Chapter 100 PAN TUMUT MOUNTAIN

He looked at me the way a man will look at a child who wants to jump down from a tall building.

“No one comes out of Pan Tumut Mountain alive,” he said.

“But you came out alive,” I said.

He laughed. It was the laugh of a mad man. It had no pace and no rhythm. And there was no goodness in that laugh, only an eerie and evil sound came out as the laughter.

“I sold my soul before I came out,” he said. “Are you ready to do that? Do you want to remain soulless? If you are ready, then you can go into Pan Tumut. If you are not ready, remain where you are.”

I stared at him and he stared back at me with eyes that were wide and reddish. The sides of his beard were folded inward, like the mane of an old lion.

“Are you ready to do that?” he asked in another loud voice.

“I will go,” I said, surprised that my voice was calm and that I had the courage to say that.

He laughed the evil laugh again.

“Well,” he said, and his voice was low this time. It was as if he wanted to calm me down and reason thing