A gentle howling breeze caresses the long golden strands of Cuca's hair. Her green eyes wander restlessly from side to side, the thoughts in her mind dance tirelessly, she's not even present in reality. In fact, it's really better that Cuca literally wasn't present in reality, that she was able to escape the duke's tricks, or at least... save a friend.

— Hi Cuca — says Yara, taking the keys to her room to open the door and enter — I've been waiting for you, why didn't you meet me where we agreed by message?

— Oh, hi! — comes back to reality — I didn't see the message.

— You replied to me.

— Did I? — she takes her mobile phone out of her pocket in a hurry and checks it to remember. Then she puts it away.

— Is everything all right?

— Yes, thanks. How's yours? — She smiles.

— I'm not saying it out of politeness, it's a sincere question.

— You know me very well, don't you? — your posture is no longer tense.

— Let's go inside and talk.

— OK.

The two of them enter Yara's hotel room and, after switching on the lights, they sit down on a vast brown leather sofa covered in fluffy, colourful cushions.

— Is something bothering you?

— Can we just... play cards, as usual?

— Of course, do you have a deck?

— I left mine in Ratanabá.

— There must be somewhere that sells them around here. I'll ask one of my employees to buy it for us — with lightning speed, a speeding absconditus dressed in an orderly suit and sporting short blond hair returns with a pack of cards in less than a minute, carrying out her order.

Yara opens the box and takes out glossy cards so thin that they appear to be as sharp as a deadly blade. The symbols on each of them, which constantly live in the presence of people or absconditus deluded by the false promise of reward and futile miracles while losing even what doesn't belong to them, or friends relaxing with a game, wander around each other, with each card hiding itself.

— Which game do you want? — asks Yara, after shuffling the cards.

— Truco it is.

The cards are dealt between them, and secretly they assess their luck, looking at each number, letter and symbol. Cuca faces Yara with features more determined than a bird enduring hours of flying to reach the warmth and is the first to play, starting with a king of spades.

Yara just watches with half-closed eyes and discards her lowest-value spade card, but she realises that her friend's logical reasoning is much worse; apparently Cuca isn't thinking straight, or maybe she isn't thinking at all.

On the balcony of Yara's room, the speedster butler is tied up, without his technological equipment and with his lips sealed with a "paper" that looks like a talisman, but is just another item of science fiction that for the absconditus is real and common. No one should be able to perceive his presence at high speed or stop him, but all he can do is enjoy his last moments away from prison, because while no piece of information goes unnoticed by Erick's intelligence, no piece of material existence goes unnoticed by Lampião, who has defeated him.

— Now is the perfect time to attack — he whispers to Erick.

— Firstly: we'll only attack if necessary — he says in a reprimanding tone — Secondly: I'd rather let them finish the game.

— Finish the game?

— Yes, they won't meet for centuries.

— Wow, you're more polite than a Brit.

Erick just doesn't have the patience to pay the slightest bit of attention to his friend any more and ignores him, focusing his gaze like an eagle on the whole room, while Yara and Cuca just continue the game without even imagining the presence of the two, only realising what has happened when they hear Erick's voice next to them.

— Shall we go, Yara? — the clang of the iron handcuffs resounds as he swings them, making Cuca's eyes widen.

— I don't understand — she makes eye contact, looking as innocent as a child.

— You do, but you pretend not to know — Yara moves away, cowering in fear and fragility like an abandoned animal — Are you going to resist? — His tone of voice is as imposing as his posture.

— Erick! — Cuca exclaims — At least be less abrupt — she says, her tone of voice dropping and her gaze falling. A cloud of introspection envelops her, throwing her out of reality, the only place she can bear these misfortunes.

— I'm sorry. Yara, I'll have to take you to trial, if you're not resistant, I won't even need to use the handcuffs. And if you're as innocent as you say, everything will be cleared up there — he holds out his hand, but the mermaid pulls away — Don't be afraid, I protect good people — slowly, Yara approaches and takes his hand.

— All right, I'll go, but first could we get my teddy bear? — he says to save time.

— I'll have someone take him for you while we make our way to the courthouse.

— But I want to be with him on the way too...

— The duke wouldn't allow me to delay — he lies, just to disguise the fact that he realised her intentions.

— Where's the teddy bear? — Cuca asks — I'll bring it straight away. 

— Somewhere in one of my houses.

— A criminal acting like a defenceless little child, what a joke — he smiles.

Lampião's presence seems to emerge from the unknown cosmic sea, where no mind can reach, as if he had just materialised in front of them without having been anywhere before. And before Yara and Cuca even have a chance to turn their gazes, overwhelmed by a terror worse than the fear that enters the guts of an inconsequential young man who longs to explore the world when facing death, the sound of the trigger of the rifle he is pointing at Yara being pulled is heard. It's not as if Lampião wanted to be a vigilante, if the mermaid were innocent, he would still go ahead without hesitation

No shots are fired.

— What? — He checks his rifle.

— Did you think I didn't know you? The gun is blocked — Yara sighs, relieved, hiding behind him.

— No problem — he puts the rifle away and begins to approach as if he were a being made of darkness that had just emerged from the most abyssal depths of hell, his gaze glowing like the magma that rests inside a volcano yearning to escape and sharp like the eyes of a predator about to strike, as he smiles discreetly, yet still clearly showing the malice of a serpent that had never been extinguished from his character.

Erick, losing the delicacy and gentleness that characterises him, holds Yara and abruptly takes her to the balcony and climbs with her on the rope of a helicopter that was waiting for them, preventing Lampião from continuing with an aggressive approach, because there would be no justification that could be used before the judge if he attacked Yara while she was obeying Erick and no way of escaping now from one of the greatest detectives in the absconditus kingdom.

— Too bad, she got away.

After witnessing these events, Cuca put up her hands to cover her mouth so as not to attract the unwanted attention of any guests or hotel staff with the terrified scream that was about to emerge from the most hidden depths of her soul. Her last irrational hopes are shattered, it's clearer than the sun in a summer's sky that there is no path for her to follow that would save her friend. And Yara's hopes of escaping along the way with the help of her subordinates are also dashed because they had all been arrested before her.

After hours of the moon's decay, the twin stars awake behind the horizon, glowing like an angelic halo longing for their ascension. The rays shine down on Ratanabá, illuminating the duke who is sitting at a table outside his gilded palace, blazing like living flames that dance between the barrier of reality and hallucinations, standing before his guest.

Curupira offers his guest coffee, which he also drinks, with impeccable courtesy, and thanks him for the help he had offered him in capturing Yara, an extremely valuable help which, if it weren't for this absconditus, would not even be suspected of her crimes. And not just showing his gratitude with words, Curupira presents the vampire with an extremely valuable Brazilian artefact.

The conversation between the two doesn't last long, ending briefly because they don't want to waste any time. After saying goodbye to the duke, the Merchant decides to rest for a while contemplating the dense flora on the outskirts of the city, which retains a deeper green than the jades that make up the luxurious roads of the dragon lands, while he walks towards the crevice, heading for his next destination.