Splendor House - Chapter 7.....The answer

                          

Are you alright my dear, asked Mr. Maravilla with great concern in his voice? Penny replied in the affirmative by shaking her head. She was so cotton mouthed that she couldn't reply verbally. And he tenderly added he hoped she was. My goodness you've been through so much in the past few weeks.  Be assured I am only here to help you.

Then Penny remembered what had brought her to this moment.  She had gotten Mr. Maravilla's name from the deed to the building. Then as though by decree, she just knew what to do. Penny drove until she knew to pull in to the parking front of the bar and strip club on Route 27 and waited.

While she waited, she called Mela. They had talked every day about this time and she didn't want Mela to worry. They talked for only a couple of minutes and no details of where she was, were given. Penny fingered the vial of dragons blood Mela had given her as they spoke. She tried to call Megan but decided not to leave a message. She'd try again in a little while.

And shortly after closing her phone Penny got out of the car, went into the strip club, sat in the booth at the back of the stage and waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, but she was sure she had the correct time, place and heart to face this. She was more than ready this time.

In through the front door came a very handsome man in his early 40's, graying temples, dark complexion with chiseled features and a rugged good looking smile. He walked right up to her and seated himself very close to her and whispered in her ear, I knew that you would come back to me.

Penny recognized the face but it couldn't be. This surely must be her old landlord's son for he most certainly looked like Mr. Maravilla, only this man had the most amazing blue eyes. And yes, it was those haunting blue eyes. Just as the younger man began to whisper into her ear and stir something primal in her, she felt a hand on her shoulder from the opposite direction.  The dizziness ensued and she was once again swept away from the reality of the moment. She did feel herself walking towards the door and getting into a dark car. But that was all there was in her memory until this very moment as the older Rico Maravilla spoke his words of concern.

I have something I must share with you my dear. What I have to explain will answer all of your concerns.

They were sitting in what looked like the downstairs of the building that housed her cafe. Only this was furnished with stunning antique furniture and the styling indicated a bygone era. This was obviously a home. There were trinkets and furnishings  that were not American made but rather from foreign and exotic locales. There was a comfort in the arrangement of these trinkets and fabrics and masks on the wall. An ease that only comes with a polished appreciation of beautiful things.

Oh my goodness she thought, there's the funny dragon mask there among the others on the wall.

Penny turned to the staircase that lead upstairs to the sound of screams and muffled cries. She couldn't move but only reacted to seeing the younger Mr. Maravilla running down the stairs and out of the house.

Soon the room transformed to a wake scene. The casket was occupied by a pretty young girl who obviously had had injuries to her face and looked as though her throat had been slit. Then Penny looked back towards the stairs and the older Mr. Maravilla and a lovely older woman were coming down the stairs dressed in black and both were in tears.

When the couple reached the bottom of the stairs, Mr. Maravilla left his female companion and glided up to Penny, sat down next to her and told her the very sad and depraved tale of his family's shame. How Zailo, his son an only child had raped and murdered his own cousin that was staying with the family. How the shame would be on his family forever. How his wife had committed suicide because of the disgrace only two days after the scene that they now viewed and how he, in despair found his son, killed him, and then himself died only a few months later from grief and shame. This home, Penny's building, had all of the energy of the good and the bad of his family. It had never left.

They had built this home after arriving in America from Spain and named it Slendor House. He just could never let go of this place, none of his family could and had been here all this long time after death. Each time he had someone new come into the building to live or do business, the ghost and spirit of his horrible son had caused the downfall of said residents or owners. He had such high hopes for Megan and Penny but he also had fear.

He and his wife had for many lifetimes tried to protect the beings who lived or worked at Splendor House, but his son's depravity always found a foothold.

When he realized that his son was coming to Penny's dreams, his wife's spirit had entered the dragon mask so that when Penny found it, she would have the insight to ask for help from a bruja like his wife But it was Mela and her group of friends who garnered his wife's help to Penny rid herself of the evil one. He also felt that the light was calling he and his wife home at last because his son had no real sway over anyone in this plane any longer. Mela and her group of pagan friends had formed a protection chain around Penny and Megan and Splendor House. Their continued efforts had weakened his son. And with the happenings of today, his son was now gone, banished and with that, he too disappeared right in front of Penny's eyes.

She was sitting in the cafe, alone. The quiet and peace of this moment was physically palatable.

The how is now told, the why is now answered, Penny had all the pieces to the puzzle  and it was time to get in touch with those wonderful people who had rescued her from her ghost experience. As she reached into her jacket pocket to retrieve her phone, she felt something else. It was the dragon mask. The object that had transformed all of this and healed a family's wounds, and helped to close the door on a very real touch with the other side. But how had it come back into her pocket?

Mela and the others of the drumming group, the women who had protected her would be so pleased to know they too had help from Mrs. Splendora Maravilla, a practioner of the craft, for whom the building had been named.


It has been my pleasure to share this tale with you. I will be adding this to my new  Bell Book and Candle drippings blog by May 1st. All the other tales I have spun will also be on that blog. I hope you will drop by and take a look.

Thank you for reading Splendor House and most especially, thanks to Ms. Magaly and her 4th blogaversary celebration for another opportunity and reason to write. Also don't forget to visit Pagan Culture to  sign up for the wonderful giveaways.