Dedicated to Maddi

"Chapter 2- Ritual"

~*André*~

In Nurse Hatchet's office, Victoria didn't really pay me much attention; she showed Cat attention, but not me. I didn't take it too hard though, because I knew Cat needed the love and reassurance. We all knew how she felt about Robbie, so we knew she needed a shoulder to lean on. Victoria's was just closer.

But ten minutes after we took Robbie to the nurse, Nurse Hatchet decided he could go home. I offered to take him home, that way I can spend some time collecting myself without worrying with school so I can be prepared for when I pop the question to Tori.

Robbie and I say a quick goodbye to everyone and I try to give Tori a kiss. She turns her head so that I kiss her cheek. That stung…

"So what happened back there, Robbie?" I ask as I drive him home. He sits with his head leaning on the window with sad eyes. He simply shrugs in response. "I don't know," he sighs out. He lifts his head off the window and looks to me. His eyes are bloodshot and his face is deathly pale. "I just reached into my bag and something bit me. Then I felt really sick and really dizzy. I don't really know where the bite came from." I raise an eyebrow but keep my eyes on the road. "How do you not know what bit you?" I question, keeping my eyes on the road. Somethin's fishy here. "The bite looked like two little punctures," he tells me, "Like little needles. But…there wasn't anything sharp in my bag. The only thing that could have bit me was Rex, but he doesn't have sharp teeth; I don't really think he has teeth."

"You don't know what I got!" Rex exclaims from his spot in the backseat. He's sitting on top of Robbie's back pack, staring at the dashboard with those hollow painted eyes of his. (I didn't even see Robbie's lips move; he's a good ventriloquist!) "Be quiet, Rex," Robbie shouts, turning around to face his puppet. "No one's talking to you."

"You're still talking about me, Samberg!" Rex shouts angrily. "I don't enjoy this." It's a little weird how Robbie had arguments with his puppet... "I told you to stop calling me that!" Robbie cries. "I'm not Andy Samberg!" He pulls Rex from the backseat and into his lap. "Why do you have to be so mean to me?"

I swear I saw Rex's eyes move and look up to Robbie...

"Why do you have to be such a loser?" he retorts. Robbie sighs and his eyes gloom. "Cut it out," I order when we pull up to a red light. I stare at them both with harsh eyes; it's so stupid of Robbie to let a puppet talk to him like that…even if it isn't really the puppet saying anything. Rex's head turns to me. "Mind your own damn business, Dread Locks," he spits. I grimace then looked to Robbie. "Cut it out, Robbie," I demand. "It ain't funny anymore."

Robbie looks to me with shocked eyes. "I didn't say anything!" he protests, "I swear!" I roll my eyes and continue driving once the light turned green. "Why don't you put that damn puppet away?" I suggest. "Why don't you put yourself away—" Rex challenges in a voice that's different from the one Robbie projected through him; it's deeper and darker. "—Nigger?"

I slam my foot on the break and mine and Robbie's bodies lurch forward, held back by the seatbelts. Rex falls into the floor. Luckily, we're at Robbie's house and there are no cars behind us.

No one calls me that; I'm about to put up with racist bullshit, especially from a goddamn puppet. It was because of racism that my parents fucking died. Robbie knew that.

"What the hell is your problem, Robbie?" I shout inside the car. "What gives you the right to call me that? I thought we were supposed to be friends. I outta beat your ass right here and now!" Robbie holds his hands up in wide-eyed fear. "I swear to God I didn't say it!" he cries out. "You know I'd never say that to you or anyone else."

I scowl at him and return to my original position, my eyes narrowed at the road in front of us; Robbie's driveway is in the upper right corner of my eye. "Do you need any help getting in?" I question, ignoring what he said. Before my grandma lost her mind, she taught me to always be nice to people, even when they weren't to me. "I think I can get in okay," Robbie replies sheepishly. Gingerly, he opens the door and climbs out. His legs start to wobble and he reaches for the door, but his hand barely misses it and he falls onto the pavement with a thud.

