I keep looking around in Sylviana's garden, but we are already at her house. It's a rather normal house, actually. I don't know what I was expecting. Once again, it's covered in so much ivy, I have to guess the original exterior color was white. There is something a bit more interesting, though; the whole house is covered with this thick layer of ivy, including the windows and door. We stand in front of it, under the rain, a bit at a loss on what to do.
"I suppose you tried tearing it off?" I ask, turning to Liam.
He nods and steps forward. He grabs some of the ivy on the door to pull it, but indeed, as soon as he even touches it, more ivy suddenly grows at an accelerated speed, covering the door with a new layer of leaves. And he hasn't even plucked one leaf off yet. I bite my thumb. She really didn't want anyone to come into her house after her... at least, not the werewolves, not even Liam. But what if I try?
Just like Liam, I step forward and try to tear a branch off. I pull one, but as expected, at least ten more grow to replace it before I can do anything. Damn, I'm not going to accept that we came here for nothing. Liam shakes his head, glaring at that ivy.
"I've tried countless times," he says. "I've tried cutting it, burning it, even digging out the roots, but nothing works. It regrows no matter what and won't let me in, or anyone else..."
Well, despite being nothing but vegetation, her protection does look pretty pervasive. Although, I haven't tried yet. This rain isn't helping, but at least, it's not as heavy as earlier. I take my arm out of Liam's jacket and start a fire between my fingers. Liam frowns.
"Hey, what are you doing? I said I tried burning it!"
"You haven't tried magic fire," I retort. "It’s worth a try."
He seems hesitant but steps back despite the frowning. Well, I guess we will know soon enough. Either it doesn't care and regrows, or...
I approach with my fire, and to my surprise, the leaves get consumed right away, despite being drenched by the rain. Actually, it propagates very quickly, all the nearby branches catching fire at once. I just had to burn one! We watch the fire spread, but it doesn't just act like any normal branch burning. It's very... orderly, the leaves disappearing one by one. The ashes even disappear into thin air as soon as they get burned, meaning there's definitely some sort of magic seal I just broke. We wait a few seconds, watching all of the ivy on the door and windows disappear. It looks like even if she unlocked the door for me, Sylviana never intended to let her house run out of Ivy. The branches that aren't on the door or windows are just fine.
We exchange a glance, and I put my hand on the door knob, a bit nervous. I have no idea what I'm going to find inside. It could even be some sort of trap. This is an actual witch's house, the last one before me.
I walk in first. The house is smaller than it looked on the outside, probably because there are a lot of things everywhere, even hanging on the walls. Plants, of course, are absolutely everywhere. I was more or less expecting so, but still... They really are everywhere our eyes can stumble upon: on shelves, hanging pots, in front of the windows, and on every piece of furniture, table and stools included. It's as if she had tried filling every available spot with something green. I walk in carefully. The entrance is actually a walk-in to the open kitchen and a large living room after just a couple of stairs.
"How long has it been since…?"
"Around 2 years," he says.
Liam looks around, as confused as I am. It doesn't look like this house has been abandoned for 2 years... more like 2 weeks, at most. Every plant here looks perfectly fine and hydrated, there's only a thin layer of dust, and nothing is out of place. Even the kitchen looks like we could use it right now, except that there is no fridge, only storage for dry food. Now that I look around, I only see about a quarter of the appliances one would find in a normal house. No TV, just an old radio. The light must only come from the windows because I don't see a lamp of any sort either. It looks like she lived in the fifties or sixties... I bet her electricity bills were in the single digits.
"It feels... weird," sighs Liam.
From his expression, I know he's not just talking about the overall feeling of the house, more like his personal feelings. Again, I feel this little pinch in my heart. I walk further inside, starting to rummage through her belongings for more clues. I actually need to keep myself busy instead of seeing this abandoned puppy expression of his.
"So... are we going to talk about it?"
"About what?"
"About your relationship with that witch. Not the bullshit from earlier."
He sighs, still looking around without stepping inside as if he didn't feel allowed to.
"There isn't much to say..."
"I'm not blind," I retort. "If you don't want to talk about it, say it. Or tell me the actual truth, but please, don't serve me a lie or some half-assed answer. I've had that all week long already."
"Fine," he sighs. "We were together."
Damn, I fucking knew it. And even if I knew it, it still hurts. I grab a big bundle of books to look at, anything to avoid looking at him. Although, I feel my anger rise a bit. I glare at the pages, one after another. I know I have no right to be angry or even remotely jealous, but I can't help it. I ignore him and keep looking through the stuff here.
I hear Liam coming closer, but I don't know if I can endure looking at him right now.
"...Are you... upset?"
Is he being insensitive on purpose? Or is he just that dense? I wish he didn't ask, because I hate having to lie. I don't want to lie.
"I don't know," I retort. "Does it matter?"
He has nothing to answer to that, and it suits me just fine. Guess I am the one serving half-assed answers now. I shake my head and ignore that part of the conversation. To think I'm going through his ex's stuff... What a unique and weird situation.
