Chapter+26

"Have you noticed how sad the ancestor has been lately?" asked Amelia in a low voice, as they trudged along after the hunched back of their ancient relative. "Yeah, she has been, now that I come to think of it. Do you remember what she said about throwing herself into the crack to seal it? Perhaps that's what up. I mean, I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life down that dark hole with those horrible spririts." Jamie made a face. "I know, it's just this pointless battle has been going on for so long; we need to end it quickly, and this seems to be the only way." Amelia stared guiltily down at her shoes, as if they held the answer to her endless worries.

They shuffled along the path for a while longer, their tired feet barely clearing the ground. There were no bids singing, not a single insect crawled through the bushes, and even the plants seemed to be shrivelling up, as if they had lost the will to go on. The sky was stained a dirty yellow and an icy wind howled, full of grit. Jamie desperately wished he was back at home, fondly tickling their cat, Smokey, under the chin. He wondered, with a pang, where Smokey was now.

After about another half hour of endless walking, they reached the deserted High Street, and the ancestor turned around to face them. "Goodbye, Amelia, Jamie. I'm really sorry about all this; I feel that it's all my fault in the first place, and that I should be the one to end it. It's the only way. Please don't try to stop me." She turned slowly around and walked towards the gaping chasm, without looking back. "Wait!" Amelia yelled at the ancestor's departing figure, but Jamie held her back. "The ancestor's right. It is the only way. She will do what she must, and who are we to stop her?" Amelia wrestled in her brother's grip, desperately trying to free herself so she run to the ancestor. She had never seen Jamie look so determined. Then she turned around and gasped.

"Jamie! Quick! The spirits!" Jamie turned at his sister's cry, to see hundreds upon hundreds of spirits gliding through the dilapidated shops and houses. They surrounded the siblings, closing in on all four sides.

They were trapped.

"This must be all of the spirits that came out of the crack. What are they doing here?" Jamie breathed into his sister's ear, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. He was sure that all the spirits could hear it from miles away. Amelia didn't answer. She was trembling all over and her blood had turned to ice. The spirits turned thier bloodshot eyes on the helpless pair. They were deathly pale, their skin just slightly transparent, like suffocating smoke in a fiery building. Silence filled the air, so thick that you could feel it upon your skin. The siblings couldn't move a muscle, they were so petrified their feet seemed to have fused to the ground. What did the spirits want from them?

All of a sudden, Amelia felt the answer flood through her. Of course, why hadn't they thought of it before? "Jamie," she whispered, her voice cracked with fear. "Jamie, they want the rest of the book. They have it all," (she pointed to a spririt holding the charred, torn remains of the powerful scripture) "Apart from one page. If we give it to them, maybe they'll let us free." Jamie nodded, warily. He took the stained piece of paper out of his pocket. It seemed to reflect how they were feeling, worn, tired, hopeless. Why was this stupid page worth so much anyway? Maybe they should give it back to the spirits, if it meant that they could be released. Jamie held the piece of paper up high so the spririts could all see it.

The ancestor, standing forlornly at the edge of the crack, turned around too. She had forgotten about the book...