The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #2
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Contents
Act Two - Lux Aeterna — Chapter 23
Overview
David travels to Sarriá and locates the hidden Casa Marlasca. He meets the reclusive widow, Alicia, who warns the Flassaders house is cursed. Admitting he lives there, David asks about Diego Marlasca’s fate, believing it mirrors his own. Alicia, living in decay and isolation, agrees to tell her story.
Summary
On a cold autumn morning, David rides a tram toward Sarriá and dozes into an unsettling dream of a deserted Barcelona and a smiling, gloved figure urging him to have faith. He wakes as the tram reaches Plaza de Sarriá and continues on foot to Carretera de Vallvidrera, searching for number 13.
After discovering a concealed lane and iron railings marked CASA MARLASCA 13, David enters the overgrown property. He surveys the decaying modernist mansion and glimpses a figure in an upstairs window. By the murky pool, he is confronted by Alicia Marlasca, who mistakes him for a clerk from Valera’s office.
David clarifies he is not from the firm and has come about the tower house on Calle Flassaders. Alicia, embittered by past losses, calls the place cursed. When David explains he rents the house and has found personal items that may belong to her late husband, she challenges his motives. He admits he wants to learn what happened to Diego Marlasca because he fears the same is happening to him.
Alicia, frail and using a wheelchair, allows David inside the dilapidated home. She recounts how the fortune vanished and only a small stipend from Valera sustains her. Settling in her late husband’s reading room, she agrees to tell David the story of the past, setting the stage for revelations about Diego and the Flassaders house.
Who Appears
- David MartínNovelist investigating his rented tower house; tracks down Casa Marlasca and seeks the truth about Diego’s fate.
- Alicia MarlascaDiego Marlasca’s widow; reclusive and impoverished, warns the Flassaders house is cursed and agrees to tell her story.