Wynter had not forgotten about the red shoe in her bag. Her priority now was to replace Nixon’s soul anduse the method of guiding souls to send him back.
Winnie had said that Nixon had fallen sick because a child wearing a costume had invited him to play.
Wynter’s gaze fell on Isla in front of her. “Has your sister ever invited a little boy to play?”
“A little boy?” Isla shook her head at first, but then said, “Oh, I remember now. There seemed to be alittle
boy, but my sister didn’t invite him. She said he was chosen.”
Wynter quickly got the essence of Isla’s words. “Chosen? By what?”
“I don’t know, either.” Isla tried to recall something. “It looked like he was captured, but no one spent àsingle penny to look for him.”
Isla tried hard to explain clearly to Wynter, “Those people have taken away a lot of children other thanmy
sister, and they have not returned.
“Wynter, since you speak Foplyanese, could you go and ask them what happened? They are friendly to
those who can speak Foplyanese.”
“They? Are they Foplyans?” Wynter’s eyes narrowed.
Isla shook her head. “No, the Foplyans do not abduct people. They only invite them to take photostogether. But they promised to send my sister back after taking photos. Why isn’t she here now?”
Isla could not comprehend what exactly was going on.
Wynter thought about this period in history.
Suddenly, she snapped her fingers, and her expression changed.
“Do you know where those people who were photographed were taken?”
Isla nodded seriously. “I know because I have sold flowers near there.”
“Take me there.” Wynter was worried that it would be too late if they went there any later.
Isla bit her lips. “Not now, Wynter. I need to save my mother. She hasn’t eaten anything for severaldays and has been coughing.”
The first thought that went through Wynter’s mind was that it was influenza.
That was until Isla said, “Mom has a lot of red open sores all over her body, so she forbade me to gonear
her.”
Was it syphilis? Or was it some other illness?
It was difficult for Wynter to judge since she had not seen Isla’s mother.
“Wynter, I’m going to deliver the medicine to my mother first.”
There was some dust on Isla’s face as she continued, “Walt until I have delivered the medicine, then I’llgo with you to save my sister.”
Wynter could not bear to let Isla go back alone. Moreover, she did not know how serious Isla’s mother’sillness really was.
Wynter was in doubt because she was worried that people in this era still did not know how to preventthe disease. Isla could be infected by it.
“I’m going with you.”
Isla’s home was not too far away. To Isla, who had been running back and forth daily, it was very close.
She used the money earned from selling camellias to buy her mother what little medicinal herbs theyhad
left.
The pharmacy owner took pity on her and told her many times not to buy any more medicine as hermother would not be getting any better.
But Isla persevered because her sister, Lily Olsen, was just over three years old. Lily would be very sadif
she could not see their mother when she returned home.
Isla took Wynter through several twists and turns until they arrived at a rundown area.
It was difficult to imagine that this was a city.
On the opposite side, only separated by a street, was a place full of extravagance where waltz musicdrifted out from a dance hall.
The spare change that some Foplyans threw to beggars was enough for them to live on for a long time.Yet, the poor could not even afford a bite to eat.
Wynter had read about this period in history before. Each time she read about it, she found it difficult tocalm her feelings down.
All of that was incomparable to seeing it with her own eyes.
The streets were still wet as a Foplyan indifferently pushed an old man to the ground, and blood spreadout over the bluestone road.
But the rest of the people were only focused on picking up the leftover food, such as bread rolls, thatthe Foplyans threw away.
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