Tattooed Away

Chapter 6

I don't know what to do. I feel tears well up as waves of emotion take over. I am in the strangest land, I don't understand the rules, I lost my tour guide and I have bunny ears. Aika is going to be so angry. I just want to go back to Pete.

Head hanging low, weighed down by massive black, fuzzy ears, I drag myself back in the direction of my building. Hoping this is all a dream and I can just curl up in Pete's lap and forget it all.

As I walk along the crowded street I can't help being clumsy with my ears and hitting the creatures around me. They are all so different that I have stopped being shocked by each individual one. Just a blur of fur, feathers, gooey, slimey, tiny, and tall.

"Ow what the fuck!" Comes from behind me and I mumble an apology towards the strong, angry British accent and then feel a sharp tug on my arm. "What are'you doin out heah like this girl?" I look up into the concerned face of Amy Winehouse. Okay, almost the face of Amy Winehouse...she did have a fine layer of black feathers marking her face and large black wings tucked behind her shoulders.

"Amy! How- What- Oh my God you're alive!"

"No, no, sister, very much dead. But the Spirit World is where I hang out, I've made some friends and I like it heah. Are you lost? Looks like you decided to get a little souvenir eh?" She eyed the space above my head suspiciously.

I nod my head and try to look as helpless as possible, I need her to take me under her wing, and I don't feel like explaining my new ears.

"Alright, well let's go then. I will take you to where the other humans play. What's your name ay?"

"Ariana Grande." I wonder if the Spirit World's heard of me.

"Well, no fuckin' way!! A little modern superstar. Now you are really coming with me, my place is perfect for you."

Her grip is strong and her wings are so wide that they lift us both with ease. Flying fast we go up and over the tops of the buildings. Out of the shadows I see the arching landscape of the city. Everything is tinted an airy green with the discolored sun and the roofs are covered in scaly beings soaking in its strange light. A large shadow passes over us and I look up to the underbelly of a giant flying pig, hanging from the hair on its belly are hundreds of flipping and twirling monkeys. I can't help but gasp at the strangeness of it all.

Amy looked at me with a smirk and said, "Yeah they are cute but stay far away, those pig monkeys are more evil than their friends from the Wizard of Oz, bloody thiefs."

We dip down towards the steeples of a large church.

"Alright we made it, come meet my friends." Amy said when we reached the ground, barely giving me a moment to look around before guiding me inside. I hoped to see Aika somewhere on the street, but this was the most deserted spot in the Spirit World that I had been to yet, not a soul in sight.