CHAPTER#43

Beth couldn't help but smile at the sight of a grown man hugging a doll. He brushed the dirt off of Jenny and walked back toward Beth. "Okay, let's go," she said.

"Jenny?" He was looking at the doll suspiciously now. "Jenny, are you here?"

"What's wrong?"

"I... I can't explain it, but when I let her out, it felt like she... left." He handed Beth the doll. "Here, see if you feel it too."

"I'm not sure-" she froze, contemplating Jenny's limp form. Gone was the familiar sinister aura from the doll. "You're right."

"Jenny?" He looked around, walking toward the back of the crypt. "Are you there?"

Above them, they heard the pews all slide across the floor, a noise that made them both jump. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically, causing her teeth to chatter. The flashlight's beam dimmed, revealing that the emerald in Beth's pocket was now glowing bright enough that she could see it through her clothes.

"Oh shit." Mike pushed past her and ran for the stairs, stopping when he realized that Beth still had the flashlight. "C'mon, hurry up."

"But how can she leave the doll? I thought she needed a host?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the nuclear powered glow stick in your pocket." He followed her up the stairs, but they both slowed when they got to the top. Gone was the musty darkness of the church, replaced by the smell of summer and a steady stream of daylight. They walked out into the main hall, and she turned off her flashlight.

"This isn't the same church we were in before." It looked fairly new, the pews recently polished. She looked out the window and realized she was looking at a town. "We're somewhere new."

"Not quite. Look harder." He tapped the upper part of the glass. "That distant hillside. What does it look like?"

She squinted, trying to figure out what he was seeing. It took a few moments, but she realized he hadn't been pointing at the hill, but the cloud above it. It was perfectly stationary, painted on to a distant canvas.

"I don't understand." It was like they were inside a giant diorama. "Where are we?"

Mike grabbed her arm and pulled her down as a small group of people walked by the window. They carried baskets and random goods slung to their backs, and she recognized the outfits they were wearing. "Were those puritans?"

"I guess so." He stood back up. "Jenny, what are you doing?"

The ground rumbled and suddenly a dark spirit stood just to the side of one of the buildings. Her dark hair hung over her face, her fingers outstretched. Long tendrils of green light streamed from Beth to Jenny, connecting the two of them through the stone. Jenny wagged her finger back and forth like a metronome, then vanished.

"She's using that emerald." Mike sighed. "Great."

"I thought the rats used it for bringing furniture to life? How is this remotely the same?"

"That sounds like a question for Ratu. The extent of my expertise is a knife so sharp it can cut a spirit." He shrugged. "It looks like she is draining its magic."

A voice boomed at them from all around, causing them to duck. It spoke forcefully enough that the windows rattling in their thin frames.

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Jane.

Where Jenny once stood, there was now a young girl with freckles and pretty brown eyes, a smile plastered on her face.

Jane was a good girl who loved her family and church and god.

A beam of light illuminated her from behind as Jane hugged a bible that appeared in her hands, then folded her hands together as if in prayer.

"We're inside her head now, aren't we?" Beth asked. It was like when she had spoken to Jenny in the dollhouse version of their house, only on a much larger scale.

"Yep." He sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This is her version of a tantrum."

They heard the tinkling of bells by the front door of the church. It opened by itself, a large exit sign appearing above it.

"I guess we go that way." Beth suggested.

"Jenny? We don't have time for this!" Mike banged on the window and the ground shook beneath them hard enough that he fell. "Ow, shit."

"I think we need to go along with it for now. C'mon." Beth helped him up and they walked out the door together. They stepped out into the village and stopped to look around. People wandered around the village in small clusters.

She was a lovely girl who walked every day from her home to the well for some water.

Jane swung her bucket melodramatically, the spotlight following her progress. They walked behind her to the well near the center of town. Beth noticed that the well wasn't very far from a set of gallows.

"Jenny, I—" Mike was knocked off his feet by the bucket Jane threw at him. He hit the ground with a loud thud and a new bucket reappeared in Jane's hands. She scowled at him.

"Shhh," Beth cautioned, helping him back up. The entire village had frozen in place, their heads turned toward the two of them. She waved her hand, imploring them to keep going. "We're very sorry, please continue."

The villagers waited several moments before resuming their movements. Jane took her bucket and lowered it into the well. To pull it back up, she had to bend over, the curves of her ass pressing against the homespun fabric. A second spotlight illuminated a man standing back by one of the houses, his eyes locked on the view.

Every day, she would catch the eye of a young man in the village. He was the son of a wealthy landowner and both of them were of marrying age.