Fairytale Flummox

By JDWrites101

Chapter Four: Phantoms Of A Sort

In the light of the full moon the barren tree remained still. The shadows that its branches cast fell across young Derek Peterson's room giving it an unearthly quality. There was a sharp tap and sleeping boy stirred. When it happened again he groaned in annoyance. It took a moment for the blurry surroundings to come into focus and when they did he searched around for the source of the noise. Through the broken beams of moonlight he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Was Della playing some kind of prank on him? He definitely wouldn't put it past her to do something as stupid as this. Ever since her stupid dog died she hadn't exactly been the nicest person to be around. The sharp knock returned and shook the windowpanes. He got up from the warm comfort of his bed and treaded across the chilly wooden floor.

"Dumb tree," mumbled Derek. He placed his hands on the frame ready to throw it open when a figure manifested from the darkness outside. He took a step back in shock and blinked several times. There could be no mistaking it: outside the second story window was a floating boy. "What the-?"

The figure held out a hand and its eyes began to glow. Derek shook his head, it was almost as if the boy was speaking into his mind. "Stop…." Was it wrong that everything it whispered sounded so right? "I don't… I don't know…."

Its eyes pulsed.

Lost to the wondrous promises of the mysterious boy Derek placed both hands on the cold window frame and pulled up. The instant it was open the thing's hand wrapped around his wrist and with unimaginable strength began to pull him outside into the frigid night air. The boy's mouth opened to reveal a set of bright white fangs and Derek screamed.

"So," began Benny with a sort of whimsical grin. Ever since his quote unquote incident with Ethan two nights ago the world seemed such a brighter place. The birds were singing, the sky was clear, colors were all the more vibrant and perhaps best of all well… he had a date tonight didn't he? "We can't keep denying it and I have to ask: are we going to keep ignoring the obvious?"

Ethan in unison with Rory and Sarah gave the Spellmaster a confused look. He thought of the kiss they had shared then shuddered. Benny wasn't going to tell the others was he? The whole thing had felt wrong, not in the sense that he hadn't liked it but…. He felt as though he had been robbed of something that could never be replaced and for what? He began to tug on his pinky finger as the lingering questions floated around in his head.

"Really?" Asked Benny in disbelief. When the small group continued with the same confused expressions he crossed his arms. "No one noticed all the police cars around Della's place this morning? They're must've been four or five of them."

"I flew to school with Erica this morning," said Sarah. She looked down with a small blush across her cheek. "So I tend not to see things like that unless you or Ethan tell me… sorry."

"Same," offered Rory. He fiddled around with his fingers. "Plus I went out early morning hunting in the forest for some breakfast so I kind of zoomed here. I actually ran into a crow on the way in, talk about a nice after breakfast snack."

"I-" Ethan struggled to finish the thought without looking up from his notebook. In fact given everything that had gone through his head in the past moment it was probably better if he didn't look his friend directly in the eyes. He felt like something might betray him in front of his friends. "I was distracted."

And by distracted he meant he was so focused on his date tonight little else had registered in the world around him.

Benny gave a dramatic gasp. "What's this? The smartest people on Team V failed to catch onto something that I did? What's this world coming to? Are the end times upon us?" Sarah crossed her arms with gave him good natured looked which he returned with a smile of his own. "Kidding. Seesh someone's been spending way too much time with Erica. But in all seriousness I went ahead and asked Hannah Price if she knew anything about what happened."

"Why would Hannah know anything?"

"Because her dad is the chief of police," whispered Ethan. "Good thinking."

"At least someone appreciates my hard work. Turns out someone or rather something did try to take Derek last night." He pulled out a small scrap of paper and read aloud: "The only real information she was able to give me was this: 'early this morning at around one am a mysterious figure, assumed to be a boy, appeared at the second story window of the Peterson residence. Said intruder convinced the youngest Peterson to let him in and then attempted to pull the boy out. Authorities were called shortly afterword's but no evidence of any person was found save for a bruise on Derek Peterson's wrist and neck.'"

"That would explain why Della wasn't in third period," said Ethan. At once his brain kicked into overdrive and be began to write in his notebook. On the surface things may gave appeared to returned to normal but underneath he was a turbulent mess of emotions that he could neither understand nor control at the moment and instead of trying to he opted to throw himself into work. "There has been a strange string of supernatural activity going on lately. Benny was put under a sleeping curse and stuck in the Glass Mausoleum, the hat I hid in the janitor's closet might be cursed, and then there's that strange needle we found yesterday and the missing room in the library. And apparently now there's this. We have all sorts of questions… but no answers yet."

