Chapter 26

Hilltop

So, this is a post in reply for my latest contest in Revelations Over Summer Vacation. (If you haven't read that, check it out. The second half of the contest (based on the song) is still up for grabs!)

The winner was LongLiveTheCookieMonster, who requested, instead of a oneshot, that I update this. So, I sat down to write. And sat and sat… and eventually started typing and came up with this. Hope you like it, LongLiveTheCookieMonster.

Decided to post today because it's 12/12/12! As in the day I said the world would end—at least in this story! Sorry this took forever! Please review! Motivate me and I'll finish this for 12/21/12, the true predicted date for the apocalypse.

I do not own Sisters Grimm.

"I'm worried about her."

I hear the voice in my head, which scares me, because it's Puck. And I'm blocking out his thoughts. So that means he said it out loud, which makes me scared, because, hello, it's Puck. If he's admitting that, something has to be wrong.

I feel like I'm in limbo. I hate it. It's dark, but not like night. Dark and empty. Inky blackness. I try to open my eyes, but I can't.

Am I unconscious? I can't be… dead, Puck is worried about me. He wouldn't be worried if I was dead. He'd be upset because he wasn't the one to cause it, I thought bitterly.

"I think she's waking up," Puck whispers.

I'm trying, I cry, hoping he could hear me, but he can't.

"Sabrina, you have to stop."

I stifle a scream; Morgan is right beside me. I can see her, an insanely bright wisp of glowing white energy.

"Sorry," she replies. "I forget how fragile the human senses are. You're the first to have seen me since the days of Arthur."

"King Arthur used to live down the block," I manage to quip.

She smiles. I don't know how I can tell, since I can't see her face, but I know. This is just getting weirder and weirder every minute.

"You shouldn't fight the cocoon."

"I'm in a cocoon?" I realize she's right. It's dark and sticky. The pudding surrounds me like a second skin and fills the cocoon, leaving just enough air for me to breath.

"The fairy made you one after you nearly drowned."

"I what?!"

"Drowned. In the Atlantic."

"He dropped me?" I question, aghast.

"He?"

"Puck. He caught me, and then he dropped me in the ocean?!"

Morgan rolls her eyes. "You pushed him off of you."

"Why?"

"He can tell you that."

I push my sticky hair away from my face. "But how did I end up in the ocean?"

"After you pushed him off, you became violently ill. When he tried to help you, you attempted to push him away again. Instead, your… magic backfired and set you hurtling into the water."

"I can swim."

"Apparently not."

I clench my fists, but she is gone. I'm stuck, alone, in my murky, clammy prison. Light threatens to seep in through the membranous walls at any second.

The reddish light through the walls of the cocoon fades slightly. I remember this. From before. It usually meant someone had turned the lights off on me.

"What was that?" I can hear Puck's alarmed voice and realize that someone didn't just hit the light switch.

"Power failure," a deeper, muffled voice replies. "I was afraid of this."

"You need to fix it."

I catch a few muttered words and a snarl that I've come to associate with Merlin.

My arms are sore as I reach up to the seam of the cocoon. I'm not fully healed, but this can't wait. I don't know how much time I've lost. We only had twelve hours, when we were at Stonehenge. The power failure must be on Atlantis. Three hours or more could be completely gone.

The sticky gravy begins to recede as I move around. I try to will my legs to help me get up. My fingers work at the seam, finally penetrating its thick wall. Light filters in through the small circular opening.

"Puck!" I manage to squeak out.

Hands meet my fingers, and I notice they're shaking as he pulls back the cocoon like a banana peel.

"That doesn't get any less disgusting," he comments, "no matter how many times I've seen it."

"It's not exactly a walk in the park for me either."

"At least your wonderful wit is still unharmed," Puck quips in a snarky tone.

I don't have a reply, so I look around, noticing the open doors leading out to a balcony. "Help me up."

"You shouldn't get up yet. If the cocoon didn't let you out easily, you're not healed."

The lights flicker on for a second before going black. Sparks come from a panel on the wall.

"It doesn't matter. You need me awake. Atlantis needs me awake."

"Merlin has it handled," Puck argues.

"No he doesn't!" I snap, lifting myself out of the remains of the cocoon. "Get me a towel or something."

