A/N: Coming down to the crunch, now! Oh, noes!! Thanks again to my beta Biskuits! You rock, hon! Everyone go and hear her do the theme, the new art, and Christine's voice, over at The Phantom Reviewer on YouTube! (http: / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v = ErjFvsWXnr8 minus spaces of course) Please read and review! And Happy Yule; it's the Solstice! The sun is coming back! Yay! ~Kryss
Chapter Seven: Taking Over Me
Kir did sort of feel a bit bad for Megan, though. She did sort of start it, but she had just lost two friends, too. "Hey, guys," she said quietly at lunch, "I think I'm just gonna, you know, keep her company for a bit." She nodded towards Megan sitting alone at her table, picking at her food.
"Yeah, okay, if you like," Su said. The others nodded their understanding.
"Hey, mind if I join you?" Kir asked Megan.
"It's okay. You don't have to." Megan said listlessly.
"No, it's okay." Kir sat down and picked up her sandwich.
"Why do you even hang out with them? I mean, it's like you've hated me since we met. What did I ever do to you?"
"Um. Wow." Kir put her sandwich back down. "Well, you struck me as kind of a stuck up bitch when I first met you."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, there was the way you kept calling me 'Captain', even when I asked you not to. And the way you talked about Randy."
"That's it? Jesus, I haven't even, like, called you Captain in, like, forever."
"Yeah, I guess. But there's the way you guys keep going on and on about the Phantom every night, too…"
"You too? So you think I'm an idiot for liking Phantom too." She sat back and crossed her arms with an 'I-should-have-known' look.
"No, I don't give a damn what you like. I just don't like hearing about it. 'Oh em gee, the Phantom is so hot!' Over and over and over…"
"Well, he is hot."
"But I don't care. And when you guys are all going on about it then I can't get to sleep."
"So that's it? You don't like me because we keep you awake?"
Kir thought. "Yeah, pretty much, I guess," she said, and took a bite of her sandwich.
"Then why did you come over?"
Kir shrugged. "You looked sad. And lonely." She shrugged again. "So why not?"
"Yeah." Megan looked away. "Well, we aren't gonna keep you awake talking about anything anymore."
"Um. Yeah. I guess."
"So I guess there's no more reason to hate me, is there?"
Kir sighed. "I guess not," she said wryly.
"Hey, Kir…" Megan said.
Kir finished climbing into bed. "Yeah?"
"That night. You know. The one we kept you awake… the one we all went out…"
"Yeah?"
"I'm… I'm sorry I told Miriam you went out. I just didn't want you to get us in trouble."
"Yeah, no worries," sighed Kir.
"But that night, we, um, we went out to, um, to try and summon the Phantom."
Kir was silent for a moment. Didn't Megan know she'd gone out too? No, she must have, because she hadn't been there when they got back in. But didn't she realize they had followed them? Perhaps she didn't, she thought. "Really," she said finally.
"Yeah. Um. I don't think any of us actually thought any of it would work. You know."
"Yeah, I guess…"
Megan raised herself onto her elbow. She looked frightened. "But I think it did. Sorta. I think we got something.
"I think that's what… what Melanie and Triffy heard. When they went out. You know. The singing."
"Oh?" Kir raised herself up too. "Why?"
"Um. Because… because last night I could hear it too. I'm really scared, Kir. I don't know what to do!" She started to cry.
"Oh. Oh, geez, Megan. Um." Kir cast about for something to say. "Hey, don't cry. I have an idea. Let me, let me go and get the others, okay? Sarah knows some of this stuff, I think, and, like, Randy's really smart… Let me go and grab them, 'k'? I'll be back in just a minute." She swung her legs over the side of the bunk. "Can you hang on for a minute?"
