Chapter 6: The Strange Manor

My name is Nunnally.

The letters wandered crookedly across the page, like earthworms fretting over their lack of a mate.

I’m not very good at keeping a diary, and I don’t know what to write at the beginning. But Nangong said that if I ever start with “Today I did this and that” again, he’ll make me eat the long moss outside the door, so I’ll learn my lesson.

Him? He’s the one who cries and begs me to give him something to eat. If he really did, I might even give him one of my precious cookies.

By the way, what’s an “if”? Why do people say “if”? If the fruit ripens. What kind of fruit is an if? Why do people use a fruit to mean something that might happen? I don’t understand.

Nunnally put down the stubby, chewed-up pencil and charged out the door, her red hair sticking up in every direction.

“Hey! Nangong! What kind of fruit is an if? Is it like a tangerine?”

Xu Shi was still the same as ever, dressed all in black and sitting at the dining table, calmly maintaining his revolver. At her question, he lifted his eyes and glanced at her beneath his dyed dark-blue hair. His gaze was as cold as always. That single look made Nunnally feel as if some powerful predator had dragged its barbed tongue down her back.

She trusted her instincts. That was exactly why she didn’t like Xu Shi—though, really, she was a little afraid of him. He was a polite, well-mannered man who never shouted at her the way Nangong did, but she still wanted to stay away from him.

“Nangong’s gone out,” Xu Shi said. His voice was quiet and even, but Nunnally instinctively took a step back. “He’ll be back with a mission before long. Maybe this time we’ll all die.”

Why had Nangong agreed to let this guy join their team? Nunnally couldn’t figure it out. He was gloomy and always said ominous things.

“Neither Nangong nor I are going to die!” she said, baring her teeth at him as ferociously as she could. “I’ll protect him!”

Xu Shi smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile. It reminded Nunnally of the thin sheets of ice that formed on windows when the weather turned cold.

“If you can’t figure it out, try ‘suppose’ or ‘what if’ next time. No one knows what that kind of fruit really looks like.”

Even in the Upper City, the dew lay heavy over the half-asleep streets. Nunnally followed close behind Nangong, matching his every step. Xu Shi trailed a little farther back, hands in his pockets, his head bowed. No one knew what schemes were turning over inside it.

The Escher Manor stood at the northern edge of the district, connected to the rest of it by a single bridge. The bridge was pale blue, like a fine silk scarf carelessly dropped amid the cold, crumbling ruins.

They crossed it in the early morning. Sand whispered unnoticed across the concrete. Thick layers of lush pale-blue butterfly pea vines wound over the railings on either side, hiding their original color. Soft blue petals swayed and opened around them. Nunnally breathed in the morning—the scent of dew and a seductive floral sweetness that crept in every direction like a sickly fog.

Curious, she slapped the vines. Cool dew flew up and drenched her from head to toe. Beneath the gaze of the blue blossoms, her red hair blazed as fiercely as ever. But when she looked back, Xu Shi seemed to have been swallowed by all that blue. His whole figure had blurred, as if he were about to melt into the dreamlike scene like a drop of ink.

On the other side of the bridge stood their companions for the mission: three men. The red-haired one stood with a blond man who was sucking on a lollipop, the two of them discussing something with grave expressions. The third stood by the bridge, clutching a handful of butterfly pea vines and twisting them as fiercely as if he held a grudge against the plants. Their fragile petals crumpled as easily as lives with no tomorrow. Cold, sticky blue juice dripped from his fingertips, turning gray when it hit the ground. A gray-blue puddle at his feet reflected a warped image of him.

Nunnally thought it looked like a madman trapped inside the puddle: never blinking, never breathing, never speaking, never talking to anyone. He was imprisoned there forever, in a narrow cell where he couldn’t even turn around.

“Hello,” Nangong said. He stood stiff-backed, shoulders squared, which made him look even thinner. Dim light filtered through the flowers and cast a deathly blue-white shadow across his face.

“Koin,” said the blond man, pointing at himself. “Roche Linvanx. And that’s Drake.”

Nunnally noticed Nangong’s expression twitch at the name “Linvanx.” It did sound familiar. Had she heard it somewhere before?

Drake, a bespectacled man with black hair, released the vines and turned to look at them, his expression indifferent. Nunnally noticed that his hair curled and was a little unruly, which gave him a livelier look. Besides, he wasn’t nearly as gloomy as Xu Shi.

Nunnally felt inexplicably proud of noticing that.

Roche greeted them in a friendly manner, but when he saw Nunnally he looked uncertain. “I don’t remember us hiring child labor.”

What?! The nerve of him, looking down on her like that! Nunnally was super powerful! She was ready to charge him, but Nangong caught her by the collar and lifted her off the ground. All she could do was kick and punch in midair, glaring furiously.

“Don’t underestimate me! I’m super powerful, okay? I could blast this whole house into the sky in one second!”

“You’re right. I don’t remember you three either,” Koin said. He bent down toward her. Damn, it wasn’t fair to be that tall. She decided she’d eat one extra nutrition bar with every meal until she was taller than everyone else. “Especially this little girl who’s so hard to forget.”

