Chapter 16.

After getting water from a spring on the way, the group continued their search, Reena suddenly began to remember her moments with Darren, the way she clung to denying that he was real, the way they laughed in the rain while dancing, even the way they painted a picture together, although she knew that he had made it very clear to her that he really couldn't feel anything for her, there was something inside her that made her believe that things could be different... or it was just the way she was receiving things, maybe it was she who wanted to feel loved by him, but it was something impossible...

From one moment to the next, when they were about to reach their destination, they began to hear the voice of their deceased friend Felix very far away... they all looked at each other in astonishment because they knew that Felix was dead, but how could they hear him was as if they were being deceived by some kind of siren song, they all wanted to believe that Felix would not appear in front of them, because it was clear that he should already be dead in the afterlife, but they began to wonder what had happened to Felix; really, ¿which part of the three destinies did he go to?

 To heaven and be part of an angel or to hell and become a demon; or maybe they sent him to Limbo to be a ghost... either way, they had no way of finding out what Felix's destiny had been, but they were all absolutely sure that the voice they were hearing was Felix's, so taking cotton balls that Reena had in her bag, they put them in their ears to avoid being deceived by some kind of enchanters.

Willy has been killing himself during the whole trip saying that he was hungry, that he was tired, that it was better to abort the mission, that he had a bad feeling, and that was when Oscar found an abandoned temple in the middle of an inhospitable mountain; and when they were to open the main doors, a woman with fair skin and white hair stood in their way telling them that to obtain the feathers of a mermaid they would have to die first, so Luke told her that she was talking nonsense and to get out of his way, that he had no intention of fighting a woman, and laughing, she said to him: if you are afraid to fight a woman, then let me ask you how you intend to take my feathers, because I am a mermaid, the mermaid who protects the sacred feathers of the underworld, Willy almost had a heart attack when he heard this and Oscar intervened and leaning towards the woman said: my lady of the seas and the skies and also of the hells, we are in search of the lost objects, so we hope to have all the wisdom that you can impart to us through this act of generosity on your part by giving us the mermaid feathers of good will, moving her dress, she began to sing and sang and danced in the middle of each one of them, but luckily for them, since they had cotton in their ears, they couldn't hear the evil melodies she was playing, so at one point she hugged Dario and told him if you want the mermaid feathers you'll have to fight against my strongest newcomer in all of Limbo, that is, the realm of the ghosts. 

Making a movement in his hands a torrent of water shot out from the tree closest to the river and wearing a red and white tunic a specter came out with a neutral look and when he arrived in front of the mermaid, she told him: kill them all and when everyone saw the face of the specter, they immediately recognized that that specter was Felix, therefore, they tried to persuade him but it was in vain his strength was enormous, the more they ran towards the mermaid to remove her feathers the harder Felix attacked... the great majority was aware that in this second encounter it was likely that they would not survive... 

Luke and Willy began to notice that if Felix really wanted to kill them he could have done so in less than a second, but most likely he did not want to kill them due to the great friendship they had had in life and therefore, when Felix seemed like he was going to end their lives, Oscar read the lips that Felix was saying that please use his sacrifice well and fake death so that he would not have to be the author of the crime, and so In this way, Felix rose with both his hands grabbing the neck of Luz and Willy, making them begin to wear a red and a white tunic and to throw a small amount of blood from their mouths and fall simulating their death to the floor, seeing this the mermaid began to laugh and said to the rest of the group walking near them and letting her feathers show, ¿do you realize?, I told you that you would all die today, but this crime is not at my hands, nor is it at his hands, this crime was committed by yourselves when you delved into the search for something forbidden to you humans, therefore I will have to say that tonight you will be welcome in hell because in heaven they do not accept traitors and in the kingdom of the ghosts I will persuade the king so that you do not set foot in that place, so you will burn eternally in hell without any rest, where there is no water and no air, all you can feel is how the flesh falls off the skin and comes off in agonizing pain.

What the mermaid had not realized was that Reena walked in front of her and staring at her slapped her telling her that she was the one who should be in hell, because her evil should be punished and she should not have the privilege of living in the kingdom of the ghosts; as she walked, the mermaid grabbed Reena by the hair, Luke and Willy stealthily got up, approached behind the mermaid and taking a dagger that Felix had given them, they cut her feathers and with an agonizing scream, the mermaid, stretching out her hand to scratch with her claws, whoever had cut her feathers and realizing that they were two people she was sure she had seen die, stepped back saying that she did not understand what was happening, at this moment then Oscar told her: what happens is that you count the things you want to do before doing them, in that way Lucas grabbed a medium log and with all his strength hit the mermaid's back causing her to fall to her knees and her body disappeared filled with smoke; Immediately, Oscar told Luke and Willy that he had seen a vision where they both died, but now he understood that they both did not die but rather faked their deaths, to which Willy told him: you have to be a great master to challenge death, and here I am, I am the clear example that not even life and death are rivals for me... so, that group continued in search of the third object and who knows what they will find on the way to that place…