Author's Note: Sorry I don't have the time to do individuals anymore. I'll answer questions at the end of er, maybe Chapter 11. This took really long. Too much homework. Well, enjoy!

"So, did you two kiss and make up?" Olivia teased on Monday.

"Shut up, you," Kristy said, blushing. "We're not all like you and Fidelio, Livia." Fidelio shoved her playfully.

"Violet! Vertigo! Quiet in the hall!" Manfred called.

"I don't see you shutting up," muttered Tancred.

"C'mon, Tanc. Leave him alone. He's not worth it," Gabriel said cheerfully.

"I guess you're right, Gabe," Tancred whispered. "You always are."

"We can't be late to English, guys. I promised Auntie Tristan that I'd be home on Saturday," Kristy said to them urgently.

"Anything for you, Kris," Tancred replied, grinning.

"Thank you, Tancred," Kristy said sweetly.

"Cut with the mushy-gushy stuff," Lysander mumbled. Tancred and Kristy were spending a little too much time together. Obviously, he was jealous.

"Lighten up, Sander," Charlie told him. "It's only for a little while."

"Sure," Lysander answered sarcastically. "For just a little while. Well, if you haven't noticed, Tanc seems like he's about to propose to Kris." Tancred turned red, while Kristy looked bewildered.

"You must be kidding," the tempest girl said, crossing her arms. "I'm never going to get married.

"Is that an insult?" Tancred demanded, his blue eyes flashing.

"Not again," Emma groaned.

"Seriously, why can't these two just act their age?" Fidelio asked, hands on his hips. Olivia giggled.

"Shut up, Fido," Kristy snarled. "And, no, that was not an insult."

"I'm so sure," was Tancred's reply.

"You guys, please stop it," Gabriel said helplessly.

Kristy's sharp pine green eyes softened as her gaze landed on her best friend. "'Kay, Gabe," she said softly, relaxing. Tancred looked the way Lysander did when the African boy was looking at his two friends.

"Hmph," the yellow-haired boy said, and walked away, Lysander following him.

"Was it something I said?" asked Kristy.

"It seems so," Emma and Olivia answered exasperatedly.

15 Darkly Wynd

The doorbell rang.

"Coming!" Tristan Ghost called merrily, turning from her cup of tea. She jogged to the door and flung it open to find a raven-haired woman with red boots.

"Why, hello, Venetia," Tristan greeted her neighbor, though a bit suspicious.

"Good afternoon, Tristan," Venetia said sweetly. "May I come in?"

"Certainly," Tristan said courteously. "Cup of tea?"

"Yes, please," Venetia replied as she sat down on a comfortable chair. The one Tristan always sat on, to be exact.

"What did you want to talk about?" Tristan asked the raven-haired woman after she had gotten the tea.

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to chat and be neighborly," Venetia said, waving her hands, smiling widely.

"Uh-huh," Tristan said, nodding and raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I bought something for you, you know, to make up the past um, five years that we haven't been together. Here it is," Venetia declared, opening up her handbag. When she withdrew her hand, in it was the prettiest music box Tristan had ever seen. It was made of solid gold, with rubies glistening from it. Carved in the copper center was a majestic lion. Venetia handed it to Tristan, beaming. "Do you like it?"

"Yes," Tristan said, smiling weakly. "I love it. Thank you, Venetia."

"Oh, pish-posh. That's what neighbors are for," Venetia gushed. "Now I'll be going. See you soon, Tristan!"

Tristan showed Venetia out and waved as the woman crossed the gloomy street. Then she went back to the room the music box was in. It was even more beautiful than before, the light of the fire dancing on the gold, copper, and ruby surface.

"It's probably just a trick," Tristan told herself. But when she glanced at the box, she was tempted to open it. She wondered what kind of music the box played, and forgot all about her suspicions as her mind was wiped blank. Placed in was the only thought she had: Open the box.

