(A/N): Well, it looks like we have the next chapter! Woo!

By the way... after the next chapter (which will be hard to write... ugh... I have no idea how I'm going to do that...), there will be a LOT of stuff coming in a row. Probably all on the same day. Well, if I can type it all up quick enough. Because after that next chapter (18) I have these completed:

Chapter 19 (Call)

Chapter 20 (Later)

Chapter 21 (Doorway) - might revise this and/or add stuff between 20 + 21

And... I'm pretty sure there's more which I've forgotten.

Anyway, this chapter explains some on a bit of my last A/N.

And before you kill me for using your motif, Marquis Carabas, I gave you fair warning in foreshadowing in this AND PMs that I was going to do this. Ha. You can't sue me now.

Sorry if it seems cheap. I just had to get something written and up. Because, unfortunately, the world hasn't been liking me recently. :(

Let me just say I only have one computer with access to (because of filters and shit like that D:) and it was... broken (or that's all YOU need to know). So now I have to test my cell phone and the Wii, and if either works I'll be using that to submit stuff for a while.

Plus, I've already written two oneshots (titled Hot, Sticky Red and Mirrors) while I've been waiting to find an internet-connected device without a filter. But I have now! Yay!

This was written about three days ago. The end.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: BURN

"Hi, Sis," the Other Melanie said as Coraline walked around the corner. "Been following some clues, have you?"

"Yeah," Coraline replied. "But I don't like them anymore."

"Ah, no one really cares," her Other Sister commented carefreely. "Even you don't appear to give a shit, from what I can tell."

"You're nothing like my sister anymore, are you?"

"No. That part of me did its job a while ago. I remain, as I was loyal to my Master in a moment of trial.

"But now I'm feeling... what's the word... antsy. I want to do something, you know? Do something about someone? You may be an innocent thing that's trying to save the world - big deal - but I'm a creature of pain and desperation that's trying to kill you. Period. So, catch."

Coraline, almost dropping the books she had been carrying, caught the object.

It was a photo album. A very small, very skinny book, but easily identifiable as a photo album. She could guess what would be inside.

"I've gained some powers over time," the Other Melanie said. "Specifically, since the other half left, I gained power over fire."

Suddenly, the set of bookcases to Coraline's left caught on fire.

"Run along, now. I'll give you to the count of ten."

Coraline began to run, hard and fast, away from the monster called her Other Sister, who had already started growling.

As she ran, a charred paper airplane flew over her head. Although she had expected it to run into one of the many burning bookshelves along the rows, it kept course with her.

From a ways behind, she heard the beast's angry growl. For a fraction of a second she considered dropping the books -

The airplane unfolded in front of her, still floating.

Keep the books! They're our souls. I'm one of them. The ghosts. Just run!

Coraline recognized the magic book's neat script, frenzied yet elegant, and trusted the words. She then heard an all-too-familar growl come from somewhere nearby.

She had been near the exit from the beginning of the chase. Coraline figured that if she ran for it, she could escape.

Running down the passages at full speed with a monster nipping at her heels (it had already sparked her left shoe), Coraline faked a left turn, almost dropping her books in the process. The beast ran the other way for a while before it realised she had gone.

Running straight for the exit, the fiery wolf fifty feet behind her, Coraline entered the hallway to turn around and start closing the door.

The beast, once it saw she had it almost shut, changed its tactics.

Changing back into the form of the Other Melanie, it called out.

"Coraline! Please!"

Coraline, behind the door, hesitated. "You're not my sister," she said, shutting the door for the last time.

And that's when a great shaking came over the door, as if something big and heavy ways flailing against it.

That's also when she realized she had only five books and a photo album, and couldn't go back.

(A/N): Yes, that's right. Even though up to this point, Coraline has almost been a Mary Sue (she didn't have a dark side), now we see her darkness.

She will never go total dark-side, but some of her kick-ass later could be considered 'evil', from bad-guy POV, anyway.

Hehehe!

Well, now that I've waited several days, I'm far less satisfied with this chapter than I should be. Crap!