Chapter 3

One Last Scream

When the Spook and I finally caught up to Alice, we were already inside Killorglin. As usual, people avoided us and we could quickly make our way through the bustling crowds. After a few minutes of walking, my master led us into a cheap, worn-down inn called The Dancing Leprechaun. It was a dark place, and I was curious why he chose it. The walls had a light layer of mold and the sickening stench of rotting wood emanated from the tables.
"Why did you lead us here? This isn't the best of inns." I asked my master. Usually, we had enough money to stay at higher quality inns, and although it wasn't unusual for my master to choose a cheaper inn, this was a far cry from what we both were used to.

"Well lad, although we have some coins left over from our friends at Kenmare, but it's hardly enough to fund for our trip home. We might as well stay here a bit and see if we can earn more." I nodded, what the Spook said made sense. As much as I would like to go home, I would have to wait a bit longer. My master walked up to the innkeeper's counter.

"Hello! Welcome to the Dancing Leprechaun! Although this might not look like much, I can assure you that you will not be disappointed." The innkeeper grinned. I could see his eyes trailing down to the bag of coins in my master's hand. I groaned inwardly in my head, I could already tell that it would be an uncomfortable night. Quickly, I stole a glance at Alice and she had the same look. Again, I glanced around the room. Cobwebs lined the corners of the room while the tables were tilting dangerously from age.

"How much is one night?" The Spook calmly stared at the other man. His green eyes glinted, and I saw the other man's eyes widen with fear.

"You aren't one of them…mages….are you?" His voice trembled. I almost laughed. So many people misinterpreted the jobs of a spook.

"No, you needn't worry. I am a spook; our trade requires us to wear these cloaks."

"And what might that trade be?" My master's eyes narrowed dangerously as he replied, "We deal with the dark." I saw a hint of recognition in the innkeeper, but he stopped asking afterwards.

"Well for one night, that will be three shillings, one for each of you." He said, quickly recovering from that ordeal. My master picked out a few coins from his pouch and passed it on, "We will be staying for five nights here, but I expect money returned if we leave any earlier." The innkeeper eyes widened at the sight of money. He nodded and quickly pocketed the coins into his scruffy coat pocket. He then passed us three keys from the bottom of his desk. The spook handed each of us one, and mine had a cold, slimy touch. After my master passed each of us a loaf of bread with meat, we walked into our respective rooms. My heart lurched when I unlocked the door with my key. The room was brightly lit, but somehow managed to retain a dark and gloomy look despite everything. Mildew leaked from the sides of the windows while cockroaches scurried across the floor. There were unidentifiable liquids splashed over the floor which gave it an eerie, blood-red color. As for my bed, I could see the rotten mattresses dusty from the lack of use. Sighing, I sat down and started to eat. Recollecting the events that had passed during the month, I failed to notice an icy feeling pulse through my spine. Suddenly, I snapped out of my memories and felt the dark presence in the room. It was definitely malevolent and had evil intentions in mind. From just guessing, I could distinguish this as one of the previous jibbers that I had dealt with. In my head, I immediately heard someone faintly, but furiously muttering what seemed like gibberish. I immediately knew that this was a Jibber, something that Alice and I had dealt with before in previous inns. There was no way to subdue such spirits other than the usage of dark magic. Although my master despised using dark magic, he pretended not to notice when Alice and I dealt with a Jibber. He had no other ideas on how to defeat one yet he wouldn't take part in such a dark act, so he tended to stay away when there was a problem with a Jibber. I called out to Alice when sinister whispering started in my head. In another few minutes, I would have gone mad. Alice burst through the door and instantly started muttering in the Old Tongue. There was a horrible shriek, and the Jibber was gone, and left there was the lost spirit.

"What… what happened?" I heard a befuddled cry. The ghost sounded like a young man and seemed so confused that it reminded me of the spirits that were in Limbo. Some of them did not know that they were dead yet and still roamed Limbo confused on what had happened.
"You have died, and are now roaming through the grey mists of Limbo," I replied. "You must go to the light, after you died, your spirit was wrongly used as a dark entity that drives people mad with its speech."
"What is the light?" The ghost asked.
"Do you not see a light in the distance, a bright speck in the grey mist?" I asked.
"No, no, no! I'm so confused! What is going on?" Came his panicked reply.
"Relax, do you remember any happy memories in the past?" This was hard because the spirit was so confused that he could barely think. Few spirits that I have sent to the light have been this confused, they usually understood immediately.
"Well, I remember sitting below a tree with my lass. She was leaning down on my shoulder while we were staring peacefully at the sunset. I remember how happy and perfect the world was that day."
"Concentrate on that feeling and remember how that sunset looked. Do you see it now? Do you see the bright light of the sunset through the grey mist? Head towards it now, you have found the light!" I heard him give a shout of joy and then it was cut off as he left. Finally looking back at Alice, I gave a tired smile as she walked over and took my left hand in hers.

"Well Tom, the light sure seems to be a better place to be in than the dark." Her voice was remorseful. "I sure wish that after all of this, I could go to the light instead of returning to the dark." She gave a shudder, and I squeezed her hand to comfort her. We sat like that for a while before she left to sleep. I lie there in my bed as well, and went to sleep shortly afterwards being exhausted by the day's events.