"ACE!" she yelled as she ran up next to him. He sat up.
"What happened?" he said as he looked around confused. He looked at the others
laying on the floor and yelled. "What happened to them?!?"
Before she could answer, they heard Misty mutter something. She then sat up
quickly, looking from side to side quickly, as if she were lost. She then turned
to Ace and Midnight, and smiled, which quickly turned to a cough.
"MISTY! You're alive!!!" yelled Midnight.
"Of course! Hehe," she replied.
"Why are you laughing at a time like this? I thought you were gone forever!"
"Oh, nothing."
Then Jen and Shane both coughed at the same time, and slowly sat up.
"I can't believe it, you're all okay!" Midnight jumped up with excitement.
"I thought I would never see you again!!!"
"What all happened, Midnight?" Shane asked slowly.
"That is not important now. We have to get out of here as soon as possible!"
Ace looked at Midnight strangely. "Why? What happened here?" he asked.
"I'll tell you as soon as we get out of here," she answered. "Get up, everyone!
Hurry up!"
Everyone stood up, but stumbled as they did, as if they were still half asleep.
Midnight pointed the tip of the Sword down the hall.
"C'mon! I'll lead again. Keep close behind me! You guys are gonna have to
move quickly, even if you are still half asleep! We gotta hurry!"
Midnight jumped in front of the others. They looked at each other in turn
with a questionable face, as if they were all asking the same question without
words. They then looked ahead of them, and saw that Midnight was already walking
ahead of them at a quick pace. The Sword in her hand now lit up very brightly,
and gave off much more light than Misty's necklace did. She held it proudly
at her side. Shane saw a whole new Neopet. She didn't look like Midnight, she
looked like someone strong and brave, like one of the Kougra twins. They all
ran after her. Misty's necklace then stopped glowing.
As they walked down the long dark hall, the Neopets could not hear the fall
of their footsteps. They could hardly even feel the floor under them. It was
almost as if they walked on air. After about ten minutes, Shane spoke.
"I am about half starved," he said. "When will we finally be able to sit and
eat what the Lupes gave us?!? I won't be able to walk without food and rest!!"
"You all had plenty of rest!" Midnight exclaimed without turning around to
see Shane's face.
"How long, though?" questioned Ace quietly, almost to himself.
Midnight was silent for a second. "I have no idea," she said at last. "I don't
know if it was an hour, 2 hours, or 3 days, for that matter."
"That's how I feel, too," said Jen. "I don't know how long I was there on
the floor..."
"Same here," Misty said.
"And me, too," Shane said. Ace said nothing.
"Were you asleep too, if sleep is what it was, Midnight?" Jen asked.
"No. At least, I don't think so," Midnight said quietly. "I'd rather not talk
about it now, nor think about it now, for that matter.. thinking about what
happened back there sends chills down my spine."
"Fine, keep to yourself for now," Ace said. "But Shane is right! I feel like
I haven't eaten or slept for days! Let's sit down and eat!"
Midnight stopped. "Well, okay," she said. "I, too, feel like I haven't eaten
or slept for days. Shane, lemme see the bag of food the Lupes gave you.."
Shane walked up to Midnight and handed her the small brown bag. When she opened
it she saw a vine of grapes, 4 bottles of water, 4 red apples, and some ham.
Everyone sat down in a circle. Everyone took a sip of water from one of the
bottles, and ate one apple. But since Ace was left without an apple, he had
some grapes instead. After they had eaten, they felt strangely tired, and they
could hardly keep their eyes open. Jen yawned.
"We gotta get some sleep!" she said. "I can't take it anymore, I'm so tired!"
"I guess we shouldn't sleep without someone on watch," Midnight said half
yawning.
"Do you guys think it's morning, or night?" Ace asked.
"That's hard to say.." Midnight answered.
"Yeah, it always seems like night in this place!" Shane said.
"You guys wanna hear some ghost stories?" Misty asked. She seemed like the
only one who wasn't tired.
"Well.." Jen said slowly.
"Sure!" Ace said. "That'd be cool! But make sure they're good ones!"
"I know the best!" said Misty with excitement. "I've won contests for my great
stories that I make up on my own!"