With an annoyed sigh, I get up out of the car and open the backdoor to grab his stuff out. I walk around the car and grab Rex by his foot, holding him upside down. Then I offer Robbie my hand and pull him up from the ground. "Thanks," he says with his eyes on his feet. I mutter a small "you're welcome" and walk him up to his house. He grabs his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door so I can help him into his bedroom. Once inside, I drop Rex and Robbie's bag on the floor by his bunk bed and help Robbie onto the bottom bunk.

"I'm going back to school," I announce without feeling; I'm trying to calm myself down. "I'll come back after school to check up on you." Robbie smiles weakly at me. "Thanks, André," he thanks. He opens his mouth to say something else, but pauses.

"I…I'm sorry," he finally says after a few moments.

I shrug it off again and turn to leave. "Wait," Robbie calls before I leave the room. I turn back to him with a raised eyebrow. "Could you put Rex in his bed for me?" I roll my eyes and walk back into the room to scoop Rex up by his foot. I toss him up on the top bunk. It's stupid that Rex "forced" Robbie to sleep on the bottom bunk. But as I'm about to let go of Rex's leg, something bites me. I don't see what it is since the bed is an inch or two higher than my head. I scream in pain and end up pulling Rex with me by his ankle. Rex falls to the floor with a thud and rolls under the bed.

"What happened?" Robbie asks me frantically as he shoots up in his bunk. He ends up shooting up too fast, causing him to hit the bottom of the top bunk, so he ends up falling back on his bed and holding his head in pain. "Your stupid puppet bit my hand is what happened!" I yell. "I'm not a puppet!" Rex cries out in that deep voice that isn't Robbie's from under the bed.

My hands shoot to my head and I put my knuckles to my temples; I feel lightheaded. "I don't feel so good," I announce. My voice comes out weak and strained and I feel myself stagger back and forth. I reach out for Robbie's chest of drawers to steady myself, but I end up knocking everything off of it as I fell to the floor.

I remember Robbie shouting my name before I passed out.

~*Cat*~

It's been two hours since I sat waiting for Robbie in the nurse's office and no one has seen André since. I'm getting upset! Tori and I decide to sit outside in the Tar Café like we normally do at lunch to take our minds off things. One time, my brother got really drunk and ended up driving his car through the Tar Café; our parents had to pay a lot of money to get everything fixed!

There are some things you just can't stop thinking about though...

"Do you think Robbie's okay?" I ask worriedly, staring at her with sad, nervous eyes. I don't even bother touching my burger. Tori plays with her salad, rolling her lettuce around. One time, my brother bought a head of lettuce at the grocery store, but then he did some really bad things with it and our family isn't allowed to go back there anymore; that place smelled like apples. "I don't know," she sighs looking at her tray. "He didn't look too good, but I'm sure he's probably okay."

Then, Beck and Jade walk over to the table and sit down with us. Tori looks up from her salad and smiles at Beck as he sits down. But it's one of those smiles that you send to people you have a crush on! Everyone says I smile to Robbie like that…

"Hey, Beck," she greets. Beck smiles warmly back at her. "Hey, Victoria," he returns. Jade doesn't look too happy about them and she does this thing—oh what's the word? Robbie says it all the time!—glowers (that's it!) at Beck and Tori. With a sudden movement, she grabs Beck's face, pulls it to hers, and kisses him deeply in front of Tori. I gasp because Jade had never done anything like that before and Tori looks like she's about to cry!

Then Beck pulled away from Jade, shooting up from the table. "What are you doing?" he asks infuriated. His eyebrows are low and he looks really mad! "I'm tired of you flirting with Tori!" Jade answers honestly; she looks just as mad as he does. One time, my brother got so mad that he threw toilet paper all over this one guy's house and set his backyard on fire; he didn't go to jail though because the guy was too afraid of my brother to press charges.

