1680

"Do you know what happened, Stella", says Carl. "I do know that you both had to escape and yes your lives were also in danger." "We found our father's body. He had been shot in the head. We didn't know what to do so we ran. "Sven really wanted you two to be sacrificed. Your father, for some reason had found repentance and refused to let him near you. In the end, he did come, in his way to love you, and for him it was too late. He paid with his life. "Were you yourself there?" "I said, no more questions..."

1679

"Those beings in white", says Carl. "Yes. it makes sense. And my father's death?" "I cannot answer that." "But you must know something, Stella." "Carl", she says preempotorally. "No more questions." "Okay." "You and Melissa are both innocent. There was nothing you could do." "Did Sven do it?". I said", and now there is a distellation of anger in Stella's voice, "No more questions..."

1690

"It's paid off, says Carl. "That it has." "Stella, says Carl. "Tell me something please. If our father was a danger to us, how could we possibly have spent all those summers alone in the wildreness with him and... and live." "yes, Carl. Sven came there many many times to try to get him to fulfil his debt to his satanic master, but there they were completely and totally disempowered." "How did that happen." "The land that the mansion is on, for reasons that even I am not sure of, is another portal, a new one for the Millionth Council. Nothing evil can be done there now. Their agents and watchers are everywhere. I am sure you have at times encountered some of them..."

1677

Carl is very quiet and inside himself right now, as Stella pauses to allow him a few moments. Then he says, looking up at us, "Yes. We did know this all the time. No one spoke of it. It was never mentioned. But Mom's absolute state of terror and rage as she collected us both and bundled us into your car, Stella. I had never ever seen her that way before. Melissa and I never talked about it. It somehow felt like something too horrible to touch." "Yes, I completely understand, Carl. "Your father, with Sven's help, did everything possible to track you both down, but somehow they never found out where you were being hidden But they eventually gave it up. Still, there were the divorce proceedings and all that horrible mess of blackmail, basically enslaving you to him in exchange for your share of inheritance and maintenance....

1688

"Sven, and your father both, never knew what hit them. Two incrediblly arrogant and stupid men, but that's what evil does to one. Sven had no idea that I was working against him. It was by his invitation, by his insistence, that I came to Amsterdam in the first place. I met with him and your father several times, but never attended their rituals since that is forbidden by the Millionth Council, with whom I work. But they were planning to abduct both you and your sister as they were convinced that you both had been specially chosen." "Specially chosen for what", says Carl, nervous. "To be sacrificed to their satanic master..."

1675

"Around that time, Carl, your father and my twin brother were already in cahoots. Do you happen to remember the day when I rescued you, your mother and your sister from them?" "That was your work?" he says. "That car that came to get you. It was not a taxi." "I distinctly recalled a lady cab driver." "That cabbie was no lady", says Stella, smiling... "So my mother already knew..." "We had been meeting together, your mom and I for some months. It took a little time and planning, you see..."

1674

"And it just so happens that I have had white stuff on my face, in the daytime, all hours. That's what made me a lot of money. "I'm sure the house on the canal wasn't cheap", says Carl. "Nice place actually Old." "How old", says Erik. "Four hundred years", she says. So, why did you pick Amsterdam", say I, "Or is that a dumb question." "Not dumb in the least", she says. "Sven was there, and he needed to be intercepted..."