Just Say the Word: Part Three

"Well, 'ere we are…" the Krawk said to himself.

      The S.S. Verdana came to an abrupt stop as it crashed onto the muddy ground of the odd looking land they had reached.

      "Oh dear… there appears to be no dock…" said the Krawk.

      Nate kicked the door of the ship open and exited. He hopped out the door, but only to find himself on very muddy land. Nate examined his surroundings.

      A rather huge forest of dead, leafless, blue trees lay before him. The moon was hard to see, as there were many branches covering it. Twigs snap, dead leaves rustled, and the wind howled. Nate could have sword he saw faint images of a Red Poogle and a Meepit somewhere off in the distance.

      "The Haunted Woods." Nate simply said.

      The Pirate Krawk hopped off the ship. "Hey, Bruce, does ye know where we be?"

      "Er… the Haunted Woods." Nate replied, not turning to face the Krawk.

      "…What are we doing here?" The Krawk was confused.

      Nate rolled his eyes. "Wait a second…" he started.

      He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper he had found within Techo Mountain.

      "Evil Death… Eliv Thade!" Nate finally exclaimed. "It's all coming together! 'Twelve Black StoneHead' and 'Evil Death'… anagrams! That's it!"

      Suddenly, the faint image of a blue Acara appeared out of the corner of Nate's eye. "Follow me!" the Acara yelled, playfully.

      She darted into the frightening forest, and Nate simply stood there. He blinked twice, and then began to walk slowly into the dark and gloomy forest. The ground was scattered with appalling mounds of dead leaves, branches, and fallen trees. Yet, there seemed to be a pathway… cleared by someone.

      "This way!" the blue Acara yelled, motioning for Nate to follow her. She skipped down the pathway, giggling insanely. Nate followed. This continued for about 15 minutes.

      "Little girl? Why did you stop?" Nate said, making his way to the blue Acara, who had stopped when she reached a very tall tree with a swing hanging from one of its branches.

      "I'm… I'm home," the Acara replied.

      Nate eyed the Acara in confusion, and then spotted something not too far away from where he was: a house.

      "Let's go!" the Acara shouted with much glee.

      She ran up to the front door of the old, creaky home.

      "It's locked!" she cried. "Quick! Use the key!"

      Nate reached into his pocket and pulled out the rusty key. He jammed it into the keyhole, and unlocked the door. The Acara slowly opened the door, and stepped inside the house.

      Nate walked inside, as well. It was very dark, and devastatingly cold. Cobwebs adorned the walls and ceiling of the house. All together, the house was downright creepy.

      "The basement!" the Acara clapped. She swung the basement door open and traveled inside. Nate gulped.

      He walked slowly towards the basement door, and took a peek inside the basement. It was pitch black; he saw nothing. Nate tiptoed down the creaky staircase, and reached the basement soon afterwards.

      "Acara?" he whispered, "Where are you?"

      Nate looked around the basement, and then turned to face the left wall. A single torch was attached to the left stonewall. And directly in front of the wall… was a coffin.

      "Help…" came the voice of the Acara. It appeared to come from within the coffin.

      Nate approached the coffin and placed his hand on the top. "Acara? You in there?"

      "Help…" the Acara repeated.

      Nate stepped back a little, and then leaned forward and began to push the lid off the coffin. The stone lid moved inch by inch. Soon enough, the lid toppled off of the rest of the coffin and slammed against the floor. Nate gulped, and hesitatingly looked inside the coffin.

      "Oh… my… gosh…" Nate stammered, wide-eyed.

      Inside the coffin was none other than Eliv Thade himself. Nate stared at Thade in awe. Suddenly, Thade's hand began to twitch. It grasped the side of the coffin, and slowly… oh so slowly… began to lift the body of Eliv Thade out of the coffin.

      Nate began to step back in horror. He turned to run, but bumped into the Acara.

      "Don't leave…" she whispered.

      Nate turned around, and caught sight of Eliv Thade sitting up straight in the coffin. He slowly turned his head towards Nate, his bones cracking. Suddenly, Thade's eyes burst open, revealing an ominous, red glow. Thade smiled, and Nate gasped uncontrollably, trying to escape the basement.

