Author's Note: CLIFFIES STINK! I'm never writing another one again! Even I want to know what happens, and I'm writing the story! But there might be an exception, I dunno! --
Author's Note 2: Tristan Ghost is a little weird, but I felt like she was always jealous of her little sister, but inside she loved her and her daughter. It's really . . . strange.
Tancred froze. Charlie ducked. Olivia fainted. All the color drained from Lysander's face. Gabriel whimpered. They all turned to see a middle-aged woman with wavy auburn hair and bright green eyes. She would have been good-looking if it weren't for the nasty expression on her face. The woman was holding a gun.
"It's her," Charlie croaked.
"What are you trespassers doing in my garden?" the scary woman asked menacingly. She had a very scratchy voice.
"Er . . ." Gabriel began. "We were just . . ."
"Trying to save my niece, are you?" Tristan Ghost said, grinning wickedly.
"Your what?" Tancred exclaimed, taken aback.
"My niece," Tristan replied simply. "Kristina Alexandra Stephanie Twirl." Olivia woke up from the faint.
"Kristy can't be your niece! Her name's Twirl!" Charlie contradicted. But there was no denying the resemblance between Kristy and the woman standing before them. The same auburn hair, the same lively green eyes. Well, before Kristy got hypnotized, anyway. Tristan smirked maliciously.
"Of course it is, you stupid boy," she said. "But I come from her mother's side, little twit." She grimaced. "Yes, my perfect little sister Thelxiepia Twirl. The one with no special powers. She had musical talent, but that was that. While I was the one who could work with plants, she got all the attention. Perfect, angelic little Thelxie. No one paid any attention to her stupid, klutzy elder sister Tristan. But they all paid the price . . . oh, yes. And now my little niece Kristina has my talent. She doesn't even know I exist. Thelxiepia was afraid of her catching my habits. She knows I wouldn't do anything to her. Annoying little sisters . . ." She started talking to herself.
"This is our chance," Olivia whispered to Charlie. "RUN!" The five ran like lightning. Tancred blasted the door away and they made their escape. Tristan Ghost wasn't even chasing after them. She was looking sadly at the flower.
"Good luck, young ones!" she called. Charlie was bewildered. Lysander had a smile playing on his lips.
"I knew she was nice," he said softly. "She wouldn't try to harm her sister or her niece. For such a cruel-looking woman, she does have a heart."
Gabriel grew worried. "But Sander, what if that was a trick? It was so easy . . ." he said worriedly.
Emma shrugged as she smiled. "Kristy's auntie wouldn't harm her own niece. Especially if she's never seen her. Believe me, I know." She said knowledgably.
"Now, what do we do with this 'Lily of Truth'?" Tancred asked, taking the beautiful flower out of his pocket.
"Let's get it to my house," Gabriel suggested. "It'll be safe there." The others agreed.
"And we'll give it to Kristy," Gabriel said happily. "Then everything will be all right."
"Hopefully," Charlie added.
"Definitely," Fidelio and Olivia said in unison. Lysander grinned.
The seven walked to Gabriel's house, where Mrs. Silk was waiting for them.
"Hey, Mom!" Gabriel said to his mother. "We need a place to put this." He showed his mother the Veritas Lily.
"Hmm . . . is that the Lily of Truth?" she asked curiously, taking the pure white flower.
"Yes, ma'am," Lysander said politely.
"Who are you going to cure, Gabriel?" Mrs. Silk asked her son. "This is the cure for hypnotism, after all."
"There's this girl at school," Tancred began. He told her the story of Kristy Twirl.
"Oh, my," Gabriel's mother gasped. "Those cruel Bloors . . . are you sure you're okay with going to that school, dearies?" The children nodded.
"After all, it is exciting," Olivia said.
"A bit too exciting, if you'd ask me," Charlie remarked, grinning. Mrs. Silk smiled and put the flower in a flowerpot and watered it.
"What are you supposed to do to cure this Kristy-girl, anyway?" she asked.
"If I remember correctly, we're supposed to put some of the petals in a glass of water, add a pinch each of sugar and cinnamon, and stir. Then we take the petals out gently and give it to the hypnotized person," Emma said thoughtfully.
"Then we'll do that," Tancred said determinedly. He carefully plucked some petals from the Lily of Truth and got a bottle of water. He dropped them in.
"Here's the cinnamon and sugar," Gabriel told him helpfully, getting his friend the spices.
"Thanks, Gabe," Tancred replied. He took one pinch of each, and mixed it with a toothpick. The water turned the most beautiful pale lilac.
"Would today be all right?" Olivia asked. "It'll be easy to do it at her house instead of Bloor's."
"The sooner the better," the six other children said in unison. Mrs. Silk laughed.
"What would we grownups do without children?" she said softly, gazing around the room at the bright, shining faces.
"C'mon, Emma. You said you wanted to come, too," Olivia said to her friend. Emma nodded.
"To Kristy's house!" the two declared.
"Bye, Livia. Bye, Em," Charlie said with a wave as they walked out the door.
"We'll be waiting," Tancred and Fidelio said seriously.
Twirl Household: 55 Storm StreetEmma rang the doorbell three times. A beautiful woman with dark auburn hair and bright green eyes answered the door.
"Yes?" she asked them.
"We're friends of Kristy from school," Olivia said. "Can we play?"