"I'm not flirting with Tori!" Beck shouts back at Jade. Everyone gathers around and stares at us, wondering what was going on. Tori's starting to look upset, but she's trying really hard to keep it to herself. "You keep making googly eyes with her!" Jade accuses. Her nose starts flaring and it looks a little funny. "I was not!" Beck denies. His eyes are really angry and a little hurt. "What's wrong with you? Why do you always think I'm trying to cheat on you? You know if I wanted to be with someone else, I'd at least have the decency not to run around behind your back!"

Jade is appalled—I think that's a word—because those definitely aren't the right words for him to say. "What's wrong with me?" she repeats loudly; she shoots up from her seat on the bench. "I'll tell you what's wrong with me! I'm sitting here watching you flirt with Tori—and you're not even going behind my back with it—and it's really making me wonder if you'll even be there for me when I need it; if you're always running around with other girls, there's no way I can be sure you'll be there to support our child!"

Then Jade's face looks shocked and she slowly sits back down, not looking at anyone, but staring at the table with dark eyes. They're closed like she's trying not to cry. I've never seen Jade cry, so I don't know if she's actually gonna cry.

Everyone gasps—even me and Tori. Beck falls back onto his seat wide-eyed, his mouth hanging open. If I were Jade, I wouldn't have said that because that's a scary thing to point out to everyone. Everything is quiet while we wait for Beck to say something, like the world is on mute. "When...when were you gonna tell me?" he asks, not looking at her. His voice sounds like he's stuck in a tunnel. One time when my brother took me on vacation away from our parents, we went in this big cave which was like a tunnel and I yelled inside it and my voice echoed through it until it faded out; it was like there were a hundred Cats in there!

Jade sighs and puts her elbows on the table so she can rest her head in her hands. She keeps her eyes closed. "I wasn't planning on telling you like this," she confesses. Her fingers go up into her hair and she pulls it tightly, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. "I just...I didn't know when I was gonna tell you. I didn't want to tell you, especially not in front of Tori and Cat."

"And half the school," Trina adds from the crowd. (Not a lot of people like Trina; she isn't a nice person and she always tries to ruin everything for everyone because she complains about everything and wants everyone to love her. I mean, I want people to love me because I'm afraid of being alone, but Trina is just…horrible.) Several people grab at her trying to shush her. Jade raises an eyebrow with a scowl and opens her eyes. They're really mean looking eyes. She turns around and sees everyone staring at her in fear. She's scary when she wants to be and everyone is afraid of her for that. "Get outta here!" she shouts. Everyone jumps at the loudness of her voice and starts to rush to leave. The others who were just looking at us and were already around us return to their food to continue eating like nothing had happened. Trina calls Jade a really bad word before she leaves, but I can't say it, not even in my head!

Jade turns back to Beck. "I don't know what to do," she tells him quietly. "I don't know if I can trust you to raise our child if you're gonna flirt with Tori." Beck gently grabs Jade's face and kisses her out of love, not the way she'd done it earlier. "I love you, Jade," he confesses. "I promise you I wasn't flirting with Victoria. I only love you, and I'll always be with you." Jade smiles at him with tears in her eyes and hugs him tightly, nestling her face in his shoulder. I almost thought they forgot we were there for a moment.

Then Beck looks to Tori while he hugged Jade and he frowned at her. I look up at Tori to see tears filling her eyes. He turns away from her sadness.

I don't really know what's going on…

Without another word, Tori gets up and walks away to finish eating her lunch in a classroom. I start to feel like a third wheel, so I get up and follow her, leaving Beck and Jade by themselves. I decide it'll be okay to have lunch with just Tori and we can be upset together.

My brother had a car with three wheels once, but he had to sell it when he went to jail for punching a cop.

~*Victoria*~

I sit in my last class of the day—Art Studies—thinking to myself while Cat practices her vocals. The teacher, Mr. Daniels, is sick today, so the class gets a free day; I hate free days because they give me too much time to think to myself. I sit with my head bowed, trying not to cry. I feel terrible! At lunch, Beck basically threw me away like common trash! Me! I'm one of the nicest, prettiest, most talented girls at school, and he just doesn't want me; I'm so much nicer than Jade, so why does he want her? He knows how much I like him and he knows how much that hurt me, but he still said it. On top of that, he's having a baby with Jade! That's like sticking a knife right in my back.