"You forgot the vampire attacks as well," said Sarah. Rory opened his mouth to protest and she shook her head in response. "There's no use denying it anymore. We're basically under lock down and as much as it sucks we haven't had an incident in a few days which can only mean the attacks are coming from one of our own."

"For starters we can definitely sort out this list on the importance and urgency of each item."

"So then the hat and missing room would be at the bottom," declared Rory. When the Spellmaster gave him a funny look he added: "The play's been delayed and Ethan put the hat in a place no one can get to it. So there's no immediate threat, and if there's no rush then trying to break the spell in the library isn't top priority."

"Good point," said Benny. He reached into his satchel and pulled out one of the books. He flipped to a page he bookmarked. "I spent last few nights researching the language in this and I learned in order to break the enchantment on the room I need a plant that only blooms during the spring equinox which isn't until March."

He showed them a plant with several almost bell like appendages. "It's called the Angel Corpse. Its pollen is strong enough that when mixed with the right ingredients can melt away even the most potent of enchantments."

Ethan nodded as he began to process the information. "Given that it's still January that puts the hat, needle and room at the bottom. At the top is the person who put the curse on you, the reason they put you in the mausoleum, this almost kidnapping and the recent attacks on the vampires though we were asked not to get involved. Rory and I are going to the auditorium after school to see just how bad the damage is and get an estimate for how far we're going to need to push back the play. Sarah any additional information you can get out of the council would be helpful. And since I don't know how long we'll be after school, Benny I'll leave the mausoleum research to you and your Grandma. Maybe you can figure out something about the curses on it with all those old books you've saved from the library. Once we wrap up here we can head over to Della's on the way home and see if we pick up on anything."

"Sounds like a plan," responded Benny. "All right let's do this!"

"I just realized that Erica isn't here," said Rory suddenly. "Where is she? This is the second lunch she's missed with us in the last day or so."

"Probably off scaring some freshman," said Sarah. The bell rang and she rose from the table. "I have some papers I need to hand over to the office. If I figure out anything about the vampire attacks or if anything comes up I'll let you guys know. Good luck with the investigation."

On that note the group went their separate ways.

Ethan covered his nose in disgust and watched Rory do the same. Catlin and Ms. LOL led the duo carefully walked down the steps of the auditorium and towards the large crater in the center of the room. The stage had been entirely removed and with it the first few rows of chairs.

"As you can see the damage done was quite extensive," said the older woman. She moved with grace that neither of the boys thought possible. "Several pipes bursts, the wiring for the entire auditorium was ruined, and there may be long term structural damage. At best if the construction was rushed, which I can tell you it most certainly won't be, this place could be done by late May."

"I didn't think that damage would this bad," mumbled Ethan. He peered into the hole and grimaced at the pool of what he could only assume was sewage. "This is disgusting. What happened to the sets and everything that was on the stage?"

"Soaked in layer of what we can only assume is sewage," whispered Ms. LOL. "Unfortunately it needed to be disposed of and I can sadly say there was no hope for any of it." She looked down disappointed. "This would happen to what I can say was one of the greatest plays I've ever read, nothing like that train wreck Rainbow Factory from last semester."

"We're going to have to remake sets and everything?" Wailed Rory in disbelief. "I'm going to have to do so many rewrites and we're going to have to work overtime if we want to make up for all the missing things. This is worse than I imagined, so much more worse."

Catlin and Ms. LOL shared a look. It was eventually the nun that stepped forward. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news but I don't think the play will be happening this semester. There's just too much damage and Principal Hicks informed us this morning that well… the budget just can't handle it."

Ethan watched as Rory blanched in shock. Ms. LOL nodded sadly and whispered: "I know how you feel. I really do, but don't give up hope we'll get 'Dash of Madness' on stage next year."

"Yeah but I had the perfect cast this year," said the blonde sadly. "What about the dressing rooms? Were any of the costumes damaged? Can we go down there?"

"I'm afraid not," said Catlin. "The rooms have been closed due to the flooding and it would be a safety hazard to allow anyone down there. I'm sorry, I truly am, now if you'll both excuse me I have to ensure that the weekend dentitions get to work with Stephanie cleaning the cafeteria."

When the two teachers had left both boys shared a knowing look and headed down the steps for the dressing rooms. Warnings or not they needed to see for themselves how bad the damage was. What they found was Rachel standing in front of the rooms with camera in her hands.

"What are you doing?" Asked Ethan. "And why are you taking pictures?"

