Here'a another part of our story. I hope you like it. As always Disney owns everything except Me and te whole truth of course. Anyway onto the story. I hope you enjoy.
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Later that night, way after our curfew, Cedric and I entered the theater. I gripped my jean jacket tighter around my white nightgown. Chills ran down my spine as our footsteps echoed around us; our flashlights were cast down on the floor, the marble casting a ghostly glow in front of us.
Cedric hopped onto the stage and helped me up as I reminded him once again. "We're gonna get caught and I'm tried."
"I know, but Kevin could've never pulled off that trick," he replied again, casting the light up to see him.
"Come on, Cedric. We can do this tomorrow," I said, turning away and looking around the stage.
No trap door and from my limited knowledge of magician tricks, something like Kevin's trick needed a trap door. Blowing into my hands, I watched as Cedric carefully step around stage. I moved forward, but Cedric held up his hand and shook his head.
"What are you doing here!?" Hunter called out from behind me.
Spinning around, my hand sought up in front of my eyes to stop that strong light. My eyes squinted and I saw Kevin trailing behind, but he seemed just as interested as I was about being here. For a moment, I caught Hunter staring at me with an amused smile curled at the corners of his lips. Turning on my heel, I headed off the stage.
"Come Cedric…" my voice trailed off as a sudden wind swept past me.
Suddenly, that same feeling of being watched swelled through me as my nightgown whipped around my legs. The wind twirled me to the right as though a hand guided me there. A door creaked open with a golden glow seeping through the door from the corridor, that same glow shown from the window directly across from my bedroom. In the distance, I heard Cedric calling my name, but I couldn't respond, the words caught in my throat, my eyes transfixed on the light which seemed to be fading away as though leading somewhere.
My feet moved forward, but I fell down onto the ground; the back of my head began to pound lightly. The flashlight rolled across the floor into the darkness as the light flicked out in only seconds.
Rubbing my head, I groaned. "Ow…what was-?"
"Hunter, what was that for?" Cedric asked from behind me.
"What? She was actually really weird, someone had to do something," Hunter replied innocently with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"You didn't need to throw something at her," Cedric said sternly.
Kevin just chuckled and added, "What, she's a freak and that Danny's one too, no wonder they got in."
Hopping up to my feet, I cried, "shut up, Kevin!"
Hunter and Kevin exchanged a look and then burst out in hushed laughter before they left the theater. A low growl vibrated through my throat as I dusted myself off. I sighed and began to crawl around the floor and soon found the flashlight, the light inside smashed into a million pieces.
"Shot, it's broken," I said into the darkness. Cedric touched my arm and took it from me.
"Come on," he stuffed a yawn, "let's go to bed."
I nodded and allowed him to almost guide me back to the lit hallway.
Pulling my jacket tighter around me, I mumbled, "those idiots."
Cedric nodded in agreement and quickly bid me goodnight. As I moved quietly through the halls, I kept thinking about that golden glow. Yet Hunter, Kevin or Cedric seemed too had seen it or felt that presence of being watched from a far. Climbing back into bed, my thoughts drifted back to Hunters' remark about me and Danny and as hard as I could those words wouldn't leave me alone. Those words kept echoing in my mind until I fall asleep in a restless slumber.
--
Someone was pounding on my door. My eyes fluttered open as I rolled onto my back and stared blanking up at the ceiling.
"Serena! Get up, it's time to get up," Mom cried through the door.
I groaned. "Mom, I'm tired."
"It's…time for…. The…get up," Mom said, opening the door with a loud thud as it banged into the wall.
Instantly, my hands gripped the covers to cover myself up. Mom stormed in and began to dig through my suitcase without a word.
Rubbing my eyes I asked, "what's wrong?"
"It's almost time for the next challenge and everyone's waiting for you," she said hastily.
I propped myself up on my elbows and stared at her confused. "It's only"
"Noon," Mom said, tossing cloths behind her; the cloths landing a foot away from the bed.
"What?"
"It's ten, Serena, now get up. You've never slept this late in your life," Mom said moving over towards the door.
Her words resounded in my ears and I jumped out of bed grabbing at the pile of cloths.
Sliding my arm back through the sleeve of the nightgown, I asked, "What about Cedric?"
She didn't say anything, but picked up my discarded jacket and rapped it over a chair. Moving back over to door, she sighed deeply.
"What about Cedric," I asked again.
"Paul's getting him up," she paused at the door and stared at me, "and we'll discuss your late night later."
