“Can you see it? Something’s going on?” Siim asked.

“What exactly?” Johannes asked.

“You see, don’t you?” Siim replied. “People are getting ready to leave.”

Fire Tail bar in Tontla was still packed with people. It was much more crowded than usually on a weekday or even a weekend night. There were locals, but most of the people on this special night had arrived here from the surrounding areas. From the Nameless Town, from the Cottage District, one could see even Valgepalõ locals, never mind people from smaller farms and nameless forgotten villages which lied between but also surrounded the larger settlements. One could also see the visitors around the rest of Tontla, since every one of these people had found their own transport. Some on foot, some hitchhiking, some on a bicycles.

But many had come with massive limousines which nobody had imagined would ever drive here and thus for which nobody had designed the streets or parking spaces. And thus the front of the bar as well as the surrounding streets were full of large passenger cars glistening with chrome. The vehicles would have most certainly interfered with traffic if the streets in Tontla had had any traffic.

The pub being so crowded, it was really difficult to observe what was going on in it. Both for strangers, but for locals as well. Especially when large groups of people suddenly started moving. And right now, this exact thing was taking place. Never mind that today, those that started moving were of great interest to those, who had no place or reason to go. For them though, it was a sign that the significant part of the event was over and the curious onlookers with no direct connection to the event could also return to their homes.

“True.” Said Kadri, looking around.

She also noticed how people around the most important table in the pub tonight had gotten up and were now pushing the chairs together.

Kadri was also the last one still to be seated around their own table. However after her friend had spoken to her, she also got up to head towards the door. The five of them were not the only ones to start moving right after Mariann’s group. There were other more or less familiar people from the Nameless Town. Like Rops, Leopold the barkeep, the village hags. But also people she had never expected to see at all.

She also noticed how in the back corner of the bar, three tall yet unbelievably thin men got up. They all looked the same. With pale, almost gray faces without a single hair on them, not even eyebrows or eyelashes, never mind beard or hair. Their lips had no color, assuming they had any lips at all. All three gentlemen were dressed in identical impeccable black suits, with white shirts and black ties. Each also had identical bowler hats and attache cases of black leather. The men were so emaciated that the clothes on them looked like on clothes hangers and beyond the padded shoulders, their clothes gave no impression of bodily shape under them.

Suddenly, one of them turned his head towards Kadri. After a second or two, the other two did as well. She felt that they knew that she was seeing them. She could not see their eyes, all of them had identical sunglasses with small circular black lens on wire frames. Then the world around her froze. She herself froze as well. Even her thoughts froze and suddenly she could not think of anything at all, just endure the eye contact. Something had seized her chest and did not allow her to breathe in or out. She felt the lack of air. But in addition to that, there was some other kind of tension rising. This tension in her head rose along with the suffocation in her chest. It deafened her, it even held her up not allowing her to collapse on the floor.

The tension kept rising until a powerful cough rocked her body and she fell to the ground. The world around her started moving again and she was desperately gasping for air to rid herself of the suffocation still burning inside her like acid. Her hands and legs were shaking from sudden yet extreme weakness. And this jolt which had shaken her, it wasn’t just a cough. On the floor in front of her was a big blob of black blood.

Slowly, she got back up again. Inhumanely thin tall men in immaculate black suits were gone. With a strong sway in her steps, she found her way towards the exit.

By the time she made it outside, people were already getting into the cars. Mariann and several people from her table had decided to take a large green sedan with a white vinyl roof. The doctor and her assistant had a long white coupe, which had it’s tail light set into tall fins at the back of the car. Two jet exhaust shaped lights on either fin. And Rops too was already in his dirty black Volga and waiting. The yellow parking lights on it faintly glowing in the dark.

Unwillingly, her head turned into the opposite direction instead. A bit further away there stood a car that looked very similar to the one the doctor had, but a black one. Perfectly piano black. Perfect chrome and tails lights set into the pods on rear fins in a similar fashion. But while on the doctor’s car these lights were just shaped like jet exhausts, on this one they looked like real flames with shock diamonds. And similar real flames seemed to emerge from the chrome bumper recesses down where the reverse lights were. It was also strange that all windows of said car were black, as if coated on the inside with carbon paper.

Out of nowhere appeared the three tall and emaciated men she had seen before, each of them carrying a black attache case. Without paying any attention to Kadri, one of them opened the front door of the car and all three of them got onto the front seat along with their briefcases. After that the car started moving, it turned around in the middle of the street and then departed without making a sound.

