I don't any marvel characters mentioned.

Episode 6

When Crystal got home, she went directly to her bedroom before her brother could pepper her with questions as to why she was being so ambiguous. She sat down on her bed and placed her head in her hands, feeling frustrated and alone. She didn't understand why she was the only one who could see the cottage. Perhaps I'm hallucinating, Crystal thought to herself. Well, there's only one way to find out right? She got up and went out of her bedroom, intending re-visit George's front yard. No sooner had she emerged from her bedroom that Andrew pounced upon his first opportunity to interrogate her. "Dude! What's up? Why are you acting freaky? You say 'Later, Andrew,' but when 'later' comes you lock yourself in your room without a word about why you were acting psycho then calm."

Crystal paused. Then she said, "I'm going back to George's house, do you want to come?"

He looked bewildered. "What kind of answer is that?"

"Are you coming?"

"Well, yeah, but--"

"Okay. Let's roll."

She walked out the door before Andrew could say anything else.

The instant Crystal saw the cottage, she jumped off her bike and ran toward it, palms outstretched. Andrew stared. "What the-- what are you doing?" he asked in utter confusion.

Crystal didn't answer. Instead she kept running, arms out, until the flat of her palm hit the wall of cottage. She ran her hands over the smooth, white wood, feeling the ridges and bumps. She breathed out, relieved that she hadn't been hallucinating. Then she glanced back at Andrew and realized she hadn't solved the initial problem, because he looked as if he were ready to take her to a psychiatrist.

"Uh--Crystal?"

Again, she didn't respond. She was contemplating if she should go inside to investigate who the witch was keeping presently. Was the witch there right now? The porch window was open large enough for her to climb through. She peered in. It didn't look as if there was anyone home, so she decided to proceed with caution. Climbing carefully over the windowsill, she slipped into the house. Nearly a second after she had entered the house, she heard Andrew shouting. "Oh my--Crystal, I can't see you!! Where the heck are you going?!"

She stuck her head back out the window. "Now do you believe me?"

For a moment he didn't say anything, he just stood awkwardly in astonishment and realization. "Um, yeah," he replied. "Can you see the cottage?" she asked.

He nodded. "Well, are you coming?"

"Yeah," he replied.

He hurried over to the window and climbed in. "Boy, that was strange. Soo.. now what?"

"Well, we should see if she's keeping anyone here right now."

"Right."

They searched the house from top to bottom, but encountered nothing suspicious or menacing. Just as they were about to leave, Crystal came upon a revelation. She gasped and grabbed her brother just as he was walking out the door.

"What?" he grunted irritably. "I've got it, Andy!! I know why you couldn't see the cottage right away. Remember what the note said about first believing in the other city?! Well, same goes for the cottage. When I started climbing through the window, you couldn't see me because I was going into something that was invisible to you. Then you panicked, right, and I bet you thought 'well maybe she's right', right?"

"Yeah.. so?"

"So when you started to believe me, you started to see some of the cottage, right?"

"Right, but--"

"So when you started seeing some of it, you believed more and the more you believed the more you saw! I'm dead sure that's it." "Oh my gosh! You're right, it all makes sense now. But what you said about the city. What the note said about 'the other New York.' If all of that is true, then there must be a whole other city waiting out there. And it makes sense now, because the note said that it was 'on top of the Big Apple'. Crystal gaped. "There's only one way to find out," she whispered.

They stepped outside. Crystal drew in a sharp breath at the scene now before her eyes. The "other New York" was quite literally on top of the original. Buildings were layered on top of each other oddly, kind of like boxes that fit inside of each other, except they weren't so exact. Corners stuck out at edges, and windows protruded out at weird angles. It was sort of like seeing double. But weirder than that, because the images were not blurry or indistinct. There were also houses, traffic lights, roads, vendors, bus stations, and billboards that had not been there ten minutes ago. Crystal stared in amazement. It seemed so impossible, yet she was seeing it for real with her own eyes. "Andy, look at this! It's incredible!" she cried. Andrew didn't reply. Instead, he was staring open mouthed at a skyscraper down the block. "Andy?"

