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Spirit's Eve Festival - Part 3/3

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"It's not a matter of value," said Gunther, waving his hands around irritably. "I can't keep giving away everything I take in – that's not the point of a museum!"

"I know," said Penny, as softly as she could. "But with the fire opal…"

"The fire opal was already mine!" he snapped, wrenching his head downwards and attempting to focus on the paperwork on the desk in front of him.

"I know," Penny repeated, now sliding the fire opal across the desk towards him. "Consider it a trade."

Gunther snorted. "A trade? Forget it." He pushed his semi-circular spectacles further up his nose. "Look, you'll give me the fire opal, I give you the fairy stone, and I'll never see another ounce of it."

"Not true," said Penny, attempting to show a sincere, comforting smile. "John and I will get you more, I promise."

With unexpected haste, Gunther slammed his fist on the desk. "No!" he barked. "Go. Away." He snapped his neck downwards once again to face his paperwork, bristling.

Penny took a few involuntary steps backwards. Her face was burning a bright scarlet, and she could feel her ears burning. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Normally, she would have just walked away. In fact, normally, she wouldn't be talking to Gunther at all. It was all John's fault. John had made her do this. John had gotten her in this situation. John had… No. She shook her head as if to clear her mind. John had changed her for the better, not worse. Here she was, confidently talking to Gunther as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Here she was feeling like a normal human for once. Here she was. And it felt great.

"Gunther," said Penny, stepping forward and leaning with her two hands on his desk. "Let's be serious."

Gunther, who was rather taken aback at Penny's forwardness, stared at her, bemused. Not once had she ever kept talking to him after he'd made it clear that he was busy.

"So," Penny continued, a wave of confidence enveloping her, culminating in a smile that she couldn't suppress. "Look at it, the museum, I mean really," she took a few paces back and gestured over to her right towards the museum at the far end of the building. "If John hadn't been here, it-"

"I really don't see-"

"If John hadn't been here," Penny continued, narrowing her eyes as she watched him. He remained silent. She wasn't smiling any more, even though she really wanted to. "This museum would be nothing more than empty shelves and counters – and you know it," she added, sensing Gunther's desire to interject. "Quite literally everything in the museum is here because of John. I'm taking the fairy stone back to him. And I promise you, Gunther, we will get you another slab of it."

Gunther looked as though he was filling with boiling water. His skin flushed a dark red and his face contorted slightly in uncomfortable anger. Penny brushed back a few loose strands of her clean copper hair and folded her arms, watching him.

"Fine, fine!" he barked, waving his hands in the air, whipping his neck down for the third time. "Just don't make a habit of this."

Penny beamed at him. "I promise," Penny said, excitedly. "You won't regret it!" She dashed over through the library and grabbed the fairy stone from its wooden pedestal in the museum. "Thanks, Gunther!" Penny shouted, already half-way out the door.

…

Penny found herself jogging excitedly across the bridge and towards town, clutching the fairy stone to her chest. She managed to make her way back into the town square with the caged, walking skeletons and the large festive tables of food.

"Penny," Sam called, waving his arm at her. "Come here!"

Penny halted and glanced over. "Can't right now, Sam."

Sam frowned at her, eyeing the fairy stone. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing," Penny grinned as she restarted her steady jog towards the maze. It was only about halfway through the maze – the route of which she'd done her best to memorize on the way through the first time – when she realized that she hadn't felt uneasy or uncomfortable talking to Sam, despite the face-locking she'd found him doing with Abby. She smiled to herself as she ran, brushing her flowing hair back with her free hand. She didn't need to push those unpleasant thoughts out of her head – this time they'd rushed out by themselves. All she could think of was working together with John to win the prize.

Penny found her way to the false dead-end and slowed to a gentle stroll as she moved through the fake, holographic hedge. Just as it had before, it popped and fizzled around her as she slowly stepped through, tingling all over. Emerging on the other side, she rounded the corner and made her way to the cave entrance where John was waiting for her.

"You got it!" John grinned eagerly. "I knew you would!"