There was something though that felt off. She could but had to rub her eyes which had become wet. There were tears in her eyes but there was no water on her fingers. Instead it was blood.

“Kadri, are you okay?” Tiina’s worried voice asked.

“Yeah, why?” She asked, turning around.

“Because you are standing right in the middle of the street. You are shaking and your face is pale sickly gray. And blood is dripping from your nose. Other have started moving already.”

Only now did Kadri also notice that the street was almost empty. Most of the cars in front of the bar were now gone and the only thing remaining was that huge black factory limo they had brought away from the air field on that rainy day after meeting Mariann.

Johannes reversed the car, and stopped it right beside Kadri and Tiina.

“Hey! Let’s go already! Otherwise we’re gonna lose Rops’s tail and then its gonna be impossible to find them!”

“Are you sure, you’re okay?” Tiina asked again.

“Yeah.” Said Kadri and wiped her nose with her fingers. “Let’s go.”

She opened the long rear door of the vehicle to land on the navy blue cloth back seat.

“I think your ear is also bleeding.” Tiina said, getting into the car after Kadri.

All three girls easily fit onto the rear bench seat.

“That would be seven.” Kadri said. “It is possible that all my bodily openings have bled slightly.”

“Eww! Why?” Viivika asked. “What happened?!”

“It doesn’t matter. Right now, everything’s fine. I will deal with it afterwards.”

In her mind, Kadri reviewed everything that had just happened to her and she remembered why she had started to rub her eyes in the first place. She had seen something she could not be certain off.

“Damn it.” She said to herself.

“What?” Siim asked from the front passenger seat.

“The wheels on it weren’t turning.”

*

“Where are we going?” Jaan asked as the car full of people rolled down the night road.

Usually, Jaan was glad to drive alone. Steering was so light that he could turn it with a pinky finger and the soft suspension ironed away all road imperfections and even smaller potholes. He did not want to say it was like driving on glass but rather it was like driving on a fabric stretch out. Like a boat on waters as still as a mirror. But this was the usual case. When he was alone or maybe with Mariann.

But right now, the car was full of people. The suspension was almost fully compressed, especially at the back and the only thing to soften the road surface was the tire side wall. This was mostly because on the front seat there were him, Mariann and the silent young man, who had been in a desperate need to meet the witch. While in the back the Mayor was wedged between Toomas and Sleepyhead.

“That’s some cool set of wheels you have, I must say!” The Mayor spoke, getting more and more comfortable on the back seat. “There is almost as much room here as in the Chaika I keep in the courtyard of the Town Hall!”

“Continue driving for now. I will tell you when we are getting near.” Mariann said. “Also pay attention that we are being properly followed.”

“Don’t worry. Sare had always been a better driver than me.” Jaan replied.

“In the before-times maybe. But definitely not under the treatment plan he is currently practicing.” The girl in black said.

She lifted her right had across the seat back to better see the people in the back row.

“Why haven’t you taken that piece of scrap to Peeter’s scrap yard already?” She asked. “He would be very glad to have it. Might even fix it up and get it running again.”

“And you think it’d be still mine after that? Chaika is such a special machine that Pete would take ownership of it at once and I would have no longer any pleasure from sitting in it and reminiscing, let alone driving it. No, I’d rather let it sit and rust.”

“But then just let him fix it up. The engine is the smallest problem on it. It the same damn unit that’s in the 53. Just with twin carburetors and a higher compression ratio. And even if you yourself can’t mill the compression higher and also won’t let others to do it, just having a new engine would also suffice. You have no need of driving at 150 anyways, 110 or 120 would work as well.” Mariann said.

“You know! You…!” The Mayor tried to find a response but could not. “You focus on invoking the witch! That why we’re here, isn’t it? To try and call out the witch according to your instruction!”

“Okay.” Mariann said, unfazed. “Keep looking at it rusting away while you still can. As for the witch, you better think carefully about the reasons why you are invoking the witch and what you want of her. Otherwise this will be of no use to not only you but to nobody else as well. At the same time you will lose your only chance to turn towards somebody more knowledgeable when things go truly sour.”

“I know! I know!” The Mayor grumbled.

