Hello, to anyone who's reading this! I've changed pen name(what it used to be is in my profile). Anyway, I'm rather ashamed of my past here, I have so many discontinued stories… But I'm going to turn that around, starting with this! This story was inspired by many of the great Grim Adventures writers here.

Traitor

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Mandy opened her eyes with a groan, feeling something being pressed on the side of her head. "Mandy, are you alright? You was asleep for a looong time!" Billy was kneeling beside her in concern, but his large nose was pushed up against her face because he was so close. She growled when she realized that the side of her face was getting wet.

Her fist made contact with Billy's face and he went flying. Mandy stood up, wiping the slime off the best she could. She wished he hadn't woken her up; her eyes were aching for more sleep… Those thoughts were pushed away immediately when she realized that they were in an unfamiliar setting. Mandy rubbed her eyes and looked around at their surroundings.


"It's so . . . hot…" Billy whined as the two were riding home on the bus.

"Get over it." Mandy replied and continued to stare blankly at the seat in front of her. It was true that it was hot, one of the hottest days all year… But there was no need to get upset over the heat; Endsville always had extreme temperature differences. In a few months, Billy would be complaining about the cold.

Only two stops left until they could get off…


They were in a boat, and a rickety one, at that. It creaked as the boat swayed in the murky waters. A man was rowing the boat quietly with a large bag at his heels; his description matched the condition of the boat. He was ancient and looked like he would fall to pieces at any moment. He appeared to have no muscles, as every bone was visible under a thin layer of papery skin.

The water the old man was rowing through didn't behave like water. It was dark and thick to the appearance, but wound up the oar like the mist from a block of dried ice, but only a little bit of it spilled into the boat.

"Billy, where's Grim?" Mandy asked the boy as he regained consciousness. He looked at her as though she was insane.

"I thought that was him rowing the boat—just like in that song! I was just wonderin' why he was walking around withouts his dress..!" Billy said that final bit in a whisper, then clamped his hands over his mouth and giggled like it was the funniest thing in the world. Mandy leaned forward to get a better look at the water while Billy sang 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' off-key.

It wasn't water. The substance was made entirely out of what seemed to be people, but they acted like liquid, all of them twisting in strange ways as they made their way down the 'river'. "Lookit all of the cool fishies..!" Billy cried next to her, leaning over the side of the boat far enough to fall out. Mandy grabbed the collar of his shirt and hoisted him back to safety just before one of the 'people' tried to grasp him.

"Those aren't fish, Billy," Mandy slapped the boy as she chided him, "those are desperate souls imprisoned within the River Styx, and they were about to grab you to replace one of them." Billy stared blanking, rubbing the spot where he had been struck.

He then waved a hand in dismissal to her words. "Just some hungry fish, is all." Mandy's hand balled into fists; no body got away with such arrogance towards her. But Billy had pranced out of reach and over to the old man's bag. It clinked loudly as he dragged it over.


The bus finally pulled over at Billy and Mandy's stop. Irritated by being stuck walking behind Billy, who was fatigued by the heat and dragging his feet, Mandy was forced to kick him to get him moving at a reasonable pace. As usual, she would be spending her afternoon at Billy's and returning home when it got late.

Billy's attitude changed drastically when they entered the air conditioned house. "Woo-wee, what a fun day at school!" He cheered, "Sperg only shoved me into a locker twice! Hey, Grim!" Their skeletal friend was slouching on the green sofa, watching his favorite stories, but still grimacing due to their return.

"Did you finish my chores?" Mandy spoke in more of a threat than a question as they filed into the kitchen.


Mandy's eyes widened in surprise, the only time she had seen more money in one place was in that episode about the Schlubs. The sack was filled with large amounts of ancient coins, but no matter hold old the coins were, they all shone as if they were recently polished. Her eyes returned to normal and she pinched the bridge of her would-be nose in frustration as Billy began to toss the coins overboard in generous handfuls to the 'hungry fish'.

The ferryman saw this and half-groaned, half-roared in protest. Before the old man could do anything, the boat collided with the shore and all three of them were thrown off-balance. Mandy was the first to get up and grabbed Billy's arm tightly. "Time to go, Billy." She kicked the sack, spilling many of the coins in an attempt to buy some time before she jumped out of the boat and on the shore, ignoring all of the times Billy bumped into something during her escape.

The disgruntled man, who Mandy now assumed to be Charon, did nothing else to pursue them; he had to continue with his duty. The children searched the strange, new place, but there was still no sign of Grim. Mandy was only getting more and more aggravated. Billy was only further decreasing his already negative I.Q. by running blindly into the rocks that jutted out of the lifeless terrain.

