Sealing Death (7 page)

Fear Your Reflection

      Cassie woke up. She was alone. What could have happened? The van and cop car were obviously deserted. They wouldn't leave her would they? Something was wrong.

      She stood up and heard Charlie yelling her name. There were mirrors everywhere, and Cassie had trouble finding her way around them. "Charlie?" she called out. "Cassie!" he yelled. He was sprawled out on the floor, still limp. "What is going on?!" Cassie inquired. Charlie moved his arm. "We were ambushed by these people." he explained, "They were reflections of us. My reflection carried me here."

      Cassie gasped, "What about my reflection?" "It can't escape unless you touch it." Charlie explained, "They were talking about it. Apparently unless you bring her out, she'll be powerless. It happened with the twins. They escaped, but they are powerless."

      "Cassie!" someone shouted. It was Will! "Will! Over here!" Will ran over. "I've been looking all over for you guys!" he said, "Those reflections are awful!" Cassie walked up to her friend. "Yeah, definitely." Cassie agreed, "Will, where are the others?" Will smiled, "Follow me!"

      Cassie grabbed Will's hand, and made a fireball. "OUCH!" he yelled, tripping backwards, "What was that for?!" Cassie grinned and explained, "Because you're not Will."

      Reflection Will jumped up. "How did you know?" he cursed. Cassie kicked him in the stomach and he fell up against the mirror. "Your sweatshirt that says 'Prince'." she began, as he started to return to the mirror, "It's backwards!" Cassie pointed at the writing. "It's a dead giveaway!" Charlie yelled. Cassie waved good bye to Reflection Will as he was fully absorbed by the looking glass.

    "Good work, Cassandra!" Charlie teased, now standing behind her. "Hello Not Charlie!" Cassie greeted, blasting him away. He tumbled backwards and returned to the mirror just like Reflection Will. "Now where are my real friends?" she wondered, jetting up into the sky, dodging mirrors.

      Above the dangers, Cassie looked around. She saw two of her mom, two of her dad, two sets of twins, and two of Charlie's grandma. She searched some more and found a limp Charlie with Stella, and Will with Stella. The issue was that Will and Charlie weren't even close to each other!

      Cassie swooped down to Will. "Hey Will!" she piped, "Some reflections told me what happened, are you all okay?" Will nodded. "Good." Cassie sighed, "Now for the second order of business." Cassie pulled Will close and kissed him right in front of Stella. When she pulled away, she got slapped in the face by Stella. Cassie smiled big and looked at the tag on her shirt. It was all facing the right way.

      Charlie had been laying limp where his reflection left him. Stella had found him, but was acting strange. She was strange as is, but she was acting different.

      "Charles?" she began, "Do you think those reflections are coming back?" Charlie rolled a little so he could see her. Did she just call him Charles? "I don't know, but hopefully Cassie wakes up and finds us soon." he answered, "She should know what to do."

      Reflection Stella looked at the limp boy. He was kind of cute, too bad he had to die. She bent down next to him and got up close behind him. "What are you doing?" he asked nervously. "Taking care of a limp pest." she replied as she grew her nails into sharp claws, "It was nice knowing you, Charles Myers." Reflection Stella lifted her hand, and heard a thump.

      "Stop right there!" Cassie demanded. She held out her hand and Reflection Stella was pulled from her seat and rocketed into Cassie's hand. "Good bye, faker!" she bubbled as she threw the fake into the nearest mirror.

      "Now, the fun part of my plan!" Cassie smirked, lifting both hands. At her command every mirror within ten miles flew high up in the sky, allowing her to see everybody in the maze. Cassie transported everyone she saw to a wall of mirrors. Two of everyone except for Cassie, Will, Stella, Charlie, and Mr. Braddock stood in front of the mirror. "Dead people don't have reflections." Mr. Braddock informed the group.

    Cassie stepped forward. "If you are not a reflection, lean on the mirror." she announced and watched as one of everyone leaned on the mirror. "You reflections can't touch the mirror, right?" Cassie guessed, pushing Reflection Susan into the mirror. Everyone soon caught on and began shoving the reflections in the mirrors.

      When they were done, Cassie walked up close to the mirror and smiled. Only instead of smiling, her reflection frowned and growled, making Cassie jump back. Jumping backwards, she felt something hard. Oh no. She turned around and there was no reflection in the mirror. "We have to go now!" Cassie cried out. She transported them all into the cars and they jerked forward and went in the crack.

