Ni No Who

Chapter 7

Oliver cast the Travel spell to Castaway Cove, wondering if maybe someone had any ideas there. After all, the riddle mentioned "the moral of my story". Perhaps there was a story floating around that had something to do with this riddle.

When they got to Castaway Cove, they went around asking about any stories with morals changed for a man. No one had really any ideas, until they came to the Cawtermaster.

"Caw! You're thinking of the story of the Guide Stone!" Oliver tilted his head.

"The Guide Stone? That's not mentioned in the Wizard's Companion."

"Caw, well its as real as the beak on my face!" He told them. "It's a spinning tale of a sailor, who gets caught in a storm at sea, and is given a stone that guides him home by the gods themselves. The stone was then passed down, until it reached a woman, who used it for selfish purposes, and eventually threw it into the lake! Caw! I'll bet it's washed up by now!"

"How long ago was that?" Swaine asked him. The Cawtermaster rubbed his feathery chin.

"Caw! I'd say about fifty years ago!" The Doctor scoffed.

"Washed up? That stone is probably nothing more than sand by now if it's been that long!"

"Doctor, it's a magic stone." Oliver reminded him. "It's lasted for generations. Fifty years must be like a nap to it." The Doctor scoffed and crossed his arms. He hated that this was explained with magic, when he believed in the art of science.

"Where would it have washed up?" He growled.

"Caw! Somewhere out by Shipwreck Shore, I'd wager!" Oliver thanked him, then they left, calling down Tengri and having him take them to Shipwreck Shore, where they walked along the edges, searching up and down the coast.

That was when Oliver found a sunken in part of the sand. It was right where the water washed over the sand, normally filling the hole, the hole just scooted forward a bit!

"Hey guys! Come over here!" Drippy and Nichole were first. "Watch the sand as the tide comes in." They watched the hole, and their eyes went wide.

"Blimey! There's a moving hole, mun! That's proper weird, that is!" Nichole studied the hole, reaching down and touching it.

"Oliver, its solid." She told him. "The air surrounding the hole is solid!"

"Like there's a stone there." Oliver whispered.

"You found the stone?" Martha asked as she, the Doctor, and Swaine came running up. Oliver shrugged.

"I think so. Feel right here." The Doctor crouched down and felt as air, noticing how it felt solid.

"Well now! There's something you don't see everyday! And I literally mean, you don't see."

"So the Guide Stone's invisible?" Swaine remarked. Oliver thought for a moment.

"Maybe. Or maybe until three." The four adults and the fairy looked at him, confused.

"Huh?" Oliver nodded.

"Its as the riddle said. I'll guide you there, by three. Maybe it means by three o' clock!"

"But in the morning or in the afternoon?" Swaine asked. Oliver shrugged.

"I guess we'll have to find out." The Doctor told them, checking his watch. "We've still got about an hour till three." Nichole jumped up.

"Well, if we've got an hour, why don't we see what else we can find? We're on Shipwreck Shore, for the gods' sakes! I'll bet we can find more treasure here than you can shake a crab at!" Oliver stood up at once. As much as he knew he should stay and watch for the stone, he didn't want to sit here for an hour, especially after he saw the Doctor pulling out what appeared to be an enormous Rubix cube.

"Well, I've got this to keep me busy! Keeps my mind going, it does!" Swaine lay back in the sand, putting his arms behind his head.

"You can go on ahead, love. I'm going to lay here and work on a nap." Drippy stood up, as well as Martha.

"I'd like to come along, if that's alright with you. If I'm to be in this world for a little while, I might as well learn as much as I can about it."

"And you lot all know I can't sit still, mun!" Drippy added. Oliver nodded, then they headed down the beach, picking up sea glass along the way, but finding no real treasure, though Oliver found it nice. It had been so long since the last time he'd been able to just have a nice, quiet afternoon in the magic world. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd been able to just walk around in the world, with no huge bad guy hanging over his head.

That was when he suddenly heard something coming from one of the shipwrecks. It sounded like a deep groaning, like someone in deep pain and sadness.

"Captain Swan, you hear that too, right?" Oliver asked her. Nichole nodded.

"Indeed." Martha and Drippy listened out.

"I hear it too." Martha told them.

"What could it be, mun?" Drippy wondered aloud. Oliver shrugged, and slowly followed the noise to one of the bigger ships, from inside a huge hole just big enough for Oliver to wiggle through. Martha made it through alright, her foot getting caught for a moment, but Nichole got stuck. Her hips were too wide.

"Come on, Captain Swan!" Oliver and Martha pulled her arms from the inside, while Drippy fruitlessly tried to push her from the outside.

"Okay, ow ow ow!" Nichole yelped, trying to wiggle herself through. "OW! That one hurt!" She shouted at a particularly hard tug. "Okay, this isn't working!" She finally shouted. Then she looked behind them, and gasped. "Oliver, Martha, look! Look behind you!" Oliver and Martha tuned around, and there stood a transparent man wearing sailors clothes. He seemed to be trying to tell them something, so Oliver cast Spirit Medium on the man.

"I'm sorry? What were you saying?" The man frowned.

"You shouldn't be here! You must leave!"