      "AAAAAAAH!!!!" Nate screamed in fright.

      "Oh, would you shut UP?!" Eliv Thade said, arching an eyebrow.

      Nate stopped struggling. "Wha?"

      Thade hopped out of the coffin with no problem at all and made his way towards the Blue Acara.

      "Thank you, Tarissa," Thade said, giving the blue Acara, named Tarissa, a big hug.

      "You're very much welcome, Eliv!" Tarissa replied, happily.

      "Whoa… wait a second… what the heck is going on?" Nate's eyes darted from Tarissa to Eliv, Eliv to Tarissa.

      "Okay, listen up, Bruce, because I'm only going to explain this once," Eliv Thade said to Nate, his arms akimbo, "Tarissa and I are… well… we're dead. We're ghosts. We both lived in this house at the same time. Well, we got old, and passed on. Tarissa was free to leave this house as a ghost. I, however, was cursed to remain in this wretched, old house. Don't ask why, because I don't know why. Anyway, Tarissa told me that the front door had been eternally locked by a curse. The only key in existence was held within Techo Mountain. The key, too, is cursed, and cannot be touched by ghosts. So, Tarissa could not bring it to me. That's where you came in. Tarissa played the role of a creepy schoolgirl and led you to the key, and then to my house. You unlocked the door, and then you came down into the basement and screamed in my face. Now, I thank you, whatever the heck your name is, but I must be going… so… bye!"

      And at that, Eliv Thade and Tarissa disappeared in a puff of smoke.

     ***

      Nate returned to edge of the Haunted Woods, where the ocean was visible. The Pirate Krawk and the passengers of the SS Verdana were all inspecting the ship. Nate ran up to them.

      "Hey, what's going on?" Nate asked the Krawk.

      "The ship!" the Krawk replied. "She's stuck in the mud! We can't get her out! And we need to get out of this place! It's really creepy! Even for me, a pirate!"

      Nate then felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find himself face to face with Eliv Thade yet again.

      "Eh, you freed my soul, so, I thought I'd help you out… ONCE," he said to Nate.

      Thade quickly made his way through the worried crowd, causing many to faint via fright. Thade placed his hand on the side of the ship. Soon, an eerie, green fog engulfed the ship.

      "Everybody! Board the ship!" Thade commanded.

      The passengers, the captain, and Nate did as they were told to do. However, nobody went to his or her room. They all gathered at the front of the ship, where a view of the sea was possible. Thade stood before all of them, focusing on the sea, the good ol' sea.

      "Next stop: Neopia Central!" Thade cackled.

      The ship made a sudden jolt, causing everyone but Thade to stagger a bit. Then, the SS Verdana zipped out of the area, moving as fast as lightning itself. The passengers grabbed hold of whatever they could to prevent themselves from toppling off the side of the ship. Thade laughed insanely as Neopia Central approached.

     ***

      "It's Nate!"

      "Nate's back!"

      "Wow!"

      "Wonder where he's been?"

      Nate slowly moved his way through the crowd of annoying Neopets. All he wanted to do was get home. His day had been quite rough, as you could tell. Thankfully, he made his way through the crowd, and bolted back home.

      It was quiet there. Everything seemed so normal… as if nothing of importance had happened that day. As Nate dragged his feet to his warm and comfy bed, he couldn't help but think that he was forgetting something.

     ***

      In the heart of Mystery Island, a passing fire faerie spotted a suitcase lying on the dry ground in front of Techo Mountain. The Faerie postponed her flight and landed gracefully on ground by the suitcase.

      "Now, what's all this, then?" she said to herself.

      She kicked the suitcase open with her foot to find a collection of clothing within.

      "Wow! Now this shirt is impressive!"

      The Faerie reached down to pick up the expensive-looking, blue, silky shirt that belonged to none other than Nate. As the Faerie grabbed the shirt, the whole entire suitcase burst into flames.

      "Eep!"

      The faerie's eyes darted from side to side. She then took off into the night sky of Mystery Island, not even bothering to look back.

The End