“Oh you do?” Mariann asked. “Doesn’t look like that to me. You keep saying we need to see the witch to understand why a man self-combusted in the forest, what happened to the forest lake and why water flows uphill through the town. But do you know for sure what knowledge you want the witch to impart on you? Have you thought through what is the thing that the witch should tell you? Because this is the aspect on which the way you will be choosing your words will depend. What you will ask, what the witch shall answer and how you make sense of it.”

“If you don’t believe it of being of any use at all, why help me?” the Mayor asked.

“I believe it is of use.” The girl in in black said. “But I don’t believe you to be of any use, especially with the attitude you’re holding today. You’re asking what I think. You ask what Toomas thinks. But have you really mulled these opinions over? Have you thought over Karl’s opinion?”

“You’re not meaning Karl Taak, are you?” Toomas asked.

“Him exactly.” Mariann smiled. “And, should you ask why. Well, even a blind chicken might catch a worm.”

“Have you ever properly and with thought listened to the village hags? To Allan Helde? Have you asked from the Institute? Of people who are older than you, more experienced than you, braver than you and who have seen more? There are more of them than you could ever imagine. Find them and hear them out. You want answers that are pre-filled with meaning. And not to reach them on your own. But in this field, such answers have no meaning. They are but speaking in riddles or pure nonsense. Understanding can only rise from walking the path and reaching an answer significant for you.”

“Where are we going?” Jaan asked again. “It would be better if I know beforehand rather than our convoy passing the right place and then having to negotiate turning around in the middle of the road.

“The crossroad I have chosen lies on the Circle Road surrounding the Nameless Town, near the airfield. Where the roads to Tontla and to Luiga end. Or start, if looking at it from the Town’s side.”

“But…!” The Mayor started. “That’s not a crossroad!”

“He’s right. This really isn’t a crossroad.” Toomas agreed, furrowing his brow. “The road to Tontla, to Luiga and the Circle Road. It is an intersection of of three roads but it is not in the shape of a cross.”

“Exactly!” The Mayor continued with his tirade. “In the bar you were so full of self-importance that it cannot be just any street corner to make the sacrifice, that it must be a crossroad. And now…!”

“Sulev, stop complaining!” Mariann shouted with an annoyed voice. “I may yet reconsider whether I want to invoke the witch for you. And you complaining does not do any service to your wishes.”

The Mayor fell silent but his demeanor spoke about his disappointment.

“This is the best crossroad we have this side of the Town.” Said Mariann. “Would you like to perform the ritual somewhere near the Train Yard? On the road leading to the Fourth Town? There are plenty of rad places between Tontla and Valgepalõ where nobody besides the Russians have gone, simply because nobody dares to. Where you fall down flat on your face as soon as you exit the car because your feet refuse to carry you when you realize where you are. We can also go to one such place. And we can also leave you there.”

“The old folk tales also say that one needs to go to an intersection, rather than crossroads.” Toomas said. “The witch or a devil has no need for a crossroad, since they don’t travel along earthly roads. They need an intersection where our world and the place outside our world intersect.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Exactly.” Mariann said. “And think about the map for a bit. What lies due South from the Tontla road?”

“The Death Fields.” Toomas said.

“You have become pretty knowledgeable around this place!” Mariann was surprised. “What lies North of the Circle Road?”

“The Irradiated Woods?” The Mayor muttered.

“Which means that here we have an intersection between the land of the living and land of the dead. The traffic of the world of the living goes along the roads and the traffic of the land of the dead intersects with that.”

“You mean to say that the Witch comes from the land of the dead? From Toonela? From the Death Fields or the Irradiated Woods?” The Mayor asked.

“Not directly. There is no sense for me to explain it at this point. You’ll see when we get there.”

*

“It didn’t take long for their sparse motorcade to make it to the destination Mariann had set for them. In this regard, the night and the world seemed to be favoring them. Since usually the world, or rather the sense of time of people was not as constant and contiguous. But right now, the trip took no more than 20 minutes, driving on the country road at a leisurely city driving speed.

Under less favorable conditions it could have taken several times the amount of times while moving several time faster or a fraction of the time moving at a fraction of their speed. As if the speed of traversing space was not identical to the speed at which the space was passing by. Which in turn meant that there had to be a break or disconnectedness. A place where people traversing the space did not sense themselves standing still and conversely also a place where space passed by in such a way that people were not aware of themselves moving. This wasn’t also something that could be consciously and willingly created. It just happened. And afterwards there were no explanation nor anybody to even believe what had taken place.

