Chapter Text
The next morning was damp and foggy. The jungle vibrated with sounds that had kept Tommy awake half the night. birds, insects, and bigger creatures he’d rather not think about for too long. With a sigh he turns southwards. Into the jungle, it seems. He packs his last few things, stomps out the campfire. Then he turns to the sea; he took a few minutes to thank Prime for granting them to get trough alive, and he sent prayers to his friends, out on sea, that no storms may come their way. Then he turns and walks towards where he’d already saddles Carl. He looks down at Marcellery.
“ready girl?”
And the trio trudges off into the jungle.
They hadn’t been on their way for long when Tommy realised two things: traveling trough the jungle fucking sucked, and you are going to be moist at all times. He detested it.
So he was glad when he saw a clearing in the distance. Because the event from the last clearing he found was still fresh in his mind, he threaded along carefully. No arrows, nothing moved. He moved on to the edge of the patch of grass. Sat in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by bamboo and ferns squatted a jungle temple, like an ancient, primordial creature. Stones covered in moss litter the way to the entrance. The whole place screams abandonment, but something warns Tommy that it isn’t.
He knew he should keep moving, that going in was basically screaming out for something bad to happen. But how often did you find an actual jungle temple? In the end he decided to take Marcellery and Carl both inside, so nothing could happen to them when he left them alone. He stood in the towering entrance of the pyramid-like building, one hand resting on the doorframe. The whole place reeked of mystery, and also damp moss. Tommy liked it. With a deep breath in he placed the lit torch in the other hand, and grabs Carl’s reins with the other. He walked into the cave with light feet, remembering the stories that Phil told him of his days as an adventurer.
With a shock Tommy realised he was threading in the footsteps of his father. Immense pride began to glow in his chest, and wouldn’t stop burning.
He is walking along further, but halts abruptly when Marcellery barks only once. The sound echoes off the walls, and Tommy doesn’t move an inch. He feels along the wall, seeing if he missed something. Then he feels a switchboard. That felt like trouble. He places the torch closer, and then he sees what she warned him for: a tripwire. He sucked in his breath; he could only imagine what would be triggered by that. He heard them all from Phil. Monster-charged stones, arrows, falling axes, lava. He steps over the string with carefully placed steps, and guides carl over it too. Marcellery already stepped over it. He scratches her head.
“good girl, you prevented us from some nasty trouble hmm?” She sniffs softly in response.
When they advance further into the building Tommy finds a staircase. The walls left and right of him stopped short, and the walls were decorated with a few stone cones. He was about to move upstairs when he remembers one of Phil’s lessons.
“remember little Theseus, never assume something is ordinary without checking if it really is.”
So Tommy moves towards the stones, and touches them softly. Despite the time-worn building around them, they move easily; buttons.
While it could be a trap, he doesn’t think it is. Techno and Phil teaches him enough about adventuring and monuments that he guesses this is the coded entrance to another room.
But he is not as patient as Phil nor techno, so with a few swings of his pickaxe he breaks himself a small doorway in the wall. The stone is old and brittle so its relatively easy. Inside he finds a very complicated red stone contraption he does not dare touch, and… a chest. But somehow he knows that if he were to open the chest, everything would go to hell. But he was rather greedy. And curious. And… well.
A bystander could see how, a few seconds later, a screeching Tommy storms trough the hallway with a few things in his arms, followed on the foot by a horse and a dog, looking equally panicked, as a bunch of very angry skeletons follow them.
They run outside, where Tommy leads the two animals into the safety of the trees, and dumps the assorted materials in his arms on the ground. Then he shrugs the shield from his shoulders to his elbow, and unsheathes his sword. He runs back to the clearing, which was now populated with a few skeletons, zombies and a straying creeper. No big deal, Tommy assured himself. He’s battled these things since he could walk.
His fighting is almost like a dance, and the mobs already catch fire from the rising sun, so the work is finished in a matter of seconds. But not before Tommy takes an arrow to the shoulder.
Its his right this time.
well, at least he can match with the other shoulder.
After he left the scene with his two animal companions, they traveled for a few hours until they found a small pond in the middle of the jungle and decided to make camp there. Tommy could finally wrap up the arrow wound, which he had originally patched up with some spare cloth. He could heard Smallish sigh in his head. With a wry grin he begins boiling some water over the fire.
