But to my surprise, Laura seemed to have misunderstood what I meant. She frowned at me and said, “Crystal, what’s that supposed to mean? Are you saying Beryl will try to hurt Arron? What’s gotten into you? You’ve been cruel to Beryl since last night!”
Crystal’s POV
Laura was confused. She glanced at the children to make sure they couldn’t hear us. Then she turned to face me and said in a low voice, “Crystal, is it because Beryl had forgot about you once that you’ve been treating her strangely? If you’ve got something against her, let her stay with me. I don’t want Beryl to get hurt.”
I felt terrible and tried to explain helplessly, “How could I have anything against my own daughter? Beryl’s my baby, my dearest sweetheart. I love her so much.”
“Then why are you so mean to her?” Laura looked even more confused. She pulled me into the other room to make sure the little ones couldn’t eavesdrop.
“I know you’re a reasonable person, Crystal. You must have your own reasons for treating Beryl like that. By the way, I wanted to ask why you and Rufus came so late last night. I wanted to ask you about it last night, but I didn’t because the children were also there.”
I was choked with sobs and couldn’t say anything. I was afraid that Laura wouldn’t be able to accept the possibility that Noreen was in Beryl’s body, and that she’d end up treating Beryl like a monster. After all, she hated Noreen so much.
Just then, a light cough interrupted our conversation.
We both turned to look in the direction of the sound, only to find Rufus walking towards us. He sighed and said to his mother, “Last night, Crystal and I went to the forbidden forest. Noreen’s corpse had turned to ashes.”
Laura’s jaw went slack. “How can that be? Noreen’s remains were indestructible!”
“Yeah, they were-but not anymore. Rufus and I think that her soul has found shelter elsewhere,” I said grimly.
“What do you mean? Are you saying Noreen’s soul found a host?” Laura asked anxiously. Suddenly, it dawned on her. She looked at me in horror and asked in disbelief, “Are you saying she’s in Beryl’s body?!”
“Yes, that’s what we think,” Rufus nodded solemnly.
“That’s impossible. How on earth could she do that? I didn’t feel anything unusual with Beryl…” Laura seemed to find it hard to accept. In a daze, she looked at me and asked softly, “Is that why you treated Beryl like that last night?”
“Yes. I was so worried that Beryl would try to hurt Arron, so I acted on impulse,” I explained with a heavy sigh, feeling powerless. Fortunately, after getting some rest, I felt calmer and more collected than last night.
“Just now, I thought of something. When Lucy kidnapped Beryl and took her to the forbidden forest, Beryl was wounded and bleeding. I think her blood happened to seep into the ground where Noreen was buried, so Noreen used that as an opportunity to possess Beryl.”
“How on earth is she that powerful?” Laura sounded scared and anxious, but she was still a little skeptical. “But Beryl has been acting normal-except when she just woke up. And Arron is her twin brother. If there was something wrong with her, he should’ve noticed.”
“Arron’s only five years old. Even if he sensed that something was wrong, he’d just think that his sister was still recovering from her coma,” I said softly.
Although soul parasitism sounded totally outrageous, it made sense if Noreen was the one doing it.
Noreen was a powerful black witch, so it was very likely that she had used some forbidden spell on her body before she died. She decided to make a comeback when the time was right.
Laura was speechless. She grimaced and pressed her fingers against her temples, as though she had a pounding headache.
“I didn’t want to believe it either. It wasn’t until I saw the weird smile on Beryl’s face that I was convinced that Noreen was in fact using Beryl’s body.” Speaking of this, I couldn’t help but feel a little pissed off. Noreen was really getting on my nerves.
Obviously, she had provoked me on purpose. She just wanted to see me suffer. “Wait a second.” Laura suddenly raised her head and looked at us seriously.
“I remember that Beryl wasn’t wounded when Lucy kidnapped her. You and Rufus, on the other hand, were both injured. Could the blood that seeped into Noreen’s tomb be yours, not Beryl’s?”
Crystal’s POV
Laura’s guess made me pause. The day when Beryl was kidnapped, everything was so chaotic; perhaps I remembered it incorrectly.
If Beryl wasn’t wounded that day, then it made sense if it was my blood that had triggered the reaction of Noreen’s remains.
But this conjecture made me even more scared. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead.
“I’m Noreen’s only target. She’s always been good at bewitching people. Back then, she was the one who had Alina wrapped around her finger. Step by step, she lured Alina into her trap, until she finally killed Leonard. That was a tragedy that no one saw coming.” The more I thought about it, the more scared I became. My hands started to tremble, and the gruesome scene that was Leonard’s death flashed before my eyes.
I buried my face in my hands and said in a low voice, “What if I’ve also fallen into Noreen’s trap? What if Beryl’s abnormality is just an illusion? She could be trying to drive me insane. I might even kill my own daughter-“
“That’s not going to happen.” Before I could spiral out of control, Rufus interrupted me and pulled me into his arms, stroking my back comfortingly. “Baby, you’re fine. Don’t scare yourself. Alina sold her soul to the devil for her own selfish ambitions. She got what she deserved, But you’re different. You love Beryl. There’s no doubt about it. Noreen’s just doing this to try to provoke you. Don’t worry. We’ll find a way to expel Noreen’s soul from Beryl’s body.”
“He’s right, Crystal. You’re still on the road to recovery, and you’re still very weak. Don’t let Noreen take advantage of this opportunity,” Laura added, trying to comfort me.
I didn’t say anything and simply held Rufus’s hand tightly. My mental health was in the gutter, and I couldn’t calm down.
I recalled my life-and-death battle with Noreen five years ago. At that time, my only weakness was Rufus. Now that I had two children in addition to Rufus, I couldn’t afford to gamble.
Five years had passed and everything had changed, but at the same time, it felt as though nothing had changed.
Noreen still haunted us.
Suddenly, we heard Arron’s voice from outside. The two children were looking for us.
Laura stood up in a hurry and said, “We’ll talk about this later. Let’s have breakfast first. And don’t say anything that might arouse Noreen’s suspicion. Since she wants to play this game, let’s play with her.”
After saying that, Laura put on a big smile and went out to have breakfast with the children. I, on the other hand, stayed put. I couldn’t face Beryl.
I couldn’t pretend to be a loving mother when I knew that Noreen was a parasite in Beryl’s body.
Rufus knew what I was thinking. He squatted in front of me, held my hand, and kissed it. “Even if you don’t have an appetite, you still need to eat something. Let me deal with Beryl.”
I nodded in a daze and allowed Rufus to pull me to the dining room.
All throughout breakfast, I only paid attention to Arron. I was afraid that if I so much as glanced at Beryl, I’d let my guard down.
After breakfast, Rufus and I sat in the garden and watched the two kids play in the sandbox. They laughed and giggled as they built a little sandcastle.
When I saw Beryl pour sand on Arron’s face, I couldn’t help but think of what happened in the forbidden forest last night. Noreen’s ashes swirled all over me at that time. I pushed Rufus away immediately, as I felt that something was terribly wrong.
I scratched my shoulder, but it wasn’t itchy. For some reason, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, as though there were bugs crawling underneath my skin.
“What’s the matter, Crystal?” Rufus asked, looking at me worriedly.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just feel itchy all over. I’m going to take a shower first.”
As I spoke, I stood up and left in a hurry without giving Rufus a chance to respond. Along the way, my heart started to race in my chest. I kept scratching my arm, until it turned red.
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