      As the vehicles left, Cassie's reflection cackled. Reflection Cassie's hair turned pitch black and lost it luscious look. "Cassandra is back!" she screamed, "And she is more evil than ever before!" She headed to the Reality Crack and sighed, "Oh, Cassie. If only you didn't fear your reflection."

The Skeentu Realm

      The automobiles shot out of the crack. The first thing Cassie thought when she saw the place was that it looked just like Africa.

      It looked very stormy, and then it happened. Lightning struck a nearby tree and it caught on fire. As if it was planned, a wall of fire quickly separated them from the crack. The wind picked up, and the thunder boomed. "Go!" Cassie yelled to Sir Arthur. He pressed the accelerator and they sped away from the fire with the cruiser close behind. Cassie looked behind her and screamed as a 100-mile-wide cyclone touched down.

      Betty screeched, "Can't this thing go any faster?!" James pressed the gas as far as it could go and they zoomed past the van. Betty saw this and automatically began to jump to conclusions.

      Susan saw Betty, but was too overwhelmed to stop her when she threw open the door and jumped out to save her grandson.

      Sir Arthur saw the crazy old lady and pulled over to pick her up.  He got out and ran over to her.

      "Where are you going?" Will shouted angrily as he jumped out to catch his dead knight. "Will!" Cassie hollered, following him.

      The wind got stronger. Trees were ripped from the ground as the tornado approached. A huge log smashed next to the minivan, causing Stella to jump on her senseless friend. "Omph!" Charlie mumbled from under the panicked Stella.

      Mr. Braddock caught up to Betty and pulled her along faster. Old people are so slow! And that's coming from a dead person! "Hurry!" he ordered.

      The cyclone whirled closer, throwing debris this way and that. The minivan shook, and rattled. Cassie freaked out and tackled Will as the storm was under a mile away. Everything behind them was a blur of dust and wreckage flying in the air. Mr. Braddock yelped as Betty was pulled from the ground, and being his honorable self, he grabbed her legs and flew in the twister with her.

      "NOOOO!!!!!" Susan yelled as James turned around to get the others, "Betty!" The tornado scooped up Cassie and Will, but she didn't release her death grip.

      Stella was now crying on Charlie, not knowing what to do. The van jolted, and started sliding close to the cyclone. The door was yanked off and Stella clenched onto Charlie as the minivan flew into the air.

      James was now in reverse. There was no sense in joining them. The wind threw a tree directly behind the police car, making it impossible to go further. James went forward to go around it, but the twister plucked them up as well and in they went.

      Dust blew, things flew, and people were thrashing this way and that. Cassie was able to stay awake as they flew, and surprisingly, no one was ripped to shreds. Instead, each group was launched from the cyclone far away. The cruiser was flung out, Betty and Mr. Braddock were already gone, and the minivan spiraled around in the center. Cassie wanted to yell, but she couldn't. Instead, her and Will were thrown through the air, away from the storm and far away. Cassie looked around as they headed over a jungle. If they didn't stop soon, they would fly into the water, or maybe even into nothing! Cassie held up her hand and blasted them downwards. As they fell, Cassie started to fly them back upward, but got hit in the head by a flying shoe and passed out.

      Sometime later, Susan woke up alongside her husband and twins. She looked around, and the car was gone. They were surrounded by mountains and valleys. James awoke and sat up. "Where are we?" he moaned as the twins followed their lead and got up. Susan leaned over to her husband and whispered, "I have absolutely no idea."

      Sir Arthur got smacked on the head with a knitting needle. "Look what you've done!" Betty scolded, "Now we're who knows where and all you can do is nap!"

      Stella opened her eyes and saw Charlie laying on her. Grrrr! She really liked it. She gently pushed him off and got up. Char-Char was so cute! Stella still had a tiny bit of a crush on him, more now that him and Cassie split. She knew they were going to get back together. Or did she? They never had a fight before. Maybe this was her chance to get him back. No! She could never do that to Cassie!

      Cassie woke up laying on Will's lap. She started to sit up, but decided she could wait a bit. This must be destiny! Out of everyone in the bunch, her and Will got thrown into the jungle together. It must be a sign!

      Will awoke with Cassie on his lap. He took a double take. Was she already awake? "Cassie?" he whispered and she sprung up. "Yes!" she yipped. She was! Will knew her and Charlie just broke up, but she was clearly ready to move on. "Will you take me back?" he asked hopefully.

