AHHHHHHHH!
Gwen startled awake hearing her cousin's shrill scream. Gwen fell out of her chair and landed on her bruised shoulder. "Ow" she whispered. It took everything Slappy he had not to laugh this. Gwen got up and ran to the hall. Savanna barreled out of her room into Gwen. Her parents rushed out in response to their daughter scream. "What happened?" Aunt Jane demanded. Savanna showed them the gum in her hair. She looked straight at Gwen. "You did this! I know you did! Just to get back at me!" She yelled. Gwen held up her hands in surrender. "I didn't do anything. I couldn't have. Your door was locked." Gwen said holding her ground. "You probably fell asleep with gum in your mouth again." "It's okay baby will fix this." Jane soothed as savanna cried into her shoulder. Merrill put a hand on her shoulder. He looked better after the incident from yesterday. Gwen suspected that he was back on his medication.
Gwen returned to her room. She hadn't done this had she? It was strange though. That was the exact thing she had planned to do to get back at her cousin. Was she sleep walking or something? She knew one thing for sure Karma was a bitch. Gwen couldn't help but laugh a little at what had happened. She couldn't stop smiling as she got ready for school. Today she chose a collared long sleeve green shirt over a tank top. She contemplated wearing a skirt today but she didn't have any long enough to cover the bruises on her legs. Gwen missed wearing her long flowing skirts but opted for a pair of pinstripe dress pants instead. Slappy watched her as she went to the mirror. Gwen pulled her hair back and put on her concealing makeup. She didn't quite have enough to hide the bruises completely. She pulled her hair free and hoped it would help. Gwen shoved her homework in her bag and grabbed Slappy before heading down to breakfast.
Gwen grabbed some cereal and had finished half of it when Savanna walked in. Gwen almost choked on her cereal trying to stifle a laugh. Savanna's hair had been cut much shorter. "It's not funny." Savanna yelled. "It is a little." Gwen smiled. "Karma's a bitch isn't it? Oh and while we're on that note I suggest you give me back my necklace before something worse happens." Savanna gave her an odd look. "I don't have it anymore. You took it when you stuck that gum in my hair." She said. Gwen felt a pit form in her stomach. "You lost it?" she growled. "I didn't lose it you took" Savanna accused. "OK get this through your thick head Savanna. I wasn't in your room last night. I didn't do anything to you but I can make it a whole hell of a lot worse." Gwen threatened slowly rising to her feet and looming over her. "And I thought I was scary." Slappy thought to himself as he watched the situation unfold. Savanna noticed Slappy sitting in a chair. "What's he doing down here?" Savanna demanded. Gwen took her bowl the sink having lost her appetite. "I am taking him with me today because I don't trust you not to do something to him again" Gwen said grabbing Slappy and walking out the door.
Even though Gwen got to school early there were quite a few people there. Troy and a couple of other jocks were throwing a football around when they spotted her. They surrounded her like lions on a kill. "Well, well, well, you finally found a date for prom?" Troy joked. Gwen was about to ask him to move when Slappy spoke up. "What's the matter? Jealous because I'm better looking than you?" Gwen looked down at the dummy in shock. A few of the jocks and started laughing. Troy pushed her against the lockers. "You think you're funny?" he demanded. "I think I'm hilarious just like your face." Slappy sneered. "Hey that's enough!" a teacher yelled from down the hall. "We'll finish this later." Troy threatened getting in her face before striding down the hall. Gwen noticed a girl standing close to the teacher. It was Emma one of the girls Gwen had started to become friends with. She nodded at Gwen. It was she who had gone to get the teacher. Gwen nodded back in thanks before turning her attention back to Slappy. She turned the dummy to face her. "That was weird" she said studying the dummy. His lifeless eyes stared back at her. Gwen brushed it off as a onetime occurrence and stuck the dummy in her locker. "I'll be back later." she whispered.
Gwen hurried to the library to grab a book on ventriloquism before running to class. She spent most of the day reading up on the subject. The dismissal bell finally rang and Gwen practically ran to her locker to get Slappy. She didn't have any homework so she decided to practice with the dummy and she knew the perfect spot to do it.
Gwen sat under the massive oak tree near the cliffs overlooking the ocean. She fiddled with Slappy's controls making his eyes and mouth move. Gwen was about to start working on his voice when she found herself surrounded by Troy and two of his friends. "I told you we'd finish this later freak." He growled grabbing Slappy and tossing him to the side. Slappy slumped to the ground. Troy's two friends pulled Gwen to her feet. Troy punched her hard on the stomach knocking the breath out of her. She doubled over in pain. She felt her dragon half rising up to strike. Gwen forced herself to face down so no one would see her eyes begin to glow. She felt her teeth begin to sharpen as her instinct commanded that she rip her attacker's throat out. "Troy if you don't get away from me now you will regret it" Gwen half growled. Her voice sounded a bit different thanks to the larger dagger like teeth she now bore. She couldn't take it anymore and let her claws come out. Gwen had planned to throw one of the boys holding her into Troy but everything slammed to a halt when a hash raspy voice spoke up.
