Fog of Shadows

Part 24

Though Pablo tried to reason with Lola, his efforts were of little use; Lola was persistent on going after Thomas to save her friend. "Lola, Pablo is right, what are you going to do if you smash against one of the rocks?" Pleaded Flo, but Lola would not listen.

"I have to at least try and save her."

Lola's efforts were cut short when the ship underneath him began to rock violently back and forth and the sound of splintering wood filled their ears.

Though he had gotten a good distance between them, Thomas looked over his shoulder when he heard the sound of two ships colliding. Part of him now envied Donnie for behind unconscious because the ghoulish sight of a rotten ghost ship drifting through the Eldorado will never leave his mind. He rowed fast and faster, trying to get away from the sight; several times the little lifeboat hit a rock, but it never broke and soon he and the unconscious Donnie made it to the gray shore.

XXXXX

In the morning, Alisea awoke to an empty room. She figured that Willow had gotten up earlier and had let her rest a little longer. As she left her friend's room, a little embarrassed for falling asleep in her lap, she noticed a small draft; she wrote it off as the house is old and rickety. When she got downstairs, as she had thought, the others had already eaten. Still tired, she grabbed a piece of bread from the table, "So, what is the plan for today?"

"Well, we couldn't catch her yesterday, so we could ask around and see if she is living with someone or if someone knows where she is staying at." Said Flinn, still trying to wake up; he still had not gotten use to the damp, old bed.

"We could not catch up to her either, but we did find something odd at the Town Hall when we were looking through the records." Everyone's attention went to Shill and Myri, "The town keeps a good record of everyone on this island: when they are born, when they got here, and when they disappear or die and you won't like what we found." Said Myri with sorrowful eyes. "According to the records, Janet died two years ago."

"How can that be? We saw her and chased after her. The records have to be wrong!" Declared Flinn, now fully waking up.

"Or we were chasing after the wrong Janet, I mean, we only saw her from a distance and she didn't respond to us when we called after her." Recounted Myri, trying to be the rational one.

"I am sorry, but I have to side with Flinn. I saw her a lot closer back at the cemetery and she looked just like the Janet in the image." As much as she wanted to leave the island, Alisea simply could not work with the idea that they have been chasing after the wrong person.

"But you also said you were surrounded by fog-"

"I saw her clear as day and I know it was the right, Janet."

"Fine, but we can't stay on this island for much longer, we are probably being missed by now."

"We won't stay much longer, let us just try to catch her one more time and then we will leave in the morning." Said Flinn while placing a comforting hand on Myri's shoulder, which she shrugged off.

After a quick breakfast, the group spot up again, Shill and Myri went deeper into town, while Flinn decided that he and Alisea should walk near the shore and see if they can find either Janet or someone who knew where she might be. As they walked along the gray, gravelly beach carefully trying not to twist an ankle since some of the rocks were true ankle breakers. The two tried to see if they could find anyone what might be able to help them, but the fog hid everything within its void, Alisea and Flinn were seemingly the only ones within the void. The memory of being in the graveyard crept into Alisea's mind and her folder her arms over her chest to keep from shivering.

"Is very thing alright?" Apparently, Flinn noticed her being uncomfortable.

"Yeah I am alright; I just wished this fog would go away. It is cold, clammy, and I can't see very far."

Before Flinn could reply, he noticed that they had walked to the edge of the water and that there was a figure in the distance. The figure appeared small and thin; it was too far to determine who it was, but the figure was indicating to them to follow. Waving its arm in a beckoning motion that swirled the gray fog around it like a witches brew. As the two captains made their firsts steps towards the figure, the person turned and ran into the fog; the two captains ran after them, not knowing or caring where they were leading them, but simply knowing they needed to follow. Alisea managed to get ahead of Flinn and soon she was barely visible to him in the fog.

Suddenly, his foot is caught on something and he landed face fist into the rocky sand. Senses blurry, nose numb, and jaw hurting Flinn lifts his head and cannot see his friend anywhere; fear over her safety crawled into his chest and he tries to get up and chase after her, hoping to catch up to her, but his foot is still trapped and he hits the ground again. Now his already damaged knee started to feel like it was being pricked with fiery hot needles.

"If you wait a minute, I can help you out of it." A deep, old sounding voice sounded from behind him and Flinn turned to face a large, old, bearded man with a pipe in his mouth. The man's blue-gray eyes looked down at Flinn in a friendly way that he had not seen on the island yet. The man stooped down and began fiddling with a rope that had been tangled around Flinn's ankle; it took Flinn a moment to realize that the man was freeing him from an old fishing net.

"You must be new here; Star and Percy told me that fresh meat had made it to the island." Said the old man as he pulled Flinn's foot free.

"Thank you, have you seen my friend? She was with me until I got caught."

"Sorry boy, 'have only seen you. Who is your friend? This old man here can still be of some use. 'Know the island like the back of my hand. What were you doing out here anyway?" the old man helped Flinn up off the ground, readjusted his cap, and shifted his pipe from the left corner to the right corner of his mouth.

"My crew and I are on a recovery mission. We got here to find the niece of our professor. Her name is Janet and she is a native here."

The old man looked down at the young captain with an empathetic expression; Flinn knew the old man was thinking that they had willingly trapped themselves on this cursed island to find a girl who might very well be dead. "My name is Richard," The old man finally said with a cheery smile "it is nice to meet a new face." This sudden change from quiet empathy to welcoming smile surprised Flinn, but he knew better than to question a man trying friendly to introduce himself.

"I am Flinn, Captain of the Aurora."

XXXXX

Alisea tries to keep up with the figure but ultimately loses them in the thick fog, as if it had become part of the swirling mist around her. Looking around her, she noticed two things: one that she had lost Flinn and two that she stood before the opening of a cave. The cave appeared to be a deep-pocked that tunneled into the island and had been uncovered by the tides rising and washing part of the island cliff wall away. Curious, she slowly made her way to its entrance of the cave as if being pulled into it. The closer she got, the stranger she felt; she felt as if she was doing something very naughty, like entering a forbidden room. Still, she felt like being pulled, as if something had caught her will to walk with a hook and was slowly reeling her in. Now past the entrance, she leaned against the side of the cave as the light grew dimmer and dimmer; she would have walked deeper when there was a gust of the wind from deep within the cave and a horrific stench hit her nose. It was horrible, it caused Alisea's nose to burn, eyes to water, and throat to close up. It reminded her of a dead animal she had once found in the forest near her childhood home; it smelled like sour meat and ammonia, except this smell was amplified, as if there were hundreds of dead animals within the depth of the cave. The smell was enough to break the hook and Alisea ran from the cave. Once near the water's edge, she dry-heaved and coughed, trying to clear her nose and lungs from the horrific smell. Whatever caused that smell, she felt that she never wanted to find out