Meanwhile, Ciara had been busy with getting the decorations set on the stage for each act and running the rehearsals while Candice worked with the custodians on cleaning the theater. When Lanying and Mingyi approached her with news on what they had learned, she shook her head with a smile, indicating that they shouldn't speak here. She swiftly took them both outside near the ticket stand, knowing there would be fewer eyes and ears listening to their conversation.

"Now let's speak. You had something you wanted to tell me?" Ciara asked.

The fae woman listened silently as Lanying told her what they had learned. The information about the breakup between Lilith and Edward visibly surprised her.

"Edward was the type of person who wouldn't care if his wife was cheating. They were never in love, that much I could see." Ciara commented.

There was something else in the back of her mind that was bothering her about the old map she had taken a peek at. Her memory wasn't the best. Suddenly, she widened her eyes in realization and slapped her forehead.

"Oh, I'm an idiot!" She exclaimed before turning to Lanying and Mingyi with a smile, "That old map, the problem with it was the fact there were no underground rooms. I remember talking with Lilith about the price of the concert hall. There was one room that would've been more expensive than the rest. I asked why it would be more expensive and she explained that it would be made underground."

Ciara pulled a key out from her pocket and handed it to Lanying with a smirk.

"While I was doing my work I managed to swipe the key to the office. It was in a glass box with a do not touch sign. Technically I used my magic and never touched the case." The fae woman shrugged, "If anybody asks, Candice said it was okay. I have a feeling she won't object to that. Go have a look in that office. Something tells me it'll tell you what you need to know before the performance. And carefully look at the floor."

She had a sneaking suspicion of something but she didn't want to say anything too soon. Instead, Ciara gave them both a smile and walked back indoors to continue the rehearsals.

The Office was old, practically ancient, and had a clean desk near the freshly dusted windows with an amulet with one yellow gem in the center. The curtains were a bright shade of red and the floors never creaked. The books on the shelf were organized while the fireplace had an evergoing fire. Above the fireplace was a painting of Lilith, and somebody behind her. A man half-hidden in the shadows with only his smile revealed. In the center of the room was a circle on the floor. The circle had six masks with little gems in their eyes. Except for one mask towards the top that had a frowning, almost terrified face. It had one yellow gem in one eye while missing a gem in the other.

Lanying's enthusiasm suddenly stopped when Ciara mentioned that Edward wouldn't have cared if she cheated on him–like he didn't love her at all. She was shocked. "Wait, what?" Then Ciara mentioned there was a room that wasn't on the map, a room that was underground. "What kind of room was it–the one that was underground?" While Mingyi wasn't sure what was going on, he could tell the exorcist was feeling uneasy. They received the key to the office, and neither of them said a word. Lanying regained her composure, then turned to her companion as she hastily stuffed the key into her clothes. "There's no time to lose! Let's get the cords and salt. We need to hurry!" Now that she knew there was an underground room, this changed everything. Forget the chandelier and supernatural harassment, this was definitely bad news! "I don't know why somebody would need a room underground, but unless it's for storing wine–it can't be for anything good." 

The two began to enter the rooms that they had access to without needing a key, starting with the rooms where the phenomena was sighted. Lanying shoved her hand into the sack of coarse salt and began to sprinkle a thick border around the perimeter of each room. Once the salt was laid out, she would then mutter a series of chants to imbue it with spiritual energy. By transforming the ordinary salt using this ritual, she essentially laid down a physical barrier that would impede malicious supernatural beings from passing through. Next, the red cords. Lanying and Mingyi began to string up several lines of cord along the sides of the halls. The rooms were lined with salt, but hallway foot traffic might cause the salt barriers to disturbed. It was a very time-consuming task, as once the cords were hung up–they needed to add warding talismans. 

She had a stack of paper and ink ready, and the exorcist began to painstakingly draw out the pattern. When she was done, she showed the example to her companion. "Alright Mingyi, this is very important. I need you to copy what I've drawn here exactly down to the letter. Draw as many as you can, and then start attaching them to the cords." Mingyi nodded out of habit, then stopped when he saw what she had drawn. "…Are you sure these are the right symbols?" Her head bobbed up and down with a straight face. "Yep. Why? What's wrong?" The more he stared at it, the more he found himself doubting it. "No, no…it's just I was expecting something a little more–well, mystical?" The design he was told to copy was a picture of four monkeys. One covered its eyes, the next covered its ears, the third covered its mouth, and the last one had its arms in an X-shape as if saying no.

