Rain heard Jace screaming in his room in the east tower. When Rain ran and pushed open Jace's bedroom door, she saw the room filled with swirling black mist.
Rain was confused by the situation that occurred. When she approached while calling out Jace's name in panic, pain spread across Rain's arms, cheeks, and even all over Rain's body. The girl screamed. Then instinctively, Rain covered her face with her hands.
Rain felt something wrapped around her body. Feels like the barbed wire that is sharp and stabbing. Rain squirmed and struggled. However, the entanglement felt increasingly piercing the skin until it penetrated the flesh.
"Not! What's this? Jace, are you all right? What's going on here?"
Rain couldn't see anything other than the dense fog clumping around her. She thought Jace was again possessed by the monster inside him. However, Rain heard the sound of footsteps.
"That's enough!" shouted Erica in a calm voice.
Erica waved her hand in front of her face, and instantly, the black mists swirling in Jace's room disappeared. Nothing covered her view between Rain and Jace, who were previously separated by fog.
"Erica? What is…."
Rain had stepped to approach Jace. However, Erica's whip extended and hit the floor right before Rain's feet. The girl was frozen, not daring to move an inch.
In front of her eyes, Rain saw Jace snared by a thorny and poisonous plant. The plant was controlled by Erica. Jace seemed glued to the wall with thorns all over his body. The man was unconscious, with his head drooping to his chest.
All of Rain's thoughts were pushed out of her vague mind.
"Jace!"
Turns out talking made Rain sick. Erica's whip also scratched her cheek. She still felt pain in her cheeks and all over her body. The traces of the whip that had previously constricted. Rain could imagine the pain Jace received, maybe even thousands of times than what Rain felt a few moments ago.
"Take it easy," said Erica. "He is just unconscious."
"You snared him with poison plants!"
Rain started to turn to Erica. She intended to throw herself on Erica. Instead, she staggered backwards as if she had bumped into something invisible but hard and as strong as glass. Erica created an invisible wall for Rain.
Enraged, Rain attacked the air with her fist.
"Erica!" Rain shouted. She kicked the invisible wall before her until she almost bruised her leg. "Do not be stupid. You're gonna make Jace die! What are you trying to do to him?"
"I won't be here when that happens," said Erica, looking at Jace's face, which looked in pain.
Rain was shocked. She was like electrocuted because she had just realized. "So you've been working with Mayor Flynn all this time to bring down Jace? Is that why you were so weird when I fought to get Jace back to normal? Instead, you keep pushing him to bring out the monster inside him. You work for Mayor Flynn!"
Rain's throat felt as dry as dust until she couldn't say anything but spit out the accusation.
Erica wasn't wearing her usual head maid's work clothes, and her hair was also not in a bun. Erica wore a leather suit and a black tank top under her jacket. Her lengthy hair fell perfectly with slight curls at the ends. She also wore knee-length black boots. Erica looked much younger than her usual appearance. Rain barely recognized the woman.
Slash!
Erica slapped her whip once more on the floor. She grinned at Rain.
"Do not, Dear! I don't work for Mayor Flynn," Erica said.
Erica lifted Jace's drooping hand and pulled something from it. She made some sort of drawing following the runes inscribed on Jace's palm. From that rune, a black bone weapon was created.
"But, Mayor Flynn does work for my lord. We work for the same master, but we've never been on the same team."
With a quick movement, Erica thrust the dagger made of black bone into her palm until it grazed a gash and dripped fresh red blood. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Rain heard the sound of the door opening.
Instinctively Rain turned to see who was coming from Jace's bedroom door. But there was nobody at the door. When she turned around, Rain saw that the air beside Erica glistened like the surface of a lake seen from afar.
A wall of air created from the dark mist split like a black curtain then a man suddenly appeared from the hole. It was as if the man had merged and emerged from the dense black fog.
"Erica!" said the man. "You managed to resurrect the witch?"
Erica immediately bowed before the man, but she remained silent and did not utter a word. Erica looked paralyzed, either from fear or surprise. There's no way Rain would know.
Standing in the middle of Jace's room, Rain was even more surprised when she realized who the figure that had just appeared from the fog hole was.
"Milord, Mark," Erica said finally. "I didn't expect you to come this soon."
"Dad?" Rain's voice trembled.
The man who appeared from the fog hole slightly resembled Rain father's face when he was young, even though his evil smile was completely different and something Rain had never known before.
"Dad? What's going on here? Can you explain it to me? And Erica... why her?"
Instead of answering, Markus Orwel moved his hand until a magic veil appeared. The cover quickly dragged Rain's body closer to Markus.
Markus attacked and pushed Rain until she hit a wall. Rain's back pressed against the wall of Jace's room. Across the room, Jace was also against the wall, only he was pinned down by a tangle of thorny vines.
Rain choked and almost spat out her entire stomach when her back hit the wall really hard. Rain closed her eyes to endure the pain. Her father suddenly stood before her when she slowly opened her eyes and choked her neck very tightly.
"Yeah, you thought I was your dad all along? Don't you remember what really happened Rain?"
Rain's eyes opened wide. She couldn't breathe. Her neck bones felt crushed, and her spine felt like it had been hit by a rigid object. Rain's legs hung in the air. She tried to reach for anything using her hands and feet, but her neck, which Markus strangled, made Rain lose her mind.
"Master Mark," Erica said desperately.
"You want to betray Erica? You assured me I would quickly restore this girl's memory and powers. But, see what happened here?" Marcus hissed.
"I know how to restore that girl's memory and awaken her powers!" shouted Erica resolutely.
Mark's hand that was squeezing Rain's neck immediately began to relax. Markus glanced at Erica with his sharp grin.
"But, I want your promise first!" Erica shouted then.