He decided to keep the fire on trough the night, unfamiliar with the biome as he was. The strange sounds from the thicket no longer bothered him and he fell asleep soundly.
Shortly before dawn he was awoken by some big animal scurrying trough his rations, and he flew up, sword in hand, ready to attack whatever it was. He couldn’t make out much as it fled, but what he saw had shaken him enough to pack his things and get moving again.
They should get out of this jungle as soon as possible.
They trekked trough the jungle for another two days, not interrupted by any of the beasts Tommy saw earlier, and eventually on day three they reached a mountain range.
Thankfully it wasn’t very tall, but it was tall enough that when they ascended he pulled out his blue, faded cardigan.
The mountains were much more pleasant than the snowy peaks back home. It wasn’t very cold, and the sturdy evergreen trees and shades of moss coloured everything sap green. It was pretty, and for a while Tommy was content to just sit in silence and take in the nature around him. As he reached the top he turned around in a slow circle. The view was breathtaking. Behind him, in the north, lay the jungle, and he could almost see the glimmering sea. To the west he could see the mountain pass that he claimed extend, until the clouds swallowed it up. To the east he sees the mountains lower into the tundra, and eventually into the plains. In front of him, in the south, he sees plains and rivers and small dots of forest as far as the eye can see. And in the distance is another mountain range. He guesses it is three or four days travel to the other pass. That is, if nothing came up on his path. He decided to camp on the top of the mountain for now, and try to look around again tomorrow, as it was rather hazy right now.
Leaning against the rock he warms his hands on the small fire. It was a very nice spot to camp. The view was amazing during sunset, and the stars he could see from up here took his breath away. It reminded him of the stargazing they did on the Empress. Homesickness and a bittersweet longing stings softly in his chest. But he knew his friends were proud of him for continuing, and he knew they’d be praying for him every night; toasting to his quest. And that was enough to keep him going.
He left hours before dawn, not bothering with the sun to come up for a safe descend into the valley below. He placed a torch into the slot on the back of his saddle and it provided just enough light for them to descend safely. Once they were below in the valley he started to walk again. It seemed safe enough, the tall grass and flowers brushing his ankles. The sweet smell of the grass was calming, and the fresh mountain air followed him for a good while. Every now and then he crosses shallow rivers, where he could see the white stones glimmer on the bottom. The blue air drowned everything in pleasant, cool shades. It was a lovely ride, and he once again found how he was enjoying this traveling a lot when he wasn’t about to die every second of the day.
When Tommy was up on the mountain, he could’ve sworn to see lights in the distance, so he was hoping for another town to stock up on food and ask around. But it was at least a day and a half away, so he traveled with significant speed.
once, in the distance, he could see figures in the distance. The wind carried over conversations in a strange language Tommy didn’t know, and when they saw him they started to stagger on all fours towards him. He did not feel like finding out what those creatures were, so he spurred Carl into a swift gallop and the trio raced away. By nightfall they lost the creatures, but Tommy was wary enough to sleep in a tree that night.
This phenomenon continued once more, minutes the weird creatures. Tommy quickly found he was loving wandering the plains. It was easy, you could see where you were going and it was pretty. There were more than enough rivers to drink from, and occasionally swim in. Marcellery had an marvellous time hunting butterflies, and Carl was pretty sure he ended up in heaven with this grass.
It was actually a day and just the morning of the second day to reach the town. It was a bit bigger than the last, and Tommy quickly found out it transported people up and down the river it was built along. The market was tomorrow, so he decided to camp in one of the unused horse meadows just outside of town. He knew that sleeping outside close to others was dangerous. Not because of thieves and murderers, but of the zombies that big groups always attracted. So he spend half the night seated by the fence with his axe in his lap, and the other half sleeping on top of the only tree the meadow held.
The following morning he packed everything up and went to check out the market. It was rather big because the town was a trader’s post. Beside the usual food and farming recourses, it also sold weaponry and clothes. Because he had used or lost most of his other clothes he bought a new set, in fashion of the plain-traveling nomads. He also invested in a bow and a quiver of arrows, something he noticed he could use in fights. And lastly a few extra rations and another canister of water. Then he went to check out the boat prices and destinations.
He spoke to a gruff old sailor, who explained to him where the boats went to.