"Tori?" Cat calls, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look up to her with wide, taken aback eyes. "Class is over," she tells me. "We can go home now." I look around and see that the class is almost empty, save for a few people getting ready to leave. I quickly gather up my things and stand up. "Let's go check on Robbie!" Cat suggests with pleading eyes. I smile to her warmly; not only will going to see Robbie be good for her, it will also take my mind off Beck. And I really needed to take my mind off him.

"Okay," I agree.

We head out to my blue Volkswagen with Cat going on about something about her weird brother, Tony, and I see Trina leaning against the passenger's door. "Get in the backseat," I demand of my sister, "We're gonna go see Robbie and Cat needs to ride in the front." She has these weird episodes where she freaks out if she has to sit in the back seat. "But I don't wanna go to Robbie's," Trina whines, stomping her foot. I narrow my eyes at her; she's so selfish sometimes. "Then stay inside the car," I advise as I get into the driver's seat. "But it's so hot," Trina continues to whine as she gets in the backseat and Cat in the front. "Then come inside!" I snap, turning around at glaring at Trina. Trina crosses her arms and leans back in her seat. "You didn't have to yell," she mumbles. I roll my eyes again and pull out of the parking lot.

We sit in the car quietly for the rest of the ride to Robbie's house because Trina pisses me off and Cat is afraid I'll yell at her too; I wish she would have said something though because I was once again left alone with my thoughts...

I think about my first day at school when Beck and I kissed, how his lips, skin, and every touch felt against mine, as well as the sheer happiness I felt. I think of my second day, when he offered to show me around school because I didn't know where I was going. I think of how he was there when my dog, Rascal, got hit by a car and how tightly he held me as I cried on his chest. I think of our trip to the water park—with Jade and the others of course—and how stunning he looked shirtless and dripping wet. I think of the things I wanted to do with him that day…

My thoughts are interrupted when I pull up to Robbie's house and see Jade and Beck climbing out of Beck's cherry red mustang. They look at us as we pull up and Jade crosses her arms in disdain. "I don't see why we have to be here," I see Jade mumble quietly, not taking her eyes off us; at least, that's what I think she said. "We're here because Robbie might need to know people care about him," Beck states; I hear him clearly, though he speaks lowly because I'm out of the car. "I know we're not close to Robbie but he sees us as his friends so we need to see how he's doing; it's only for a little while."

I look to Beck, to catch a glimpse of his lustful hazel eyes, but he turns away as soon as I do. "Hi Beck! Hi Jade!" Cat greets enthusiastically with a wide smile and her usual childish laughter. "Hey, Cat," Jade greets with genuine enthusiasm, her icy blue-green eyes filled with warmth. Beck gives her a nod with a small smile and Cat hugs Jade; Cat's one of the only ones who could hug Jade without winding up in a very unpleasant situation. No one bothers speaking to Trina; she doesn't bother speaking to us.

Without another word, the five of us head to the front door to check on our friend.

After climbing his obnoxiously large staircase, we notice Robbie's front door is slightly open. Then I remember that André's gray RAV-4 had been parked slightly down the street on the curb.

Beck, being the only man in our little group, holds out his arm to keep us from advancing; he ends up touching my forearm. The touch sends shivers down my spine, but I think I hid them well.

"Robbie?" he calls out. "Are you in here?" He steps forward and pushes the door open slightly. Then Cat pushes away from him and pushes the door open so she can run to Robbie's room. "Cat, wait!" Beck calls out to her; she ignores him. She throws open the door to Robbie's bedroom just as the rest of us had run inside—except for Trina; she causally walked to Robbie's kitchen to steal some of his food.

"Robbie?" she calls frantically. Then, something lunges at her from inside Robbie's room and knocked her out of our sight, a loud scream filling the room. "Cat!" Jade and I exclaim in unison. We both go running to Robbie's room, with Beck right behind us. Upon entering, the three of us are also attacked. The blows knock Beck and Jade out on impact, but I have enough consciousness left to hear Trina walking out of the kitchen and munching on something—probably a sandwich.

