Wybie crawled slowly through the tie-dye tunnel. Soft pulses of light bounced off around the edges as he continued on his rescue mission. About halfway through he heard a sneeze behind him. He whipped his head around to see the cat wiping its nose with its paw.
"Shoo, go back cat." Wybie said, annoyed.
"I'll not be 'shooed' back to the normal world, mind you." The cat spoke. Wybie screeched and stumbled back into the pillow-like floor.
"You...you can talk?" Wybie stuttered, his eyes wide open. Well what did he expect? He's crawling through a imaginative tunnel to save a girl he barely knows from some monster.
The cat stared back at the boy, its large blue eyes unblinking. "Well, of course I can in this part. You're technically in her world now."
"I'm sorry, her?" Wybie started crawling through the tunnel again.
"Yes, her. She created this world for Coraline. She has created many, many worlds for all the children she loves." The cat followed behind him. "I will be by your side the entire time for the...entertainment. I owe you for all the delicious meals, anyhow."
Wybie looked at the cat. "I still can't believe that you can talk! It's so cool."
The animal rolled its eyes. "Children."
The two of them crawled until they reached the other door. Wybie held his breath as slowly he pushed the small door open, pulling out his hammer from his bag. He poked his head through, his hammer raised high, only to be greeted with an empty room exactly like the one he had just left, only it was much brighter.
"What? We just were in here." Wybie said, pushing the rest of his body through and standing up.
"This is her world, remember? It is designed to confuse you, make you think that this world is where reality is, when it isn't." The cat stated, stretching out beside the boy.
"Well Coraline is here, right?" Wybie said nervously, glancing around the identical room.
The cat bowed its head. "Sure. You just need to find her. The real her. She likes to play games, tricks if you will."
Wybie raised his hammer. "I will." He started walking to where the kitchen was. The hallway was just as bright as the room they had exited. Portraits lined the walls, all of them of Coraline with different facial expressions.
"Okay, this is creepy." Wybie said, glancing at one of Coraline wearing a terrified expression. "Where would she be anyhow?"
The cat sniffed the air as they entered the kitchen. "If I know that girl, she would be outside in the garden."
Wybie glanced at the door.
"Be my guest if you want to go out there. She is there as well."
"You...you're not coming?" Wybie stammered.
"I smell a feast." The cat licked its lips and pounced off into the other room. Wybie watched it go with a remorseful look on his face. "Okay, you can do this. How scary can a monster be?" He gulped as he went out the kitchen door and into the night.
In the distance Wybie could see a lot of lights and green-looking things. Assuming that was the garden, he set off in that direction. Soon, he could pick out the details of pumpkins, the smell of strawberries, and the sound of a girl laughing.
"Coraline..." He whispered. Raising his hammer to chest-level, he sneaked up to see a scene that almost shocked him. Coraline was there, but so was her mother and her father and someone else...they were all facing the blue-haired girl, who was performing some sort of dance.
Coraline finished with a curtsey and the three audience members immediatly stood up and clapped. Wybie stood dumbfounded. Coraline stood up only to meet Wybie's eyes. She gasped. "WYBIE?!" She screeched.
The three audience members turned and Wybie screamed. They all had buttons for eyes, even the third person, who looked EXACTLY like him. "WHAT THE HELL?!" He stumbled back.
The thing that looked like Coraline's mother smiled and started towards him. "Dear, what is he doing here?" She said between clenched teeth.
"I have no idea...Mother." Coraline said, staring at Wybie. "He isn't supposed to be here." She looked scared.
"I came here to find Coraline...miss..." Wybie said, stepping back. "I'm here to take her back to the real world."
Coraline's mother stopped walking towards him. "Oh, you are now? Well, I'm sorry to say but Coraline has agreed to stay here forever with her better family now, hasn't she?"
The girl put on a smile. "That's right. I have. Please leave Wybie. I am happy here."
The boy looked at her. Her mouth said one thing, but her eyes were pleading with him to take her away. Wybie knew that look. He saw it in the almost-dead eyes of every roadkill animal he had found on the side of the road.
"No. I will not." Wybie said bravely, clutching the hammer. "What do I have to do to convince you to return to your real home, Coraline?"
Coraline looked at her...mother. "Mother, he wants to know-"
"I HEARD you, Coraline." She huffed, putting a skinny hand to her forehead. "I'm thinking." Her bony fingers rapped impatiently against her skull.
"She likes to play games, tricks if you will."
"How about a game, Mrs. Jones? For her to come with me." Wybie said slyly.
Her fingers stopped, but she didn't move. "No...not a game for my darling."
Wybie thought for a moment. "How about a test of finding things then, for your daughter's return...AND for the returns of the souls you have trapped here."
The woman straightened up almost instantly. Her button eyes glinted. "You drive a hard bargain, but I love tests almost as much as I love games." She clapped her hands together. "Very well then. But I get to choose your items." She held out one of her hands.
Wybie was about to take it when Coraline screeched "YOU NEED TO GIVE HIM A HINT FIRST MOTHER!" Wybie took his hand back. The other...him and her father walked up next to her mother, one on each side. She sighed.
"Very well. The first soul is in a place where light does not touch, the second is in your reflection of tastes, and the final soul is a piece of a pillow that has broken from the nest. Find them all and you shall be able to go home."
"I want Coraline to come with me." Wybie said, staring directly into the girl's brown eyes. She blushed.
The 'mother' sighed. "Oh, very well. You have a deal." She reached out her hand again.
"Great." Wybie took her hand and shook it hard.