He was standing by the mouth of the tunnel, a large backpack slung across his shoulders. In his left hand he was clutching a rather large pumpkin, cradling it under his arm. Balancing on top of the pumpkin was a can of JojaCola. In his other hand he was holding up a large torch, its great luminous flame washing over him and giving him a warm, gentle glow.

"And you got everything else!" said Penny, drawing closer to John and taking the JojaCola can before it fell off. "Where did you get a lit torch?"

"Believe it or not," said John, with a light chuckle. "I made it."

"Of course you did," Penny beamed, shaking her head with a warm smile. "I expect nothing less from you."

John returned her smile in earnest. He turned around and began stepping softly into the darkness. "Well it's a lot easier to see in here with this thing," he said, laughing and waving the torch around. "Got some strange looks on my way here."

"I bet you did," said Penny, following along closely behind him. Bathed in the torchlight, the tunnel was much less claustrophobic. It felt warmer and, in a strange sort of way, rather cozy. Well, cozy enough once she ignored the squelching of the wet clay with each step.

When they were about ten meters away from the shimmering purple door, something caught Penny's eye. In the dirt wall on her left, about knee-height, a small black box with a silver lock glinted in the shine of the torchlight. It looked like it had been lodged there some time ago, as it was mostly buried in the wall, and the visible section was coated in a thick layer of soot and wet dirt.

"John, wait," said Penny, pausing and crouching down beside the box. "Look." John stopped and turned around, a slightly bemused look on his face. "What is this?" said Penny, now setting down the fairy stone and cola, and reaching out to wipe some of the grime off the silver lock.

"I don't know," said John, stepping closer and crouching next to her. "Something to do with the puzzle?"

"I guess so," Penny scrunched up her hand to try and release the loose dirt she'd collected.

John set his things down gently on the damp clay and pulled his backpack around in front of him. With a few seconds of fumbling inside, he pulled out a small stainless steel chisel. "This time," he grinned, still clutching the torch with his free hand. "I thought I should come prepared. Here," he handed the chisel to her.

"Good thinking," said Penny, taking the chisel from him and beginning to chip away at the hardened dirt around the black box. It didn't take long at all before it popped loose. Handing the chisel back to John, she picked up the black box in two hands and looked it over. It looked like some sort of money box, the kind that Pierre would use to hold petty cash during town events.

"Oh, I know," said John, once again reaching into his backpack. This time, after depositing the chisel, he produced a small pair of pliers, except they looked quite sharp. "Good for cutting small bolts. Let's cut the lock."

"Wow," Penny laughed, taking the pliers from him. "You really did come prepared." Penny set the box down and carefully snipped at the lock. After a few attempts, she cut through with a light clack and the lid lifted open ever so slightly. With a curiously sudden feeling of anxiety, Penny gave the pliers back to John slowly and gingerly lifted the lid off the box. Inside was nothing more than a small scrap of rolled up paper. After sharing a confused look with John, she reached inside and unrolled the paper. But it wasn't any kind of language Penny had ever read. Scribbled across the page in faint golden ink were about eight or so strange symbols that looked a bit like diagrams and instructions written by a toddler.

"Is that… Dwarvish?" said John, leaning in. "No… No I've seen some Dwarvish, that's not it."

"Well it's not something I've ever read," said Penny, picking up her fairy stone and cola.

"Keep it for now," he said, nodding at her and watching as she folded it up into her pocket. "We'll see if we need it later. Let's keep moving."

…

With the empty lockbox left in the clay, the two continued on their way to the iridium door.

"Right," said John, laying down the pumpkin next to the door. "I'm going to cut a bit off this, but I thought I'd bring the whole thing just in case."

Reaching behind him into a small pocket on the side of his bag, he pulled out a small red pocket knife. After passing the torch back to Penny behind him, he lowered himself down to the pumpkin and began slashing a chunk out of the top. Wrenching away a handful of soggy orange, seed-ridden pumpkin flesh, he dumped it into the cauldron pot in the base of the door. Half expecting something to happen when he did so, he paused, watching the pot for a moment. When nothing happened, he stood up and turned around, smiling at Penny. He stepped to one side as best he could, and took the torch back.