"For my report," said Rachel. She turned to Rory with the camera held up. "Can I get a snapshot of our dishearten director? It's bound to make front page of the paper on Monday."

Rory ducked behind Ethan who held up a hand as the flash went off. The vampire peered over the brunette's shoulder and asked: "I thought you were a part of the Martial Arts Club, what are you doing here?"

"I was but I prefer the paper now. What better way to get all the information than actually investigating? When I heard about the damage I thought it was a quick tile replacement or something easy, not…" she motioned around to the stained walls "-this."

"Yeah it's pretty bad," whispered Rory. He pointed to the torn yellow tape around the door. "Were you just in the dressing rooms?"

Rachel looked at them and nodded. "Yeah I heard a rumor that a ghost has been sighted down here and I thought I check it out. See for yourselves." She handed them a photograph. "It's the picture I snapped of it."

Ethan looked down at the photograph. In the middle of the room a bright blue dress floated and judging by the blur lines he assumed it had been moving. Something caught his eye and he looked up to meet Rachel's. "When was this taken?"

"So you noticed it too then? I took it yesterday. I did some snooping before I got the real report going. Funny thing is, you'd think the dressing rooms would be soaked with sewage; after all they're nearly directly under the stage right? Nope, not a single drop in there. Something's fishy if you ask me, especially with all the leaking pipes lately. You can keep the photo I've got spares and I'm determined to get to the bottom of it."

She waved goodbye. Ethan turned to Rory. The blonde turned the photo over and shrugged. "At least the costumes survived, you think a ghost was responsible for the flooding?"

"I dunno," whispered Ethan. He looked at the photo again. "But something is definitely going on here and the last thing we need is the school reporter getting involved."

Ethan peered across the street and noted with a smile that there was no sign of the police or any of the Peterson family at the residence. He motioned for Benny and Erica to follow him and together they rushed towards the house. Well most of them did, Erica walked at her own leisurely pace with her arms folded across her chest. In an annoyed tone she asked:

"I don't understand why I have to be here with you two bozos. I have things to do you know."

"Sarah is off working on her college applications," explained Ethan. He peered in the window and saw nor sensed anything out of the ordinary. "And Rory is having the equivalent of a midlife crisis with the play and he won't be of any help to us. Plus Benny and I can't climb up the second story of the house to investigate without someone noticing so that leaves you."

She huffed. "Fine I'll do it but you owe me."

"Gee thanks Erica," said Benny. "It's nice to know we can count on you to help with all the insane stuff that goes on around here."

The blonde made a face at him then floated upwards and stopped at the window. She peered around and sniffed the air. From the ground below Ethan called out:

"Anything interesting?"

"No."

"Anything strange?"

"No."

"Anything-"

"Nothing at all." She landed on the ground. She sniffed again and closed her eyes. "But I'm picking up on the faintest hints… of… Rory…."

"Rory?" Asked the two boys in unison.

"I think so but I can't be sure. It's smells both like him and not like him."

"What does that mean?" Asked Ethan. Erica rolled her eyes as if he had just asked her the stupidest question in the world. "I just want to make sure we're understanding everything your saying ok? We're not vampires and if Rory is involved in some way or another we need to make sure we have the facts straight before we do something stupid."

"Fine." She huffed and thought it over for a moment. "It would be like if Rory had a twin brother… but they were more than just twins. It's like that time with the camera and the evil copies. And before you ask it wasn't Rory here because I was tutoring him last night in chemistry. Any other questions?"

"You tutor Rory?" Asked Benny in disbelief. "No wonder he bet he could get a better grade than me this semester. I might actually have to buy that hair dye."

Erica moaned in annoyance then said "later nerds" and was gone.

Benny turned to Ethan. "Well that was a very descriptive whole lot of nothing. Now what?"

"Not entirely nothing." He looked at his small notepad. Underlined several times was Rory's name. "It's something to start our search on but that's all it'll be for now. We can't make any assumptions without some solid evidence but it's more than we had to gone on for this morning."

"Why would Rory, or a Rory look a like be interested in kidnapping Della's younger brother?"

"I don't know," mumbled Ethan. He flipped his notebook closed and sighed. "I should probably get home and catalogue all these note before tonight. I still gotta get some programing in today and see if I can find anything on this potential new council member. Plus I still need to get ready. After being stuck in auditorium with that sewage I smell like something Rory would eat."

"You don't have to worry about that," said Benny. He took Ethan's hands in his and noticed the way the younger boy seemed to shy away. Was he embarrassed? Had the Spellmaster unknowingly overstepped his bounds? "We've hung out a bunch of times and each times hasn't always been the cleanest."

