Beetlejuice
Season 1: The Neitherworld Saga
Episode 11: The Secret of the Spider Silk
Page by page, Prudence studied and read through the journal handed to her from Lydia. Her friend, now in the hospital, was unable to fully interpret the contents of the mysterious book and the responsibility was now passed to her, and she was not going to let her friend down. Lydia was willing to put her life seemingly on the line for the protection of this simple brown leather bound book with no title. The only thing that Prudence could make out on the front cover was an embossed image of a winged angel with a tiara on her forehead. So far she was able to decipher that the book was just a lot of research material about something known as the spider silk robe, and that it was an ancient mystical item from somewhere called the Neitherworld. She also confirmed that it granted different powers to different people, but nothing in the book told her why the powers differed from person to person or what it's source of energy was.
Only half of the book seemed to have been written in and it wasn't long till the small girl had gotten completely frustrated trying to rack her brain over the blotched and scattered information written in the book. Suddenly the pages in the back half of the book began shining as if the light from her window caused them to sparkle. At first, the small statured Prudence was bedazzled and dumfounded at the spectacle the book gave off, but then found herself turning the pages of the journal that shined in the light. Once she turned to the first shimmering page she noticed written words were on them that she hadn't noticed until now, and no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to peel her eyes away from them.
She began reading aloud to herself, "Outerworld date: August fifteenth, fifteen ninety four. I wracked my mind on the possibilities of the spider silk's capabilities. Time after time information on its true nature continues to elude me and I continue to confuse myself. But as long as it exists, I'll try to understand its potential. I don't even know where it is located and even that information eludes me. I guess I'll have to continue my research some other time.
Outerworld date: August twenty eight, fifteen ninety four. I continued my research on the spider silk and discovered that its original creator happens to be Arachnis Widow. In the Nietherworld, she was a well known weaver and well known for her finest silk and spellweaving, a technique that weaves magic directly into the fabric. Note to self: I must find out what happened to her."
Prudence continued reading as if entranced by the pages. She turned to the next page in the book and read aloud to herself, "Outerworld date: September fourteenth, fifteen ninety four. I've discovered that the famous Arachnis Widow had hidden herself away the moment she found out that one of her spellwoven pieces had been used to destroy another soul in cold blood. At that very moment, every spellwoven piece of fabric strewn throughout the Neitherworld had vanished into thin air. Curious. I wonder what happened to them.
Outer world date: December first, fifteen ninety four. Before continuing on my research of the spider silk, I must inquire of the Seer to help me find a way to the Underworld to hopefully stop him once and for all. I only hope that my plan works."
Prudence skipped ahead a couple of pages skimming the words of the entries. Most of them described the preparations she made for her plan to stop the ruler of the Underworld's attempts to tear down the Spirit Gates and send his armies of demons to conquer the other worlds. She then came upon a particular entry that read, "Outerworld date: December twelfth, sixteen ten. Soon, I must stop my research of the spider silk and work on protecting my unborn child. I was afraid of giving birth at first, but many mothers tell me that it is the greatest joy any of the worlds could offer. I don't know about that, but I must certainly raise my child as I have the two Rosedale children. I also have discovered that the spider silk must choose its bearer through a test of its own design. If only I could find it.
Outerworld date: February fifth, sixteen eleven. My child was born last week and now I must focus my efforts on raising him. He is a fine child and naturally strong."
Prudence moved her gaze to the next and final entry of the journal. "Outerworld date: August twenty, eight sixteen eleven. Naria fooled us all. She discovered a power to overcome and tame the sand worms' beastly will. As the sand worms attack, I've taken precautions to hide my child and my journals to make sure they never fall into the wrong hands. I only hope that he grows up noble and strong, I won't be here to watch him grow up. Farewell..." Prudence watched as the ink and the sheen of the paper faded away the moment she finished reading the unfinished farewell. Bedazzled and in sheer awe, she continued watching until the ink faded back into the paper. Once the paper became blank once again, Prudence blinked her eyes and her trance was broken. She clearly remembered everything she had read, but the strange thing was how it came into being and then vanished once again. "I think Lydia's got some explaining to do." The small statured girl said to herself before closing the book and stretching out her muscles. She gazed at her clock just to her right on her reading desk in her shabby, unkempt, messy room. She spent around four hours engrossed in the journal before witnessing the shining paper and the magic ink, she decided to hop down from her chair and make her way to the kitchen of her house for something to eat.
