*Cough* Hi everybody, I'm back! *Cough, cough* Once again, sorry for the wait, but I got sick the day I finished writing this chapter (hence the coughing) and then I relapsed. But I'm back now, and hopefully I'll recover before the weekend ends. *Cough*

Anyways, enjoy the chapter and thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 7: Fidgeting on the Roof

"HELP!" Stayne shouted.

"Give it a rest," Iracebeth sighed, "no one can hear us."

"I can't believe we got stuck on the roof." Mirana pouted.

Iracebeth shook her head and turned her attention to the castle below. How could something so ridiculous happen so easily? All it took was for Mirana to suggest setting up a telescope atop the roof. Reluctantly, Iracebeth agreed.

But when the two siblings arrived on the roof, they noticed something about the door; it didn't have a handle on the outside. The two queens immediately began screaming for help, and to their delight, Stayne emerged from the door, eager to find the source of such screeching. He was surprised to find both of their majesties on top of the roof and even more surprised to find them together.

But there was something that Stayne did not know of, not until he closed the door behind him. The cursed roof had taken yet another prisoner, a prisoner who was afraid of heights.

"HELP!" Stayne shouted again.

Iracebeth covered her ears and tried hard to block out the sound of Stayne's (surprisingly girlish) screams. She took a glance behind her and nearly felt ashamed at the sight before her. Her own knave was hanging onto a nearby flag pole as if it were the only thing keeping him alive.

"What did I see in that man?" Iracebeth muttered.

Just then, Iracebeth began to hear a thudding sound from the room below. She bent over and pressed her ear against the cold bricks, listening to two familiar voices conversing with one another.

"Do you really think mummy's on the roof, Hatter?"

"I'm positive, Ginger. I don't know anyone besides your mother who could produce such a horrendous scream."

The Mad Hatter and Ginger began making their way up to the attic until they came to the door above them. Once it was opened, the two of them were overwhelmed by several voices yelling something about a door.

Completely puzzled, the two of them stepped out onto the roof and closed the door behind them.

"YOU IMBECILES!" Iracebeth shouted.

Mirana sighed. "Here we go, again…"

The hatter looked at Ginger and shrugged his shoulders. "What'd I do wrong? I all did was close the door."

Stayne's blood ran cold after hearing the hatter's words. "You closed the door..?"

Ginger and the hatter nodded their heads in unison.

"They closed the door." Stayne muttered to himself. "They closed the door…" He then re-directed his attention back to the two carrot-topped 'imbeciles' who were smiling happily.

"YOU CLOSED THE DOOR!? I HATE BOTH OF YOU!"

The hatter opened his mouth to object, but Ginger stepped in front of him. If anyone was going to fight Stayne, Ginger wanted to be the one to do it.

"Watch what you're sayin' you jerk!" Ginger shouted.

Stayne snorted, and then chuckled at the sight of Ginger challenging him. "You don't pose a threat to me, little tyke."

Ginger snapped. The short temper she had inherited from her mother had kicked in, once more. "THAT'S IT! YOU BETTER GET READY GIRLY-MAN, 'CAUSE I'M GONNA-"

"Ginger!" The hatter snapped. "As much as I'd love to watch you beat up Stayne, now is not the time, nor place. Now if someone would be so kind to explain to me as to why closing a door is so catastrophic?"

Iracebeth huffed, stood up and began walking towards the hatter in a surprisingly composed manner. "Well for your information, 'hat-man,' because you were so kind enough to close the door…"

She brought her lips to his ear. "WE'RE ALL STUCK HERE!"

The hatter fell backwards, and watched Iracebeth stomp back to the other side of the roof. Ginger supported him by the shoulders and helped him walk over to Mirana, who was writing on a piece of paper.

"Hey, Auntie," Ginger called out, "what'cha doin'?"

Mirana paused for a moment; she wasn't entirely used to Ginger's…unique vocabulary. "I'm going to send an S.O.S. to someone." She said.

"Oh, good idea." Ginger replied.

"Well, I think your plan has a hole in it." Iracebeth haughtily said.

"What do you mean?" Mirana inquired.

"How on earth do you plan to send that to someone? It's a piece of paper. There's no way you can just drop that and not expect the wind to catch it!"

"That's okay," Mirana cheerfully said, "I've already thought of that."

Mirana finished writing on the piece of paper and then folded it into a tight square. She then turned her head in the direction of the mountains and made a disturbingly accurate raven call.

Iracebeth pinched the bridge of her nose and hung her head down in shame. "I can't believe we're related."

Within moments, an ominous black cloud began climbing out from behind the mountains and towards the castle.

"What is that!?" Stayne shrieked.

Mirana bounced up and down and clapped her hands as she shouted, "Crows, marvelous, marvelous crows!"

Iracebeth squinted her eyes, staring intently at the cloud; her sister was right, they were crows!

"I don't believe this," Iracebeth groaned. She turned to Stayne. "She's crazy…my sister's crazy. I'm related to a loony!"

"Seems like that runs in the family…" Stayne muttered.

"Could you hand this to one of the guards, please?" Mirana said sweetly, as she handed a piece of paper to a crow sitting in front of her.

The crow shrugged its shoulders. "Meh…alright."

The crow took the piece of paper and flew off with the rest of the crows, to the castle below.

….

"Look!" Mirana pointed towards the crow returning with another piece of paper. The crow flew down with a graceful spiral, until it landed next to Mirana and handed her the paper nestled between its beak.

Mirana unfolded the piece of paper and read it aloud.

"Dear Mirana,

We have received your letter and we are aware of your situation. We have devised a way to save you, but it will take some time. So for now, please stay calm and we will come to your aid as soon as possible.