With a sigh, he took a pen and empty slip of paper. "Why monkeys?" Lanying replied as she took out a fresh piece of paper with the quill tucked behind her ear. "Ancient exorcist tradition." Once they had enough of the monkey drawings, they were attacked to the cords hanging along the hallway walls. They were exhausted, but they knew their work had just begun. "Let's go find Candice. I need to ask for a favor from her." She had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on, and hopefully her guess was on the mark. For the past generations the owner of the concert hall would perform in the theater. Candice was the only exception. The strange happenings had to be connected somehow, along with the significance of the number six. If she could have Candice pretend that she was going to perform or at least give out an announcement, maybe that might lure out whoever was behind all of this.

"No idea! I assumed it was for wine." Ciara admitted.

Some of the performers and workers were confused by Lanying's red cords and depictions of monkeys but they accepted it as part of getting rid of the supernatural creatures. Though, Mrs Goldie had been sent home in fear the supernatural entity might hurt the elderly. Candice happened to walk towards Lanying and Mingyi. She stared at the red cords and monkies with confusion. But she decided against saying anything.

"I heard you needed to speak with me?" Candice asked.

She listened to their explanation and request then let out a small sigh.

"Do you think this will defeat whatever is causing this?" Candice asked, "Fine. Then I'll perform tomorrow night. The actual performance is in three days but I don't want to involve myself in their performance. That is for the actual musicians. If it's as you say, then whoever or whatever is causing us mayhem will be there as long as I perform sometime, right?"

Once she got her answer from the two of them, she turned to talk to Ciara about a mini-performance for tomorrow. They both talked it through and decided to use this extra performance as a form of advertisement. On the night of the performance, they had announced Candice's performance to the rest of the theater but did little else in advertisements. Candice, dressed in a simple blue gown and with her hair up in a fancy braid, stood on stage and began singing. To Ciara's surprise, her voice was strong and heavenly. There was a warmth in her voice as she sang that would bring people from outside the theater in. Ciara's eyes narrowed as she listened to the song and as people poured into the seats of the theater. Ciara left the balcony seat she had been provided and went to find Lanying and Mingyi. Once she found them, she pointed back towards the stage.

"She isn't singing from her diaphragm." The fae woman pointed out, "Even basic singers understand that rule."

The other thing that drew her suspicion was the fact that the previously empty seats had filled with people. These people were wealthy-looking merchants, nobles, famous painters, knights, officers but not a single farmer or commoner. Every single person's eyes were drawn to the stage as if they were physically unable to look away. Yet the performance continued without being disturbed. There were no disturbances, nightmares, strange sights, or even the oddest of sounds. The ropes and the salts remained undisturbed. Now Ciara's own interest had been increased.

With bated breath, Lanying and Mingyi waited until it was the day for Candice to perform. As the two and Ciara watched the concert hall owner's performance, even the exorcist couldn't deny she was a one-of-a-kind talent in the world. Candice made it look effortless while Mingyi knew the best singers toiled for years just to reach a similar level of aptitude. But instead of enjoying the performance, Lanying knitted her eyebrows. She couldn't put her finger on it, but her intuition was screaming that something was very wrong. She began to worry. "I think…I may have made a mistake." Normally the exorcist was the type to laugh it off, but the fact she was looking on edge was significant. Was there something she had overlooked? "Ciara, nothing strange has happened in the past few days right?" Now that was the strange part. 

"Maybe I should've taken a look at the broken chandelier when we first arrived here." Once the performance was over, she needed to discuss things with Ciara and Mingyi. All this time she had thought the culprit had been trying to drive the concert hall to ruin by harassing the performers. What if their objective was something else? If so, then that would mean she might've played right into their hands. They still haven't investigated the office. Now was a good time as any for all three of them to have a look. Ciara was older and wiser than both of them put together–if there was something going on, she'd notice too. There was no telling who or what they were dealing with. 

Ciara waited until the performance was over then motioned for both Lanying and Mingyi to head to one of the rooms privately to speak with her.

"I'm not an expert on demons. But there is something strange about that performance." She admitted, "Mingyi, you should go check up on Candice. If she seemed to be feeling uncomfortable, uneasy, queasy, or any health issues you need to tell us immediately. We will wait for you and go over what we know so far."

Ciara decided to send Mingyi over Lanying because he'd proven to have more tact in these kinds of situations. While he went to check up on Candice, she decided to go over the information with Lanying.

