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Chapter 32: Secrets of the Past
"Rachael!" Ryan screamed, pleading for her to slow down, "Where are we going?" The two were walking along the sidewalk heading in the opposite direction of the Evans' mansion. Rachael was in front and Ryan was following a few feet behind her. "You'll find out." She told him without stopping or turning around. "Rachael!" Ryan pleaded, "Just tell me or else…I'll stay here." He stopped and watched as Rachael continued walking.
"Fine by me." She called back to him. Ryan rolled his eyes and ran to catch up with her. "Rachael, how is not telling me where you're me going to help us any?" he exclaimed as soon as he was by her side. "I'd tell you, but you'd never agree to follow, if I did." Rachael answered, not even pausing before turning the corner. Ryan stopped before he continued to follow her, and asked, "Why? What makes you say that?" Rachael quickly glanced at him and nodded before returning her gaze to where she was going.
"Because…I have a feeling you'd object." She said before crossing the street. Ryan paused before running to catch up with her as a car drove by. "You know, if you slow down, you might be able to notice a few more things like the fact that you almost got hit by a car." Ryan told her, after watching her walk in from of the speeding car and get out of the way just in time. "There's no time for slowing down. You want to save Cloe and Sharpay, don't you?" Rachael shot back at him, ignoring the back end of the statement.
"Of course, I do, but I'm also concerned about you." Ryan explained, concern definitely engraved into his expression. Rachael ignored him as he followed her down the sidewalk. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. "What are you doing?" Ryan questioned. "Calling someone to let them know we're coming." Rachael stated as Ryan sighed and shook his head in frustration.
Meanwhile…
"I told you not to stop and ask for directions!" Cloe panted as she ran through the endless halls of the castle they were in. "Sorry, but I panicked!" Sharpay screeched back at her, running next to her. "So, you asked those guys?" Cloe screamed indicating the giant black-armored knights chasing them. "Yeah!" Sharpay responded as they ran, "Ever heard of 'your knight in shining armor'?" "Yeah…but these guys are big and not-so-friendly looking." Cloe breathes as the two kept running.
The next thing they knew, the dark knights started shooting lasers at them from their giant metal staffs. "So much for my knight in shining armor!" Sharpay announced, now even more terrified, "This is a really bad day for wearing heels." Cloe shook her head and sighed. Then, an idea hit her. "Hey, you got your powers to work when you bust us out of the cell. Do you think you can do that now to get us out of here or at least to protect us?" Cloe asked hopefully as they looked for somewhere else to run to.
"No!" Sharpay responded as the two dodged blasts, "Do you know how long I was holding that in for? Ages, that's how long! There's no way I can produce that amount of magic." They rounded a corner as another blast whizzed past their heads. More of the dark knights were coming at them from the other direction. The world was full of corners and they were starting to become their worst enemy. "Well, don't you thing now might be a good time to try?" Cloe pleaded as the two stopped and realized they were cornered. Sharpay just looked at Cloe with terrified eyes.
"No!" Ryan exclaimed as eh finally realized where they were. His eyes were narrowed with accusation as he glared at Rachael who shrugged. They were standing on the front steps of a pink house. "I knew you were going to disagree with me." Rachael sighed as she knocked on the door, "There's no other choice." "I don't know what you're getting at, but I don't think this is such a good idea." Ryan objected. "It's a little too late for that one, cous." Rachael muttered as the door opened to reveal a friendly looking, brown-haired woman.
"Rachael, how nice to see you." She said, "And this must be Ryan, Cloe's boyfriend. How are you, dear? Come in." The two were ushered inside and the woman closed the door before following them into the kitchen. "You must be Cloe's mom." Ryan stated, trying to force a smile and sound polite. "Yes, you seem like a very nice young man. A bit scrawny, but what does size matter these days? It's personality that really counts." The woman stated before returning to Rachael with a concerned look, "I got your call, Rachael, and tell me…is Cloe all right?"
Rachael looked at her and said, "We're about to find out." "That's very nice of you. I'm so glad she's found great friends like you." Cloe's mom stated, "But, who's she with?" "My sister…twin sister, Sharpay." Ryan said suspicion evident in his voice though he kept it out of his expression. "Oh. You mean, she's the Drama Queen of your school." Cloe's mom stated as she raised an eyebrow and stared at Ryan, "Is she going to be all right?"
This confused Ryan even more. "Yes…and no." he responded, "Yes, she should be fine…and no, she's got a lot on her plate at the moment." "Well, you better hurry on upstairs now. Rachael knows the way." Cloe's mom directed and then walked out of the kitchen. "What was that all about?" Ryan asked Rachael the moment they were in Cloe's room. "She's psychic, too, Ryan." she responded quickly, "Couldn't you tell? She knows about all of it."