      Shocked, Cassie slowly shook her head up and down. Of course she would take him back! Charlie broke up with her, and since everything is good between them, there's no time like the present! "Yes Will," she began, "I'd love to."

      Susan and her family hiked through the mountains. "Are we there yet?" Vander asked. "Are we there yet?" Vanessa asked. "Are we there yet?" Vander repeated. "Are we there yet?" Vanessa repeated. "Are we-" Vander was interrupted by Susan, "No! I don't even know where there is! We are lost!"

      Mr. Braddock stood up and chased down Betty who was heading towards a fishing store. "What are you doing?" he pestered. "Shopping." she nonchalantly replied. "We are busy right now!" Braddock snorted, "We need to find the others, so we can find the crack and leave!" Betty waved him away and went in the shack anyways.

      Stella looked at Charlie as he laid there. He was so hot! His black side-do, his freckles, his smile he had when he was unconscious. Does everyone have that?

      Stella was wondering if she smiled when she was unconscious when Charlie woke up from his mini coma. "Char-Char!" Stella squealed seeing his opening bright blue eyes, "Can you walk yet? Because we are in the middle of some kind of prairie, and I probably can't carry you." Charlie flopped around for a bit and sighed, "I hate Saxton."

      "I'll take that as a no." Stella presumed. Secretly happy inside, she figured that now they could spend some extra time together. She really deserved it too. She was a duchess, after all. Stella crawled on the ground and laid next to Charlie in the tall grass.

      In the jungle, Will and Cassie ogled each other. "I missed us." Will admitted, "Letting go was the worst mistake of my life." Will remembered what he said that night. "Just so you know," Will began, "Ever never ends."

      Cassie had forgotten how awesome Will was! He was hot, thoughtful, and had abs! She needed to kiss him again. Cassie pressed her lips against Will's and pulled him close. He was such a good kisser!

      Will did what he normally did when Cassie kissed him out of nowhere. He kissed back. What was he going to do? Sure they had to save all of reality, but it was simply unrealistic to pass up one of Cassie's kisses. She pulled back and said, "You know we're hopelessly lost in the jungle, right?" Will just smirked, "I'm never hopeless when I'm with you."

Lost In Skeentu

      Susan and James tried to navigate the huge mountain range as the twins played. They had no map, no directions, and no knowledge of the area. "Are we ever going to get out of here?" Susan questioned her husband.

      Vander and Vanessa exchanged a glance and said, "Wait for the fire that will show the way." Susan looked at her husband and shrugged. The twins had been right so far, so they all sat down and waited for fire.

      Betty loaded up Mr. Braddock with everything under the suns. You name it, she had it. Whether it be fruits, or fishing line, Betty bought it. Once Mr. Braddock was full, they went to the check-out.

      "I'll give you this pearl necklace for all of this junk." Betty offered. The lady turned around. She smiled and nodded her head. "I have a motto." she explained, "Everyone leaves with a smile." The older lady plucked the necklace from Betty's hand. "Thank you for shopping at Queen's Fishing Palace." she thanked, "Have a nice day!"

      Betty waved her hand and shoved Mr. Braddock out the door. "That was the best deal ever!" Betty whispered to the knight, "That necklace wasn't even real!"

      Stella watched Charlie. "How about now?" she asked, "Can you walk now?"

      Charlie looked at her. "You just asked me two minutes ago!" he yelped. Stella stood up and dusted herself off. She was so clean. Everywhere she went, she always looked nice. It was probably because she was always prepping herself. Charlie rolled around using his one arm he could now move to push himself over. His legs were still completely immobilized. What could Saxton have done?

      Cassie and Will stood up and looked around. Cassie was just going to fly them up, but there were too many branches in the way, and she wasn't talented enough to dodge them all.

      After thinking about it, Cassie turned to Will. "Would it be too bad if I burned this whole place down?" she wondered. Will looked at her and said, "Apparently, only you can prevent jungle fires. Of course it would be bad! How many animals would you be killing?!"

      Cassie sighed, "How are we going to find our way out then?" Will looked around and blurted, "By using good old fashioned brain power!" Cassie dropped her head. They were doomed.

      The Realm of The Lost floated around unprotected. It drifted by the Scarrcedenhogg, catching its attention. The monster smashed its claws on the exterior, and ripped it off. Creatures panicked as the Scarrcedenhogg used just ten heads to do the job. Faster than lightning, they smashed on the ground, growls thundering throughout the realm. When the heads retracted, the beast clawed away at the remains, throwing broken pieces all over Reality.

