The Battle in the
Show-Theatre

Spotlights, smoke, and a stunned crowd.
But this is no performance — this is an uprising.
The ghosts rise, the memories awaken —
and Anne vanishes into the chaos.

Finally! There she was! Once the spotlights caught her, they didn’t let go. But wait — what was that she was flying on? It wasn’t a broomstick at all, but some old bony bird with only one leg. Strange... could this be some kind of ridiculous joke?

At that moment, the hall was flooded with light, and the audience’s attention shifted to something far more spectacular. In the center of the stage — just as described in the newspapers — stood five large metal cages, secured with locks and heavy chains. And inside — heavens! — were the ghosts themselves, far more terrifying than any journalist’s pen could describe. Monstrous creatures in inhuman form, like nightmares from the mind of someone seriously ill. Under the glaring lights, every gruesome detail was visible: the bloodshot, gouged eyes of a giant scruffy bear, the bald skull of the woman-skeleton, the clown’s face like a worm-eaten apple, the enormous one-legged, one-armed dinosaur... Whimpers came from the audience; somewhere, children began to cry...

Right on cue, the grand music from the show’s opening swelled and drowned out any hint of unease. Meanwhile, the witch had landed onstage, her bony companion still with her. Slowly, she approached one of the cages — but instead of dancing, she reached through the bars… and stroked the giant bear’s mangy fur. He could’ve crushed her with one swipe of his paw.

What was going on? The audience watched the unbelievable scene, mesmerized. Wow — Mr. Heino had truly outdone himself! If he could tame ghosts, then controlling normal Forest creatures must be child’s play.

“Heino, remember me?” croaked the strange bony bird through the loudspeakers, now gripping a microphone no one had noticed. “Time to meet again after all these years! Turns out the gods had a bit of justice left for me too. Here — a little present from the Hinge!”

He swung his arm — Boom! — a loud crack echoed center stage. A sharp cloud of smoke burst forth, followed by a second, a third, a fourth... Soon, the entire stage was shrouded in dense black fog. Screams rose from the crowd.

The music stopped. A silence fell over the hall. Then — like in some unbearable nightmare — came the long screech of a metal gate opening. No... it couldn’t be. Anything but the cages!

“Grrr!” A low, throaty growl rumbled through the darkness. “Grrrrrrr!”

Now it was clear: someone was opening the cages. Moments later, from the thick smoke, the ghosts burst forth — roaring madly, their jaws foaming, ready to unleash fire and ruin upon everything in their path.

Chaos erupted. Crowds of spectators stormed the exits, trampling everything in their way. The spider guards screamed in vain, trying to restore even a shred of order. But nothing could calm the panic. How could it, when the monsters their children feared most were now flying overhead, real as death?

Reflections on the scene

⸻ ❦ ⸻

– ❦ –

At last — revenge. But not the glorious, tidy kind. No, this is chaos incarnate: smoke, screams, stampede. The ghosts are free. The arena is theirs.

This scene marks the turning point of Book II. Until now, Anne has been reacting to others’ moves. But here, for the first time, the initiative belongs to her side — thanks to The Hinge, the old bandit gull, once Heino’s accomplice, now his bitterest enemy. With his raspy voice and smoky theatrics, The Hinge becomes the unlikely conductor of an uprising decades in the making.

The release of the ghosts is painted as both terrifying and triumphant. They don’t tiptoe out of their cages. They burst forth like wrathful furies, driven by years of humiliation. Their violence, though unsettling, is not senseless — it is the scream of the silenced, the fury of the broken.

And yet, victory is not without cost. In the confusion, Anne gets lost. The same smoke that shielded the ghosts blinds her path. Alone, disoriented, she falls — captured by the very forces she sought to defeat.

It’s a stark reminder that even the best plans can falter. That freedom, once again, comes with sacrifice. The ghosts are free — but the girl who freed them is now in chains.