"I… I don't know." Megan cried a little harder. "His voice… It's, like, really hard to ignore, you know? If he comes calling again…"
"Well, he usually comes later at night, whatever he is, right?" At Megan's nod she continued, "So he won't be coming for a few hours yet. So let me just go and grab them, okay? I'll just be a minute." She shoved her bare feet into her shoes, threw on her jacket over her pajamas, and grabbed her flashlight. "I'll be right back, okay? It'll be easier with everyone all here with you. I promise. I'll be right back. Just hang in there." She slipped out.
The moon was darker tonight; she thumbed the flashlight on as she hurried over to The Rationalists' cabin. The bouncing light made creepy shadows all over the place as the rain trickled down her neck. She tried to ignore it all and just watch where she was putting her feet, and not totally freak out. She was so relieved to see the light of their lantern inside, though, that she almost cried. However, she was also too freaked out to knock and wait.
"Jesus, Kir!" Su yelped as she burst in, and clutched her pajamas to her chest. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"What is it?" asked Randy. "What's wrong?"
"It's Megan," panted Kir. "She's totally freaked out. You guys need to come over and talk to her. Right now."
"Look, if she's scared, go tell Miriam," said Su. "I don't wanna get hauled out in the middle of the night again."
"I think she knows stuff. Come on, you guys. Please? She said she thinks they did summon something, and she's, like, totally freaked out. I don't want to leave her all alone over there."
Randy rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine," she said, and slipped her own shoes on. "Come on then, guys. Perhaps this is where we finally solve the Mystery of the Music Camp."
"That's a crappy title," complained Su as she dug her own shoes out, while Kir jiggled in impatience. "How about, 'Music Camp of Doom!'"
"That's just stupid. Sarah? You coming?"
"Yeah, I'm coming," Sarah sighed, and threw back her blankets. "'Curse of the Music Camp'?"
"Sounds like the gay sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean," snorted Su.
"Or a Hardy Boys' mystery," added Randy as she grabbed her jacket and flashlight.
"Fine then," retorted Sarah as she grabbed her own jacket, "How about 'The Strange Affair of the Phantom of the Opera'?"
"Hey, that's not bad!" said Su.
'Yeah, but it's been done to death," said Randy. "What do you think, Kir?"
"I kind of like 'I Know What You Did At Music Camp'."
Su laughed. "Or at band camp…" She led the way out.
"Except we don't have any instruments," Randy pointed out.
"The human voice is an instrument," Sarah declaimed loftily.
"'This one time, at band camp…'" Su laughed, then paused. "Ew."
Kir was relieved to be surrounded by their good-natured teasing. The night was still dark, the shadows still spooky, but, well, it was better in a group.
Megan had been left alone, though. She had gotten pretty worked up while Kir was gone, but at least she was still in her bunk and not off roaming the woods.
"Hey, we're here," Kir said, and climbed up next to her. "How're you doing?"
"Okay, I guess," Megan sniffed loudly. "I haven't heard him yet, at least."
"Heard who?" asked Su, climbing up to sit on Kir's bunk opposite.
"The guy. The guy who was singing last night," said Kir. "I think he was singing before that, too."
"What guy?" asked Sarah, sitting beside Randy on the lower bunk. "What singing?"
"Triffy said that Melanie heard some guy singing, and went out to check it out. Triffy went out to check on some voice she heard, too. I couldn't hear it, but I was asleep. She woke me up. I forgot all about that in the morning."
"Yeah, we told her that she'd just dreamed about the Phantom," said Megan, "But she said it wasn't his voice. And it's not. But I think we maybe did summon the Phantom anyways."
"You heard it too, then?" Randy looked alert.
"I heard him last night," Megan confessed. "I mean, it's him, but it's not him…"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, like, I totally know what the Phantom sounds like, okay? And we tried to summon him, and now we've got this guy calling us who sounds… I don't know what he sounds like. I can't describe it. It's like…" She trailed off and gestured vaguely. "It's like how you always dreamed you'd sound someday, you know? Only, like, your imagination wasn't good enough. And, like, a guy."
