Trouble deepens

Disclaimer: Some of the characters are mine. Coraline and friends belong to Neil Gaiman and LAIKA studios.

"My dearest auntie, I regret to inform you that my daughter's visit to you is up. Please step away and let us leave in peace."

Of all the people, it was the obviously alive Beldam... and that was Coraline's last coherent thought for a while, as Vyrdahlia flung her away, whirling to confront her errant 'niece'.

[Break]

For several long moments, Christabell and Vyrdahlia silently observed each other. Vyrdahlia's hair was rising up, and the flame in her eyes was glowing brighter by the second; Christabell's black button eyes were emotionless, but her grip on the shovel was almost unbreakable. "Christabell. What are you doing here?" the elder hag growled.

"Oh, nothing – just to collect my daughter and leave."

"And what's that on your forehead?"

"Exactly what it looks like."

On the floor, shadows and flames flickered for dominance; though neither the light of the sun nor the moon nor the stars could reach into Vyrdahlia's dwelling, the green-skinned hag carried her own internal flame, and now she bringing it out-

"Whee-eee – not on my watch!"

The tiny screech owl burst through the doorway, and grabbed Vyrdahlia's left ear with all of its talons and its beak. Though it was hardly bigger than a starling, it obvious hurt, as Vyrdahlia whirled around, letting her flames miss by a long shot.

As Vyrdahlia whirled around, clawing for the fast flying bird, Christabell briskly walked up to her and swung the shovel – flat side, not the edge – as her aunt's backside. It was not a blow at her full strength, but considering that Vyrdahlia already was unbalanced, this blow knocked Vyrdahlia off her feet and made her skid across the room.

"Now then, aunt, let us go in peace and maybe I will spare you," Christabell said conversationally, as the elder hag got to her feet. "How does that sound? Probably better than what you'd offer me."

Slowly, Vyrdahlia got on her feet, and by now her originally ember-like eyes were nothing more than two tongues of flaming, albeit outclassed by the third – formerly her hair.

Not that such manifestation of power did not cost the green-skinned hag: her initially gaunt frame was growing skeletal, and the sickly bright greenness of her skin was darkening as well. However, this state of affairs seemed to bother Vyrdahlia not at all, as she grew in height ever as she decreased in width.

"You little ex-human puppet," she growled as Christabell. "Do you really think that you can use your untrained air to defeat my fire?!"

"Let me and my daughter go in peace, and I'll let you live," the latter replied, even as she shifted the shovel to use it as a slicing, rather than a bludgeoning, weapon. "Or whatever it is that you call your state of existence."

"Silly girl," Vyrdahlia bent over her opponent, flames caressing her skin-covered skull and smoke coming out of her nostrils. "Do you really think that you can bluff me with that fake weapon? This is not cold iron otherwise you wouldn't be able to use it yourself, and I shall burn you-" Vyrdahlia froze, as Christabell's shovel slashed through her neck, severing the flaming head off the shoulders – and then she collapsed.

Then Christabell followed suit, falling straight onto her own backside, and releasing her shovel in the process.

[Break]

For a few moments, there was no movement in late Vyrdahlia's house, as no one cared or even could move around. Then, however, Coraline realized that she was again lying prone on her side, albeit this time next to a puddle of her own vomit, and decided that she was not that kind of girl. Therefore, she shakily got back on her feet, gulped a big lungful of air and slowly made her way to the Beldam on legs that were shaky only partially because of physical reasons.

However, make it over to the Beldam she did, and then she put – despite her better judgement – a hand onto the other's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she said hesitantly.

Slowly the Beldam turned around. Black button eyes cannot exactly express emotion, but somehow Coraline got the feeling that the other felt only marginally better than she did.

"My dear," the Beldam meanwhile was speaking even as she gently took one of Coraline's hands into her own. "I will be always fine if you're fine – it's as simple as that."