At one point, his puny brain actually registered pain, causing him to yelp, which lead to an 'amazing' discovery, to Mandy's chagrin. This place had an echo! Billy squealed with glee, grabbed her wrist and began to drag her to the top of one rock, oblivious to the fact that her face was turning red with anger. He inhaled deeply and began to screech gibberish, saliva and snot went flying everywhere as he shouted.

Mandy calmed herself down by taking a deep breath. She then grabbed Billy lips and tightened her grip to make sure he was listening. "Billy," Her calm voice was still shaking with suppressed anger, "would you like to play a . . . game..?" Mandy wanted to thoroughly brush her teeth after saying that last word with such feigned kindness, but the boy's eyes lit up and she released his lips.


"Grim! I want lemonade!" Billy shouted, even though Grim was sitting right next to him.

The Reaper clenched his fist, "No way, mon! Get somet'ing on your own for once, boy." Mandy gazed at the skeleton coolly.

"Make that order for two." She didn't leave room for questions in her tone, "Chop, chop, it's been a long day." Grim still remained at his spot, stuttering as he tired to make up an excuse. Mandy only had to stare him down for a few more seconds for him to give in. She watched him as he filled two glasses with ice cubes and water.

Grim glanced over his shoulder at them for a moment and began digging through a drawer, eventually pulling out two packets. He ripped both of them open and poured the green powder inside into each glass.


"I spy . . . something brown and pointy..!" Billy had decided on the game.

"That rock, up ahead." Mandy responded, Billy cheered for her winning. "I spy someone who's getting on my nerves and needs to be quiet." Billy spent a long time trying to come up with an answer for that before giving up on it and claiming it was his turn again. He didn't mind that Mandy was no longer responding to his 'I Spy' game. He would come up with something, wait for her to respond, wait in silence for her to take her turn, then take his turn again, and it would pretty much go in that cycle.

Mandy had blocked the boy out; she was trying to remember how they had wound up there. When all of the memories finally returned, the rage boiled deep in her gut. Billy was looking around for something new for his turn, Mandy socked him in the eye to get his attention. "Billy, would you care to tell me what our deal with Grim was?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!" Billy perked up, "The deal was that if he lost the game, then he would have to be our bestest friend—" He took a deep breath, "—FOREVERRRRRRRRRRR—" Mandy punched him the eye once again to quiet him.

"Exactly…" She hissed, "Now, don't you want to go play with our dear, best friend, Billy?" He nodded rapidly in excitement. "Good. Let's go wait for our friend at his house, for a change." Mandy began to walk away, expecting Billy to follow, and he did.

Along the way, Billy started giggling. "I know why you're all upset…" He chuckled once again, "You know Mandy, we're friends! Friends don't let silly things come between them. I mean, just because I could remember our deal with Grim and you couldn't, doesn't mean you have to get all jealous. I won't tell nobody, sheesh!" He was on the ground again, if he kept it up, he would have a black eye in no time.

"Hurry up, Billy," Mandy called behind her, "We need to get where we're going. After all, Grim must be planning to come home soon."


"Hey, why is this lemonade green?" Mandy asked suspiciously.

"Because I asked mom to get that cool, new kind of lemonade that turns all sorts of neat colors when she went to the store!" Billy continued to speak loudly.

"Y-yeah," Grim agreed, "it's a new kind of mix!" Mandy wasn't surprised. Industries were always changing a small detail about their products to make people spend more money on the same, cruddy product, and putting the products in 'cool colors' was a popular method of propaganda.

"Why aren't you having any, bone head?" She inquired. The Reaper sat rigidly in his seat and grasped the edge of the table.

"Oh, I had a glass of water before you came in." He responded, rubbing the back of his neck. Mandy didn't think anymore of it, and joined Billy in taking a swig. Yep, different colors, same, mediocre taste. Next time, she would have Grim make the lemonade manually.

Why had it taken her so long to realize how humid the air really was? She always had trouble breathing in humid air… Billy was napping on the table, his empty glass was still in his hand. Napping . . . that sounded good to Mandy. She finished off her glass and put it down on the table. Not meaning to sound lazy, but the couch in the living room seemed too far away to walk to, so Mandy simply rested her head on her folded arms and drifted to sleep.

A few minutes later, Billy's mom returned from the grocery store.


I hope you guys enjoyed this. I tried to edit it, myself, but I don't know how well that went…