Oh, come on. I know you guys can review more than that! Enjoy. This chapter is really what starts to form the plot. I like it quite a bit, if I do say so myself. I managed to make it much longer than my chapters usually are. Enjoy!

.I own nothing.

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"Oh, look. There you are my dearest step-sister. Are you ready to have oodles of fun at the Crusty Carnival?" Casey heard Derek's annoying voice as he walked up behind her and draped an arm around her shoulder, from where they were waiting for George and Nora to pick them up from school.

"Oh, yeah," She said, politely brushing his arm away. "Oodles."

"But once we get there, I can officially call it the Crusty and Casey Carnival. Or maybe I'll leave out the and, and just make it the Crusty Casey." Derek sighed.

"Oh, aren't we clever?"

"Of course we are. It's me you're dealing with." Derek said smugly.

Casey glared at Derek for a moment, to which he responded with a smirk.

Casey tried to remain calm and quiet as Derek hummed that song by the Pussycat Dolls, and let himself slip with a murmured, 'Dontcha' wish your boyfriend was hot like me' as they waited. Thankfully the family ride pulled up not long after Derek started his humming, so Casey was able to control herself from stabbing him in the eyes with something sharp.

"Hey you guys, ready for oodles of fun at the carnival?" George asked, when he rolled down the window, looking at them. Derek raised an eyebrow and glanced knowingly at Casey and then opened the door, motioning for Casey to get in. She stepped forward, but Derek ducked into the car first, sliding in next to Edwin. Casey sneered at him, and then got in too.

"Lizzie get over here." Casey said at the soonest stop light after they had started. They hadn't even gotten to the carnival and her nerves were already shot. Marti was talking non stop about her day, and her imaginary friend's imaginary friend. Yes, Marti's made up people made up their own people as well. And since she was caught in between the door and Derek she wanted to scream. Being seated next to him was bad enough, but being trapped next to him where he was still humming that stupid song under his breath was ten times worse.

"Why?" Lizzie asked, who was seated on the other end of the seat in between the door and Marti.

"Just climb over and sit next to me." Casey said with growing impatience.

Lizzie sighed as she unbuckled and began to try to wiggle her way over to Casey. Neither George or Nora said anything about not doing it because it was a normal occurrence.

"Maybe next time you could move around before we even start driving." Edwin whined when Lizzie accidentally palmed him in the gut. Lizzie glared at him which caused him to say, "Or-or some other words..." and looked away, as Lizzie continued to climb over bodies until she successfully smashed herself between Derek and Casey.

"Aw, is Casey tired of me? I thought we were getting along." Derek said.

"In your dreams." Casey said.

"No, in my dreams, we don't get along. We just get you along over a cliff."

"Can you guys just try to act civil? Some people in this car actually want to have a nice family-fun time at the carnival." George said from the driver's seat.

"Oh, I'm sure we can muster up some civil-ness." Derek smirked over Lizzie toward Casey.

Casey sighed, leaning her head against the window. Lizzie may have become a barrier between her and Derek, but she could still hear him humming.

--

"Okay, so why don't we all start heading toward the little store-stands?" Nora suggested.

The MacDonald/Venturi clan was in the parking lot outside of the carnival.

Casey looked at the front of the place warily. In all truth, it look pretty ramshackle, and cheap. All in all, questionable. There was a large wooden sign that had been hung up over the entry way. It looked old. And not the fake old either, but old as in the paint was faded and chipping, and everywhere the carnival went the sign was carelessly tossed into the back of a caravan.

"But I want to go to the ferris wheel." Edwin said.

"Me too." Lizzie joined.

"Petting zoo, petting zoo, petting zoo!" Marti squealed.

Nora looked at George and sighed.

"We figured as much. Okay, Lizzie, Edwin, you can go to the ferris wheel, and anywhere else you decide to go, George and I will go to the booths, and Casey and Derek, you both take Marti to the petting zoo. We'll meet back in front of the carnival at 7:30, okay?" Nora said.

Lizzie and Edwin nodded, fine with the plan, but of course, Casey and Derek had some complaints.

"Why both of us?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, Derek and I will probably ruin Marti's time, having to stay together." Casey suggested.

George shook his head. "You both will take Marti. And if we find that one of you ditched, there will be consequences. Marti, you keep them together."

Marti nodded. "Yes sir!" she giggled.

Casey sighed as she walked into the carnival, Marti at her side, and Derek at her other side.

"If Marti wants to go on any rides, then you better be prepared to go with her." Derek said.

"Why? Are you afraid of heights or something?" Casey sneered.

" A) Marti probably isn't tall enough to go on the mini water boats, let alone a ride with heights, and B) No, I am not afraid of heights. I would just prefer to stay and have a moment away from you."

