"What is that?" Dani asked suddenly, looking up from her book and tilting her head to hear said noise better. It was coming from quite a distance away if the dullness of the din was any indication, but then it suddenly got much sharper, and a second later Death raced into existence from the very air itself. Skidding to a stop, he yelled brightly, "We have reviews!", and everybody made an annoyed noise but nonetheless lined up to receive their dares.
Death smiled wider and snapped his fingers, bringing King Tutankhamun up to Cloud. "Hey there, Fuddy Duddy Tutty." Death greeted teasingly, but the boy king merely rolled his eyes and asked imperiously, "What do you want, Magician?"
Death grinned mischievously and said, "I want to make you a God."
Tut grew wide-eyed and began to say something, then got a stone-cold look on his face and asked, "And what, exactly, do I have to give you in return? My voice? Because I do not want to end up like that poor mermaid almost did."
Death stage-slapped Tut and yelled, "Copyright!" then continued in a completely calm voice, "Don't be daft. All you have to do is read this.", handing the teenager a place card inscribed with hieroglyphs.
Glancing at Death with uncertainty, Tut read out, "From Jennarella. One, I dare you to change your name back to Phoenix. Two, for everyone, what are you biggest fears? Three, why does Sarah always wants to play with boys on a hook? And four, at the end of the chapter, make Allison, Max, and Dani switch places with the Sanderson sisters, as in Allison Max and Dani are now the ones with magic and the Sanderson sisters have no power."
He paused to let Phoenix deal with the angry shouts of the Sisters, then continued , "A Guest says, 'Ok, so I want someone, I cant really choose...make Winnie get emotional. Okay?', and another Guest says, 'I don't know why everyone hates Winnie so much, she's my favorite character! All I want is something good to happen to her for once.'"
The placard exploded in a, for lack of a better word, poof of silver sparkles, said sparkles swirling around the boy-king before being absorbed through his skin. "There. God of Magic. Good day." Phoenix said cheerfully, flicking his hand at the boy-God. He vanished, and Phoenix turned to the cast to ask, "Well? What are your biggest fears?"
Winnie immediately said, "Disappointing my master." and the other two Sisters nodded in agreement.
"Boring." Phoenix said flatly, then turned to the others questioningly.
Dani piped up, after a moment of thought, "I'd have to say the Sisters eating Max's life force." followed closely by Allison's cry of, "Clowns! Oh they're horrible, always smiling creepily or crying. And the pies, oh the pies..."
By that point everybody had just tuned out her self-addressed rant, and Max said over the distraught girl, "Well...I've always wondered what would have happened if the Sisters had gotten Dani to drink that potion. They would've been able to stay alive, to make more kids give them their life. So, right now, that's my biggest fear."
Phoenix stared at Max, then said uncertainly, "A...all right then. My biggest fear would be...uh...well, you have to understand that magic allows me to undo anything, so I don't really see- Oh! Losing my magic! That's my biggest fear. May?" and the quiet brunette said, "Oh, my biggest fear would be the mortals not making candy anymore." and Anne nodded her head in agreement.
Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Thackery and Emily, and Thackery shuddered before answering, "Ugh, being turned into a cat again. Not that I have anything against cats, but...it was just so lonely."
Emily nodded in understanding before piping up, "Being separated from my brother again.", and the audience let out a resounding, "Awwww..."
The host smiled, then gulped loudly and looked at a serenly-smiling Sarah. "D...Do you remember your truth?" the teen asked uncertainly, and Sarah focused on him before launching into an extremely detailed report of exactly what she would do to any boy unfortunate enough to find himself on a hook in her presence.
Ten minutes, and one Spell of Deafness for Dani and Emily later, the blond fell silent.
Her Sisters had cast the same Deafness spell on themselves ten minutes into the speech, leaving Phoenix, May, Anne, Allison, Max, and Thackery the only ones who actually heard the speech.
"That concludes the oral report section of the sexual education exam. If you have any questions please refrain from asking, hearing the thing was traumatic enough." Phoenix said in a deceptively calm voice, though a twitching eyelid revealed his true mental state. May had simply tuned the blond out, opting instead to read a book. Anne had put her earphones in a minute in.
Allison and Max's blushes had grown darker with each word the blond had said, and so by the end Thackery was wondering how exactly they hadn't fainted from all that blood that was, undoubtedly, supposed to be somewhere else. Said cat-boy was completely indifferent to the speech, claiming indifferently, "I've heard much worse."
Phoenix, now smiling rather widely, snapped his fingers, and a stream of green, red, and purple light traveled from the Sisters to Max, Allison, and Dani respectively. Max flexed his fingers and pulled a bouquet of flowers from thin air, handing them to Allison. Allison, touched by the gesture, flung the flowers up in the air and attacked his mouth with hers.
The flowers turned into doves.
Dani, raising an eyebrow at the display of affection, drew a curtain of Cloud up around herself, and when it lowered again her age seemed to have changed. "Did you...make yourself eighteen?" Thackery asked in an odd voice, and Dani nodded sheepishly, explaining, "All my life I couldn't wait to grow up, and with magic I don't have to."
"Yes, and the original owner of the magic has nothing at all to do with it." Phoenix whispered to May sarcastically, then turned to Winnie.
Said witch was only just being held back by her Sisters, though they were obviously straining. "Lemme at them! I'll skewer 'em! I'll fry them! I'll throw them into a boiling pot of beazlenut oil!" she yelled, simultaneously kicking Mary and scratching Sarah. Phoenix slowly walked forward, and when he was within arm's reach, he slowly brought his right hand up and pressed the tip of his middle finger to Winnie's forehead.
She instantly stilled as the magic raced through her system, and before everyone's eyes she began to change. Firstly, her hair grew more vibrant and light, split ends mending and flat parts fluffing up. Then her overbite snapped back into her mouth. Her face got less edgy, filling out not too much, but enough. Her figure adjusted itself, and she grew a couple of inches taller.
"This is what you'd look like after consuming the souls of all the children in Salem." Phoenix informed her, conjuring a mirror in front of the young witch. He watched with an amused expression as Winnie took in her new appearance with shock, moving her hand slowly up to her face to feel it. She slowly sank to her knees, and her sisters detected a bit of moisture in her eyes as she whispered, "I'm...young again. I...I...thank you. Whoever you are that made this happen, thank you!"
Phoenix smiled lightly and faced Thackery, saying, "Well,that takes care of the two Guest reviews. Now, in accordance with a review made last chapter, you must ask somebody an embarrassing question."
Thackery winced, then looked around at the congregated mass of people. He opened his mouth to say something, then asked Phoenix, "Hey...can I just...submit my question as a truth for next chapter?"
Said host tilted his head in thought, then said brightly, "Sure."
Thackery sighed in relief.
"Well,that was certainly interesting." Phoenix said to the audience, and May nodded her head in agreement, adding, "And thank you, Jennarella, for that...interesting truth. You know which one I'm talking about."
They started waving to the audience, and with bright smiles they said in unison, "We will hunt you down and punish you for it. Bye everybody!"