Damsel In Distress (Arcana Famiglia FF)

Chapter 9: Puzzling

Angelica chuckles, "I'm sorry I was only teasing you, Felicita!" She bursts and hugs Felicita to make up for it, not minding the surprised bystanders and shopkeepers who seemed stunned, "So--"

"Angelica sure is unpredictable. How does she seem to keep herself composed, like she came from a high class family. But she even seems to have that kind of mischievous aura that she struggles to suppress." Thought Felicita. She snaps back to Angelica.

"--I'm just glad that you're agreeing with me." Angelica says when Felicita snaps back to her thoughts.

"Huh?" Felicita says, realizing that she wasn't listening to what Angelica has been saying.

"What? You haven't been listening to her speech?" Says a shocked Luciano who listened intently.

"I'm sorry!" Apologizes Felicita, making a small bow, "My mind drifted, I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, don't worry about it!" Says Angelica as she patted her friend's shoulder. She urges Felicita.on, feeling everyone's eyes on them.

"You know. . . you're mind seems to be drifting away a lot for quite sometime already. What's on your mind?" Asks a concerned Luciano. 

"No-nothing of any significance. ." Felicita hesitantly replies.

"You sure?" Luciano continues to ask. Luciano had always been one of the most caring members of the family. Felicita knew that. But deep inside she felt that Luciano was there for another reason. She had a good feeling why.

"Yup." She replies without hesitating, fearing that he'd bother her with.more questions.

"If that's the case, we better tell the others already. Shall we?"  Asks Angelica with a smile. Felicita nods and follows her friend with Luciano tagging along.

"These ladies. . . Are getting close, but Angelina seems to be keeping up a barrier." He mutters to himself as he watches Angelica from behind as they started for the mansion.

********

Later that evening, Felicita and the others got permission from Mondo to bring the kids to an outing on a mountain nearby, but will have to have the kids' parents' approval to do so. So the next day, Felicita and the others wandered around and told all the parents of their plan. And much to their surprise, the parents all agreed. The kids somewhat had proven their excitement by deciding to prepare themselves early. And the Arcana Famiglia quickly started packing some equipment and prepared food for the next day. Everyone (whoever was going alone with the kids) was clearly excited. Especially Debito, Luca, and Pace since they've done this kind of thing for years.

During the preparations, Felicita decided to check on Angelica who had been in her room all day aside from accompanying them around town. Upon reaching Angelica's room, she notices that the door wasn't completely closed and she couldn't help but let her eyes take a peek.

Inside, she saw Angelica cleaning her violin. Her eyes continued to watch Angelica's movements and saw that she was also preaparing a bag of herbs and even Shandor was being quite handy by assisting her. Felicita couldn't help, but smile.

"You could come in you know." Angelica says suddenly, almost like she sensed Felicita's presence.

"O-oh, I couldn't. You're busy, so I'll--"

"Hey, don't worry about it," interrupts Angelica, "I'm almost done anyway." Stepping in, Felicita closes the door behind her. Taking a close look, Felicita suddenly notices that Angelica had cut her hair to her shoulder blades.

"OH! Angelica!" Exclaims Felicita, clearly surprised, "You've cut your hair!" She says, rushing to her friend and touches Angelica's shortened locks.

"Does it bother you that much?" Angelica laughs, sensing her friend's shocked spirit.

"N-no!" Says Felicita, pulling her hand away. Angelica turns to her surprised friend, her eyes had pain and worry. Felicita found it hard to understand what was going on with that girl. Felicita continues, "They're lovely, it's just that you had such beautiful long hair that I never expected you to even think of cutting them."

"I guess I simply just didn't want to be identified immediately," Angelica replies, putting on a bandana and started unlacing her small corset, surprising Felicita,, "Those men from before recognized me even with my disguise. This is the least that I can do." She continues, unbuttoning her jacket and polo shirt.

Felicita blushes, seeing her friend's proportioned and curvaceous body. Angelica quickly puts on a black turtleneck sleeveless shirt, probably made of wool from the looks of it. Angelica's fingers places a web choker around her neck and puts on a couple of piercings. Her slightly altered appearance made her look like a delinquent and less of an angel.

"Why are you--"

"Two men were following us yesterday. Not counting Luciano who was behind us." Angelica says with a stern look on her face, as she puts her corset back around her waste and puts on her white gloves. Felicita straightened up when her friend turned to her.

"Wha--"

"This is getting serious." Says Angelica as her falcon perched on her arm, "I don't want you getting hurt because of me," she says turning away, "I'll have to find a way. They're persistent." She mutters softly, but loud enough for Felicita to heat everything.

Felicita was clearly confused of what Angelica was saying, but decided to believe that perhaps, Angelica was actually giving her clues of her life. But why is Angelica giving her only fragments of her story? If she wants to tell her her story why not tell her the whole thing?

"Let us go," says Angelica breaking the silence, "This is Vivian by the way." She continues, introducing Felicita to the bird. It was the Peregrine falcon from before. From the name, the falcon must be a female. And she truly looked noble and such, "I found her as I traveled here. Poor thing, she had a broken wing, so I decided to take it in and nursed it back to health. Well, she never left me." Angelica says as she fondly stroked the bird, "I assume that you were the one who took in you owl friend over there." She continued, seeing Fukulota perch on Felicita's arm, "Oh, my! I just remembered that I had forgotten to introduce Anita to you! That would be Anita." She points to the Zianese cat who kept a composed and calm attitude.

At first Fukulota seemed aggressive, seeing the falcon for the first time in Angelica's stay in three weeks. Felicita quickly scolds her pet and explained to Fukulota about the falcon and introduced her to Vivian. Vivian, meanwhile, stayed calm and erect like a queen. Just like Angelica at times. Angelica really is good with her pets. They're almost like fragments of her character, her cat, Anita mysterious and elegant, her falcon, Vivian, noble, and of course, her monkey, Shandor, playful and cheerful. Sometimes.

"Nice to meet them." Says Felicita who followed Angelica out. Tomorrow was going to be a big day! She wondered what was in store for them.

********

Creaks sounded as his feet gently stepped on the floorboards. A mysterious man sneaks unto the dock as he quietly got down from one of the ships that had docked on one of Regalo's piers. His hand pressed on his wound to keep it from reopening as he hid behind crates, watching if anyone was out. Clearly was avoiding something or someone. The moonlight beamed on his face, revealing a handsome blonde with eyes of gentle aquamarine color. The sea breeze blew on his hair and clothes.  They were nearly tattered to shreds almost as if he had just escaped a wilderness. Around his neck was a beaded necklace which.shook as he moved. His whole body trembled in exhaustion, but he refused to stop until he had reached the mansion, determined to get there.

"Angelica. . ." He mumbles as he plops to the ground.

"You there!" Shouts a masculine voice.