[A/N: And now, for the exciting second chapter! Also, to clear the air and since I've not said it, I do NOT own Phineas and Ferb. They are © Dan and Jeff. The Poem "The Erlking" is © Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, an excellent poet whom I highly recommend. Also, if you can guess which movie Candace, Stacey and Jenny are watching, I'll give you a shoutout next chapter! Enjoy! -Kaylee]
Edie moved the flashlight to between her knees, freeing her snakelike fingers to writhe in rhythm with her as she read;
"Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
"Look, father, the Erl King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl King, with crown and with train?"
"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."
"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
For many a game I will play there with thee;
On my beach, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl King now breathes in mine ear?"
"Be calm, dearest child, thy fancy deceives;
the wind is sighing through withering leaves."
"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night on the dance floor you lead,
They'll cradle and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."
"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl King is showing his daughters to me?"
"My darling, my darling, I see it alright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."
"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou aren't willing, then force I'll employ."
"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
For sorely the Erl King has hurt me at last."
The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He holds in his arms the shuddering child;
He reaches his farmstead with toil and dread,—
The child in his arms lies motionless, dead."
When the poem was finished, Edie flipped the flashlight back up to her leering jack o'lantern face, now absolutely gleeful. "Was that not absolutely thrilling?" Her voice was shrill, giggly and still absolutely German. "The ending always threw me into a fit as a youngling."
Phineas said, voice frozen, "I can see why." He tried to hide the hint of terror in his voice.
Edie smirked. "I know; father says that it took HOURS before I stopped laughing about it!" She saw, to her pleasure, that both boys had shuddered violently at the sociopathic implications of her statement. The young woman flicked off the flashlight and allowed it to roll to the floor. The sadism in her voice was clear as she rose and walked out. "Goodni-ight!~" The door slammed, leaving them both in darkness.
Phineas lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. "Man, Ferb, what a creepy sitter!" He flopped over, frowning. "Maybe she isn't really this bad. Do you think maybe she's shy? Maybe she has a social problem and she just WANTS us to back off, so we don't ask her questions?"
There was silence from Ferb's side of the room. Phineas's voice rose an octave, holding just a trace of terror. "You...you don't think the Erlking really exists...do you?"
A clap of thunder from outside sent him jumping straight into the other boy's bed. "I-It was j-just thunder! Nothing to be scared of!" He was mostly trying to reassure himself. The lightning stabbing through the sky revealed Ferb to be equally scared as Phineas, shaking and biting his lip. "It'll be okay, bro. I'll just turn on the light and we'll wait out the storm. The Erlking's just a dumb poem. Well, a GOOD poem, but you know what I-"
Another burst of thunder sent him running toward the switch. As the warm glow of flourescent lighting clicked on, Phin sighed in relief. "That's better..."
The lightbulb, as well as the alarm clock and the fan, flicked off as soon as he said that. "Now the power's out...We're totally dead, aren't we Ferb?"
"Yes...yes we are."
Across town, a red-headed teenager in her pajamas paced the floor nervously. "I dunno, Jenny...Something doesn't feel right at all. Call it intuition..."
Stacey frowned. "I would call it paranoia."
Candace scowled, finishing her statement. "I'm worried about my brothers. Something feels off somehow!"
Jenny, her hippie friend, smiled gently. "I'm sure they're fine, Candace. Besides, it's just this weather that has you in such a down mood. I have some candles that'll help with that."
Candace put her head in her hands, frowning. "Well...If you say so, Jenny...But if I find some reason to think that something's else is wrong, I'm goin' over there!"
"Alright, alright, now quiet! The movie's starting!" Stacey shoved Candace down onto the couch at Jenny's house just as a very bad CGI Owl appeared onscreen. "Jennifer Connely and David Bowie are SO cute together!"
Back at the house, Phineas and Ferb were fumbling around in their room for the flashlight that Edie had let lay, hoping for some light source. "Ah-ha!" Phineas clicked on the switch and let the beam drift about the room. "See? No Erlking." He smirked at his brother. "And you were worried." Ferb gave him a very sarcastic look. "One of us should go see if Edie's okay. The power went out and she doesn't know where the candles are, I bet."
Phineas smiled, giving Ferb the puppy face. He gasped, annoyed a bit. "I'll go." He grasped the flashlight and opened the door, pushing past their pet Platypus, Perry on the way out. The rest of the house was pitch black, of course, but with the little bulb he was at least able to get by without breaking a bone. It seemed dead quiet, too, except...
His eyes and ears were caught by something in the livingroom; from near the front door, a soft green glow eminated like a very large firefly. A soft voice was coming from it. As he stepped forward to investigate, Ferb heard the words more clearly and saw where it came from.
"...Come little children, I'll take thee away. Into a land of, enchant-ment...Come little children, the time's come to play...Here in my garden of shadows..." From a soft pink pair of bud-shaped lips, Edie sang the words to a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Edie was singing, and yet, it was not Edie! Her eyes had gone from pale green to glowing yellow, her pupils now dark slits. Her hair had become sentient, writhing snakes and ger odd outfit had melted into a dark, sheetlike robe that swirled to her dainty feet.
Without hesiation, the little green-haired boy stepped forward, taking the hand of the Erlking's daughter and went off into the night.