I gulped, but nodded. Mom stared at me and sighed heavily before shutting the door behind her. I changed into a white short-sleeve shirt and a navy blue skirt and barely had to time to brush my hair before I dashed out of my room and down to the theater.
--
Mom was right; everyone was already seated and waiting for Max to instruct them of the next trick. Cedric was already filming, but from his slumped position I could tell he was just as tired as I was. Scanning the room, I spotted Danny, who seemed confused at my late arrival, to the far right and simply walked over and sat down next to him. He was wearing his usual jeans and a simple plain faded dark green shirt. His brown hair was combed back, but still managed to remain a neat mess.
Taking my seat, I saw him mouth, "good morning."
I gave a slight nod and turned my attention back to Max.
"Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good night's rest. I know it's an earlier start than yesterday, but today's trick will require some research," he pointed to Samantha, Kevin, and Danny.
"Each of you will get to three hours of research time and then get to a perform a famous magician's trick. You must research the trick and then perform it for us. Now for the magician you'll be given," he said moving towards Kevin.
Two wands were flipped out of Max's hands as he gave them to Kevin and Samantha. Max looked over at Danny, but lowered his gaze to me and pointed, a wand snapped out through my fingertips. Max smirked, but I ignored him and quickly passed the wand back to Danny. Kevin had received Harry Black Stone, Samantha was Alexandra Hermann and Danny got the Great Houdini. Without another word, Max left the room and as always everyone seemed to jump up and began to start working.
Cedric moved over towards us. "Morning, guys, have a good night sleep?"
I shrugged while Danny said, "Yeah, but what's up with you two?"
"Urh, nothing, just couldn't get to sleep," Cedric said through a large yawn.
I frowned at him, but he ignored me. From my left, I heard Hunter and Kevin chuckling about something, but I couldn't understand what it was. Soon, everyone was up and discussing their different magicians. Danny quickly ducked out of the room without another word. I tried looking for him, but the mansion was too big to just go exploring by myself since Mom seemed determined to not let me leave her sight.
Rolling my eyes, I turned to Cedric and asked, "Any idea where Danny went?"
He shook his head and began to tape the other contestants. After an hour and a half, I got up and wondered around through the small groups. Everyone was practicing their tricks that I almost wondered if they had done any studying at all. Staying clear of Hunter and Kevin, I tried to find Danny, but he was extremely good at hiding, something I found both familiar and beyond frustrating at that moment.
Throwing my hands up, I asked to no one in particular, "anyone seen Danny?"
No one turned towards me, but Samantha suggested, "Probably studying somewhere."
"Thanks," I muttered, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at her answer.
I glanced over at Cedric, my fingers tapping my fingers on the table with impatiently. "Ok, Cedric just continue taping and I'll try and find Danny."
From behind the camera, I saw him give me a thumbs up. Turning away from him, I went off and began to hunt for Mr. Sinclair. Once in a while, I caught Mom's haunting gaze, but she didn't stop me. Soon, I came to a set of large solid oak doors with weird golden swirls and loops which crawled over the door. I pulled one of the doors open and found myself almost blinded by sunlight.
Blinking, I saw a large glass dome with colors of blue and green shapes wrapped in it with all different patterns where the sun shown through, lighting the entire room. The floor seemed to be wooden like the doors, but the reflected the sun from a fresh coat of polish. Lowering my eyes, I found it was a giant library with rows and mountains of books stacked almost to the ceiling.
A few tables were scattered around the room, as if they had simply been propped there for storage rather than actually use. However, the main one in the center was taken and covered with papers and books surrounding Danny.
Tucking my hair back, I walked over to him with a small smile. "Wow, you're actually doing some work," I said both amazed and pleased.
Danny glanced over at me and mumbled, "hey."
"How's it going?" I asked, standing opposite of him across the table.
He shrugged and was once again lost in the old books. Mainly for something to do, I reached over and picked up one of the books to his left. Nothing about Houdini was written on it. Quickly I scanned the books closet to me, but still nothing. Clearing my throat, I pressed the book over Dannys' book.
"You know you're supposed to look up stuff about Houdini, right?"
He pushed the book back towards me, but never lifted his gaze from his book. "Taken care of already," he replied.
"Then what trick are you doing?" I asked.
His head snapped up with such a stern glare that I had to prevent myself from looking away. "It doesn't matter, now I'm a little busy right now."
"I can see that," I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
He rolled his eyes and pushed the book away and moved onto another one. However, in all his haste another book fell onto the floor with a huge thud which seemed to echo through the library. Picking it up, I moved around to his side and leaned closer, almost reading over his shoulder. I felt the tension of radiating off of him, but before I could move away, his hand grabbed my right hand as his gaze snapped up to face me.