Ethan gave him a weird look. "It's our first date… don't you want it to be I dunno… special?"

Benny felt his heart break. How could he be so stupid as to think this was going to be just another guy's night out? He stammered for a moment and then held up his hands. "Your right, sorry I was totally focused on all the things happening I didn't think-" He checked his cellphone. "It's five thirty right now so I'll be over at around seven and we'll head off to a movie and then dinner ok?"

"Deal," whispered the Seer. "But no arguing over whose paying for what. Fifty-fifty agreed?"

Benny bit his lip. "But-" Unaware of what the Spellmaster called 'the puppy look', Ethan titled his head to the side and small grin. Unable to resist the younger boy's charm he gave in. "Ugh- fine."

Benny pulled him close; if his friend wanted to play dirty then he could too. With his lips inches away from the others he whispered. "As long as I get to pick the movie."

"I…" Ethan was a shade of dark red. The two of them stood entwined in one anothers grasp. "O-ok." A police car rounded the corner and the duo quickly separated. "W-We'd better get out of here, I don't know about you but I really don't want to get arrested."

"Agreed."

By the time both of them returned to their respective houses and the sun was beginning to set. Benny closed his front door and a sudden realization came crashing down around him. "I need to figure out what to wear tonight."

The woman in red looked out the balcony of the old clock tower and placed her gloves hands on the solid cement railing. Whitechapel gave off a bright orange and yellow shine in the light of the setting sun. She thought of a world long forgotten and felt an anger well up within her. Soon everything would be in place and past mistakes would be atoned for.

"I knew that I'd find you here." The woman turned around and watched with an uninterested glance as a nun manifested from the air before her. "I thought that I could ignore your presence in this city, but seeing as you not only broke an ancient curse with magic that was not yours but stole a powerful artifact it seems that I cannot."

The red haired woman scoffed. "It is merely a tool to help return what is rightfully mine. What seems apparent to me is that even in this world you look for a position of power…. Vice Principal Mother Superior Catlin Femme or perhaps I should call you by your real name?"

"Do not patronize me Rose Red." Catlin stepped forward her eyes glowing a dark emerald green. "I have put much of my time and effort into this city and I needed an object created with the purpose of pure love." The mangled sweater appeared in her open hand. "And now it's ruined. Do you know how long I have followed those boys for this? How long I waited for those red strings to finally connect?" She stepped towards her. "Now tell me: Where. Is. It?"

Rose gave her a smug smile. It faded when a green aura wrapped around her neck and began to suffocate her. Slowly the nun approached never once breaking her measured stride.

"Impudent youth. You should know by now to always respect your superiors. Stay out of my way and if you dare reveal who I am to anyone I will personally see to it that you never find what you're looking for. Is that understood child?"

Catlin vanished into the setting light and Rose got to her feet. She gritted her teeth and looked out once more at the city. Given time there would be hell to pay, not just for her, but for everyone.

A/N: Well I'm going to be honest with you this is my final chapter here on . A few days ago I was working on this story and I tried to pull open my account and well... I couldn't. There was some random error with the website and no matter what I tried I just could not get in. All the while this was happening a random thought popped into my head: 'maybe this was meant to be, maybe it's time to move on.' I love this website and I love all the people who've taken the time to read my stories. I love writing fanfiction, back in the day I used to write about Digimon, for a while it was Kingdom Hearts, then Pokemon, and finally My Babysitter's a Vampire. All the while I've wanted to be a writer and it's time I take that next step.

I love telling stories that involved Benny, Ethan, Sarah, Erica and Rory I loved every minute of it but it's time I showed the world what I can do. And I can't do that if I stay here in this little area of Fanfiction using characters that someone else has created. I want to test my talents as a writer and what better way than a leap of faith? You see I have a character who is very dear to me and I want to introduce him to the world. It's time I made his story a reality, in fact I'm almost done with it and can't wait for everyone to one day read it. And not just because I wrote but because it's got my own characters, my own heart and my soul in it.
In other words I'm sorry. I'm sorry I won't finish any of the stories I started here. But if you like and if I have the time I'll upload the outlines I made so you can at least get the closure and answers you seek. But for now I'm off to finish the story because well I don't just want to tell it, I need to. Hopefully one day you'll be reading about Dillon Monroe and his quest to be a hero and you'll know yours truly wrote it. But until that day comes I've got a lot of work that needs to be done and unfortunately Fanfiction isn't part of it.

Keep writing, keep reading, and don't forget the simplest story can have the biggest impact on someone's life.

Putting in his official letter of resignation

-JDWrites101