Chapter 20: Chapter 18

As soon as they stepped into the corridor, Poppy noticed a change. ‘’ Ius,’’ she called.

He stopped and turned around. She was pointing at the wall. The paint was peeling off the walls.

‘’ I’ve noticed,’’ he said, then explained, “The spell will affect everything around. The decor and furniture of the hotel will also age.’’ 

Ius pointed to the ceiling; “The spell covered the hanging lights with cobwebs. The trail starts here. Come on, let’s follow it.” And he started running down the corridor, followed by Poppy.

‘’ There is dust and cobwebs over there,’’ Ius shouted while pointing at one of the wall’s decorations leading downstairs.

‘’ Ius wait! What about Ali?” said Poppy.

Ius stopped, frowned, and shook his head. “What about Ali?”

“We have to be careful. He may still hide in the hotel waiting for us,” she whispered while looking around.

Ius laughed, then looked at her. “Are you done? He is not here; he is gone.”

She yelled, “And how do you know that?”

“I’m psychic,” he said with a wide smile.

She punched his arm gently. 

“Ouch!” He screamed, grabbing his arm, “you broke my upper arm.”

She raised one eyebrow. “luckily for you, I am as good of a doctor as you are a psychic. Cut it out. We need to be on our guards.”

He laughed again, “Poppy, he is gone, I promise. I mean, seriously, would you have cast a deadly spell and stayed trapped in it just to play hide and seek with a Jinn? You saw how quick thinking he was in your room and ran out the first chance he got. He didn’t want to stick around.” 

She made a face, then nodded; he has a point; she thought.

“Come on! Let’s go,” and he started rushing down the stairs.

She took a big breath and followed him reluctantly. She was getting tired.

The hotel's stairs had a funny angle, so Poppy was trying her best to keep up without tripping.

They finally reached the ground floor, then followed the corridor, taking them straight to the lobby. The metal frames were rusty, and there was a musty smell.

Poppy asked, “So how do we find the exit?”

Ius replied while looking around, “It could be anything. An object or even a doorway. The place looks dusty and abandoned—except for the exit, which would look normal.”

‘’ In that case, let’s split up. You can look here, I’ll go to the dining room,’’ said Poppy and Ius nodded.

After a few minutes, Poppy shouted, ‘’ what about this Ius?’’  

She was standing between two huge pot plants, trying to push back the oversized dying bamboo. The yellow stems were cracking every time she was touching them.

“Use your powers to move the pots, Ius. Those are very heavy,” suggested Poppy to him.

“The curse is still on. I rather save my energy for a more demanding task,” said Ius while rushing to help her. They pushed one pot plant at a time away from the wall to reveal what they hid behind; a handwoven tapestry depicting an ancient Egyptian burial ceremony. 

Ius let out a chuckle, ‘’ funny how this scene fits the situation.’’

‘’ That’s not funny,’’ Poppy mumbled while looking at the tapestry. ‘’ No dust, no cobwebs. It looks pretty normal to me. Do you think that this is it?’’ 

Ius nodded with a smile on his face.

We have found the exit, thought Poppy. 

They gave each other a high five.

‘’ Great job!’’ he said. ‘’ Now we go through.’’

He extended his hand towards the textile, but his fingers brushed on it. He stopped, looked closely, and frowned. ‘’ That’s strange. It should have pulled my hand in.’’

Poppy approached. ‘’ Maybe you have to say something specific for it to open. Like Ali Baba in front of the cave.’’

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‘’ Ali Baba?’’ 

‘’ It’s a character in a book. Ali Baba and the forty thieves. He had to say, open sesame, for the magic cave to open. Maybe we also need to say a magic word.’’

Ius snapped his fingers. ‘’ Not a bad idea! Step back. Will be out of this in a flash,’’ he said in a confident tone.

He cracked his knuckles and fixed the tapestry, his eyes shining brightly. ‘’ Trapped we are, free will be. Open this door and let us out.’’

The tapestry started shaking violently, then glowed all over. Ius stretched his arm towards Poppy, who took his hand immediately. 

‘’ Let’s go’’ he instructed before putting his free hand, palm open, on the glowing textile. 

Instantly, Ius and Poppy felt a shock wave, which sent them flying across the room as the whole hotel shook. They landed heavily on the tables and fell to the floor.

Ius was the first to get up. He looked around and spotted Poppy in a corner, hunched up. He ran to her.

‘’ Poppy, are you okay? Are you hurt?’’ he asked while helping her up. It shook her up, but she nodded. ‘’ I’m okay, thank you. What was that? What happened?’’

She then noticed that Ius was not speaking, but just staring at her. 

She frowned. ‘’ What? Why are you looking at me like that?’’

‘’ Uhh, Poppy, I think my spell didn’t work the way it should. Instead of getting us out of here, it looks like it kind of sped up the process,’’ responded Ius in a worrying tone.

‘’ And you know that how?’’ she asked, confused.

Ius said calmly, ‘’ Well, to start, I am sure that the effects are temporary and…’’

‘’ What effects?’’ asked Poppy. She got up and ran towards a framed mirror in the corridor. She let out a scream.

Her hair has turned grey, and she had few wrinkles on her face. She touched her face in horror, then also noticed her hands. 

Ius stood beside her and gently put his hand on her shoulder, ‘’ you are fine, well, not completely obvious. The spell is now affecting you very quickly. And if you have grey hair already at 13, it means that…’’

Poppy, who had been looking at her greyish braids all the time he was talking, put both hands on her face and screamed, ‘’ Oh my God! Uncle Joe! No, please, no!’’

She ran back upstairs as quickly as possible, followed closely behind by Ius, and burst into their room. She ran to her uncle, who was lying motionless on his bed. 

Joe looked so frail. His hair was completely white. His skin had pigmented spots; his veins and bones could be seen more easily. His face and hands were all wrinkly. 

She dropped to her knees and started sobbing.

Ius leaned over Joe and put his hand delicately on his shoulder. He turned to Poppy. ‘’ He is not dead, Poppy. He is still breathing, it is just very weak. We still have time to stop the spell.’’

He took a knee next to her and lifted her head. 

‘’ It’s going to be okay, I will figure it out but not without the help of my older sidekick,’’ he said in a mocking tone. 

She gave him a bad look.

‘’ What? I love your new look. It gives you an edge.’’ He said, smiling. 

Poppy chuckled. ‘’ Thank you. I needed that.’’

‘’ Come on! We need to check this place meticulously this time. We cannot afford another step back.’’ Ius said standing up. ‘’ But first,’’ he grabbed Joe’s phone that was resting on the side table and took a selfie of him, Poppy and Joe. 

She had a startled look on her face. ‘’ Are you serious?’’

‘’ Yes, I am. Believe me, Joe would want to know how he will look at this age and for you, it is more like a souvenir of your time trapped in a sleeping spell,’’ responded Ius, smiling.

Poppy suddenly lunged at him to grab the phone. 

‘’ Give me that!’’ she mumbled while wrestling with him on her bed. Ius couldn’t stop giggling and held the phone even tighter against his chest.

At that moment, they heard a noise coming from the corridor. They stopped play-fighting and sat up to listen closely. They heard it again. It was as if something was crashing on the hard wall over and over; they could feel the vibrations after each impact.

Poppy clinched to Ius. What could make the walls tremble that much? This night was going from bad to worse.

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