"Your turn," he nodded at the pot, still smiling.

Penny slipped in next to John in front of the door. Gingerly, Penny reached in and set the slab of fairy stone inside the pot, resting on top of the pumpkin chunk. Once again, nothing happened. With a moment's pause, Penny cracked open the can of JojaCola with a pop and a gentle fizz. She tipped the fizzing dark-red contents into the pot, which somehow managed to fill about half of it. Still, nothing happened.

"Right," said John, carefully moving the torch past both of them without bringing the flame too close. "Now for the fire."

He stretched out his arm and held the tip of the flame beneath the pot. For the first minute, nothing happened. Then, with a loud crack and an explosion of shimmering red sparks, the fairy stone vanished. Almost immediately afterwards, the pumpkin chunk fizzled and dissolved, as if something was mashing it and pulling it apart. As soon as both had vanished, the liquid turned a bright, sickly green. The two of them exchanged a brief excited glance before re-gluing their attention to the pot.

With a final explosion and fantail of golden sparks, the pot began moving backwards into the door. Once it had re-secured itself, as if it had never been there in the first place, there was a familiar clack and the purple door began slowly but surely grinding its way upwards.

"We did it!" said John, punching the air trimuphantly. "And look!" John pointed at the passage that the door had revealed. There weren't any more doors ahead of them, but instead a faint glow. It was moonlight.

"That must be the other side!" Penny laughed, unable to contain her excitement.

"Let's go!" yelled John, bolting forwards towards the dim light. Penny followed on as quickly as she could behind him, leaving the semi-gouged pumpkin behind.

…

The two arrived at the tunnel exit and were greeted by a strange black ground. They were definitely outside once again - by the looks of it they were somewhere behind the hedge maze - but the floor was very unsettling. It looked almost like a form of living tissue. Penny swore she could see dark red eyes speckled throughout the area. And they were watching them. She shuddered involuntarily, moving to stand ever so slightly behind John.

"Uh," said John, taking a feeble step onto the strange ground. It was soft and squidgy, and he sank about an inch into it. "This is strange. But, Penny, look." John gestured for her to come forwards. Penny looked up. Right in the middle of the flesh-ground was a chest, emblazoned with gold trimmings and encrusted with glimmering diamonds. Penny narrowed her eyes, uncertain as to how she hadn't seen the chest with her first glance. In any case, she really didn't want to step on the flesh.

"John, you get it, I'll wait here," she nodded, gently.

"No, no," John grinned. With his torch in his left hand, he extended his right hand towards her. "I couldn't have gotten this far without you, Penny. I'm not going any further without you." John kept his arm extended towards her. "I need you."

Something squirmed inside Penny, but it wasn't a wholly unpleasant feeling. It felt like butterflies on steroids in her stomach. Although she could feel her face blushing deep red, she nodded confidently, and took his hand. He kept a very gentle grip, and it was just comforting enough to get her to step onto the flesh.

"Yuck," said Penny, stabilizing herself with John's hand. "Let's not step on any eyes."

…

It wasn't exactly a large area, only about the size of a small bedroom or so, but walking on the flesh around to the other side of the chest wasn't easy. After some very wobbly stepping, they made it, hand-in-hand, to the front of the chest.

"Wow," said John, gazing down at the chest. "I expected a lock or something. Well, here goes." John gently let go of Penny's hand and stretched out, thrusting the lid of the chest open.

Inside was an enormous, shining gold pumpkin, sitting alone in the rather unnecessarily large chest. John's eyes widened as he stared at it.

"I think," he croaked. "I think that's solid gold!"

Without warning, a cloud of purple mist blew in from the cavern entrance and began swirling and gathering on the other side of the chest. It was loud and crackling, with what looked like bolts of electricity rippling through it. On impulse, Penny grabbed John's hand.

