Disclaimer: I do not own WOWP. Ohhhhh well.
Alex pulled herself together quickly, wiping the tears away from her face and leaping up to get dressed. Nerves tingled and shocked through her entire body as she yanked on a simple t-shirt and skinny jeans. She did not admit out loud that she was scared, ever. But she couldn't help her thoughts from saying it in her head. With a slightly trembling hand, Alex turned the doorknob and exited her room in search for breakfast.
Contrary to her belief, "The world doesn't revolve around you, Alex" as her dearest brother had put it so bluntly. Alex was forced to pour her own bowl of cereal in her still sleepy state. Max had already polished off one bowl and was reaching for the box to pour another. Apparently Justin wasn't hungry. Alex saw him take a couple bites then proceed to watch the rest get soggy. She munched her own cereal in silence, deciding against commenting on it. She knew that the nerves had got to him.
Justin stood swiftly from the table, causing Alex to jump. Without looking at neither she or Max he said, "Alright we should get going."
Alex sighed and looked down at her half-finished bowl. She always navigated around the little marshmallow pieces in her Lucky Charms, eating the crunchy parts first so she could save all the nice, sugary bits for last. She plunged her spoon in the milk, devouring them all in a matter of seconds, not even having time to savor it. Justin chuckled at her and commented, "You're going to have such a headache later."
Alex stuck her tongue out at him and also rose from the table. She looked around once and asked Justin, "Should we bring anything? We don't know how long we'll be there."
Justin shook his head and replied, "No, we'll be there for a couple hours tops. I'm bringing my wallet and wand, that's it. We're going light."
Max dropped his spoon, which clattered against the empty bowl. He threw up his arms and looked dejectedly at his older brother when he snapped, "Well that's just great. Thanks for telling me that after I ate four bowls of cereal." He gestured towards his stomach, which growled as if on cue.
Alex and Justin laughed and Justin ruffled his curly locks. With a jerk of the head, Justin motioned for them to follow him into the family room. He kneeled at the mahogany and newly shined coffee table, where papers were strewn everywhere. (Another perk of Alex's hotel spell was that during the night, everything cleaned itself. Justin didn't complain so much about her disregard to using magic carelessly after that)
Justin passed a hand over the papers and said in a low voice, "I've been studying a few spells that we might need. Battle spells…"
"What will we need those for? We're going to our house, Justin, not a battle." Max scoffed.
Justin fidgeted a little bit and said slowly, "Well, the people who came into our house might have set up traps… or they might not have left."
Max snapped his head up in shock, but the thought had already crossed Alex's mind.
"Look, we have the amethyst right? They have our Mom and Dad. They're probably just waiting for us to come back. They'll think we'll trade the necklace for them. So we're leaving it at home."
Alex shouted, "What? Justin, those are our parents! If they're waiting there for a trade, we have to give them anything they want!"
Justin pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Alex, if they get hold of the necklace, they'll release the powers. Mom and Dad wouldn't want us to do that and you know it."
Alex grumbled and pouted while she listened to the rest of Justin's plan and "safety regulations" like they were buckling up on an airplane. She tuned him out almost instantly and started thinking devious and mischievous thoughts. She was concocting her own brilliant plan…
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A half hour later, the three Russos were in disguise and slinking down Waverly Place. Their feet propelled them to the now empty sub station. A big red "For Lease" sign was nailed to the door, and the windows were painted in. They slipped behind the alley towards the back entrance. Justin cupped his hands over his eyes and peered inside. After a couple of seconds, he pried himself from the window and made a few wacky over-the-top hand gestures, giving the "all-clear" to his siblings…who were standing five feet away.
Alex slapped him upside the head and reached behind the trashcan to the right of the door. The building had a loose brick that the Russos kept their spare key in. She didn't know why, but she was scared it wouldn't be there anymore. So she breathed a sigh of relief when the gold metal object was secure in her hand. She handed it to Justin as she climbed to her feet.
