Author's Note- Ok, attempting to squeeze one out before my schedule gets too insane.
Disclaimer- I own only the modifications to the scenes.
Alyson managed to sneak back into her room with no difficulties. She kinda liked sneaking around; it made her feel like a real movie producer, digging up dirt on the other contestants, making "real" TV.
A part of her was seriously bothered by the fact that Brandon didn't know how he did his trick. It made her think illogical things. Alyson excelled in her science class and was always a firm believer that magic was fake. All a trick of the hands. She believed that all magic tricks had a logical way of being done…except Brandon's trick. And though she knew it was stupid, Alyson felt there was something going on in this house, something magical.
--
The next morning, Alyson had trouble getting up. Her head felt heavy and her eyes struggled to open. She made a mental note- no more running around in the middle of the night trying to find answers. All she found were more questions…and that it was hard to get up the next morning.
Managing to get to her feet, Alyson hurried through a shower and got ready. Checking her watch, she noticed that she missed breakfast, but still had enough time to get to the second challenge before it started.
When she entered, all eyes were on her. Even Max had beat her. Glancing at Hunter and Brandon, she noticed they looked very awake. Stupid boys and their stupid lack of need for make up or hair styling.
Taking her seat next to Danny, she beamed him a smile. "Good morning."
He grunted at her, focusing on Max, who looked ready to begin the second challenge. Alyson shrugged, happy that he chose to acknowledge her this morning.
"Good morning everyone. I'm trusting that you had a good nights rest." Max looked at Alyson with that last statement and she gave him a thin smile. She didn't really realized the lack of sleep showed that much on her. Guess she was wrong. "Now let's start the second challenge. Each of you have a wand. Etched on that wand is the name of a famous magician. You will be expected to master that magician's unique trick. You may use any prop, book, or room in this mansion to practice. I'll see you in two hours. Good luck."
Brandon pulled out a wand from his pocket. "Harry Blackstone, nice!"
Zoe magically found her wand as well, finding out that her magician was "Alexander Herman."
Riddled with anticipation, Alyson had a very strong feeling that she knew who Danny would get. "Well?"
"Well I haven't- oh. Harry Houdini," answered a shocked Danny when the wand simply "popped" out of no where.
Alyson mentally pumped her fist in the air. She knew it! Grinning at the other contestants, Alyson turned back to Danny. "So where should we sta-…"
But where Danny was previously sitting was empty.
Turning to Cedric, she shook his shoulder a couple times. He was passed out next to her, obviously tired from their exploration the night before. "Wah? … I'm up!" exclaimed Cedric. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Where's Danny?"
"That's what I would like to know!" cried out Alyson, frustrated with the boy that had once occupied the seat next to her and his obvious lack of social skills.
By this time, Brandon and Zoe were off, studying their own tricks. Alyson walked around the foyer, where Brandon happened to be practicing, yet another card trick. "Has anyone seen Danny?" asked Alyson, throwing her hands up in defeat.
"Can't say I've been…looking," replied Brandon, doing a sweep of his hand to present Alyson with a bouquet of flowers. "But why not spend the time with me, instead of looking for him?" Brandon gave her a grin.
Giving him a look of disgust, Alyson opened her mouth, but was cut off my Zoe. "Easy cheesy," she warned Brandon. Turning to Alyson, she suggested, "Why not look in the study?"
Sighing, Alyson gave Zoe a look of thanks. "M'kay. Cedric, you get some shots of around here, get some of Zoe and Brandon practicing. I'm going to find Danny," order Alyson, clearly tested.
Leaving the group behind, Alyson opened the big oak doors, the HEAVY oak doors, that led to the library. Having always been outcasted, libraries were Alyson's greatest ally. The books never rejected any person willing to read them, and the quiet walls prevented any mean words to reach her ears. Back in school, Alyson would often just ditch lunch and go to the library and read, or do homework, or just…think.
This one was filled high with books and had a dome cap ceiling with a design so beautiful, Alyson bet she could stare at it for hours, just tracing the design with her eyes. The sun was the main source of lighting for the room, the rays reaching out to cover every inch that it could. Surprisingly, there was only one table in the vast room. Unsurprisingly, it was occupied.
Danny hadn't noticed Alyson when she entered, even though he was facing the doors. Alyson knew that he must have been so entranced by his book that he didn't notice… or maybe he was just that good at ignoring her. Tempted to pull out her handheld camera and start filming without Cedric, Alyson decided she did not want to be ignored anymore.
