The Magical Music Box [Short Story]

Three

"Chief! They're here," the man announced.

"Oh, thank God! I thought you two were gone" the chief said in relief.

"Chief Emmanuel, we present to you Maxine, the wearer of the sapphire necklace" Nico said proudly.

"How did you know my name?" I whispered to Nico as I realized their very small detail, "as far as I remember I haven't told you".

"We can read people," Nico whispered back.

The chief's face brightened and a wide smile curled on his lips.

"This calls for a celebration" Chief Emmanuel said, "Gaston, inform everybody and let them prepare for a celebration tonight" he added.

The man who was with us nodded and left.

"You are a blessing of heaven, Maxine," Chief Emmanuel said, his eyes twinkling.

"Eh? Me?" I pointed to myself confusingly.

Chief Emmanuel told me the detailed story. From the very start of their history until the current generation arrived. My jaw just dropped open as I listened. It's like I'm inside a fantasy book.

As the night came fast, the whole village celebrated. Nico and Nova introduced me to a lot of hunters and pixies. The food was mouth watering and we danced, we sang and we played games I never knew before. It's like a Christmas party except I had the spotlight.

I laid comfortably in my temporary bed in my temporary room in the house of the chief. My tiredness began to swallow me and I started to fall asleep when Nova and Nico suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Maxine, we have to go," Nova exclaimed in panic.

"What? Why?" I asked, springing up awake.

"Chief Emmanuel had been captured, they found us," Nico explained.

"What!? How?" I asked again as I stood up and put on my shoes.

"I don't know, we're going to the second hideout," Nova said.

"But how about the others?" I asked.

"They know where to go," Nova said.

They grabbed my arm and at the exact moment everything went black. Seconds later, we appeared on a rocky mountain. The sky was still and cloudless but no stars were seen.

"Come on" Nico said and he started to head to a dark big cave.

"Even the stars hide because of fright," Nova sighed, removing her gaze from the sky and turning back to Nico.

We followed Nico into the dark cave.

"Nico, wait up," Nova shouted as she couldn't see anything from the darkness.

"I'm here" Nico said in a spooky voice.

"All right, stop it. Let's light the way" Nova complained.

I also couldn't see anything. I just heard soft footsteps from Nico and Nova.

"In the count of five" Nico said in the darkness.

"Okay" Nova agreed.

"One, in the count of five", they said together.

Both of them glowed like neon lights. Nico was yellow-green and Nova was orange.

"Wow, you guys are glowing" I said in amazement.

"We're Neons," they laughed.

"Like literally, our last name is Neon", Nico added.

We then continued walking through the dark cave. After a little bit of a long walk we arrived in a torch lit space. Hunters and pixies were there too, some of them were bruised and injured. Luckily, there are hunters who still have healing powers so they started healing each wounded one by one.

"How many we lost?" Nico asked as his glow faded.

"Almost half of our number," Gaston said.

"The Chief is gone, what are we going to do now?" a woman asked.

"I think we better surrender," an injured man said, looking like he lost hope.

Almost all of them agreed with the man.

"No! We're not surrendering! We still have Maxine, remember?" Nico said.

"What? Me?" I asked.

All of them turned to me and they smiled, their hope started to come back.

"Me? I--I can't, " I said and ran away.

Nico and Nova followed me.

"Maxine, where are you going?" Nova shouted.

"I'm going home," I answered.

"But how about us? We need you" Nico said.

"I can't help, " I said.

"Yes, you can!" Nova replied.

"How? I don't have magic or what, I can't defeat Helga. I can't. I'm just a normal person with a boring style", I tried to explain.

"Remember, you are the chosen one. The wearer of the sapphire necklace, it chooses you", Nova tried to motivate me.

"Maybe it chooses wrong," I said.

"You saw how their face lit up with hope when they saw you? Ever since you arrived we put our fate in you because we believe in you", she added.

"Remember what Marvin always said," Nico added.

"You've always had the power and the strength you need, all you have to do is to believe " Nico and I stated together.

I smiled hesitatingly.

Nova approached and hugged me, "everything is going to be fine. We're also here, we are not going to leave you".

"Okay, I don't know what to do, but let's do this," I said as I pulled away from Nova's embrace.