Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mnem
Mnemosyne's mind raced. "Father, father--he said father! Father used to be here, he talks like Gollum, he looks kind of-- Oh, holy Valar, phantom, please tell me I'm going crazy!"
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Phantom looked closely at the man. "Well, he does kind of... but really, I mean... why in the world would Christopher Tolkien be here?"
At this, the man jerked his head so that he was facing
Phantom and looked directly into his eyes. "Christopher... yes... that's what he used to call me. But he didn't know everything. He was wrong about it. He said it couldn't do anything here. But no, no, he didn't know. We've kept it longer. It got in our head, and we wants it out!"
The man grabbed
Phantom's shirt and pulled him closer. "We've gots to do it! He said never to open it, or to try to find how, but we must! It hurts... in the head... and it won't let us take it off!" He waved his hand in front of
Phantom's face, and on his finger was a simple golden ring.
Mnem rolled her eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be invisible?"
"It doesn't work like that here," answered the man, and
Mnem jumped in surprise, not expecting to be addressed. "Not in this world. Father didn't think any of it worked at all here. Thought it had no power at all, since it couldn't make him disappear. But no, it still has power. Just slower, and less. But it's too much for us! It told us to take it back, and if we don't...."
At this point such a look of pain and fear crossed his face that
Phantom waved off the possibility of a joke. This man was clearly crazed. Just then
Mira approached with her laptop.
"I thought he looked familiar," whispered
Mira, "And look!"
On her computer was a picture of Christopher Tolkien. "Oh my goodness!" exclaimed
Mnem. "He looks just like him!"
"Just like him?" said
Mira. "It IS him."