Chapter 7! OMG! Squee!

I own nothing except Kari, Hale, and Marie. Now sit tight and hold on for delight! In the meantime... trolls le Facebook. :3

We enjoyed ourselves to the fullest for the remainder of the day with the Tunes and the Monstars. Nawt and I talked about all that has happened over the past six years and what changed.

I told him that Hale quit the soccer team and decided to join the male basketball team. I did the same and joined the female basketball team in our school, and that the two of us took time during after school hours practicing with our music and singing new songs like the ones from our earlier performance.

He told me that the Tunes renovated the old abandoned house that they were in and made it into a full blown mansion. My eyes went huge at this news, but I let him continue.

He also explained that things went downhill for him after their departure from our world, but he did his best to keep his hopes up for the sake of his friends and myself. I completely understood how he felt and what he went through; I had to do the same for the sake of my family and friends too.

Hale kept a close eye on the both of us, making sue that we didn't do anything he thought as 'sneaky'. Sometimes I admire how my brother takes care of me, but by now, he should know that Nawt wouldn't do anything to harm me in any way. I hope he isn't still suspicious of Nawt, even after all these years.

After a half hour or so, Bugs, Witch Hazel, and Lola came back with some large bags full of the red powder that was administered to us earlier. First the Monstars were up to get peppered with the snowy substance, followed by the Tunes themselves.

Now everyone was able to cross mirrors to each others worlds, apparently. I felt happy about this cause this gives me more chances to see Nawt again! I think Hale knew what I was thinking and shot me a look that says 'don't even think about it'. I merely stuck my tongue out at him playfully; he'll never win at this.

Looking up at the clock, Nada pleaded excuse to Blanko, who nodded and let her pass to see us. "Guys, it's getting late. Shouldn't we head back to your place now?"

Hale and I glanced at the clock and we nodded simultaneously. I went over to Bupkus, who was playing with Marie, rolling a basketball over to her and she rolled it back. "Sorry, big guy. We got to head home now. We'll be back tomorrow though, so you two can play again later!"

He gave a disappointed look, but let it go and nodded. Everyone waved goodbye to us reluctantly, slightly upset that we had to leave already. Nawt and the Monstars walked up to us to give us hugs, except Hale who just accepted a fist bump from each of them. Manly pride, you know?

Nawt leaned down close to my ear. "I know I won't be able to come by so easily now that Hale is a bit more sensitive about us, so I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I nodded happily. Even though he's my brother, Hale can still be quite a handful when it isn't necessary.

We bid them all farewell for the day, including Marie despite that she really didn't want to and wanted to continue playing with Bupkus. Smiling at Nawt, I waved goodbye as we stepped through a mirror that Witch Hazel brought in from her shop and disappeared.

We immediately found ourselves standing in the middle of my bedroom in front of my full body length mirror. "It worked! Witch Hazel's mirror powder worked!" Nada cried in glee and surprise. Marie glanced around in awe.

Hale shook his head, amazed as well. "That Witch Hazel is something else, man. She really doesn't fail in any of her stuff, does she?" I nodded in confirmation.

Hale walked out of my room and headed down the stairs. "Hale, where ya goin'?" Nada called out. Marie wobbled her way towards my bedroom door to follow him. I scooped her up and motioned Nada to come along.

We reached the bottom of the stairs and walked to the living room, where Hale was busy checking the message machine. The red digital numbers indicated that there were three messages left while we were gone. My brother pressed the 'play' button as we listened for the first message.

The machine played. "First message at 11:48 A.M: 'Hey Kari, Hale! It's me, mom. Just want to let you two know that we have to stay at Maine for about a month or so. It seems that your Aunt's situation was a lot worse than we expected and your father is no better off than her. He's trying to arrange a business deal with some national representatives, but they won't be here for another week or two and things are just a complete mess. I'll let you two know if anything changes. Hale, you have your debit card, so make any necessary purchases for yourselves, okay? Love you. Take care of Marie.'

Message ended. Second message at 1:10 P.M: 'Hello Kari and Hale! This is Nada's parents! Just want to let you know that we'll be out of town for a while. Nada's grandmother called from Chicago and got really ill, so we'll be taking leave to help her get back to health. If Nada could hang around with you guys while we're away, it would be great. We apologize for the inconvenience and take care! We don't know for how long we'll be gone, but we'll call again to let you know! Bye!'

Message ended. Third message at 3:26 P.M: 'This is a message for all county wide public schools: students, all classes and schools have been canceled due to bomb threats and other safety hazards that have occurred until further notice. If you have any questions or concerns, please call-"

Hale stopped the machine from finishing. He glanced at us with a very concerned look. Nada and I couldn't help but wonder about it as well.