"So, why are we in Cloe's room?" Ryan asked to change the subject. When it came to talking about his girlfriend's abilities, he was extremely uneasy. Though, he wasn't sure why. It had almost seemed like fate. Maybe, it was because of what Coe was still capable of that kind of worried him. "Because…we need an item of Cloe's that we'll be able to use in order to find her." Rachael explained as she rummaged through her friend's desk in search of a hair brush, "And we already know Sharpay will be with her, but we best use Cloe's stuff to track her down. Plus, Sharpay would probably kill us."
Ryan nodded in agreement as Rachael pulled out Cloe's hairbrush from her desk drawer. Though he didn't know why, Ryan felt like he wasn't getting the whole story. Then, Rachael removed Zac's lamp from her bag. She rubbed it and Zac appeared. "Hey, Baby Cakes…" he greeted her, then turned and noticed Ryan standing there, "…and Ryan. I suppose you'll need an explanation." "First, bring out the amulet, Snuggle Bunny." Rachael responded.
"Okay, just forget I'm even here." Ryan stated a bit wierded out, "I'll just watch your public display and possibly puke." "As if you and your girlfriend don't have pet names." Rachael rolled her eyed. "Touché." Ryan muttered. Zac just grinned as he handed a green amulet to Rachael. "Ryan, I'm sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, but this amulet is the secret of the lamp." Zac stated with a smile. "An amulet?" Ryan questioned in dull surprise, "As in…a necklace?" "Not quite." Rachael explained, "This 'necklace', as you call it, can track down anyone as long as you have an item of theirs with their DNA somewhere on it. This is how we'll find Cloe and Sharpay."
"With a necklace?" Ryan asked, "We're going to risk their lives with a necklace?" "This amulet isn't any normal amulet. It came from the lamp, which means, it has the power to find them." Rachael told him with a small smile, "Have some faith, Ryan." Ryan smiled at that thought, but a pang of guilt hit him in the gut. He wouldn't get over the fact that he'd just let them go. "Ryan, snap out of it." Rachael told him, recognizing his pained expression. "We're going to find them." Zac reassured and the three sighed. "What do we have to do?" Ryan questioned determined to help.
"We have to press our chosen item into the back of the amulet and it will give us the exact location linking us directly to Cloe." Rachael explained. "Let's do it then." Ryan urged, "We can't waste time." Rachael nodded as she clicked the brush into the back of the amulet. It glowed bright green. Ryan gathered in front of it just in time to hear a hollow voice say, "Person: found, Location: Black Heights, Dimension: Magicath."
"Sharpay!" Cloe screamed urgently as the two backed up into a wall, "Now, might be a god time to decide." Sharpay's terrified mind scrambled to figure out what to do. Her last words to Ryan were about Cloe and herself. "I'll take care of her." she had said, "I promise you I won't hurt myself. I promise, Ry." She hadn't called him that in forever, but her mind was made up. As the knights surrounded them, Sharpay jumped in front of Cloe and thrust her hands out. As a round of lasers shot at them, Sharpay moved her hands redirecting the blasts back at the dark knights. A group of them were hit and they immediately disintegrated.
Another round was fired at them. This time, Sharpay summoned the blasts into one huge ball of energy. She watched it grow and then threw it back at the largest group of dark knights. They also disintegrated. Still, there were even more knights surrounding them. There were too many for her to continue blasting, but then she got an idea. She summoned all the power she had inside of her and took a deep breath. Cloe took that as a sign to plug her ears.
Then, Sharpay let out an ear-piercing scream that was longer and louder than any scream she'd ever produced before. All of the knights in the vicinity stopped dead in their tracks and turned into dust, then disappeared. When Sharpay stopped, he turned to Cloe and breathlessly said, "Let's go." "Not so fast." a voice called. The two looked up and saw their worst nightmare. "How did you manage to do that?" the voice stated. It was then that the girls realized who else was in their predicament. "No!" Cloe and Sharpay screamed.
(A/N) So, that's another chappie. OOH! Climax. Grabs bucket of popcorn and starts munching. How was it? What will happen next? Um…does anyone still care? Here's my new goal. I want a minimum of 200 reviews on this fic. I won't bother doing the math now, but there's only a few chappies left. Under 10 so that's like 5 reviews per every single chappie, but technically it would be around 7 reviews per every single chappie I've posted so far. Don't worry, I'll be waiting. Even if you have to go back to previous chappies and review, it would be greatly appreciated and they will count. =D So, yeah…R&R. Leave me pretty reviews and you'll get more chappies. YAY!