Chapter 229: Always Watching
Back in Monica’s room, Osvaldo still had Monica in his arms as he tried to calm the crying girl down. Presently, Madeline had joined them after Cassian confirmed it was safe enough to let her in, and from Monica’s anguished look, Madeline could feel her heart break on the inside.
"Osvaldo..."
"Shhhh.... Settle your mind first." He consoled Monica in a soft tone while stroking her hair lightly, "does it hurt anywhere else?"
"Not as much as it did earlier." She gently pulled away from his embrace after responding, feeling quite ashamed with herself that they had seen what she had become.
She thought she could persevere through the consequences, but she completely guessed it wrong.
"Osvaldo, you’re so heartless, that thing you used on me...."
"If I took pity on you I would be endangering your life. It was a tough decision." He patted her head apologetically, unable to hide the fact that he nearly stopped when she kept crying out in pain.
"That spell you made, was it able to get the ghost Fiend out of her?" Cassian switched the topic, knowing that this was way more important than the conversation they were having, and to both him and Madeline’s dismay, Osvaldo shook his head with a weary sigh.
"It’s not out yet." Taking hold of Monica’s arm, he showed them the tiny threads of black vein that disappeared under the short sleeve of her shirt, and he shook his head at the painful sight, feeling a bit annoyed.
"The Fiend is weak, that makes Monica’s spirit more dominant than the Fiends for the meantime. Once it recovers its strength, it will attack again." He said, and Monica’s glossy eyes widened in alarm, but Osvaldo gave her head another reassuring pat.
"Nothing will happen to you, we’ll try to stop it before that happens?" Even though he wasn’t convinced by his own words, he wouldn’t want to see Monica break down because of what happened.