Written by Veluan, Sun Sep 13 13:00:43 US/Pacific 1998
Part 16
1.18 Firebrow's cottage
"Found some interesting literature?" Firebrow asked when Mack entered the livingroom.
"I hope so." was the answer. Mack sat down and opened the book. He turned to the chapter about the legend.
"And it was seen, in the monestry it roamed at night. The peace God was lost."
The Shadow was feared by the villagers, in those days the Shadow became a legend with super-human powers. After a long reign (100 years!) of terror containing kidnapping, raping and stealing the terror ceased. It is still a mystery why it suddenly stopped. But the villagers didn't bother to find out, they were just glad that it was over. Although some said that the Shadow was just hiding and that it was just a matter of time before the predator would strike again.
Mack browsed some more, but didn't find interesting information, he learned that there were a lot of old celebrations containing singing and dancing. He learned that st-francis was build around a monestry in the woods. It was build by Franciscians from Europe and the ground in the woods contained traces of oil. This was all very informative, but not when you're trying to catch a ghost of some sort. Mack put the book away.
"You're not very helpful, are you?" he said to Firebrow who was making a fire in the fireplace.
"Do you want me to be?" he answered without looking.
"Well..."
"When I help you now you probably solve the case, but when I'm gone and you're in another, what are you going to do then?"
Mack thought "But know I probably won't solve this one, because you're not helping."
"You're doing great, trust me."
"Am I a ghostbuster?" Firebrow put the last log on the fire and walked towards Mack. "Yes, some might say that, other people call it a Schattenjager."
"A what?"
"Ghostbuster in another language."
"Oh, can I have a Talisman?"
"You will get it when you need it."
"There's a clear answer." Mack said sarcastically.
Firebrow laughed "In time you will learn that not all the things are clear when you do it at the time."
"I know that already. But what about the hypnotizing bit? Can I do that too?"
"No, not yet. You will receive the skill when you passed the test."
"You mean, when I defeat the Shadow."
Firebrow nodded.
"But I won't need it anymore, I need it when I battle the Shadow."
"There are more cases after the Shadow."
"I certainly hope so."
"Good." Firebrow looked at the clock. "Didn't you have a midnight rendez-vous?" he asked. Mack looked at the clock too. The clock showed that the time was a quarter to midnight.
"Oh", Mack jumped up and ran down the hall.
"Good luck, Schattenjager." Firebrow said.
"I certainly hope so." Mack yelled as he ran into the dark woods. The door closed. Firebrow faintly smiled, his thoughts where elsewhere.
The woods
Mack looked at the map, the pale blue light fell scarcely on the map. Mack tried to pinpoint the location of the Asylum. He turned around, was someone following him? Nothing, the woods made you look around every second. Mack hoped that he choose the right direction. He found it by daylight, but at night the woods were completely different.
Mack started to run. He didn't want to be at the asylum, but he didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere-wood either. Slowly lights appeared, the lights became bigger and turned out to be in a building, asylum 'the helping hand'. Mack stopped in front of the building his heartbeat was way to fast, but that was a common factor in the woods at night.
Mack walked along the building and stopped at the cell of Fred. It was silent at the window. Mack dared to look in, he didn't see Fred. Suddenly Fred rose from behind the window. Mack quicly jumped back.
Fred smiled "Good evening, how can I help you?"
If you have any comments, you can email Veluan at gjvdmeer@tref.nl.
In the meantime, return to the main Fan Fiction page...