CHAPTER 10

They all walked into the mall. Vanessa, Catty, Jimena, Sammy, Serena, and Stanton (Serena forced him to go) walked around looking at the displays. (Stanton wasn't looking. He doesn't like malls. They're too mortally) "Let's go in here!" Vanessa said walking into Hollister. They all walked in except Stanton. "Come on Stanton! You're not gonna die! You can even die!" Serena said pulling his arm. "Going to the mall was bad enough, but walking into Hollister? That's prep heaven!" Stanton said. Serena tilted her head and pouted. Stanton sighed and walked behind her. He could never say no to her when she does the puppy face pout. "Hey, look who joined us." Jimena said. Stanton sighed, turned around, and started walking to the door.

"Jimena! I just got him to come in here!"

Jimena turned to go with Vanessa, Catty, and Sammy and started laughing. Serena remembered that Stanton can become a shadow and he could already be gone. Sammy looked at Serena as she ran out of the store and looked around. She didn't see anything and she started running for the entrance. When she got out, almost all the cars were gone. The darkness gave the street an eerie feeling. She walked about 2 blocks when she heard rustling and footsteps. Her instinct told her to run, so she turned around and started running back to the mall. She kept running until she tripped over a crack in the floor. Her ankle twisted and she sprained it. She tried to look at it but she couldn't see anything. She took

her hand and touched it. It started stinging and she felt blood and found that a twig cut it. She got up, and looked around. She kept wobbling because of her ankle. She suddenly became surrounded by shadows.

Serena turned around and tried to run, but she fell back down.

"hehe, look's like the goddess is a sitting duck." Serena looked up and saw Tymmie and Kelly. They started laughing and picked her up from under her arms. She tried to kick and punch but everytime she tried, they held her tighter. She just gave up when she had no more strength. They stopped and stood for a while. Serena lifted her head and looked up. She saw Tymmie and Kelly staring at the sky. Catty told her what they were doing. She and Kyle had to do the same thing. They were looking at a star. It was called "the demon's eye". They had to wait until it "blinks". It only means one thing. They were going to Nefandus. Tymmie and Kelly held Serena tighter and started running. Serena looked in front of her and saw an unhappy place.

There wasn't a moon, or anything that a daughter of the moon would like or feel comfortable with. She looked at her moon necklace and she saw that her necklace was glowing as bright as the sun. She tried to reach for comfort, but she couldn't. They entered a dark and damp building and threw Serena into a dungeon. Her head hit the wall and she felt her head throbbing with pain. She grasped her head and felt that her head was cracked open. She grabbed a small hole in the wall and she tried to get up. After she fell down 3 times, she finally was able to stay on her feet. She heard the door open outside the room and then it closed. Serena backed into a corner and she saw a black figure on the other end of the room.

"Serena?"

Serena walked towards the little light that was in the building and whispered.

"Sammy?"

Serena watched as she saw Sammy walked up to the bars of the cell. "What happened? Your ankle is all cut up and oh my god! Your head! It's cracked opened!" Sammy said. "What you can see in this light? And how did you get here?" Serena asked. "Well, since you left the mall, I followed you. It didn't safe by the time we were outside, so I stayed close behind. I followed them into the world." Sammy said. "You're the one I heard?" "Yeah, sorry if I scared you. I was trying to tell you it was me, but it was too late." Sammy whispered."Sammy, um, can I ask you something?" Serena asked.

"Sure, what?"

"Can you get me?"

"Oh, sure, uh how?" Sammy asked shaking the bars.

"Uh, hello? You telepathic!" Serena whispered hoarsely.

"Oh, yeah" Sammy smiled sheepishly.

Sammy stepped back and stared at the bars. They started shaking and then they started bending. They bended wide enough for Serena can step through. Serena looked at Sammy and looked at her eyes. They were in slits just like a cat. "Sammy! Your eyes!" Serena gaped. Sammy raised her hand to her eyes. "What?" Sammy continued to look puzzled. "They're just like a cat! In slits!" Serena said rapidly. "That may explain why I can see in the dark." Sammy grimaced. Serena and Sammy walked out of the room and got out of the building. "Serena hide!" Sammy said pulling Serena behind trees and bushes. Serena looked up and saw Tymmie and Kelly were walking back to the building and Serena made sure to keep her mind blank. She nudged

Sammy and signaled her to do the same. As soon as Tymmie and Kelly were in the building, Sammy and Serena got up and ran despite the pain in her head and ankle. Sammy was dodging all of the trees and obstacles, but Serena was hitting all of the trees. She tripped on a root and her lip smashed into the ground, her hand smashed into the floor which made her nail to be torn away, and her knee fell on a sharp rock and pain bolted through her body.

"Come on!" Sammy yanked Serena to her feet.

Serena started running and hot tears fell down her cheeks from the pain in her body. I wish the other daughters were here too Serena thought. Her skirt was caught in a branch sticking out of the floor. "Come on! Kelly and Tymmie just found out you're missing!" Sammy said as she ripped Serena's skirt off the stick. They continued to run. "How do we get out?" Sammy cried.

Serena thought about how they got out of Nefandus. "Sammy! You have to use your power to split the dimension and open a door to our world. Sammy stopped and focused her power. The air around started to split, but it stopped. "I can't do it! I'm not strong enough!" Sammy cried. "Just focus hard enough!" Serena yelled.

"No time!"

Sammy pulled Serena and they started running again. Serena smacked against a tree and her nose started bleeding. Serena could hear faint footsteps behind her. Sammy pushed Serena into a bush and followed her in. "What-" Serena tried to ask. Sammy silenced her and pointed. There were a group of followers walking right where they were walking. Kelly and Tymmie ran into the group.

"Have you seen the goddess?"

"No, we've been walking for about an hour and we didn't see any daughters."

"Come on Tymmie, she probably didn't get this far, or maybe she went another way."

"You go back, and I'll go to the left."

Kelly and Tymmie left and the group of followers shook their head, "The Atrox isn't going to be very happy with Tymmie and Kelly about this."

They left and Sammy got up. Serena tried to but her shirt was stuck. Why does this keep happening to me? "You'll change shirts when you get home." Sammy said. She got the tip and yanked it. The shirt ripped and was free. "Get the piece that's hanging!" Sammy whispered rapidly. Serena grabbed the rest of her shirt dangling from the branch. They started running again. "Sammy try again!" Serena said desperately. Sammy stopped and focused again. The air started splitting and they didn't Nefandus anymore. It became all black. Suddenly, Sammy stopped and they were back in Los Angeles. "Sammy you did it!" Serena jumped gleefully. They were in the park. "Now where would everyone be?" Sammy asked. "They'll be in one of their houses thinking

on where we've could've gone." Serena said. She looked at her legs. They were all scratched up and her skirt and shirt were all ripped up. She looked at Sammy. Nothing was wrong with her. Her eyes went back to normal and she was only dirty from when they had to hide in the bush.

"Come on, let's start looking for them." Serena said starting out on Vanessa's house.