The intersection near which Mariann asked Jaan to stop the car was indeed strange. To the West there were the roads leading to Luiga and Tontla. The road to Luiga more towards North-West, while the road to Tontla pointing more towards South-West. The sections of the Circle Road section headed towards North-East and South. Due East was an overgrown airfield and the remains of a concrete landing strip. Between the Tontla and Luiga roads there was a small grassy arc used to turn from Luiga road to Tontla Road and vice versa.

Sare who was driving after the Professor, did exactly that. He first turned onto the Luiga road and parked his car on the side of the road, nose towards Luiga. He turned the engine off but left the parking lights on, including the jet exhausts on the fins.

Rops who had come after Sare, drove his car onto the Circle Road towards the South and then turned around in a three-point turn and parked it on the road to Tontla, tail towards the Circle Road. He too left the parking lights on.

After Rops came the long factory limo, which first turned onto the Northern section of the Circle Road and then skillfully reversed onto a hidden grass road opposite Tontla and Luiga roads. On this car the head lights were left on. The grass road heading towards the air field seemed to be wide enough for the long rear doors of the vehicle to be fully opened so the passengers could all exit.

“I think there are more of us than expected?” Jaan said.

“There are exactly as many of us as there should be.” Mariann said. “Not more and not less. All who want to take part in this, are taking part. All who want to witness, are here to witness.”

Mariann walked across the crossing illuminated by car’s headlights and stopped, looking at the factory limo parked on a grass road.

“Where exactly did you park it?” She asked.

“It seemed to me like a small road was here.” Siim said. “And there was. The car is not stuck, I did not even scrape the bottom backing in here.”

“I think you should mark the spot of this little road right now.” Mariann said. “It is completely possible that should you return tomorrow in broad daylight, you will not be able to find the place you have just left the car at.”

“What do you mean we won’t be able to find it?” Siim asked.

“The nature really changes so much between day and night?” Tiina asked.

“The nature does not change but the world does. The light does.” Mariann replied. “Light of day reveals much but hides almost as much into the shadows. Dark of the Night shadows much but uncovers almost as much. And artificial light acts in it’s own way, covered by entirely other kind of aspects.”

“So, if we were to shut off the parking lights on all the cars, the road where we have parked the car would disappear as well?” Viivika asked.

“Not only that. The car itself might disappear too, along with the people around it.” Toomas said as he came closer. “That’s what happened on my first night here when me and the Mayor went into the Forbidden Forest.”

“That is somewhat scary.” Tina said.

“Have noticed a thing with the placement of the cars?” Johannes asked. “We have an intersection with five roads. And we have five cars on five roads. And the placement looks like these five cars are the five tips of a star. While the roads are in the shape of a goat.”

“A pentagram?” Tiina asked.

“Quite so.” Johannes replied.

“How can there be five cars if we came here with four?” Rops asked.

“Our limo, the green one that the Professor, Mariann and the Mayor came with, the doctor’s white coupe, your Volga, Rops and...” Johannes pointed at the Northern direction of the Circle Road where under cover of darkness another car stood.

“Somebody else has come to observe the ritual.” Jaan said.

Now, all the people present were trying to understand what kind of car were they dealing with. The head lights were off, only the incandescent yellow parking lights were on. It was also visible that the tail light were on. But this little light was not enough to ascertain the shape of the vehicle. The whole vehicle seemed to be surrounded in it’s own cloud of peculiar darkness which did not let people see nor it’s true size nor the general shape. Only the borders of it were faintly discernible.

“Very interesting,” Mariann said.

“Maybe it is Karl Taak, the skeptic?” asked Toomas. “He too drives an old black car glistening with chrome, with very distinctive lights front and back.”

“But how did he get so close without making any sound?” Rops asked. “Was the road not empty when we arrived?”

Only now had Kadri finally finished wiping away the blood and finally emerged from the car and walked onto the blacktop. She immediately recognized the black vehicle standing on the Northern arc of the Circle Road. For her as well, the night surrounding the car was darker than elsewhere, but despite that, she recognized both the small front parking lights low to the ground as well as the jet exhaust shaped tail lights barely visible at the back of the car.

“This car belongs to these Men in Black.” Kadri said. “To the ones who sat in the back corner of the bar.”

“So you saw them as well!” the Mayor exclaimed.