“the north-east river takes you to Camp Firefly, and later on to the Bear’s Pass. The west river takes you to Pandaros, the mountain city, and two days travel from there you find the Whalewoods. The eastern river takes you into goblin and orc territory so we don’t advance to far into there. We take you as far as Dazokh and no further. The north-west river doesn’t flow far but if you follow it to its delta, and travel half a day you’ll end up close to Tethren. And the south river…”
he thinks for a moment.
“it’s not very far, but we can take you to Lunirn, the miner’s camp. Its in the middle of the badlands, and I hear they have railroads who can take you further.”
Tommy nods, eyes wide at the amount of information.
“s- so the southern river will take me closer to the Salt Lake Desert?”
The other huffs.
“i don’t know what place yer talking about kid, but if its in the south, that river is your best bet.”
Tommy thanks him and asks how to get to the southern river post. The older man instructs him and then claps him on the shoulder, wishing him luck.
The blonde boy was still massaging his shoulder with a pained grimace when he arrived at the boat dock. He looks around a little helpless, not immediately seeing anyone. Eventually his eyes land on a lady who is twining some ropes while leaning against one of the docking poles.
He goes up to her.
“hello, can you please help me? I am looking to travel down the southern river and I heard I had to be here?” She stands up and firmly shakes his hand.
“i’m the captain.” He shake her hand. “ Gwynn, it’s nice to meet you.” He smiles at her.
“Theseus, nice to meet you too.” She returns to twining her rope.
“so what brings you here Theseus? It’s not often we meet merchants as young as you around here.” He goes to sit next to her, wrapping Carl’s leash around the docking pole.
“that could be because I am not a merchant. You could say that I am an adventurer, I guess. I’m on a quest.” She perks up at that.
“oh? Adventurers are an ever rarer case, even for a town like this one. please, tell me about it.” She glances sideways. “except if it’s a secret one, of course.”
He sighs and leans back into the pole, letting the sun warm his face.
“well, like all good stories it started on a dark autumn night, in the pouring rain…”
Gwynn listened with rapt attention at his story. He changed all of the location names, and the names of his friends too, but she didn’t seem to mind whatsoever. When he finished she sighed longingly.
“i wish I could travel the earth like that. It sounds so carefree, so wild…” she huffs. “alas, I am bound to the same old river and the same old boat, probably until I am too old to go out into the world.”
Tommy brightens up at the words.
“no no wait listen to me. My dad, and my oldest brother. My dad is like, hella old. But he’s still an adventurer! Have you heard or the Hardcore Series?” He referenced to Phil’s most known quest.
Gwynn didn’t know it, which made sense as Tommy was very, very far from home.
“listen. So, okay. My dad is a very well known adventurer. His name is Philza Craft, and he’s an Elytrian. And one of his quests…”
The two spend time exchanging stories until the sun passes her highest point. Gwynn stands up, her rope long forgotten.
“I should ready the ship, I have a few people to take with me today. You wait at that board there, yeah?” Tommy does as instructed and watches as she relies the ship, while making idle conversations with other passengers. Eventually a horn is blown, and the gate to the ship opens. He leads carl and Marcellery onto the boardwalk, and reaches towards his purse. But Gwynn stops him.
“no, don’t pay. Your stories were payment enough. Thank you.” Tommy bows his head in a silent thanks and leads the horse and the dog to a corner of the ship, close to the steering wheel.
“all right ladies and gents, welcome aboard the Starbreeze. We are inbound for the dwarves miner’s camp Lunirn. We are to reach it in eleven hours, approximately around ten A.M tomorrow. These waters are known to host pirates, so I would appreciate if you could all stay on guard a little, but we’ve never had problems with them before. Thank you for choosing the Starbreeze and I hope you enjoy the journey!”
Tommy left Carl where he was and walked over to Gwynn, Marcellery followed him on the foot. She greeted him with a nod.
“are pirates really an issue here?”
She nods. “yep. I am afraid so. It’s never a big deal, we leave them be, they leave us be. They know we never transport actual goods so we are not really a target.” She eyes Carl and then his purse.
“however… they might take interest on a horse. And a dog is also valued around these parts.” She huffs, steering closely to the left bank to avoid hitting a half-sunken tree.
“i suggest you hold on closely to your belongings, and keep your sword unsheathed at all times.”
He swallows thickly.
well, it seems like should send another prayer to Prime.
The prayer hadn’t been enough.
The pirates attacked in the middle of the night, with a midnight-blue ship. Arrows whistled overhead and buried themselves with dry plocks into the railings and wooden planks around him.
