SC: Okay, I've got most of my chapter outline for this story redone, but I haven't even started on the one for the prequel to 'To Walk Among the Dead' that I've been planning. Actually, I don't know if I'm going to do that one. If you guys REALLY want it, I'll do it. But otherwise I won't.

Disclaimer: …

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Chapter 12

It took a couple of minutes, but soon Sally had all three of us down. I sat back and watched Barrel carry Aubrey over, trying to work some feeling back into my hands as I did. He set her down carefully, she winced anyway, and then came and sat on my other side. "Are you two all right?" Sally asked us.

I nodded. "My hands are asleep, but otherwise yeah."

Barrel nodded, touching the cut on his forehead softly. "This doesn't hurt; head wounds always bleed a lot." I smirked a little. He would know, as often as he trips and cracks his head open on those stairs.

Turning to Aubrey, I held my hands out. "Let me see your back." She nodded and scooted around so she was facing away from me. I nearly gagged at the sight of the damage that had been done; not only were her wings gone, but Vanessa had missed a few times, and the skin above both of Aubrey's shoulder blades was gone, barely covered by the torn cloth of her shirt. I closed my eyes and put my hands on her back, actually gagging as my hands pressed against the blood-soaked skin. "Laeh." I muttered.

Opening my eyes, I saw that the bloodied stump ends had new skin on them, and the wounds above them were gone. "Good, now your chest."

Aubrey smiled at me. "It's good too. You got 'em with one spell this time." She held out her wrists to show the cuts there gone as well. Sally knelt down next to me, needle in hand. She went to work on sewing up what she could of Aubrey's shirt while we talked.

"Now what do we do?" Barrel asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I mean, I guess we have to save Lock again, right?"

I chuckled as I cleaned off my hands. "He does always seem to be the one who gets hypnotized, doesn't he?"

"The dangers of dating me." Aubrey muttered.

Barrel and I glanced at each other. We recognized that tone; it was the 'this-is-all-my-fault' tone. Sally broke the thread she was using off, done. "Aubrey, this isn't your fault."

"Yeah, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." I told her. "I'm the one who helped pressure you into going back to the graveyard with me and Sandy."

Barrel sighed and looked at the ground. "Lock's gonna be SO mad at me when we snap him out of it."

Aubrey and I both looked at him. "Why?"

"Because the only reason I came is because he wanted me to keep an eye on Aubrey." She blushed a little, but there was a small smile on her face.

It faded, though, in a matter of seconds. "I should've listened when he told me something was wrong with Sandy." She mumbled. She suddenly seemed to remember something and looked up at Sally. "Mom, where's dad?"

Sally shook her head. "I don't know. Raphael did something to him. He's down here… somewhere."

Barrel groaned. "Great. If this guy can take down Jack, what the heck can we do?"

Again, Sally shook her head. "No, he couldn't. He used me as leverage to get Jack to surrender."

I nodded. "So if we can find Jack, we have a chance." I snapped my fingers and an orb of light appeared in front of my face. "Dnif Jack." It started to fly off, hovering at the door for someone to follow. "It's a tracker spell." I explained to Sally. "It'll lead you straight to Jack. He should be able to conjure one up to find us again." She nodded and stood up, following the floating orb out the door.

"What about us?" Aubrey asked.

I paused. "We need to find a way to help Lock, so we need a more powerful spell."

After a moment, Aubrey nodded in realization. "A spell to find a spell." I nodded and held out my hands. She took them. "Do you remember the words?"

"Well enough." I replied, closing my eyes. "Do you?"

"I think so." I heard her take a breath. "Ready?"

I nodded, even though she couldn't see me. "Wohs em eht yaw ot taht hcihw I tnaw ot dnif." We chanted in unison. Light flared through my closed eyelids, and when I opened them, there was an orb about the size of my fist glowing bright red in between my face and Aubrey's.

"You've gotta love advanced magic." I laughed, standing. After pulling Aubrey up, I laid a hand on the orb. "Find a way to break the spell on Lock."

The orb paused for a moment, and then floated out the doorway. "C'mon Barrel!" I yelled, running after it. I heard him scramble up and run out after Aubrey and me.

"Are you sure this will work?" He asked.

"Nope, this is the first time we've tried." Aubrey confessed. "But it worked when Ms. Aurelius did it."

"Then why did both of you have to do it?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because finding an inanimate object, like a spell book, is harder than finding a person."

Aubrey nodded. "If someone inexperienced tried to cast that spell on their own, they could drain all their magic away. It was just a precautionary measure." She added after a moment.

