Chapter 8
The Girl of the Ghost Quarter
After running and running, and running for what seemed like forever, the Thief stopped and rested his hand on the stone wall with a loud and stinging slap.
"Seriously, what is wrong with today?" he cried to no one in particular. "First, we got people transforming into giant bird monsters, then we get zombies? What next? Giants? It's like the whole world's gone crazy! Is this the end? Is that it? Is this the end of the world? Are we all going to die?"
He paused to take a few deep breaths. When he finally calmed down, he took a look around to see some open gates leading to overtly abandoned houses. He had somehow reached the Ghost Quarter.
This should be welcome news to him since that meant his safehouse, his home away from home, was close by. But the eerie quiet and dark appearance of the long-deserted houses just creeped him out and sent shivers down his spine. And it only got worse as the sun began to set, plunging the neighborhood in further darkness.
This area would be the absolute worst place to run into that zombie monster again, he thought before a loud gurgle from his belly made him look down.
"Now that I think about it, I haven't had anything to eat all day."
Seeing no point in loitering outside any longer, the Thief made his way to the safehouse. He was a bit worried he might get lost in the neighborhood's maze-like roads, but he turned out to have worried for nothing.
Thanks to regularly wandering around the Ghost Quarter at least once every week to get to know it better, he quickly found the way to his safehouse without even having to stop to think. On the way, he even ran into a familiar face, a fellow explorer of the Ghost Quarter, the little Girl.
"Ow!"
While walking down the road and humming a jingle to distract himself from the eerie vibe around him, his foot hit the bottom step of some stairs leading up to the side entrance of a two-floor house. He managed to stop himself from falling flat on his face, but he accidentally dropped the pearl as he stumbled.
After slipping from the Thief's fingers, the pearl fell and bounced off the pavement once, then twice, then three times before rolling down a slight slope in the road.
"Oh, shoot!"
The Thief chased after the pearl, bent down with his hands awkwardly held out as he sought a chance to snatch the runaway treasure off the ground. But that chance never came no matter how close he got to the blasted thing. He ended up following the pearl down a curve to a split in the road where, from the Thief's right-hand side, the Girl walked in.
As soon as he saw the Girl, the Thief came to a screeching halt. The pearl went on ahead until it hit the brick wall with a sharp, PAK!
Hearing a sharp noise, the Girl turned her gaze away from the surrounding rooftops to the ground where a silvery ball laid. It looked like one of the pearls of her mother's necklace, except much bigger. She picked it up and gave it a look over.
Have you ever gotten the urge to throw a ball while pretending to catch a Pokemon? Because that's what the Girl got as she felt the size and weight of the ball in her hand. But before she could do that, a man's voice called out to her and she turned.
"Hey! Over here!" The Thief waved to the Girl. "Mind passing that back to me? It's really important."
The Girl looked at the Thief warily. He wasn't like that weirdo from earlier, but he was still a stranger. Still, if the ball was his, the right thing to do would be to give it back. So, she tossed it.
The ball flew up and then dropped down in an arch.
Eyes on the pearl, the Thief took a few steps back and then clapped his hands around it over his head.
He flashed the Girl a smile and said, "Nice throw!"
The Girl smiled back.
With his prize back in his hands, the Thief quickly bade the Girl farewell and walked back the way he came. But halfway up the road, he stopped and turned around. He couldn't help but worry about the Girl wandering around a place like this on her own, especially now that there were dangerous weirdoes roaming about, such as the Wealthy Son and the Secretary with weird mutant superpowers, and those Mummies.
The Thief conveniently didn't think that maybe it was his fault that those dangerous weirdoes were showing up, even though they were all clearly after the pearl he had brought with him.
He quietly crept back down to the end of the road, hid behind the corner and peaked out just in time to see the Girl disappear at another left turn. Beyond that, the Thief could hear the voices of children who sounded like some of the Girl's friends.
Relieved to know that she would not be on her own, the Thief turned away again to look for his safe house.
*********
The Wealthy Son took a look around while flapping a decorated folding fan beneath his chin. Dark-stained walls surrounded him and the Secretary with gates leading to old houses. Some houses looked fairly new while others looked like they've been neglected for a while, at least on the outside.
"You're sure this is the right place?"
The Secretary answered the Wealthy Son's question with a nod. "I peeked into the memories of some locals who saw him running this way. My guess he plans to hideout somewhere in the famous Ghost Quarter."
