I stopped short at hearing those words and gave Maddie a skeptical look the stopped her short as she blushed from the attention before going on "I know it's not something I normally do but please, there's something you have to know! I think the town's in danger!"
Despite my skepticism, Maddie did look quite frantic, as if she hadn't slept properly in days and her hair was frazzled beyond belief. Deciding to see where this went, I softened my look and approached her "OK, what's the problem?" I asked.
Although I hadn't said I believed her, Maddie sagged in relief, her face lighting up in a smile "Thank you." She whispered before getting off the box she had been leaning against and opened it before pulling out a large, ancient leather tome "I found this after my dad helped clear out an abandoned house for demolition." She said, starting to flick through the pages as I glanced over her shoulder "He knew I had an interest in old books and passed it onto me." She gave a bitter laugh at this point "Although I wish that he'd thrown the thing into a fire."
"Why's that?" I ask, not seeing anything wrong with the book. The letter were in large, Gothic print and although Maddie flicked through it too fast too read, there didn't seem to be anything overtly wrong with it.
"This!" Maddie said as she finally found the page she had been looking for and showed it to me. It was an old style print you got from old books, a picture indicating a bright light in the sky with people bowing down before it. One or two were being plucked up by what appeared to be... tentacles? Seeing Maddie's expression, I decided against to make certain jokes and instead waited for her to go on.
"This book tells of when our town was first founded, that a Cult sprang up to worship a Goddess that had been followed by the old Tribes. They called her T'Calu, the bringer of laughing torment and delight. The Cult was eventually stamped out but not before their Priestess gave a prophecy." Maddie looked down to the page and started quoting directly from it.
"Our defeat is temporary, the Bringer eternal. Await the night's scarlet plume so that the Goddess may break free and rule once more."
She put the book down on a nearby box and looked pleadingly at you "I've been looking into this and found the Priestess was referencing a meteorite that only comes every few centuries and it's passing by Earth over the next few days!"
I listened to Maddie as sympathetically as I could but it all seemed to be an overactive imagination more than anything "Look, Maddie. I think you're getting away with yourself here. You sure you're not just reading far too much into this than you should?"
"No! Not with my dreams!" Maddie blurted out.
"Dreams?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well... One dream. It's the same one night after night. I'm naked and unable to move and there are these terrible black feathers tickling me constantly! A voice tells me to give in but I won't!" She blushes as she realises what she's just admitted to you but goes on "Look, there's a way I can prove what I'm saying. There's a spot out in the woods where the Cult used to meet and might have evidence of what I'm talking about. Will you come with me so I can prove to you what's going on and help me stop it?"
You paused for a moment to mull over the question before answering...
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