Disclaimer: I don't own rights to any of Diana Wayne Jones' masterpieces, I just write pale comparisons.

I wanted to thank Zfan06 and Telekinetic91 for reviewing. It really did help me keep writing, because I have someone pushing me along. I procrastinate a lot. I also wanted to apologize for the length it takes me to roll out chapters; I'm not a fast writer. Also, thanks to Telekinetic91 for telling me that my anonymous review thingy was blocked. I hadn't realized that had to be manually turned on. On with the show!

Chapter 2

In Which Time is Given Life

I stared into the black, swirling vortex that warped my birthday cake, giving it strange dimples. Tendrils of darkness crawled out, writhing over the cake and the table. In the center of the vortex something was pushing out. As I watched, a hand forced its way out of the cake. The fingers clawed the air, trying to find leverage, their pale, inhuman color contrasted with the darkness that spun around them. Soon a delicately sculpted, porcelain pale arm shoved out of the pit. The arm gave way to a shoulder and the whole arm reached out, grasping at air, until it found my arm.

I was too frightened to resist, my knees weakened like that day in the Headmaster's office. A scream echoed across the churning darkness as the hand writhed. It wrapped its bone-white fingers around my left arm. I screamed louder.

My senses returned as the deathly cold fingers griped me, and I look back, struggling against the skeletal grip, trying to scrabble way from it. The twilight-like darkness had swallowed me. Joyce and the other girls were blurry, distant shadows beyond the wall of darkness that swirled around the white appendage and me.

I looked back at the arm and found part of a man's bare torso and head shoving out of the cake. Other than the tension of his muscular arms, he seemed asleep, his dark hair plastered against his boyish face. He looked innocent. Instinct muddled fear as I grabbed him just above the elbow, pulling and helping him out of the vortex. What ever had been holding him gave way, and the boy slid to the floor.

As if things hadn't been horrid enough, the boy stirred. His eyes bulged open and his body convulsed. He writhed and gasped, gripping his stomach in pain. I didn't know what to do. I knelt down beside him, searching for blood, for any indication where he was injured. There was nothing.

The hand that had forced its way out of the vortex thrashed. It shot forward, once again seizing my arm. The boy jerked up, crouching, staring me in the eyes, our noses almost touching. His crystalline-blue eyes flared as he stared into my brown ones.

"Come with me." His breath was fevered as it brushed across my face. The tension that shivered across his flesh coiled. He leapt, dragging me with him. The vortex, growing larger until it sucked the entire table into its darkness, pulled us easily into its swirling pit. I squeezed my eyes in fear and anticipation and pulled my knees close to my chest.

I had the sensation of being pulled and stretched like rubber, with a sickening chill that told me I was falling. I clung to the boy's arm, curling around it for support, and opened my eyes. It made no difference. I could barely make out the pale hand that held onto my upper arm. It looked disembodied. It was enough to make me let go.

As soon as I did the hand disappeared into the black. I screamed into the darkness, but it swallowed it the sound up, leaving nothing but a faint shadow of my desperation.

But he came back. That pale arm forced out of the darkness and wrapped around me. He pulled until I was clasped in the crook of his shoulder, pressed against his naked side. His grip on me was strong, forcing the air from my lungs in a suffocating embrace. I pressed my cheek to his boney shoulder and dug into his chest and back with my sharp nails. What I could see of his face, he didn't even flinch.

I couldn't tell, the darkness fumbling my senses, but I thought we were moving. I was hoping we were moving. It felt like we were moving faster. Being crushed against him was getting uncomfortable. I peaked up at his face, it look lighter. I gasped and looked in the direction his eyes were pointed. There was light at the end of the tunnel of darkness; the light at the end of the tunnel. Oh, snap. He killed me.

I writhed against him, trying to brake free of the iron hold, as we flew forward. It was no good. He had me lock and key. Though, I had the satisfaction of watching his face screw up in pain as I forced my knee up between his body and mine. His stomach must have still hurt. I looked back at our progress through the tunnel. We passed through the light as I did.

It was like the tunnel pushed us out. The sensation of being stretched and pulled returned, there was a hesitation, and then we were falling. The boy pulled me around to his front, wrapping his full body around me as we hurtled down. All I could see was his pale chest, and a sky-blue color. It even had clouds.

