Hi, here's the next chapter for you (if there's someone out there who still reads this). You guys have gotten pretty lazy with your reviews! *pouts a bit* Please R&R again!

Chapter Twenty-six: Who Are You Talking To?

Previously on CYTMWIA:

The little boy turned around, his cute little face smiling up at him. He couldn't be older than five or six years.

"Hello," the kid replied. Alex took a step forward – and regretted it the second he saw the chubby hands ripping the teddy's head off.

Dream 2

"You wanna play with me?"

"Err… no, not really," Alex murmured as he started back-pedalling slowly.

The small boy gave him a devious smile. "But I wanna play with you!"

Suddenly, another wall appeared behind him. He was trapped.

The teen racked his brain to come up with a solution on how to get out of this one. "Okay... how about we play 'hide and seek'?"

The little one watched him with mistrustful eyes. "You wanna get rid of me?" he pouted.

"No!" Alex answered a little too fast. Then, getting himself together, he added, "I just... I don't wanna be found by this... Black Widow, you know?"

The boy seemed to contemplate this answer briefly before realisation hit him. "Oh! You mean the Sad Lady! Yeah, she isn't nearly as much fun as me!"

Somehow this declaration didn't calm Alex down in the slightest. "Oh really? Why not?" he asked, musing that he didn't really want to know.

The kid in front of him pouted. "She doesn't want to play! When I kill someone, I play with him first. But she doesn't! She's pretty mean, you know? She turns people into stone and then they can't play with me any more!"

"Oh yeah, she's pretty mean – if what you say is true," Alex replied getting more anxious by the second.

"Of course it's true! Come on, I show you something." And with that he grabbed the blond teenager's hand and dragged him with him.

After several minutes, they stopped in front of a stone figure.

"See that?" the kid asked. "That's her fault!"

Alex looked stunned at the stone figure. From what he could make out, it had once been a man in his early 40s.

However, after a few moments he straightened himself. He glanced at the kid beside him. The little devil spawn seemed to know a few things about this place and – more importantly - the other inmates. Maybe he could use this meeting to his advantage and gain some more information.

"You are right;" he admitted. "She's pretty mean. Are there more meanies here?"

The little boy beside him nodded eagerly. "Of course! The White Lady's really mean, too!"

'Who do you tell that?!' Alex thought dryly. "White Lady, huh? I think I know who you are talking about. I already met her."

"And you are still alive?" The small boy gaped at him. He sounded truly impressed.

"Yeah... barely," the teen answered. And then an idea hit him. "You know, I met someone else, too. Do you know a tall man with long blond curls?"

The little one scowled. "Yes, I know him! That's a really bad guy! He slapped me!"

Alex swallowed. "Memo to myself," he thought. "Never. Ever. Make. Dad. Mad!"

"That must have hurt!" he said sympathetically.

"It has!" the kid confirmed.

"Anyone else who slaps children?" Alex asked, curious.

Again the child nodded eagerly. "The breaker."

"Who?"

"The breaker," the boy repeated. "He likes to break people's bones."

The teenager grimaced. "Ouch!"

Thoughtfully, he looked at the kid in front of him. "If this place is so bad, then why are you still in here?"

The kid started crying. "I can't get out! These stupid big walls won't break! And the floors are endless. And if you aren't careful, the Minotaur comes to snatch you!"

That didn't sound good at all.

"So, there's a creature with a bull head running around here eating people?" Alex asked, remembering the Greek myth.

The little boy rubbed one chubby fist over his eyes in an effort to dry the tears. He would have been cute – if he hadn't told Alex about his killing spree!

Then again, after what he had just heard, Alex couldn't help but wonder if maybe in these circumstances that wasn't such a bad thing after all. Maybe the child had just tried to defend himself.

"I don't know, actually," the boy eventually came up with an answer. "Never saw him. Just heard about him."

"From whom?"

"The street girl told me. She's pretty fast, you know?"

Alex furrowed his brows. "How many people are stuck in here?"

"Lots and lots of people!" the kid exclaimed.

The teen raised one eye brow at him. "Could you be a bit more specific?"

The boy just shrugged. "Not really. I can't count that far yet."

Now that got Alex attention. "How old are you?"

