Chapter 8 Trapped

They screamed and whirled around, blinding their attacker with the bright flashlight beams. The figure raised its hand to shield its face. "Yusuke, you prick, get that out of my face!" a familiar voice growled.

"Lil?"

"No, it's Hiei in a wig and stilts." She said, taking the flash light away from him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"We heard a window break and we came to check it out. Every one is in the cellar because of the storm. If it could break a window-" he stopped short as he gestured to the glass. The window was no longer broken; the shards of glass on the floor had reformed into the pane, as if it was never broken. The five teens looked at each other, then back at the window; Lil touched the glass, it was real. She took her helmet, which she used to break the glass the first time and slammed it on the window. It did not shatter. Dropping her helmet, she yanked up on the pane; it would not budge. Running to the front door, she struggled with the doorknob, it was unlocked, but would not open. "We're trapped in the house," she said shakily. "Lets get back to the cellar. "Yusuke said quickly, leading the way back.

They entered the dark room and reported their findings, while Lil dug around in the many boxes for some candles shaped like Christmas trees. She held five of the ridiculous-looking candles, "Hiei, may I borrow your fire for a moment, please?" she asked said yokai politely. He pointed his index finger out from under his crossed arms, and the wicks flickered in flame, "Thank you."

"So what's the plan?" Kuwabara said aloud. Kurama was listening for a weather report on the radio. "I suppose we had better stay down here where it is safe; we can't get out of here anyway." The fox said.

"She wants something, but we don't know what yet, and so far all the attacks have been targeted toward isolated people, so the safest place is in a group." said Lil, who sat on the stair, staring at nothing.

"What are we supposed to do all night?" Yusuke groaned. Touya was playing tic-tack-toe with Jin, using solid ice pieces. Keiko and Yukina dug around for some blankets, and found an old cabinet full of quilts. Mothballs fell out of the folds, but other wise they were well cared for. Setting up a watch again, they all attempted to get a little sleep, though it had eluded them. The first pair of watchers held the radio and set the candle in a corner where they sat. Jin and Lil sat wrapped in the faded comforters, thinking about the events of the past few days.

"I wonder what'll happen next." He said softly, so as not to disturb the others.

"Me too; we should always stay in groups; being isolated makes us easy targets, that much I know."

"What if some one has to use the toilet?"

"…I don't want to answer that."

"Well, yer gonna have to, and fast." He said, fidgeting. "Oh, Jin." Lil sighed. She and Jin quickly walked to the bathroom nearest to the cellar, which wasn't very far. When Jin reappeared, Lil was standing next to the door, holding the flash light as a weapon. "Hear anything, lass?"

"No, and I like it that way."

"I'm with you, let's leg it back to the cellar." He began walking back through the house with Lil lighting the way. The light dimmed and disappeared. "Lil, I could use a bit of light here," he said, turning around, "Lil?" darkness there, and nothing more. (Edgar Allen Poe rocks.) "Mother holy Mary-!" he cursed rapidly in Gaelic, blowing the door open and literally dragging Hiei and Kurama out of bed. "Release the cloak, pansy-boy." Hiei said in a quiet but malevolent way. Jin dropped them both in the hall where Jin had lost her.

"She's gone, she just disappeared behind my back, even the flashligh'." Jin said, breathing raggedly. "Ya gotta use yer magic peeper ta find 'er."

Hiei stripped away the ward to his Jagan and let it peer around; it's range piercing metal, wood, stone and flesh. "The little girl's energy has saturated these walls, I can't tell where it's coming from."

"Kurama, you were a fox once, can ya use yer nose ta find 'er?" Jin was hovering, his knees draw up and his fingers tangled together nervously. Kurama nodded and took a deep sniff of the air. "Follow me,"

Lil was walking behind Jin, shining the flashlight on the floor. The white beam of light began to flicker and died in her hand. She smacked the head of the tool against her palm, "Crummy batteries, I knew I should have bought the kind with the pink bunny and the drum (they keep going and going-)… Jin, wait up!" she called, but as she looked up, she no longer saw the him ahead of her, or the hall for that matter. She was in a small room with a single round window, through which came a little pale sunlight of winter. There was a small bed in one corner, a chest of toys at the foot of the bed, and a child-sized table in the opposite corner with a small, old fashioned TV on top. All over the walls were the many, many drawings of a child: flowers, rainbows, animals that were too crude to be distinguished. They even decorated the narrow white door on the wall adjacent to the window.