Tristan slowly opened the box to let out slow, sweet, drowsy music. It was beautiful, all soft and high and lovely. Tristan fell in love with the music immediately, and didn't want to close the lid. It wasn't long before her sharp, bright pine green eyes grew dull and dreamy. She forgot who she was, what she was doing.

On Saturday, Kristy came home to 15 Darkly Wynd to find her aunt standing there, her dull green eyes boring into her own sharp ones.

"Auntie, are you okay?" Kristy asked, worried sick. Tristan nodded and managed a small smile.

"Yes. Come in, Kristy. I've been expecting you," she said in a soft voice so unlike the tone she used to speak in.

"Are you sure you're okay, Aunt Tris?" Kristy questioned again, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm fine, thank you, Kristy," Tristan replied.

"Why don't you call me 'Little Alex' or 'Alexandra' anymore?" Kristy said, her eyes filled with curiosity and worry.

"I do, Little Alex, I do," Tristan answered.

"All right," Kristy said suspiciously as she stepped into the house.

"Do you want to see the new music box our neighbors gave us?" Tristan asked her niece dreamily, leading her to the warm living room.

"Yes, Auntie," Kristy said, holding the woman's hand.

"Here we are," Tristan declared, taking out the gold, ruby, and copper box with the engraved lion. Kristy recognized it immediately. Emma had brought her a book about hypnotism, and she had read the thick book from cover to cover. She remembered the box perfectly. It was one of the four existing hypnotizing boxes in the world: eagle, badger, lion, and snake. "Isn't it beautiful?" Tristan sighed.

Kristy nodded quickly and recollected all the information about the lion hypnotizing box. The victims could not be cured with any herbs, including the Veritas Lily. Only true, ancient magic could cure the victim. This is going to be hard, she thought, tears welling up in her eyes. Her Aunt Tristan was the person in the world she loved most.

Kristy was stuck with her Aunt Tristan and the box for whole two days, cooped up in the house. Her aunt wouldn't let her go anywhere. Charlie and her friends called and came to the house, but Tristan always got there first, and told them off or slammed the door in their faces.

The adventurous girl thought it would never be Monday, but the day finally came. The blue bus came to the stop, and Kristy gladly hopped in, joining her friends without waving to her aunt.

"What's wrong with your Aunt Tris?" Gabriel asked, worried. "She's been acting really strange lately."

"Yeah. She just slammed the door in my face!" Fidelio exclaimed. "And I thought she was nice."

"She is," Kristy replied, telling Gabriel, Fidelio, and Charlie the whole story behind the box.

"I saw it, Kris. I saw it," Charlie breathed. "My great-aunts were over at my house, talking to Grandma Bone. They were hatching a plan. I bet one of them gave it to your aunt." Kristy clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.

"I'm gonna kill those women," she said menacingly. "One day I'll kill them."

"You'll get thrown in jail for committing murder!" Gabriel cried.

"I was kidding, Gabe," Kristy said, grinning. Her green eyes twinkled. "Or maybe not."

"Better not, Kris," Fidelio advised knowledgably. "You don't know what the Yewbeams can do."

"That reminds me," Charlie said thoughtfully, holding out a piece of paper. "Here, Kristy. My Uncle Paton wanted me to give this to you."

The auburn-haired girl curiously took the note. Scribbled on it was: To Kristina Twirl, from Paton Yewbeam. She unfolded the piece of paper and read it out loud so only her three male friends could hear:

Dear Kristina,

I would really appreciate it if you came to 9 Filbert Street on Sunday to have a little chat. My nephew has told me quite a lot about you, and I used to know your parents. Please come.

Sincerely,

Paton Yewbeam

"Chazz, you can tell your uncle I'll come," Kristy said quietly, thoughts swirling around her brain. How did he know my parents? Did he know Grandma Alex? Does he know I ran away from home? Does he know Aunt Tristy? Does he know that my mom's really weird? Does he know I'm weird? Who is he, exactly? Why does he want me to meet him?