“I saw them get into the car one by one and then leave from the bar.” Kadri continued. “Their vehicle did not make a single sound, but the paint on it was blacker than sky and windows look like they are covered with black paper on the inside.”

“Very interesting.” Said Mariann once again. “For once that they are indeed here. On the other hand that the allowed you to see them at all. Usually they just keep to observing and do everything in their power to not be noticed by people. And most people won’t, even as they stare them right in their faces.”

“Why?” Toomas asked.

“Not important right now.” Replied Mariann. “And it is actually good for us that they are here. It shows that things are moving in the right direction. And Johannes is right. The five roads and the five cars make up a pentagram. And based on the shape of the intersection, the roads to Luiga and Tontla are the horns of the goat. Rituals need sacrifice, but personal items also have a role. In this situation the cars themselves are standing for our personal items.”

“But what role do they play in this?” Jaan asked. “Are they a target? An offering? Or are they balancing the ritual somehow?”

“I did not think you to be this educated in the field!” Toomas exclaimed, surprised.

“More like a balancing and anchoring role.” Mariann said. “On this intersection these cars act as our personal items and protect all of us in this ritual. Both the participants as well as the witnesses.”

“And them?” Jaan asked, nodding at the shadowed fifth car.

“Let them be there. Right now their presence is to our benefit rather than detriment.” Mariann said. “And should they still be there after we finish the ritual... well, we can deal with them at that point.”

She walked towards the middle of the formation where roads to Luiga and Tontla met the nose of the factory limo.

“The ritual itself is fairly simple.” Said Mariann and revealed a small enameled mug.

“Where did you get that?” Toomas asked.

“From the pub, off the ledge on the fireplace.” The girl replied. “The mug must be filled with blood and then dropped right here on this road. The mug shall be filled with my blood. But the one to drop it must be the Mayor as the person who wants to invoke the witch. Therefore, my dear doctor, which is the best place to cut?”

Mariann pushed the mug to Jaan and produced a small folding knife which she now unfolded.

“If you are going to spill your blood right now, why did you need that bag of blood?” the Mayor asked.

“Under usual circumstances, the sacrifice and the offering consist of a single blood drain onto the ground. I find it more useful to divide them up into two separate events. The sacrifice is thus no more than a few hundred milliliters and the offering another half a liter - nothing too extreme. But the conditions of the ritual demand two things: that the blood is fresh and of course, that it is the same blood. The blood being the same is solved with the blood being from the same day. Fresh in this context doesn’t mean it is warm or fresh from a wound, only that it is still useful. If it is still useful to be transferred into or back to a person, it is also useful to a vampire as food or to the witch for magic.”

“And why exactly are you in the center of all of it?” The Mayor asked.

“I am not in the center of it. But I am the first one to focus on the details of it. Or, to be more precise, first among all the current ones, or the last among the former ones. The arcane is weird. The same knowledge may lead to different outcomes. Too little and what you don’t know may doom you. Too much at once and it drives you insane. Too much cumulatively and you may well get lost on your travels. The right tempo has to be followed, incrementally digesting new knowledge, experimenting and contemplating.”

“Are then any other questions, or can Sare finally say something?” Mariann continued in a completely different tone.

Doctor Sare and his assistant had now reached within earshot and were still coming closer.

“What was the question?” the Doctor asked.

“What’s the best place to cut?” Mariann said.

“Ah! That is a good question! There are plenty of people who wouldn’t even ask, they would just get slicing on their wrists. But a wrist is not a good spot. Interior of the forearm is also not a good spot. It is not without reason to say that across the road lies the hospital, but down the road is the cemetery. The best place is the outside of the forearm. The area remaining outside if the hand is horizontal.”

“Very well. Jaan, hold the mug.”

Mariann rolled up her left sleeve and placed the blade of the knife on bony part of the forearm near the elbow.

“Across or along?” She asked.

“Across. But wait a bit. Doctor Toomikum may be of help here. Her nails are sharper than any blade and fingers much more precise. The wound will be deep enough but with sharp enough edges for the healing to be a matter of hours, rather than days.”

“Fine.” Mariann folded the knife closed against her arm.

Doctor Sare revealed his flask and with a sigh, removed the cap and then poured the contents over Mariann’s arm. After that, Mariann could only feel somebody’s thumb slide over her arm. No pain, not even a sense of anything penetrating the skin. The only sign of a successful cut was dark red blood flowing from the arm and into the earthen mug.

