CHAPTER 484: YOU HAVE TO GIVE SOMETHING IN RETURN (3)

The chapel itself seemed to groan in anticipation, as the shadows thickened briefly in the seeping moonlight.

Clara hesitated briefly, looking up through a crack in the ceiling, as if to confirm what Aliya had said, then blinked. By then, Aliya was gone. Aliya had her answer and did not need Clara to articulate them.

It never occurred to Clara that this whole behaviour was non-human and odd. How could a live human disappear and claim to be able to undo what a witch had done? Clara never bothered to think of that. Her myopic vision was on only what she could gain from this person, despite Aliya’s identity and her demands.

Clara looked around a bit frantically, as her heart jolted. One moment, Aliya stood right in front of her, and the next moment, nothing!

Only the vial remained, pulsing with a faint, greedy heartbeat in her hand. That was the only indication that Clara had not imagined the encounter.

Only Clara’s own trembling breath filled the hollow, crumbling chapel.

"Where - ?" she whispered, spinning around in case her eyes were playing tricks on her, but there was not even the sound of footsteps.

Clara’s heart hammered wildly for a few seconds, making her clutch the vial on her bosom to try to calm her turbulent heart. Her mind leapt at various scenarios, but the warm vial pushed all doubts and issues out of Clara’s mind. She had the solution that she had never even dreamt of. What more could she ask of?

Never did she question Aliya anything about Shelby or Aliya’s demands of Rocky...

Meanwhile, at the back and in the depths of the chapel, swallowed by the thick, oppressive darkness, Aliya snickered, the sound barely more than a ripple of air - yet still, it slithered into Clara’s ears.

One would have thought that this might have terrified Clara enough for her to reconsider whatever decision she had made, but the bait was hooked.

Clara froze, her spine stiffening, her head snapping around as she searched the shadows with wide, and finally frightened eyes.

But there was nothing there—only darkness, thick enough so that she did not see through it. There was also that faint, lingering echo of a laugh.

Hidden behind a crumbling column, not far from Clara, Aliya pressed a hand to her mouth, stifling another chuckle.

’How easy this was.’ She thought,

’Pathetic! It was almost laughable how a few well-placed words and a disappearing act could unravel even the strongest!’

Aliya shifted slightly, the leather of her boots tapping softly against the stone floor.

Her eyes glittered with cold amusement as she watched the older woman take a hesitant step forward, holding on tightly to the vial, lured by nothing but fear and hope.

’Soon enough,’

Aliya touched her chocker ornament and then disappeared.

’The bait was already hooked! There was nothing more for her to do.... As the clock was ticking!’

A whisper slid along the stones, brushing Clara’s ear:

"Beauty bought with stolen breath shall forever thirst."

Clara looked around frantically,

"Who’s there!? Wh-"

After a few moments of not getting a response, she calmed down,

"Damn that girl for creeping me out! Couldn’t we have met in a restaurant or even a tea house? What a freak!"

Clara muttered under her breath and then started to make her way out of the dilapidated chapel.

As she stepped outside and directly into the moonlight, Clara drank the contents of the vial with no hesitation, throwing the empty vial over her shoulders.

"I don’t feel any different..." she muttered to herself as she walked the few minutes back to the taxi that she had instructed to wait for her.

On the way, she dialled Rocky’s number. It rang through once, twice, then three times. Each time, it rang multiple times and then straight to voicemail.

She had arrived by the same taxi by this time. Clara was so engrossed in the fact that Rocky was not answering his phone to notice the taxi driver’s shocked reaction.

Rocky had always answered her calls without fail in the past. Even when he had been angry at her, he would answer when she had called consecutively.

’Why is he not picking up?!’

Clara opened the door and sat down, still concentrating on her phone.

"What the heck?!" The taxi driver blurted out, staring at Clara. Though he had practically shouted, Clara was too engrossed in her thoughts to hear this.

His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, sweat beading on his forehead.

’Wait... Is this the same woman I dropped off earlier?’

His mind reeled. Just about thirty minutes ago, she’d been wrinkled and haggard, a face worn thin by time. Even makeup had not done her justice. He had especially noticed because of her youthful body.

But the woman in his backseat now?