"Like an angel…" mused Randy. "Like the Angel of Music."
"No, I told you; he doesn't sound like the Phantom. He sounds more like, I dunno, like the god of Music, I guess."
"Yeah. That's what the Phantom is supposed to sound like."
"And they cast Gerard Butler instead? Jesus, wonder the purists are upset…" Su trailed off. "What?"
"So, anyways," Randy continued, looking back at Megan, "You heard this angelic singing. What was it saying?"
"I dunno. It was, like, French or Spanish or something." Her eyes got distant. "But, you can still understand the emotion…" She shivered.
"Emotion?" Sarah prompted softly, when Megan kept quiet.
"Yeah… It was so sad, and lonely, and yearning… It was the saddest thing I ever heard. I think he's looking for Christine. And I think Me-Melanie and Triffy…" She took a deep shuddering breath. "I think they went out to, you know. Comfort him. His voice is so beautiful, and he hurts so much…"
Randy sighed and murmured, "Yeah, that's a big part of it, all right…"
"But I think…" Megan swallowed, then whispered, "I think he was really mad when they weren't Christine. I think… I think he totally strangled them, guys!"
"The Punjab lasso…"
"Yeah, that. If I go out there, I know he's gonna, like, totally kill me too. And I could still barely resist." She started to cry. "You guys gotta help me. If he… If he comes singing to me again, I don't think I can ignore him!"
Su looked at Randy. "Well?" she asked finally.
"Well what?"
"Well? Is it him?"
"The Phantom? The real one?" Randy frowned in thought. "Well, ALW's Phantom is pure fantasy, we all know that." Megan cried a little harder. "But Leroux said very explicitly in his introduction that his novel was based on real events. It's not without the bounds of impossibility that there really was some kind of deformed madman floating around the basement of the Paris Opera."
"So, what, they really summoned the real Phantom?" Su snorted. "These guys can barely manage to summon pizza."
"Well, it does sorta fit…" said Kir.
"Yeah, if you accept that ghosts and the Phantom are both real."
"Well, you got anything better? It fits the facts, at least." Randy looked around, defiant.
"Yeah. How about just a regular nutbar serial killer found out about the camp in the middle of nowhere with all the cute girls running around and decided to have a party, huh? I mean, look at us! We're, like, a horror movie wet dream. You can practically hear Freddy and Jason drooling."
"Well, okay, sure! A regular nutbar psychopath just happens to stumble upon us, and just happens to only start in on us after these idiots try to bring Gerik to life, and just happens to use the Phantom's usual method of disposal, and just happens to have an incredible voice—or did you forget about that part? Look, if he really is just some nutjob, then the best thing we can do is to all hang out together and keep trying the radio, and call our parents and go home. In the meantime we should probably all move our sleeping bags into the dining hall; we can tell Miriam and Janet that we're, like, too freaked to sleep by ourselves out in the cabins. Besides, the toilets are right by there; if we sleep in there then no one needs to go too far to use the can.
"But if it is the Phantom, I mean, like, really for real…" She paused and pushed her glasses up her nose. "Well, if it really is him, then we're dealing with someone who is very intelligent, and very obsessive, and very warped. He's dangerous. This isn't some stupid phanfic where some Gerik-obsessed phanbrat stumbles back in time and into his lair and he instantly takes her in and falls in love with her. This is a guy who used to torture people for a living. To death."
Everyone was silent for a long moment. "So what do I do?" asked Megan in a small voice.
"Is there any good in him?" asked Kir. "Anything we can maybe use?"
"Well, while Buquet did die when he fell into a trap he had rigged up, the general consensus is that it happened when Erik—"
"Who?" asked Megan.
"The Phantom, duh," snapped Randy. "My god, how the hell you can call yourself a phan—"
"Anyways, Joseph Buquet…" interjected Su quickly with a warning kick at Randy.