"Hey, do you see that guy dressed in red and blue? He's climbing on that skyscraper down the block." Crystal squinted. Sure enough, there was a figure dressed in red and blue climbing on skyscraper. A white strand shot out of his wrist and attached to a street lamp not far from the skyscraper. Then he leaped off his perch and swung out, shooting another white strand out of his wrist. Suddenly, Crystal got a overwhelming sense déjà vu. I've seen this guy before, she thought to herself. Andrew was yelling and pointing. "OH MY GOSH!! It's Spiderman! People, look!! What is your problem?? Can't you see him?! He exists!! He's real! Open your eyes!"

A man passing by stared at Andrew incredulously. "Kid, shut up. Spiderman is fictional." But Crystal didn't know why the man wasn't registering, he was looking straight at Spiderman. Suddenly it wasn't just Spiderman. It was Captain America and Maximum Ride, too. And the Justice League as well. Andrew ran after Spiderman, shouting on the top of his lungs, "HEY, WAIT UP! Don't you know who you are?! You are so stinkin' famous, how could you be so casual! Can I have your autograph? I'm like, your biggest fan!!"

"Nope, sorry, kid. Short on time," the lionized superhero called as he vanished around a city block. Crystal groaned and rolled her eyes. She grabbed Andrew and pulled him back. "Andy, calm down."

"You're crazy, sis! There are superheroes everywhere and you're just standing there!" "Andy! Be quiet! Other people can't see him, remember? They don't believe in the other New York."

"Oh." He shrugged her off and ran after Maximum Ride, hoping she would be more willing to give an autograph. Crystal groaned. Her brother could be such a delinquent at times. All of a sudden, she felt a warm gust of air. Whoa, she thought. What was that? She turned around to see a flaming man behind her. She wondered if he was alright, but he seemed fine. Hmm, he must be some kind of superhero, she thought.

He smiled and saluted Captain America smartly as he flew away. She stared at him, feeling overwhelmed. Can all this really be happening? When one thinks about it, it seems so far-fetched and ridiculous, she thought. Maybe Andrew and I are truly crazy after all. Consequently, she became aware that someone was talking to her. "Hey. Hey you, girl. And boy over there, who was yelling 'bout Spiderman." Crystal turned around. The flaming man was approaching her and Andrew, grinning.

"You guys from out of town? I mean, that was pretty weird, with you knowing who he was, but acting like he was some fictional character."

"But I thought he was! I mean, isn't it weird that people make comics about him? Even though he's real? "

The fiery young man looked bewildered.

"What?" he said, blinking. "I mean, if he's real, why do people write down his bio in comic form? That's just plain weird. Or are the comics just made up stories about a real person? Geez, this is so freaky."

"Whoa! I don't think I quite catch your drift. What exactly are you talking about? People don't make comics about Spidey." "Well yeah they do! They made a movie, too. Movies, I should say."

"Uh.. I think you guys need help. Do your parents know you, uh, think like that?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well, tell them its about time they did something about it," he replied, glancing at the time on a bank's ticker. "Would you look at the time! Sorry, but I gotta scoot." And with that, he was gone.

"That guy must some kind of superhero. I think I did hear of a superhero with fire abilities somewhere… four, I think. Four something. Or something four," Crystal said.

"Hmm. Fantastic Four, I think."

"That's it! Fantastic Four." She paused. "Andrew, a thought just occurred to me. If all the buildings here are overlapping, what about our house? Is there another house on top of our house?"

"Oh no. We'd better go find out." But it was as Crystal had thought. There was, in fact, a rather portly but strange house overlapping theirs. The "other" house was quite peculiar indeed, the front yard contained pineapple bushes and banana palms. Along with barbed and electric wire fence around the entire perimeter of the lot. "Oh great! How do we get into our own home?" Andrew groaned. "Hey look! There's a gate." They ran over to it, feeling hopeful. But their hopes were crushed as soon as they got a better look at it. There were two nasty-looking machine guns attached to the gateposts. When they approached, the guns trained on them and a computerized voice demanded that they identify themselves. "Well, maybe we could climb over it," she suggested.

"And die trying? Go ahead. But count me out. Really out." "How about a ladder? Like a super tall one. That might get us over." "Like where do we get a 'super tall' ladder?"

Crystal glanced down the street at a building site just down the street. "Perfect," she said.