Back on Track

In the morning when Lisa woke up, she couldn't find Ben, she could only see Edgar putting out the fire.

"Just about time!" He turned around.

"Where did Ben go?" She asked.

"He left!" He finally put out the fire.

"Where? W… How?" She looked around with confusion.

There was no sign of a boat or anything.

"I am not sure why but I know how…" He glanced at her. "Wanna find out how?" He asked with a smile on his face.

She nodded and he sat on his knees and asked her to climb his back like a kid.

"I am not doing that!" She nodded.

"Don't you wanna go where we were going?" He asked.

"It doesn't sound too bad though, there's food for you, and you drink animal blood, I can't eat food, we can have a good time here!" Sarcastically then she got lost in some thought.

"We can start a new life here, enjoy the beauty of nature, live peacefully," She said then she realized what she just said and started stammering "I mean… a… I mean until the timer runs out." She smiled nervously.

"Sounds wonderful Lisa, but according to Ben, something is wrong with you, and I'd rather help you first, he is as scared as I am, especially since what happened to you last night." He stood up and shook off the dust from his knees.

"What last night? It was just a dream!" Lisa blurted then she realized if it was just a dream how Edgar knew about it.

"Lisa? Tell me about your dream?" He asked, and Lisa explained everything.

"I don't get it, Ben also said that I won't get it," He said and told Lisa about what happened to her after her dream "See your thumb!"

She looked at her thumb and the scar was still there "What?"

"I think we should go now!" She suggested and just like before Edgar sat down on his knees.

She climbed his back and held him tightly "I don't get it… how is this going to help us ge…" Before she could complete her sentence Edgar ran, with the speed of a lightning bolt.

All of Lisa's confusion started clearing up when she found the water beneath his feet, he was running on the surface of a deep ocean as if it was a floor, causing ripples so small that couldn't be seen by a human eye.

Lisa's eyes filled with wonder observed every single detail, small particles shining under the sunlight, landing on the water, birds up high in the sky, playing with each other swinging with the wind.

Then here he was, completely out of this world, who made her experience all of it, he could sense her heart pounding with joy, it felt like achieving everything to him.

He had no clue how her gaze was stuck on the reflection of his face, she hadn't seen him smile like this before.

She looked back and the Island seemed tiny, and after a good 10 minutes, they reached their destination.

It was a part where there was no public, he knelt and she stepped down.

What she had was an experience she was never going to forget, and exactly the way they planned they took the transit to Zurich.

"I don't understand, why didn't we come like this before?" She asked.

"The sea wasn't calm before!" He answered.

That was the quietest ride they shared for the first time, and upon their arrival, Edgar wanted to call Ben and found out that his phone was dead.

He found a shop and called Ben from there, his phone was fine, so he picked up, "How will we find Alicia?" Edgar asked.

"Go to Cafe Metro it's near the transit stop, There is a card in your bag, show it to the reception and they will take you to Alicia, I will catch up with you there because there's something really important that you might want to hear." He said but it seemed as if the signals on his side were weak.

Edgar couldn't hear all of it "What?" He yelled as he covered one of his ears with his finger "Hello?" and the call ended.

"What did he say?" She asked.

"Not much but there is a card that I need to show at the Cafe Metro"

They both exited the shop and found the cafe nearby it was an underground cafe followed by a few steps.

He took out a card that seemed completely ordinary solitaire card and placed it on the counter, a woman approached, she glanced at the card, and nodded.

Edgar and Lisa followed her as per her signal to a restroom she held the door from the opposite side of the knob, from where the hinges were, and flipped it, which opened a passage going downstairs.

After descending the stairs they entered a room to the left, there were too many people being fed on by vampires.

The receptionist pointed toward a woman with straight shoulder lengthened black hair with straight fringes, she was wearing a purple jacket, a choker, big eyelashes, and dark pink lipstick.

She was talking to two girls on both of her sides.

"Excuse me?" Edgar said but the woman asked him to stay quiet.

"This is important" He requested so she raised her hand and opened it in front of her, she blew on her empty hand and a glittery powder flew on both Lisa and Edgar's faces which somehow relaxed them.

They both inhaled deeply and exhaled, Alicia took them away from the table and made them sit on the table nearby.

They introduced each other.

"Now tell me what do you want?" She asked.

"We want to get to the Griffinburg!" Edgar answered.

"What makes you think I will help you?" She stared at him from head to toe "You clearly came empty-handed." She sniggered.

"We were caught in a storm!" He said.

She turned away without answering him until he said something that interested her "We could return the favor!"

"Now we're talking!" She smiled.

Afterward, they sat together and discussed over a glass of wine "There's a creature that lives deep in the jungle of the Griffinburg, I need its fang, it is very dangerous and only I can get its fang!" She sipped from her glass.

"So why do you need us?" Lisa asked.

"Let me finish!" She sipped again "I can't fight it alone it is too strong, I need you to help me defeat it and I will guide you to Griffinburg, do we have a deal?" Alicia extended her hand toward Edgar and waited for him to respond.

Edgar looked at Lisa and shrugged

"She says it is dangerous!" Lisa wasn't scared for herself, she was scared for him.

"I will handle it!" Edgar held Alicia's hand.

When they finally had a deal they waited for Ben for a while but there was no sign of him "We can't keep waiting forever, we have to catch a taxi or something" Edgar suggested.

"Who said we need a taxi?" Alicia asked.

She led them to a corner, where there was a storeroom, they entered it, it had a stairway leading them down to the basic storeroom where there was only a little bit of blue light and in the corner, they had a vending machine.

"Reveal!" Alicia said as she stood before the vending machine.

The vending machine started shaking and got brighter and brighter when the light dimmed they saw a door in place of the vending machine.

She opened the door and they followed her through it finding themselves standing on a slim train at a subway station, there was no seat, just metal bars to hold on to.

The track was inside an underwater station made of glass and black metal with neon lights, you could witness the sea life through there, Lisa got to a window nearby, and saw a whale swimming by.

The train was going fast yet smoothly, it felt fun to ride it, there weren't too many people but the thing that bothered Lisa was the fact that there was no driver's compartment and they were in the front compartment and there was neither a control room nor a driver and it wasn't an automatic train.

"Don't worry! It is controlled by the powerful forces." Alicia winked.

It made Lisa smile, she decided to enjoy the view instead of wasting the opportunity to travel on the first-ever witch-controlled train.

The track was going up from here so they got out of the sea and now if you could watch it from a distance you'd think that the train is running on the surface of the water.

It was fast and before they knew a turn welcomed them, a track leading up to a bridge and after crossing the bridge where they entered was another subway station.

It was also made of black metal and glass but there were trees and plants magnifying the beauty of that place.

The train moved all the way to the stop and stopped smoothly, like butter slipping and landing in the center of a hot pan, "Welcome to Griffinburg!" Alicia laughed as she led them out of the train.