We were falling out of the sky. I gave out a blood-curdling scream. The boy let go, slapping his hands over his ears. I shut my mouth and reached out for him, but he was already slipping away. His wide, blue, so blue, eyes looked horribly surprised. The wind whipped through my hair, undoing the lose bun, and turned me so I could see the dense forest I was plummeting towards. The gust stung my face, bringing tears to my eyes. Or maybe I was crying because I was falling to my death. The wind flipped me over and over, flashing the painful landing before my eyes in a swirl of color. My heart thudded, and breath wouldn't come to my pained lungs. I fought the wind to scrunch my knees to my chest and to bring my arms up to guard my face.

I hit the trees. The smaller branches gave way, scratching any flesh that they could touch while ripping and tearing at my uniform. The sound of snapping twigs and searing pain followed me as I slammed into a large branch, the breath crushed out of me. I wrapped my body around it as I started to slide, and assessed the damage. I couldn't feel anything. It was numb.

A series of crashes followed after me into the trees and a gasp of pain echoed slightly from near by. There was a long pause, and then rustling of leaves made a sluggish path over to me where I laid spread eagle on the large branch, the rough bark biting into my stomach.

"Can you move?" The soft voice was near my head. He sounded out of breath. I couldn't breath. It hurt. My thoughts became fuzzy around the edge and I look blurrily up at the boy. Tears flooded my eyes and what little air I managed to suck in caught in my throat. A torrent of pain collided with every inch of my body. I hated delayed reactions.

The guy sighed and sat carefully on the branch, watching it for stability, beside my head. "We'll have to stay here for the night," he mumbled and curled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He looked around suspiciously and rubbed chills off his arms. Then his eyes turned to me.

I lay still on the branch, unwilling to move for fear of what pains would come if I did. But the glare he gave me was enough for me to brave the sharp pains that coursed along my nerves to escape from his chillingly blue eyes. I leaned back against the trunk of the tree and focused on my breathing. Each shallow breath chased away the dizziness that threatened my consciousness. He was still glaring.

"What?" The word had meant to be spoken with scorn, but only came out in a breathy gasp. He just sighed and moved closer. He loomed over me, though he was only crouching on the branch, and wrapped his arms around me like he was giving me a hug.

"Hold on." His hands gripped my sides and he pushed off the branch. We were falling again. I barely had time to scream before we jerked to a stop. Like a monkey, he swung us into an alcove in the large tree, hanging onto a small outcrop above the slim hole with one hand. I grasped around his neck in a panic and pain.

The earthy floor was covered with dirt and leaves and the walls were covered in decaying tree mulch. Outside the rounded opening, the sky was already turning a deep pink color.

"Sleep. While you can." He gently wedged my arms from his neck and moved away from me. I glared at him. I was suddenly furious with him. This boy ruined my birthday, pulled me through a creepy tunnel, killed me, dropped me into some strange forest, and just threw me out of a tree into a hole. I thought had a good reason to be angry with him.

My eyes drilled holes in his back as he peaked out of the small opening. "What is it?" His voice was harsh and quiet. My anger flared. I shouted the first things that came to mind.

"Why did you take me? How did you take me? Why are you shirtless?" I snapped my mouth shut and stared at him. His form was silhouetted in hole of the alcove as the sun slipped down the sky, half hidden behind the forested horizon. He turned towards me, his back pressed against one side of the opening. His arm stretched across the only exit, balancing so he wouldn't fall, however much I wanted him to. The other arm rested lazily on his scrunched-up knee. His dark locks slid down over his face, masking the already darkened features, but I could see the cruel curling of his lips through the dusky haze.

He slipped from his perch with feline grace, liquidly gliding down to all fours. His back arched as he leisurely crawled towards me, his fiery eyes peaking dangerously out of the curtains of black tresses. My breath caught in my throat and my muscles stiffened. His eyes held mine as I pressed my back against the earth insides of the tree, caught like a mouse at the mercy of a cat.

As he neared me his arms snaked out, placing themselves on either side of my body, trapping me. My breath came out in short gasps as he towered above my suddenly small, quaking frame. He bent his upper half over me, forcing me to slide down the wall to keep from touching him. "You are my hostage," whispered out of his lips before he licked them like a hungry animal. I couldn't think, but, faintly in the background, I could hear the ticking of a clock. He heard it too.

