More than fifteen minutes had already passed, and he had to hurry. Fortunately, the strange island barely affected him now, and the monsters here would not attack him on their own. Reaching the place at full speed within ten minutes should not be much of a problem.
Crossing half the island would have been troublesome for an ordinary person, but in truth, only seven minutes had passed by the time Shade reached the location of the vanished mansion in the southern part of the town from the entrance of Green Lake Inn.
The fluttering butterflies transformed into Shade's form in the rain and continued toward the hills. Sure enough, the closer he came to Edwards Old House, the lighter the rain became and the thicker the fog grew.
This was the town's only road leading to the mansion. Countless things seemed to be watching him from within the fog, yet he arrived smoothly at last before Edwards Old House.
In reality and in dreams, Shade had come here more times than he could count. Looking at the mansion from outside now, every window was lit. Through them, he could see different figures moving about inside the house—like the servants of the estate, but also like guests who had come to attend a banquet.
No one was here to welcome Shade, but the gate in the mansion's outer courtyard was not locked either.
Shade reached out to push open the gate and enter, but suddenly heard a voice behind him:
"Have you decided? Are you ready to make your choice?"
He turned and saw that, at some unknown moment, a Lady in a green robe had appeared behind him. She had beautiful emerald eyes, though their color differed somewhat from those of the blonde, green-eyed Miss Writer; they were deeper in