"Right. The general consensus is that Erik wasn't home when it happened, and that Buquet fell into an automated trap and died before he returned."
Kir perked up. "So he wouldn't have killed the guy if he had been home?"
Randy winced slightly. "Well, actually, he probably still would have killed him, for discovering the secret door to his home. One of them, anyways. It's just that, the way things stand, it wasn't deliberate."
"Ah. Good. As long as it wasn't on purpose..." Su rolled her eyes.
"But Mercier and his men were only drugged."
"Who?"
"The lighting guy and his crew. He needed them out of the way while he kidnapped Christine, and he could have killed them, but he only drugged their wine." She scowled. "Mind you, ALW had him actually kill Piangi to take his place, but most of us agree that that was really out of character. Besides, I don't think we're dealing with Merik. Musical Erik."
"Why not?" Kir asked over Megan's muttered "Purist."
Randy grinned. "Fictional character. And if they could have really summoned a fictional character, they would have gotten Gerik, and we wouldn't be in this mess."
"So we're back at 'what do we do?'"
"Yeah." Randy subsided. "Anyone have any ideas?"
"Well… I do sort of have one," Sarah hesitated. "But…"
"What is it?"
"Well, usually, ghosts, just regular ones, I mean, you can usually get them to go away by laying them to rest."
"So, what, like have a priest bless the place or what?" asked Su.
"Yeah, that sort of thing."
"We don't have a priest, though," Kir pointed out, while Megan twisted the edge of her sleeping bag.
"Well, no; I mean, I know that. But sometimes you can lay them to rest by giving them what they want, too."
"Oh, like the fairytale about the jaw bone the raven dropped down the chimney… What?" Su looked back at everyone else. "My grandma told me fairytales, okay?"
"Um, yeah, like that."
"Okay, then: what does he want?" asked Randy.
"Um. Well, that's the thing. It sounds like he wants Christine. But he's calling Megan. He's been calling all of them, but only one at a time, it sounds like. Um."
"Wait, what? You guys are just going to hand me over?" Megan looked almost as angry as scared.
"No, no; what we need to do is talk to him. I mean, at the end of the story, he lets Christine go, right?" At Randy and Megan's nod Sarah continued. "Well, then, we maybe just need to remind him about that, about how he let her go, and why, and encourage him to go back to his rest. Randy?"
"Yeah…" Randy frowned. "Yeah, I guess. I mean, the whole point of the novel, the whole thing that transforms him from the standard Victorian gothic villain, is that at the end, he finds redemption, and even though he has the heroine, who has just agreed to marry him, utterly within his power, he finally realizes that he really can't ever have her love, not like she loves Raoul, and that to keep her by force would kill her, and he lets her go. It's a very moving scene."
"So you know how it all goes; you should be the one to talk to him, then."
"Me?" squeaked Randy. "Why me? It's Megan he wants!"
"I thought you wanted the fugly old guy," smirked Megan.
"Fugly doesn't matter. It's the bat-shit insane, irritated killer that I'm worried about…"
"So, what? You figure I'll have better luck with him? Or you just don't care if anything happens to me, is that it?" Megan's face was ugly.
"Well, Christine is supposed to be blond…"
"Guys, guys!" Sarah waved her hands for silence. "Guys, we're gonna need you both for this." She continued over their protests. "Randy has to be the one who talks to him; she knows him better than any of the rest of us, okay?"
"Well, the literary version, anyways…"Randy muttered. "But—"
"And if Christine is blond too, then maybe seeing Megan'll slow him down enough for Randy to start in on him."
"Yeah, because one blonde looks exactly like another," Megan muttered.
"Look, it's all we've got," Su said. "Whether all this ghost crap is real or not, I figure we either deal with it here, now, while we're all together, or we wait until we leave, and, ghost or nutbar, the guy follows one of us home. So I vote we try to deal with it here." She put up her hand.