The orb led us up several sets of stairs and ended up backtracking about four times because of dead ends. Hey, even magic has its faults. Finally, it began to grow lighter, and the three of us could finally see again as we left the dark, torch-lit corridors. It led us down three twisting hallways, no dead ends this time, and we were about to turn down another one when Aubrey stopped us.

I grabbed the orb and pulled it close to my chest to dim the crimson glow as footsteps neared us. A voice followed soon after, passing to close for comfort but not noticing our presence. I recognized the girl, sort of, as the one who'd grabbed me when we were ambushed. "She's playing in the throne room again. Raphael's got to keep her on a tighter leash or something, especially with her new 'boyfriend' around." The girl shook her head. "God this is fucked up. Vanessa, ordering US around. Never thought I'd see the day I was getting bossed around by a fucking teenager… well, we don't want to keep her royal pain in the ass waiting. Come on Jacob."

Aubrey looked at me desperately. I knew that she wanted me to say it was okay for her to follow them, but… I wasn't supposed to be the leader! That was Lock's job.

Oh. Right. Lock's not here. So why am I next in line to be in charge?!

'Well it could be the fact that you always tried to undermine Lock's authority.' I thought to myself bitterly. I sighed inwardly. "Go."

She smiled at me before turning and running after them, her bare feet soundless on the carpeted floor. I let go of the orb and it continued to float ahead of us.

Several hallways and a few close calls with the guards later, it finally stopped in front of a blank wall and didn't move. I let out some very colorful curses before kicking the wall. This was stupid and only resulted in me hurting my foot. Barrel, however, seemed to think the wall was extremely interesting. "What are you doing you idiot?" I asked from the floor.

"There's something behind this wall." He muttered, his hands roaming over the bricks. He paused, then pushed the one the orb was floating over. It slid in under his touch and the wall moved away. He grinned at me. "Told you." He offered me his hand.

I took it and let him help me up. We walked though the door and it slid shut behind us. "Where are we?" Lights flared at my words, momentarily blinding me. When my eyes adjusted, I saw rows and rows of books.

Barrel grinned at me. "It's a library." The orb whizzed past his ear, flying through the shelves of books.

I realized that my hand was still in Barrel's and pulled it out, fighting off the blush rising to my cheeks. "Don't just stand there, stupid. It's still looking for the counter spell!" I ran off after it, letting Barrel catch up to me.

xXx

I followed behind the two silently. The girl had been there when Sandy, or whatever that thing was, had captured me. Which meant the guy must have been too, because there was no way that the girl or Sandy could've carried me or Shock and Barrel. I was so caught up in her thoughts, I barely noticed as they stopped, and I ducked around a corner to avoid being spotted.

A door creaked open and footsteps started and stopped. I peered around the corner, listening. "You're late." I winced. That was the voice from earlier, the person who'd cut off my wings.

"It's a big castle. What do you want?"

"Where's my dad?"

"Busy."

"Where is he?"

"…I can't tell you that."

A crash. "I want to see him."

"He said he'd come and see you when he was finished."

Silence for a few minutes. "Fine. You can leave." I went back around the corner, pressing my back against the wall. The two passed by me without so much as a pause and I let out a silent sigh of relief. I slipped over to the doors. I looked in through the crack between the wood, thankful that the doors weren't completely shut.

"Calm down Vanessa." Lock's voice floated from out of my range of sight. "Cay said he'd come see you once he's done, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but she'll say anything to make me shut up." My eyes widened as I saw the girl that the voice belonged to. Barrel was right; this girl looked exactly like me except that her hair was longer and black, and she had a thing for sluttish minis. She was sitting on the throne dad had been sitting in earlier, her legs draped over one of the armrests and her back against the other. Black leather boots reached up to her knees, and patterns of red swirled over her black dress like blood.

Lock finally walked into my line of view. "Well, then go look for him in a little while."

I heard footsteps behind me but didn't move fast enough to stop the hand that had grabbed my arm from pulling me up. A webbed hand covered my mouth. "What are you doing here?!" Cay hissed. "Damn it, if Vanessa finds you-"

"Cay?" The girl, Vanessa, called. "Is that you?"

She bit her lip and looked down at me. "I'm really sorry about this." She shoved the door open and dragged me inside. "Yeah, it's me. And look I found outside."

Vanessa smiled down at me, her black eyes flashing dangerously. 'A puppet spell?' I thought, remembering the effects of the one Shock had cast on Lock. 'No, her eyes aren't totally black.'

"You can leave." Vanessa dismissed Cay. I watched her over my shoulder. She stopped at the door, casting me an almost apologetic look before walking out and shutting the large door behind her. I turned my attention back to my… twin. "Well, well, well. How in the world did you get out?"