Smooth, flawless skin... eyes glinted with youth... lips like ripe fruit. This is someone he would have asked out without hesitation .... If he had not seen her earlier. He wasn’t even sure what he had seen, but the body and clothes looked same, except for the ’new’ face.... How was that even possible? He knew that it was not humanly possible.

He swallowed hard, realizing that he was alone with this anomaly in a very remote place.

’Wasn’t she... wasn’t she an old woman?’

His heart started to race.

’What kind of witchcraft is this?’

He flicked his gaze up to the rearview again, half-expecting to see her eyes glowing back at him.

’Is she going to - "

His mind refused to finish the thought. He could not bare think of what this person could do to him if she could change her appearance like that.

’Maybe, it’s some sort of prank? Or movie?’ He tried to console himself, but even he did not believe those thoughts.

In the back and still gripping her phone tightly, Clara let out a frustrated sigh.

’Why wasn’t the car moving?’

With an irritated flick of her eyes, she looked up —

Only to catch the driver staring at her openly through the rearview mirror. His eyes were wide, his mouth slightly ajar, as if he’d seen something he couldn’t quite comprehend.

For a second, she stiffened, ready to snap, but then she remembered, and quickly flipped her phone’s front camera to look at herself.

The realization hit her, quick and electric, ’It worked!’

She touched her flawless face,

’How I missed this!’

’Yes! It had really worked!’

This was everything she had hoped for.

"Are you going to drive?" Clara snapped while smiling with glee on the inside,

’This potion is really powerful! Let me hurry and get her to meet Rocky so that she can give me the rest of the potion!’

All the deep wrinkles gone — her skin smooth and luminous as it had once been. Her body, always meticulously kept, now matched her radiant face.

She was whole again. Complete. Beautiful.

Clara loved the way the taxi driver could not get his eyes away from her. She knew that he was scared, but he still wanted to continue gazing at her. She loved that feeling that someone could not tear their eyes away from her.

This was exactly what she had been looking forward to.

That look that would have men looking twice. That which would have women look away in envy. Clara laughed for the first time in years, a rich, youthful sound that felt foreign on her tongue.

But then, it started. These were things that she herself did not notice.

"Ma’am ... I mean, Miss, where should I take you?"

Clara stopped laughing and then looked at the taxi driver. She did not know where she wanted to go, but how could she tell him this?

"Just take me to where you picked me up from!" She snapped at him to mask this. The driver nodded, not offended, but still somehow wary of her.

It was little things that happened during the ride back and throughout the night, but she was never fully aware of them.

Clara brought her phone up again, wondering what she had been doing with it,

’Did I try to call someone? What was I doing?’

She dismissed the thought and returned to admiring herself in the front camera. The woman in the mirror was perfect .... too perfect, but there was a hollow behind her eyes. It was creepy, but not to the person who bore it.

About an hour later, the taxi pulled up at the Wendover mansion.

"We’ve arrived, Miss," Clara beamed at being addressed that way, but she was confused as to what the driver meant by the fact that they had arrived when she was at a totally new place that she had never been to.

"Where is this place?"

"M-"

"Madam Clara.... OMG! I was getting worried out of my mind!" Angela shouted and hurriedly opened the back door for Clara. Whatever the taxi driver had been about to say was swallowed. He had been confused when the woman had said that.

’She’s an odd one!’

Clara got out of the car with Angela’s help.

Angela was already used to such a situation and bent and paid off the fare. All this time, she had not directly looked at Clara, so when she turned, her mouth dropped open,

"WTH!"

On the other hand, Clara looked at her strangely, for she could not remember who this person was, though the girl looked familiar. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t recall the woman’s name.

She did not know where she was, but the maid in front of her seemed to recognize her,

’Maybe I am home? But why don’t I remember?’

Clara brushed it aside, patting her cheeks fondly, but Angela was too stupefied to do anything. She had been through this once when Clara had wrinkled up overnight,

’Was this one of those again? What did the madam do this time?’

Angela noticed that once Clara put the phone in her purse, she became a bit unfocused.

Brave Angela helped the disoriented Clara up the stairs and into her room. Clara only somewhat calmed down and smiled in front of a mirror. She loved looking at herself.

It was like that throughout the night, till a terrifying shout woke Angela up in the morning.

*********

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