Updated 3/23/16
Chapter Eleven: Finale Part I
Anastasia sits up with a start. The remnants of a flash of lightening linger and she takes a deep breath. She calls to mind the memory just before she was put into an enchanted sleep. Her anger fills the room at a certain rejection she was given the previous night. Getting to her feet she sees one body, lying on the bed in a big lump and a baby pool taking up the space between the footboard and the chest of drawers. There are playing cards coating the floor as though several games of 52 pick-up went unfinished. Shreds of balloons are haphazardly placed about and there is a single shoe in her path; men's Nike Tri Fusion in black and silver, size eleven.
Anastasia kicks everything aside and makes her way to the bathroom.
She nearly falls over when she sees that the deluxe whirlpool bathtub is missing.
The Dr. Wellness X-6 Hot Tub Spa that she had customized specifically for herself.
Anastasia is pissed.
Her fists clench together as she spies the source of this problem. In a puddle on the floor is the Spell Master's book. She tiptoes forward, attempting to keep her feet as dry as possible and lifts up the book by the spine. Water pours from it and she sighs with dismay. The book is most likely ruined.
She takes a towel from the rack with her free hand and wraps it around the book, blotting it dry. When she tries to open it – she can't. A spectral image of its owner forms and in a drunken slur announces, "Whatssss the passsswaord?"
Gritting her teeth together, Anastasia slams the book down on the marble vanity and returns to the bedroom. Shaking the sleeping figure until he begins to regain consciousness, mumbling a protesting, "But Mom its Saturday…," she rolls him out of the bed letting him land – full force – on the floor.
"Owwwwww," he moans.
She has no sympathy.
"Wake up," she pulls him to his feet.
"Oh no," he covers his mouth and runs for the closest reservoir – the baby pool – before letting the alcohol buffet from the previous night come up from his stomach.
Anastasia covers her nose with her sleeve. Vomit smells even more potent with her magnified sense of smell.
"UGH. Did someone barf?" Rory says pinching his nose as he appears out of nowhere. He sees Ethan hanging over the baby pool, utters a disgusted "nasty" and then vanishes again.
"Help," Ethan whimpers to Anastasia. She's not his first, second or a millionth choice for assistance but at the moment it seems she's the only one around. He wonders where Sarah is.
Anastasia leaves the room and then returns with a wet washcloth, which she throws at him. It hits him in the face with a sloshy squish. But at least it's warm. Ethan's does his best to clean his face and his tongue. He feels weak and tired and all he wants to do is lay back down.
Unfortunately, he's not the one in charge.
"Tell me the password," Anastasia commands, eyes glowing with her power.
"Password to what?" Ethan asks rubbing his temple. "My phone?"
"To the Spellmaster's book!" She growls impatiently.
"It doesn't have a password," Ethan tells her. Although…the seer thinks that might not be a bad idea – all things considered.
"YOU WILL NOT LIE TO ME." Her eyes flare again with all her might.
"I won't lie to you," Ethan repeats.
"What is the password?" she asks once more.
Ethan hesitates before answering honestly, "I don't know."
Anastasia's fist slams down on the dresser. The wood cracks beneath the force. "Who would?"
"Benny?" Ethan shrugs.
Anastasia's lips curl into a snarl. "Anyone else?"
"I don't know."
The vampire waits a few moments for her mind control to subside. She takes a deep breath while formulating a plan. She's not sure where they hid her whirlpool, but she is determined to find out. When Ethan regains his faculties, he dry heaves into the baby pool again. She watches, pinching her nose closed and collecting her thoughts.
When he finishes, she drags Ethan to the spell book and orders the seer to open it.
When the spectral form of the spell master appears, Ethan nearly jumps out of his skin. This amuses the vampire who chuckles a little bit, in spite of the situation.
"Password?" Ethan shakes his head in confusion and looks at Anastasia sheepishly.
With a wave of her hand, she urges him to continue.
"Uhhhh," Ethan thinks for a minute. He blurts out a few dates. Benny's birthday. His grandmother's birthdate. His house number. His locker combination.
When numbers don't work he tries assorted phrases, mostly Benny's favorite movie quotes. A few movie titles and some video game sound bits. None of his attempts open the book.
Anastasia loses her patience as Ethan dashes to the toilet, where he clings pathetically for several minutes.
The vampire takes the book back into the bedroom. She's been around a long time and while she has never practiced magic, she knows enough about the craft to try a few things.
Clearing off her vanity, she sets the spell book in the center. Taking assorted candles from various places on the second floor she sets them in place around the book. It's a thankless task to search for remnants of the spell master but she finally decides to use the traces of his saliva from the cup he used. She searches the kitchen for specific herbs and other ingredients she knows contain natural power.
As Anastasia bustles around the kitchen, Rory watches her.
"What are you doing?" he asks her.
"Recovering my bathtub," she tells him as she piles the last ingredient in her arms. As she speeds up the stairs, Rory joins her.
"Want some help?" he asks. Not that he wants to help but he's pretty bored right now and it would be something to do.
"Hold this," she hands him a ceramic bowl.
Rory stands there, as Anastasia opens containers and adds bits of this and that into the bowl. He looks at the book and the candles and the red solo cup labeled Benny – wondering how any of this is going to help her get a cover for her bathtub.
"What color cover are you making?" he asks.
"What?" Her eyes dart his way briefly but return to the task of potion making since she has no idea what he's talking about.
"For my tenth birthday we made tie-dyed pillow cases. They were really cool."
Anastasia looks at him once more. Rory presses his lips together – her message is quite clear.