Tommy, who was awoken a few seconds earlier by an arrow ripping trough his shirt, yanks Carl down by his reins until the horse lays down, just like Marcellery.
“stay.” He motions to the animals, and then gets up, shouldering his shield to the front and grabbing his sword. He found the opposing ship rather close, close enough to jump it.
The ship didn’t harbour more than five people, enough to take for tommy. He once again thanked Phil and Techno for their excessive warrior trainings, and he cracks his knuckles.
Another prayer to Prime, then.
And he runs a few feet and jumps on board. Gwynn’s scream echoes in his ears, and its followed by the hollow sound of his feet hitting the planks. At first, the pirates don’t notice the enemy in their midst. But soon enough they do, as one of their men’s heads rolls past and into the water below, colouring it dark with blood. They are down to four. Tommy rapidly switches between stabbing and swiping with his sword, hacking with his axe and ordinary fist fighting. The enchantments on his sword colour the ship blue, red and green and look like sickly fireflies in the night. Soon enough all of the men lay dead on the ground, except for the captain.
He stands across the bigger man. He’s about six foot six, and wear a rather inconvenient old-fashioned military jacket, tight leather pants and a laughable big hat. He holds the scimitar with shaking hands, making the weapon rattle from left to right. This would be a piece of cake.
Tommy engages into the fight once more, disarming the captain almost immediately. The latter pulls out a dagger though. With a tight face Tommy continues the fight, when he gets the killing blow he carefully lowers the dying captain onto the planks.
“i’m sorry.” He whispers sadly. He didn’t want to kill anyone. He only wanted to protect his friends.
The captain bares his teeth at him. And in his last dying moments, slams the dagger down to the hilt into Tommy’s ribs.
A stinging in his stomach causes him to wake up. With a groan he tries to shield the blaring lights, but he fails. As he opens them he finds the sun reflecting on the greenish water is what’s causing the light. He tries to sit up. His head hurt like hell. With another groan he tries to identify his surroundings. They’re still on the river it seems, and most of the other passengers are still asleep (seeing how its dawn) or looking out over the water.
“ah, you’re finally awake.” He is startled by the voice of Gwynn and turns around. She is seated by the wheel, steering it idly.
“wha- what happened?”
She sighs.
“well. We got ambushed by pirates and you went out onto their ship to save us. What you in fact did do, by the way. No one on board of our ship died, thanks to you.” She rubs her face.
“you killed the entire crew, captain included, but the bastard stabbed you in his last moments. It was plain luck we had a traveling doctor aboard, who patched you up.”
She gestures to his torso. He lifts up his shirt, a new one he noticed, and sees the sturdy bandages wrapped around his ribs. indeed, moving didn’t hurt besides for a distinct stinging.
“where is he? I’d like to thank him.” She sighs.
“we dropped him off at a stop earlier today. He said if you really wanted to thank him, that you shouldn’t get into fights anytime soon.” He nods bashfully.
She switches topics, gazing out over the water.
“in about two hours we will reach your stop by the way. Where are you going, after you reach the camp?”
He halts. He had no idea were to go.
“well, my final destination is Salt Lake Desert, but I don’t know how to get there. The old boatsman told me this is the easiest route to the south, and how the miner’s camp has a lot of railway systems.
She contemplates for a second.
“i’ve heard of the desert, but I don’t think if ever seen anyone travel there. You can try to ask the librarians of Lunirn, or otherwise the cartographers.” Tommy chews on his bottom lip, considering his options.
“okay, one more question if that is okay.”
Gwynn stays silent, which he takes as a sign to go on.
“have you transported, heard or seen a lanky, brown-haired male the past weeks? Curly hair with a white streak, walks around in a yellow sweater, wire rimmed glasses. Speaks rather pretentiously and is tall. Listens to the name of Wilbur Soot?”
She thinks for a moment. And then shakes her head.
“no, i’m sorry. But there are a lot of roads towards Lunirn, which I’m guessing is his last checkpoint before entering the badlands and deserts. You can ask around there, I am sure that, if they have seen or heard of him, they’ll gladly help you.”
He smiles at her gratefully, and she just pats him on the shoulder.
“you should get some rest, Theseus. I’ll wake you when we reach your stop.”
Tommy had never been so glad to follow an order.
What feels like just a few minutes later he is awoken by Gwynn shaking his shoulder.