Leaning over his shoulder, Alyson asked, "Well I don't see any Houdini books lying around in this mess."
She was leaning so close to Danny that she could smell his scent and practically feel the heat radiating off of him. When he didn't jump or act surprise by her being there, Alyson realized that he must have noticed her entrance. He turned his head to the side slightly, to look at her, calling her bluff. "Don't worry," he sneered. "I have that covered."
Their faces were so close, that if Alyson were to turn her head just the teeniest bit towards him, they would be touching. She couldn't help but have a teasing smile on her face as well. She leaned in closer, so that she could reach around and grab the book that was right in front of Danny. "So what's all this about?"
While she was still in the process of leaning over Danny's shoulder, Cedric came in. "Hey Alyson, I've finished…oh, I'm interrupting. Sorry." Cedric turned to exit, but stopped after Alyson called out to him.
"Cedric wait! I was just asking Danny if I could help him… research," cleared up Alyson. Plopping into the seat next to his, Alyson snuck a glance at Danny, who just smirked at her. He raised an eyebrow in an "I win" kinda way. Alyson chose to ignore it.
Timidly, Cedric came closer. "Should I film this?"
"Um, I don't know if that would be interesting. Maybe more action shots of the other magicians?" suggested Alyson, wanting to get Danny alone.
"You're the boss," nodded Cedric, exiting the study.
"'You're the boss,'" mocked Danny sarcastically. "Ow!" he yelped as Alyson whacked him in the back of the head with a thick book.
"So what's with these non-Houdini books?" inquired Alyson.
Still rubbing his head, Danny answered, "Uh, it's kinda a long story."
Settling into her seat, Alyson countered, "I've got time."
Sighing, Danny turned towards her. "Fine, since you are supposedly the Puzzle Master, maybe you can help."
He had Alyson's full attention. "I'd love to!" she offered.
"See, every book or website I've ever read about the Magic Mansion has talked about hidden rooms and secret chambers. And even Max mentioned the mystery that this place holds," explained Danny.
Nodding Alyson absorbed this all in. "Ok, more information please."
"Well, I've been searching through these books that are suppose to tell about the mansion's history but they are no more revealing then anything I could have gotten out of a public library. Where's all the secret stuff? It's gotta be around here some place." Danny closed the book he was reading and ran this hands through his hair, visibly giving up.
All the while Danny was talking, Alyson was examining the books on the table. Inspiration struck her. "Hold on." She frantically searched through the pile on the desk, until she found what she was looking for.
"Wha…what are you doing?" asked Danny, as her rummaging disturbed his giving up.
"Just give me a minute," shushed Alyson, grabbing a book and nearly running off to the shelves. She was stopped by Danny grabbing her wrist.
"Would you please tell me what you are doing?" he pleaded.
"Look at the spine." Alyson pointed to a symbol of a sun with a book in the middle. "See how some of the books have markings on their bindings and some don't?" Danny's look showed that he noticed, but didn't see how that connected. "We need to find all the books with the symbol!"
Alyson watched as something clicked with Danny and bolted from his seat to the shelves. She took it as her turn to go book hunting, too.
Finally, a stack of about 30 books were stacked on the table. "Ok," stated Danny, hands on his hips. "What now?"
"See the marks on these bindings? I'm betting that these are your puzzle pieces pal," said Alyson excitedly. "Now it's up to us to solve it."
Danny was caught up in the excitement, too, for he picked Alyson up and spun her around once, then placed her back on the ground. "Alyson, you are brilliant!"
Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, Alyson smiled. "Thank you for noticing."
"Don't mention it. Now let's get to work."
Trial and error was what got them to the final clue. The books' markings had formed the picture of two snakes, facing each other when properly stacked. "Wow," said Danny. "Serpents! … two serpents…"
Turning to Danny, Alyson asked, "Do you recognize it?"
"I've seen it…" He turned back to Alyson. "I can't believe you figured this out!"
Blushing, Alyson shrugged. "Com- come on now. Anyone could have figured it out."
"Not me," praised Danny, causing Alyson to blush harder. She tried to hide it. Luckily, Danny found what he was looking for.
Pulling out a map from an older book, Danny searched until he found the symbol. "Here! There it is." He pointed at the serpents on his map.
"What does that mean?" asked Alyson.
"It means, if we want to find where this is leading us… we have to find the symbol!" Danny nearly shouted the last part. Alyson couldn't help but grin. She liked seeing Danny excited. She was glad that the boy COULD get excited. "We find the symbol, we find the secret room," stated Danny, turning towards here, a big smile on his face.