He smiled at her. Nunnally knew that smile. Xu Shi liked to smile like that, too. Koin was definitely just as bad as he was.

She bared her teeth at him. Nangong began explaining. “We’re not technically full-time PAA employees. We have a contract as outside consultants. We handle minor jobs or preliminary investigations that don’t require full-time staff.”

While Koin talked with them, Roche sized up the three newcomers. Nangong looked like a capable young man, a jagged dark-red scar covering his left cheek. He looked straight at them. Nunnally’s tousled red hair had a few flower petals caught in it. She yawned. Maybe getting up so early for a mission was too much for a teenage girl. Roche’s gaze finally settled on Xu Shi, an unremarkable-looking man, except that he seemed a little gloomy.

Koin wrapped up his brief greeting. “I’m sure you all know what the job is. Shall we?”

Beyond a wide, lush front lawn stood the Escher Manor. Two neatly trimmed rows of holly flanked the house, their thick, sturdy leaves stretching out like strong arms around the whole building. The front door stood shut. Above it, grotesque gargoyles stared down at them, making everyone feel uneasy.

Just as Escher himself had said, it was an old house. The estate covered thousands of square feet, and its stately style had been beloved centuries ago. Every dent and flake in the stone exterior spoke of the weight of time.

Roche looked up at the house. Every window was shut tight and covered by heavy curtains, making it seem as if some hunched, gloomy old vampire lived inside.

Koin knocked. The sound echoed low and heavy. After a moment, the door opened a crack, and a pale, nervous face appeared. The face belonged to a young woman with her hair in a braid. Dressed as a maid, she led them through the living room, along several winding corridors, and past a vast, empty dining room with an enormous table. At last, she brought them to the study beside the greenhouse.

It was a round room. Heavy, dark-red brocade curtains were drawn tight, keeping out every sliver of daylight. The floor was covered in a soft, slightly faded ivory carpet. The room was dark, yet the fireplace was lit. Thick, sweet incense filled the space with a stifling warmth that suited the season all too well.

“Please, have a seat.” Rachel Escher looked much more tired than she had the night before. The dark circles under her eyes were so pronounced they looked like a pair of pigeon eggs. Though the room was already stiflingly warm, she still had a fur blanket over her legs, with the tassels of a pair of gold-thread slippers peeking out beneath it. She sat hunched in a heavy armchair, nearly swallowed by its plump cushions.

The maid served tea. In the ivory cups, pale-blue butterfly pea tea bobbed gently. The flowers floated and sank, but the room’s overpowering incense swallowed up every trace of their fragrance.

“I’m sure Miss Pester explained the situation. She’s always been thorough. I only ask that you inspect every corner of this house carefully and give me a clear answer: has the house been affected by an Anomaly or not?”

Roche took a couple of sips. The tea was mild and smooth. He knew nothing about tea, but it went down easily enough.

Then he heard Koin ask, “Do you mind if we inspect very private rooms, like the bedrooms?”

“No.” Rachel closed her eyes. “My husband is away for work, and I’ve warned the children in advance.”

Roche found the phrasing strange. If Escher knew about this, why make it sound as though they were going behind his back? And “children”—didn’t the family have only one daughter?

“There’s one thing you should keep in mind during the investigation. I’m sure you noticed it on the way here, but no matter what, do not open the curtains.”

Rachel didn’t explain why. After saying this, she waved them away.

Everyone stood in silence, except Nunnally, who sprang up and drained the rest of her tea in one gulp. She smacked her lips.

The Escher Manor had three floors and more than 120 rooms. The layout was a jumble. Some doors opened onto nothing but a cold stone wall. Others opened onto empty space, with a lush greenhouse far below; one careless step would send you tumbling down. Some doors were built right into staircases, only to reveal another spiral flight going up. It was impossible to make sense of the place. Sometimes they thought they’d reached somewhere new, only to look closely and realize they’d returned to the beginning.

The halls were lined with fully armored suits of knight’s armor and skeletal remains. All kinds of animal heads had been mounted on the walls. Every so often, they even came across a window set into the floor. Honestly, in a house this strange, it wouldn’t have been surprising if the staircase started moving on its own one day.

The manor was one enormous maze. No one knew if the original owner had been trying to hide from something, trap something, or simply leave behind an artistic puzzle for other people to solve.

After a brief discussion, the two team leaders agreed they would have to split up. Otherwise, it would take them until the end of time to finish searching the place.

“Two to a team.” Koin gave them a deadpan peace sign. “I’ll go with Nangong. Drake and Xu Shi can go together, and that leaves you two.”

Roche looked down at Nunnally. She glared up at him. He smiled politely, thinking that he had no idea how to deal with a kid this age.

“Hey, you’re Roche, right?” Her tousled hair bobbed as she spoke. “I’d rather go with Nangong, but he’s already assigned the teams, so there’s nothing we can do. I’m not some selfish little kid. Let’s get along during the mission.”

She grabbed Roche’s hand and shook it with an air of forced maturity. “I hear you’re a doctor. So when I kill the Anomalous Entities, you can cover me and provide support.”

