Connie let out a loud huff and started to walk away quickly, so I had to hurry to catch up.
"So, what did you think of Teresa?" Connie asked after we left The Bottom behind us and were walking down the streets north back to her home.
"She seems like a nice woman, but something tells me that you don't like her as much?" I asked as we walked.
The streets were almost completely dead at this point of the night, and a cold breeze was blowing through that sent a chill down my spine.
"She just... she gives off this feeling like she is always hiding something," Connie said after a moment of thought, and I frowned.
I hadn't noticed anything, but then again, I didn't really know her all too well either, so I couldn't say for sure one way or another. But if Teresa was hiding something from us, then it might have something to do with Hilda's disappearance, but I would just have to try and get some info out of her. And if that were the case, then we needed to get back to The Bottom sooner rather than later tomorrow so that we could talk more about what exactly Teresa knew about what had happened to Hilda.
But then again...
"Are you sure that was all that was bugging you about her? The moment that you started to talk about sex and drugs, your personality seemed to do a complete one-eighty. It almost seems like you are hiding something from me, Connie," I said, looking at her intently as we walked under the light of a street lamp.
Connie stopped and looked back at me sheepishly before she sighed and turned away. "There is just some stuff that I don't really want to talk about yet."
"And when will you be ready?" I asked as Connie continued walking again, and she shrugged.
I wasn't going to push too hard on this; if Connie didn't want to tell me something, then there was probably a good reason for that, considering how closed off she was in general so far. She would come around eventually, hopefully, sooner rather than later, because there were some things that I really wanted to ask her about. But for now, I would just have to be patient.
"Well, I guess I will just wait, but what about food?" I asked, as I could tell that we were getting closer to the Grashalor family manor. "I am a bit hungry, and I don't want to impose, so I was wondering if there is anywhere around here to get some food?"
"No need to worry about that. I ran back home while you were inside, and Mother was making a big supper for everyone. You just saw the part of the house that we keep for guests, but that is not how the rest of the place looks. We like to keep a low profile, so most people think that we don't even live there," Connie explained, and I nodded my head appreciatively. I had already been surprised before, so I was curious to see what the rest of the Grashalor Manor looked like.
The two of us got back to the beaten-up building, but we kept on walking past like we weren't going there and then turned down an alley that ran parallel to the Grashalor Manor. Connie picked up her speed but slowed to a stop as she peeked out into the next alley this one connected to and then waved me to follow. I could have portalled us back in the house at any point, but this cloak and dagger that this city was providing me made it kind of fun.
Connie led me around to the back of the building, where there was a door that looked like it hadn't been used in years, but Connie had no problems opening it and leading me inside. It took my eyes a moment to adjust as we entered a lantern-lit stairwell, but each of them had magic Light Stones in them rather than fire. She motioned for me to close the door, and I did so quickly before she turned and headed down a single flight of stairs to a door. I could hear the sounds of women on the other side, and Connie took a deep breath as if she was preparing herself for something as she reached for the door hand.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked, and Connie's hand stopped just before it gripped the handle. She turned her head and looked back at me with an uneasy smile.
"You just saw my family when they were trying to behave, but now that they are in the lower part of the house, they will not be the same. Watch out, many of them like to hide, and they love to scare each other, so don't expect them to treat you any differently. Some of them are even more mischievous than that, so just be wary," Connie said with a weak laugh to go with her uneasy smile, and I smirked.
"I am the Cat God, and mischievousness is kind of my thing, so I should be fine," I chuckled, and Connie gave me a look like I had signed the papers for my own execution and then nodded her head.
"Good, well, don't say that I didn't warn you," Connie said as she turned back and opened the door to a much nicer-looking hallway with a living room off to the left and more stairs down on the right. Ahead of me was a door that was open to what looked like a kitchen where I could smell food.
There were also women everywhere running around and laughing like little girls, but all of them in the immediate area stopped to look at me. Small smiles grew on each of their faces when they saw me, and then they all casually went back to what they were doing, but it was somehow muted and slower now. I could feel all the eyes on me as I walked in, but at the same time, no one was looking at me when I looked around, almost like I didn't exist. The whole place just got very eerie, and I stopped just inside the door.
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