The Auburn Fox and the Rainbow Islands

Chapter 9: The In Darkness Shrouded Town

The Sorceress threw a kiss at Nova."Thanks, sweetie! Good luck with the curse."

An ember light blinded Nova.

***

As their vision returned, they found themselves shrouded in darkness.

A soft murmur of water made Nova squint their eyes.

Charcoal trees and eerie houses stood somber on the gray pavement encircling a by moss tainted fountain.

Fog as far as reached the eye and strung as cobwebs turned the town into another moist prison.

Nova walked aimlessly around the deserted town. They knocked on some doors, but every one of them was bolted from the inside.

"What is this place?"

Nova strayed away from the fountain. The houses became scarce, the fog more dense. None of the doors would open and all the windows were nailed shut.

As Nova passed the last house, they bumped against something hidden in the fog.

They stretched out their hand. Their fingers lingered and their breath hitched.

As their fingers slowly explored the air, a membrane stopped them in their tracks.

"What is this?"

They pushed forwards, but the membrane bounced their fingers back.

Nova stepped back. They stared straight into the fog. They sighed.

Nova charged forwards. They hit the membrane and were catapulted into town.

Nova stood up. They dusted their clothes off, grabbed a stick and pointed it into the direction of the membrane. "You just wait. I'll get you."

They flounced across town.

As they passed the last house, the door creaked open and a strong arm pulled them in the house.

A sturdy hand covered their mouth as the other quickly shut the door.

A soft voice sushed Nova as the hand let them go.

Nova turned around and gazed at their kidnapper.

Loose ebony hair framed a face that once must have had soft features, but had relentlessly been hardened through time.

Her clothes witnessed of better days long gone and only a polished coin with cut out square dangling from her necklace reminisced of her golden years.

She held her sturdy fingers against chopped lips. The look in her eyes said: "Be quiet or I'll kick you out."

She pointed at the crack between the wooden panels.

The moonlight turned an eerie green as whispers covered the town.

Liar, liar, pants on fire, liar, liar. Thief.
Stole my heart. Stole my life.
Grabbed my neck. Used a knife.

The streets filled with ghostly figures, mere shadows of who they used to be: their eyes hollow, their heart missing, their lips spoke of sorrow, forever lost in limbo. 

Liar, liar, pants on fire, liar, liar. 

Nova flinched. They lost balance, grasped in the air, fell on the ground and took the nearby table down with them.

The ghostly figures turned their head to the house at the end of the village.

Sorrow turned into anger.

Thief!

The ghostly figures bashed on the windows and broke down the door.

The woman grabbed Nova's stick and attacked the intruders. They turned against her, but unlike the woman, they couldn't touch her.

In the fight her necklace broke. The coin flew in the air and they got ahold of her.

They dragged her by her hair out of the house.

Nova screeched and ran after them.

The ghostly figures and the woman dissappeared into the woods and Nova got flung back into town.

***

The moon shone pale on the in fog captured town.

Nova clenched their fists and hit the ground. Dust flew up. Nova wheezed.

They hung their head over the side of the fountain and stared at their reflection in the water.

"Good luck with the curse." The Sorceress' words echoed through their mind.

Curse? Curse, curse...

The barrier!

Nova rushed to the house at the end of town. They grabbed the coin and searched some paper and something to write.

They grabbed their stick and marked the ground an arm's length away to the membrane and started walking.

Touching the membrane, they counted their steps.

When they arrived at start, they jotted down the distance they had walked.

Now, if I remember correctly I should divide this by...

Nova's eyes twinkled. More or less 200 steps!

They stood on the mark, made sure their back was parallel to the membrane and started counting.

195.. 196....

They stood in front of the fountain.

Four more steps, so that means...

Nova climbed in the fountain and headed to the statue.

The temperature dropped below zero as the moon turned an eerie green.

The ghostly figures surrounded the fountain. The woman who had been dragged to the woods stood before Nova. Her loose ebony hair framed hollow eyes and an empty heart.

She stared Nova down and raised her arm in sync with the others. They pointed their finger at Nova and a thousand tongues spoke: "What do you think you're doing?"

Unfazed, Nova examined the statue.
"Your body is in here, right?"

"Stop at once."

"I take that as a yes." Nova grinned while poking the statue.

"Stop it!"

"Nah, I won't and do you know why? I just escaped jail and here you are imprisoning me again.

I don't like being stuck. In fact, I hate it.

So I'm going to break your curse and bail me out."

Click. The statue opened revealing the boney remnants of Nova's captator.

"So be a good ghost and leave me alone."

"No!"

Nova placed the coin on the bones.

Blue drops of light leaked from the square hole in the coin as lightning roared in the sky.

Tài shàng zhòu yuē tiān yuán dì fāng, liù lǜ jiǔ, zhāng, fú shén dào chù wàn guǐ, miè wáng jí rú lǜ lìng

One by one the ghostly figures were struck and turned to dust. As the woman who saved Nova vanished, she mouthed thank you.

The eerie green turned ember and the veil of fog got lifted off the town.

Nova closed the statue and climbed out of the fountain as the first beams of sunlight made their way to town.

"Good job."