"Hello!" said the cloud, with a much jollier voice than either of them had expected. The cloud shrank, condensed into a thin line, then with a pop it formed the shape of a man. He was dressed all in black, embossed with purple trimmings, and a large cowboy-like black hat. He had a bright purple beard, adorned with a thick mustache pointed upwards like two goat's horns. His equally purple hair looked stiff and heavy, not quite stretching down far enough to cover his eyes.

It was the town wizard. What was his name? Razimuld? Razmodium?

"Rasmodius!" said John, clearly very relieved by the tone of his voice. "Did we win?"

"You did indeed, my friend," the wizard chuckled. "I must say I didn't think you two would team up to do it. Quite interesting, indeed." He stroked his beard, smiling. "Nice torch," he added, with a slight nod at John.

"Wait," said Penny, reaching into her pocket. "What about this?" She held out the strange note from the cavern lockbox.

The wizard eyed the note. "What is it?"

Penny glanced at John, then back at the wizard. "We thought you put it there, if it was part of the challeng-"

"Let me see," said the wizard as he marched around the chest. He halted halfway through. "Oh, sorry Chorian." He reached into his cloak and plucked out a vial of simmering pink liquid, pouring it on the ground. With a small pink flash, the fleshy ground shuddered and vibrated, transforming into soil and dirt. "Sorry," said the wizard, continuing to make his way towards them. "That was Chorian. Lots of eyes, wanted to see the winner. I do these Spirit's Eve festivals so the spirit world gets a chance to see mortals up close."

"Really?" said John, as the wizard came up alongside Penny. "What about those skeletons in the cage, in the main square?"

The wizard laughed heartily as he took the slip of paper from Penny's hand. This was the closest she'd ever been to the wizard, she'd never really talked to him at all. Rather oddly, he smelled faintly of burnt rubber.

"Yes, they're fascinated by mortals," he chuckled. "It's not a cage to keep them in, but rather, they wouldn't agree to do it unless I put them in a cage. Think of it like diving with sharks." As the wizard turned his attention to the note, his smile slowly began to fade. "Where did you find this?"

"In the passageway," said John, tilting his head in the direction of the tunnel they'd come from.

After a few moments of silence, Penny said: "What is it?"

"Actually…" said the wizard, dreamily. "I'm not sure. It's… not Dwarfish… not Elvish…" His eyes were moving fast enough to blur, reading and re-reading the note. "… not Goblin… not Alkayzian… Hmmm."

The wizard reached into his cloak with his left hand and pulled out a blood-red stone. He scrubbed the letters with the stone, making sure to consistently cover each character. After this, he handed the note back to Penny, which seemed to be completely unchanged by the stone. Then, he reached into his cloak once again, this time producing a small black book. He flicked through it to the first blank page he could find and began rubbing the stone against the page. As he scraped along it, the symbols from the note began to form in his book.

"Kallus Stone," he said, putting both the book and the stone away. "I've got a copy now, I'll let you know if I ever make sense of it. But, well…" he frowned at the both of them, his eyes darting between the two. "…In any case, congratulations."

"Thanks," said John, smiling weakly.

"And by the way, you were right, John," said the wizard, stepping away from them and holding his arms in the air. A pale purple mist was wrapping around him. "It's solid gold."

Penny thought about this for a moment. How much was it worth? Would it be enough to buy a new house? How would they split it? She glanced down at the gleaming golden pumpkin in the chest. But as she did, it wasn't the golden sheen that caught her eye - it was the fact that she was still holding hands with John. She watched her hand in his for a moment or two, and couldn't help but smile.

"Just be careful," said the wizard, now completely engulfed in the purple mist as he began teleporting away. "I know three hundred ancient languages. And that one is new to me."

Spirit's Eve, Fall 28th, Year 1

Thanks for reading, team!

Hmmm, an ancient language that nobody's heard of? What have our heroes stumbled upon? And how will it affect their relationship? Keep reading for more...!

Please let me know what you think and have an awesome day!