Disclaimer: …grrr…
Authors Notes: Thanx 2 all who reviewed!
Chapter 3
Chihiro was too afraid to move. Those skulls were ugly and hideous. Finally, she found her strength. She ran out of the room and across the field of grass with the strange statues. She kept looking behind her. Chihiro was running so fast and wasn't looking where she was going that she crashed into a woman.
"Ouch," they both said at the same time. Lin was the first to recover.
"Chihiro? Is that really you? Oh, thank heavens! Zeniba will be so glad to see you!"
"Zeniba?" Chihiro asked. She'd never heard of Zeniba.
"Yes! No one can find Haku-"
"Haku?" Chihiro interrupted. She had finally found it-
Yubaba snapped her fingers.
"-Yes, Haku," Lin continued. "Oh, I must take you to Zeniba right away!"
Lin dragged Chihiro through a strip center that had nothing but restaurants in it. Chihiro wondered why a theme park would only have restaurants.
The strangest part, though, was that the restaurants weren't filled with people, but with spirits. At least that's what Chihiro thought they looked like. Lin hurried her along through the cluster of spirits. They stopped in front of what looked like a gigantic bathhouse.
"Come on, this way," said Lin as she urged Chihiro forward. Lin took her on one elevator and then another. Everywhere they went, people or frogs stopped whatever they had been doing and stared at Chihiro.
"Welcome back, Chihiro!"
"Nice to see you again, Chihiro!"
"Lin," Chihiro asked, "why do all of these creatures know my name?"
"Don't play stupid with me," Lin replied. "Now come on!"
"You're all on your own now," Lin told Chihiro as she left her on the top floor and got back into the elevator. In another second, she was gone.
"But wait!" Chihiro called after her. "What am I … supposed… to … do?" Chihiro sat down on the steps in front of a humongous door and began to cry.
Suddenly, the door opened and a huge woman with a big head appeared. Chihiro knew her mind was playing tricks on her now. The woman was elderly, and her blonde hair was tied up in a bun on top of her head. She looked like an old witch.
"Why are you crying? Chihiro?" The woman gasped. Then she grabbed Chihiro by the hand and pulled her inside the hallway. The woman led Chihiro down several more hallways before pulling her into a room on the left.
"Have a seat, Chihiro, and tell me what's wrong," Yubaba said gently.
"Are you-" Chihiro began, but when Yubaba snapped her fingers, Chihiro stopped.
"Well, first tell me why you came back," Yubaba insisted. "Oh, by the way, I'm Zeniba. Of course you already knew that. "
"I did? And what do you mean by 'tell me why you came back?' I don't think I've ever been here before," Chihiro implied.
"Chihiro, don't you remember?"
"Well, I could've been here before, but you see, my parents and I got in an accident, and now I live with my aunt and uncle. During the accident, my head hit a rock and permanently damaged my memory bank. Well, that's what my relatives told me anyways. I can't remember anything before waking up in a hospital, except the fact that my real name is-"
Yubaba snapped her fingers.
"Yes?" she asked Chihiro.
"-Chihiro," said Chihiro with some disbelief. "My name is Chihiro. What? What's happening to me? I'm disappearing!"
"Quick!" said Yubaba. "Eat this!" She gave Chihiro a dumpling. Chihiro quickly ate it. Her see-through hands began to look solid again.
"If you don't eat some of our food," Yubaba explained, "you will vanish into thin air. Also, you are a human. Humans cannot stay here unless they take a job. Are you willing to take a job?"
"Yes ma'am," Chihiro replied. She had no idea what was going on, but she decided to go with the flow.
"Now," Yubaba continued, "sign here." She handed Chihiro a piece of paper. Chihiro signed it and gave it back. Yubaba looked at the paper. Slowly, Chihiro's name floated off of the paper and disappeared into Yubaba's hand.
"Okay," replied Chihiro.
"Now," said Yubaba, "to find you a job. Most of my good jobs have already been taken, so I'm going to have to give you a difficult job. Understand?"
"Yes," said Chihiro.
"Okay," said Yubaba, "I have one job here. My dear friend, Haku, has been kidnapped. I want you to return him to me. If you bring him back safe and sound, I will return you to your home.
"This piece of paper will help you. It has five clues that lead to the location of the real clues written on it. And here's your train ticket."
"What do I do with it?" Chihiro asked, confused by everything the old lady was saying.
"Chihiro," Yubaba said, "when you get on the train, tell the man you are going to the gold mine; that's where the first clue is. See, the clue is 'something only a fool would look for' and the gold mine is full of fool's gold!
"If the man refuses, give him this," said Yubaba as she handed Chihiro a slip of paper with her signature on it. "Then he'll believe you."
"But, Zeniba," persisted Chihiro, "I don't have a map of this world."
"You're right! Here take this one. Now off you go! Have fun!" she called as Chihiro left.
"Yes…" she said as soon as she knew that Chihiro had left the building. "Have fun … while you still can!" She began to cackle.
Chihiro had no problem finding the train. She gave the train conductor her ticket and took a seat. She took out the map.
"Hmm…" Chihiro said to herself, "the gold mine is the next stop, and that's where one of the clues is located." The train stopped and they all got off. Chihiro looked ahead of her. A huge cave stretched across the land in front of her.
"Well, here goes, I guess…" Chihiro walked towards the mine tunnel. Gold shined all around her on the walls. It was only fool's gold, but the view of it was still beautiful.
Chihiro walked farther into the mine where it got darker and creepier. A beautiful young woman with black hair stepped out of the shadows.
"Hello," she said softly. "You must be Chihiro. You've been expected."
"I have? Who told you I was coming?"
"It doesn't matter now. You have a choice to make: you may either take a quiz to get the first clue to rescuing Haku, or you may return to your home." The woman was carrying a little cage with a cricket inside.
"You mean… I could go home? Just like that?" Chihiro asked, unable to believe what the young woman had just said.
"Yes. Make your choice," the woman replied. Chihiro was about to say she wanted to go home when she remembered that Zeniba was counting on her to bring Haku back. Zeniba was such a nice woman, and Chihiro knew that if she returned home, there would be a bunch of angry people waiting for an explanation of why she ran away from school.
"I… I would like to… I would like to take the quiz and get the first clue so that I may rescue Haku," Chihiro said to the woman, who looked startled that Chihiro didn't want to return home.
"I like you kid; you've got spunk. My name is Helene. Are you ready to take the quiz?"
"I guess," said Chihiro, not too sure of herself.
"Okay, first question: Who can spin straw into gold?"
"Uh… Oh wait, I know this… Is it…Rumpelstiltskin?" Chihiro guessed. Chihiro had the strangest feeling. Suddenly, she remembered her father reading the story to her once. It was about a man who spun straw into gold for a misunderstanding. A woman tricked him into telling her his name. Chihiro tried to remember more, but that was all she could think of.
"Correct! You got the first clue: Rumpelstiltskin!" cried Helene. She ran up and hugged Chihiro.
"I did? Yeah!" Chihiro said. Then she turned to Helene. "I'm on a mission, and I'd like very much if you'd come with me."
"Really? I'd love to!" Helene replied. She was supposed to stay, but she decided to disobey Yubaba's orders and join Chihiro.
"Well," Chihiro said, "the second clue refers to 'the mud man's house,' whatever that is."
"The mud man lives in a swamp full of mud. It's a horrible place, but I know how to get there," said Helene.
"Without riding the train?" Chihiro asked.
"Yes, without riding the train, but we'll have to walk through a small forest. Is that okay?" Helene questioned her new friend.
"It's fine with me. I just hope this Haku person is worth the trip."
