The Shadows: Part Six

I smiled wistfully. “You just remind me of a friend I lost.”

     *

“Water from the Haunted Woods, check,” Ari reported happily as she stuck a veil full of grey water into a little sack we had acquired from somewhere. “Now we only need two more things. This isn’t so bad.”

      I smiled at her optimism but didn’t reply. I was starting to see the shadows in the corner of my eyes again. How much time did I have until everyone around me got all memory of me erased from their minds? I didn’t wish to think about it as I looked at the scroll.

      “Right,” I said, trying to sound equally as positive, “we only have to get a white pebble from the Symol’s hole and a shell from the coast of Neopia. That sounds easy enough.”

      Ari giggled and nodded. “Well, let’s go along the coast towards Meridell and kill two Pteris with one stone.”

      If only I could have warned her about what was going to happen. I don’t think she saw the world quite the same after that. Her life was changed in a way that was for the worse as it often is after seeing the shadows at work. Neopia just isn’t quiet the same place after that.

      I can even feel the regret eating at me now, far away from the place if not in time as well. As I sit, huddled at the bottom of some ship somewhere I can’t help but think about what happened at the coast.

      Ari laughed with delight as she jumped along the waves, feeling the foam tickle the pads of her feet. I laughed at how silly she was being and it was a real life. For a moment, everything about the shadows washed away and I was Cabe the care-free Scorchio again. I chased after her, dancing in the waves as the ocean spray drenched our fur.

      But as it often goes, all good things must come to an end. All too soon, Ari’s giggles turned into shrieks as she stared down into the water. Something black was wrapping around her feet and up her legs. She frantically tried to back out of the water but the black just held her tighter. Black strings whipped around her torso, pulling her further into the water.

      Ari’s screams echoed in my ears as I stared blankly at her. No. The shadows couldn’t do this; they couldn’t touch her. It was only supposed to be me. Yet there she was, sinking further into the ocean, shrieking from fright.

      I raced as quickly as I could towards Ari, fear once again rising in my chest. “Leave her alone!” I cried the shadows, growling at them as they took her deeper into the water. Now all I could see was her head as she attempted to keep her mouth above water. “Stop it!”

      The shadows seemed to chuckle as more appeared around me. I knew what they wanted and they knew what I wanted. She stopped sinking under the water as the shadows touched my shoulder.

      Give it to usss.

      I hesitated. All of Neopia would be at stake if I gave them this key, everyone would be tormented. The shadows saw my hesitation and plunged Ari completely under water. I cried out and took a step forward but the shadows moved in my way.

      Give it to us or she dies beneath the waves.

      “You’re just shadows,” I growled at them as if they didn’t already know it. “You don’t have bodies so you can’t hurt me, or Ari.” I closed my eyes and pushed through them, racing towards where I thought Ari was. I felt around in the cold water and touched her shoulder. Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her out with my eyes still closed and a great deal of effort.

      Ari gasped for air as her mouth hit the surface of the water. She coughed and sputtered while crying at the same time. Her body shook as she sobbed, tears mixing with the water that streamed down her face.

      I let Ari go on dry land and took a few steps back, staring at the ground. “I’m sorry,” I murmured, “I’m so sorry.”

      I listened to her cry in reply.

     *

     “Got it,” I said, attempting a smile as I pulled another stone out of the Symol hole. I unrolled my fingers and exposed the pebble; white, perfect. “This is the last thing on the list.” I sat up and stuffed the stone into the sack that all of the other items were in.

      Ari nodded, not smiling. She hadn’t smiled since the beach incident and it made me even more depressed. For all these shadows had done, they had never harmed anyone else. I was the only one that had been affected. This was too much; the shadows had gone too far.

      “Let’s go to the Haunted Woods and go talk to Sophie,” I offered, throwing the sack over one shoulder. Ari just nodded, still not smiling.

      The whole trip to the Haunted Woods was in silence.

     *

     “Sophie!” I called, knocking gently on the door. “I’m back and I’ve got the ingredients.”

      Sophie’s head peaked out from behind a pile of books. She smiled slightly, picking up the book that she had been reading and walking toward the front door. “Great,” she said, waving the book she held in the air. “I just found what you probably meant. I know how to make the potion you wanted. Where are the items?”

      I shook the sack that held them all, also smiling. “That’s awesome, how long will it take?”

      Sophie shrugged, taking the bag from me and walking over to a large pot. “Probably a couple of hours; these things are delicate. Why, do you have an engagement of some sort?”

      I looked around the room but saw no shadows. I let loose a sigh of relief, “I guess not.” I pulled up a chair and sat down in the middle of the mess.

      “Just find something to do while you wait for the potion,” Sophie said, motioning to the mess before turning around and starting on the potion.

      I turned and whispered to Ari, “And so the wait begins.” I chuckled to myself as I pulled a book from the mess and began to read the words inside.

      Ari just sat there, staring ahead blankly. I saw her body tremble and couldn’t help but feel sorry for her as I read about the lost spells of Neopia.

     *

     I was nodding off to sleep, halfway in the dream world and halfway in reality when Sophie made an exclamation. “It’s finished!” she sang out joyfully, dipping a jar into the purple goop.

      I jumped up, startled at the sudden break in the silence. I gave her a smile and stretched my limbs in order to waken myself more fully. “That’s great! We should probably take it to Fyora then, right?”

      Sophie shook the jar gently, sticking a cork onto the top. “Sounds good to me.” She handed the jar to me and then wiped her paws on her skirt cloth. “It should do the trick. Good luck.”

      I stuck the jar in the sack we had been carrying around and rolled it up tightly before tying the bundle to my waist. I turned to find Ari asleep in a ball on the floor, looking as peaceful as ever.

      I felt bad for having to wake her up, having already ruined her life with the shadows. She actually looked happy, smiling as if her dreams were something that actually helped her escape this world. Something I hadn’t been able to do since the key incident.

     I turned to Sophie and hesitated, biting my lip. “Sophie, can I ask you one last favor?”

      I walked out of that swamp by myself with the key dangling from my neck and the jar attached to my waist. It was a long walk towards the transportation to Faerie Land. It was long and lonely, as much of my life had been. Once again, I was alone with only glimpses of the shadows in the corner of my eyes. It didn’t matter if I was morphed again; no one needed to remember me. In fact, I found myself wishing that I would be restarted again, just for Ari’s sake.

      Still, I was constantly checking around me for the shadows, the shadows that I now can feel running their fingers down my back and along my neck. Can I never escape them? At least Ari was safe, back in Sophie’s Shack floating through her dreams.

      That only makes me wish I could dream again. I guess I’ve forgotten how. All I do is have nightmares about the shadows.

     They have consumed my life and left me as an empty shell.

To be continued...