“Theseus, boy. Wake up. We’re here.” He rises and looks around. The rocky shores had made way for sand and clay in all shades of yellow and red, and it rose up in high, rounded rock peaks. Some were dotted with acacia trees and thorny plants. The docks are placed where the shores are the least steep, and they empty out into a massive clay terrain. A few hundred meters away, nestled against the closest peak sits a small city.
Gwynn grins.
“welcome to Lunirn.”
He quickly packs his things, and is the last to leave the hull. Gwynn waves at him, sorrow seeping out of her bones. He was sad to see her go, too.
“take care Gwynn! Don’t let those pesky pirates get you!” He yells at her from the shore, voice choked up with emotion.
“goodbye Theseus! That we may meet under better circumstances! Best of luck on your quest, and send my blessings to your family! And especially your dad. Who knows, I might meet him someday, on my own adventures!” She yells back, equally as emotional. Tears stream down his face, as she yells back once more.
“thank you for showing me that I can be whoever I want to be, despite who I was born as!”
With this parting words she sails off, the rickety peaks quickly shielding her from his eyes.
It takes him a good while to pull himself together again, and even more to actually reach the city. To the left of him rises a massive round building, which he later finds out is something called a ‘Colosseum’ and a building full of rickety turrets and towers, that apparently is the Library. After he finds the cheapest tavern and rents a room, he drops off Carl by the stables and walks to the Library together with Marcellery.
The air is cool when he enters, different from the sweltering heat outside. The main hall rotates down into multiple levels, bookcases stacked along the sides. He leans over the railing, and looks down, down, down the levels, until it is plunged in darkness. And somehow he knows, that down there the rows of books continue. He hauls himself away from the railing before he throws up, and goes to find a librarian.
Soon enough he finds an individual in a pale purple robe, and asks her how to find the maps. She doesn’t reply, but writes on a piece of paper instead.
You should ask the Headmaster of the library. He knows what specific maps you would need.
He nods. “where do I find him?”
Level 8. That’s two levels down and to the left. You’ll find him easy enough.
He bows slightly. “thank you.”
His stomach recoils at the thought of having to descend into the darkness, but the lower levels were lit by little candles in glass jars, and it was more cozy than scary.
As he reached level 8, he steered sharply left in-between the two bookcases. And there, he found a lapis-blue door. On the door hung a small silver plaque that read something in a language he didn’t know. Despite that, he wrote it down in his journal.
hᒷᔑ↸ — ꖎ╎ʖ∷ᔑ∷╎ᔑリ g⍑𝙹ᓭℸ ̣ʖ⚍ ∷
pꖎᒷᔑᓭᒷ kリ𝙹ᓵꖌ t∴╎ᓵᒷ
He knocked on the door and waited. No one answered, but the door opened on a crack. He used it further open and stepped into the room. Bookcases were lining the walls, sometimes aired out with little tables filled with candles and trinkets. On the far end is a big window, open, and a massive oak desk. Behind the desk sits a figure, writing on a stack of papers.
“how can I help you?”
The voice was like a physical slap in the face. He could recognise that echoey whisper anywhere. A thousand things wanted to slip out of his mouth, but the first thing that found its way trough was,
“i thought you were dead.”
Because the figure seated on the chair was none other than Ghostbur.
The latter looks up with wide eyes.
“tommy?”
The blonde boy was crying softly.
“yeah, its me.” The ghost rushed over to him and hugged him tightly. The scent so similar to Wilbur almost made him break down.
what in Prime’s name are you doing here Tommy?” Ghostbur asks, disbelief filling his voice.
“i could ask you the exact same man!” The other replies. The two hug each other tightly, and for a moment, everything is right in the world.
The two of them head out to the library’s tea house and catch up over massive cups of peppermint tea. Ghostbur is sad to hear about his quest, and wishes him luck. Tommy doesn’t longer on the fact that Ghostbur is a part of Wilbur for too long, because it’s too confusing. He asks how Ghostbur is alive and out here. He explains how, when Wilbur got resurrected he indeed got sucked back into limbo, but he had anticipated this for a while. So he had read up on anything limbo-related he could get his hands on and found a way to escape it.
Tommy sits in silence, building up courage to ask the question lingering in the corners of the room.
“how did you do it?” He whispers, stirring his tea, nit wanting to look into ghostbur’s eyes.
The other closes his eyes briefly, as if remembering a long journey.