Alyson was completely lost with the whole "secret room" thing, but she was always up for some adventure. She nodded at him.
"Follow me," ordered Danny.
--
Half pulling, half dragging, Danny and Alyson managed to get Cedric to follow them into the basement. As the stairs grew in number and the amount of light lessened, their patience with Cedric dwindled. "Uh, guys? I don't think this is such a great idea…" he complained.
"Would you rather stay here by yourself?" questioned Alyson sharply.
"No…" confirmed Cedric.
Danny led them down to a dead end. He searched the area, but when he met Alyson's questioning look, he stated, "It's suppose to be around here, it must be the other way."
He retraced his steps until they led him to a woodened wall. Finding an odd shaped groove, Danny tugged it to the side and the wall slid to let them pass.
They were in pitch darkness now, with their only light coming from Cedric's camera. The floor was grimy and the air smelled musty to Alyson as she loyally followed Danny, deeper and deeper.
"Guys," whined Cedric. "Let's go back. We shouldn't be here."
Danny ignored him and opened another door, leading to more darkness. Stepping inside, the sound of beating wings and a screech made Alyson close her eyes and start running blindly in any direction. She hit something solid with a thud and realized by the smell that it was Danny. Cowering into his chest, Alyson felt his arms wrap around her protectively and she held her breath.
When the noise died down to just their breathing, Danny asked timidly, "Alyson, are you ok?"
Slowly, Alyson opened her eyes. Feeling her face, then forehead, then hair and reassuring that nothing was wrong, she nodded.
"Ok, good," said Danny, sounding relieved. He took her hand and led her forward. "Now come on. I'll have my cell phone light the way."
Following obediently, Alyson noticed how much darker it was. They no longer had Cedric and his camera. When the bat "attacked," it appeared that the coward had bolted and left them alone. In the dark. With the killer bats. Danny, determined as ever, held his cell phone open, using it to light the way through the darkness. Alyson held on to his hand even tighter. The atmosphere was getting to her. Stupid Cedric making her paranoid.
"Look! It's the symbol!" cried out Danny, picking up the pace to the symbol. He's steps slowed though. "Crap." Danny's symbol was carved into the stone wall. It appeared that they were at a dead end.
"No wait, what's this?" asked Alyson, pointing to letters under the carving. "Bri legat arcane intra reperiel."
"What does that mean?" asked Danny, running his hands through his hair.
"It means, 'Whoever reads books, finds secrets within,'" translated Alyson. She knew taking those three years of Latin was not in vain.
Danny threw his hands up in the air. "Great! Now we need a book!"
He sank to the ground, shutting his phone in the process. Alyson was in pitch darkness. She knew where he was a few seconds ago, but her blind swipe in that direction met nothing but air. "Danny? Dan-" Alyson managed to trip over something. That something was Danny's legs.
The sprawl led her some few feet away from where she fell from. "Danny? Danny, help me find you." Crawling on her hands and knees, Alyson could not help but be disgusted. "How on earth are you sitting on this dirty floor? I'm disgusted crawling on it!"
"Well then stand up," suggested Danny offhandedly, still thinking about the clue and how they were led down this far for nothing.
"What if the bats come back?" whimpered Alyson. "Just stick out your hand in my direction."
THU-whack! Alyson had to stop moving forward. "You just hit my boob."
"Uh, sorry," apologized Danny. "Just grab my hand."
"That really hurt," stated Alyson, still not moving.
Sighing, Danny gave an eye roll that Alyson could not see due to the darkness and grabbed at where he suspected her arm was. He successfully grabbed it and pulled her into his lap. "Shad up you big baby."
Alyson was still before she relaxed into him, giving a giggle. "We are stupid. You could have just opened your phone again."
Danny let out a chuckle. "We used all our smarts figuring out how to get here. And now that we are here, we can't figure out this clue." His tone turned bitter.
"C'mon," said Alyson getting up and offering Danny her hand. "It has to be misdirection." Grabbing his phone and pointing its light at the craving, Alyson noticed that between the snakes was now a book. She grinned. "Look! It's a book! And how do you read a book?"
She watched it register on his face. "You hafta turn the pages!" they cried out together. Grabbing the book, Danny was able to turn it like a knob almost, which allowed them to enter another room.