      A chunk of realm flew through nothing, and smashed into the Realm of the Retold hard enough to send another crack rippling through existence. It immediately split two ways. The crack smashed past realms, one end stopping just before the Musical Realm, and the other jarring the precious Time Realm. Due to the jar, time was thrown for a loop, and Reality skipped ahead two minutes.

      Arthur Braddock and Betty found themselves in another store. "How did we get here?" Betty questioned. "The Time Realm!" Braddock yelped, "We are now, literally, running out of time to stop the Scarrcedenhogg. We need to find the others!"

      Betty walked outside and looked around. One way was water, and the other was a long road. "That way!" she demanded, pointing down the road.

      Cassie pulled away from Will. When did they start kissing? Whatever happened, it couldn't have been good. "We need to hurry!" Cassie shouted at Will, scaring him.

      Will knew something made them jump ahead in time, he just didn't know what. "I agree." he acknowledged, "Listen for water. If we find water, we can find a way out."

      Stella found herself inches from Charlie's face. "What just happened?" she inquired. Charlie shrugged, "It looks like you were going to try and carry me." Was she really that desperate that she had to try to carry Charlie across an endless prairie? Stella heard a menacing growl behind her. She turned around and knew why she was so desperate.

      Standing five or so yards away was a huge lion, eyeing them as his next meal. The creature broke into a run, and Stella threw Charlie over her shoulder and ran as fast as she could. The lion had to be at least ten feet tall on all fours, and was quickly catching up to them. She briefly considered dropping Charlie to slow the cat down, but quickly realized that was a bad idea.

      The lion was going to get them. They were doomed. The beast pounced above their heads and landed in front of them. Stella dropped Charlie on the ground and froze. The lion strutted closer and roared in Stella's face, blowing her hair back. They are in big trouble.

      Susan and the twins waited patiently as James paced around them. And he thought the night Susan went into labor was stressful. They had to wait for a fire, in a different world, before they could get out of the mountain range. Ha! "Lion." Vander whispered.

      Susan looked at her son. "Please don't say we have company." she plead. "We don't," Vanessa clarified, "Charlie and Stella do." Oh no! They are just children! There is no way that Stella will be able to fend off a lion! "He has bad breath." Vander added, "Poor Stella."

      Susan looked up. This was it. This is when one dies. Wait, but there's two of them. Stella must run away and leave Charlie? That can't be it. "Vander, Vanessa, can you get a hold of Sisilla?" Susan asked. She had helped them once; she would definitely help them again!

      Cassie and Will soon found a rushing river, but it would take too long to walk. Cassie whisked her hand and made a kayak. "I hope you can hang on tight!" Cassie yelled, shoving Will inside. Cassie jumped on and with a snap, they were riding the waves of the Tiskalebeen River.

      Stella couldn't move. The lion swatted her to the side and looked down at his meal: Charlie. "No!" Stella screamed, reaching in her pocket and pulling out a cough drop. She threw the package at the lion and it hit him in the eye. The lion shook ferociously and roared. It leapt at Stella and was froze in mid-air. It landed with a thud two feet from her. "Sisilla?" Stella called.

      "You bunch find yourself in a lot of trouble." she sighed, "A lot." The Ice Queen walked up to Stella and looked down on her. "As much I want to change my image, I won't be able to come every time you need me." the queen explained, "With that in mind, I do have a present for you." Sisilla twirled her hand and pointed at Stella's heart. A light stream of snow drifted from the queen to Stella, giving the latter a chill.

    "Now you can save yourself." she whispered excitedly. She raised both of her arms and disappeared in an explosion of snow.

      Save herself? What did that mean? Stella stood up and jumped back. The ground around where she had laid was covered with ice. "Did I do that?" she wondered quietly. Charlie! Stella ran over to her limp crush.

      Sir Arthur and Betty bought a golf cart from a local and loaded it with what Betty bought. "Get in!" Braddock ordered. Betty climbed in and sat in the passenger seat. When Sir Arthur got in the driver's seat, however, she shook her head. "I'm not letting some dead guy drive!" she informed, "I'll drive, just let me scooch over.” Betty slowly slid behind the wheel and honked until the knight got in. Mr. Braddock barely had time to sit down with what the grandma zoomed away.

