(A/N): Well, I decided to go back and give all the chapters on here actual titles.

So, yeah. They have actual titles now.

By the way! Stats update!

LENGTH (WORDS): 1st Place

LENGTH (CHAPTERS): 2nd Place

# REVIEWS: 2nd Place

# HITS: 5th Place

# FAVS: 1st Place (tied with Coralied)

# ALERTS: 1st Place (tied with Coralied)

Carry on, now!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: GUIDANCE

Coraline crawled through the tunnel, slowly but steadily making her way back toward the creature that was trying to kill her.

She knew it was a very reckless thing to do, even a stupid thing to do. Melanie would have slapped her for it.

But she had to.

And when she came through the little door on the other side, it locked itself with magic so that she couldn't get out.

She aimlessly wandered the halls for a little while before gaining a direction.

Walking into the library, she sat down at the table she had seen on her first two visits.

Pushing away stacks of other books, she finally found the one she was looking for. She also searched the table for a pen.

Opening the cover, she saw she didn't need the pen.

The answers you seek are on page sixty-five.

The book seemed less alive than it had been on her previous visits. Coraline flipped through the book until she saw the underlined text:

The cat looked as if it were about to say something else sarcastic. Then it flicked its whiskers and said, "Challenge her. There's no guarantee she'll play fair, but her kind of thing loves games and challenges."

In the margin, the number 92 was scrawled. Coraline flipped to that page and read the two underlined passages she saw on opposite sides of the page.

"Yes," she said. "I think I like this game. But what kind of game shall it be? A riddle game? A test of knowledge or skill?

"An exploring game," suggested Coraline. "A finding-things game."

"And what is it you think you should be finding in this hide-and-go-seek game, Coraline Jones?"

Coraline hesitated. Then, "My parents," said Coraline. "And the souls of the children behind the mirror."

And then she skipped to the next one:

"Where should I start looking?" asked Coraline.

"Where you wish," said her other mother, as if she did not care at all.

Coraline looked at her, and Coraline thought hard. There was no point, she decided, in exploring the garden and the grounds: they didn't exist, they weren't real. There was no abandoned tennis court in the other mother's world, no bottomless well. All that was real was the house itself.

In the margin was written:

Something to add to that would be that the only stuff that really matters is the stuff you were shown or offered to be shown.

I would suggest trying the library. But arrange the game first, or... well. She won't try to stop you. And it's less fun when the bad guy has no idea what you're doing and isn't attempting to kill you.

Meanwhile, I need to look around in myself. I have a theory... two, actually. And the one you call the Other Mother could prove or disprove either of them. I can't tell you, though, what they are. It won't help a thing.

Don't trust anything. She's designed this world so that everything can be turned into a killing machine exactly when she wants it to.

Be careful.

Coraline shut the book and left the room.

(A/N): For those of you who have read Coralied and/or Coraleyes, there's a small reference to them right near the bottom there (Don't worry, it's really minor, and all you have to read to get it is the prologue of Coralied).

And these are the last passages by the fantastic Neil Gaiman. If you haven't rea dthe book, I would suggest reading it. It's epic. And this thing doesn't include the twist ending of it. Hehehe...