Disclaimer: …grrr…
Author's Notes: on w/the story!
Chapter 5
Haku stared at the ground. In the water he could see his own reflection staring back at him. Part of him felt stupid, while the other part felt irate. A single tear dropped into the puddle of water Yubaba had offered him and he refused. She had willingly poured it onto the ground right in front of his face.
It was the first time he had ever cried in his life. He wasn't crying for himself, but for Chihiro. He wished he could just break out of here and rescue her before she got herself killed. However, she probably wouldn't even recognize him.
He looked around him for anything useful and started to raise his hands when he remembered that Yubaba had made his cell magic-proof. The empty can sat on the bench next to him. There were a few old chains lying on the floor across the room.
Haku placed his bare foot in the water and wished with all his heart that Chihiro could at least see the room he was in. Then maybe she'd have a chance.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chihiro grabbed her head with her hands.
"Shhhhhhh!" said the others. "You'll wake up Miss Alice!"
"Sorry," Chihiro managed. It was just that her head hurt so badly.
"Chihiro? What's wrong?" Chihiro turned to see Helene creeping into the room. "What happened?"
"I saw something: a room with chains in it. Then my head started hurting. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to wake everyone else up, especially Miss Alice."
Chihiro and Helene had been living the life of a doll for the whole day. There were eleven other dolls in the house: a mother, a father, a nanny, a little boy, two twins, a grandma, a grandpa, an aunt, an uncle, and a cook. None of them were related except for the young boy and the nanny. Everyone else had just unknowingly walked into the yard of the girl's house, and unfortunately had been caught. They all had been renamed Mom, Uncle, or some other part of the family.
Chihiro was the child. Her parents were the mother and father of the dollhouse. Helene had been named the maid. She was forced to clean the dusty rooms and furniture pieces.
"A room with chains? I wonder what that could mean?" Helene asked thoughtfully. "Perhaps it is the location of our next clue…"
"But, Helene," said Chihiro, "the next clue says, 'you're almost there; your life at stake. While now the ground begins to quake.'"
"Never mind. I know where that is. There's a spot a couple miles from here, where plates inside the earth smash against each other and cause earthquakes."
"What are y'all doing up?" said a small voice from behind them. Chihiro and Helene turned to see the little boy coming into the room. It was the nanny's grandson. He was carrying his blanket and sucking his thumb.
"Danny! We thought you'd be asleep by now," said Helene gently. "What are you doing?"
"What are y'all talking about?" he asked.
"Just something. Nothing you'd understand," said Chihiro, careful not to hurt his feelings.
"Are y'all talking about Haku?"
It was as if someone had just thrown a baseball through a window. They both looked at him, not knowing what to say or do. Luckily, he spoke first.
"If you want to know about the clue, I'll tell you. But… you have to do something for me in return."
"What do you want?" asked Chihiro.
"I want to come along with you guys," Danny replied. "I want to get out of this place. I want to see the world. Most of all, however, I want to find my brother."
"Your brother?" they both asked.
"Yeah, my brother Phillip. He was lost during an earthquake a couple of days ago. I overheard y'all talking about earthquakes, and I knew that this would be the right moment to bring the conversation around."
"You promise, that if we bring you along, you'll tell us the clue that's hidden here?" asked Chihiro.
"I promise. Now here," he said, as he took out a very long rope of Kleenexes tied together. "We can use this to get out of the window."
"Why can't we just climb down the vines?" asked Helene.
"That window is closed at night, but the side window's always open. Unfortunately, there aren't any vines growing up that side of the house," was his reply. They went over to the window and threw the Kleenex rope down.
"I'll go first," volunteered Helene. She placed the end of the rope underneath a book that was lying near the window. Then she jumped up on the windowsill and started climbing down. Chihiro went next, and Danny brought up the rear. As soon as all of them were on the ground, they followed Helene towards the earthquake area. They talked while they walked.
"Well, the clue is… You know Miss Alice, right? Describe her to me," said Danny.
"She's large, mean, strange…"
"Strange!" cried Danny. "Now, what's the opposite of strange?"
"Uh," said Chihiro, "ordinary?" Danny jumped up and down.
"Yes! The third clue is ordinary. What are the other clues so far?"
"Let's see," said Helene. "The first one was Rumpelstiltskin, the second one was… Oh! It was the mud man! And now we have ordinary!"
They had reached the earthquakes. A long, flat piece of land stretched out in front of them. They could feel the ground moving beneath them. The ground was cracked, and the land was dry and hot.
"Help!" cried a voice. "Somebody please help me!" Chihiro looked across the flat land and saw something else.
"Look!" she cried. "A canyon!" They ran until they reached the edge of a large canyon. When Chihiro looked down, she gasped. The canyon was full of lava! There was something else down there, too.
A boy was clinging to a root that was sticking out of some rocks on the side of the canyon. He was crying for help because with every moment, the lava grew higher. He only had a couple of minutes before the lava would reach him, and then he'd be toast.
"Hold on," Chihiro called to him, "we're coming!" Chihiro pulled out part of the rope that Danny had managed to save and threw it over the side of the canyon. Then she started climbing down.
"Be careful!" shouted Helene. "We can't afford to lose you!" Chihiro grinned and gave her a two-thumbs-up. Then she turned back to the boy.
"Grab onto the rope!" she shouted. He looked up and snatched the rope. "Danny, Helene, pull!" The other two pulled the rope up while Chihiro and the boy held on. When everyone was safe and sound, the boy managed to speak.
"Thank you all for saving my life. I thought no one would ever come! My name's Phillip, by the way," the boy said. Then he noticed Danny staring at him. Danny ran to him and threw his arms around his brother. Phillip, realizing who Danny was, hugged him back.
"I thought you were dead," said Danny, as he began to cry, "but you're alive! I wish Granny was here!"
"Danny," said Phillip reassuringly, "I'm fine, really."
"Hi," said Chihiro. "My name's Chihiro, and that's Helene over there."
"Hi," Phillip said back. "I want to thank you for watching over my little brother. It makes me happy to know that he has friends that are watching out for him."
"Um, Phillip," said Chihiro, "do you know where we could find someone who knows about a clue to Haku's whereabouts?"
"So, you've come for the clue, eh? Well, you're not getting it until you take my brother and me home to Settee City. It should be on your map." Chihiro couldn't argue, so the four of them walked north, which was where the map showed was the nearest train station.
"The train should be here any minute now," said Phillip. They were waiting on the platform. Phillip had handed everyone a ticket.
"The next clue says, 'on the ground is where you stand, but watch out you'll sink, as quick as sand.'"
"So," said Helene, "we need to go to the Ethiopian Desert."
"Hey," said Danny, "there's the train!" The train was yellow and sort of melancholy looking. It was as if the train had a life of its own, but was being forced to carry passengers to and fro.
The ticket man took their tickets: two to Ethiopian Desert and two to Settee City. They all sat down on a blue bench next to the window. Chihiro noticed that this was a different train than the one that had taken her to the gold mine.
"Helene," Chihiro began, "why isn't this the same train as the one I took to get to the gold mine?"
"Well, you see, a long time ago, the train-"
"-used to run both directions. Now it only goes one," Chihiro finished for her.
"How do you know that? Maybe… Maybe you're remembering! Can you think of anything else?" Helene asked hopefully.
"No, nothing else…" Chihiro said sadly. The train stopped.
"We have to go now, okay?" said Helene. They hugged their good-byes. Then Phillip and Danny watched Helene and Chihiro get off the train.
"By the way," Phillip shouted at the girls, "the clue is 'cottage.'"