One by one, the rest of them slowly raised their hands. "Yeah, splitting up is always a bad move in the movies," Kir murmured.
"And I guess there's no way to guarantee that after he kills Megan, he won't keep coming after the rest of us… Relax, I'm joking! Don't worry, I'm in." Randy lowered her hand again and added, "I mean, really, the chance to meet the real Erik? Face to face? What kind of a phan would I be if I passed that up just because he might kill me?" She grinned, although it wavered a bit.
"Fine, then." Su took charge. "Megan, let us know when you hear him. Head out; we'll cover you. Randy, as soon as you see him, go and do your thing."
"What about the rest of us?" Kir asked. All this sounded scary, even if it was good to have some kind of a plan, but she didn't want to be left behind, alone, either.
"We keep watch and stay back, and jump in if it looks like things are headed south," Su replied, with a confidence Kir sure didn't feel.
"Yeah, but when we jump in… what do we do? I mean, what can we do? If it really is this Erik guy, then he's some kind of a ghost, right?"
"Well, he's only gone after people who were by themselves so far," Sarah said. "I mean, when he lures them out, he only calls one person at a time, you know? I mean, no one else can hear him, right…"
"Yeah…"
"Seems so…"
"So perhaps he can't deal with more than one person at a time. Five of us should be able to take care of him. We should maybe swing by the kitchen first, though."
"Grab some knives, huh? Good idea," mused Su.
Megan looked shocked. "Knives? Hell, no!"
"But why not?" asked Kir. "I mean, what if he really is some lunatic serial killer?"
"If he is, then he'll just take them away from us, and then he'll have knives," said Megan. "Rule One of weapons: If you don't know how to use it, then don't bring it to a fight. All you'll be doing is arming the other guy."
"And you know this how?" asked Su, crossing her arms.
"Oh em gee, it's just common sense. Really." Megan looked at her disbelieving audience. "Oh, come on, you guys. No one here has played Mirror's Edge? Ever?"
"Well, you are the only one with a brother," Su pointed out.
"Oh, like only boys play video games," retorted Megan, rolling her eyes.
"Um… Anyways. Okay, so knives are perhaps a bad idea, then." Sarah shrugged. "What? She made sense."
"…And there's a phrase we'll never hear again…" murmured Randy.
"Knock it off, Randy," Su gave her a kick. "So, no knives, then. Then why the kitchen?"
"Ah!" Sarah grinned. "The spice rack."
"You're kidding."
"Not hardly. Capsicum is a powerful deterrent to any mammal. Garlic is just generally useful; it's not nice to get in the eyes even if you aren't a vampire, and they're both traditional ghost-banishers, so good either way. Cloves are handy for that too, if there's any over there, and we can see if we can get some other stuff."
"Like what?" Kir asked, curious.
"Oh, like horseradish, leeks, sage, mint, rosemary, onions… All traditional ghost-banishers. Basil too; that one's used for protection as well, so we should all carry some of that too, if there's any there."
"Is it just coincidence that most of this stuff will really, really hurt if it gets in your eyes?" wondered Randy. "Except for maybe the leeks, I guess…"
"Oh, leeks are in the onion family too," Sarah smiled. "But yeah, I don't know. Still, if we mix up a bunch of the stuff together, then we'll have something that ought to help banish a ghost, if it's a ghost we're dealing with, and ought to at least make him lose his grip, if he's just a guy and he grabs us. I mean, a face full of cayenne pepper would probably discourage even Freddy, right?" She grinned at Kir.
"Yeah, he probably wouldn't like it," she grinned back.
"Then, like, can we go and get the stuff quickly, please?" Megan looked anxious. "I'd kind of like to have the friendly spices here already when he calls me…"
"Yeah, sure." Sarah looked around. "Do we all go? Or just me..?"
"No one goes alone," said Randy instantly. "I'll go with you."
"Yeah, I'll come, too," added Su. "You guys gonna be okay here?"