As quietly as he could, Justin inserted the key and twisted so it would unlock. He pushed open the door and it creaked dangerously like in the horror movies. He took one step in, then crouched down to look around. He took another step….and another…..
Alex and Max waited in the doorway. Alex's arms were folded across her chest and skepticism was etched on her face. After five steps of the step-crouch-look routine, she rolled her eyes and strode past Justin, who immediately straightened and whispered, "Hey!"
She waved for them to follow her wordlessly as she moved towards the stairs. Her wand tapped against her calf as she scaled the winding steps that led to their house. It was her only form of reassurance at the moment. She might not know what to do with her hands in case someone leapt out from the darkness at her, but she at least knew what to do with her wand. Justin and Max trailed close behind her, Max's hand on her shoulder to lead him through the dark. It was so eerie just hearing their footsteps on the stairs and nothing else. There was always noise in the sub station. Whether that be the customers munching on their food and conversing with one another during the day or sweeping and scraping chairs during cleanup at night.
They finally reached the door to their house. Justin moved in front of Alex now, getting his wand ready. Alex and Max echoed him, pulling out their wands and holding them out in front of them. Justin reached for the doorknob and the two younger siblings held their breath. His fingertips were almost to the brass when he suddenly turned around. He jumped when he saw two wands pointed directly between his eyes. His face flashed in irritation and he lowered the wands with two of his fingers.
"Try not to point those right at my face!" he whispered, "Alright now remember what I told you guys."
"Yeah, okay we got it Mission Impossible, now let's go!" Alex whispered back impatiently.
With a deep breath, Justin jiggled the doorknob. It was unlocked. It swung open revealing the living room and kitchen to the three Russo children. Only it looked like a tornado had hit the place. Chairs were toppled over, books and papers littered the ground. The cushions from the couch were ripped off and tossed to the ground. Plates lay broken on the counter and floor and the door leading to the patio was shattered. The shades were all drawn, shrouding the apartment in dim light. Alex bit her lip as she stepped inside after Justin, looping her arm with Max's. She could feel tiny trembles jerk his body slightly. She gave his arm a quick squeeze and led them forward.
It was impossible to navigate around the various papers and broken glass. Justin put a finger to his lips at his younger siblings and stepped as lightly as he could. Alex looked around the wreckage as she tiptoed after her brother. Their television set had been slashed open and their many DVDs and Max's video games were thrown about. Even some of the floorboards were ripped from the floor.
All Alex could think when she saw the destruction of their house was: Mom is going to be sooo mad…
It took all of two minutes for Alex to be bored of all the sneaking around. Plus the breath she felt obligated to hold was getting painful. She whispered to Justin, "Okay, no one's here. Can we get this "operation" moving now?"
Justin turned to scowl at her but then relaxed. He said in his normal voice, "Yeah, okay. Spread out and search for clues…" Then he flinched noticeably, and Alex knew why. The better part of that sentence was verbatim to what the mysterious man had said when he broke into their house that terrible night. The reason they were here now…
She didn't say anything though, as she moved to the family room. Max had opened the shades and let the peeking sunlight fill the room. Now it seemed almost normal. Except of course, for the complete mess that was their house.
"I found something!" exclaimed Max from the bookshelf that was near the stairs.
Justin hurtled over the fallen chair and rushed to Max's side. Alex took her time, thinking that looked like way too much effort.
Justin's excited, "What is it? What is it?" halted as soon as he saw what was in Max's hand. It was the ceramic cat that Max wrapped up for their father's birthday every year.
Max laughed and held it up, "They didn't break it! Now I can wrap it up again for Dad's next birthday!"
Alex and Justin groaned in unison. "Max, come on! We're looking for real clues here." Justin grabbed his younger brother by the scruff of his neck and dragged him away. He turned to Alex and said, "Max is going to stay here with me, sifting through these papers. You go upstairs and take a look around."
Alex's hands automatically went to rest on her hips, her weight shifting to one foot. She was about to retort when Justin raised his eyebrows. Ugh… rules, she thought.
