A/N- Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad everyone enjoyed that chapter! Now, here's chapter 3!!! Enjoy!
Chapter 3- The Long Road Ahead
Gosalyn could not remember a time when she had been so pleased with herself. She could remember several times that she been happy with herself, but never so pleased. The deal she had made with Negaduck was working wonderfully. He had woken her up the very next morning and offered to give her a more in depth look at the places she had already been. He pointed out many things she had not seen before, and new properties to the things she had seen. They had forgotten to eat breakfast that morning, and nearly forgot lunch. It was thanks to Moloculo, because they had run into him along the way of their adventure, that they did remember to eat. The re-exploration of the places she had already been took the entire day. When Negaduck finally escorted her to bed that evening, he left her with a good night and a promise that they would explore the attic first thing in the morning.
Now that that time had come, Gosalyn was up, dressed and waiting for Negaduck's knock at her bedroom door. When he finally did so, she leapt off the bed and was out the door after him before he had had time to blink.
"You're going to love this, Gosalyn," he said as they ascended the ladder that led to the dusty old attic. "It's filled with all sorts of mystical things."
"Call me Gos," Gosalyn said offhandedly.
They reached the top of the stairs. Negaduck turned to face her. "What?" he asked.
"Call me Gos," she repeated.
"But… nicknames are usually only used by friends and loved ones," Negaduck said, a slight confusion in his voice. "And maybe while taunting," he added as an afterthought.
"Well, can't we be friends?" she asked.
Negaduck seemed to consider this. Gosalyn smiled at him.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, we can be friends."
Her smile widened. He returned it. When the moment had passed, he turned and began to look through one of the many, many boxes that were scattered about the floor.
"Is there anything up here that can hurt me?" she asked.
"Not if you stick to the items. If you see a book, don't touch it!"
"Oh, trust me," Gosalyn laughed, pausing to blow the dust off the top of a box. "I have some experience in bad spellbooks."
She began to follow his example and explore even more. Every now and then, one of them would rise up and say, "Look at this." They would then take a few moments to examine the interesting item before they began to look for another.
Finally, Gosalyn rose. "Look at this, Negaduck," she said.
Negaduck turned. In her hand was a crystal ball. It was covered in a layer of dust, showing that it had not been used in a while.
"Do you suppose it still works?" she asked.
"I don't know. Do you know how to read fortunes with a crystal ball?"
"No, not really. But I've seen Morgana do it loads of times. It can't be that hard, can it? Here, look, I've found its little stand. Want to give it a try?"
Negaduck raised an eyebrow at the ball. "I don't know," he said slowly.
"Come on. If it starts to get bad, we'll throw it back into its box and run like hell from the room. What do you say?"
Negaduck smiled. "Alright."
Gosalyn and he sat down, cross legged, on either side of the ball, of which Gosalyn had put on its stand. Then, she raised her hands inches from the ball's surface and began to mutter, "Crystal ball, show us your secrets!"
"Is that what you're supposed to say?" Negaduck asked. Gosalyn quickly shushed him.
The ball glowed. An image formed inside of it… an image both Gosalyn and Negaduck recognized. An image both never wanted to see again. Then, the image became a scene, and the scene began to play.
"Oh, God… no," Gosalyn muttered, and she could've sworn she heard Negaduck mutter the same thing.
End Notes: Cliffhanger! I love it! This next chapter is going to answer a question that you should've been asking yourselves. Well, anyhow, please R & R! Thanks!