Chapter 17

A Return to Regularity

And just when things went back to normal

You come again, relentless, persistent

Haunting my dreams like a ghost

But you're real, aren't you?

Even if you don't meet me in real life

I feel you in my head, I feel you in my veins

A constant presence I can't erase

You're a necessity, you say?

Liar, deceitful

I'll believe none of it

So try, keep trying

But you'll never get through

I'm far too stubborn

And you?

You're far too weak

"That's the last of it Molly," Finn said, setting down the watering can and wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Oh good, we finished earlier than I thought. Thanks a bunch Finn, you helped a lot," said Molly from the other side of her new sheep which she just finished shearing. It was just after six in the afternoon and Molly and Finn had spent the entire day planting seeds and watering them for the summer season. Finn had finished up watering the crops for Molly after she decided that today was the right day to go get a new animal. Hopefully this season the crops will do better since there are left-over nutrients from spring crop soil.

"Of course! So, are we going to eat dinner now?" Finn asked, smiling sheepishly as his stomach growled loudly. Molly laughed.

"Sure. I was actually thinking about going to the bar so I could talk to Kathy, but let me fix you dinner first since I guess you can't really eat there, huh?" she said, guiding the sheep back into the barn along with her cow and multiple chickens. "You know, I could use a dog, too. To gather these animals, I mean."

"A dog would be nice. And yeah that's fine."

"Are you sure? I can always go tomorrow," Molly said, making sure it was alright and after receiving a confirmation nod from Finn asked him what he would like for dinner.

"Pancakes! Chocolate chip ones!"

"Chocolate chip pancakes for dinner? Well, it's not healthy but I guess you deserve it after today. Sure, I'll make them. And that way we can have them for breakfast tomorrow."

"Yippe~!" Finn said, twirling through the window from the outside. Molly laughed, jogging in after him and, after sprucing up a bit and waiting for Finn to eat, they went down to the bar. It was busy, as was typical for a Sunday and Molly chose a seat that was farther away from the bar. None of the customers were familiar faces to her, but she felt comfortable nonetheless. Even though she never went to the bars on the mainland, the Brass Bar had a nice atmosphere and she never felt too out of place.

"Hey there, hard day of work?" Hayden asked, coming around to take her order.

"You betcha, that's why I thought I'd come down here and get re-energized. How about a plate of spaghetti and some grapefruit juice?"

"Spaghetti with grapefruit juice? An unusual combination but alright, it'll be right up. I'll have Kathy bring it out to you. We're pretty swamped right now but hopefully you'll get a few minutes conversation."

"Thanks, Hayden, I appreciate it." As she waited for her dinner she watched the tourists eating their meals and enjoying their time with family and friends.

"I know it's not very nice to say this but I like the island better without the tourists here…," Finn said quietly, as if the tourists could hear him.

Molly nodded her head, understanding. It was too crowded and too noisy with the tourists around, especially since all that they've known was the off-season state of the island. She couldn't blame the tourists though, they just come to get away from the city, it was only right that they share the island with the rest of the world.

Molly, staring off into space, didn't notice that she was accidentally staring at a group of guys a couple tables away until Finn pointed out that one of them was looking their way. Molly straightened up, breaking her gaze and then looking back to see who she was unintentionally creeping out. Finn pointed him out and Molly casually looked out of the corner of her eye. He was wearing a baseball cap and a T-shirt with some khakis, normal tourist clothes. He seemed about her age, as did the guys around him. She figured they were probably on some end-of-semester mini-vacation and envied them for a second. Molly missed college life and that relief that came with the start of summer vacation.

She sighed, and at the same time the guy looked in her direction again and they made eye contact. He smiled while she quickly looked away and then cringed in response to her obvious avoidance tactic. Taking special care not to look over his way again, she noticed something different from usual, something that was in the shape of a very curvy new worker.

"Is that that Selena girl you were talking about before?" Finn asked, his eyes following her as well.