Questions ran through her head asking, "What was then name of the child? Where was the father? What exactly is the spider silk?" These questions begged to be answered and she knew who to ask, but she needed to wait until she cornered Lydia before confronting her about it.
Another day in the hospital and Lydia spent most of it worrying about Ben's decision to take Claire to the Spirit Week dance at the end of next week. "Should I be happy for him, or should I scold him for even thinking about taking her out like that?" Her thoughts flooded through so fast, she barely had time to recognize them in order to put them into words. "He has to have his reasons for doing this. But, what if he's making a big mistake and ends up no longer my friend?" Lydia's mind was about to explode from all of the thoughts and questions flowing through her subconscious. Suddenly, the nurse interrupted her thinking and said to her, "It's time to do your exercises Lydia." The movements of her arms for recovery had all but stopped hurting now and she possibly could even leave the hospital tomorrow. However, she was told to take it easy until after the stitches were removed from her shoulders. 'I hope the others can hold out for another few weeks.' Lydia thought to herself as she moved her shoulder's up and down and eventually circled them around to regain full range of movement.
Meanwhile, in the Nietherworld, Aldar spent most of his time meditating while Sierra and the others salvaged what they could from Beetlejuice's old hiding place and began foraging for food. "Aldar, hun... Y'all think ye can break your meditation time ta help us with a 'lil somethin?" Sierra asked in her full southern belle accent. "What do you need?" He asked, still in meditation. Apparently he was adept at meditation enough to maintain it and pay attention to his surroundings at the same time. "We could use your help figurin out what ta do with all these crimson weapons." She smiled coyly. "You just want to spend time with me, don't you?" He guessed. "Is that wrong?" She asked even more coyly than before, interlocking her fingers behind her back and straightening her arms out to make an attempt to look innocent. Aldar opened his right eye to look at the love struck girl and gave in. He sighed and decided, "Maybe I can teach you to fight with a weapon." Sierra jumped at the thought of him giving her a sensei's "hands-on" training regimen. "Go outside and pick a weapon you would like to learn to use properly." He said. She ran outside to choose her weapon and looked at the piles of weapons recovered and sorted out. As she stared at the massive piles of spears, swords, and bow and arrows she tried to imagine how the training would go with each of them. In the end, she chose the crimson bow and arrows and brought them back to Aldar for training. There he was, still meditating in the same room she found him in before. She dropped to her knees in front of him to present her choice to him. "Archery, huh? You might want to pick up as many arrows as you can." Aldar stated after looking at the bow with his right eye and keeping his left eye closed.
Within the hour, Aldar located materials to build a small archery range. Using mattress stuffing and a cardboard box with a painted target on it he began his lessons on teaching Sierra how to shoot. He positioned her with her left foot forward and her right foot shoulder-length behind. "Grip the arrow in between your first and middle finger." He instructed, placing the knot of the arrow in her right hand and cupping his own over hers to allow her to feel the proper grip of an arrow. She felt his strong yet gentle hand covering her own as he moved over to place the bow in her left hand and again cupped his own over hers to ensure that her hand gripped the bow properly. He guided the bow up to her eye level and said, "Keep your eye on your target." He then used his free hand to reach over and guide the hand with the arrow in it and showed her how to knot an arrow to the string. "Now lift the bow slightly and pull the arrow and string back so that the fletching meets your cheek and you are staring straight down the shaft of the arrow." She did as she was instructed and held the arrow until he backed away slightly and said, "And release."
The arrow flew from the string's propulsion and promptly struck the makeshift target near the bottom edge of the box. Proud of herself, she looked over at her teacher with a sense of accomplishment. "Not bad." He said. "I completely missed the target on my first shot, and my target was twice as big as this one." That said, she almost squealed with glee. Then he looked at the pile of arrows she had brought with her and said, shoot them in sets of ten and then retrieve them from the target. I gotta go and make as many of these as I can." With that, he turned back toward the junk pile and began sifting through to locate whatever he could to build replacements.
He returned in an hour and Sierra's left arm and right fingers were starting to get rubbed raw. "Take a break and get those wrapped up." He advised, carrying his new makeshift targets. He looked over to his first target, which now looked more like chewed up swiss cheese, and found himself even more impressed with the Atlantian princess. Tired and sore, Sierra put her bow down and headed inside to patch up her wounds. Aldar, however, made his way over to the original target and noticed the extensive amount of holes punched through it. He replaced the chewed up target for a newer target and then followed Sierra into the Road House.
