It was something alive: dark, shining and moving in the palm of his hand.
Ricardo paled.
You have to see what that thing was, how it got there, and why which doctor noticed it. The truth is horrifying and will leave you breathless.
The object that Sofia was holding was not a creature.
It was the size of a fingernail, with a black shell that reflected the light like oil on water. It looked like a tick… but its shape was too perfect, too geometric.
He writhed.
Mateo couldn’t see it, but he felt it. Not in his eye, but behind his forehead… as if it had suddenly ripped away the emotional wound he had carried since childhood.
Ricardo, for his part, remained motionless, paralyzed between fear and disbelief.
“Security! Hold that girl!” he finally shouted.
Sofia didn’t even blink. Calmly, she opened her palm.
The tiny dark creature, already drying in the sun, emitted a sharp, almost inaudible shriek.
And then he jumped.
Not towards Ricardo… but straight to the marble floor.
“Don’t step on it,” Sofia warned sternly. “If you crush it here, the spores will activate. It will explode.”
Ricardo stopped immediately. The guards stood several meters away.
The creature began to move at a supernatural speed, sliding towards the shadow cast by the tail feather, seeking the darkness.
“What the hell is that?” Ricardo gasped.
—A Nocturpo —replied Sofia, observing the dark trail it left behind—. It lives where the light has been forcibly extinguished.
Then Mateo spoke; the blind boy was the only one who thought clearly.
“It’s not the only one,” he said in a hoarse voice. “My other eye is burning. Like a ghost of light.”
The realization hit Ricardo like a jolt. If there was one parasite… there had to be another.
Sofia ran towards the piano and knelt down, staring intently at a small opening near the base.
“There was a pee,” she whispered. “He was just a pee explorer. And his job was to steal your sight.”
Ricardo felt a deep and icy chill.
—So… what was your job?
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