His head jerked up and his torso twisted, the toned abdominal muscles rippling under his skin. He slipped away with the same fluid grace used to come towards me. Cautiously he poked his head out of the alcove, silently searching for the source of the noise.

The boy thrust back from the opening and scrambled back to where I sat, anxiously watching. His hand clamped over my mouth as I opened it to ask him a question. He shook his head furiously and motioned me to be silent.

The ticking pulsated nearer. The boy stiffened, released my mouth, and wrapped his body around me, shielding me from the opening. His head pressed against my hair, and his heart pounding in my ear, and against my chest. A shiver racked his slender form. He was frightened. My heart raced. It lagged an agonizing beat before synchronizing with the pulsing rhythm his heart thrummed against my chest.

As we pressed together the darkness consumed us and the ticking crept forward, our hearts humming together. A tickling sensation shivered across my back. With the boy's hands pressed firmly against my shoulders, I couldn't comprehend what it was. The tickle worked its way from the small of my back, inching up my spine, until it came in contact with the boy's hand.

His hand jerked slightly and the tickle slid down to where my disheveled, dirt-smeared shirt had been pulled out of the grey skirt. Several thick, hairy legs tried to gain back the leverage of my shirt, scuttling up my naked flesh. My back arched, desperate to escape the creature, pressing into the boy as his hand snaked around to clamp down over my mouth, stifling the screech that threatened to call the ticking evil. His free hand slipped around my back, grabbing the creature by its hairy legs. In a swell of muscle, the boy hurled a spider the size of a small cat out of the opening that cut into the tree. I watched it disappear in the glow of the sun's setting blaze. The snapping of twigs and branches followed its wake, echoing through the abrupt silent. We sat in the muted forest, eerily empty of the sound of life, holding each other tightly, listening for the sound that made his skin crawl.

There, scuttling around under the tree's great branches, the ticking circled us. Its rhythmic beating lagged a beat, synchronizing with the steady pounding in my ear, against my chest. The sound of ripping bark followed the creature's path up the tree. The boy released a stunted breath. His hand nervously, gently ran through my hair. I peeked over the boy's pale shoulder. His grip tightened but I could see it. I could see the creature.

It hardly seemed something to be afraid of. The creature looked like a cymbal monkey, albeit without the cymbals. The monkey, assuming it was a monkey, had a long face, bright yellow eyes, and large, protruding lips. Those lips stretched back, tight against the rows of pointed canines the filled its mouth. It raised one human-like hand to pick at one of the teeth, using the elongated, barbed nail like a toothpick. Below the shoulders, where a stomach might have been, sat an antique clock, its pendulum chiming in rhythm with the ticking noise that echoed in the tree.

Its yellow eyes glittered as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon. They roamed up the boy's back before meeting my stare. It grinned maliciously, sharp teeth clicking, and let out a shrieking cry that sounded like several alarms chiming at once. Our hands flew to our ears, trying to block out the blaring noise, to no avail. The boy shuffled around to look at the creature as it beat out eardrums to pulp.

It raised its clawed hands in tight fists and thrashed them through the air in aggravated swipes. Its small, slit-like noise flared, taking in the sent of the two beings in front of it. I screamed at it, a shrill cry of fear and anger. The noise stopped. The hoarse end of my scream echoed through the small space as the creature stared at me. It whined, the rounded ears plastering back against its skull. It beat the clawed fists on the ground before growling and slinking back to the opening. It looked back once, glaring as it's mechanical stomach ticked in tune with our hearts, then slithered out the opening.

The boy heaved a sigh, sliding down the side of the tree with fatigue. He sat for a moment, eyes closed, taking deep breaths before sinking to the ground, head resting on his arms. His knees curled to his chest, and he spoke one word, "sleep." Exhausted, my heart gently easing its' traumatic flight, I collapsed into a heap beside him. Seeking comfort from the darkness that overwhelmed the forested view, I scarcely pressed my back against the nakedness of his back. He responded by relaxing against me, the full weight of his lithe, muscled body a solid brace.

Hey everyone! Thanks for coming back for more. Please, I had some trouble with this one, because I was unsure as to weather or not to put in the monkey creature in yet, and it almost seems stupid. It will be explained later, about why it left and all, but I'm still unhappy with it. Also, do you think the relationship between the boy and Gwen is hokey? Thanks for the feedback. PLEASE REVIEW!