He watches her sprinkle the mixture onto the book. A few of those nonsense-Latin words later and she is even madder, cursing at everything.
The background noise of Ethan's intermittent vomiting enrages her further and she slams the bathroom door shut with a BANG that echoes through the entire house. As her temper flares her tantrum evolves into a tsunami of tears and stomped feet across the room until she finally flops on the bed and huffs like an angry toddler.
"I still think tie-dye is the way to go," Rory says.
"You absolute imbecile!" she screams at him. "I'm not painting anything! I am trying to decode the password to the Spell Master's book."
"Oh," Rory rolls his eyes – women can be so complicated. They never say what they actually mean.
He stands by the book and holds both hands palms down over the front cover. Waving them back and forth like Bollywood choreography he closes his eyes and says, "Password."
Anastasia snorts loudly. "No one's password is actually password."
But in the time it takes her to say that, the spine of the book creaks as its front cover slowly opens. The wet pages flutter until they settle directly to the last spell invoked.
"Well, THAT was easy," Rory shrugs his shoulders.
Anastasia is speechless. Hopping up from the bed she takes Rory's place by the book, as he decides to start picking up all the cards scattered on the floor.
"Want to play?" he asks.
Anastasia ignores him as she studies the writing intently. If she's translating correctly, the spell has multiple purposes – although none of them seem directly related to her missing property. She bites her lip and rereads the spell.
Her brow creases and she frowns.
Nothing about this makes sense.
Why would the Spell Master want to destroy the seer legacy of Whitechapel?
Anastasia looks at Rory, who is attempting to lick and stick UNO cards to his forehead, as she opens the door to the bathroom. Ethan is no longer hanging over the toilet. In fact the room is empty.
"We must find the seer," Anastasia says in a panic to Rory as she pulls him along with her. As they travel down the hallway, the house starts to transform right before their eyes.
"Whoa, check this out…," Rory says as he becomes transparent.
"NO!" Anastasia attempts to grab Rory tighter but he's a ghost fading further and further into nothingness. The walls shift and change shape. The colors around her swirl as the roof begins to disappear.
She's no longer in the Council Estate but out on the streets of Whitechapel.
Almost seventy years ago.
Taking in the scenery, she remembers this night clearly.
"It can't be," she whispers as she sees him approaching.
But it is.
Gale Sinastro stands at the opposite end of the alley, with the glowing violet orb in his hand. There are piles of ash and Anastasia feels fear through every muscle in her body.
"JESSE!" She screams into the silent night but he is not there.
Without Jesse to defeat the sorcerer….
She clings to the hands of the High Council who stand with her as the purple haze of the Lucifractor consumes them.
-o-
"Benny," Erica's voice cracks as Rory's unconscious form disappears right before her very eyes.
Beside her Benny, bites his fingernails compulsively. He's been working on a spell – a few spells actually but none of them are near the magnitude they need to be to get them back home. But he did mange to create a deodorant potion - so at least they smell better.
"Benny," Erica looks at him with silver tears building in her eyes. "You have to fix this."
But all of Benny's confidence is gone.
"Sarah!" Erica yells at her friend who is several paces away, still arguing with Jesse.
As Sarah's head snaps in her direction, Erica gestures to the empty space Rory's body occupied.
"What the hell is going on Jesse?" Sarah demands.
"Why don't we talk a walk?" Jesse looks at her and smiles.
"I told you. I'm not going anywhere with you – EVER!" Sarah sets her feet in the grass. She means it.
As she says that, Benny approaches her with a worried, "Can I talk to you for a second?" as he takes her by the arm and leads her to a nearby tree. She looks at him for an explanation and he stumbles over his words. "I can't do this."
"Yes you can," Sarah assures him.
"No really, I can't." His hands grasp fistfuls of his own hair. "I can barely remember the six continents…"
"Seven," Sarah interrupts.
"What?"
"There are seven continents…"
Benny starts to count on his fingers.
"Nevermind." Sarah takes his hand in hers. "Maybe you can't name the all the Provinces and Capitals but you can write spells. I've seen you do it."
"Sarah," Benny bites his lip. "Making a forever flask full of root beer is a whole lot different than getting us back to the future."
"Your grandmother said that you had the potential to become a great Spell Master," Sarah squeezes his hands. "Now is your chance to prove her right!"
"I have a better idea," Erica says as she approaches, her hand fuses around Benny's sleeve and she drags him away.
Benny stumbles over his feet and nearly falls as Erica takes him half a field away from Sarah and Jesse.
"Is your plan to find a secret portal back to Whitechapel?" Benny asks. He thinks that may be a more realistic option than counting on him to do a spell.
"Do you still have your ring?" Erica asks.
"What ring?"
"The one that lets you look like someone else."
"The projection ring," Benny nods. "No Stern took that."
"Can you make another one?"
"Why?"
"What if we trick Jesse into thinking that I'm Sarah?" Erica suggests. "I'll go on this date that he wants and I'll let him turn me and then we'll go back home."
Benny thinks for a minute.
"But Jesse said there's no spell to get us back home…," he pauses, realizing Erica's end game. "You just want to be a vampire again."
Erica's face twists.
Before they can argue, there is a loud scream.
Running toward the source, Benny and Erica nearly crash into each other as they come to a screeching halt. In the distance is Sarah, being tied up by some of the townsfolk as Jesse lies on the ground in heap.
A stake sticks out of his chest.
"Oh shit," Benny curses. "That got real!" (Yes, TOBN - that's your quote!)
"What the hell do we do now?" Erica asks as the angry mob drags a bound and gagged Sarah into the church.