"Yeah, I didn't know she had already started working here…"

Selena didn't look very happy to be working though. She sat down a customer's dish without smiling and walked near their table, carrying a dishrag.

"Selena?" Molly asked as she passed by their table. Selena looked around and then spotted Molly, giving a small smile.

"Oh, Molly, right? I haven't seen you for a little while. Thanks for letting me tag along here that one time. How's it going?" she asked, wiping down a table at the same time.

"Uh, sure, I guess. I'm fine. And you? I thought you were looking for a dancing gig?"

"I was, I mean, I have one. I usually dance here at the bar after 8 pm but during busy days like this I have to work as a waitress…not my ideal job but you gotta do what you gotta do."

"I guess so. But hey, at least you found something," Molly said.

"I s'pose. Anyways, I need to go clean some stuff up by the bathroom, I think someone drank a little too much. Yuck!"

Molly cringed and gave a sympathetic look as she walked away, her flowing skirt swishing back and forth with her hips.

"She doesn't seem very happy," Finn rightly observed. Molly nodded her head in agreement. She also wondered if her parents knew about their daughter being on the island. Before she could think more about it Kathy came around with her spaghetti and plopped down into the seat across from her, fanning her face with her hand.

"This is ridiculous! And it's not even July yet…I'm going to hate my life come next month, I bet this place will be swarming with twice the amount of people!"

"Really? Hmm, I can't say I'm too happy about that either. You okay?" Molly asked, looking at Kathy's flushed face.

"Yeah, yeah. The air conditioner just isn't working as well today so I'm a bit hot. What about you, is everything okay on the farm now?"

"Yup, just finished planting today. I got a new sheep, too! You should come over soon and see it," said Molly, digging into her spaghetti.

"Sheep are nice but when are you going to get horses?" Kathy teased. Above all else, Kathy loved horses. That's why she and Renee got along so well. Kathy was keeping her horse at their ranch and consequently was always spending her free time over there.

"Well maybe if they turned out some sort of profit," Molly retorted, speaking around her full mouth.

Kathy just shrugged and looked over at the bar where Chase was frantically stir-frying some vegetables while stirring soup at the same time.

"It's been tough working with him lately," she said, nodding her head towards Chase. "Like, as if the tourists weren't bad enough, he's always over there mumbling and cursing about something. I don't know what's gotten into him."

"Isn't he usually like that?" Molly said a bit stiffly. Kathy eyed her over, registering her tone.

"Someone else isn't happy with him either. Did you guys get into another fight?"

"I wouldn't say a fight. He's just a rude and unfriendly person and frankly I don't plan on talking to him until he's civil again," she said, taking a swig of her grapefruit juice.

"Well, if you say so. I swear Molly, you always have some sort of boy trouble going on. Speaking of which, what's this I hear about you and Toby, huh? Last time I checked you and Luke were hanging out."

Molly almost spit out her juice and consequently starting choking on it. Finn pounded on her back and after a few seconds she recovered.

"W-what?" she asked, disbelievingly.

Kathy laughed at her reaction, her face getting even redder. "I'm just kidding, Molly, geez. I feel like you'd be the last person involved in boy drama, you're so cautious. But really…you and Toby went to the firefly festival together?"

Molly cleared her throat and tried not to seem too suspicious as she simply answered yes.

Kathy narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. "And was there a reason why you didn't tell me?"

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that big of a deal. We went as friends, that's all…," said Molly, shrugging it off. Kathy still didn't look convinced though.

"So absolutely nothing happened at all?" asked Kathy, her voice rising in disbelief.

Molly thought of Toby's eyes, slivers of blue-green as he looked at her under the bridge, the feel of his hand cupping her chin and the figure of his strong back as he sent their candles down the river.

"No, nothing happened," Molly said, shaking her head. She didn't know if she wanted to tell anyone about those moments. Somehow they seemed very private and she didn't want even Kathy to know about them. "Though, something else did happen, now that you mention it."