"Then why wouldn't you go with Marti. That would be a way away from me."

"Yes, but I could make better use of not being on a ride." Derek said.

"How is that?"

"People would actually talk to me, and I wouldn't just be sitting there until the ride was over."

"But you-"

"Both of you would have to come with me! I'm not aloud to let either of you be apart, remember?" Marti said.

"Marti-"

"And anyway, I don't want to go on any rides so just take me to the petting zoo!" Marti demanded.

Casey sighed and took Marti's hand. "Okay, come on. Derek?" She looked at him, eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go. Whatever." Derek said, taking Marti's other hand.

After a few minutes of walking through a surprisingly thick crowd, they stopped and looked around.

Casey turned and scrunched up her nose. "Well, we must be close, with that smell."

"That's just you, Casey." Derek said without even glancing at her, and instead continuing to look at their surroundings to try and spot the petting zoo.

Casey shook her head, and shrugged, choosing not to start another pointless fight.

"Guess I walked right into that one." she sighed, mostly to herself, but Derek heard, and look at her questionably.

"What, no scathing come back?"

"Derek, let's just find the petting zoo." She said. Derek noticed for the first time how incredibly worn out she looked.

Instead of continuing, like he normally would, her decided to drop it. The sullen look on her face was something he only just noticed, but he knew it had probably been there longer, so he just decided to drop it. Even though he thought it odd. He usually wouldn't care. But he was probably just tired, saving his energy for bigger and better "Bug Casey Missions". At least that's what he figured.

"There it is!" Marti squeaked pointing at a little tent, not too far from them.

"Let's get this over with." Derek said.

Once they approached the tent Casey took Marti's hand once again, and began to lead Marti in, but then she realized Derek wasn't with them. She turned and saw Derek idling at the entrance.

"Come on, Derek." Casey said.

"Um, no."

"Derek get in here." Casey demanded.

"I said no. I'll just sit this one out."

"What, do you see one of your fan club members, and you want to try and score?"

"No. I just don't want to go in." Derek said.

"Smerek, come on! I can't leave you guys apart!" Marti said.

"Um, Smarti, you remember the last petting zoo we were at. I don't want a repeat." Derek murmured.

"What are you talking about?" Casey asked.

Marti looked confused for a moment, but then her face lit up.

"Oh! You mean the time-"

"Marti, we don't have to talk about it." Derek said, pleadingly.

"No, Marti, I think you should tell me. We may not be able to get Derek to come inside with us, if I don't know what's going on. And then we may not be able to go inside, because Derek and I aren't supposed to be separated." Casey said to Marti, but smirked at Derek.

Marti's eyes widened at hearing this.

"Marti, please don't-"

"Oh, Derek almost got eaten by the goat at the last petting zoo, and now he's afraid, because when he ran, it chased him until it had ripped off half of his shirt. It escaped from it's pen to follow him, and everything!" Marti said before bursting into a fit of giggles, which soon infected Casey, until both girls were laughing uncontrollably while Derek simply glared a look of annoyance.

Once Casey and Marti had stopped laughing Derek stood up straight.

"I wasn't afraid of the goat, and I'm not afraid now." Derek said, before stepping past the girls and into the tent.

The girls looked at each other knowingly before following Derek inside.

Five minutes later, they were stepping out behind Derek, once again laughing uncontrollably. Derek had run about fifteen feet away from the tent, and was jumping up and down. He had stopped screaming, but he had been when a goat had taken the first bite of his shirt. After that, he had bolted.

Casey and Marti walked toward Derek, who had slightly calmed down.

"Shut up." Derek said to Casey, who was stifling a smile.

"What? I didn't say a thing." Casey said, innocently.

Derek glared at her. "Shut up." he repeated.

Casey chuckled a bit until she looked down to see Marti was no longer standing next to her.

"Derek, where's Marti?" she said, spinning around to look behind her.

"What?" Derek said, also beginning to look around.

"Marti?" Casey called out.

Marti!" Derek yelled.

"Oh, my God! Where is she?" Casey asked frantically.

The two spun around, looking in every direction for Marti. Just when she thought her heart was going to explode with fright, a large crowd moved out of the way, and Casey saw Marti standing in front of a tattered tent in a far corner.

"There she is." Casey said, before running in the direction.

She made her way to Marti, and bent down to scoop her into a hug. Derek was right behind her.

"Marti, don't do that! I was so scared." Casey said.

"I'm sorry." the little girl said.

Once Casey began to breath normally again, she looked at the tent in front of her. As if reading her mind, Derek spoke.

"This tent wasn't here before, was it?"