She had a concerned frown on her face, but the Wealthy Son didn't notice.
After taking another look down the road, he gave his phone a glance and sighed. For some reason, the compass app enchanted with his magic spell was not working. He had heard of the famed Ghost Quarter as well, and knew that it was a massive and maze-like place with more than a few abandoned houses to choose to hide in. Without the enchanted digital compass, finding the Thief or the pearl was going to be very, very hard.
"Well, we'll just have to look around and find anyone who may have seen where he's gone."
He turned to the pitter-patter sound of slippers and spotted the Girl approaching.
"Good timing. Go check with her. Kids are always out exploring, so she might have seen something."
"Understood," said the Secretary.
On the Wealthy Son's orders, she walked over to the little Girl and called out to her. "Excuse me!"
Just before opening the stainless steel gate, the Girl stopped and turned.
The Secretary flashed a friendly smile and knelt down. Pink light flashed and spread from the Secretary's eyes to the Girl's.
Meanwhile, the Wealthy Son stood on lookout at a corner a few feet away. To make sure they're not spotted, he clapped his hands together and pulled out something invisible from his palm. He tossed this invisible something in the air and suddenly he, the Secretary and the Girl were invisible too. They could still see each other, though so the Girl never noticed she had turned invisible. She didn't notice anything really, being half-asleep while under the Secretary's spell. The invisible veil also served as a wall to keep people from getting too close.
Not long later, the light retreated from the Girl's eyes back into the Secretary's.
Flashing another smile, the Secretary said to the Girl, "Thank you. It's getting late, so better get inside."
The Girl blinked and then smiled back. "Okay!"
The instant the Girl retreated inside, the Secretary's smile dropped into a frown and she walked away to rejoin the Wealthy Son.
"So?" went the Wealthy Son. "Found anything?"
The Secretary nodded. "A lot more than I expected."
The Wealthy Son raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
"It is as you said, sir," said the Secretary. "The Girl spotted the Thief at the Ghost Quarter while she was out on a walk about a half-hour ago."
"Ha!" The Wealthy Son grinned triumphantly. "What did I tell you? I'm always right!"
That is debatable, the Secretary thought.
"And?" asked the Wealthy Son. "Do you know where the Thief went?"
"Up a stretch of road that slanted slightly up. I can take us there right now. Fortunately, the Girl explored the Ghost Quarter quite frequently. From her memories, I was able to extract a complete layout of the area."
"Good, good," said the Wealthy Son. "With that, it'll just be a matter of time before we get the pearl back."
"But that is not all that I found out," said the Secretary. "The otherworlder that your father warned of is here."
"Well, that's no surprise," said the Wealthy Son. "You said yourself that Father told us they'd be coming."
And then he frowned.
"Wait, did the Girl SEE the otherworlder?"
The Secretary nodded. "Not only that. I think they've become friends."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. I know where the otherworlder has made his base. I suggest we go and take care of him now so he does not pose a problem later."
The Wealthy Son rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "No, wait. Let's hold off on that."
The Secretary blinked. "Sir?"
With a wicked smile, the Wealthy Son explained, "I just got an idea that may come in handy later."
He glanced back at the Girl's house and his wicked smile grew wickeder.
**********
Further away by a few feet, the Hypnotist poked her head out from behind the wall. She had just been wandering the neighborhood, cursing her luck that the Thief got away when she saw the Wealthy Son, the Secretary, and the Girl disappear before her very eyes, as if they had been covered by some kind of invisibility cloak. Curious, she stuck around and waited a bit until the Wealthy Son and the Secretary reappeared.
The Hypnotist heard every word they said and realized that they were sorcerers just like her who were after the pearl.
That bit about the otherworlder was interesting, but more importantly, she thought, they knew where the Thief was. As long as she stuck with them, they were sure to lead her to the pearl.
**********
Meanwhile . . .
As the sky darkened into nighttime, the Thief finally reached his safehouse. Eager to get some food in his stomach but thinking the snack bars he brought with him would not be enough, he headed straight for the kitchen expecting to find crates full of more bars. But instead, what awaited him were wrappers littered all over the floor and something so outrageous staring back at him that his mind just went blank. His mouth hung open and his eyes popped, making him look like a fish out of water.
Hunched down and yet still towering over the Thief was an armored up, green-skinned Giant.
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