Sincerely, The red card captain."

"Great!" Iracebeth shouted. "I have to spend time with all of you!"

Ginger patted her mother on the shoulder. "C'mon, mum, it won't be so bad…"

….

"Oh…thirsty…so thirsty!" Stayne clutched his throat, and rolled around on the roof. He dramatically lifted his trembling hand to the sky and shouted, "I need…water! I'm going to die!"

"Oh, man up, lad!" The hatter shouted with a thick Scottish accent. "Ye've been only goin' one hour without water! It t'aint the end of the world."

Stayne ignored the hatter and turned his attention towards Iracebeth.

"Do you have anything to drink..?" He whimpered.

"No." Iracebeth replied plainly. "But…if you're that desperate, there's always the gutter."

Stayne shuddered; the gutter hadn't been cleaned in years.

Mirana pulled a small glass vial filled with sky blue liquid out of her pocket. "I have this potion." She said to Stayne. "But I don't know what it does."

Wasting no time, Stayne snatched the vial from the white queen and shouted, "GIMME!" With one gulp, Stayne swallowed the contents of the vial, not considering the consequences.

"Well," Mirana said nervously, "h-how do you feel..?"

Stayne shrugged his shoulders. "I don't feel very different."

Suddenly, Stayne felt a strange urge within him. He felt like he needed to hug someone…someone he hated.

"Your majesty!" Stayne shouted. "I love you!"

Iracebeth was beyond flabbergasted. "EXCUSE ME!?"

Before she had time to react, Iracebeth was quickly embraced within a deadly bear hug…and she didn't like it (it was just too weird) "SOMEONE GET A CROWBAR AND PRY THIS THING OFF OF ME!" Iracebeth screamed.

But no help came to Iracebeth; everyone else was busy with their own affairs. The hatter was laughing so hard his sides were hurting, Mirana was busy jotting notes on Stayne's reaction the potion, and Ginger was slowly being scarred by the sight before her (she really hated Stayne).

"I can't take this anymore..!" Iracebeth thought. Then, in one swift move, Iracebeth jabbed Stayne in the stomach with her bony elbow and brought him to the ground.

"Never…do that again…" Iracebeth threatened.

Ginger sighed. "I hope the red cards get here soon…"

….

"Hatter," Mirana called out, "what time is it?"

The hatter pulled a pocket watch out from his coat. "One twenty two, P.M."

….

"Hatter," Mirana called out once more, "could you give me the time again?"

The hatter looked at his watch. "One twenty seven, your majesty."

"Thank you!"

….

"Hatter?" Mirana called.

The hatter sighed; he knew what she wanted. "The time is one thirty two, your majesty."

Mirana tilted her head to one side. "Felt like more time passed than that."

….

"Hatter, what time is-"

"WOULD YOU STOP THAT!?" Ginger shouted. "I MEAN, GEEZ, HOW THE HECK IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO KEEP THEIR SANITY WHEN YOU KEEP ASKING WHAT TIME IT IS!?"

Mirana shrunk down. "Sorry." She said quietly.

Ginger let out a frustrated sigh and sat down next to Mirana. To break the tension, Ginger started a conversation with her aunt.

"So…that potion must have been a love potion, huh?"

Mirana nodded and pulled the vial out of her pocket. "It must have been. There's no label on the vial. Oh, wait, there is a label, it's stuck to the bottom."

Mirana pulled the sticky label off the bottom of the vial and held it out so that both she and Ginger could read it.

"TRUTH SERUM!?" Ginger shouted.

"What are you shouting about, Ginger?" Stayne yelled.

Mirana beckoned him to come closer and showed him the label. "Do you realize that you just drank a truth serum?" She whispered.

Stayne's cheeks turned to a light shade of pink. He quickly turned his head away from Mirana. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Mirana smiled deviously and nudged Stayne with her elbow. "So…you like Iracey, huh? When did that happen?"

Stayne stood up, with his face redder than ever. "I've had enough of this conversation!" And with those words, Stayne stomped off.

….

"Look!" Mirana shouted.

Iracebeth sighed. "It's not another crow, is it?"

Mirana happily shook her head. "No, it's the red card captain!"

Iracebeth turned her attention towards the captain, who was standing upon an incredibly tall ladder.

"I'm terribly sorry about the wait," the captain said. "It took a long time to build such a tall ladder."

Iracebeth stood up and calmly strode towards the captain. She placed her hands on his shoulders and sweetly said, "I only have one thing to say."

The captain smiled, and then grunted when he noticed Iracebeth's hands tightly wrapped around his neck. "WHY THE HECK DIDN'T YOU JUST TAKE THE STAIRS!?"

"Well, I didn't want to land in the same predicament as you, your majesty..!" The captain wheezed.

"SO!? YOU COULD HAVE JUST PROPPED THE DOOR OPEN! I OUGHT TO-"

"Iracey," Mirana said, "I realize you're angry, but could continue yelling at the captain later? I think I speak for everyone when I say that we've all become sick of being up here."

Iracebeth let go of the captain's neck. "Fine." Then she looked at the captain and said, "we'll finish this later…"

….

"Thank goodness we got off of that deathtrap!" Iracebeth shouted.

"I'm glad as well, your majesty." Stayne said.

Iracebeth paused for a moment; Stayne seemed a little different. "Stayne?" Iracebeth said. "Why is your face so red?"

Stayne stammered. "A-a…w-well…uh…whoa, look at that!"

Iracebeth looked in the direction Stayne was pointing, but saw nothing. And when she looked back at where Stayne was, he was gone.

Can anybody guess what the next chapter is going to be about?