"You got better the more you did it." He said to her while she was fumbling to wrap up her scrapes and bruises and nearly chewed up flesh. He sat down in front of her and took over the aiding of her injuries. "Yah, I think I did." She said solemnly in defeat. She was hoping to spend more than three minutes with him during his training regimen. But, she was happy that he came in to help her with her bandages. He wrapped them so skillfully, so she had to ask, "It looks as if you've done this before." "Plenty of times. I've had to patch up many of my comrades wounds from the battlefield, many of which were dear friends." He responded in deep thought of sad memories. "I'm sorry." Sierra sadly apologized for bringing up bad memories. "It's alright. There's no way you could have known. It was the first rebellion against Naria's rule. In the end, she fed them all to the sand worms." He fell into a solemn despair in attempt to give his comrades a moment of silence as he bowed his head and closed his eyes. Sierra simply looked down toward her left in shame for making him sad. Finally he broke the silence and cheered her up at the same time, "I haven't shot arrows in a while, so I think I'll join you after you've rested for a bit." She smiled at the sentiment and nodded shyly.
Ben finished another day of school and proceeded to bring the homework to Lydia at her house now. Prudence follower suit as she ran to catch up with him to tell him about her mysterious find the night before. "Ben, wait up!" She called in her high pitched semi-nasally voice. Ben turned around to see who was calling him and noticed the small girl running toward him. "What's up Prudence?" He asked in question to her hurry. "I have a few questions to ask Lydia about this journal she loaned me." She answered him. "Such as?" Ben responded, raising his left eyebrow. Prudence didn't know whether or not to answer that question on account of looking crazy in her friend's eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Was her decided response. "As some things I've seen you wouldn't believe. Try me." Ben urged. Prudence was completely surprised by the sudden nosey interest that Prudence had to ask Lydia. She backed away slightly with a small gasp and thought about the best possible answer to give him. Instead Ben backed off and smiled, "I guess I'll find out at Lydia's house anyway, so come on."
The two of them continued on toward Lydia's house to meet with her. Bertha caught up with them shortly before leaving the school grounds and joined them in their trek. Inside the remodeled (once thought to be haunted by demons) house, Lydia rubbed her shoulders before she moved them around to test her range of motion. "Man, I'm getting hurt in both worlds. At this rate, I'll probably make it to the other two in pieces." She mumbled to herself. Suddenly the door bell rang and she thought to herself that it might be a friend of Delia's or maybe Prudence's parents were still worried and checking in with her. Instead she heard Ben's accent from down stairs ask, "Is Lydia home, miss? I have her homework from school and these two want to know how she's doing." Knowing that Delia may still blame Ben for her getting hurt, she jogged to the staircase to stop her from scolding the poor boy.
"Why are you here?" Delia huffed to Ben when she saw him at the door. "I came to bring Lydia her homework." He responded awkwardly looking from side to side. Before Lydia could say anything to catch Delia's attention, the lady shut the door in the faces of all three of them. Lydia made her way down stairs and gave Delia a mean look that said, 'don't ever do that again', and re-opened the door to let her friends in. "Hi guys. What's every one doing here?" She asked. "I came to bring you your homework." Ben answered. "I came with, to see if you were doing alright." Bertha added. "I came to ask you about this book you loaned me." Prudence finally said with a stern look that clearly stated, 'this is more important'. Lydia looked at the small girl shocked at her demanding tone of voice and the serious look on her face. "They can come in." Delia said, "But you stay outside." She then pointed at Ben. Lydia finally turned to Delia and snapped, "What exactly are you blaming him for? Trying to protect me? It wasn't his fault that I got hurt, that was Adrian." Flabbergasted and shocked, Delia looked on as the group of four walked in through the door and up to Lydia's room to discuss important matters.
Down stairs, Delia made her way to Charles who was in the Living Room. She began to speak to him but no words found their way out of her mouth. "Ahb-ghe-ye-we..." She then gave up trying to talk to him and threw up her hands in defeat. She then proceeded to make her way to the kitchen to make herself something "unique" to eat.
In Lydia's room, Prudence wasted no time getting down to business. "What exactly is this thing, Lydia? Just last night, the pages shined like the full moon and magic words started appearing. I couldn't peel my eyes away from them." She sounded slightly scared and concerned for her friend. Lydia looked at her friend, shocked at her new found sense of forceful worry. She then nervously answered, "Honestly, I haven't the foggiest clue about it. I found the journal in my closet the day I moved in here and have been studying it ever since. What did the magic pages say?" Lydia explained and asked Prudence. "Wait, you believe me?" Prudence found herself asking. Lydia looked around the room and answered, "I've had the journal this whole time... you didn't think there was something sort of... mystical about it?" "And I've seen things beyond your imagination." Ben added. Slightly relieved and yet, still confused, Prudence began reciting the pages she read in the journal, word for word.