"Can you please leave me alone? I have a lot of work to do," he said gently enough, but there was no mistaking the coldness which dripped from his voice and his grip around my hand tightened.
"What are you doing?" I asked, not certain weather it was about his touch or the books anymore.
Instantly, he released my hand and simply shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing."
My eyebrows shot up, but I bite my tongue. After a few seconds, I said, "well maybe I can help."
He shrugged and returned to his book. I watched him a few seconds later and then turned to leave.
"Wait, maybe I could use you're help," Danny admitted from behind me.
I turned and saw him staring at me and I couldn't help myself. He seemed so lost and frustrated. Giving a small smile I returned to him and waited for him to explain.
"Ok, I've been trying to find some answers to the mansion's history with all that talk about the secret rooms, even Max mentioned them," he glanced at the books, "but these tell me nothing that I don't already know….but there has to be something."
I nodded and began to rumble through the papers and books on my side. Skimming the spines of the books, I found something strange. A spark burned inside of me as I began to reach over and pulled out other books and then tossing them aside. I felt Danny staring at me, but the idea seemed to strange and exciting that I didn't care.
"What are you doing?" he finally asked, confused. I ignored him and continued my own search.
Reaching for another book, Danny grabbed the other end of it and asked, "what are you doing?"
I glanced up at him; our eyes locked together and my head begin to spin as though my trace was broken. From beneath the book, I felt out fingertips rubbing against each other while we still remained on opposite side of the table. Danny leaned in closer almost pressing the book back towards my chest.
"What are you doing?" he asked once more with such gentleness that his cold tone from only minutes ago seemed to have vanished.
Shaking my head, I grabbed the book away from him, quickly scanned it and turned the spine back to him.
"Look at the spine, see that symbol," he nodded still not connecting the dots. Picking up the other book, I showed the two together. "Only some books have them…and I think to get answer, we need to find the rest."
Danny simply nodded with a spark of excitement in his eyes and ran off to the book shelves. I took another row and within only half an hour we had cleared away the table and piled fifteen books on it with the symbol of a cresset moon facing us.
Almost out of breath, Danny asked, "now what?"
I sighed and crouched down till I was at eye level with the books. Something else was along the spine a large swirl of silver the same color as the crescent moons.
Danny tapped my shoulder and asked, "well any ideas?"
Squinting my eyes, I stood up saying, "I think we have to out these books together, like…"
"Like a puzzle," Danny suggested with a small smirk spread over his face.
I nodded and together we set to work. Working together, we finished quickly. The books had been arranged and formed the picture of two lions about ready to fight each other, but were separated in the middle by two crescent moons turned away from each other.
"Wow…two lions…" Danny's voice trailed off as if remembering something.
"You've seen it before?" I asked, astonished.
He ignored me and took a step back and began to pick up a pile of ancient papers folded roughly together from the floor.
After a moment, he cried out, "here, look, it's the symbol."
"Really," I asked, peering over at the large paper now stretched out over the table.
The lines were faded, but it seemed like a map of some kind with the two lion symbol darkened in black ink in the bottom right corner.
"So, if we find this…we find a secret chamber," Danny explained at my confused expression.
Folding the paper over, he cried, "come on, follow me!"
A large smile spread over my face as we ran around the table, sprinting over the mountain of books and papers around us and out the door.
--
Cedric was way less than willing to come with us on the hunt, but finally agreed. I was worried about Mom, but she was lost in trying to help Samantha with her tick that she didn't even notice. Danny was in the lead and led us through many different corridors and down flights and flights of stairs that I began to wonder if we would be able to find our way back. As we descended another set of stairs,
Cedric said, "You know, urh, I don't think we're meant to be here."
"Then go back," Danny called over his shoulder annoyed.
"It shouldn't be that much further," I said to Cedric; since we needed the light from the camera to light the way.
He mumbled something under his breath, but he stayed. Soon we were led to a crossway and Danny's decision led to a dead end.
Rolling my eyes in the near darkness, I said, "it has to be the other."
Danny nodded and turned straight around and tried the other way. Cedric and I tried to exchange a look, but through the darkness it didn't work so we simply followed him. Water dripped down the halls of a completely cemented corridor and out footsteps echoed through it with Cedric's light pointing the way. In the distance, a rustle of something sounded and within seconds bats surrounded us. All of us ducked as my scream vibrated off the walls. Once we were certain the bats were gone, we stood up, but now we were surrounded in the pitch darkness.
Without moving, I called out, "Cedric turn the light back on."
