Author's Notes: Wow..it's been a while! Like, over 4 months! Oh well, I'm updating now, and that's all that matters, right? Hopefully updates will be a little more regular now as I've developed an updating system. However, College does start in September, so…that might delay me a bit. Keep hoping! And if I don't update, nag me, lol.
Happy late anniversary to me, happy late anniversary to me, happy late anniversary to me-he, happy late anniversary to me! Lol, I looked at my profile page and realised that this past Tuesday (the 16th) was my 2 year anniversary of being on here. And I missed it cuz of registration! Terrible registration date too…grr. But that's another story…
-jackie: it's not really what I'd call a cliff-hanger, but ok. Haha, yes, Evan is one to be hated.
-An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin (for your 2 reviews): LOL! I TOTALLY forgot about that letter in your review! And I read it and cracked up…again. Ahh, I love your reviews when they're like that, lol. Lol, yes, men are stupid…sometimes. : hopes Bryan doesn't see that:
A Summer Experiment: Chapter 9- The Trade Off
Selina barely slept that night; Joey could hear her tossing, tuning, mumbling, and occasionally crying out in her sleep all the way from his room. When these actions didn't stop, he got up and made his way to Selina's room.
"Selina? You alright?" He asked, unsure if Selina was awake or not.
"No." Selina's voice quivered, sounding as though she'd been crying.
"Care to talk about it?" Joey asked, entering the room and sitting on the edge of Selina's bed.
"I miss my family and I don't know what to do." Selina sat up, a few tears falling from her eyes.
Joey instinctively leaned over and pulled Selina into a hug, gently rubbing her back.
"Shh, it'll be all right. You'll get them back tomorrow, just give the people what they want"
"That's just it! I can't help but feel as though I'm doing the wrong thing in doing that. Why else would my father tell me to guard it with my life?" Selina said.
Joey was silent for a moment, then an idea hit him.
"What if you don't give them the medallion"
"Then I can't get my family back." Selina said, making it sound as though it should have been quite obvious.
"No, I mean what if we were to make an identical copy of the medallion and give the copy to them instead of the real thing? It wouldn't be that hard to do, just a simple duplicating spell." Joey explained.
Selina lifted her head a little from where it had come to rest on Joey's shoulder.
"That's a brilliant idea, thank you!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
Joey smiled.
"Just glad I could help"
Selina pulled the medallion out from under her pillow.
"Care to do the honour"
"Be right back." Joey said, getting up quickly and heading to his room to grab his wand.
He returned to Selina's room, wand in hand, a few moments later, sitting back down on the edge of Selina's bed.
"Duplicatus." He pointed his wand at the medallion in Selina's hands, causing an identical medallion appeared on the bed between them.
"I told you it wouldn't be that difficult." He said with a smile, picking up the copy, looking back and forth between it and the original, still in Selina's hands.
"You can't tell the difference."
"There's only one problem now. What do we do with the original?" Selina asked.
"I'll take care of it. If anything happens to you, I'll make sure your parents have it before I come after you." Joey replied.
"Joey, I can't thank you enough for all this. If it weren't' for you, I don't know what I'd be doing right now." Selina leaned over and gently kissed him on the cheek, taking him by surprise.
"Selina, you're not yourself. You should get some sleep." Joey said, not knowing how else to react.
"I suppose I am a little tired." Selina yawned.
Joey pulled the blankets up to cover Selina as she lay down again.
"You sleep. We can worry about everything tomorrow"
Selina rolled over onto her side, facing Joey, tucking the original medallion back under her pillow. Her eyes slowly began to close.
Joey smiled a little and put the copy on Selina's bedside table.
"Goodnight, Selina." He said softly, leaving the room and heading back to his own again, happy to have been helpful.
Selina awoke the next morning so nervous that she couldn't eat. Joey had raided the kitchen and put some things together, trying to coax Selina into eating something, anything really.
"Joey, I'm sorry, I just can't. If I eat something I'm sure to be sick, and that won't work out very well." Selina said.
"Selina, you need to relax. You'll be fine." Joey said with a defeated sigh.
"Put yourself in my place; would you be relaxed?" Selina asked.
"I suppose not." Joey replied.
