weight of the new revelations settling heavily on her shoulders.
After Sophia was long gone, Marisol resumed her journey to the hidden castle, as Sophia had called it. At the back of her mind, she thought that the name sounded quite peculiar and wondered why.
She arrives at the same secret entrance and peers in, the dimly lit corridor stretching before Marisol, casting shadows that seem to dance with every flicker.
The alarm bells in her head began to go off the longer she stood at the entrance that held no good memories, Sophia's words bouncing around in her head, but Marisol forced herself forward, determined to find her way out of this.
Her steps were cautious, echoing softly in the eerie silence. It was bright outside, the sun sitting high in the sky, yet the hidden wing held a terrifying atmosphere, the air stale and hallways almost looking to push against the light offered by the weakly flickering torches. She walks until she is almost at the end of the corridor and her jaw almost hits the floor at the sight she is greeted by. She immediately understands now, why Sophia had called it a castle.
Marisol stood in what she thought was the heart of the hidden castle, her eyes wide with awe as she took in the grandeur that lay dormant beneath the layers of dust. The sunlight streamed in through narrow windows, casting a soft glow on the regal architecture that surrounded her.
The castle was a magnificent display of forgotten splendor, its walls adorned with faded tapestries telling tales of a bygone era. Dilapidated chandeliers hung from the ceiling, suspended in midair like ghosts of opulence. The once-polished marble floor now bore the scars of time, covered in a thin layer of dirt and neglect.
She wondered how she hadn't noticed before. But then who could blame her? Anyone would believe it to be an abandoned part of the packhouse and the appearance of the red wolf hadn't given her much space for exploration.
She treads further in cautiously, the dust crunching beneath her feet, echoing through the silence of the abandoned castle. As she meanders through the castle's corridors, Marisol feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge, that feeling of being watched making another unwelcome entry. The portraits on the walls seemed to follow her every move, eyes on faded canvases bearing witness to her intrusion.