It was very worn, and though the colors were faded, they still looked magnificent. Blue, yellow, and the richest shade of green. Casey stood up to observe the tent better. Some loose material was blowing in the wind, and the tent was surrounded by dry grass, as if the tent had been there for a long time, and the grass had grown from under it. Casey looked around, and saw that they were the only ones really around the tent. It was as if it were forgotten. Like no one else could see it. Looking back up at the tent, she saw a sign written in old script.

Madame Rhiannon;

More than a psychic, more than an empath

Not for skeptics or those of hard hearts and closed minds

Since 1783

"I definitely would have remembered seeing this. And I didn't." Casey said.

"Well, it couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere. We must have missed it or something. This place is pretty crowded." Derek reasoned.

They looked at each other, and knew that they knew they hadn't seen the tent before.

"What does it mean, 1783?" Casey asked.

"Probably just an added attraction. You know, to add to the whole old and creepy theme." Derek said.

"Yeah, well it's definitely creepy, so can we go now?" Casey asked, her mind telling her to go, and now.

"Yeah- wait, Marti, come back here." Derek said, but Marti had already entered the tent.

'Damn it." Derek mumbled before starting into the tent, but Casey grabbed his arm first.

"I really don't want to go in there, Derek." Casey said, her eyes pleading to not make her go in.

Truth was, Derek felt the same way, and didn't want to go in. He looked at her softly, but then realized that it was Casey, and he melted into a mean cover.

"Suck it up, Casey." he said, before entering the tent. Looking at it once more, Casey paused before following him.

It was dim inside, and looked surprisingly larger than it looked from the outside. Multicolored scarves were draped over everything, and there was another entrance flap to go into. Not seeing Marti, they both continued through the flap, to find themselves in another large compartment of the tent. Candles' light flickered on the sides, casting eerie shadows everywhere. They looked around for a moment, and then they saw at the very back of the tent, was a table, and a woman sitting behind it. Marti was in front of her.

The woman was surprisingly young. Not the kind of person you would think to see in a tent like that. Instead of a hook nose, and many colored scarves and bangles, the young woman had delicate features, her long hair flowing over her shoulder in chocolate brown waves, deeply contrasting her light skin and green eyes.

"I was wondering when the two of you would come in." the young woman said. "My name is Madame Rhiannon." She bowed her head deeply.

"What does she mean, waiting for us to come in?" Casey whispered quietly at Derek. He shrugged.

"Come in, come in. Don't be shy. We both know you aren't the shy one, Mr. Venturi." Madame Rhiannon said.

Casey's eyebrow raised, and she looked over at Derek, whose mouth was open.

"Was she one of your one night flings or something?" Casey said. She should have guessed.

"No, I've never seen her before." Derek said.

"She knows things. She's special." Marti said, turning and smiling.

Rhiannon smiled back. "As are you, young Marti."

"Um, what is this?" Derek asked.

"Shh." Madame Rhiannon whispered.

She raised her hand and looked at the face of her palm. She stared intently, as if it were her crystal ball.

Casey and Derek looked at each other warily.

"You, young Marti, are special. Still growing, though able to sense. You sensed me as I sensed you. For one of such youth, your aura is strong. Use it to advantage, use it for good." Rhiannon said.

"What kind of joke is this?" Casey said.

"It's not a joke, Casey." Rhiannon said. "It's very much a truth in a reality. And who is now next? I believe it doesn't matter who it is. I foresee that both of your paths are intertwined with each others. Whatever I'm told for you, it will be the same for both. Whatever is ahead, is for you to conquer together."

"What are you talking about?" Derek asked.

"I am talking about a journey. A journey the two of you will embark on soon. Together. It is not the easiest journey. It will put you both in jeopardy, leaving you to rely on each other in hopes of surviving. The bonds you lack now will grow, and stronger than you imagine, bringing you to a place together I doubt either of you ever foresaw each other to be in."

"This is a bunch of crap. Let's get out of here, she's just trying to scare us." Derek shook his head turning. Casey stepped forward and took Marti's hand and began to follow Derek.

"Take heed, Casey and Derek. You need to." Rhiannon said.

Derek stormed out, Casey following close behind with Marti.

"You should listen to her." Marti whispered.

Derek ignored his youngest sister.

"Derek-"

"She was just trying to freak us out, Casey. Forget about it."

"Then how'd she know our names?" Casey whispered.

Derek stopped walking, slightly faltering on his words.

"Um, Marti must have told her." Derek concluded.

Both Casey and Derek looked down at the small girl, but she shook her head no.

Derek began walking again, shaking his head.

"She must have told her." Derek murmured.

But, even though they didn't want to admit it, they knew Marti hadn't told Madame Rhiannon a thing.

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I need my FEEDBACK MONKEYS! ...lol, sorry.

Review, loves.

-Tarryn