For a single moment, just another moment in time, I thought I was dead, so great was my amazement. But soon I was aware of eyes boring into my back, and when I turned around, Annabelle and Darletta were staring at me, aghast. My heart wanted to believe Lock, it really did, but my brain told me otherwise. How could this be? I didn't know my famiy, and Jack would have tld me if he knew, which he must have. Or did he? I shook my head. Too much confusion. "S-sister?" I finally choked out a word. "Yes, Lenore," Shock said quietly, "We thought you knew. Ever since we worked for Oogie we have watched you, hoping you knew you had family..." She trailed off and I felt awful. I randomly tried to guess their ages. I reckoned Barrel was about five, Lock was about six and Shock was about seven. "I..." I could think of nothing to say. Apparently, I didn't need anything to say. A few moments after I was silened two henchmen stormed into the room and roughly unlocked the cages, taking Clover out and leading her from the room. "What's going to happen to her?" Darletta asked. "What happens to all the rest," Barrel said, "She'll burn her." "Who, Malicia?" Annabelle whispered. "Yes." I listened for a moment, then heard Malicia's horrid laugh, before a loud roar of fire and a scream from Clover. The worst part was the silence that followed. Darletta was crying freely now, not bothering to hold back her sobs, and a transparent tear rolled down Hannah's face. We were quiet for nearly ten minutes, each second blasting through my head like a migrane. Then the henchmen came back. I named them Slick and Slim, because Slick was short and wider than he was tall, wih black slicked-back hair, and Slim was as skinny as Slick was fat. He looked as if a strong wind could knock him over. Slick approached the cages, grinning like a madman and breathing in long wheezes. Lock, Shock and Barrel huddled to the corner of their cell, shivering, but Slim dragged them out and beckoned at the door. Malicia entered, in a different outfit (this time a green velvet gown with black lace accents), and pulled out a large leather whip from her belt. "No!" Shock cried. "Please, dont..." Lock said in a pained whisper. Barrel was silent. Before I knew what I was doing, I had kicked Slick in a VEEERY painful place and grabbed the keys from his utility belt. I escaped the cage just as the whip was about to come down on Lock, and managed to grab it from Malicia, as well asa tear her dress a bit. "WHAT-HAVE-YOU DOOOONNE!" she shrieked, "THIS IS A NEW DRESS YOU LITTLE WITCH!" "Why thank you," I said cooly as I raised the whip, "I am quite the witch, aren't I?" And with that Malicia was knocked out. Now to get rid of Slick and Slim... That was easier said than done. The henchmen cornered me, and Slick drew a pocketknife out of that belt of his. Slim advanced in my direction. Suddenly, they screamed, and fell over to reveal Darletta, katana in hand. "Thanks," I said breathlessly, "How did you manage to hide that thing?" "You will never know," Darletta replied. We unlocked my three 'new' siblings and rushed out the door, each of us carrying something. Darletta; her katana, Catt, Barrel; Annabelle, Shock; Hannah, )Who knew she could hold stuff?) the pocketknife; and me, Lock. We rushed out the door, only to find that the castle was melting, causing great streams of fire to fall from everywhere. The ceillings, walls, furniture; everything was dripping liquid fire. We crossed the throne room and suddenly a huge firey beam fell between me and the rest of the group. "You guys take care of yourselves!" I shouted, "I'll get out!" "HERE!" Hannah, holding Shock and Barrel, walked through the beam and set them down. "Family shouldn't be separated." "Thank you," I said, taring up and wondering if I'd ever see Hannah again after this. "I grabbed my brothers and sister and headed towards what I thought was a back way out. It led us to a metal door with an old proverb scratched into it: "Don't waste a moment." I ignored the scratching and ran into the room, Lock, Shock and Barrel in tow. The room wasn't firey, or dangerous at all. It only held one object: an orange door seeming to lead into another room. I opened the door and found myself in a room full of elevator-like buttons, each with a number. I ushered my brothers inside and Shock followed. "What will we do now?" Lock asked in a panic. "Hit the buttons! Maybe they go somewhere!" Barrel suggested. "Okay!" We all hit a button. I pushed '19', Shock pushed '13', Lock pressed '12', and Barrel pressed '8', which was more his height. Suddenly, the room seemed to spin, and we were pushed out of it in a magnificent poof. I couldn't believe what I saw. Lock was waaay taller, and older. Wearing a black t-shirt and red jeans, along with a dog tag nacklace that had a picture of his mask on it. Shock was older, too, and wore a purple tank top and a matching skirt, with fishnet on her arms and legs. She also wore a dog tag necklace with HER mask on it. Barrel wore a hoodie with a sleketon design on it, as well as (yup, you guessed it) a dog tag necklace with HIS mask on it. It was then that Shock spoke. "What happened?" her voice was much more mature, no longer shrill and squeaky, "Dunno." Lock's voice was slightly deeper, but pretty much the same. "I get it!" Barrel's voice hadn't changed at all. "We pushed buttons!" "What?" "The buttons we pushed! That's how old we are now!" "WHAT?" I rushed to a mirror that hung in the corner. I was taller, and my hair was darker, more reddish like Lock's. My eyes were also yellow, like his. I was curvy and my teeth were straighter and better-looking when I smiled. My lps were black with a tinge of blue. "Is... is this what I would have looked like if i'd never left you guys?" "Pretty much." Lock said, "Mother always said I took after you." "Mother...?" It had never occured to me that I ever HAD a mother... "We have to get out of here," I said, "I just hope Annabelle and the others will recognize us"
And with that, we ran out of the Time Room, as it came to be called, and into the flaming, melting ice, positive about our pasts, but unsure about our future...