22:47 h – Nicco's Study

  The night wrapped the mansion in a heavy silence. The desk lamp cast a warm glow, and outside, the trees barely moved in the breeze. Enrique had brought a tray with steaming cups of coffee, though Kali had switched her drink for hot chocolate.

  "You know coffee turns me into a hyperactive gremlin," she'd said.

  Dahlia held her cup with both hands, thoughtful. Nicco leaned against the fireplace mantel, the mug between his fingers. In the center of the table, Viki's earring rested on the scorched napkin. Around it, open books, notes, loose pages... and more questions than answers.

  "What do we do with this?" Kali asked, staring at the earring as if it might answer. "Do we keep it? Destroy it? Use it?"

  "We don't know if it has power," said Dahlia, still staring into her cup. "But we do know things started going wrong after it appeared."

  "What if we talk to Vero?" Nicco suggested. "She was really close to Viki. Maybe she knows something she didn't tell us."

  "Do you trust Vero?" Kali asked bluntly.

  "Not a hundred percent," Dahlia replied immediately. "But she's more useful alive and talking than ignored."

  The conversation flowed more easily between sips and theories. At one point, without noticing, Nicco and Dahlia were sitting the same way: legs crossed, cup balanced on one knee, shoulders tilted slightly to the left. Kali noticed and narrowed her eyes, amused.

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  "What?" Nicco asked when he noticed her stare.

  "You two... you're sitting the same," Kali said, trying not to laugh.

  Both looked at their posture at the same time and, without thinking, said in perfect unison:

  "I hadn't noticed."

  A one-second silence... then the three of them burst out laughing.

  "That's a weird kind of synchronicity," Kali teased, pointing at them with a cookie.

  "Must be the cursed intellectual energy," Dahlia replied with a crooked smile.

  "Or just two people pretending to be serious but actually need a nap," Nicco added, clinking his cup against hers.

  For a while, the study filled with a warmth that felt impossible after so much chaos. Laughter, shared glances, fleeting relief. Even the earring seemed to lose some of its weight.

  But then...

  "Kali...?" Dahlia said suddenly, lowering her voice.

  Kali was already looking toward the window.

  "You see it too?"

  "Yes..."

  Nicco turned.

  "See what?"

  Out there, beyond the glass... something was watching them.

  A thin figure, barely visible under the garden's dim light. Its face—distorted—looked more like a grotesque mask than a real one. A wide smile, far too wide. Hollow, black, deep eyes.

  It didn't move. It was just there. Watching them.

  But Nicco saw nothing.

  "There's no one there," he said, stepping closer to the window. "There's absolutely no one outside."

  "I swear it's there," Kali whispered. "It's watching us!"

  "And... it's smiling," Dahlia added, a lump in her throat. "It won't leave. It's just... waiting."

  The air in the study turned cold. Instantly. The mugs stopped steaming.

  "What the hell is that...?" Kali murmured, stepping back.

  And the figure, as if in response, blinked.

  Just once.

  Only for them.