"Hey ass hat! No one touches my slave but me." Slappy growled. Everyone stared in utter disbelief. The dummy was alive. ALIVE! "Oh my God. She really is a witch!" One of the boys yelled loosening his grip. Slappy tackled Troy knocking him to the ground and proceeding to strangle him. Gwen pulled free of one the boys and struck at the other. He had been so shocked by what he was seeing he didn't notice Gwen's attack until it was too late. He staggered away and took off. The other boy followed suit. Troy had managed to throw Slappy off of him and charged Gwen believing that she was the cause. Gwen ducked down using her body as a fulcrum to throw the much larger form over her. He hit the ground hard. Troy pushed himself to his hands and knees and glared at her, his eyes full of hatred. "You're dead witch!" He threatened. He ran off as fast as he could. "You hear me? You're gonna burn!" he called back still running. "Well that's just great" Gwen said retracting her claws. Her teeth and eyes also turned back to normal.
"Ahem" Slappy demanded from behind Gwen. She turned to face him. "Oh my gosh, you really are alive." Gwen commented. Slappy rolled his eyes. "We've got a real genius here" he said sarcastically grabbing her wrists and pulled her to her knees with surprising strength so he was looking down at her. "You are my slave now." He said tightening his grip on her wrists to show he was serious. Gwen narrowed her eyes at the dummy. "No." she growled. She twisted her wrists breaking Slappy's grip and taking hold of his wrists surprising the dummy. Gwen's eyes glowed purple scaring the dummy even more. He tried to pull away from her but she extended her claws tightening her grip. She growled as she rose to her feet revealing her sharp teeth. Gwen could see the fear in Slappy's eyes and was about to strike but stopped. Something had caught her attention. Her heighten sense of hearing picked up on the sound of footsteps running towards her. She could make out at least four people. She knew it was Troy coming back to make good on his threat but he would not find her. White fire erupted from her back as her massive dragon wings appeared. Slappy's eyes widened I horror at the sight of them. They lifted the two of them off the ground easily. Gwen soared a few feet higher before diving over the side of the nearby cliff.
Gwen landed on a ledge and slammed the dummy against the rock face holding him there with her magic. Slappy's fear had turned to anger. "What are you?" he demanded. "I am a dragon and I don't take kindly to threats." She said a ball of purple energy forming in her free hand. She raised it to destroy the dummy. He began to laugh. "I cannot be destroyed. My curse has made certain of that." Gwen stopped at this. "Curse?" she asked lowering her hand. Slappy couldn't believe his luck. Maybe this this time he wouldn't have to suffer a slave trying to destroy him. "Tell me what is your curse?" "My curse is to live forever as a living dummy never to be destroyed and always made to suffer" Slappy told her. It wasn't a lie. He could not be destroyed and he had suffered at the hands of his countless slaves. Gwen felt a bit sorry for him. After all she herself was cursed. She set him down but kept her guard up. "What's with the whole slave thing?" Gwen asked. "You and I are one now." Slappy told her. Gwen gave him a confused look so he pulled out the card in his pocket. "When you read the words you bound yourself in servitude to me." "That's why you called slave." Gwen said realizing what she had done. "You've got to kidding me." Slappy gave her an evil grin. His eyes glowed acid green for a moment before returning to an icy blue. Gwen suddenly had an idea.
"Slappy what if I could break your curse?" This caught Slappy's attention. "You mean so you can kill me?" he accused. Gwen shook her head. "No I mean the part about you being a dummy. Turn you a person." Slappy considered her offer. If he were a human, he wouldn't have to rely on others. He could move around freely without fear doing what he wanted when he wanted. "What do you want in return?" he asked already knowing the answer. "My freedom." Gwen said. "Do we have a deal?" "Deal but let's be clear about one thing. You will be my slave until you fulfill your end of the bargain." Slappy informed her. "Fine but you and I need to establish a few ground rules" Gwen told him. He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm listening." he growled. "First you can never physically abuse me." Slappy laughed at this. "I figured you might object to that so perhaps I should explain." Gwen stated. Slappy stopped. "I cannot use my powers on humans because I am bound by magic. That same limitation does not exist with you and I would prefer not to use it but I will." She threatened. Gwen hoped he would buy her bluff. In truth she was to scared to use her powers. Even now she was risking losing control. Slappy narrowed his eyes at her. "Fine. Anything else?" he demanded. "Yes." Gwen said mimicking his gaze, "You cannot ask me to transform into my full dragon form. The partial form you see before you is as far as I go. That is all I ask." Slappy didn't seem to have a problem with this request. "Now that we have that settled, take us home slave." Slappy demanded. Gwen picked him up and spread her wings once again. She dove off the cliff and soared.