Molly went on to tell Kathy about the awkward exchange with Gill and they tried to come up with several theories as to why he'd act so strangely around her. Too soon though, Hayden told Kathy that she was needed back on the floor.

"Well, looks like it's time to get back to work. I'll come over soon to check out your new sheep," Kathy said, snickering a little.

Molly rolled her eyes. "We'll do other things too, geez. Oh, actually real quick before I forget. When's your birthday?"

"Oh, er, actually it was a couple weeks ago…," Kathy said, looking a bit guilty.

"What!? When!? Why didn't you tell me?" Molly said, frowning.

"Well it was when you were in the clinic, I didn't want to bother you and of course after you got discharged your family came, so…"

Molly felt really bad missing her best friend's birthday. "I'm really sorry Kathy, I didn't mean to miss it…"

"Oh, no! Don't worry about it. You had a lot going on, it's understandable."

Molly bit her lip, troubled. What could she do to make up for it? Then, a great idea hit her.

"You know…Owen's birthday is coming up soon. How about we throw a joint party here at the bar? For both of you?"

Kathy blushed, instantly suspicious. "It's fine. I don't need anything like that, really."

"Aw c'mon, it'll be fun. We could invite everyone and play some games, maybe watch a movie later…," Molly persuaded. She could see Kathy's resolve fading as her shoulders started to relax. Molly said a few more things before Kathy finally agreed, Molly smiling in triumph. Maybe, if the both of them were at a party together having a good time something might actually develop between them…

"Alright, it's decided. How does this Friday night sound?"

"Yeah, just let me talk to my dad, maybe we can close a bit earlier." Just then Hayden yelled at Kathy to hurry up and she quickly got up, waving to Molly and telling her she'd be over on Wednesday.

Molly waved goodbye to her friend. Finishing her meal soon after she went up front to pay for her meal, said goodbye to Hayden without even glancing at Chase and walked out the door.

"Now what?" Finn asked.

"I guess we should go back, we have an early day tomorrow. We'll be going off to Toucan Island to find a hibiscus!" Molly said, getting herself pumped up. They really needed to ring that green bell soon.

"Yeah! Sounds like a plan!"

"But maybe we should go and get that corn to mill now, so we don't have to when we get back tomorrow. That way we can just go straight to the Wizard's," Molly debated.

"If we hurry I think we can make it in time," Finn said, checking the big clock tower.

"Okay, then let's run," Molly said, suddenly full of energy and together they ran all of the way to Marimba farm. Craig and Ruth looked genuinely confused as Molly came into the shop out of breath and clutching her side. After getting a few heads of corn and resting for a moment on the bench outside of the store, they headed to the mill and successfully got a bag of good cornmeal.

"Now we'll finally be able to ring the bell as long as the Wizard makes the potion correctly," Molly said happily, holding the bag up in front of them.

"I wouldn't worry about him. From what the Goddess has said about him, the Wizard is really talented," Finn said. Molly was reassured and they slowly made their way back to the house to get some sleep.

The next day they woke up early and got a boat ticket from Ozzie, catching the first ship out to Toucan Island. Molly had a nice chat with Pascal on the way and as soon as they reached the island they set out to find a hibiscus. Molly had thought that it'd be really easy but no matter where they searched they couldn't find one. So, when the tourists started flocking to the island they decided to go to the Inn and see if the owners couldn't help at all.

When Molly walked in she was met with a giant spear in her face.

"Woah!" she exclaimed, stepping backwards.

"Oh I'm sorry dear, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just polishing this harpoon up a bit, it's only for decoration, you know," said a tan, black-haired women. Just then, a man who looked like a gorilla with his giant arms and torso came out from behind the counter. "Honey, you're scaring the customers, go do that somewhere else, please?"

"Oh, I'm almost done, see?" said the women, removing the cloth to reveal a sparkling metal surface and proceeded to hang it back up for display. The man just shook his head, smiling and turned to Molly asking if he could help her.