"I think the batteries died," he replied nervously.
"What! How can that be?"
"I don't know-"
"Fix it!"
"I'm trying, it won't work-"
"Guys, it's fine," Danny cut in through the darkness as a light switched on in his hand.
"What is that?" Cedric asked, just as startled as I was.
Shining the light on us, Danny said, "a flashlight, come on."
He turned away and headed back down the hall. I ran up to him and said, "you had that the whole time?"
"Yup," he said causally.
My eyebrows shot up and I shoved him with a mixture of play and annoyance. He chuckled loudly and I felt my heart jump at how happy and wonderful his laugh sounded on my ears. The laughter seemed completely different from the rough and tense exterior that I had become familiar with around him and yet somehow it suited him. I smiled even though he couldn't see and followed him in silence with Cedric behind us.
After a few more minutes, we come to another dead end and I throw up my hands in frustration. "Great."
"No, wait…this is it," Danny said, turning to side and shinning the light over the two lions carved into the stone.
Moving forward, I asked, "ok, now what?"
He shrugged and shook his head confused. "It doesn't make any sense."
I nodded, but traced my fingers over the carvings. Danny followed my example and then tapped me on the shoulder. "Look, those words."
I stepped back and looked at the words scripted along the rim of the symbol. "What the heck, what does that say?"
Danny cleared his throat and ran his finger underneath it and read aloud. It was something in Latin and I couldn't help feel even more confused. "What does that mean?" Cedric and I asked together.
"It means that 'moons go in cycles and lions feast during the new moon,'" Danny explained.
Staring at the symbol again, I muttered, "a new moon…"
Something clicked in my mind and I glanced over at Danny and saw the same realization pass through his eyes.
"What does it…?" Cedric trailed off as Danny held up his hand for silence.
Danny handed him the flashlight and he and I turned the two halves of the crescent moons towards each other until they made a new full moon. Our fingertips brushed together, but jumped apart as a low rumble erupted from behind Danny. Instantly, he placed himself in front of me in a protective fashion blocking the view of the new room. Once he determined it was safe, he motioned for us to follow him. The room was dark, but a golden glow seemed to be faintly wrapped around us and a large vault in the center. Danny reached for it and turned it in a series of different times, back and forth until a large lock was released.
"How's you do that?" I asked amazed.
"Practice," was his only reply.
He crawled and I followed after. The space was extremely tight and at the end there wasn't anyway to help me out.
Clearing my throat, I called, "a little help."
Danny turned around and rolled his eyes as he grabbed my hands and began to pull. Only seconds later, I was out and Danny tumbled back into a large chair. On instinct, I think, his arms wrapped around my waist as I crashed into him my hands and face pressed up against his chest; his heart beating in rhythm to my heavy breathing at the sudden impact.
We stayed that way until Cedric called out, "Guys…."
Immediately, Danny and I separated and began to explore the room. It was another library with three walls of nothing, but books and other records of something. Sweeping my hand over the long table in the center I realized dust had picked up. Danny was scanning the spines of the books and pulling a few of interest out.
"I can't believe it, we find De-Milo's secret library."
"Who?" I asked.
"Antonio De-Milo, he was the one who founded the magic mansion," Danny exclaimed, excitement shown on his face. I nodded and continued to look around.
In only seconds, I began to flip through an old book left on the table and tried to read through the faded lines. Suddenly, from behind me, that feeling returned once more and onto the paper that familiar golden glow surrounded the page. Yet, I turned around and nothing was there.
I was about to ask if either them had noticed, but Cedric called out, "Hey guys I wonder what this is?"
"No wait," Danny and I cried out together, but it was to later.
Darkness surrounded us and I felt myself falling. Suddenly, I felt myself crash onto the wooden floor and roll into the mountain of books Danny and I had left in the large library. My eyes snapped open and my head was pounding.
Cedric exclaimed, "that was so cool."
"What the heck was that?" I asked, pushing myself up off the floor, only to see Danny next to me.
He shook his head in bewilderment. "No idea, but things are getting really strange around here."
"Gee, ya think," I said rolling my eyes at him.
Dusting his pants off, Danny said, "Come let's get out of here."
I stood up and nodded. Cedric gave me a puzzled look and asked, "Is he ready for the trick?"
"Oh shot!" I cried, running forward and grabbed Danny's wrist and darted out of the library, I didn't want to be late again.
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I hope you enjoyed this part of our story. Please review and let me know what you think. More than just update soon. Cuase that doesn't tell me that much. PLEASE and thanks look for the next part soon
