Chapter 28
Pitch had arrived to the entrance of Mora's cave and he could sense that the evil goddess would not let Grace go without a fight.
Using the black sand that had not been used yet, Pitch created his signature axe/scythe weapon and went down into the hole.
During his descent, everything inside Pitch screamed at him to not go any further, but he ignored it.
When he got to the bottom, there were no night terrors, the place was empty. At first, Pitch thought he was tricked, until a voice calls out, "Pitch?"
"Grace?" he called back.
"Pitch!" the girl exclaimed after emerging from behind a boulder.
The boogeyman dropped his weapon and it dissolved into sand and he rushed toward the girl. He threw his arms around her, "Are you all right?" he asked, feeling grateful.
"I am," Grace answered, but then, her voice changed, "But you're not."
Suddenly, Pitch felt something pierce through him and a wave of pain shot through him. He took a few steps back, cradling his side, and then looked at his bloody hand. He then looked at Grace, but her features dissolved to feature Mora.
"You!" Pitch cried out. He wanted to attack her, but Pitch fell to his knees; he now realized that Mora had stabbed him.
"Oh, I knew that you would do anything to save that little twerp," the goddess said and wiped off the bloody dagger.
"Where's…Grace…?" Pitch demanded, trying to battle the pain.
"Oh, I don't know. I was planning to negotiate on her release, that is, if you denounce your love for her," Mora said, "But just a few moments ago, she just vanished. It seems that she doesn't want to be rescued, by you that."
Pitch refused to believe her, but he could sense that Grace was still alive, and maybe she was outside in the storm.
Then he started to feel strange; it felt as if ice was flowing in his veins and he saw the blood on his hands turning black.
"What…did you…do…to me?" he demanded.
"You're going to love this," Mora said and showed him the dagger, "This is my special dagger, it has a wonderful poison. You, your friends, and I are immortal, but with this dagger, the poison spreads throughout your body, turning your heart and then your whole body into stone."
"What…?" Pitch asked.
"But don't worry, it takes time. Once you have turned into a stone statue, the children of the world will come to realize that the boogeyman will not haunt them with nightmares anymore," Mora replied and adds, "I on the other hand will love you for all eternity and will display you in my realm."
"You…witch…" Pitch breathed out the words.
"Now that's not a nice thing to say," Mora said.
"Go to…hell…" Pitch replied.
Mora was about to say something, when a night terror came up to her and whispered in her ear.
"I love to stay and watch you transform into stone, but there's a little girl out there whom I like to kill," she said and hid the dagger in her dress.
"If you...touch...her...I will..." Pitch struggled to speak the words.
"You what? You'll probably be dead by the time I kill her," Mora said and her form dissolved into shadows and she went away along with her night terrors.
The last thing Pitch heard of Mora was her grim laughter.
"Grace...I'm sorry..." he whispered. He then tried to crawl toward the fireplace where there were embers still burning, but Pitch was so cold that he did not feel the warmth.
He stopped and curled into a ball, trying to keep warm and he began to pray that someone would come.