With that, Misty began a story about a Shoyru named Mary, and a Krawk named
Sam. The story was about these demons who were attacking people who walked in
their graveyard. Her description of them was this: skeletons without legs that
floated through the air. On their bones hung rotted pieces of meat that probably
belonged to the person before they'd passed on. It was very hard to see their
faces, because they were covered with dark green light, as was the rest of their
bodies. But the one plain thing to see was their long sharp fangs that went
down below their chins. They hissed as they flew through the air at super high
speed. Misty was nearing the end of her story after about 20 minutes.
"Mary hesitated to go with Sam into the graveyard. He grabbed her by the wrist
and tried to pull her towards the graveyard that literally never saw daylight.
'We have no choice, Mary!' he exclaimed. 'We can get rid of them! We are the
only ones in the world!'
Mary shook her head, and answered, 'That's what they all said before they met
their doom!' her voice quivered as she spoke. 'I thought I could handle this,
but I can't! When I think of the encounter we had with them yesterday, my mind
turns cold and dark.. But, I will go.'
'Great! Now come on. You know we have power over them. Let's go.'
They both walked slowly down the large grassy hill. At the bottom they could
see the dark green grass turn completely black. And they also could see hundreds
of gravestones sticking out of the ground like teeth, sort of. Once they put
foot on the black grass, their hearts pounded. It felt as if fear had hit their
heart with more power and speed than lightning. They immediately turned around
without saying a word to bolt away, but something grabbed both of their shoulders.
When they felt that, they were literally shocked with lightning from the large,
thin fingers that gripped them, only it felt more powerful. Both of them screamed,
and fell to the ground."
Misty glanced over at Jen and saw that she was trying to sleep. Misty grinned,
and continued.
"Mary opened her eyes. She saw complete darkness above her. She finally realized
that it was the sky, because she saw lightning flash from it. The clouds were
whirling in circles. She looked to her side and saw she was between two grave
stones with no words on them. She sat up, but when she did, she felt a hand
grab her shoulder again. As it gripped her, she felt them digging into her skin.
She yelled, and heard her voice echoe in the graveyard. She then heard lots
of similar yells echoe in the graveyard, but they were not hers, and not Sam's.
She shook hard with fright. It let go of her shoulder, and as soon as it did,
she jumped up and turned around. There she saw first a dark green light that
shook her heart with horror. Then the light lessened, and she saw dark flesh
over its skull. She saw no eyes or mouth, although she could see green fangs
sticking out from its chin. She took a step back as she stared it it, and then
saw that it was floating in the air, and that there was flesh hanging off of
it's bones, though it was brown, green and rotted. It had no legs. She turned
to run, and saw another that looked exactly the same right in front of her.
It held a dagger with a black blade that shone with blue fire. It lifted it
in the air, and..." she paused.
"And what?" asked Ace eagerly. "What happens next? Hurry!"
"I do not know," she said. "That is all that people ever knew about poor Sam
and Mary. Some people say that when this story is told, you can hear Mary's
voice screaming from the dagger that brought her demise, the part that was never
told in the story."
"Where do you ever get these stories?" Shane asked. "That's one I've never
heard you tell, and I thought you've told them all to me!"
"It was a dream," she answered. "Although, I can't remember when I had the
dream.. Maybe when I was knocked out on the floor back there."
"I doubt that," Ace said. "I didn't dream about anything!"
"Well, Misty was the only one with a pulse..." Midnight said slowly.
Just then, a loud, piercing scream filled the entire hall. The Neopets held
their ears and closed their eyes, but that did not help at all. Midnight tried
to yell something, but even she could not hear it over the scream. It finally
stopped, and there was perfect silence again. The only sound was the gentle
hum of the sword as it glowed to light the area. Everyone lifted their heads
and looked at Misty with astonishment. Jen shook crazily as she sat up.
"Misty, you have scared me before with your screams and yells after stories,
but if this was you, I swear you are possessed!" yelled Jen.
"It wasn't me!!" Misty exclaimed. "Honest! I'm not THAT good!!!"
There was a short silence. Their heads all faced the ground, as if they were
all lost in thought. Shane finally spoke.
"Does this mean... that was really Mary's voice after she was killed? That
its a true story?"
"I- I don't know..." Misty said slowly.
"Well, this is the first time one of Misty's stories has scared herself..."
Midnight said. "I don't like this, but let's get some sleep... Misty said that
you can only hear the scream, right? She didn't say anything about a demon like
that coming to get us..."