It was at that moment that Coraline's legs gave out – purely from physical reasons, of course – and she fell next to the Beldam. Well, sat down in a falling way, actually.

For the next few moments there was just silence, as the pair waited for each other to say something next, but it was Cat who broke the silence first, as he jumped onto Coraline's lap and began to lick himself in an embarrassed (for him, anyways) way. Eventually, however – between licks – he decided to speak:

"So, for a while here, we thought that you were dead, you know?"

"Oh? And why did you think that?" There were some of the old notes in the Beldam's voice, and Coraline was relieved – at least something could start to make sense in this world, hopefully. Unfortunately, what the Beldam said was also said in a form of a question, and that required an answer.

"I, uh, saw it in the mirror – your family's visit," she muttered. "I saw them blast you with a spell and thought that you died."

"My dear," the Beldam smiled with just a tiny bit of pride in it, "your dear old mother was just a tad too smart for her family, and she isn't going to die with such a whimper just yet. No, I intend to go with a bang – so personally, I would also prefer to live a long, long life as a mother and grandmother instead."

Coraline felt her cheeks slowly turn red and her body temperature to rise. "You're not my mother," she said, feeling her old fire returning as well.

"My dear, I have saved you from Vyrdahlia, who would have been not so understanding, nor gentle, nor fair to you. On the other hand, your intelligence is quick and your heart is pure and honourable. I am rather sure that you are at something of a disadvantage to deny me now of anything."

Coraline slumped, almost unconsciously, and looked back at the Beldam, who was just staring at her with those black button eyes of hers. "Look," she slowly said. "You, you..."

"My dear, I promise to be a good mother," the Beldam said quietly, carefully caressing Coraline's hair, and this time there was no magic stone to keep her away. "And I promise not to sew any buttons into your eyes until you're ready to."

And from the tone of her voice, from the expression on the rest of her face away from the button eyes, Coraline knew that it was so...and her heart literally shivered from fear. She could not really think of any way of outmanoeuvring the Beldam straight away, and she was indebted to her: in some ways she was the lesser evil than her aunt – but greater in other ways. Then there was Wybie.

Wybie... the memory of her human friend reminded Coraline that there was at least one other aspect to this whole mess.

"Look," she said with firmness that was not there moments before. "You like making deals and such, right?"

"Yes – what of it?" the Beldam said, with curiosity in her voice.

"Let's make a deal."

"Oh? What kind of a deal?"

"I will submit to you and be your daughter if you help me rescue Wybie. A gahonga had lured him here and I need to rescue him before something worse happens to him."

"My dear girl," the Beldam said in a voice that reminded Coraline of her real mother whenever Coraline did something that Mrs. Jones would consider a foolish mistake. "You told me before that you saw my interaction with Vyrdahlia and others through the mirror. Tell me, do you remember anything or anyone exactly from back then?"

"Well, I remember that your name is Christabell," Coraline said slowly.

"Yes. It is," the Beldam said in a new voice, one that Coraline had never heard her use before. "Christabell de Veux of the castle Treyermaine, actually. Anything or anyone else?"

Anything or anyone else... "You mean the other hag – the black-skinned giantess."

"Terraxia. Exactly."

[Break]

There was a pause, as Coraline digested what she had heard.

"Terraxia. She has Wybie?"

"Yes."

"But why? Does she also look for a child?"

"No, my dear. Terraxia, like her dead sisters, is interested only in taste of human flesh, nothing more. In fact, the only reason why she would not eat... Wybie is because she wants to lure you to her as well."

"And you? Where do you fit in?"

"She thinks that I will bow to her and call her my leader. She is wrong. I am nothing like her! Nothing!"

"Calm down, calm down!" Coraline hurriedly said. "I- I believe you, really!"

"Fine. My basic line is that maybe it is time for you to cut your losses and leave. I will not even try to stop you from going back-"

"No," Coraline shook her head. "I am already indebted to you, and Wybie is my friend. I am not bowing down and leaving!"