"Tori?" she calls out to me as she walks toward the room. "What was all that yelling?" The moment she steps into the room, a shadowed figure knocked her to the ground and knocks her out. I don't even get time to tell her to run away.

Then, I black out…

~*Jade*~

I'm pretty sure I'm the first to wake up. I look around and the room is dimly lit, but I can see Robbie's bed. I don't remember what hit me; all I knew is that I have a killer bump on my head. I try to move my hands from my sides to hold my head, but I can't. I struggle slightly before realizing I'm tied up. I edge along on the rug beneath my head and nudge the person next to me. There's a soft groan, and I know who it is.

"Cat," I hiss. She moves slightly on the rug, but her eyes stay closed. "Cat!" I hiss again. I nudge her harder with my knee this time. "No, Tony," she mumbles in her sleep. "I don't wanna ride the unicycle again." I roll my eyes and bite her shoulder.

"Ow!" she exclaims, startling herself from her sleep. Her head turns to me and I can see her wide eyes in the dark. "What was that for?" she asks loudly. "Shush!" I hiss once more. "Don't be so loud." Cat sniffles. "What was that for?" she whispers. "You needed to wake up," I tell her quietly.

I look around from my spot on the floor. "I don't know what's going on, but someone's got it out for us. Wake up whoever's next to you and tell them to do the same." Without another word, Cat kicks the person to her left. "Ow!" I hear Beck yelp. I see his semi-long hair swish around as he surveys his surroundings. "What's going on?" he questions. "We don't know," Cat whispers, "But wake up whoever's next to you."

I see Beck shuffle a bit and he's about to kick the person beside him when they hiss, "Don't kick me! I'm awake!" From what I can make out, it's Robbie; he'd probably been awake earlier than I had. I see him gently nudge someone to his left and that someone is definitely across the room from me. "W-what's going on?" Trina exclaims loudly. Those of us who are awake shush her. "Be quiet!" I hiss once more. You'd think if you woke up in a dark room unsure of where you were, you wouldn't be loud enough to wake the dead.

"What's happening?" André questions in a soft voice. I guess Trina's obnoxious voice woke him up. "We don't know," Cat whispers to him. "We all just woke up here." I sit up and look around in the dark for some form of light just as Tori was waking up. "It's about time you woke up," Trina states with narrowed eyes; I can see everyone in front of and around me somewhat clearly, but nothing else. With Tori awake and sitting up, we all sit in a tight circle, our arms tied behind our backs. "What's going on?" she asks in a dazed confusion. She isn't the brightest bulb in the box if you know what I mean.

I open my mouth to speak, but someone else speaks instead. "You're all being charitable," they announce from the shadows; it sounds familiar, but I can't place who it is. "Who's there?" I call out to the darkness. "Let us go!" A sinister chuckle comes from wherever the familiar voice did. "I'm afraid we can't do that," they say.

Then, the lights flip on and Rex steps out of the shadows of Robbie's closet walking on his own. Five more dummies come out behind him. All of us stare in awe at the dummies—even me, because this is really creepy even for my tastes—as we watch them progress toward us.

"Six of you are going to give up your bodies so we can live a little," Rex tells us. His wooden lips clamp together, sending a hollow echo through his head; I can barely see the set of jagged teeth in his mouth. "Six?" Trina exclaims with worry. "There are more than six of us here! What about the seventh person?" Rex laughs darkly, his eyes looking sinister. "One of you unlucky children will be given the privilege of dying," he explains. "The rest of you, I'm afraid, will be forced to live inside our bodies, being nothing more than common toys."

One of the other dummies, a girl one with curly red hair as red as Cat's and a face full painted with freckles, walks up to Rex and whispers something in Rex's ear. He eyes Trina. "I don't think you want her," he tells the freckled dummy. "She's desperate and untalented." Trina struggles in her ropes. "I am not untalented!" she exclaims as she thrashes around. "Now let me go! I wanna go home! I hate it here; it smells like old people feet!"

