Chapter 10: Games of the C's

(Third Person)

Everyone exited the portal and Brianna frowned in confusion.

"Is this our school's computer lab?" She asked. Charlotte nodded and walked over the the computers and patted the top on one.

"It sure is, almost an exact copy. Except that there's no windows." Charlotte said and heard a 'squeak' she looked up. "Hemo!" She cried. Sure enough, the messenger bat was in a small cage that was hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh no, I was wondering where he flew off too." Brianna said worriedly.

"Yeah, hopefully the readers were too." Charlotte said.

"How are we going to get him down?" Trevor asked, ignoring the fact his sister broke the fourth wall. Charlotte then saw a signal computer was on. She quickly sat down and started typing.

"Um, I take it this is your game?" Coraline asked.

"Yeah, I've got a thing with computers. And this is a virus that is keeping the cage locked. I'll need to override it to free Hemo." Charlotte explained.

"So, why is Hemo important?" Wybie asked.

"He's a messenger bat. Hemo delivers letters to Charlotte for us, or Lock Shock and Barrel." Sally explained.

"Oh, wow that cool." Coraline admitted. Hemo squeaked again before fluttering around in the cage.

"Yeah, and also, why isn't there any Skeletons attacking us?" Stephen asked. Jack looked around before scratching his skull.

"I'm not sure. This game is quite odd." He said thoughtfully. Everyone looked around uneasily and Stephen noticed that the back part of the room was starting to fade.

"Guys, I think I found the reason why there's no skeletons or dolls." Stephen said nervously and everyone turned.

"Her webs weakening faster." Cat said. "Then we're on a time limit." Charlotte said and quickly turned back to the computer.

"Uh, that's bad right? Cause why happens when the web completely breaks?" Wybie asked nervously. Everyone glanced at one another uncertainly.

"We don't know." Jack finally said. "We have to hope that it won't come to that. Charlotte's amazing with computers she'll figure it out." Sally said confidently.

Meanwhile Charlotte was still focused on the screen. Typing calmly and a code started to appear in the screen Charlotte's responded with a 'Humph' and kept going. Hemo noticed that the web was causing the ceiling to crack and he squeaked, urging Charlotte to hurry up.

"Hemo, this is a complicated computer virus, patience." Charlotte said not even turning away from the screen.

"Wait did she just talk to the bat?" Stephen asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Brianna just waved it off. "Don't question it." She said and walked over to her friend and saw that the screen started to sprout Oogie faces.

"Geez that ol' sack of bugs looks worse on the computer." Brianna muttered in annoyance. Charlotte rolled her eyes and continued typing. Causing the faces to slowly disappear. Coraline then turned and her eyes widened.

"Okay, I don't mean to rush you, but the room now has a hole in the floor." Coraline said backing up to the wall.

"Oh dang, CHARLOTTE I LOVE YOU, BUT OPEN THE DARN CAGE!" Trevor yelled desperately.

"You're NOT helping!" Brianna yelled back.

"I don't wanna die!" Trevor cried again.

"There's a skeleton here, that was offensive!"" Brianna exclaimed pointing her violin at Jack, nearly hitting him.

"Brianna, I can assure you that I was not offended." Jack said and then a 'click' was heard. Hemo the flew out and landed on Charlotte, who was smirking.

"Tada." She said proudly crossing her arms. A black X now appeared on her hand. Then a message appeared on the screen and Zero barked to get Charlotte to turn around.

"Look beyond what you see." She read, though didn't have much time to think about it.

"Okay we get the bat, let's book!" Stephen cried and they rushed in the tunnel. This time the heard maniacal laughing that sent shivers down their spins.

"Okay Jonesy, you ready for your game?" Wybie asked as they all came to the end of the tunnel.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She declared and burst through the door. Only to find that it was empty and there were seven pillars that had three objects on each of them.

"Is this a puzzle or something?" Trevor asked. Then a golden glow appeared and everyone backed up and readied their weapons.

"Hello Miss." A voice said and Coraline lowered her weapon. "It's the ghost children." She said, assuring everyone that it was safe. The children soon came into view and flew down to the group.

"We came to assist you in the final game." The ghost boy explained.

"The Beldam and Oogie have taken other ghosts toys." The tall ghost girl continued and gestured to the pillars.

"You need to figure out which ones are real and which are the Beldam's trap." The final ghost girl finished.

"Thank you, I think I know what to do." Coraline them took out her stone and peered through it. "Uh oh..." She muttered.

"What shouldn't the real ones being glowing?" Brianna asked worriedly.

"That's the problem, all of the objects are glowing." Coraline said lowering the stone from her eye. Charlotte walked up and get a closer look at the objects.

"A fairy wand, a sailboat, and a yo-yo." She said thoughtfully and looked at the other pillars with similar objects. "There's no way of knowing from just staring at them."

"Look again." Cat urged Coraline and she put the stone by her eye again.

"Hmm, okay the first one is glowing blue, next green, purple, yellow, red, orange, and pink." She reported as she pointed to each pillar. Hemo let out a squeak and flew up to the ghost children and Zero followed him. Both animals started barking until Coraline turned to them.

"What is it?" She hissed but stopped when she saw that through the stone, Zero and the ghost children were glowing a bright gold. She looked back at the pillars and ran to the third one.

"These are the real toys!" She exclaimed and everyone followed suit.

"How can you be sure?" Sally asked. "When I was looking through the stone, they glows the same color as the ghost children and Zero." Coraline smirked proudly and took them off the pillar. The other six disappear and the toys floated to the ghost children's arms. The black X then took its place on Coraline's hand.

"To ask you Miss, will be sure to take these to the others." The boy said thankfully. Jack then walked up.

"Did all of the children the Beldam took while in Halloween town get freed?" Jack asked. Wybie's great-aunt floated down.

"You did a kind thing for them Jack Skellington, they are with their real mothers, we all are." She assured and then the final ghost girl floated down.

"Be careful in the next battle, the Beldam and Oogie are keeping something from you and you must figure it out." She warned and they floated out.

"Okay, now that the web is breaking we should find the do-" Stephen stopped when he felt the ground beneath then started to lift them up.

"I think that this is the next door." Brianna said trying to regain her balance.

"Whatever comes next, we'll be ready for it." Jack declared boldly.

"Let's hope we can save the holidays in time." Charlotte said as the ceiling came apart and they were lifted into the next, and hopefully final, game.

Author's Note:

Sorry this isn't that long, but the next chapter is going to be CRAZY! So I want to get that done. So what do you think the message on the screen and the ghosts warning meant? There was actually a brief hint in Chapter 4, if you can find it and comment the answer then you can get a shout out. But only to the first person who finds it. And if you don't, the that's okay too I still want to hear (or read) your thoughts on this story. Now for the question:

What pet would you rather have, talking cat, ghost dog, or delivery bat?

DarkSweetHeart1234: I like Charlottes character too! Fun fact: Her name was the last part I gave her. I knew she would be good with computers, use a bow and arrow, even have red hair. But I had no idea what to name her, weird huh?