Kir didn't want to go out, not before she had to, but she didn't want to stay alone with Megan, either. "What if he starts singing before you guys are back? Nuh uh, I'm not staying here. Come on, Megan." She hopped down.
"I don't want to go out there!" Megan looked terrified again. "What if he, like, grabs me while we're out there?"
"We'll all be right there with you," reassured Su.
"And hey," added Sarah, "You'll get to the friendly spices sooner than if you stay here and wait for us to come back."
"Yeah, and if you help us mix up the stuff then you'll be so covered with it that no ghost will want to come within a mile of you!" joked Randy.
"Come on," said Kir. "It'll be better than sitting here waiting, wondering what's taking them so long."
"Yeah, I guess…" Megan hopped down too.
If Kir had thought that heading out alone to get The Rationalists was hard, it was nothing compared to heading out into the dark now. They were clustered as tight as they could get, flashlights in hand, but there was no joking; they didn't want the counselors to hear them and send them back to bed before they'd accomplished their mission. And it was later; the crescent moon glowed faintly behind ragged clouds. It didn't give enough light to help, but it did manage to add an unnecessarily creepy note to the already frightening night.
They had a bad moment when they got to the hall door and found it locked, but Randy guided them to a side window. "The latch hasn't worked right in years. The draft from it drives Mrs. McKay nuts, but there's nothing she can do; it won't close properly."
"How do you know that?" asked Kir, as Randy wiggled the window open.
"She was bitching about it when we were warming up, didn't you hear? Kept saying it was going to make us sick, standing there in that draft."
"Oh. No, I… I kinda tuned her out." Kir admitted.
Randy tapped the side of her nose. "Always listen to what the adults say, especially if they think you aren't listening. You'd be amazed at what you'll hear." She winked, and kicked herself up and through the frame.
A moment later her tousled hear reappeared. "Come around to the kitchen door," she whispered, straightening her glasses. "I don't need a key to open it."
By the time they had navigated past half-hidden trash cans in the near-dark, Randy was waiting for them, door ajar. "Come on," she whispered, waving them in, and closing the door carefully behind them again.
"Where the hell is everything?" whispered Megan. "Where's the lights?"
"No, leave them off," Sarah murmured. "Someone might see them. Besides, there's no way I'm firing up the generator." She shone her flashlight around. "I don't see a spice rack. She must have them in a cupboard or something. Check the ones near the stove first."
They set to work.
The onions were easy to find; they were in the drawer of the propane fridge. No leeks, though. "Oh, well," whispered Randy as she grabbed a few onions. "I'd've felt like a complete moron waving leeks at the Phantom of the Opera, anyways."
Kir found a small bag of cloves in a drawer; she added them to the onions. "How are we going to carry all this, guys? Does anyone have a bag or something?"
"Check under the sink," suggested Su.
The sink yielded the bag; it also had a spray bottle in it. "Smells like bleach," said Kir, taking a sniff. "Do we want it?"
"Bleach?" Sarah asked absently. "No…"
"No, I meant the bottle. It's, like, a spray one. We can maybe put some stuff in it."
"Yeah, sure; why not?" Su replied. "Dump the bleach somewhere." Kir poured it down the sink.
"Jackpot!" Megan whispered. "Come and look at this, guys! Anything here we can use?"
The others hurried over. Two cupboard doors were wide open, the missing spice racks screwed to their insides. "Perfect!" whispered Sarah. "Someone grab the bag." She began rooting through them, taking the odd small jar down. Kir held the bag open while Su grabbed the spices and began tossing them in. "Carefully!" hissed Sarah. "They're only glass. Besides, it's noisy."
Su nodded and put the rest in more carefully.
