Chapter 4, Part 2. The Lighthouse

Eos had no desire to be here. Parents back home told children the stories of the haunted lighthouse of Whispwood, how it would guide ships away from the planet, but anyone who dared to land would never be seen again. At least that's the story parents told their kids. In reality, they would find the half-eaten remains of the missing floating around in space. They needed to search for this key and get off this godforsaken planet. 

"What the heck happened here?" The boy, Lonely whispered, stepping over rusted nails and warped wood planks. 

"Used to be a colony of Whilps many years ago. They didn't know that the atmosphere was thin or that this planet already had an occupant. A ghost who loved its privacy." She explained, hopping over an old fence.

"A ghost?" He scoffed. 

"It eats them and throws their remains out into the coldness of space." 

"Oh..." 

They reached the lighthouse and stared up. It soared past the dark clouds that swirled in the sky like a whirlpool.

"Please tell me they put an elevator in when they built this." Lonely groaned. 

"Doubt it." She frowned, "You good at climbing limby?"

"It's Lonely, and I hope so..." He winced. 

Eos took a better look at him. Nobbily, black messy hair, the most miserable yet determined dark green eyes she'd ever seen were the color of juniper leaves, and a well-structured face. She had to remind herself that he had almost killed her and gotten her into this hopeless situation. 

She shook her head, "No time for dwelling on it, you have a job to do." Eos thought.

"Scared, star girl?" He smirked.

"Shut up and come on." She muttered, shoving open the red door. She had been right about the stairs; they spiraled upward with no end in sight. 

"Lady's first." Lonely bowed, gesturing to the stairs. 

"What a gentleman." She snipped sarcastically and started up the stairs, the human following behind. They walked in silence for the first thirty minutes, but when they reached what Eos assumed was halfway up, they heard the sound of a music box. It was a sorry song that was slow and melancholy.

"Geez....even that would scare my aunts. What the heck could be winding that box?" He whispered.

"The ghost, probably. As long as we stay quiet, we shouldn't disturb it. You have.....aunts?" She asked, turning to face him, "Is that what humans call their parents?" 

He didn't answer at first, just walked past her and continued up. He stayed silent for twenty more steps before saying, 

"Yeah." 

Eos thought it was weird that he would take that long to answer a simple question, but eh, maybe it was a human thing. She didn't know much about humans, now that she thought about it. She knew they had a small life span from living on what they called Earth, and she knew that they were a pretty clueless race, but that was about it. 

"Hey, do-" She started, but was cut off by Lonely shushing her.

"Listen..." He whispered.