Furrowing her plastic brows, the freckled dummy crossed her arms. "She's got an annoying voice," she spits with a wooden scowl. She turns to Rex. "I think you're right; I don't like her. The other three girls are prettier anyway." Trina continues to struggle in her ropes. "I'm pretty too!" she pushes. "Shut up!" Rex demands, his voice booming in the room. Trina jumps and stops talking.

"Now," Rex begins, his voice lowering to a calm one, "The rest of you are going to be our vessels." He eyes us all over then gestures to his wooden friends with chipping, wooden fingers. "We...are considered lifeless; we no longer have bodies of our own, and we must maintain a doll-like state in the presence of humans so they won't destroy us—I mean, let's be honest, you idiots kill anything you don't understand." He smiles darkly. "But with your bodies," he continues, "We can become full of life, where we never have to worry about collecting dust in the back of a closet or under some loser's bed. And, best of all, we get to be human. You see, we were once human—wizards in fact—and we would still be that way if that El Toro Diablo hadn't cursed us." A hard grimace sets on his face and he closes eyes I didn't know could close. After a moment, a smile crosses his face and he opens his eyes. "So who wants to go first?" He lets out a loud spine tingling cackle as the other dummies debate amongst themselves.

They briefly collaborate before a dummy with long, purple hair, purple eye-shadow, and light purple lips steps forward. I figure she'll want Cat's body. "I want the redhead," she states. I was right; it's only natural she'd want a body as flamboyant as her own. Rex half-smiles…or, at least he smiles as much as a dummy could anyway. "Looks like you're first, Kitty Cat," he announces. Cat begins to cry loudly with teary eyes and the purple dummy moves to the center of the circle, pushing past André and Trina. Trina snaps her teeth at the dummy and—if possible—manages to make a bigger fool of herself. The dummy lowers to the ground and sits cross-legged, staring at Cat with a devious smile; the only reason I could tell was because of the movement of her eyebrows. Her face doesn't move too much.

"Start the ritual," she demands in a hiss.

He pulls out a large, red amulet from under his shirt and closes his eyes. The red crystal is the same color as Cat's hair, put probably no bigger than her large eyes. Gold circles it—making the amulet the size of my hand—with small diamonds placed in the four cardinal directions; a larger diamond points to the chain on the amulet, signaling it was the northern diamond.

Rex holds out his hands and takes in a deep breath, though he doesn't breathe in the first place. "Demones inferni," he begins in what I think is Latin. "Audite cry." The lights begin to flicker slightly. "Take animam et corpus restituat. Spirant vitam in quod erat immortalis." The lights flicker harder and the ground begins to shake, but Rex doesn't stop. "Nobis tua et transibit animas!" As he utters the last word, thunder sounds outside and the lights in Robbie's room flicker on and off.

The ground begins to shake violently, but doesn't toss any of us out of the circle as the lights finally go out. Then, the shaking stops and all is silent. A brief moment later, a deafening roar sounds, followed by large lights surrounding Cat and the purple dummy; Cat's is light red and the dummy's is black as night. I watch as the lights that surround them snap up into the air and pass each other as they circle their new destinations. The glowing lights speed into Cat's body and the dummy's body, knocking each of them backwards and removing all night from the room.

Robbie's bedroom lights spark back on as they hit the ground.

Our first instincts—I can see on everyone's faces—are to scream or piss ourselves after witnessing what we saw. With shallow, frightened breathing (even from me) we look to Cat. We're all tongue tied at first, but Tori is the first to speak. I would have spoken, but I was too scared to find my voices; I knew what happened to her would happen to me and I know what my new life as a dummy will hold for me.