Sitting on a round rug in the middle of the floor was the little girl, playing with a worn doll. Lil dropped the flashlight in shock; it clunked loudly in the quiet room. Lil spluttered helplessly, "Y-you… you're the one who- the gho-" the words caught in her throat as if a cork was stuffed into her voice box. The little girl looked up, as if just noticing her presence and smiled. Her smile was so sweet, so gentle; she looked just perfect. She held out her doll, offering it to Lil to play with. Lil's knees were shaking; she fell to the ground. The little girl's smile never wavered. Lil slowly crawled forward and slowly reached out to take the doll from her. Her hands brushed the little girl's, and they were not cold and lifeless, but warm and soft. Lil held the cloth doll to her chest, watching the girl.

Turning her gray eyes to the toy chest, she concentrated and raised her hand as if to catch something. The lid of the chest opened and a doll, similar in make to the one Lil held, rose out of the hoard of simple toys. The doll flew to the girl's hand and she began to fuss with its hair and dress buttons, as if what she just did was normal. Lil was about to faint, or vomit, or pee her pants, but she couldn't. The little girl levitated several more objects from her toy chest; tinker toys, the small wooden sticks that connect into wooden disks to create things. She constructed these into a strange frame, like a doorway with a table in front of it and a flat piece that slide up and down in the doorframe. The door to the room flew open, and in walked a woman with an old fashioned dress from the 1960's. Her hair and eyes were the same colors as the girl's. "Time for bed, Chesa." (Cheh-zah) She said almost cruelly.

"But kaasan, the sun is still up!" the little girl said, she received a sharp slap from the woman.

"What have I told you about calling me that?!" her voice was a dangerous whisper. The little girl's eyes were wide, holding her hand to her cheek. "You are not mine, devil-child, do you understand me?!"

"But you are my real mother." She said, tears welling up in her eyes. The woman's hand raised again, "I mean, yes, ma'am!" the woman turned and faced the toy chest, its lid still floated in mid air. The girl let it fall quickly with bang, but not fast enough. The woman's shoes dug into her stomach, "You are never permitted to use your powers! Never! You dishonor this family with your witch-craft!" The little girl sobbed in a fetal position, "How can I dishonor a family if you won't let me be a part of it? Tou-san loves me; I just want to make you and tou-san happy-" The woman gave the girl another sharp kick.

"Shut up and get into bed." She slammed the door as she left. Lil, who was invisible to the cruel mother, could not move; how could a mother hate her own child? The little girl sat up from her fetal position, her tears ceasing. She picked up her doll and placed it on the table she had made with the tinker toys. "Be still, mommy; it's useless to struggle." She said to the doll, "Soon, only papa and I will together without you around to keep me away from him." She began to sing a song that made Lil want to run away in terror.

(To the itsy bitsy spider theme)

The rusty guillotine gets

Bloodier every day

Down comes the blade and

Their heads will fall away

Out flows their blood and

Dries upon the blade

And the rusty guillotine gets

Bloodier every day

The wooden guillotine came down, and a metal sound like a knife was heard. The wooden, harmless guillotine cleanly severed the head of the doll, and blood gushed from the inanimate doll body, according to the song. Lil gasped and dropped the doll in her arms. The little girl's eyes turned to her, slowly swiveling her head. Lil locked gazes with her and stumbled backwards against the door. "Don't try and take papa away from me, or you'll end up like mommy will be." She said; her voice sounded like it was in a metal tunnel.

Lil whimpered as the door fell open. She tumbled out into a mass of greedy arms, tugging at her all at once. She screamed. "Lil!" an Irish lilt cried. She burst into tears, clinging to the Wind master like a lifeline. "Lil! What happened?" he said, pulling her away so he could see her.

"She won't stop!" she sobbed.

"Who? Who won't stop what" Kurama asked.

"Her… She won't stop until we're all dead!"