"First we need to throw out all our previous assumptions." Ciara stated, "What we do know is this. Lilith built the theater with my money and made a hidden underground room that isn't on any maps. She was a singer at the hall and she had a loveless marriage with Edward. They later split up due to her having an affair. Then after her death, Edward locked up her office and never allowed anybody inside. No one has been in there since. From then on the concert hall has been profitable and every Lady of the Hall has performed on stage, with the exception of Candice until today. With the exception of today, there have been nightmares and disasters."

She summarized the information than thought deeply about what it might mean. Then another idea hit her.

"What if…..what if the supernatural entity wasn't bound to this place?" Ciara suggested, "What if it could go outside the theater? What if the theater was less like confinement and more like a home?"

Meanwhile, Candice had retreated to one of the changing rooms. She had a napkin out and was roughly coughing up blood. This was why she always hated singing so much. The moment on stage was beautiful and she felt like she was the center of the world. But afterwards, she felt sick to her stomach and extremely drained. She never understood how her mother dealt with such conditions or tolerated the stupid stage. It was fine when other performers were shining but when she was on it, the whole thing felt like hell. The only reason she stepped on that damned stage was to get rid of the stupid supernatural creature that had been plaguing her theater for so long. She had to get this place fixed if she was ever going to run it properly.

Mingyi went to check on Candice while Lanying and Ciara continued the conversation. Unfortunately, Ciara had a point. "The singing was beautiful, but it was almost…what's the word? 'Bewitching'." The enchanted jade lute that possessed her as a child had been kept suppressed under seals due to having a similar ability. Laying all the facts on the table, it was clear that the owners of the Celeste Concert Hall had some sort of supernatural ability tied with their singing. But was this trait inherited, or had it been obtained through other means? When the young man found Candice, his heightened senses detected the scent of fresh blood. Alarmed, he knocked on the changing room's door with concern. "Miss Candice, are you alright?" He didn't want to enter uninvited, but since the matter was related to her family he was worried for her sake.

Lanying's face went pale after Ciara reinterpreted what they found. "If what you're saying is true, then we've got an even bigger problem. This isn't a haunting anymore; this is a case of supernatural solicitation." She recalled stories of families in more superstitious areas performing yearly rituals to invite supernatural entities into their homes to act as spiritual guardians. It was a transaction, leaning heavily in the entity's favor. Generation after generation, individuals from the family or village would perform the same rites to appease the being in exchange for blessings. And if those demands weren't fulfilled…well let's just say that supernatural entities have a reputation for punishing those who reneged on their deals. "That explains why none of the wards were disturbed. Either its movements are restricted, or it's in a place where we didn't touch yet." That left two places: the Main Office and the secret underground room. Mingyi returned in a hurry and it was clear there was bad news. "Something's wrong with Miss Candice! When I went to check on her as you requested, I could smell fresh blood." 

"An injury after singing on stage? That's not a good sign." The exorcist muttered. "The charm I gave her isn't that powerful, it's only designed to repel things from getting too close to the person." This couldn't be a coincidence. It made her uneasy, but Lanying had a feeling she could make an educated guess on why there was a demon here. "…I think I know what that underground room Lilith had built was for. Somebody might have summoned something and made a deal." She honestly hoped she'd be proven wrong.

Ciara saw her suggestion had opened up Lanying's mind to new possibilities. After all, there was never a guarantee this place was just haunted. All they knew was that mysterious things were occurring. Mingyi returned with the news that there was the smell of fresh blood near Miss Candice after the performance, confirming one of the suspicions in Ciara's mind.

Miss Candice could hear Mingyi but coughed before she could respond properly. After her coughing fit finished, she opened the changing room door and stepped out towards Mingyi, Lanying, and Ciara. She had cleaned off any blood and any sign that she was coughing but she obviously looked drained. She sat on a chair and smiled at the both of them in an apologetic manner.

"Sorry for scaring you both. I always go into a coughing fit after singing. My doctor said I was straining my throat too much." Candice explained.

"I assume that your mother had the same issue. And her mother before her?" Ciara asked.

"Why yes. But how-"

"I'm very good at guessing," Ciara explained.

The fae woman still had questions in her mind but she chose against asking them. She turned to Minying and Lanying with a confident smile and moved them a little bit away from Candice. Then she said in a hushed whisper,

"I would say to go into the office and see if you can find anything. Bring everything you have to prepare for this thing in case it happens to be in there." She suggested.