"No."

I pull back to stare at him. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. No. Get it yourself, freak."

Biting my lip at the nickname, I gasp. "What the heck, Puck? I just woke up; if I did anything, I don't know what. So tell me. Or get over yourself."

"You want me to get over myself?! I haven't changed. You're the one acting like a princess, and a prissy one at that."

"Of course I've changed. I'm a mutant! I'm ill."

"And what, that makes you a brat?!"

"It means I have indeeo!"

"Honey," he smirks, translating correctly. "We all have needs. Some of us are mature enough to handle them elsewhere."

My jaw drops. "That was not what I meant."

"Well, you're so frustrating."

I glare at him, pushing out of the cocoon and strutting towards the open doors.

He grabs my arm. "Don't even think about it."

"I am going to save the planet. And besides, I can think circles around you!"

"Whatever, Grimm."

"Ah, you're awake," Merlin calls. "I have an idea, but you aren't going to like it."

"If it saves the planet, I'll love it."

"We have to get back to Ferryport Landing," Puck says from the door.

"The rapid change of the electromagnetic field around Earth has caused the mutations. The device you found at Stonehenge will—"

"Take us out of ordinary space time and let Nibiru go right through us; you've been through this already!"

The wizard glowers at me.

"Sorry," I spit out at him. "Continue." I can see the hint of a smirk of Puck's face but I intentionally block out his thoughts.

Merlin sighs, and I don't have to be telepathic to know he's silently insulting my intelligence. "The shield around Atlantis is the same was the barrier in Ferryport Landing. In order to ensure that the entire planet will be taken out of our space-time long enough for the electromagnetic effects from Nibiru to cease. If Ferryport Landing does not come unstuck in time, then the differences in electromagnetic fields will tear the planet apart at the molecular level, starting in Ferryport Landing."

"There's already a hole in the barrier," Puck comments. "Why doesn't that just… I dunno, make the electromagnets stable or whatever?"

I roll my eyes. "It's not like a lava lamp, Puck. It doesn't just flow."

"Well something's flowing," he mutters under his breath.

"Hey!" The rest of my retort about stupid boys and their assumptions is drowned out by a loud whistle.

Merlin looks over both of us reproachfully. "Enough!"

"How are we getting Atlantis to Ferryport Landing?"

He smiles like a little child, and instantly I feel a pang of longing for Basil. "The city flies."

"Why do I have a feeling that Atlantis didn't come equipped with seat belts?" Puck whispers.

I smile, in spite of being mad at him. "I may throw up on you."

We share a weary glance before he remembers that he was upset with me.

"Whatever, Grimm. Whatever." He turns to look out the window, holding onto the railing as the icy waters around us disappear in a flash of light.

"What the—"

"It works!" Merlin lets out a shriek of delight, running around the control room. "I finally invent something that works!"

"Slow down," I remind him as I sense Morgan's irritation, "who invented it?"

He pouts before opening the large glass doors to the deceptively sunny day outside. "Go."

I look out, realizing we were on the hilltop behind Granny's house.

"How is that possible?" I breathe.

"Magic," Merlin whispers and gives me a fond smile. "I'll stay here. You need to go someplace to escape the radiation. As Nibiru passes through Earth's core—even though we'll be out of phase—it'll cause a spike in EM radiation until the reversal occurs."

"I don't suppose Granny was planning on the apocalypse when she made Opa Basil build a fallout shelter in the basement," I mutter as Puck and I go down the stairs.

He grunts noncommittally in response.

"Won't this be fun?" I ask sarcastically, looking at my watch. We had an hour until the apocalypse. Of course, I think to myself sarcastically. What other time would it be? My alarm was set to go off at the exact second the two planets would collide.

12:12:12, December 12, 2012.

Ironic, isn't it?

CONTEST: THREE References this time! Anybody who can catch the new movie one (from a movie made and shown in the last five years) OR the old movie one (1980s movie) OR the literary one (famous book… I'm not holding my breath on this one because, no offense, but most of you aren't old enough to have probably heard of it, though it is one of the most recognizable phrases from the book) should review with the title AND the quote. If the quote's not word for word, it's fine too. Good luck!