"Uhm, yes, I'm actually looking for a hibiscus flower. Do you happen to know where I can find one?"

"Hibiscus flowers are only found on the back of the island, which is off-limits to visitors," said the man. "And unfortunately we're low in stock so we can't sell them right now. Our daughter usually went to gather them for us but she left the island and we don't know where she is right now…"

"Oh! Are you Selena's parents?" Molly asked. She figured they were but wasn't sure. After all, Selena didn't look like either of them.

"You know Selena?" they asked at the same time and barraged her with questions. She had to almost shout to get them to stop and reassured them that their daughter was doing fine and had found a job already. After hearing that, they were visibly relieved and begged her to deliver a letter to her. Molly agreed and in gratitude they gave her a hibiscus for free.

"This is one of our last flowers but we'll let you take it for doing us this favor. Thank you so much, and make sure you tell her how worried we are about her," said the father, sniffling and wiping away a tear. Molly blushed, feeling that the situation had turned very awkward and quickly left before they could ask anything else.

"That was sort of weird, wasn't it?" Finn asked her as they boarded the boat back.

"Yeah, I'll say," Molly said, storing the letter in her bag.

"Are we giving that letter to Selena first when we get back?" he asked her.

"I think we should, to get it out of the way." Finn nodded his head in agreement and, as soon as they reached shore, headed off to the bar. Slipping in, they were able to find Selena and give her the letter.

"This is from my parents? Geez, they're always worrying so much," Selena said, rolling her eyes but taking the letter nonetheless.

"Well…you did suddenly run away from home," Molly pointed out. Selena frowned but didn't say anything and went to the back to read her letter. Molly waved at Kathy on her way out but didn't stop to say hi, wanting to quickly get to the Wizard's. She paused at the door and turned around to look at the bar and as she did so found Chase staring at her. As soon as their eyes met he quickly averted his and turned around to keep cooking. Molly also averted her eyes and stared at the doorknob for a second before turning it and heading outside. As she was opening the door someone else was opening it from the outside and she fell forward, completely running into them.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" she said, righting herself and looking up to see who she ran into. To her surprise it was the guy in the baseball cap who she saw at the bar last night.

He looked caught off guard as well but smiled soon after, waving the rest of his friends in ahead of him.

"You're the girl from last night, right? You were sitting a couple tables over from us," he said, letting the door shut as he turned to face her properly.

The way he said it made it seem like they talked or something but she didn't mention this and just said yes.

"I thought you looked familiar. I'm Justin by the way," he said, putting his hand out. Molly shook his hand and introduced herself as well, wondering why he was bothering to talk to her and a bit frustrated because she wanted to get to the Wizard's.

"Molly? That's a cute name," he said, smiling even wider.

"Uh, thanks. Anyways, I'm kind of in a hurry, so if you don't mind…," she said, taking a step back.

"Oh, sorry, was I keeping you from something? My bad. Then, I'll see you around sometime, yeah?" he said, opening the door and heading in.

"Oh, er, sure," she said, giving a short wave and going up the stairs.

"Guys sure like talking to you Molly," Finn said, completely innocently.

"W-what? Oh, be quiet. That was the first tourist that ever talked to me more than to ask where a bathroom was," Molly said, a bit upset. To be honest, she couldn't completely disagree.

Finn shrugged and knocked on the door. They heard a quiet voice from within tell them to come in and so they did.

The Wizard didn't even turn around when he asked them if they had all of the ingredients. Molly answered yes and brought out the hibiscus and cornmeal, handing them to the wizard.

He took them without saying anything and started combining all of the ingredients in one small pot.

"This will take a few hours, so come back around…nine tonight," he said, busily stirring away.

"Oh, okay. Then, we'll see you again at nine. Thank you for doing this," Molly said. The Wizard just grunted in response and they left the house, heading up to the church to kill some time.