The child raised one hand.

"You are five?"

The kid nodded.

Troubled, Alex pressed his lips together. "Then I guess you don't know how long you have been here already?"

He shook his head.

"What's your name?" the teen asked, getting concerned.

The black haired kid blinked up at him in confusion. "Don't know any more. I forgot it."

Alex became more uneasy by the second. The boy didn't know any more? How long does it take someone to forget his own name? "Sounds like you've been here for a very long time!"

Now that he looked closer at this little fellow, he realized that his clothes didn't fit in this century.

Again, the kid just shrugged. "There's no time in here. You'll see soon enough."

'Not if I have any say in it!' Alex thought, which brought him back to reason he was here. "I'd rather pay this big blond meanie who hurt you a little visit.

Two big brown eyes stared up at him. "Why? Did he hurt you, too?"

"Oh yeah," he replied, rubbing his upper arms. "He has a grip like an iron clamp." That wasn't even a lie. "I'd really like to express my discomfort. Question is, how can we find him?"

The boy shrugged.

"I've got an idea," Alex exclaimed after a few minutes. "This wall you made..."

"Yeah?"

"Can you make other things, too?"

"Of course I can! How do you think I got my teddy in the first place?" He waved the now headless teddy bear in front of his face.

Alex chose to ignore it. "How about you make a compass? You know, one which shows you in which direction all those meanies are? Think you can do that?"

The kid shrugged once more. "Can try it."

He concentrated and after a moment, a compass appeared in his hand. He gave it to Alex.

The teen looked impressed at the little thing in his hand. On the rim there were little pictures, each showing him another face. The compass had three needles; one of them you could move with a little wheel.

Alex guessed that with it you could choose the person you wanted to find. He looked at the pictures until he found the one of his father. Carefully, he fiddled with the wheel until one of the needles stood there. Immediately the second one began to point out the direction. The third needle didn't move, however. Perhaps it pointed out who came near him?

"Awesome!" Alex exclaimed.

Dream 1

"And you can summon every ghost you want?" Nicky was impressed. His father had just told him all about the experiences of his family when it came to summoning someone from the dead.

"No, unfortunately not every ghost," Wyatt replied, remembering the pain and anger he felt when he tried to summon his mother shortly after her death only to be greeted with his grand mother.

"Not every ghost cares about what happens to the living world afterwards. Most of them move on. Of course, some want revenge, but it takes a lot of time, will power, or anger and hate to become corporal again. As long as they aren't strong enough to do that, they are damned to wander around unseen and unheard. They are unable to do anything but watch. They attach themselves to places, things, or people that mean something to them. Most of them become mad. That's how evil spirits are born."

"So you think Mom could be some angry spirit?" Nicky replied, his mouth suddenly dry.

Dream 2

Alex wondered not for the first time what he did do to deserve this.

He and the little devil spawn had been wandering around for some time now, following the compass in order to find Wyatt.

That wouldn't have been that bad, if the little brat beside him didn't choose to use this opportunity to tell Alex all about his favourite torturing methods!

"Have you ever threatened someone with a hot poker? No? I tell you, there's no better way to get what you want if you threaten someone to burn his eye out!"

"I'll have to remember that!" the teen replied, barely managing to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

The way the kid talked about the torture – with such childish enthusiasm – sent shivers down his spine.

And then he realised it wasn't just the topic of their conversation that made him shiver. Somehow, it had gotten much colder. The wind had picked up in speed, making the place even more uncomfortable than it was already.

Having a bad feeling, Alex stopped walking and looked around.

A few meters behind them stood a pretty girl. She looked around his age, maybe one or two years older. She wore a white Greek stola, which built a nice contrast to her tanned skin and dark hair.

However, it were her eyes that alarmed him. They were stone cold. There was no emotion in them.

Not letting her out of his sight, he addressed his little 'friend' beside him. "Okay, and who's that?"

The little one looked irritated at him. "Who's who?"

"The girl there, behind us," he answered, pointing at her.

The kid turned around, looking bemused at the spot he was pointing at. "I don't see a girl!"

He couldn't see her? That didn't sound good.

"Who are you?" Alex called out the girl.

She didn't say anything, just played with the pendant of her necklace.

