Charlie Bone and the Library of Fantasy

Chapter Eleven: Coming together

"Livvy!" Fidelio and Gabriel yelled as Olivia began to fall like a rag doll in the wind.

Olivia grabbed onto the string of clothes, or their life line, giggling madly.

Fidelio, Gabriel and Olivia had steadily been abseiling down the castle on the string of clothes for about half an hour. Of course, they didn't have harnesses, so one could say that it was a tad bit dangerous. Just a tad.

Olivia certainly didn't make Fidelio or Gabriel feel any easier in this situation. She was teasing them by purposely letting go of the string of clothes, letting herself fall for a bit and then grabbing the string of clothes, almost killing herself each time.

They were still very high up; if they fell to the ground, to be blunt, they'd die.

After a few seconds, the three continued their gradual descent; Gabriel muttering "We're all gonna die" over and over and Fidelio muttering "And I thought war was hell".

"Wheeeeeeeee!" Olivia said, swinging on the string of clothes, wildly, dangerously.

The boys started yelling, fearing for their lives. They were quite a sight to see; three teens/preteens swinging around on a string of clothes, halfway down a castle.

Olivia soon stopped her swinging.

"I think I'm delirious…how delightful!"

"I think you're nuts!"

"Ooh, what type?"

"Who cares!"

"I do! I don't want you to think I'm a cashew…I hate them…and I'm not the nuts in you two's pants, that's for sure!" Olivia giggled.

Fidelio and Gabriel turned red.

"Olivia! Get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Don't you mean out of you two's pants?" Olivia giggled again.

"OLIVIA!" the boys yelled at her.

She just continued to giggle, eyes wide.

"Hey, Gabe" Fidelio yelled up to Gabriel.

"Yeah?"

"Remind me to NEVER give Olivia sugar, again!"

"After this experience is over, I doubt you'll need reminding!"

"If we live, that is." Fidelio corrected him.

On the ground, Charlie, Tancred and Lysander (and the baby bear clinging onto his shirt, of course) looked up.

Tancred whistled.

"Wow, this castle sure is big."

"Yeah, if someone fell off the top of this, they'd go-" Lysander began.

"Splat."

"Nicely put, Charlie."

"Thanks."

Charlie squinted at the castle.

"Hey, is it just me, or is there three figures abseiling down the castle that look a lot like Livvy, Fido and Gabe?"

"It's not just you." Tancred said, squinting, "Shizit! They ARE Livvy, Fido and Gabe!"

They gasped as they saw the string of clothes, that their friends were holding onto, swing wildly from side to side.

The trio ran over to the wall that their friends were abseiling down.

"Stop! Don't Move! Hold on! Don't let go!" they called up to them.

All Olivia heard was: Stop! Don't hold on! Let go!

She grinned.

"Okay" she said, letting go.

"NO!" The boys all screamed.

The baby bear restricted Lysander's movement, but Charlie and Tancred ran forward arms outstretched.

Olivia seemed to be dropping in slow motion. Charlie and Tancred ran around in circles, trying to target the spot where they could catch her. They accidentally ran into each other, knocking each other on their heads. Since they were running at the time, they knocked each other out.

Olivia landed, but she was nicely cushioned by Tancred and Charlie's unconscious bodies.

She giggled madly.

Lysander looked up to Fidelio and Gabriel.

"What the HELL did you guys give her?"

Fidelio smiled, sheepishly.

"Whatever. Just get down here, now." Lysander sighed in frustration.

"And how do you expect us to do THAT?" The two boys yelled back down.

"Jump, like she did." Lysander said, indicating to Olivia.

The two boys gave Lysander a look of disbelief.

"Are you joking?" Fidelio called down.

"Because if you are, it's not funny." Gabriel also called down.

"I'm not joking. Jump."

"WE'LL DIE, YOU IDIOT!"

"No you won't. She lived." Lysander indicated to Olivia again.

The two boys continued to stare.

Olivia got off Charlie and Tancred, who were still unconscious, and began climbing up the castle wall to Fidelio and Gabriel at alarming speed.

"You know, she's not a bad climber." Lysander muttered, "But then again, that might just be the sugar…"

Olivia was now next to the string of clothes and just above Fidelio (who was further up than Gabriel). She took a pair of scissors out of her pocket and quickly snipped at the string of clothes. Lysander watched in horror. Before the boys had time to react to any of this, Fidelio and Gabriel were screaming, plunging to their deaths.

But death never came.

They, too, landed on top of the unconscious Tancred and Charlie. Lysander sighed in relief. Fidelio and Gabriel moaned. They were bruised from the fall, unlike Olivia.

The two boys glared up at Olivia, who was giggling madly. She jumped. They screamed.

She landed on the two (or four if you count Charlie and Tancred), effectively knocking the wind out of them and knocking them unconscious.

Olivia got off the four boys and spun in circles giggling madly. The sugar finally wore off and she fell asleep from exhaustion.

Lysander looked at the five unconscious bodies on the ground. The baby bear woke up and started making loud, bear noises, growling and fiddling, swearing profusely. He wasn't happy.

"MAMA!" the baby bear screamed.

Lysander sighed.

"I hate my life."