(A/N): NOW YOU SHALL SEE THE POWER.

YES, THE OTHER MOTHER DID IT.

SO IT ONLY WORKS IN THE OTHER WORLD.

Thanks to Marquis Carabas for reviewing!

PS: WHEE! WE PASSED THE 10000 WORD MARK! YAYAY!

CHAPTER ELEVEN: PRESENTS

After a wonderful dinner, Coraline was taken aside by the Other Mother.

"I love you, sweetheart," the Other Mother said, smiling sweetly. "I have a few presents for you."

Coraline followed the Other Mother through a door she had never seen before. In the room behind it was a small table with three oddly-shaped boxes on it. Coraline sat down in the chair closest to the door and the Other Mother sat across from her.

The Other Mother pushed a long, narrow box to her. On the top, it read:

For a lifetime of magic...

Coraline opened the box to find what she least expected.

A wand.

She wasn't sure what to say.

"But... I'm a squib."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," the Other Mother said, placing it in her hand.

Red sparks flew from the tip of the wand, and Coraline stared in awe and wonder at the wand that was responding to her touch. She waved it once, and the sparks stopped flowing.

Coraline set the want aside as the Other Mother pushed a small, flat box towards her. On the top of this box, it read:

For eternal happiness...

Coraline opened this box to find an envelope inside, addressed to her, from the Other World Magic Arts School.

Opening the envelope, she found that it was an acceptance letter to the (highly proclaimed, according to the letter) magic school. Coraline smiled, thinking that maybe for once she could finally make some friends.

Setting the letter aside next to the wand, she began to open the third box, which was labeled:

To stay here forever...

Taking off the lid, she found a piece of paper, continuing the sentence on the lid:

There's just one tiny little thing we have to do...

Removing the paper, Coraline finally understood the quotes the magic book had talked about.

Because inside was a spool of thread, a silver needle, and two black buttons.

Shut your mouth, cover your eyes...

Coraline sat there for a little while, the buttons staring back at her, unblinking.

Every single beauty dies...

She debated how to say that she had to refuse.

Everything you ever see...

Because she couldn't stay.

Will always just belong to me...

She was Melanie's sister.

"I can't stay here. I'm sorry," Coraline whispered, more to herself than the Other Mother.

Across the table, the Other Mother looked shaken. "Wh-what?"

"I can't stay here. I have my sister to look after. I'm sorry," Coraline said, a little louder.

The Other Mother looked desperate. "But... I've given you everything you would ever need! I can give you immortality if you stay! Why can't you?"

"I promised my sister we would stick together, forever and always. I can't do this," she replied, pushing the button box back. She stood up to leave, but the Other Mother, glaring daggers at her, stood up as well, looking hurt and angry.

"I'm sorry," the Other Mother said, warping in size and shape. Soon she was twice Coraline's height and growing taller. Her voice deepened, becoming unrecognizable as human.

"But I can't allow that."

And then the Other Mother jumped over the table, tackled Coraline, and knocked her out cold.

(A/N): Yes, the Other Mother has enough power to make someone magical.

She also has enough extra power to create several thousand more button-eyed people to inhabit the Magic Arts School. She hadn't created them, though. She would have created them starting immediately after Coraline accepted, had she accepted.

With Coraline in the Other World, she had easily built up a lot of extra magic stores, in addition to her already giant horde.

You see, this is how the Beldams work (from my view, anyway):

The Beldam gets power from the presence of anything that is alive that is in their realm (literally, everything either is dead, nonliving, or doesn't have a soul (THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - for example, the Ghost Children are dead, the Other Wybie is nonliving, and the rats don't have souls, for a movie analogy), which is what they feed off of - kinda). However, if they can get their souls, they get a big rush of power - like an extreme high on a drug.

Now, listen to this. Movie! and Book!OMs each got three kids. But Movie!OM let the kids stick around a bit longer and got extra power off of their living presence. Book!OM wanted the immediate power rush, since she was so greedy, and didn't get as much of the 'stick around' power (you could compare Book!OM to a drug addict in this way).

ThePamphlet!OM has played SIX CHILDREN for all they were worth. Plus, she had a bit of EXTRA POWER on top of all that because out of those six, four were wizards, witches, or had magical blood in them, and so had more power on them.

Now that she has all this power, she wants to settle down and not have to keep hunting and killing kids. She wants to take one last child, with a kind, pleasant, humble personality (AKA - Coraline) and let them live with her so that she isn't alone. It's a lonely life as a Beldam, especially since you eventually have to kill the kids you love - whether it's a sick and twisted love or true love. This was her goal the whole time - to get a child to come and live with her, one that she wouldn't have to kill.

Here's her reasoning: Now that she has all this power, she can use Coraline as long as she's alive to give her more. She's going to use some of her power to give Coraline eternal youth (making her happy, since she can't ever die then), and let the rest of it build up and be her life source.

You see, I also have a theory about why Movie! and Book!OMs both said, "NOOOO! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!" or some variation: without Coraline being there to feed off her presence or snatching her soul to get the power rush, they lose power. When they are completely out of power, they die.

So thus, by giving Coraline eternal youth and keeping her alive and happy, she's also giving herself life support and immortality. Thus, the two can feed off each other, and both live happily ever after, the end.

As you can see, however, Coraline isn't buying it, and it's partly because of what the magic book said. It wasn't trying to mislead her, but the book wasn't informed of all the Other Mother's motives, so thus, it did so unintentionally. And also, the Other Mother hasn't told her that she plans to keep her alive and love her forever (she's not cheap like the other two OMs... she actually DOES love Coraline, and cares about her like she's her own child. Part of the reason is because she is, technically, her mother, as her last surviving parent, 'other' or otherwise. Wow, that last part was fail XD), although she did hint at the immortality bit during their conversation. And anyways, Coraline has things to do and places to be in the Real World, including (attempting... hehehe...) to stay with her sister, and trying to rescue Harry Potter and reveal and overthrow the Dragon Order.

THIS was a WAY long A/N!Thank god for importance!

Anyways, carry on with your lives!

And please remember to review!

PS: There's a four-line section of a poem I wrote in there, called 'Shut Your Mouth and Cover Your Eyes', which I plan to make into an Other Wybie-centric fanfic set during the Coraline movie. Keep on the lookout for that! ;)