Taking a closer look at it, he realised it had the shape of a bull's head.

"Nice pendant," he said, sounding far more calm then he felt. Somehow he had the bad feeling that they had just found the Minotaur.

"Who are you talking to?" his little fellow squawked.

That brought her attention to him. Slowly, she extended her right arm. Not five feet from them, a maelstrom of air appeared on the ground out of nowhere.

Alex didn't move a bit, but the little boy beside him flew forward. Alex just managed to catch his hand before he was sucked into the maelstrom.

The kid screamed out in terror. "Help me!" he cried, clinging to his hand with all might.

Horrified, Alex tried to pull the boy back to him.

"What are you doing?!" he screamed at the girl. "Stop it!"

She brought her gaze back to him. Slowly, she shook her head, and then she lifted her extended arm higher.

The suction was getting even stronger, pulling mercilessly at the kid. Alex could feel his strength weaken, but also the boy's. He couldn't hold him any longer. With a final scream, the kid let go off his hand and was sucked into the maelstrom. And as quick as the thing had appeared, it disappeared again, leaving a crestfallen Alex behind. Sure, the kid had been evil but this... no one deserved this! He shot the girl a blaming look.

She just looked at him, empty of emotion, before turning and leaving him alone.

He watched her go, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

Dream 1

"Not necessarily. Some of those who move on check in from time to time on their beloved ones downstairs on earth," Wyatt answered, not wanting to upset his son.

It was funny, really. Two dreams of that kid and Wyatt felt emotions well up in him that he had long ago considered dead.

'You're getting soft! Get yourself together!' he thought angry with himself.

But when he glanced again at the pair of beautiful brown eyes in front of him, he couldn't suppress the love and concern he felt for this kid bubble up in is heart again.

If his mother had had the same effect on him then good night!

Dream 2

Alex was on the run. He was gripping the compass tightly in his right hand, terrified of losing it.

After his encounter with that so called Minotaur he had to find his father— fast, before he would also get sucked into that maelstrom.

He stopped in front of a wall. There were two ways to go. Left or right? A quick look at the compass and he sprinted down the right path.

He came to a halt once more when he noticed a tall man with long blond curls kneeling on the ground, crestfallen.

"Dad?" He took a step towards him – and jumped quickly out of the way when he was greeted with an energy ball.

Angered he barked, "What was that for?!"

His father looked at him like he just seen a ghost. He was deathly pale and shaking. His eyes were dilated and his expression shot daggers at Alex. "You! Go away! You're not real!"

Alex gaped at him. "Pardon me?! Of course I'm real! Are you out of your mind?!" He paused a moment then added, "Forget the last question."

Wyatt, while hugging himself, rocked back and forward like an autistic child. "But... you faded! You aren't real, are you?" He looked so confused and lost it wasn't funny any more.

The blond teen thought of a way to snap his father out of it. Coming up with a solution he gave him a grim smile. "If I ain't real... could I do this?"

With that he raised his hand and slapped his father's face – hard.

For a moment, his dad stared completely dumbfounded at him. "You slapped me!"

"Sorry, but it was the only way to prove to you I'm real." 'And it serves him right when he throws energy balls at me.'

Wyatt growled. "If this was any other time, I'd spank you so hard you wouldn't be able to sit for a week!"

Alex swallowed. "Let me set this straight: You attacked me first – not the other way around," he defended himself.

His father pulled a face. "Just like my brother – always have to have the last word!"

Thinking of his uncle, Alex even gave him a small smile. "Well, at least that proves I'm family."

His dad returned the smile for a second before he asked worried, "Are you going to fade away again?"

"Not yet – at least I hope so!"

"What do you mean? How come you can fade in and out of here? And where are you going?"

Now it was Alex turn to pull a face. "Long story short? Dear Auntie Lara has kidnapped Nicky and me from our adoptive parents, had held us in a 'golden cage,' and has now tricked Uncle Chris into drinking a love potion."

Wyatt stared in shock at his son. "How could your mother let this happen?!"

Alex bit his lip. His father obviously didn't knew about the death of his wife, which meant he was the one who had to tell him the bad news. Damn! He so didn't want to have that conversation. His dad was already half-crazy, who knew if he would lose it completely after such horrible news?