“Jaan, you got to be ready now.” Sare said. “You pull the mug away and Toomikum puts the bandage on. One, two, three!”

As soon as Sare finished the count, Jaan pulled the mug away and with a surprisingly fast and precise movement, the beautiful assistant attached the bandage to her arm and fastened it with a safety pin.

“The wound will heal by tomorrow morning at the latest.” Sare noted.

Mariann observed the assistant lick her blood off her thumb.

“How is it?” She asked.

Doctor Toomikum said nothing. Instead she turned around and headed back towards the car.

Mariann took the mug off Jaan’s fingers and then waved towards the Mayor.

“Well, Sulev. Your turn to participate.”

“And I only have to drop it?” he asked.

“Come and stand here, where we’re standing. Just hold the mug in your outstretched hand and then drop it so it would fall, bottom first. This is an unfired clay so the blood is already permeating it. It will crumble with a slightly stronger touch, never mind dropping it. Also, very important: do not jump away from the splashing blood. Should it splash on you, let it happen.”

With heavy sway in his steps, the Mayor dragged his huge body closer,, finally standing before Mariann, between Jaan and Sare. Carefully, with both of his hands shaking, he received the mug. After all others had receded at least a few steps, Sulev stretched out his thick shaky arms and then dropped the mug. It fell and with bottom first, hit the cracked macadam blacktop just as Mariann had wished. Bloody pieces of of clay flew quite a bit farther than the blood itself with kept into a singular mass.

But then something happened. Something nobody expected. Instead of just remaining on the pavement, the blood instead drained into it like water into dry sand. The only mark remaining was a darkened dry spot. The dry sport started evaporating and giving off faint steam and it steamed for a few seconds until completely disappearing and becoming indiscernible in the low light.

“This was a sign, right?” Jaan asked. “That the ritual was successful?”

“It is a sign that the message has been sent correctly. Whether it makes it to the destination and whether it is responded to in a way that suits us is something we only see as time goes by.”

Suddenly the roar of an engine could be heard. All eyes turned towards the mysterious fifth car, but it was immediately clear that this was not the source of the noise. It still stood there, unmoving and with only the parking lights on. But according to the beams of light reflecting around them, it was clear that cars were approaching from both sides.

“There were five car with us before, right?” Johannes asked. “So why are there now seven?”

Now it was clear that at least one car was approaching from either direction on the Circle Road. The high beams on both cars were visible from far away as they reflected off damp macadam. But there was something wrong with that. Something that Jaan immediately made note of.

“These cars cannot be coming from where they are.”

“It is true, the cannot.” Mariann said. “But they still are.”

The four cars of theirs stood on a Circular road running around the town. The Southern road went towards the South to later again turn towards the East. The Northern end also turned towards the East in a gentle curve. But the cars were not coming along the circular road. They seemed to be coming along a straight highway. Along a roadway that was not there. A roadway that could not exist. Along an arrow straight highway, which seemingly traversed the middle of the Irradiated Woods in the North and the Death Fields in the South.

“Is this the intersection?” Toomas asked.

The cars approaching accelerated suddenly and unexpectedly.

“Off the road! Quickly!” Jaan shouted.

All people present escaped to the sides of the road. Not even into the shadows of the cars but into the roadside drainage ditches where there was a slightly higher chance of not being hit by either car. All, except Mariann, who was still in the middle of the road and walked towards the car approaching from the North without a care in the world.

Jaan tried to shout something but it was already too late. The cars approached from either side with breakneck speed along sections of highway nobody has thus far noticed. But instead of running Mariann over or colliding, they passed her and disappeared into the night in either direction. Quickly receding into white glows and ten two small red lights.

“Mariann!” Jaan shouted. “You weren’t run over!?”

“It is very hard to get run over by a ghostly car.” Mariann said, smiling.

“A ghostly car?” Toomas now asked. “But… they passed each other? Or… did they pass through each other?” He asked pensively. “Without hindrance?”

Mariann did not respond him, only observed him develop his thought.

“It could not have happened, could it?” The Mayor said. “We saw it wrong. From where they came from, there is no road. And they could not pass through each other, they merely passed. One on each side of Mariann.”

“If you all weren’t with me, I would feel profoundly frightened.” Sare said. “That contrary to all signs, the alcohol has permanently damaged my brain and I should quit drinking because I am seeing things.”