"Gee, thanks for making us feel better," Jen said.
"Well, I made the part about hearing her scream up..." Misty said. "The dream
ended when I saw the demon lift the dagger. Only, only..."
"Only what?" Jen asked. She didn't like the last part of what Misty said.
"Well," she began, "no, I can't say it here."
"Let's try and forget all this," Ace said. "Let's do as Midnight said, and
try to get some sleep!" With that he curled up against the wall on the floor.
The others did the same, and slowly fell asleep. That night all were troubled
with terrible dreams.
Misty suddenly woke up. She looked around her quickly from side to side. She
then put her head on the floor again, but could not sleep. She had too much
on her mind. Too much curiosity. She then heard a voice chanting something:
It was Ace's voice. She listened closely, and these were the words she heard:
The sharp may be strong, and carry great power,
but once you at last get down to the very last hour
the strong will bring healing, not blood or death;
for causing that will bring you your very last breath.
Use the help from the Great Golden Tree
to help the strong heal all that may be.
But you will not see it, and you will know grief,
and that's when you'll need the single Gold Leaf.
Once you have both Strong Death and Life,
bring them together, and fear no knife;
for the knife will turn when it touches your skin,
and so it will be for all your kin.
Saying poems in his sleep... she thought. I wonder if he does that
often? But then something else crossed her mind. Use the help from the
Great Golden Tree... the single Gold Leaf... ah, nevermind. she then tried
to fall back asleep, but she heard another noise. It was a hum, but not the
hum of the sword. And it was further away down the hall. She finally stood up.
No need to bother the others... she thought. I'll go and see for myself
what this is... I know I shouldn't go alone, but if I woke one of them up, they'd
make me stay here, and they would just wait for the hum to go away to be safe.
I'm far too curious to just forget about it like they can!
She started walking down the hall. Before long, she came to a sharp turn in
the hall. She saw something new once she came past the corner. To her fear and
astonishment, she saw a graveyard. It was a big square room with no grass, sky,
trees or anything else that is usually in a graveyard. She saw six graves laying
on the black floor, the exact same floor as on the walls and floor of the hall.
There was a grey haze laying all around the graves. Misty jumped backwards and
landed on her back.
"N-n-n-NO!!!" she yelled very loudly. She turned around to run away at top
speed, but she felt something grab her shoulder. She tried to yell for help,
but she found as she moved her lips, no words came out. All became black, and
she saw no more.
Jen woke from a nightmare and gasped. She sat up quickly as she gasped for
air. She stared blankly in front of her, and then let out a sigh. "Only a dream..."
she said to herself. Then, as she tried to lay back down, she realized that
Misty was missing. "Oh no, this isn't happening..." she gulped and got ready
to wake up the others. But something was keeping her from doing it, even though
she knew that she needed to wake them. "I'll... I'll just go see for myself...
She can't be... that far." she got up and ran down the hall.
Ace woke up after Jen was out of sight. He immediately sat up and looked over
to where Jen and Misty were laying, and saw that they were not there. He yelled.
"WAKE UP!!" he exclaimed, waking up Midnight and Shane. They sat up and glared
at Ace. "Look! Misty and Jen are gone!!!"
"I don't see why you need to get that excited..." Shane said as he rubbed
his eye. "Misty wanders off at night often, and Jen usually goes to find her.
Trust me, you don't need to worry." With that, Shane curled back up on the floor.
"You don't understand!!!" Ace said as he held his arms in the air. "I know
that they are not okay. We've gotta go find them!"
"I agree," Midnight said. "We should go and find them! You can never be sure
of anything in this place.."
"Ssh, listen..." Ace said in a whisper. There was some kind of music coming
from deep inside the hall. Vooom-vom, vooom-vom, it went. The smell of something
burning came to all of the Neopets. They all shuttered. Shane stood up.
"Don't worry, Misty and Jen... we're coming!" Midnight said. They all dashed
off at top speed down the long dark hall. The sword in Midnight's hand glowed
brighter than ever. Shane ran ahead of the other two with the sword the Lupes
gave him straight out in front. Midnight took the chain out of her bag and wrapped
it around her shoulder with the Sword in the other hand. They heard a scream,
but it wasn't nearly as long and loud as the one they'd heard earlier. They
tried to ignore it, and continued running.
To be continued... |