Chapter 52: Netherworld Mountain Silent Valley

I grabbed the small bottle. It felt pretty normal, nothing special about it. I gave it a good look, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey, check this out," Anthony said, pulling out what looked like an old piece of parchment from the box and handing it to me. "This was wrapped around the bottle. I thought it was just some regular old paper."

I took it and unfolded it. It was a small, oddly shaped piece of parchment. It looked like it had been around forever, with some parts starting to peel.

I gave it a closer look and felt like there was something different about it. Rubbing it a bit, I noticed it had a weird texture, like it had been soaked in something, giving it a kind of aged look.

I brought the parchment up to my nose and took a sniff. A strong, fishy stench hit me like a ton of bricks!

I couldn't help but cough like crazy!

The smell was kind of familiar.

It reminded me of Bloodstone, that stuff made from the blood of a bunch of animals!

But this was different.

I wiped away the tears that came from the coughing fit. "Lorenzo, this parchment has been soaked in something!"

"What kind of thing?"

I lowered my voice. "It smells like corpse oil."

I had never actually smelled corpse oil before, but I had read about it in the books Lorenzo gave me. It was supposed to smell a lot like Bloodstone but even more disgusting. And the weird thing was, it couldn't be smelled unless brought right up to the nose.

"Corpse oil?"

Lorenzo and Anthony exchanged glances, and Anthony quickly put two and two together. The medicine that guy gave him to drink couldn't be corpse oil, could it?

Thinking about it made Anthony feel sick, and he bolted to the bathroom, clutching his stomach!

Alicia watched Anthony rush off and turned to me, "Dennis, what's corpse oil? Is it the stuff that comes out after someone dies?"

Her question made me queasy too, and I had to gulp. "Yeah, it's the oil that seeps out of a body after it's been rotting for a while. Only super chubby folks have it..."

As I described, I couldn't help but retch, hastily covering my mouth and looking away.

Alicia, not convinced, said, "What's the big deal? It's just the smell from a dead body!"

With that, she snatched the parchment, lifting it to her nose for a whiff. Her face drained of color. "Man, this stench is potent. Corpse oil is..." Eventually, she couldn't contain it either.

Lorenzo gave us a wry smile. I managed to push down my nausea and turned to him. "Lorenzo, what do you think?"

"I'm not smelling that!" Lorenzo waved his hand. "Dennis, I think the key here is that blinding white light you saw. There's something on Anthony, but it's hidden deep. We need to figure out how to save him."

"Yeah!" I nodded and took a few gulps of water.

I got where Lorenzo was coming from. If Anthony had died twelve years ago, or if he was still alive but they hadn't reunited, it would be different.

But now, Anthony not only survived but also patched things up with Lorenzo. That bond meant Lorenzo couldn't just sit around twiddling his thumbs.

I asked, "Where should we start looking for clues?"

Lorenzo thought for a moment. "I think we should go to the master who gave him the medicine. This isn't simple. Also, when you saw the white light, the Cancer Twin-Eared Cup in my backpack shook like crazy!"

I got excited. This meant whatever was on Anthony might be linked to the Cancer Twin-Eared Cup. Given how intense that white light was, I even thought we might find the Cancer Beneware!

If that were the case, Maria could be saved!

As I was getting my hopes up, Anthony came back, looking a bit better.

"If what I drank was that stuff, I might as well be dead!" Anthony said, retching a couple of times. "But I just remembered, the medicine the master gave me smelled and tasted like regular medicine, nothing like this stuff."

"Yeah."

Lorenzo and I responded at the same time, thinking that even if some corpse oil was mixed in, he wouldn't be able to taste it!

Lorenzo quickly changed the subject. "Anthony, Dennis, Alicia, and I talked. We're going to go with you back to Everglade City. We reckon there might be some leads there, maybe even the recipe that saved your skin."

Anthony took a deep breath. "Okay, even if we come up empty-handed, just having you all by my side in my final moments, I'd be happy to depart this world like that!"

Lorenzo patted Anthony on the shoulder. "Anthony, let's not talk like that. Don't worry, everything will be fine!"

I added, "Anthony, where in Everglade City did you live for twelve years?"

"Everglade City Galaxy District, Netherworld Mountain."

I was surprised. "On the mountain?"

"Yeah, in a cave in Silent Valley on Netherworld Mountain."

"A cave?" Lorenzo was puzzled. "What's the name of the master who helped you?"

Anthony shook his head. "I only know his last name, Roach."