“So you too saw that?” The Mayor asked.

“Yes.” Sare nodded. “These were ghostly cars as true as can be. They did not pass the girl in black. They passed through her at great speed. Like mirages. Or maybe she passed through them. Honestly, although I am not a specialist in this field, I would immediately like to bring this girl to my establishment and perform a medical examination to see whether these ghostly cars passing though her body also left behind any tangible evidence that can be medically documented.”

“I don’t think you’ll get consent for that.” Jaan said.

“Yeah, I guess not.” Sare replied.

“But what does it mean?” The Mayor asked.

“It means the sacrifice is accepted.” Mariann said from the distance.

Slowly, but with a steady gait she continued walking, towards the mysterious fifth car.

“What are you doing?” Jaan asked.

“You’ll see.”

The black car with opaque windows and glistening chrome was still standing on the highway, front and rear parking lights shining in chromed bumpers and rear fins. The engine was off, or at the very least, it could not be heard. Also, the car did not escape as Mariann approached it, unlike what Toomas and many others expected. Either by passing the girl and heading towards the Southern section of the Circle Road or by suddenly reversing and doing a J-turn to disappear towards the Northern section.

But nothing like it happened. The vehicle stood unmoving, as if there was nobody in it. And it really did stand there. Mariann slid her hand along the cool surface of the front fender. Stopping her hand right by the front door. She gave a faint smile and then raised her hand to knock on the window with the fingers.

The next moment something completely unexpected happened. That big car, almost six meters in length and two meters wide, dissipated into air like a thick cloud of dark stone dust. Part of it’s form fell to the ground while other parts were blown into the roadside ditch, grass and trees carried by unseen wind. Bus unlike road dust or gravel dust, it left no residue neither onto the surface of the road but also not on the roadside trees or other plants. Nothing physical to collect or analyze.

“What the hell was that?” Jaan asked as he ran closer.

“You all saw that, right?” He asked, turning around.

“We did.” Toomas said. “It was difficult not to see. And equally difficult to believe what we saw.”

“You’re not surprised?” Jaan asked, as he observed Mariann.

“I am, just a bit.” She replied. “But I would be more surprised if nothing at all had happened.”

“Why? Did you know it would happen?”

“I was hoping.” She said. “Had they been the ordinary Boys from the North, then this would not have happened. But they weren’t. They only wanted to leave an impression that they were.”

“Hey, you! That other girl in black.” Toomas asked Kadri. “You said that this is the car of the very same guys who were in the pub?”

“I am no longer sure.” Kadri replied. “I saw a real car. I think.”

“This was a real car as well.” Siim said. “Until is wasn’t. Mariann touched it, didn’t she? And she knocked on the glass. We all heard it.”

“But still. Was it or wasn’t it? Fuck, I should have brought my tools along! By the time I make it back to the hotel and return there will be nothing left to analyze!”

“Is this the end?” Sare asked.

“Yes, this is the end.” Mariann said.

“And what do we do now?” the Mayor asked.

“We go back to the bar and continue drinking.” The girl replied. “When there is less blood in the system, the drink will hit you faster.”

“If it is okay with you, we wont be joining you.” Doctor Sare said. “It is late and we’ve been away from Luiga for too long. In addition to that, the events of tonight, if they indeed took place, are something that medical science can give no explanation for. And if they did not take place then I have to seriously reconsider my fitness for my profession.”

“Back to Tontla?” Jaan asked.

“Why not?” Mariann replied.

“I’m not coming!” Tommas said at once. “At least not right now. I’d rather return to the hotel on foot, get my equipment and the Willy’s and return here to take a closer look at the evidence.”

“I’m going home as well.” The Mayor said. “I have to give it some thought before we speak again.”

“I’m coming too.” Mihkel said.

“I left my bike in Tontla.” The quiet young man said. “I would rather prefer not to walk back to the cottage district without it.”

“I can offer a ride to everybody who need it.” Siim said. “both to the Nameless Town and to the Cottage District.”

“But then let’s go and make some noise at Leopold’s place.” Mariann said. “It will be a lot more quiet in there to discuss things and all who want to come, will also manage to make it faster there than to Tontla.”

“Not a bad idea.” Rops said.

“We will drop off some people, but we’ll head there as soon as we can.” Siim said. “So… don’t start anything important before we arrive!”