"The Wizard may act like that but I think he's worried about things on the island, too," Finn said, taking a seat on one of the church benches.

"I think so, too. A lot of times people mistake those who don't talk much for grumpy or mean people but that's not always the case. I've asked about the Wizard from the villagers before and they all seemed to say that he was a grumpy recluse that never came out except at night. But, I think the Wizard is probably really nice," she said, also taking a seat.

"He seems a bit lonely, though," Finn said, thinking about the lack of furniture and the few cups and plates, obviously meant only to support a one-person household.

"I don't think he's lonely…I think he just likes being alone. I mean, at our house it's just the two of us. And there are others on the island that just live by themselves. Sometimes you don't have much of a choice," Molly said, sadly thinking about her mom and how she was by herself right now.

"Hmmm." Finn didn't think he could handle being by himself. He'd miss the Harvest Goddess and Molly too much.

"You know, I've been thinking…I think I'll go back to my mom's house for my birthday. I'll tell Angela and maybe she can come by too. Maybe I should invite Kathy as well..."

"O-oh, yeah that sounds fun. You should go back to your family for your birthday, it's an important day, after all," Finn replied, a bit sad.

"I wish you could come too…I'm sorry," Molly said sadly.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to see what the city looks like, but…I'm okay with staying here. Really," he implored, noticing Molly's frown. Molly gave a small smile and apologized again. Then, they sat and talked until it was time to go to the Wizard's.

Even though it was late, the Wizard said that the potion would be most potent within an hour of being brewed so they walked all of the way to Fugue forest and through it straight to the Witch Princess' house. It was even creepier at night but Molly didn't feel like she was in any danger because the Wizard was there and he assured her that the Witch Princess was pretty harmless.

As soon as they poured the potion on her the Witch Princess turned back to normal, silver hair and all, although a bit grumpy and disturbed. After a small (rather heated) exchange between the two of them, Molly asked about the Green bell and was able to get it back.

"Yes!" yelled Finn as soon as they were out of the forest. Molly smiled, relieved that they finally found it. She lifted up the Green bell and Finn knocked on the side. It lit up and out popped Daren, the green sprite, except…he was sleeping.

"Uh, Daren?" Finn asked hesitantly. After no response he said it again, louder and Daren woke up with a start.

"Wuh? Wuz goin on?" he asked groggily.

"Er, well, you were stolen from the windmill, you know and uh, we're going to return you tomorrow so you can ring the bell…so the island can get it's wind power back again," said, Molly not really sure if this sprite was paying attention or not.

Daren nodded slowly, looking as if he was going to fall asleep.

"Did you hear me?" Molly asked, a bit impatient.

"Uh-huh, I gotcha. I need to ring the bell, right? Tomorrow…yeah. Yeah, just let me…take a nap first," he said, falling asleep and retreating back into his bell.

"He…doesn't seem to be...that reliable," came the Wizard's voice from behind them. Molly secretly agreed but didn't say anything and the three of them walked back, parting at her house. She thanked the Wizard again and went inside, putting the bell on top of her dresser.

"Well, Finn, we'd better go to sleep. What is it anyways, like 2 am?" she asked, glancing at her clock. Sure enough, it read 2:12 am and she moaned, thinking about how she'll have to wake up in just a few hours.

"Yeah…we're going to be tired tomorrow," Finn said, slipping in under the covers. Molly sighed, quickly brushed her teeth and dressed for bed, getting in next to him.

"But at least we'll have the Green bell rung," Molly said, closing her eyes. Finn made a small noise, already asleep. Molly smiled, glad that they were finally back on the right track. Now she had a lot of things to look forward to and only hoped that things would continue as they are without any trouble. That night Molly dreamt about a beautiful melody ringing throughout the lands and going back to her apartment in the city, her mom waiting for her with a big cupcake with candles on it. No storms, no panicked Angela and no dark lakes. For once, she fell asleep quickly, awaiting the following day.