Sometimes those who are desperate or ambitious turn to making deals with beings beyond their understanding to obtain what they want. But these 'gifts' always come with a great price. Lanying had been lucky that the enchanted instrument which possessed her wasn't like that, but mutual relationships like hers were an exception. She let Ciara do the talking this time, and now the exorcist could smell the blood too. It was impossible to strain your throat so much to the point it would bleed after one performance. Maybe after several long years of abuse. Knowing that all of Lilith's female descendants who owned the concert hall shared the same condition basically confirmed their suspicions. Lanying regretted asking Candice to sing. If she knew it would lead to this, she would have tried a different way to test things out.

Giving the fairy woman a nod, the exorcist and her companion left to gather the rest of the purified salt and cords that hadn't been used. It was time to open the main office. There was no time to waste–salt was poured before the threshold and cords lined the hallway walls. After plastering the door with warding talismans, Lanying held her breath as she inserted the key Ciara had swiped earlier. It turned easily in the lock, and she was hesitant to push the door open. For six generations the women of this family suffered because of one woman's actions; she would make sure that this 'family tradition' would be discontinued. "On the count of three, get ready." She said to Mingyi. She began to count down. "One…two…" She turned the knob and swiftly kicked the door, making it swing wide open.

The thick line of coarse salt was completely undisturbed as the two stepped over into the Main Office that Edward had sealed off all these years. It was showtime.

Ciara chose to let the both of them handle the demon and whatever it was. She trusted the both of them to be able to handle whatever came their way. They had shown remarkable talent in their music and she trusted they would succeed with this supernatural issue. Besides, somebody needed to guard the rest of the theater and investigate any strange happenings in case they came around. So she chose to stay in the main theater with Candice and the rest of the workers to keep an eye on them. If they left her sight for even a moment, she would know.

The main office was incredibly clean and pretty. A brown desk rested near the windows with a sparkling yellow amulet that somebody had left a long time ago. There was a lit fireplace with a painting above showing an image of Lilith and a mysterious man half in shadows behind her, only revealing his smile. In the right corner of the room was a bookshelf with old books containing topics of singing, architecture, fairytales, and a variety of other topics. There was a blue sofa on the left side of the room that looked old but seemed to have been untouched for a very long time.

The strangest thing was a circle in the center of the room on the floor. It was a part of the floor's design apparently. The circle was in gold and had little masks carved in the wood. Each mask had two little gems in its eyes. The first mask had red eyes, the second blue, the third green, the fourth purple, the fifth orange, and the sixth had one eye missing. The other eye that remained was a yellow gem. The entire circle looked like it could be moved but seemed to be locked in some strange way.

With that dynamic entrance, they were greeted by–nothing. Well nothing alive, that was for sure. The main office was well-kept, and not out of place considering how the rest of the concert hall was decorated. It was nice, fancy, even cozy. Except for the rather ominous looking painting hanging above the fireplace. Before they went too far into examining the furnishings, Lanying finished up salting the interior. Mingyi couldn't help but imagine the late Mister Edward turning in his grave upon their act of desecration, ironically with purified salt. They had to be thorough with their barrier placement lest they unleash something upon the unsuspecting patrons and employees. Ciara was powerful, but she could only handle protecting so many people at once. 

After a 'friendly' reminder from Mingyi not to touch anything, Lanying walked around the office with her hands behind her back to resist the urge to pick up the nearest thing that caught her eye. She studied the personal belongings of the first owner of the Celeste Concert Hall, eyes glossing over the spines of books. Reading aside, it was a good way to get a feel for what the late Lilith was like. "Nobody's sat on the couch since it was locked up. Nobody's used the place, but they could have just hung around without moving stuff." Then it was time to address the magic circle in the room. You couldn't miss it–unless you were blind. It stuck out like a sore thumb in an otherwise artistic and fashionable office. And boy did it look incredibly suspicious…

Mingyi was observing the painting of Lilith, noting the strange obscured figure behind her. He averted his eyes, feeling goosebumps on his skin. Something about that figure didn't sit right with him. Lanying noticed the painting too, and wondered if that person was the reason for the divorce. "There's a necklace of some sort here. Do you think it's significant?" The young man asked. The exorcist came over and then looked at the circle of bejeweled masks on the floor. "Huh. I think you're right. What's weird is it almost looks like it matches the whole theme going on. You don't just leave convenient clues lying around." Six masks, with only one that didn't have all of its eyes. The yellow amulet was similar to the gem in the incomplete face.

Pulling up her sleeves, she carefully picked up the amulet and brought it over to the circle. "I bet this goes here. And I bet two plates of pork chive dumplings that we'll figure out where the secret underground room is very soon." She used the amulet in place of the missing eye and stepped back to see if anything would happen.