Noon soon arrived and Selina found herself standing at 7496 Asandius Street, waiting for someone to come up to her. Well, she was standing where it should have been; it seemed 7496 Asandius Street didn't exist.
"Selina!" Ally's voice cried out from behind her.
Selina spun around to see her sister being held buy a cloaked man.
"Ally." She breathed.
Severus and Caroline were there as well, in the same position as Ally. Both had expressions of disbelief upon their faces; neither could believe that Selina had actually shown up, but neither said a word.
A hand appeared on Selina's shoulder, causing Selina's parents to visibly wince simultaneously.
"You have what I want?" Came the voice of a man from behind her, presumably the owner of the hand on her shoulder.
"Yes." Selina replied, trying to sound brave.
"Let me see it!" The man ordered.
Selina pulled the copy of the medallion from her pocket and held it up, causing her parents to wince again.
"Excellent." The man removed his hand from Selina's shoulder, only to reach over said shoulder and take the medallion from her.
"Release them, but take her" He spoke to the men holding Severus, Caroline, and Ally.
"No!" Caroline exclaimed as the three men surrounded Selina, easily overpowering her, despite Selina's struggling.
One man held her wrists together, another, her legs, and the third bound her wrists and her ankles, then put a bag over her head and took her from the other two men, slinging her over his shoulder.
"You three are free to go, but I assure you, Severus, if you or your dear wife set foot near my house in an attempt to save your daughter, you will suffer the consequences." The man who now held the imitation medallion said.
"Evan, please…" Severus started.
"No use, Severus." Evan, the man with the imitation medallion, said.
"I will have my way and there's nothing you can do to stop me. Unless you're willing to risk lives, that is." He walked off without another word, being closely followed by the other three men, the one still carrying Selina over his shoulder.
"Severus, what do we do now?" Caroline asked worriedly.
"I could go after them and get Selina back. He didn't say anything about my not going." Ally piped up.
"NO!" Caroline and Severus exclaimed as one.
"He'll be planning for that. If you do that, he'll get you too." Severus explained.
"I just don't see why Joey let her go alone like that. I told him to protect her with his life, and I thought he'd be good enough to do that at least." He added a few moments later, getting his thoughts out in the open.
"That's Joey for you." Ally said.
"I know we don't get along very well, but please don't blame me for this. Not without knowing the full story at least." Joey stepped out from the shadows of a nearby tree.
"You've got some guts showing your face here after letting her go off alone and get taken like that." Ally said, glaring at him angrily.
Joey threw his hands up in surrender.
"Don't judge me just yet. Wait until you know the full story. "Selina and I made a plan last night. The medallion she just gave to them, that they just took, rather, was an imitation we created. This is the real one." Joey pulled the real medallion form his pocket and handed it to Severus.
"I promised her I'd get it to you if anything happened to her."
Joey turned to head off in the direction the men had taken Selina.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to get Selina back. She said I could go after her if something happened in exchange for my not following her here. "Well, I had a feeling something was going to happen, so I followed her anyway, and it'll make her rescue all the easier. Now I know what direction to head in at least." He began to walk off, then paused and turned back.
"I promise I'll get her back to you in one piece." He looked directly at Severus.
"After all, it's my duty to protect her with my life if the occasion arises." He turned and walked off again without another word.
"Wait!" Ally called out to his back.
Joey stopped.
"Say what you'd like, I know you don't like me; nothing will change that, I'm sure." "No, I want to come with you." Ally said, walking up to and standing beside him, looking at her parents.
Severus sighed.
"Very well, Ally, you may go. Joey, now you must guard them both with your life. And I mean it this time."
"I will, sir, I promise. No harm will come to your daughters while they're in my care." Joey replied, taking off again, a little faster this time. Ally went off as well, keeping right beside him.
"You may have just lost them both to that half brother of yours by letting her go with him, you know." Caroline commented as they watched Ally go off with Joey.
"I know, but what other choice do we have?" Severus replied, hoping with all his heart that he'd made the right decision.
Another author's note: YAY! It's done! This after loosing a nicely sized chunk when word went wonky on me. Grr!
Now my wrist hurts, so I'm gonna keep this short.
Don't forget to review if you're reading!