Part 9

EXT. FOREST–DAY (FOGGY)

ERLE walks through the forest with a lantern in hand and the flame extinguishes. He pauses and places the lantern on the ground. He takes out a box of matches from his pocket before pausing.

ERLE: If you're going to follow me, you should at least be quieter.

LUCY slowly walks out from the bushes and gives a sheepish smile.

LUCY: Sorry, I was wandering aimlessly and I didn't know what to do.

ERLE: Aren't your parents worried? (Lights lantern)

LUCY: I finished my chores early. I was just at the Curio Shop earlier. Vanessa dragged me there and I didn't really want to be there anymore.

ERLE (stands): Why didn't you go to the bakery or something? Get a snack. That Curio shop has too many people nowadays.

LUCY: I don't like their cakes. They don't even have chocolate cake.

ERLE: Oh, right. That apparently isn't a thing yet.

LUCY: Yeah. I miss the classic chocolate cake honestly.

ERLE: We can always bake some. I bet the others can help find ingredients or something.

LUCY: Oh, okay...

Erle prepares to walk further into the forest.

LUCY (follows): What are you doing?

ERLE: Exploring.

LUCY: Alone? Isn't that dangerous?

ERLE: Well, I'm not alone anymore. No need to worry.

They walked in silence for a few moments. The further they get into the forest the thicker the fog becomes. The forest is unusually quiet.

LUCY: What are you trying to find anyways?

ERLE: Something. Anything. Just anything that isn't Elgin. Maybe another city. We have a train right? It has to go somewhere.

LUCY: I wonder if we're near a lake. We have a river after all.

ERLE: Exactly.

They walk in silence. Lucy shivers before glancing behind. A figure catches her eyes and it stands still. It's too foggy for her to distinguish any features.

ERLE: Are you still following me or do you plan to get lost?

Lucy snaps her head to Erle.

LUCY: I feel like we're being watched.

ERLE: I wouldn't be surprised if we are. Elgin is creepy in general.

LUCY: Who would be watching us?

ERLE: Why don't you ask them? (Points to audience)

CUT TO:

INT. "CURIO SHOP"–SAME DAY

VANESSA: Where would you find a journal?

JORDANIA: Outside of the shop?

Vanessa stands next the counter while Jordania sits on it while making an origami crane. The shop is lively as always with the group of children asking the shop keeper questions in the distance.

VANESSA CONT'D: That isn't specific enough.

JORDANIA: There's no point in brainstorming. Randi just went out to look for it anyways.

VANESSA: It's good to have ideas if the journal isn't found.

JORDANIA: This place is huge. We can't just bother everyone in the city about the journal either. Whoever has it probably won't give it back.

VANESSA: Damn it! We're clueless aren't we?

JORDANIA: I think so.

VANESSA: What do we do? Try and run around everywhere?

JORDANIA: I don't know. Isn't Erle in the forest too? Maybe he'll find something.

VANESSA: Wait, he went into the forest?

JORDANIA: Yeah, in pursuit of adventure or whatever.

VANESSA: He keeps talking about exploring what's beyond Elgin.

JORDANIA: He's been here for some time. Makes sense that he gets bored with this place.

VANESSA: And he went alone?

JORDANIA: Seems like.

VANESSA: Is he even thinking?

JORDANIA: He's like seventeen, isn't he? He's old enough to think for himself. I'm sure he'll be fine.

VANESSA: He may seem reliable but smart people can do dumb things sometimes.

JORDANIA: Well, he might not do something this time. Relax. Worry for when something actually does happen.

VANESSA: Alright. (Pause) I'm still bothered about the conversation earlier.

JORDANIA: Which?

VANESSA: The one with Goat Man and the shop keeper.

JORDANIA: I think Goat Man was grumpy we interrupted nap time.

VANESSA: Ha, he probably wanted to tell us something.

JORDANIA: Yeah, he wanted us to shut up during nap time.

VANESSA: No, the fact that he's an end and shop keep is supposed to be a beginning. Why can't we just go to Goat Man immediately if he's an end?

JORDANIA: Not sure. Maybe there are steps to it or something.

VANESSA: Do you think we can ask him how to get there?

JORDANIA: Did you see how pissed off he was earlier? I'd rather be stuck with Min in a tiny room for a week then risk him glaring at me.

VANESSA: They have to be linked!

JORDANIA: If Goat Man wanted to make it easy for us, he would've done so earlier.

VANESSA: Maybe we need the key mentioned in the letter.

JORDANIA: We don't know their relationship to each other. Like if they're buddies or enemies or just awkward high school classmates that can only bother to talk to each other when they need help on an assignment.

VANESSA: It can't be a coincidence. Key? Paths? Beginning? End? They're all related.

JORDANIA: If Randi walks in through that door with the journal then I'll say it's all connected.

RANDI runs into the shop with a piece of paper. The paper looks like it was ripped from a book.

