Amelia pulled her coat closer around her as she stepped out of the terminal at Salzburg Airport.
The journey had been hectic, to say the least.
Added to the fatigue of the journey were the lingering thoughts of the email from Professor Sean.
Why would there be a reason to bring a Glock 19 here to Moosham? What could have gone wrong for him to exercise such caution, Amelia wonders.
And as for the book, Amelia knew all about the witchcraft myths in many old European castles, but it was rather childish to assume that any of it had anything to do with reality.
Amelia stood in the waiting hall guarding the luggage while the others went in search of the car that was to pick them up from the airport to the accomodation.
She was really worried about such an email from Professor Sean.
Was there a mortal danger in this expedition?
But what could be so wrong and deadly about an Austrian castle?
She had not shown this email to the others in the group, however, and they all seemed to be looking forward to their month-long stay here once they landed.
It was an almost three-hour drive from Salzburg Airport to Moosham through the picturesque Austrian countryside, which was hard to beat in its beauty.
The Alpine trees flew by in small pockets.
Densely forested areas separated by wetlands with small rocky hills peeking out between them, it all looks so beautiful.
Rexi breaks the silence "This place already looks like my swarm, so marvellous.
I wish I could live here permanently"
"Well, who knows, if you fall in love with a local here, it may well be the same in real life." Farhan comments with a grin.
"Farhan seems to be very interested in the locals...hawww," Amelia replies to the joke and they all burst out laughing.
In the meantime, Amelia had informed Farhan of the rather secretive but urgent requests the professor had made in his email.
It had not escaped her notice that Farhan was thinking deeply and trying to gather clues in his analytical mind.
Rexi's quick lips kept the surroundings lively, even as Zani lost himself a little in contemplation of the surroundings.
When the car arrived a few kilometres from the village of Moosham, a mist suddenly hung in the air.
Fog in summer, Farhan's eyebrows shot up and then drew together suspiciously.
He tapped Amelia's elbow, who knew exactly what Farhan was trying to say.
Fog like this in summer was very unusual, even in the Alpine plateaus of Europe.
☯︎
"What could have happened, Professor?
She's my only daughter, how could she just vanish into thin air like this?
Sarza felt helpless. Together with her daughter, she was the last of the lineage of the Archbishop of Salzburg.
They did not used to be so wealthy and nobody knew about her.
The divorced and single mother was informed by the Austrian Heritage Society about her deep-rooted connections to the castle when her daughter was only ten years old.
Whilst the castle remained a private shareholder in alliance with the Austrian government, Sarza was granted residency as she had direct roots to the castle.
Sarza von Raitenau lived with her daughter Margareta von Raitenau in the lower north-west towers of the castle.
The Wilczek family, the owners of the castle, consisting of the now rather old and frail countess and her servants, resided on the opposite side of the towers in the castle quarters.
The castle's interiors, which were very intricately constructed, consisted of a long corridor connecting the staircases at various points along the labyrinthine corridor that eventually led to the castle courtyards and administrative rooms.
Below this, in the castle's cellar dungeon, were the infamous prison and torture chambers.
Above this was the Moosham Museum for artefacts and relics.
The old residential towers now lay largely abandoned, and the once mighty fortress wall that surrounded them was clearly in a state of decay.
The entrance and the rest of the castle complex adjoining the headquarters has been converted into a beautiful art gallery by the Wilczek family and is now run as a charity organisation.
This art gallery is open to tourists all year round and is visited by a large number of people every day.
Proffesor Sean stood with Miss Sarza and Miss Ruth in the small passageway leading to the corridor, outside the back door of the room that belonged to Margaret.
Proffesor Sean was silent for a few seconds, as if he did not know what to say to Sarza's question.
"I do not know, Miss Sarza, I am just as perplexed as the rest of you.
My students are arriving today, I have no idea how they will react to what has happened here."
"What did the castle doctor say about them last night?" Proffesor Sean quickly tossed the question to Miss Ruth.
"Well, she's always carried the anaemia with her.
Her rather sudden loss of hair and decreasing appetite struck Doctor Fitz as rather odd, especially as she was quite well until a few months ago.
He thought last night's sudden collapse was a mild heart attack"
Miss Sarza raised her fingers a little at this point, as if she wanted to add something she knew to the information.
But she quickly put it aside again, because a quick glance at Sean's face told him that there was a lot of hesitation and doubt involved.
"What is it, Miss Sarza?"
"Well, it's nothing, but this place can get claustrophobic at times, all this old architecture and the long, closed corridors, I have felt that myself.
Perhaps her breakdown was triggered by a feeling of suffocation in this old dining room."
The fact that she had invented her whole attitude in response to his question was clear to Proffesor Sean, but since his students were arriving soon, he did not want to dwell on it.
☯︎
When the students disembarked at the entrance to the accommodation, Proffesor Sean was waiting for them with a hard-burnt face.
It would be an understatement to say that his eyes just were not as bright as usual.
The wrinkles near his eyes and lips seemed to have increased exponentially.
You did not need to be much of a Sherlock Holmes to say out loud that there had not been much wrong with this person since he'd arrived in this place.
He was the first to break the silence with a smile
"Hello students! I hope you all had a mostly smooth journey here..."
"Er ... Professor, is everything all right with you?" Amelia interrupted him in the middle of his welcome speech.
Professor Sean was taken aback by this sudden enquiry, but quickly regained his composure.
He stared at the students hesitantly for a few seconds before speaking again.
"Well... apparently... no.
Since my first visit here, many events have occurred that can at least be described as problematic"
"What could have happened to make you ask me to bring a Glock 19?" Amelia asks slowly, rather confused.
However, she had forgotten that none of her companions except Farhan knew about it.
With the exception of Farhan, everyone had turned their heads towards her and looked rather shocked.
Amelia gasped, she knew what she had done.
Proffesor Sean Howerver helped to calm the situation.
"Look, you all need to listen to me very carefully.
Asking you to bring a weapon was a very intuitive decision on my part, which may now have turned out to be something that can be useful to us."
Proffesor Sean then talked a little about the history of Moosham, its castle and the family history associated with it.
He did not forget to tell the students about the Wilczek family, who own and mainly maintain the castle.
"Well, students, the daughter of Sarza von Raiteneau, Miss Margaret von Raiteneau, has been missing from the castle grounds since last night.
She has not even been found in the neighbouring villages or in the town.
Unfortunately, she was suffering from an unknown illness for several months before she disappeared last night"
"This handgun could be useful for self-defence in light of recent developments."
It was Zani, who seemed to have been silent for ages, who spoke first.
"Shall we go in search of the girl tonight, Professor?"
"Well, Zani, no. You have all just come here from so far away.
I do not want us to get involved in the case of her disappearance.
After all, that's for the police to deal with."
Proffesor continued: "However, some of my findings at the castle seem to me to be extremely puzzling and have given me a bit of a fright..."
The last part of the sentence, as Farhan noted, was spoken very quietly by the proffesor, as if he was very unsure of himself.
"Did you manage to get the collection of manuscripts I asked Amelia for?"
Amelia nodded in reply.
Proffesor Sean turned to them all again.
"Now then, freshen up and have something to eat. I'll meet you in my room in an hour or so, by all means!"
With these words, he strode ahead, up the stairs.
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