Secrets

The siblings returned to their uncle's house, and Leo went to a basket to leave the fruits he had collected. He grabbed the broom and went upstairs to start cleaning. The house was quite spacious, so he commented to himself: "This is going to take a while." And began the cleaning.

Finally, after a few hours, he managed to gather all the dirt in the living room, but there was a large carpet in the way. "Zoe, help me move this carpet. Roll it up from that side, and I'll roll it up from this side." "Alright." They grabbed the carpet from each side and started rolling it up, leaving it standing against the nearby wall. Under the carpet, there was a cellar, which was locked with a padlock. Leo questioned: "Since when does Uncle Roger have a cellar?"

Zoe observed: "I don't know either. I only just saw this cellar now." Leo approached the lock, grabbed it, and tried to pull it. "Does he store his things down there?" "Hey, stop messing with his stuff!" "But what if there's something down there? Maybe some information about where our parents might have gone?" Zoe became thoughtful, and curiosity took over. "What makes you think there's something there?"

Leo let go of the lock and said: "Think about it, Zoe. A week before we came to Uncle Roger's house, our parents were making frequent visits here. Five days later, they brought us to spend some time with him, saying they had important matters to deal with. Uncle Roger is Dad's older brother, so he must know something."

Zoe: "Now that I think about it, he completely ignored my question yesterday when I asked if our parents had told him anything before they left."

Leo agreed: "Exactly. He avoided answering, and now he's not home either. So, it's the perfect time to see what's down there. We don't know when he'll be gone again." Zoe thought for a few seconds but couldn't deny that she also wanted to know more about what was going on. "Let's find the key to the lock," she said, becoming more curious about what might be inside.

Leo started searching in the living room while Zoe tried in the kitchen. They spent a few minutes and didn't find anything resembling a key.

Zoe: "There's nothing here."

Leo: "Nothing here either."

Zoe returned to the living room and suggested: "I think he might have hidden it in his room." She went to the room and searched for a good while but didn't find anything either. "It's not here either." Leo thought for a moment.

Zoe: "He'll be back soon. We need to be quick."

Leo: "I know. Zoe, go to the back of the house and see if there's anything there."

Zoe ran to the back of the house, rummaging through everything there. She didn't find anything useful except for a wire. "I think we can use this." She went back inside the house and said: "I found this wire." "Perfect, we can use this to try to open the lock." Leo took the wire from her hand, and Zoe asked: "Do you know how to unlock a lock with that?" "Uncle Roger taught me how to do it. He said it was very useful in case we were ever locked somewhere with a padlock." Zoe was surprised by this sudden information. "I don't remember him calling you to teach that." Leo laughed and replied: "Haha, it's because you preferred to stay with Mom and Dad that day because you didn't want to be away from them." Leo finished bending the wire and inserted it into the lock, unlocking it in a few seconds. "It's open!"

Leo opened the cellar door, revealing a staircase that descended into total darkness. "We need a source of light; it's too dark down there," he said. Zoe quickly had an idea. "We can use the lamp from our room." "Great idea." Zoe ran to the room, grabbed the lamp, and went to the kitchen. There, she cleaned the lamp, adjusted the wick, added fuel, and lit it with a match. "Done."

She returned to Leo and handed him the lamp. "Here you go." Leo took the lamp from her and began descending the stairs, pushing back the darkness around them. Zoe followed close behind. "What do you think is down there?" she asked. Leo stared into the darkness ahead for a moment, hesitating for a few seconds. "I have no idea." They continued down.

After descending a bit more, they finally reached the bottom step and entered a room full of strange objects: jewelry, old books, and small statues of unknown figures. They were astonished. Zoe said, unable to believe what she was seeing: "W-what is all this?" "I... don't know either," replied Leo.

They approached some of the jewelry. Zoe picked up a green one while Leo took a red one. Leo examined it and widened his eyes. "Is this a ruby?"

Zoe: "Yeah, and I think this is an emerald."

Leo: "Why does Uncle Roger have this stuff locked up in a cellar?"

Zoe: "Maybe he collects these things? But if that were the case, why didn't he ever tell us?"

Leo put the ruby back where he found it. "There are more things here." He went to a shelf with three decorative statues. The first statue was a wolf sitting on a strange throne made of swords. The statue was made of stone with blue crevices. The second was made of gold: a woman with a round body shape, with her hands clasped together. The third was a creature with bat wings, a bear's head, and a distorted humanoid body.

Leo observed and analyzed the statues. "Weird." Zoe picked up an amulet with a symbol of a sun with people worshipping it, raising their hands. "Are these people worshipping a sun? Is it some kind of religion?" Leo left the statues and went over to Zoe. "Let me see." He analyzed the amulet. "It seems like it."

Zoe put the amulet back and noticed a wooden chest beside it. She opened it and revealed a large amount of gold coins and valuable items, such as bracelets with expensive jewels and golden rings. "There are a lot of valuable things here." Leo looked around the room, taking a walk around, until something caught his attention more than any treasure. "Zoe!" "What is it?" "Look at this!" He picked up a painting with Victor and Samantha together, holding two babies. Zoe approached, touching the painting. "It's our parents." She ran her hand over the frame and noticed it had no dust. Leo kept the painting. Zoe saw a book left near a small table, without illustration or title, just a black cover with gold details. She picked it up and opened the book. A piece of paper fell out of it. She picked up the paper and noticed there was something written, but couldn't read it due to the lack of light. "Leo, shine the light here." Leo approached, making the letters more visible.

"The blood that binds them is the answer. The tears of angels will tell the truth."

Leo: "What does that mean?"

Zoe shrugged, equally puzzled by the phrase. "I don't know, but isn't this the same book Dad had on his living room shelf? He never let us touch that book." Leo looked more closely and noticed the black cover with gold parts had certain similarities. "Now that you mention it, it does look similar." Leo glanced at the stairs behind them. "I think we'd better go back, put everything in its place, and not touch anything anymore." Zoe put everything back in place, and Leo started walking back to the stairs. Zoe hesitated for a moment, looked back at the black-covered book, and took it, hiding it under her clothes.

They quickly climbed the stairs and returned to the room where they had been. Zoe closed the cellar door, and Leo took the lock, locking it right after. They both grabbed the carpet, but Leo warned: "Wait, let me get rid of the dirt first." He took the broom and swept away all the accumulated dirt and dust, sweeping it outside the house. "Done." They picked up the carpet and arranged it, removing any evidence that might incriminate them.

They noticed a presence approaching the house. It was Roger, walking towards the door with a serious look and his eyes fixed on the siblings. He walked with heavy steps, and for some reason, their hearts raced. It was as if Roger was different. They knew there was no way he could know what they had done, but even so, his eyes conveyed a strong intensity, as if he knew something.