Then she turned on her heel and proceeded to stomp up the stairs, grumbling nonsensical things about "stupid big brothers" and "don't need to listen" and "dumb rules". Justin shook his head and his sister's immaturity, but turned his focus to the vast amount of papers they needed to go through.
Upstairs, Alex peeked into all the bedrooms before deciding to start looking in her own first for clues. Justin's room was completely trashed. He had so many books in there, and it seemed like the men who had broken in tore out every single page. There was no way Alex was going to fish through all that paper. She never wanted to go into Max's room, but it seemed like the bad guys had no problem with it. Alex couldn't even see the floor, it was so littered with weird objects of her brother's interest.
She didn't want to step foot in her parent's bedroom either, just for the sake of not putting her tear ducts to work. So she slid into her own bedroom, a sigh of relief escaping her. The mess in her room wasn't even so bad; probably because it was already messy to begin with. Her entire closet was scattered on the floor. Pieces of jewelry were littered among the clothes. The full-length mirror that helped Alex admire herself was now shattered. It doesn't really matter. These things can be fixed with my handy dandy wand, she thought to herself. It was when she recognized her artwork and drawing utensils broken, ripped, and crumpled on the floor that she got angry. Really angry.
She'd been irritated and upset in the days she spent in the warehouse with her brothers. But she rarely got this anger, this rage, which boiled her blood. Hot tears of frustration spilled over her eyelids. Alex gingerly picked up one of the crumpled pieces of paper. It was her sketch of the Eastern bluebird, the drawing that allowed Justin to find out about her secret passion; the one he complimented her on.
It was so smudged, Alex could barely tell it was a bird anymore. She tried to tell herself it didn't matter, that it was just a stupid drawing. But her sketches were much more than that and she knew it. Alex poured her emotions into these pictures, and the finished product always gave her a sense of satisfaction. She had a reason to be proud of herself for something that she was really good at. And these men, these cruel men, took that away from her.
Alex let the drawing drop again to the floor, remembering why she was here. Pushing her feelings of loathing down deep, she toed through her clothes, keeping an eye out for anything abnormal. Nothing suspicious was on her floor, and Alex was about to give up when she could hear Justin's voice in her head, "Don't forget to check every corner of every room. Top to bottom!"
Groaning, she turned back to her room and dropped to her knees beside her bed, lifting up the skirt so she could look underneath. Alex flattened against the ground to get a better look. She gave a quick scan and found nothing of interest. She sighed and was about to flip down the skirt again when a glint of light captured her attention. Something was lodged in the crack of space that was between her headboard and the wall. Scrunching her eyebrows together in confusion, Alex groped for it with her hand. Fumbling around folds of clothes, she finally caught it with her fingers. Retreating from beneath the bed, Alex held the little thing up to the sunlight.
It looked like a strange coin that was roughly the size of her eye. It wasn't round thought, the border had been shaped into a star-like figure. And both sides were filled with strange symbols. Alex had absolutely no idea what they were, but she thought it was pretty. She stuffed it into her jeans pocket and headed for the door to show her brothers what she'd found.
Alex was reaching for the doorknob when she heard a whoosh! of air behind her. She whipped around, eyes wide. Her window was open, but she didn't remember if it had always been. Her observance skills were nothing to brag about. She waited for a few seconds before shrugging and turning back to the door. She was about to skip on out when a hand seized a fistful of her hair and yanked her back in the room.
She cried out, but a hand had covered her mouth, muffling the sound. She struggled to break free, but the hand that held her hair just wound itself more tightly. A man's voice whispered hoarsely in her ear, "Not so fast, Princess."
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A/N: Dun dun duuuuunnn... I know, another cliffhanger! Sorta.. I'm kinda becoming obsessed with them. I blame the soap operas. But anways, I hope you enjoyed! If you did, please review!! I always love reading what you guys have to say =D
P.S. Another big thank you to my loyal reviewers, you guys rock!!