"Kris, we're here!" Fidelio shouted in her ear, breaking her thoughts. Kristy blinked to see the gray stone walls of Bloor's Academy.

"Back again, unfortunately," Gabriel said glumly as he stared at the building.

"C'mon! I can see Sander, Tanc, Em, and Livia! We can ask them to help with Kristy's aunt!" Charlie called, going down the steps. Kristy, Gabriel, and Fidelio followed.

"Hey, Kris!" Tancred said, grinning. "I'm sorry about last week. I really wasn't thinking."

"Tanc, you know I'd forgive you for anything under the sun if you wanted me to," Kristy replied, giving him a hug. Lysander stared.

"Now onto the issue," Charlie said, coughing for attention.

"What issue?" Emma asked.

"The issue of Kristy's Aunt Tristy," Gabriel replied.

"Kristy, Tristy. Cool!" Olivia exclaimed.

"Not cool," Gabriel said sadly. "Kristy's aunt's been hypnotized." Olivia's face fell. Emma frowned. Lysander snapped out of his thoughts. Tancred looked sympathetically at Kristy.

"But how?" Lysander asked.

Kristy explained rather gloomily about the doings of Charlie's great-aunts.

"Just terrible," Tancred muttered.

"And I'm going to do something about it!" Kristy said determinedly, her green eyes blazing.

"Do what?" Emma questioned, but the lively girl was off.

Olivia shrugged. "Let's follow," she said.

Charlie, Fidelio, Gabriel, and the others didn't get a chance to ask Kristy exactly what she was going to do. She just told them not to worry, and that she was going to handle it.

Finally, at lunch, Kristy's friends found out exactly what she was going to do. The green-eyed, auburn-haired girl boldly stepped up to Dr. Bloor and pulled him out the doors. The entire room stared, and Gabriel looked fearfully at the doors as they banged shut.

"Everybody stay in your seats!" Manfred commanded, but he didn't need to. The students were frozen to their seats with fright.

"You did that to my Auntie, didn't you? Didn't you? Hurry up! ANSWER ME!" came the loud female voice. It echoed throughout the building.

"Kristina Alexandra Stephanie Twirl, constrain yourself!" Dr. Bloor commanded.

"Constrain myself? Constrain myself? You really are one insane man, Dr. Bloor! YOU HYPNOTIZED MY AUNT WITH THAT STUPID BOX! Do you really think I'm going to constrain myself?" Kristy fought back loudly.

Dr. Bloor looked fiercely at the small girl in front of him. She looked puny and powerless right now, but she had powers he could never imagine. "Kristina, go back to the hall. NOW," he ordered.

"No! Not until you put her back! I'm not going!" Kristy roared.

"I can't put her back. And I wouldn't, even if I did," Dr. Bloor said curtly.

Charlie sneaked to the doors and looked through a crack. Kristy was looking tremendously angry, and Dr. Bloor seemed almost . . . scared.

"I know you do, Dr. Bloor. I know you do. You know what I can do. If you won't tell me, sooner or later, you're going to pay," Kristy whispered to him in a voice that sent chills down his spine. Charlie didn't hear a word.

"No," the headmaster said firmly. "I won't tell." He shuddered for the last time as Kristy powerfully blasted open the doors and went back to her seat. Dr. Bloor did the same.

"Kris, what'd you say?" Fidelio asked her excitedly.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, Fido," was Kristy's quiet reply. She was unusually quiet. Tancred came over.

"Kristy, you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder worriedly.

"I'm fine, Tancred. I told you I could take care of it. Now we have Dr. Bloor out of the way," Kristy said.

"Torsson, sit down!" commanded Manfred. Tancred reluctantly went back to his table, puzzled at Kristy's words.

"They'll pay. You'll see, Auntie. I'll do it for you," Kristy whispered.