I stayed silent.

Her eyes narrowed. "I asked you a question!"

"Go to hell." I spat.

She smiled at me with a sickeningly fake innocent sweetness. "Aw, are you still bitter about your wings little sister?"

I growled, my lips curling back into a snarl. "I'll kill you!" I lunged at her, only to fall to the floor in an ungracious heap as Lock's fist slammed into my stomach. I clutched my abdomen, fighting for the air to speak. "L-Lock…" I looked up at him, a tear rolling down my cheek. I scanned his face for anything, anything that would show that he felt bad, that he recognized me.

Nothing. Not so much as a flicker. I let my head drop, preferring for my tears to fall on the floor than be watched by that bitch on the throne.

xXx

Sally stumbled over a loose stone as she followed the tracker spell Shock had cast. She'd been walking for what seemed to be forever through the dark halls. She sped up a little as the tracker did. It had only led her down deeper into the dungeons, where even the torches were gone. But the little orb's white light was bright enough to illuminate the corridors considerably.

Abruptly it turned. Sally did as well, and it put her in a rounded room much like the one she'd found Shock, Barrel, and Aubrey in. But she didn't see anything; no doors, no other halls, and certainly no Jack. Then something in the corner caught her eye, standing out against the dark stone. Walking over, she picked it up. After a moment of examination, Sally realized what she was holding and her eyes widened. It was one of Jack's fingers. Spinning around, she saw the rest of Jack's bones scattered about the room. Looking around she located his skull sitting in a corner, its eyes closed. Well, most of his skull at least. His jawbone was missing.

She ran over and picked it up, shaking it gently. "Jack…" She whispered. The empty sockets snapped open. She smiled. "Don't worry; I'm going to put you back together." Glancing around, she spotted his jaw and picked it up, placing it back in its rightful spot.

"How did you get down here?" Jack asked.

Sally smiled at him again. "Having detachable parts comes in handy sometimes." She sat down, holding his skull in her hands. "Did Raphael do this?"

Jack looked solemn. "Yes. He tore me to pieces, and then threw me down here. I was so worried about you Sally."

Sally kissed his cheek. "You don't have to worry now."

"My chest's over there." Jack motioned with a struggled nod to the opposite corner of the room. Sally turned to see that indeed, Jack's torso was sitting there, his pinstriped shirt still on it. She walked over and placed his head back on his neck.

"Better?" She asked.

Jack rolled his head around a couple of times. "Much." Sally nodded and began to pick up his pieces and put them back together.

Within fifteen minutes, Sally had reassembled both of Jack's arms, save his left hand, and had started putting that back together. "Sally?"

She looked up from pushing his ring finger back in its socket. "Yes Jack?"

"Thank you." She smiled at him and went back to piecing him back together.

Ten minutes later, Jack was back on his feet. He bent down and grabbed the last of the four ribs Raphael had broken out of spite and slid it under his shirt. He flinched a little as he felt it mend back into place. "Good as new." He proclaimed, doing a little twirl to prove it. "Whoops!" He cried, falling over. Sally caught him, standing him upright. If Jack had skin, it would've been red. "Thanks."

Sally shook her head, smiling still. "Not a problem."

Jack smiled down at her before getting serious. "Let's go." He laid a bony hand on the tracker and muttered a few words under his breath. After a moment of deliberation, it flew out of the room. Jack bent down and scooped Sally up in his arms before running after it.

xXx

Vanessa chuckled as Aubrey laid on the floor, tears trickling down her face. Her face lit up as her fingers played with the handle of the dagger still in her boot. She pulled it out, examining the bright blade. The blood that should've stained the steel was gone, wiped away by some unseen force. 'We'll have to fix that.' Vanessa thought with a chuckle. "Don't worry Aubrey. You won't have to worry about anything in… a…" She trailed off, her eyes traveling from the heap that was her sister on the floor to the boy whose feet the heap was lying at.

"Lock, come here." Vanessa crooned. He looked down at Aubrey once before walking over.

"What?"

Vanessa grabbed his wrist and placed the dagger's handle in Lock's hand and closed his fingers around it. "Do me a favor and take care of that problem, would you?" She asked sweetly, smiling at him.

Lock looked down at the gleaming blade in his hand. "Sure."

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SC: Okay, I've figured out that the freaking mail system isn't working, and I can't figure out how to complain to the administrators. (Is this happening to anyone else?) So, if you guys review, I won't be able to find out until I check the page. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Please, please, PLEASE review.

Ja ne
SC