“Oh… sure.” Roche couldn’t help smiling. He even suspected that this assignment had landed on him because none of the others wanted to deal with a kid.

As planned, the other two teams went upstairs. Roche and Nunnally stayed on the first floor.

“This place is so boring…” Nunnally sighed loudly. It was the umpteenth time she’d done so. They’d carefully searched both the living room and the dining room, but the detector hadn’t reacted at all.

“Don’t say that. At least the decor is distinctive,” Roche said encouragingly.

Nunnally shot back, “Decor? What’s that? Can you eat it? As long as a house is clean, isn’t that enough?”

“This place is so huge, and only one family lives here. I used to live in an orphanage. Four or five dozen people had to cram into one tiny room.”

People pressed against one another, shoulder to shoulder. You knew as soon as someone got a boil on their backside. There were always eyes watching you from behind. They could barely get enough to eat, the orphanage forced them into factories as child laborers, and everyone was worked nearly to death. Still, they spent all day glaring daggers at each other, as if filing enough complaints would let them pry the next meal from someone else’s mouth.

Nunnally hated that life.

“But I think people always want more. When you have money and a big house someday, won’t you want to decorate it? Put out things you like, maybe a huge teddy bear or a pretty doll?”

“I don’t care about soft, fluffy stuff. If I could put anything I liked in my house, I’d fill a cupboard with canned food.” Nunnally huffed. “And I definitely wouldn’t put any books in there. Nangong’s always making me read, and he even insists I learn how to recognize words. It’s so annoying.”

“He sounds like a good person. How did you meet?”

“Some people were chasing him, so I hid him. After that, Nangong took me out of the orphanage.” Nunnally proudly lifted her fluffy head.

In the story she didn’t tell, she’d only thought that the blood-covered man who could barely walk must be carrying enough equipment to sell for a fortune. Better to keep it than hand it over to someone else. So even though she barely came up to the thighs of the thugs, Nunnally had stubbornly answered, “A scarred man? I’ve never seen one.”

The frustrated men searched every corner of the orphanage. Perhaps because they believed in the principle of never leaving empty-handed, they stole all kinds of things. They even found and took the gold bars the director had hidden inside his office wall. The whole place fell into chaos. People wailed and cried as if the world were ending. Nunnally watched them make a scene and laughed in her hiding place until her face hurt.

It was the happiest day of her life.

That’s right, she thought. I’m a bad person. I didn’t want to join their games of tattling and sucking up to the director and the matrons because this level of mischief was too boring. What’s the point in just tripping each other up? If you’re going to do something, go big. If the director treats us a certain way, give it back to him ten times over. That’s fun.

Nunnally wasn’t very bright, so she never wondered why the thugs, despite digging through every inch of the place, couldn’t find Nangong, even though she’d carelessly stuffed him in a cupboard. She didn’t know that day was when the seed of her superpower had first sprouted inside her.

The downside of not being very bright was that, a few days later, someone told the director where all the trouble had started.

“I saw Nunnally drag a man into the storage room!”

Nunnally didn’t remember what the girl looked like. The director patted the girl’s head kindly and took a pink candy from his desk drawer to give her. Then he turned to Nunnally.

Every adult in the room turned to look at Nunnally.

They were all so tall, like iron towers blocking out every scrap of light from the sky. The only light in the room came from the cold, ghostly gleam in their eyes. The director grabbed her and lifted her up. Nunnally’s head jerked one way, then the other. Her ears rang and her vision went dark. It took her a while to realize the director was slapping her, as hard as he could.

But Nunnally still laughed. The way the director had knelt on the ground that day, laughing and crying, was too ridiculous. The more he lorded it over her now, the more it proved how helpless and pathetic he was before someone with even greater power.

He threw her hard to the ground, as if he meant to smash her insides. Dust rose into the air and shimmered in the sunlight.

Oh, she thought. I can see the window. And the bright, clear blue sky outside. What a beautiful day. It would be worth dying on a day like this.

In the dim, cramped room, the abused girl wasn’t afraid. She just stared at the shaft of sunlight. It fell across the bronze doorknob until even the keyhole gleamed. And it wasn’t her imagination: the knob was turning with a clatter. Someone was trying to open the locked door.

The director stopped. He must not have expected anyone to interrupt him so completely without regard for the mood. He shouted at whoever was outside and threatened to have them locked up.

Then someone kicked the locked door open.

A man with a scar on his face stood in a pillar of brilliant white light.

Nangong stood there like the knight who came to rescue a princess in all those fairy tales told over and over.

Of course, Nunnally wasn’t a princess, and she never wanted to be one. The moment the bloodied, swollen-faced girl saw Nangong, she scrambled off the floor and pointed at the director, laughing.

“What’s wrong? Did your hand break? Why don’t you try hitting me again, you miserable bastard?”

“Watch your language.” Those were Nangong’s first words to her.

Nunnally didn’t listen. That very day, she skipped out of the orphanage hand in hand with Nangong, convinced that a bright future was waiting for her.