"My dear, Terraxia can kill you with one hand tied behind her back, to use your lingo-"

"Perhaps," Coraline nodded, remembering Terraxia from the scene in the Bel- Christabell's house. Even in a vague way, the giantess may have been the most terrifying of the three, and Coraline was quite sure that she could kill her, just as Vyrdahlia had been. However,

"As my dad says, sometimes it's better to be the dead lion rather than a live coward," Coraline said slowly, persuading herself as much as the others, "and besides may be I too would rather go out with a bang!" She paused. "The whole kids and grandkids thing though – let's not go there, please!"

"Fine," the Bel- Christabell exhaled heavily. "It seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Let us go and confront Terraxia together. Maybe something will come out of it."

For some reason that she did not want to think about, Coraline began to feel not unlike after that ill-fated adventure with wasps. However, she tried to think about something else.

"Um, how are we going to get there anyways? The spider spoke about a bridge, and-" Coraline's voice trailed away: all around them Vyrdahlia's house was deteriorating.

"With her gone, her magic follows suit," Christabell explained calmly, "including the obscuring illusion – ah, there we are!"

Across the ravine, a bridge was appearing out of thin air.

"Whee-ee, that's just wow!" the screech owl hooted.

[Break]

The bridge was really neat and orderly, and quite exquisite in its' design. Coraline, however, had too much on her mind to be fascinated in that, and rather focused her mind on what lay before her.

It was another forest, broadleaf as opposed to the conifer copse that grew on the other side of the ravine. The leaves in question, however, were so broad, that only occasional shaft of sunlight filtered through; there was no moon- or starlight.

"Nice place – does anyone live here?" Cat muttered; Coraline noticed with surprise that this was probably the first time that he had spoken in a while since their initial encounter with the late Vyrdahlia.

"Probably not, maybe a few averx," Christabell replied calmly. "Terraxia had brought with her several underlings with her – will-o'-wisp and such – and they don't care much for Seelie company."

"So, they'll be here?" Coraline pressed on, even as her interlocutrix stopped and began to look – or rather to sniff around. "What are you doing?"

"Searching for the cottonwood trees – they mark the path between Vyrdahlia's keep and Terraxia's."

"Oh. Is that them, whee-ee?" the screech owl landed on top of Coraline's head, clutching a small leaf in its beak.

"Why, so it is," the Beldam smiled slightly. "Show us the way."

"And can I stay? Can I stay whee-eee?"

"Do you really want to meet Terraxia face-to-face?" the question was asked rather gentle.

"Do you, weee-eee?"

"No, but we have to," Coraline broke in, trying to come to grips with the fact that her other mother now had a talking owl. "That's different."

"Maybe, but I will also come, wee-eee!"

"Isn't it adorable?" the Bel- Christabell said in a voice that suggested that the bird was actually excruciatingly aggravating instead. "Doesn't know what the future will hold, but already wants a piece. Guess it'll have to come."

For some reason Coraline felt as if the subject of that sentence was not the bird but someone else, and from the way the stray sunlight reflected off the older woman's buttons made her suspect that it was actually her, but the screech owl had its own opinions.

"I am in, I am in, weee-eee!" it screeched enthusiastically.

"Yes you are, ow," Coraline spoke up before anybody else could. "Now can we please go so that I could probably recover hearing in that ear along the way?"

"Oh. Sorry."

[Break]

Paths, paths, paths... It seemed to Coraline that wherever she walked in this other world, she always encountered some path that she would probably not adhere to for very long. First the silverweed road, next the path that followed the clouds, and now a path outlined by cottonwood trees.

Once again, everything around her was quiet, save for the whispers among the trees. They were seemingly saying something, albeit in a subdued tone, but Coraline could not quite understand what.

