Sorry this chapter is late. I was caught up with family-related activities, but that's not important right now. I've also been doubtful about my ideas. You'll see for yourself.

That very night Coraline went to Wybie's house for the sleepover as planned. They set up in the living room. Coraline brought 9, 7, and the twins with her, but they were in her bag. When Mrs. Lovat wasn't looking she opened her bag and told them to explore as much as they want, but to stay out of sight.

Mrs. Lovat came back from the kitchen to announce dinner was almost ready and to wait. Coraline watched her go back in the kitchen and that's when she went back to writing in her notebook. She wrote down notes on the upcoming full moon. She had all the basics down.

1. Full moon.

2. The talisman.

3. The Other Mother.

4. The beasts.

5. A spell.

6. Souls.

She had it all down, but seemed...lacking, in a way. She didn't have a plan to stop the Other Mother from crossing into her world, but...if there was another way to get the stitchpunks home...she'd like to hear that. For now, it was just the basics.

"So, when the full moon comes out and the portal opens." Wybie mused. "Does it...do you think...What do you think it will look like?"

Coraline glanced up, obviously fully absorbed in her thoughts. "Huh?"

"The portal." Wybie repeated. "When the full moon comes, what do you think it'll look like?"

The blue-haired girl titled her head, glancing at the ceiling in thought. "I don't know. But...after what 9 said, how the souls of his fallen friends departed, I started to imagine a green, swirling vortex."

Wybie listened to her spiel and considered that possibility. He even imagined it.

Coraline heard a small rapping on the window. She craned her neck and saw 3 and 4 motioning to her to come. She got up and waltzed over to the window. The hooded twins pointed to a black form in the half-lighted porch. She squinted her eyes, trying to see what that was. She saw a flick, she knew who that was. The cat.

"Hey look." She turned around, pointing out the window. Wybie rose up and walked over to the window. He saw the cat sitting by the steps.

"He comes around every night," he said to the twins. "I feed him and sometimes he'll bring little dead things. You know? Mice and birds. I study them and stuff."

3 and 4 flickered to them. He titled his head and furrowed his brow. He tried to understand what they were about to say. He almost had when his grandmother's voice called him and Coraline for dinner.

Dinner that night was jambalaya. Even though it was a little spicy, Coraline enjoyed it. It was better than her father's weird recipes. Every once in a while Coraline would look up to check on the stitchpunks. She noticed they were exploring the living room and being quiet.

After dinner, Coraline and Wybie helped clean up, and Mrs. Lovat even offered Coraline a batch of her jambalaya to take to her parents tomorrow. After they did the cleaning, Wybie and Coraline went back into the kitchen and pretended to be reading. Mrs. Lovat was still in the kitchen and they wondered when she was going to bed.

Wybie looked back at the window and saw the cat sitting on the sill.

"Grandma, I'm going to feed the cat." he said to his grandmother.

"Alright, Wyborne." Mrs. Lovat. "Give him some of last night's leftover rice and gravy. I'll get it out of the fridge for you."

"Okay."

Coraline looked under the couch and flash of light surprised her. It was the twins. They had hidden there to avoid getting spotted. She reached out her hand just before Mrs. Lovat drifted into the living room. She hid the twins behind her back and she saw the old woman give Wybie the plate.

"Don't stay up too late," said Mrs. Lovat.

"Grandma, we're on summer break." Wybie replied. "We don't need to get up for school anymore."

"You kids today." said Mrs. Lovat. "Always staying up till dawn. You know want they say, early to bed, early to rise."

"Yeah, grandma." Wybie retorted, opening the front door.

Mrs. Lovat walked down the hall; Coraline watched her until she was out of sight. That was when she placed 3 and 4 on the coffee table.

"Where are 9 and 7?" Coraline asked them.

The twins pointed to the left, at an end table with an antique lamb. From behind, 7 and 9 peeked out, looking sheepish. They jumped off as soon as Wybie came back inside.

"So what did you guys find?" he asked.

"Well, 9 here almost stepped on a mousetrap." 7 said. 9 rubbed the back of neck, chuckling nervously.

3 and 4 flickered an answer about their findings that only 9 and 7 understood.

"They're saying that they found the stairs to the basement." 7 said. "3 says that 4 wanted to go to down there, but she stopped him."

4 smiled kind of embarrassingly.

Wybie sat down next to Coraline. He leaned against the coffee table. "So what have you guys thought about?"

3 flickered her eyes with excitement. She was rather ebullient to give her findings to her friends.

"What did she say?" Coraline asked.

"She said she read a spell book back in the Emptiness," said 7. "She said the spell she read about was used as a trap to capture supernatural beings."

4 then nodded his head in agreement. He swiveled his head as though looking for a something. He spotted the curtains on the window and pointed to them. Wybie spun his head around and looked back at 4. 4 gestured to him to close the curtains, which he did. And then 4 projected a filmstrip.

It was a recording of a chapter in the spell book. It showed an illustration of a symbol. It looked like a pentacle. Coraline didn't recognize it. She didn't read much in the alchemy book she checked out. Now she wished she did.

"3 says it's called a 'devil's trap.'" said 9. "She says the symbol can trap anything."

"Well that's interesting." Coraline said. She grabbed her notebook and drew the symbol.

"Yeah." said 9.

"But how do we use the symbol?" Wybie asked. "Do we draw it over the well, or beside it? What?"

4 closed his eyes and shook his head, and the filmstrip was gone. He blinked before looking at his sister. 3 flickered a question to him. 'What do you think?'

