Finally Solid Ground!

The day passed uneventfully after the stream and Oliver and I went to sleep expecting to leave the ocean the next day. Before bed, Sazzy was leaning her head out of the side of the car, watching the shore for any signs of the statue that Margret had mentioned.

If by chance she saw it while we were asleep, she would stop the car and wait until we were awake before driving onto land. After all, if anyone saw a boat driving itself onto land when the land's coordinates weren't even available to the general public. It would either be a ghost story, or a security issue.

[Hopefully by tomorrow we will be able to land!]

Sazzy smiled as she wished us both good night.

The next morning, thankfully, the car had stopped moving and Sazzy and Ava had helped us keep all our objects.

Peeping my head out the window, I realized that when Margret said we wouldn't miss it, she was not exaggerating.

On the shore stood an enormous statue the size of a tree with its back facing the sea. It was exquisitely carved to resemble a lean but muscular man who had a spear in one hand and rope in another.

Stopping to admire the sight for a while, I then moved over to the driver's seat and drove us onto land near the statue.

Pooling right underneath the statue were a number of houses with stone roofs. Sitting underneath the houses were men and women of all different sizes and hair colors.

The moment they saw us, some of them tensed up and retreated back into their homes.

[I sense a complicated backstory for the Media Luna.]

Sazzy commented as one of them, an old lady, started to approach our car.

Seeing her walk slowly towards us, I signaled for Oliver and I to get out and we met her halfway.

"I take it you are Alex?"

Staring at me with her gray almost translucent eyes, I nodded my head and told her I was. I also introduced Oliver as my brother.

"We were only expecting the company of one, but children are always welcome. Follow me."

Waving her hand slowly in a 'follow' gesture, she then started hobbling towards the village. But in under a second she stopped.

"Ah right, about your car. You can drive it to that building with a brown roof. It's a communal garage. After that, you can ask anyone to point you to the chief's house."

With those words, she left.

[I'm guessing she is the chief?]

Sazzy questioned as we all got back on the car and drove it to where the old lady had pointed to. There, we met a young man who was dozing off on the job. When our car got close to the building, he awoke from the sound and jumped up off his chair to open the large double doors for us. He then guided us to our parking spot.

"There is no fee to stay here, but the place is closed after the sun sets and opens shortly after the sun rises."

Briefly telling us what we needed to know, the young man leaned back on his chair again.

"Excuse me, do you know where the chief's house is?"

Hearing my question, the young man sighed as he pointed near the center of the village.

"Go near the center and search for a house that faces the statue directly. The chief's house is the only one allowed to directly face god."

After that short explanation, he covered his eyes with his arm and went back to dozing.

Holding my arm tightly, we left all our luggage in the car and headed empty handed to the chief's house.

Looking at this village, the people seemed quite weary of us. However, there were many young men and women around, as well as children. Meaning that the village is thriving.

Looking at the statue, we traced the line from the statue onto a humble looking house with a gray stone roof and walls.

Going up to the door, we knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The chief's creaky old voice rang out. Opening the door, we were met with a slightly shadowy hallway. Walking towards us from the end of the hallway like in some sort of horror movie was the chief.

"Come here."

Changing directions halfway, the chief entered a door. Following her, we walked into her living room. It was filled with shelves, and those shelves were filled with pictures and albums. Walking to one of the shelves, the chief took one of the albums and flipped to a certain page. On that page were two young women, holding hands with each other.

"If you came here, you must have known Amanda."

Looking closely at the two women, the one on the left had the same eye color and dimples as the chief, so she must have been the chief from her younger days. On the right, there stood a woman who had short hair and slight dark circles under her eyes. But other than that, she looked incredibly happy.

"I'm sorry. We do not know her."

Amanda was probably the woman who was assassinated back then. But if she had died, how would she have appeared in this village?

Hearing my answer, the chief gave a little delightful cackle as she shut the album.

"You have a good character! You didn't lie even though it would have probably gotten you the answers you sought."

Putting the album back, the chief reached deep behind some pictures to pull out one single picture. This one was older and more worn out. She showed it to us.

"This was the real Amanda. She was always running away from something. I don't know what it was, but eventually she couldn't take the stress and hung herself in this very house. I keep these pictures in her memory."

The photo was of another young girl, this one with darker eyebags and a slight hint of paranoia in her eyes.

[For some reason I don't really trust what this woman says anymore.]

Handing back the picture to her, the chief gestured for us to sit on her couches. She then sat opposite us.

"I heard from Margret that you are searching for clues regarding this poison. If you could tell me, where did you get this poison from?"

Sitting with a hunched back, I nevertheless felt that the chief wasn't someone I should underestimate even though she looked like a frail old woman.

I told her about Ken's story, about Barbie, and how we wanted to find out more information about the preservative to maybe find a cure for it. Since the fact that we had already found a cure was too confidential, I omitted everything after we left Aquarius.

Scratching her chin, the chief listened attentively to the story and even hummed several times.

"I see. So this was a favor requested from your friend."

Dragging out the last syllable a little, the chief then stood up before opening the door.

"If that's the case, then you might need to wait in this village for a while longer. I need some time to ask around. Hope the two of you can wait."

Looking into her eyes, I nodded my head and we all exited her house in silence.

"When it is time, I will call you two. Until then, feel free to stay in any of the houses with a blue roof. They're guest houses."

With that last sentence, the chief turned around and closed the door on us.

[I don't think there is anything she can do to make her seem more mysterious. It's like she read a guidebook on how to act as a mysterious and important character in a book.]

Sazzy complained as we looked at the many roofs to find one that was blue in color.

Moving in the direction of the communal garage, we finally found a blue roofed house near the edge of the village.

Remembering its position, we went back to the car to take some of our daily necessities and temporarily moved into the house.

Its interior was pretty well furnished. In my opinion, it was better furnished than the chief's house. There were several rooms, meant to accommodate about 5 guests.

Taking two of the rooms next to each other, Oliver and I dumped our things in the rooms before we took out some clothes.

Maybe it was due to them being so far away from the AT center, but the whole house was covered in dust. Discussing together, we decided to only wipe down our own rooms, as well as the living room and the kitchen. The three rooms that we were not using would stay dusty.

With each of us having a cloth, we separated the area into five parts. Sazzy would do the kitchen, Ava would do the living room, and Oliver and I would do our own rooms. After we were down with our rooms, we would help clean the hallway.

[Alright! Let's get to work!]

Shouting in enthusiasm, the four of us split up.

My room, which obviously used to be the master bedroom, was a neat little room with one bed, a wardrobe, a bedside table and a bedside drawer.

I opened the bedside table, and took out all of the drawers. It would be good to thoroughly clean the whole place. After I took them all out and wiped them, I tried to put them back.

From my place on the floor, as I looked up to replace the drawers, I saw a suspicious bulge on the top.

Reaching out my hand to it, I scratched at the sides and managed to pull the bulge that was stuck with tape down. And peeling the tape away from the body, I was met with a familiar sight.

Why was there a jar of preservatives in this village?