The next room was shiny. That's how Alyson would have described it. It was a vault, with a big lock, that you had to turn to open. As soon as Danny touched the lock, the door that they entered through had shut. It was a stone door to begin with, and just managed to slide when they turned the book in the carving. Alyson whispered Danny's name, and nodded towards the closed door, indicating that they were trapped.
Grabbing the lock, Danny spun it one way, then the next. One last spin and the vault door opened with a click. Releasing the breath that she didn't even notice she was holding, Alyson breathed out, "How did you do that?"
Pushing the vault door farther open, Danny replied casually, "Lots of practice."
Alyson was going to ask about how that came along, but instead she followed Danny through the tiny tunnel that the vault was hiding and into a brightly lit room, thanks to all the candles and torches that were scattered around the room. The tunnel was a little crawl space, awkward to get into, awkward to get out of. Luckily, Danny was there to give Alyson his hand so she could land somewhat gracefully onto the ground. "Wow."
"I know," grinned Danny. "I just can't believe it! We found de Milo's secret library!"
They looked on the desk at all the books littered around. Danny was having a field day opening books, reading a few lines then moving on to another book. "Well, now that we are here, what are we looking for?" asked Alyson.
Noticing another knob, looking just like the one on the stone craving Alyson exclaimed, "Oh looky!"
She twisted the knob just as she heard Danny warn, "Alyson, no!"
The world turned black and the next moment, Alyson found herself falling.
"Ouf!" she cried as she landed on top of Danny on the floor of the library. She gave him a weak smile. "My bad?"
His glare made her smile falter and she gave an eye roll before sighing and rolling off of him. "Can you explain to me what just happened?"
"I don't know," answered Danny. "But things just keep getting stranger by the second."
"Thank you Captain Obvious," stated Alyson as she got up and dusted herself off. Though the whole being-in-one-place-and-then-getting-transported-to-another thing was kinda cool, it also left her baffled.
"Let's get outta here," suggested Danny, wiping his jeans off.
"I hope you are ready for your next challenge," said Alyson, wanting to get away from the eeriness of the library. It was no longer comforting.
--
Alyson and Danny managed to get back just in time for the challenge to officially start. Being slightly late meant that they had missed Max's spiel about the prizes and the contestants. Alyson was thankful.
First up was Zoe again. She skipped on stage, perky girl that she was, and preformed the classic trick of the rabbits in the hat. Zoe managed to pull out three rabbits from the hat, the last one being extremely fat and appeared to get stuck. Alyson couldn't help but laugh. Max awarded her a six.
Next was Brandon and his levitating light bulb trick. He made it float through the air, around a hoop, and even threw it out into the crowd, teasing Danny with it. He would hold it at arms length, then as Danny would reach for it, Brandon would raise it higher. Danny laughed good naturedly. When Brandon's act was over, he made the light bulb extinguish and was given an eight.
Though confused at why Danny was letting himself be teased like that, Alyson soon found out why. Danny walked out on stage with Brandon and Hunter in an elephant costume, trailing behind him.
"Though known for his famous escapes, I will attempt to reenact Houdini's trick of making a 10 ton elephant disappear. Right off this stage," Danny beamed at the crowd.
Whispering in Danny's ear, Brandon muttered, "I maybe dressed as an elephant, but I sure feel like a horse's butt right now."
"Get over it," ordered Danny, shoving a peanut in Brandon's mouth. Brandon scowled a spat the peanut back at Danny, who drew the curtain closed. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, may I present you with Houdini's-"A shrill shrieking was heard from behind the curtain and it was moving feverishly. "Houdini's vanishing elephant trick!"
The curtain fell with Danny's last words to show a shocked Hunter, the end half of the elephant, on the ground, looking up in fear at Brandon, who was crying on a bucking mechanical bull, hanging on desperately.
Max got up from his seat, shocked. Alyson and Danny exchanged a look, Danny's eyes full of fear. Brandon managed to get thrown from the bull onto the stage, and was helped up by Hunter, who gave Danny a look that could kill.
So Danny did what was becoming a habit for him. He bolted.
Author's Note- Ok, I really wanted to finish this. It was driving me nuts because I wanted to get to a certain part, which I got to, but it didn't come out as nice as I wanted it. Granted, it's 2 in the morning, and I'm tired but can't sleep, so I'm gonna hold off posting this til after I get some sleep or some coffee. We'll see. And I just thought of a cute scene for the next chapter. So hopefully I'll post it soon.
I hope this is soon enough for you laziliterose. Lol. So much for a week. .o