And just as quickly 4 came up with an answer. 'It could work. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't use it, but...we can try.'

"We'll think about it in the morning." said Coraline. She had a strange feeling that she understood them. She didn't know how or why. It was like somebody was whispering the answer to her in her ear.

"You two sleep, we'll keep an eye out." 7 said. 3 and 4 nodded to Coraline and Wybie.

Wybie went to turn off the lamp. Then he locked the front door. Coraline took the twins and 9 and 7 to the window for them to keep watch.

Coraline and Wybie got into their sleeping bags. Coraline kept her notebook next to her, opened to the page she was writing on. Her notes. She wondered if Wybie was asleep or not. She had to much on her mind to sleep now. There was so much to do, so much to think. She didn't think she would be able to sleep knowing she would be in danger. She didn't believe it was possible.

Suddenly she felt her head spin. She laid on her back, staring straight at the ceiling. Her eyelids felt heavy and they dared to close. Coraline couldn't fight back and she soon closed her eye and drifted into a deep, distant sleep.

Coraline opened her eyes to complete and utter darkness. She recognized this darkness too well and somehow, strangely, regretted ending up here. She floated in the darkness and had that familiar vibe of being watched. She didn't know who, but she could feel the presence watching her and hating her. She couldn't do anything but stay still. Coraline was completely locked inside her body.

And still she waited.

She felt a hand wrap around her wrist, and then suddenly she was being dragged. She was dragged through the pitch darkness and she saw a green outline flickering. She couldn't discern it at first, but then she recognized her. The Other Mother. Her button eyes glared at her with hate.

"Let me go!" Coraline screamed at her.

The Other Mother didn't respond. She only looked down, ordering Coraline to look too. She glanced down at the invisible ground. Deep down below, she could see a thin, delicate spiderweb. She squinted her eyes and she saw droplets of silver-white dew.

Horrified, Coraline knew the beldam was going to drop her there.

Then, almost predictably, the Other Mother loosened her grip, dropping a screaming Coraline down into the silvery spiderweb.

"STOP!" a male bounce shouted across the dark.

No sooner did the voice broke out than the Other Mother was engulfed by a fiery green light. Coraline saw a green light beam snake through the dark and twist towards Coraline. The beam wrapped around Coraline's wrist and she was being guided away from the spiderweb and the dying beldam.

She took one last look before completely turning away. That's when she focused on the green beam. Soon the light took the form of a human. No, not human, doll-like. A—a stitchpunk. This one was not 6, it was another stitchpunk. He had a stern-looking face with slanted pupils. Coraline saw number one through his transparent body. This was 1. The leader off he stitchpunks.

"You're...you're..." She could find her words. She was too shocked. Only when they stopped drift though the endless dark did she regain sense of herself.

"Thanks for saving me back there." Coraline finally said.

1 gave her a nod and then suddenly Coraline's feet touched ground. Another beam of green light snaked through blackness and coalesced into small doll-like figure. Another sticthpunk. Only this one had a patch. Coraline recognized him as 5.

Then three more light streaked through the darkness and took the form of small doll figure. Stitchpunks. These three were the others that died. The elderly-looking stitchpunk was 2. And there was 6. And a tall, bulky one with the number eight written on his right arm.

"What are you all doing here?" Coraline asked them.

"Watching," said 6. "Waiting."

"Waiting?" Coraline uttered. "For what?"

"The full moon." 2 answered.

The moon. That was the objective. But...what about those other things 6 told her be aware of? The beast? Come to think of it, Coraline hadn't seen any beasts since the praying mantis terrorizing her garden. Could they have been doing something to keep them away?

"The answer is yes." 1 said. Coraline looked at him, acting as though she were waking up from a trance. He was answering her mental question. "Yes, we have been keeping the beast at bay. We've been watching you and your friend. And we've been informing the black cat about the beasts' whereabouts."

The cat. So that's the reason she hasn't seen any beasts. The cat had been killing them off. But how have they've been communicating with the act and giving him this information?

"We've been watching," said 2, gliding up to her. "We've been watching you and 7 and 9 and the twins." He smile at her and touch her cheek. "You're doing just fine to me."

Coraline did a half smile, but it was mostly a forced fake smile. She didn't know how to feel. Whether to feel happy or sad or upset. Right now she was feeling helpless. She peered at the invisible ground, frowning.

"You are not alone, child," 2's voice said. Coraline glanced up this time, her heart stinging. She remembered this feeling a year ago when she encountered the ghost children in the Other World. And again when she met them in her dream. Seeing 2's smile warmed her heart and reminders her that wasn't alone.

She looked over at the others. 5 was giving her a nod and 6 was smiling. 8 gave her a smile and a nod. Coraline then looked at 1. He was smiling at her. That type of smile that told her they were there for her. And they were right. She knew it. She could feel it.

Suddenly the stitchpunk souls were dimming and they were being blown away by a strange wind she could not feel. Then a fog rolled in and it obfuscated the green souls. They glowed beautiful through the veil.

Then Coraline heard a familiar song thrum through her body and she felt blissful.

"Remember," 1's voice said to her. "we are always there for you. And we'll always be."

That was the last thing she heard before everything went completely dark.

*sigh* I know I wasn't going to use 5, 6, 8, 2, and 1 in this story...but I couldn't help it. I had so much time to think things through, and it feels like I'm leaving them left out, and I just couldn't help myself. I don't know what else to say. I'm..I'm real confused right now. The good thing is I only made them appear to Coraline in her dreams.

Well, I hope chapter eleven pays off like this one.