“Psssss!!!!”  Whispered a distant voice.  Mary froze in her tracks, instantly, completely petrified. 

      ”It’s alright, I won’t bite.”  The voice sounded very familiar and Mary swurved around.

     “Esmara!”  Mary smiled, in relief.  “What are you doing here at this late hour?”  Esmara was holding a long plastic object in her left hand and handed it to Mary.

     “It’s not the mirror, Mary.  It’s this torch that you need.  The mirror can only reflect living objects, but the torch will reveal to you the shining lake.”  Mary’s eyes lit up.

    “Of course!”  And once again, she repeated the riddle, ‘Beyond The Dark Trees and Past The Shining Lake is Where You Will Find Me’  “But of course!  How silly of me, it was so obvious.  Trees get colourless and dark at the dead of night and likewise, the lake will only shine at the light from this torch.”  Mary was about to turn the torch on, but suddenly, Esmara cried out.

    “No, don’t, Mary!”  “It’s not an ordinary torch.  You can only turn it on once; and that’s when you actually hear the running water of the lake.”  “And by the way, I would like to accompany you.”  Said Esmara, blank faced. 

       “Oh, thank you, Esmara, I could really do with some company.”

 Mary’s intitial reaction was estatic joy and she bent down and reached out to hug Esmara, but her arms went right through her.

     “Oh, thank you, Esmara, I could really do with some…company…”  Mary was shocked and stood up.

     “You…you…”

     “I know what you’re going to say, Mary Whelming.  Go on, I don’t mind.   Everyone does, so you might as well say it as well.  I’m dead:  but I’m not really.  I’m from another world and you can think of me as a hologram.  Yes, something did happen to me and you’ll find out only once you reach your destination.”  “And one more thing you may not know, is that Professor Stonehead is now in that same world aswell.  He sent me to be your guide.  Now, shall we carry on, or do you have any more questions?”  Mary had been listening very attentively to every word Esmara spoke and found herself nodding in agreement.  And so, the two of them contunued.  Along the way, Mary had to ask Esmara one quesion that sprang to her mind.

     “Esmara, do you know exactly how far this shining lake is?”

      Esmara suddenly stopped and stared at Mary.

      “Ssshhh!  Just listen.”  

       Mary stopped and did just that, shrugging,

      “I can’t hear any…no wait.  I can hear something.  It sounds like…like running water.  Could it be the lake?”

End of Chapter Thirteen…

Need to catch up from the beginning to maintain the connection, dear readers?  Then please kindly follow these links below.  Thank you.

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-one/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-two/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-three/

 http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-four/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-five/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-six/

 http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-seven/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-eight/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-nine/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-ten/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-eleven/

http://authspot.com/short-stories/beyond-the-dark-trees-and-past-the-shining-lake-is-where-you-will-find-me-chapter-twelve/