When she was finished, Lydia, Ben and Bertha were seen listening intently and intrigued at her story. "And that's it. It wasn't complete and whatever it happens to be, there seem to be more volumes of it." Prudence ended her explanation. 'You don't know the half of it.' Lydia thought to herself. "Something must have happened during those times." She said out loud. "My question is, why does she keep saying 'Outerworld date'?" Bertha added. "My best guess is that this could be made from a deranged witch, or it's from another dimension." Prudence guessed. The two then began discussing the random theories from movies, books and comic books that randomly popped into their heads between one another.
"We should call Sierra out here." Ben whispered to Lydia. "Why is that?" She whispered back. "Because they don't need to be involved in this. If they found out, they'll just worry about you too much and the Nietherworld is too dangerous for mortals right now." Ben explained. "That doesn't answer my question of 'why do we need Sierra'?" Lydia retorted. "Oh. Atlantian tentacles can slightly manipulate the memories of another. We need them to forget this event ever happened." Was Ben's response. Lydia thought about it for a while and decided that she didn't want her friends to get themselves hurt or put them in any danger at all. "Guys." She interrupted them. The two girls looked at Lydia with looks that asked 'what do you need?' "There's something you should see." She finished and proceeded with her full chant. "Although I know I should be weary. Still I venture someplace scary. Ghostly haunting I turn loose, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice." The room then transformed before their eyes. Frightened and in awe at the spectacle, they began looking around the room and Lydia said, "I'll be right back." She then opened the door leading to the Nietherworld and exited the stone room.
Lydia quickly made her way through the Nietherworld to locate and find her friend, knowing full well that Naria most likely knows of her presence by now. She dashed through the streets and located the Road House. Suddenly the sound of an arrow striking its target came from behind the long blue building. Lydia went behind cautiously to investigate and found the very person she was looking for. Sierra was shooting her bow and arrows at the mach-up target and finding that her practice was paying off more and more as she shot the arrows. "Sierra!" Lydia called to her friend. The Atlantian princess turned her head to see Lydia walking around and waiving to her. "Lydia!" She gasped. "What in the Sam Hill are y'all doing here? Naria probably has already sensed ya by now and is beginning to mobilize troops to capture ya." Lydia simply came up to her friend and said, "I just need your help right now. Is it true that Atlantians are capable of manipulating memories with their tentacles?" Sierra simply stared at her friend for a while in pure dumbfounded awe and simply answered, "Yes, we're capable of doing it only once in our existence. Why?" "I have two friends I want to keep out of this battle. Do you think you could alter both of their memories at once?" Lydia answered while giving an awkward "oops" look to Sierra. Sierra simply sighed in defeat and said, "You know, y'all are lucky that I haven't used that ability yet."
Ten minutes later, Lydia returned with Sierra in tow. Bewildered, both Prudence and Bertha gasped out loud, "What in the..." Beetlejuice stayed quiet, hidden in a corner to keep from attracting attention to himself. "Guys, I want you to meet Sierra. She's a friend that I met while in the 'other' world." Lydia explained. "Pleasure's all mine. If you don't mind, I'd like to greet you the way my people normally do." Sierra bluffed. Still stunned, Bertha managed to ask, "How... how... how's that?" The Atlantian princess then placed herself in between the two girls, brought Bertha down to Prudence's level, and closed her eyes. A few seconds of her concentrating to herself, the tentacles on her head began to move by themselves and placed their suckers along the two girls' temples. The suckers latched on and they fell into a deep trance.
Ten minutes passed by and finally Sierra dislodged her tentacles from the two girl's heads and both of them fell unconscious. "That, ought ta do it." Sierra said trying to catch her breath. "Sierra, why are you breathing so hard?" Lydia asked trying to figure out why her friend was suddenly exhausted. "Rewriting memories, takes a lot out of us." She admitted. "I'll just need to rest for a while is all." "I'll take her back to the Road House while you bring the two 'sleepy heads' back up to your room and pretend that it all never happened." Beetlejuice said, emerging from his corner. "Just make up something, and their minds'll fill in the blanks." Sierra panted as she was hoisted back up to her feet with Beetlejuice's help. "At least now I know more about the spider silk." Lydia whispered to herself, before proceeding to haul both Bertha and Prudence back to her room, one by one.
End of Episode 11