"Okay, that's it," Sarah said quietly, holding a last bottle. She carefully closed the doors, making sure they didn't thump, and turned back to the little group. "This is basil," she said, holding it up. "This is the main protection one. Here, everyone put out your hand." She shook a little out into each palm. "Rub a little on yourself," she demonstrated, rubbing the small dry leaf fragments on her neck and the undersides of her wrists, like perfume. "Put the rest in your pocket." They followed suit.
"Good," said Su. "Now let's get the hell outta—" She stopped abruptly as the front door rattled.
"Jesus!" hissed Kir in fright.
"Is it him?" Megan's eyes were squeezed shut.
Randy crept across the hall. "No, wait!" Su grabbed for her as she went past, but Randy waved her away, a look of intense concentration on her face.
Suddenly she stopped, then turned and dashed back to the kitchen as quietly as she could. "It's Janet!" she whispered as she bolted past, and pulled the kitchen window shut.
"Shit!" Su thumbed off her flashlight and headed for the back door. Kir paused just long enough to grab the bag again. They hurried outside as fast and as quietly as they could.
Su closed the door behind them and leant against it, panting in fright. "How do we lock it?" she whispered to Randy.
"We don't," she whispered back. "There's a bar. We'll have to hope they think they forgot to lock it. Come on!"
She hurried away and down the path, ducking behind a large bush. "Right," muttered Su, following. Kir and Megan found hiding places behind a fallen log; Kir didn't see what happened to Sarah.
The back door sprang open; a flashlight swept the path, lingering on the undergrowth. "…don't see anyone, but—" Janet's voice was cut off as the door swung closed again.
Kir started to get up. "Man, that was—"
Megan pulled her back down. "Wait!" she hissed.
They waited. "There's a root or something poking me," Kir complained. "What are we—"
Again, the door sprang open. This time, Janet actually came out a little ways, playing the beam of light over every possible cover she could see. She even shone it around behind the trash cans. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she snapped it off. "No, no one's there—" the door slammed shut, and Kir could hear the faint scrape of the bar being put back into place again.
"Jesus," she said, with feeling, and dropped her head to her arms. "How did you know?" she added, tilting her head to look at Megan. She was feeling a sudden urge to giggle.
Megan grinned as she rose and dusted herself off. "Used to play Doorbell Ditch when I was little," she said, and reached down to pull Kir upright. "This one neighbor, he would totally do that, every time. My friend kept falling for it, too, and as soon as he went back in, she'd come out and start heading back down the driveway. Then he'd jump out again and catch her." She giggled suddenly. "She got in so much trouble for it, but she'd never listen when I told her to wait."
Randy and Su laughed softly, catching the end of it. "I almost peed myself when she came out again," confessed Randy. "We only stayed down because Su banged her knee when she bailed and couldn't get up anyways."
"Where's Sarah?" asked Kir.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when she replied, "Right here," from right behind her. "Got the stuff?" she continued. Kir held up the bag. "Good. Come on, let's get back. I don't want to mix this stuff up in the dark."
A/N: Mirror's Edge is a first-person game in which you actually can disarm a guy and then beat him in the head with his own rifle (check YouTube for the trailer, from EA Games), and it actually is good advice. Swords are better; harder to take one away from even an inexperienced fighter without injuring yourself badly, but knives? Unless you know what you're doing, fugeddaboudit.
And they probably wouldn't have any swords hidden away, even in the kitchen, lol.
Thanks to the guys on the Airsoft18 forum for helping me find a game that matched my specs!
I hope you like some of the titles the girls come up with for their situation. It reflects my own troubles with coming up with a title, heh; the working title of this phic has been "Music Camp of DOOM!!!" XD
Oh, and yeah, all the herbs mentioned are supposed to be good for banishing ghosts and evil spirits. But I don't think you just fling handfuls of them around; there's rituals that go with them, and, as the girls pointed out, most of it is nasty stuff to get into your eyes (or any mucous membrane, the pepper in particular), so don't go trying to banish ghosts at home like this. The (very, very few lol) instructions in this phic are not correct. ;-) ~K