Then again, the whole mood of this expedition had become subdued, to put it lightly. Both the other mother nor Cat seemed to be willing to talk, and neither did Coraline herself, actually. Still, any prolonged amounts of silence tended to go against Coraline's character, and so she decided to try to break the silence – at least with the bird – when they walked past the final poplar, and...

...found themselves in a sea of black nothingness. There was no sunlight, nor moonlight, nor light of the stars. There was no horizon, nor any other distinguishing marks. There was nothing, save for the ground under their feet, and even that was felt rather than seen.

For some reason, Coraline figured that that was as good a time as ever to break the silence. "You know, that reminds me of the borders at the end of your old house," she turned to the other mother. "Only here it's black rather than white and... hey, are there lights in the distance?"

"Will-o'-wisps. Don't try to follow them or you'll get drowned alive in a swamp, where millions of small squiggly things will eat you forever and a day."

"Right. And why didn't you tell us about the blackness here?"

"Would it have deterred you?"

"No."

"There you are, then. Question answered!"

Coraline felt something like exasperation rise up in her stomach... but then Cat decided to speak-up.

"Can I just say something?" he asked, still sounding rather subdued.

Coraline began to nod, then remembered that this was no ordinary darkness, and spoke her agreement aloud instead.

"Right, I just wanted to apologize for not being as on top of all things as I should have been," Cat continued, sounding now more embarrassed than subdued. "I guess I might have grown a bit cocky and complacent during my stay with you and Wybie and I should've thought it all better. Instead, I just blundered around with you all across the fairylands, and here we are, only because we got lucky. Coraline, I guess I am penitent of my actions, you know?"

Coraline was not sure what 'penitent' meant, but Cat sounded quiet sorry, so she decided to take it for an apology and treat it accordingly. Then... something happened. A glimmer of dim blue light stretched-out, threadlike, across the black field away from her and the others.

Have the others seen it, or is it just me?

"I am sorry too, whee-ee," the screech owl hooted from its perch on top of Coraline's head. "I really should have been more helpful around here, you know? Instead, I just hanged around, doing nothing, as usual. Maybe I should have accepted my cousin's offer and worked at Hogwarts ™ as well, but... I guess I am not cutout even for that. I'm sorry!"

No, there is a thread of light, and it seems just a bit brighter than before. I think I shall try something out here as well.

"Well, I'm sorry too," Coraline spoke up loudly. "Admittedly, not for cutting your hand with the door, Christabell, but other than that... I do not know. You do not seem evil, just, um, crazier when it comes to motherhood than Brittney Spears. Still, I am sorry for not being the daughter you wanted me to be – and thank you for saving from the hag, Vyrdahlia... What I am trying to say, is that I am sorry that we couldn't be friends, you know?" She paused. "Um, why does it feel like I have suddenly sprouted a tail?"

Now there clearly was a path of blue light starting at their feet, bright enough for everyone to see, bright enough to be reflected in the black button eyes of the other mother, who slowly looked at it, and then at Coraline.

"I guess," she said thickly, clearly struggling with herself, "that I too have regrets – regrets for not being your mother, Coraline, not matter how hard I tried. I guess it is true – no fey magic can ever replace human blood in one's veins. Therefore, I apologize, though I am not sure what do you mean by suggesting that we can friendly with one another. In addition, the tail has grown because, apparently, some of Vyrdahlia's cookery had gone down your throat – and it was not done in good face. You're changing Coraline into a fey changeling as well... which means that even if you won't be my daughter, you might very well become my neighbour!"

The path of bright crystal-blue light became a clear, well-defined path that illuminated their way ahead. No will-o'-wisp was in sight either. Moreover, as for the tail... it was just a tail, covered in fur the colour of Coraline's hair...that had grown longer and thicker and obscured Coraline's ears, which had grown points, rather like Cat's ears.

"Oi, well we'll talk about it later – after we rescue Wybie," Coraline hurriedly said. "Let's go and rescue him first!"

To be continued...