Review response time, and quite a short one too!
Sonny April - I'm glad you liked the jungle and animal rooms! As for Steven maybe there's a reason why he thinks or even pretends to think he's smart? Anyway, I'm glad that I have thrown people off guard with the Eleanor thing, I guess it keeps the readers on their toes :)
Softkitty55 - I'm happy you liked the gum room as I thought it would be a cool thing to write! Now you no longer have to wait to read this chapter, hopefully this will feed your hunger for more of this story (for now) :)
Girlpower54- You shall have to wait and see what happens to Steven! But I can guarantee you that your not the only one who hates Claudia.
It had only taken a few seconds before Fiona and the two Oompa Loompas had made it into the old sneezes and smells room.
As soon as she managed to get up, Fiona was desperately trying not to gag as the unpleasantly strong odors of rotten eggs, old sneezes, poo and what could have been raw fish filled her nose.
Spluttering slightly Fiona begun to call for Eleanor, getting more panicked each time she didn't respond.
Having seen her increased distress one of the two Oompa Loompas tugged at her skirt. "You must remain calm," he told her.
Fiona took a deep breathe while stammering out a sentence of, "yes you're quite right."
They then continued to search for Eleanor, that was until a faint banging sound was heard from the left-hand corner of the room.
"What was that?" Fiona whispered to one of the Oompa Loompas.
"I don't know" was the Oompa Loompas response, while the other one tried to figure out what was happening to make that noise.
"Shh!" said the Oompa Loompa who had been trying to locate the cause of the banging noise as the same noise echoed around the room a second time, followed by a groaning sound.
"Eleanor?" Fiona questioned, her eyes widening when her exclamation was met with another groan.
"This way!" the Oompa Loompas said as they directed her to where they were now certain the noise was being made. Soon enough they were proven correct as they were greeted to the sights of Eleanor, struggling to find her way out from the piles of various bits and pieces.
"Eleanor!" Fiona exclaimed which soon earned her a wide-eyed response from her nice.
"Auntie!" she shouted, wrapping her arms around her neck as she rushed towards her.
They stayed in their hugging position for a few seconds until Fiona broke the hug with a stern facial expression.
"Eleanor, how on earth did you get down here?" Fiona asked, sighing when taking a look at her niece's guilt-ridden facial expression.
Eleanor hesitated before explaining herself.
"I- I was fussing the cats and then Claudia asked me to come over, saying that she wanted to talk to me."
Fiona raised a questioning eyebrow. "What did she want?" Fiona asked a few seconds later.
Eleanor sighed in shame. "She told me that Charlie had lied about not using real cats to make the cocoa cats, she also said that she could hear them meowing from down here."
"Ok. Tell me more." Fiona said, wanting to get as much information out of her niece as she could.
Letting out a sad sigh Eleanor continued to talk.
"She said that me and her could go down and save them together, but then I lost my glasses which lead to me being pushed down here!" Eleanor cried, a few tears escaping from her eyes.
"Aww, sweetheart" Fiona cooed as she let her stern facial expression transform into one of sympathy. She then embraced her niece into another longer hug, letting Eleanor cry into her shoulder.
"I can't believe it, auntie!" Eleanor sobbed, "I was really enjoying the tour, but then this had to happen!"
"Shhh! Don't cry, you're alright now. That's the main thing." Fiona reassured, struggling to keep her own voice at a steady level.
"I still can't believe I caused an incident today!" Eleanor replied, her voice still shaky.
One of the two Oompa Loompas scared his head as if a thought had just popped into his head.
"Although you aren't the only one to suffer some kind of incident today." An Oompa Loompa suddenly stated, which made a few thoughts come to mind.
"Oh yes, that's right! Mandy ended up sinking into a sticky toffee puddle and Fernando expanded into a five-foot tall ball of gas!" Fiona said, realization hitting her like a runaway train.
"Auntie?" Eleanor asked, unsure of what was going on.
"Eleanor," an Oompa Loompa said in a questioning tone. "What exactly happened when you and Claudia were together just before your fall?"
Eleanor took a few minutes to gather up her memories. "Er, well I remember Claudia telling me that I should go down first, I then lose my glasses which Claudia said she had in her hand. When I tried to get them back she said she was putting them on for me and…" Eleanor trailed off as she couldn't bare to finish off her sentence.
Not that she needed too.
"I see," the Oompa Loompa said soon afterward before adding, "Eleanor I don't think that you fell, I believe you were pushed."
"By Claudia" Fiona added, her voice now going back to a more serious tone.
"But why? I thought our friendship was going rather well?" Eleanor asked with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"That was probably just to fool you to get you to trust her" Fiona replied.
"Besides, I believe she's also responsible for what happened to the other two." Both of the Oompa Loompas added in unison.
"What a vile girl, and to think I thought that Mandy was a brat! But Claudia, she's the worst of them all!" Fiona exclaimed in horror.
"My thoughts exactly Mrs. Mai! Now we must think carefully as we shall need to expose her to Charlie, show him her true colors." An Oompa Loompa instructed.
"But how?" Fiona inquired.
"Well we must find out where Charlie is planning to take the remaining guests next, then we need to get to them before she causes any more chaos."
"But first we need to know how much time we have to inform Charlie" the other Oompa Loompa stated, earning nods of agreement from the two females and the other Oompa Loompa.
"Well there's only herself and that Steven kid now" Fiona answered.
"Will he be her next target?" Eleanor asked, fear filling her facial features.
"I believe so" Fiona responded.
"Well, then there isn't a moment to lose. We must find Charlie and the others before it's too late!" The Oompa Loompas said before guiding Fiona and Eleanor towards a purple colored car, with the Wonka logo on the front of it.
"We must get a move on," the Oompa Loompas said as one of them proceeded in driving the car.
"That Claudia has a lot to answer for" Fiona whispered to Eleanor who sighed in agreement as they went to look for Charlie and the others.
"Come along everyone, I have something to show you!" Charlie said, gesturing for the four remaining guest to watch what he was about to do.
Looking towards their right they saw a large silver button which the chocolatier wasn't afraid to press.
As soon as he pressed an elevator appeared at the speed of a flash. All noticing how this particular elevator was made completely out of glass.
"People this is the glass elevator, it is the most efficient way to get around the factory" Charlie happily explained before leading the guests to make their way inside.
Once they had all gotten themselves in Steven looked up at the chocolatier to give him a disbelieving frown.
"That can't be possible, surely this thing will smash into a million pieces as soon as you press a button," Steven said, his green eyes piercing into Charlie's faded blue ones.
"Actually this elevator has been constructed specifically for the use of people and Oompa Loompas to travel in" Charlie replied, letting a smug smile escape from his lips.
"Anyway this is no bog standard elevator you know. You can go up, down, left, right, sideways, slantways and any other ways you can imagine."
"You only have to press a button, then whoosh you're off!" Charlie shouted, pressing a random button which caused everyone to lean to their right as the elevator zoomed to the left.
As the elevator began to swiftly move, Claudia gave Steven a quick glance before turning to give one to her mother, as if she was silently saying,
Now it's time for the biggest challenge of all.
Steven Fox.
Again not a very long chapter, but the few chapters I have lined up will make up for it!
Question time- What do you think will happen between Claudia and Steven in the next chapter?
Thanks again for the reviews, and have a great day my friends :)