RANDI (breathless): I found it.

BACK TO:

EXT. FOREST–SAME DAY

LUCY: Christ, Min! You scared the hell out of me!

MIN: What the hell are you doing in the forest? Don't you people help around the house with chores? I don't understand where all this free time is coming from.

ERLE: I have maids.

MIN: You act as if I don't know you.

Min is wearing a satchel and walks alongside Erle. Lucy lags behind the two slightly, still glancing behind her every so often in paranoia.

ERLE: You said "you people" and Lucy is just one person.

MIN: I'm talking about the swarm at the shop as well. All of you are suddenly wild animals.

ERLE: I wanted to have a nice solidary nature walk but it got crashed. Twice.

LUCY (mumbles): It was a coincidence, I swear.

ERLE: What are you doing out here anyways?

MIN: I was gathering ingredients for the apothecary.

LUCY: Apothecary?

MIN: Yeah, I'm an apprentice for an alchemist that happens to run an apothecary. I learned some pretty neat things.

ERLE: Three years go by, huh?

MIN: I suppose. Everyone else is more interested in where they are and talking about time dimensions. I rather toy with formulas.

LUCY: Do you mean time travel or alternate dimensions?

MIN: Like as if I know. I only recently discovered that my formula of turning carbon into gold was failing because the perceived amount of elections for each was off. So with the adjustments needed, this new formula has a higher likelihood to succeed.

ERLE: I see that my textbook has helped you in your studies.

MIN: The tests haven't been run yet but I'm hoping for the best.

LUCY: Um, what?

ERLE: Alchemy is a science, apparently. I don't really understand it either.

MIN: I won't go through the technicalities but Elgin has some properties that don't exist in the world we came from.

LUCY: I thought alchemy was magic.

MIN: For those that don't understand it would seem like magic, wouldn't it?

ERLE: You got a point.

Lucy halts for a second and her gaze is fixated on a figure in the distance. GOAT MAN stands at a distance silently watching the group.

LUCY: Do you see Goat Man or is it just me?

MIN: I see him so he's real.

LUCY: Should we follow him?

ERLE: Only one way to find out.

Erle starts running towards Goat Man's direction. Lucy hesitates before running after him and Min follows.

LUCY: Hey! That's not a good idea.

MIN: Erle! Slow down a bit!

ERLE: I'll be f–

Goat Man disappears suddenly and Erle falls into the ground unexpectedly.

LUCY (shrieks): Erle!

BACK TO:

INT. "CURIO SHOP"–SAME DAY

JORDANIA: What the hell is this?

RANDI: It's paper. It was pinned into the robot statue.

VANESSA: It only says not to trust an insider to the town but an outsider amongst the community.

RANDI: They say eyes are watching. Does that mean people are after us?

JORDANIA: I feel like there's more to the message. There are some smudges on the page there.

RANDI: Maybe if I hold it up to the light...

Randi goes to the window and holds it up to the light. The paper starts to become red and it bursts into a small flames. Randi yelps in surprise before dropping the paper. It vanishes in mid-air and everyone stares at it in shock.

JORDANIA: Well, fuck.

RANDI: What was that? I feel like I was going to die!

JORDANIA: Walk it off outside, you need a breather.

VANESSA: Someone write down what we just said. We can't forget a single detail.

Everyone scrambles to find anything to write on. Randi leaves the shop and is mumbling profanities.

VANESSA: Maybe it's someone we know. Like the community is us right?

JORDANIA (lowers voice): Do you really think it's a good idea to discuss this while the shop keeper is around?

VANESSA: Is it a good idea to be in the shop at all?

Jordania and Vanessa glance at the SHOP KEEPER and he's dusting the shelves with a feather duster. He looks into the reflection of one of the orbs and focuses on the two girls' reflections.

BACK TO:

EXT. FOREST–SAME DAY

ERLE is struggling to keep his grip on the edge of the cliff. LUCY and MIN approach the cliff.

LUCY: Erle! Are you alright?

ERLE: Yeah, give me a hand will you? I don't know how much I can hold on any longer.

MIN: This is what happens when you run off without thinking.

ERLE: Just shut up and help me.

Lucy and Min take Erle's arms and pull him up with all their might. After lots of struggling, Erle is back to safety and they all collapse onto the ground. They try to catch their breaths and beads of sweat run down their faces.

ERLE: Where did Goat Man go?

MIN: He poofed.

LUCY: It looks like this is a dead end then.

ERLE: I couldn't see the ground.

MIN: What?

ERLE: There is no ground on the edge of the cliff. I don't even see another cliff on the other side.

LUCY: What are you saying?

ERLE: Either we're really high up or Elgin is just a floating rock.

The view zooms out and shows Elgin in its entirety. The city is on a floating island and a train flies in the background, chugging away to its next stop. The view keeps expanding and other floating islands can be seen in the distance. Crows fly across the buildings and water flows off the sides of the islands.