Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 90: YOU’RE COMING WITH US

The intense sparks floating around dimmed when Leon lowered his arm from his face. He stared at the lights that moved and gathered at a single point.

They swirled, multiplied, and began to construct, shaping risers and a handrail. It solidified into a shimmering staircase that stretched upwards, culminating in a dark wooden door that suspended in the air.

"At long last," he sighed, then walked two steps forward to the book, bent down and picked it up, then walked toward the base of the stairs.

His heart turned into a frantic drum in his chest the moment he placed his first step on the stairs. But the moment he stopped before the door, it calmed.

He took out the black key from his pocket, inserted it into the keyhole, and then turned it.

Click.

He pushed the door open and stepped through, emerging back into the hallway he was daring to head back to.

"Zoe would be annoyed for staying inside for hours," he mumbled, expecting to see a reaction from where she stood. But what he saw there made his eyes turn blank.

Where she stood earlier, a large, ornate pot now stood, holding a flowering plant that looked alien to him.

Not only was he shocked by seeing a new thing there; instead, the fully grown, lush, with mature leaves and vibrant bloom, made his mind melt.

"How?!" he gasped, gripping the book tighter until the leather creaked.

A cold dread began to uncoil in his stomach as he dashed forward and stood at the center of the hallway. His eyes widened as he scanned the walls, the ceiling, and the painting.

Everything was different from what he remembered.

’Didn’t I spend just a few minutes, or maybe hours there?’ thoughts reeled in his mind as he turned and rushed and stood by the window.

He pushed the pane, leaned out, and then peered into the estate grounds. A favorable gust of wind splashed his face with a new flavor. He shifted his gaze to the right side, where the arrangement of vehicles was.

"New vehicles, all these colors, really!" he screamed, then shifted his gaze to the left, where the garden was.

"How has there been so much improvement within just these few minutes, let’s say even hours? How?!" The question tore through him like a sharp sword.

He pulled his head back in and spun around. He dashed down the hallway toward the dining room, the one place he remembered and knew it wouldn’t be changed within days.

He skidded to a halt before the door. The door he vividly remembered to be dark brown was now painted white.

"I don’t understand this. This can’t be possible. Why would someone redesign his home with this much after a few minutes?" he muttered, staring at the alien door.

Cautiously, he settled his palm around the cool metal handle and swung the door open.

His heart skipped a beat the moment he stepped inside. The entire Qing family sat around the long table as if in the middle of a paused meal.

Hu Qing, Elara, Zoe’s brothers, and sisters all turned their heads in unison toward the door as if he were an intruder.

Zoe’s brother’s voice broke the still silence and waved across the room, then struck Leon’s ears. "Has he really spent sixty days in there?"

Leon stood frozen, the book feeling heavy in his hands, while the world tilted on its axis. ’Sixty days? Two months!’

Silence dwelled as eyes of faces, mixed with awe, remained fixed on Leon.

Zoe stood up from her seat, the legs of her chair scraping softly against the floor. She walked toward him in a measured movement.

"It’s good you’re back from there," she said, a faint smile resurfacing on her lips.

Leon darted his trembling eyes to her silver-grey eyes, then skittered away to the faces of her family arrayed at the table.

"Is it really true it’s been sixty days?" he asked in a frayed voice, then swallowed hard. "Or did I just not hear it well?"

"Yes, why..." Zoe began but paused. She turned her head slightly, looked past Leon toward her father at the head of the table, then back at him.

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed her face. "Ohh," she sighed. "I forgot to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Leon interrupted with a shaky but urgent tone.

Zoe’s lips twitched into an apologetic giggle. She closed the distance between them and placed a cool, steadying palm on his right shoulder. "Thirty minutes inside is fifteen days outside."

Leon’s mind whirled, trying to do frantic math through the shock. "Wait. I only spent two hours there," he confirmed with a weak statement.

"Yeah," Zoe nodded, "that sums up to the sixty days."

As the last word left her lips, a soft chime sounded from her left side. The phone held in her palm lit up with a pale blue glow, then vibrated with a tinny ringtone.

She turned away from Leon without another word, already lifting the device to her ear as she walked back past him and opened the door behind Leon.

Leon stood stranded in the middle of the room, the Qing family’s gaze still fixed on him. He forced his attention and turned toward the muted conversation drifting in from the hallway.

Zoe’s voice lowered to a hushed, respectful tone. "Hello, sir," she said, then paused.

"We will stand in when he’s called to the court." Her tone shifted to worry when she continued.

Through the space left between the door, Leon saw her tilt her head, her eyes finding his for a brief second before she blinked, then looked away.

She took a few more steps from the hall and created a gap between her and the door.

’Called to the court?’ the phrase coiled in Leon’s mind like a burning volcano.

Hu Qing’s gesturing movement from the table pulled Leon’s attention back.

Leon walked forward, avoiding looking at the others, while he focused on the empty chair Hu had directed his finger to.

"Hello," the lady beside him said. Her face reeled for a while in his mind, then stopped when he remembered her name, Kira.

"Hello," Leon responded.

"Do you like reading? I can see you brought a book from the library." She gestured with her chin toward the black book clenched tightly under Leon’s grip.

"Hmm, yeah, this is..."

"It’s okay, I can see the title. Don’t worry yourself," Kira interrupted smoothly while her smile widened.

She grabbed a slender, dark green cup of wine and placed it on the table in front of Leon. "Take this. To cool yourself down. You look stressed out."

Her grip remained on the cup for a while. "Take it."

"It’s okay," Leon said without making any movement to the cup.

"No!" she said in a firm voice, yet still smiled at him. "Take it, or we hand you to them."

’Hand me to them?’ Leon’s blood ran cold. He jerked his gaze from Kira’s smiling face and scanned the other family members.

Kira let out a sudden laugh that shattered the tension she’d just created. "Silly, did you take my words seriously?" She shook her head, her eyes crinkling with humor.

Before Leon could formulate a response, the dining room door swung open. Zoe’s gaze swept across the room, then hardened as it landed on Leon and her sister.

A sharp creak erupted under her feet as she strode forward. She passed directly behind Leon and Kira and stopped beside her father.

She tilted her gaze toward Leon, then back to her father, then leaned down.

’What’s going on?’ Leon thought to himself as he glanced at the faces once again.

Hu Qing rose from his seat, then slammed his right arm flat on the table.

Thump.

"This meeting is halted," Hu announced. He kept his gaze on the huge portrait in the opposite direction without taking a single glance at either his wife or children.

"We’re heading to the central city of Atheneum," he said, then walked from his seat. He stopped directly at Leon’s side.

Leon looked up and met Hu Qing’s gaze. For a fleeting second, a faint smile touched Hu Qing’s lips, then vanished and was replaced by a grim grin.

"You’re coming with us."