      Cassie and Will flowed out of the jungle and into a lake. The water was as brown as mud. Cassie transported them to the shore. "Let's go to the closest town, and somehow signal the others." Will advised. Cassie pointed at the ground and a motorcycle took form. "Let's do this!" she announced as she hopped on. Will got on behind her and hung on as the magic bike rocketed over the landscape, leaving a trail of fire behind.

      "Are you okay?" Stella asked, patting Charlie's face. "Yes." he moaned, "At least I can move my other arm now."

      Stella had an idea. She shut her eyes tight and twirled her hand. When she opened them, it was snowing. "That didn't work." she sighed. Charlie gaped, "You did that!" Stella nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure Sisilla gave me whatever you call what she has." she began, "Ice magic stuff."

      Charlie had an excellent plan. "Make it snow more," he ordered, "And when there's enough snow, you can make a sled and we can slide out of here!"

      Stella shut her eyes and grunted. Snow fell, snow blew, more and more. It piled up by the inches, and Charlie screamed, "Enough!" Stella opened her eyes and saw the snowy scene. "Now that's cool!" Stella joked. She ran her hand across the snow and created an ice sled. "This is so easy!" Stella squealed, putting Charlie on the sled, "We'll be out of here in no time!"

      Cassie and Will stopped the cycle when they saw the van and cop car, sitting nicely in the middle of nowhere. "Now let's signal the others!" Cassie chirped throwing her arm into the air. Flames flew into the sky, five, ten, twenty miles.

      Susan jumped up. "The fire!" she screeched, "We need to go that way!"

      Seeing the flame as well, Vander and Vanessa grabbed their parents and exchanged an uneasy look. They weren't sure if they could do it, but flying couldn't be too hard! Susan screamed as they rocketed into the sky and flew to the fire.

      They all crashed into the cop car. "Never. Again." Susan gasped. The twins just nodded and agreed. They weren't expecting landing to be harder than taking off.

      Betty saw the flames and drove after them. "That must be Cassie!" Mr. Braddock announced as they got closer. "That's why I'm going there!" Betty snarled, "Get with the program!"

      Stella pushed Charlie on the sled. She had seen the fire and was now going as fast as she could go to get to Cassie. She couldn't wait to tell Cassie about her powers! Twinsies! They'd be the unstoppable duo, and Stella couldn't wait.

      "Mom! Dad!" Cassie yelped with concern, "Is everyone alright?" Susan nodded her head, "Yes, but I am never letting any of you fly me anywhere again!" James stood up and put in, "That goes for me too!"

      Cassie snickered, "So I guess you just grounded yourselves!" "Ha. Ha. Ha." Susan answered sarcastically, "Very funny, but where are the others?"

      Cassie just shrugged. She had no idea. She hoped they were all still alive.

      Betty was pushing a hundred miles per hour and trying to go faster. The sooner they got to Cassie, the sooner she'd get to her grandson. If anything were to happen to him, she wouldn't know what to do. She told his parents she'd take care of him in case something happened.

      It happened when Charlie was four. His parents had brought him to Betty's old house to visit. They always told her she needed to get the short in her wall fixed, but she refused to listen. She was watching Charlie play with his grandpa outside, while his parents took a nap inside. When she saw smoke rise from the window, she realized that her house was on fire! She told her husband, and he ran inside to put it out.

      Betty was waiting outside with Charlie when she heard a massive explosion. She then knew it was worse than she had originally thought, but it was too late. By the time the firefighters, and ambulance came, all three had died and the house was gone.

      From that point forward, she had raised Charlie as if he was her own son. When they ran away the first time, she had high hopes that they were safe, but she was not taking any chances this time.

      Stella had an idea to get there faster. She remembered how Sisilla traveled in a whirl of snow. Stella held Charlie close and twirled her hand like the Ice Queen. Snow surrounded them and when it dispersed, they were sitting in front of a shocked crowd.

      "How did you do that!" Cassie pressed. "Sisilla gave me the power so I could protect myself!" Stella squealed, "Now we're BFFWMP's!" Cassie looked at her strangely. "Best friends forever with magic powers!" she clarified. "Oh!" Cassie sighed, "Definitely!"

      Charlie was put in the van. "How's my grandma?" he called, "Is she okay?"

      Susan walked over to him and whispered, "Well," Susan began. "I'm coming Charles!" Betty hollered as she pulled over the golf cart and hopped out. She speed-walked over to him and gave him a hug. "I was so worried!" she admitted, "I'm so glad you're okay!"