"C-Cat?" Tori calls out. A groan emerges, but Cat's lips don't move. "My head hurts," Cat announces. She sounds farther away than before. We all look to the center of the circle at the purple dummy that's grabbing its hollow head. "Cat!" I exclaim. I can feel tears begin to form in my eyes; this would be the first time I cried since Beck "broke up" with me four months ago. Cat looks at me with the dummy's porcelain blue eyes. "How did you get over there, Jade?" she asks, her wooden teeth clacking together. Cat's eyes widen as she looks at her body beside me and screams loudly, falling on her now-wooden back. The dummy in Cat's body begins to laugh softly, but it quickly grows into a dark cackle as she throws Cat's head back, Cat's red hair shaking around her.

"Grab her," Rex orders once the laughter stops, pointing at Cat in the dummy's body. "Tie her up and put her on the bed; then untie Dahlia." The other two boy dummies, a blonde one with painted green eyes and a raven-haired one with a face like Gene Simmons' from KISS, picks up Dahlia's dummy and dragged her to Robbie's bed, tying her up with more rope. Cat thrashes in their grasp, but they're stronger than she. Once that deed is done, the blonde dummy goes to Cat's body and she smiles darkly with Cat's full, red lips as they untie Cat's body. Dahlia stretches Cat's arms with a content smile and closed eyes, and lets out a small moan. "I feel so alive," she announces in Cat's high voice once she stops stretching. She flexes Cat's fingers, getting used to them. Cat sobs loudly from her place on Robbie's bed, producing no tears.

The KISS dummy steps forward next. "I want the black one," he announces. André sneers at him and lashes his foot out at the dummy, but misses. The dummy steps past him and sits in the center of the circle. Again, Rex holds out his hands and takes in another deep breath.

"Demones inferni," he begins, again reciting in Latin. "Audite cry." The lights begin to flicker slightly once more. "Take animam et corpus restituat. Spirant vitam in quod erat immortalis." The lights flicker harder again and the ground shakes, but Rex still doesn't stop. "Nobis tua et transibit animas!" Once again, as he utters the last word, thunder sounds outside and the lights in Robbie's room flicker off.

The ground shakes violently again, and the lights go out. Then, the shaking stops and all goes silent again. This time, I'm slightly less afraid of what's gonna happen and the deafening roar that's about to come. A brief moment later, the roar sounds again, followed by large lights surrounding André and the KISS dummy; this time André's light is light blue, but the dummy's is still black. This time, I close my eyes as the switch happens.

I open my eyes as Robbie's bedroom lights spark back on.

Tori's freely crying now, especially when the blonde dummy and a redheaded girl dummy come to pick the KISS dummy up and carry it to Robbie's bed, later tying him up. Rex snickers at her. "Isn't this fun, kiddies?" he questions of us. I can feel the rage building up inside me.

"Let us out of here you demented son of a—!" I exclaim. The redheaded dummy laughs through her wooden lips, cutting me off. "She's a feisty one," she says; her voice was similar to mine. "I want her." I growl at her and thrash in my ropes. "Stay the heck away from me," I seethe. The dummy's eyebrows lower as her smile becomes sinister and she moves to the center of the circle.

When Rex begins the ritual, I black out…so I missed all his annoying theatrics. When I "wake up," I stare at my body from an elevated seat, meaning I finally get to be a redhead. I watch the last girl dummy, a blonde with shoulder-length hair and blue eyes, run into the circle from behind the foot bar of Robbie's bed.

I felt like I'm in a freakin' jail!

"My turn!" she exclaims in giddy joy; she would have been better off in Cat's body if she had to take one of our bodies. I look on in partial sadness as Rex moved on with the ritual, but part of me is glad this was happening to Tori too; if I had my own body, I would have put hers in a wood chipper.

And after all the theatrics, the blonde dummy found herself in Tori's body, smiling in genuine happiness with Tori's lips. "I feel so pretty," she breathes in Tori's horrid voice as she's untied and her old body is thrown up on the bed.