Mrs. Twirl smiled. "Come right in," she invited them. Emma and Olivia grinned, and stepped into the house. "Don't mind Kristy's strange behavior. She's always been such a cheerful, lively girl, but now she's all quiet and mysterious," Kristy's mother said, her eyes filled with worry.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Twirl," Emma said, patting the woman's shoulder. "Maybe we can help." Mrs. Twirl smiled.
"I hope you can," she replied. "By the way, your names?"
"I'm Olivia Vertigo and this is Emma Tolly," Olivia answered.
"Well, hello, Olivia and Emma," Mrs. Twirl said. Then she turned to the stairs. "Kristi—na! Some friends are here to see you!" she called.
A few seconds later, a younger version of Mrs. Twirl appeared, walking soundlessly down the stairs. "Yes, Mother?" she asked in an emotionless voice. Emma noticed that her eyes were blank, too, just like her voice. Her heart ached.
"Your friends, Kristy," Mrs. Twirl said to her daughter. "They've come to play. Take them up to your room." Kristy obeyed.
"Come on," she said softly to the two other girls. They walked up the steps, turned once, and went through a door curtain to a rather exciting room. "So what are your names again?" Kristy asked.
"Emma Tolly and Olivia Vertigo," Emma replied. "We're here to wake you up."
"I'm not awake?" Kristy asked, puzzled.
"That's exactly what Em said when she was hypnotized," Olivia said. She took out the water bottle from a bag that she almost always carried around with her.
"Drink this," Emma said, handing the bottle to Kristy.
"Are you trying to poison me?" Kristy questioned, looking at the pale lilac color of the drink.
"No! Of course not, Kristy! We wouldn't ever harm you," Emma said in a comforting voice. Kristy believed her because of her soft, pleading voice.
"Okay. Here goes nothing," she said, then drank the liquid. She drenched all of it. The color came back to her pale cheeks. The spark of life that had been removed from her eyes was back again.
"Where—where am I?" she asked, looking around. This time, her voice was cool, calm, and clear.
"She's back!" Olivia cried, hugging her.
"Kristy!" Emma said gleefully. She threw her arms around the confused green-eyed girl.
"Wait. I know you two. Emma Tolly and Olivia Vertigo, right? Charlie's friends?" Kristy asked, grinning.
"Yep!" Olivia said happily. "Oh, you've got to go to Gabriel's house. Everyone's waiting for you there!"
"Really?" Kristy asked joyously. "Well, c'mon! The sooner the better!" Emma and Olivia laughed.
"She sounds like you," Emma said to Olivia as they walked to Gabriel's house. Kristy rang the doorbell.
Gabriel answered it eagerly. When he saw Kristy with the lively green eyes, his eyes filled with joyful tears. "Kris!" he cried, and hugged her.
"Gabe, you're choking me," Kristy said, but obviously pleased.
"Oops. Sorry," Gabriel said, blushing.
"Come on, Gabe! Let us through!" Charlie and Fidelio shouted.
"Why don't we just go in?" Emma asked. Gabriel let them into the kitchen. Mrs. Silk had gone to the supermarket.
"Kristy!" Fidelio and Charlie cried, and tackled her with hugs.
"Aahhhh! Not again!" Kristy cried, squashed between the two tall boys. Fidelio and Charlie let go. "Now introduce me to the others," she demanded.
"Okay, okay," Charlie said, chuckling. "This is Lysander. He didn't do anything, much." Lysander punched him on the shoulder lightly, grinning. He shook hands with Kristy.
"And this is Tancred," Emma said with a grin. "He's the one who stole the flower and made the mixture that you drank. Oh, and he's got a major crush on you." Tancred's face grew red. Kristy grinned and tackled him with a hug.
"Whoa," Tancred said, his ears pink. "Now you're suffocating me." The others laughed.
"Well, she owes you, Tanc," Lysander said to his best friend. "After all, you were the one who stole the lily from her aunt's garden."
"I have an aunt?" Kristy asked, perplexed.
"Yes, but you've never met her," Gabriel said sadly. "She lives at 15 Darkly Wynd, and she's your mother's sister. Her name's Tristan Ghost, and she's jealous of your mother a lot. Your mother never took you to see her because she thought that Tristan would do bad things to you because she was so awfully jealous of her. Tristan really wanted to see you, though, so she allowed us to steal the Veritas Lily."
"Then I want to go see her," Kristy declared. "Now!"
"That's the Kristy we all know and love," Fidelio said, grinning.
"Hey!" Olivia said, grinning at Kristy. "That's my boyfriend you're stealing, missy!" Kristy laughed.
"You should be grateful that I'm happy, Olivia, or I'd beat you up for calling me a missy," she said. Olivia smiled.
"Now let's go visit Tristan Ghost!" Tancred said. They headed for 15 Darkly Wynd.
When they got there, Gabriel rang the doorbell. Tristan answered it.
"What do you want now?" she asked exasperatedly.
"It's me, auntie!" Kristy called from the back of the crowd. Tristan's eyes widened in surprise.
"Kristina, is that you?" she asked. "It has to be someone of Ghost blood. The auburn hair and the bright green eyes."
"Yep!" Kristy answered happily, giving her aunt a big hug. She kissed Tristan's cheek. Tristan, who had never been touched by childish lips willingly before, was surprised. She felt warm from head to toe. Her hard features softened, and a rare smile appeared on her face.
"Come in," Tristan invited them in. "I want to hear all about everything."
So they told her.