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Episode Four
Venusberg
Words - so innocent
and powerless as they are,
as standing in a dictionary,
how potent for good and evil
they become in the hands
of one who knows how to combine them.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
French Toast and the Waffle returned to Chāteau Gāteau following their trip with Lexi and Bruce to the Trianon Spa at Versailles. Staying with the Peyton family overnight, Ms. Maddie awoke to a silent house - and an unsettling sense of vacancy.
In the midst of a fitful slumber, the Belgian had dreamed that her American acquaintance was shackled in a place of total darkness. Disturbed by the nightmare, she arose and went quickly along the upstairs corridor toward Miss O's bedroom, completely ignoring a cup of hot tea found next to the guest's bedside.
Knocking on Olivia's door, Maddie received no sign of life, barging in only to find a freshly made bed. Perhaps the omen was indeed true, she thought, then gasped as she exited and saw the residue of dark red fingernail polish left like claw marks on the outside wall.
"That's Versace lacquer, I'd know it anywhere! Professor! Madame Posh!" Madeline called out, hoping for a reply from Olivia's parents. When no answer came, the sensible young woman made her way hastily down the main staircase of Chāteau Gāteau.
  
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