Then it's down to two boys and two dummies: my boyfriend and Robbie left with Rex and the blonde male dummy. The blonde one steps forward. "I want the pretty one," he insists. Rex laughs sardonically. "You're crazy!" he accuses in his sinister voice. "There's no way I'm gonna live my life as an Andy Samberg wannabe." Robbie groans in annoyance. "I told you I'm not Andy Samberg!" he cries out. Rex's eyes dart to him. "Can it, Shapiro!" he snarls. Robbie jumps in his spot and looks away from Rex.

Then, Rex turns back to the blonde dummy. "You're getting the Jew," he states, "And you're gonna like it." Someone's an Anti-Sematic jerk. The blonde one lunges for Rex, trying to grab the amulet. "No way!" he shouts. "I'm taking the pretty one's body!" As the dummies fight, I can see Beck manages to get his pocket knife free and starts cutting at his ropes. Then, the blonde one snatches away the amulet and sits on Rex, pinning him to the ground.

"Demones inferni," the dummy begins, shouting at the top of his lungs. "No!" Rex bellows, trying to take the amulet back and struggling under the other one's weight. But the blonde one continues to chant, uncaring of what Rex has to say.

"Audite cry."

"I'll kill you!"

"Take animam et corpus restituat."

"No! Stop!"

"Spirant vitam in quod erat immortalis."

"You'll regret this!"

"Nobis tua et transibit animas!"

Once more, thunder crashes and the lights flicker off. This time when they come back on, however, Rex's body lay limp on the ground and Robbie slowly opens his eyes. We look at him in silence as we wait for him to speak.

"No!" Rex screamed at the top of Robbie's lungs as the dummy ties his old body up. "You bastard! I swear I'll kill you!" He turns to the other dummies in our human bodies that still sit in the circle. "I'll kill you all, too, for not helping me!" The redheaded dummy rolls my eyes. "Oh save it, Rex," she spits in my voice. "You know if we moved from the circle, the magic would be broken and we wouldn't be able to finish the ritual. Then we'd be stuck in these bodies and The Curse of Six would rot them away." With a sneer, he spits at my body, but the soul working my motor skills dodges it. "Shrew," he hisses.

After that, the blonde dummy smirks. "Looks like you're the only one left," he told Beck. Just as he finishes speaking, Beck cuts through the final part of his ropes and breaks from the circle to attack the dummy. The others—realizing they can—jump from the circle and lunge for him. They almost get him when he jumps away into a corner, holding up the amulet.

"Move and I'll smash it!" he screams with narrowed eyes. I know it isn't the time or place, but I love it when Beck raises his voice; it was so sexy. The personified dummies gasp and back away from Beck, including the blonde non-fleshy dummy. "You don't know what you're doing," he states calmly, holding his hands out to Beck, hoping he'll back out of his word. "Yes I do," Beck spits with a sneer. He shakes the amulet by its chain. "I know that if I smash this, all of you will go back to your old bodies and you can't do this to anyone else!"

Honestly, I think he's bluffing; I don't think he truly knows what will happen if he smashes it.

"Don't do it!" the KISS dummy pleads with André's voice. "We can make you a deal! Just don't destroy the amulet! Please—"

"No!" Beck interrupts. "No deals and no negotiations! The only thing I want is for my friends and my girlfriend to be in their own bodies. This is the only way to do it." Without another word, Beck grabs the amulet by its circle of gold and smashes it—jewel first—into the nearest wall. Hundreds of glittering shards fall to the ground as red smoke billows from the golden circle. All the human dummies let ear piercing shrieks as the smoke quickly encompasses them and the ground shakes violently as the lights cut out. I black out again, but I can feel my soul going back to my body. I feel a hard thud as well as a sharp pain shoot through my body, but I'm still conscious.

The lights are still out.

"Is everyone okay?" I hear André call out in the dark. "I'm okay," Cat stated quietly. "I'm good," Robbie says. "Me too," Tori states. "I wanna go home!" Trina whines. I hear the air move and she let out a pained shout. "Shut up, Trina," Tori hisses. I roll my eyes though no one can see it. The Vega sisters are simply pathetic. "Are…Are we back to normal?" Robbie asks. "I don't know," I answer. "I can't see anything."

Then, the lights slowly flicker back on.