Lirael and Sam returned to find the House in near destruction. Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was the first word on Lirael's mind when she saw the kitchen.

"What... happened?!?" she asked, wondering just how long it had taken for her abode to go from more than decent to... drippy. Yes, drippy was certainly the word to describe it.

Various colors of jelly hung suspended from every imaginable surface. Even Nick, grinning innocently in the room's center, was covered in the sticky stuff.

"Well, you see, Alina was teething."

Lirael raised an eyebrow. Babies her age could cause a lot of damage, but nowhere near this much.

"I thought peanut butter would keep her busy." He laughed weakly. "And who likes peanut butter without jelly?" A glob fell from the tip of his nose and splattered on the wooden floor. "It was going fine. But the sendings wanted to help."

†††

Nick continued to explain how he and the wayward sending had all but wrestled over the jar, eventually causing it to burst and send its contents flying, but Millane didn't care. For the first time sincce her transformation, she was perfectly disguised. She smiled as Sam left the bell on a convenient counter so she could pick up his daughter. She didn't know what type of jelly could possibly be such a pale, sickly green color, but it provided the perfect cover as she crept closer to the instrument. At last, she was upon the bell. She grasped the handle, and made her escape with it. But she'd only gone a few tiny steps before the bell resized again, leaving her stranded as a jelly splotch on the slick silver.

†††

Sam straightened, Alina cradled over his shoulder, and reached for the bell again. Such things couldn't be left lying about. His hand closed over Millane and he jumped, nearly dropping the baby who'd begun to chew on a fold of his shirt. "Ugh! There's jelly on this! How-" He looked up, searching for the spot on the ceiling the jelly must have fallen form. Strangely, this area seemed to have entirely escaped form the rest of the room's doom. The only sticky stuff around was that under his fingers. It squished and spread to coat the underside of his whole hand. Sam grit his teeth and hoisted the bell, which had once again grown exponentially. He hated sticky things. This would have to be washed off with good, hot water. Sadly, the kitchen only had a cold tap. He'dhave to take it to a bedroom and wash it in the sulfuric water. Sam sighed, wishing there was a way he could get rid of the stickiness without that dreadful smell. Though not from lack of effort, he utterly failed to come up with a method before he reached the bedroom. He put the bell under the faucet, preparing himself for the scalding water that would hit his hand with just as much heat as it did the bell.

He jerked the bronze wheel and steam poured out. Of course, that was only the harbinger. The water came next, stinging his hand from two sides as the rubbed at the rapidly heating bell.

†††

This... was the ultimate torture. She was smothering, boiling, and being crushed, all at once. She had to keep this shape. She had to. If she flinched in the slightest, her face would show and the gigwould be up. Then the water hit, and she screamed.

†††

Sam scanned the room. The shriek had echoed off the walls, so whoever caused it must still be in the room. But nobody was there... Could the bell have made that sound? He jerked his head back towards it, whacking his nose on the handle in the process. And there, below his nose, was the jelly. Not only had it failed to come off, but Sam could have sworn that the spot had actually grown. Now that he looked at it closely, it didn't even look that much like jelly. And there, in the center, was something that very closely resembled a face. He peered closer still. Was that... it couldn't be. And yet, it was. Somehow, Millane had found her way into the house. He plucked her off the bell and held her close to his nose to assure himself that it was indeed her. He was as certain of thaat as he could ever be when she spit in his eye.

Sam dropped her to scrub it out, and when he opened his eyes, she was nowhere to be found. He overturned every loose article in the room before dashing into the hall. There, creeping under a door, was just the blobhe had in mind. He opened it, realizing just before he grabbed her that the door led to the kitchen. Had she gotten even an inch farther, he never would have found her amid all the other blobs. But now she was in his grasp, and he knew exactly where he wanted her.

After a good five minutes of breaking spells he'd laid himself years ago, Sam opened the door to the cellar. He pitched Millane into the waiting darkness and slammed the door.

"So," a deep voice called from the far corner of the cellar. "What are you in for?"