“i traded my soul for my freedom. Limbo took my soul and my emotions in exchange for my freedom.” He sighs heavily. “i cannot feel anything besides a vague emptiness. It’s okay though,” he ruses as he sees tommy’s face. “i know what i’m supposed to feel in certain moments and can act on that. It’s not too bad. Im one of the ones who are better off here.” Tommy must’ve looked confused at this, because Ghostbur elaborates.
“this library is a sanctuary for… broken people. People who went trough horrors, spoken and unspoken. They carry both visible and invisible scars.” He looks around. “when I got my freedom I traveled for a while. I suppose the Esempi thought me deceased. I ended up here by accident, and found the library. It was quite small at the time, but reminded me of my library back home; one of the only things I truly loved. So I took it over and started to haunt it, and sort of became the head-librarian.”
After their catching up, ghostbur gladly helped Tommy to pick out the right maps. He quickly found what he needed and decided to take the railway system. The desert was further than he originally thought, but it was not too bad. He guessed that he could make it there in about a week, maybe more.
They decided that he was gonna take the Topaz railway all the way to the ruins of a big dwarven city. Nomads used the ruins for camps sometimes and they could direct him to a route trough the final stretch of badlands, which would end in the swamp. the dwarves called it the Bog of sįmæciń, which was Ancient for Slime-kin. Apparently the swamp was home to a family of green slime mobs.
If he could cross the Bog safely, which was not too hard, seeing how it was rather small, he would end up in a wasteland Ghostbur described as Tundra. if he crossed it he should find the desert. It was surrounded by sandstone mountains, but Tommy had climbed so many mountains it would not be a problem, he assured Ghostbur. The latter looks worried still. Apparently the peaks were one of the toughest in the world, and the only pass was blocked by a sphinx. Tommy assured him he’d be fine, and that he could do it.
He decided to not leave right away, as he already paid for a room in the inn. He visited Carl briefly and then walked to his room. It was a pleasant, tiny tavern called the Boar’s Head. He had the attic room. It was filled with a bed, table, chair and a small window. It was more than enough for one evening.
A quick dinner of roasted beef and potatoes later, he was seated comfortably by the fire. He was softly leafing trough the thick parchment maps, and listening with one ear to the conversations of the locals.
It was a peaceful evening.
After sitting by the fire for a good while he decided to go out into town. He hadn’t experienced other people in a while and craved social interaction.
Tommy had heard countless stories of the nightmare tales of travellers being murdered in alleyways and whatnot, but he did not care. For one night, he wanted to experience something else than traveling and hunting.
Lunirn’s night life was astounding. Tommy didn’t know what to expect but this? It was of a whole new level.
He walked trough the streets until he reached the towns heart. It was divided over three squares, called palazzo’s, and they all harboured different entertainment. The Palazzo del cibo, where he could buy the most outlandish dishes known to man. The Palazzo del musica, where all of the live entertainment seemed to be centered. He saw fire-eaters, sword-fighters, dancer, musicians and so much more. And lastly there was the palazzo di stregoneria, which was the home of many wizards, witches, elves and magic shop owners. The night was so full of smell, sound and colour that Tommy nearly drowned in it. He had no idea were to start, so he started to walk into a random direction.
He ended up on the western side of the Palazzo del musica, where he saw countless people dance to the songs a small band played in the corner of two buildings. It was fast-paced and invoked images of outlandish rituals and wild nature. Tommy loved it. He shyly moved to stand closer to the crowd, and looks around with wide eyes. The people moved around him like a sea.
He catches the eye of the drum player, and grins at him. He holds a thumbs up, to show he enjoys the music.
The drummer grins back.
“aye, gringo, you enjoy our beats?”
The man sounded kind of like Quackity. Tommy ignored the sting of homesickness it gave him. He nods vigorously.
“yes, it is lovely!”
The drummer bows his head in thanks.
“come on, dance. It is a special night. Tonight the dead walk the earth! Dance with them to celebrate!”
Tommy looks around, and only then notices the skull masks everyone is wearing. A pretty lady in a deep-purple dress catches his eyes. She smiles gracefully and hands him a simple white-and-orange skull mask. With a grateful nod he ties it around his head, although puzzled. Once he does, she grabs his hand and whirls him around, once, twice. He giggles in surprise.
Okay. One night he could afford it to let loose. He grabs the lady’s hands back and whirls around with her, feeling at home among these strangers.