Chapter 26: Making a Move

When they arrived at the mall, Vanessa was excited as she exclaimed the names of the three gods in Vietnamese.

Cindy said "Wow, Vanessa's really excited to see the mall..."

Angel had been updated on Vanessa's cover story that they were angels and sweated. "Yeah, she's really excited about places she's heard about in the human world..."

The three ladies went inside the first dress shop they saw. Angel chose a white dress with a white satin ribbon tied around her waist and a v strap lined with pearls. Vanessa chose a pale pink dress decorated with tiny pink roses. Cindy was already wearing a sparkling pale blue dress.

Then, they entered a stylish shoe store and Angel bought a pair of white heels and Vanessa got pink stilettos with ankle straps. Cindy was kind enough to pay for their purchases.

~In the Car~

"Cindy, I noticed you have a jacket here. It's not yours, is it?" asked Angel, who was sitting in the backseat.

"Um no. It belongs to Charles. Since tonight's my night to make a move, I might as well return it." She winked at Vanessa who was her front seat passenger and Vanessa smiled.

When Cindy drove to the prom location and parked, she put on her shiny pale blue heels, held Charles' jacket in her one arm, carried her purse in the other, and made her way towards the building with Vanessa and Angel accompanying her.

Her friends were all excited to see her then suddenly, the chime of the clock bell rang again, and they asked, "Who the hell did you bring?"

"They're… They're my friends. I thought they could come with me."

Angel was far too stunned to say anything while Vanessa felt the burning feeling of anger in her heart and simply spat "What?"

"Some friend you are. And what the hell are you wearing? You look like an ice cube!" One of Cindy's so-called friends commented before the whole group erupted into laughter.

Cindy looked down at her feet and tears began to flow from her eyes and the group laughed at her and called her a crybaby.

Vanessa got extremely mad at Cindy's two-faced friends and screamed "SHUT UP!"

All they did was laugh at Vanessa's high-pitched voice.

"Some friends you have." They taunted.

Cindy covered her face with one hand and said "Stop it. Please stop it."

Then she ran out and Angel and Vanessa struggled to catch up with her. Luna who had been hiding in the bushes ran out when she saw the girls running. When they managed to find her again, she was crying underneath a familiar clock tower.

Angel and Vanessa comforted her by telling her not to cry and that she still hadn't returned Charles's jacket yet. "Yes. You're right. I came here to bring him his jacket. I came here to see him."

Then suddenly, the clock tower's bell rang then Cindy had a strange look in her eyes before shaking her head and saying "No… I can't. I can't see him like this. I'm a mess. We should go home."

Angel looked up then said, "The clock tower. That's right! Luna tried to warn me about the clock tower. That's why Cindy's acting strange."

Vanessa pulled out her phone from Cindy's purse and saw that it had a notification that read 'Cause of the Distortion detected.'

"The clock tower, it's the distortion."

Cindy stood up and asked, "What are you guys talking about? It doesn't matter, I'm leaving."

Vanessa exclaimed "You can't leave Cindy!"

Then she impulsively stole the jacket and ran with difficulty. Once she saw that she was a far enough distance, she power walked and found Charles talking to a pretty girl in French.

She took some deep breaths, walked towards him, and tapped him in the back. He didn't notice her at first, so she tapped harder.

He turned and asked "What?"

Vanessa asked out loud "I know French now?"

Charles said "No, I'm speaking to you in English."

Vanessa frowned and lifted the jacket on her hand.

"My jacket! Where'd you get this?"

Vanessa explained that a girl named Cindy had been taking care of it this whole time and that he should thank her. Unfortunately, Charles had no idea who Cindy was even when Vanessa described her features.

Vanessa yelled out in frustration and decided to run back to the clock tower. That was the only way to fix things!

Cindy yelled "Vanessa, why did you take Charles's jacket?!"

"Cindy. Do you trust me and Angel?"

"Y-Yes."

"Then stay here at prom and try to talk to Charles. We promise things will turn out for the better. Let's go Angel." The two ladies walked quickly followed by Luna.

They went towards the door of the clock tower. Vanessa tried to open the door only to find that it was locked.

Suddenly, an energy barrier surrounded the clock tower and the two witches and Luna fell back!

Vanessa spoke with frustration in her tone "How are we supposed to get in?"

Luna began to meow, and Angel translated that Vanessa should try using the spell to cleanse the clock tower.

Vanessa began saying "Begone propo-" Then the clock tower began to chime again.

A scream pierced the air.

Angel and Vanessa looked at each other and yelled "It's Cindy!"

Cindy rolled down the lower set of steps as her ex-friends watched from above and Angel, Vanessa, and Luna ran to the front entrance of the building.

"Cindy!" They helped her sit up. Angel asked, "Are you alright?"

Cindy nodded but it was clear from her facial expression that she was hurting then tears dripped from her eyes and she began to cover her face as she sobbed.

Vanessa felt herself boil in anger, stood up abruptly, and yelled "HOW DARE YOU?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU COULD'VE KILLED HER!"

Cindy's "friends" jeered saying "There's no way she's gonna die. She only rolled down the last flight of stairs. It would've been better if she did die."

"Why… Why you…"

Angel put her hand on Cindy's back and commented "You're… You're all so cruel…"

Luna began meowing then Angel said, "You're saying the clock is controlling Cindy's friends?"

Luna meowed in agreement and nodded.

Vanessa turned and asked, "How are we going to stop it?"

Then suddenly, the chime of the clock tower rung ominously. Vanessa and Angel realized that they needed to get Cindy out of there before anything else could happen. Luckily, Cindy was able to get up and they quickly moved into Cindy's car.