'This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.. First mom and dad are going to take longer in their trip along with Aunt Jackie, then Nada's parents are gone due to Nada's grandma having health issues and now all the schools throughout the whole county have bomb threats! We got attacked twice today too... Just what the hell is going on around here?'

Nada couldn't believe her ears. "I hope gran is okay.." I could tell she was worried. Feeling like I should giver her some assurance, I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Nada. I'm sure your grandmother will be fine! We just gotta keep our heads up and pray."

She nodded with a small smile, still looking shell shocked from the three messages left on the answering machine.

Hale clenched his jaw, his eyes staring down hard at the machine. I had a feeling about what he was thinking, and to be frank, I couldn't help but wonder as well if all this had to do with the attacks from earlier today...

Nada took charge of helping me feed Marie as we finished preparing dinner. The both of us combined feminine forces and baked sweet potato casserole and had some sweet bread with some kiwi juice that Hale made with the blender.

Hale was doing the dishes while I got the garbage bag ready to throw it out. My brother gave me a worried look, pausing from his washing the dishes. "Kari, it's kinda dark out. You sure you don't need any help?"

I grinned up at him. "That's okay. I got it, Hale. Besides, it's just a quick run to the driveway and back; I won't take long."

Nada gave a side glance. "Be careful, Kari. You know that weirdos come out on a full moon." I shook my head at her superstition. Yeah, it was a full moon out tonight, but it didn't mean that I was gonna get attacked by a weirdo.

Besides, I would feel sorry for the idiot who would even try. Hale and I took spare martial arts lessons and self defense, so getting grabbed by some hooligan was the least of my worries at the moment.

"I'll be back in a minute!" I called out as I stepped onto the front porch with the large bag full of garbage. As I made my way to the waste can, I began to grow tense. The hairs on my arms began to stand upright and I had a tingle sensation of goosebumps.

I scolded myself at how I was behaving, telling myself it only takes ten seconds to throw the garbage out and head back in. I opened the lid and tossed the bag into the can then turned around to head back into the house.

Then I heard some rustling coming from the bushes. I turned over to see what it was. Getting a little edgy and ticked, I decided to call out. "Who's there? I'm warning you, I'm trained in judo!" Nothing but silence replied.

I growled to myself and started making my way back, until I heard the rustling again, only louder this time.

I quickly turned around again, my fists raised up. The blood pumped loudly in my ears as I felt panic rising slightly. "This isn't funny! Who the hell is there? Answer me!" I still didn't get an answer, and that was enough to bother me to the point of hauling ass out of there and back into the safety of my home.

My breathing steadied after a bit, then I froze. I heard breathing. It was coming from right behind me. Feeling a small trickle of sweat running down the side of my face, I prepared myself. I clenched my fists, and steadied my balance on my feet. I immediately turned around to come face to face with.. nothing. Absolutely nothing.

'This is beyond freaky! Just what is going on?'

"Kari? Are you okay?" I turned to see my brother standing right there on the porch with a concerned look on his face. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine." I muttered. I took another glance around me, seeing nothing out of the ordinary catching my eye.

"Kari, get inside. You been out here a little too long." Hale looked uneasy, like he sensed what I was sensing just a moment ago. I looked over at him and nodded. This is getting to be a bit too much in just one day!

As I got into the house and locked the door behind me, I turned to face Hale. "I think we should head to Looney Tune Land first thing in the morning."

Hale gave me a questioning look. "What? Why, is something the matter? Did you- did you see something?"

I shook my head, frowning towards the door behind me. "No, but I do know that something ain't right around here. We might want to bring this up to Bugs."

Hale sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, but he might just insist that it's all in our head. He didn't take what happened earlier that seriously, so why this?"

Narrowing my eyes slightly, I turned to face my brother. "Then we'll get him to listen. You know as well as I do that something's terribly wrong, Hale. If we just choose to ignore this, then things will just get worse. We can't let that happen."

He gave me a surprised look for a brief minute then chuckled. "Alright, you're the boss; you win. We'll get ourselves ready early tomorrow morning, including Nada and Marie and head straight to Looney Tune Land. So.. you really think Swackhammer is back?" His face turned from mellow agreement to serious as he gave me direct eye contact.

I gave a hesitant nod. There isn't a doubt about that gut feeling I have, despite that I wanted to doubt it myself for the sake of things.

We agreed then to leave straight to Looney Tune Land the earliest chance we had and locked all doors and windows of the house.

Lucky for me that Hale went out to fetch me when he did; I had the strangest and most uncomfortable feeling that someone was out there and watching me and has indeed tried to get me. Little did I know that if I stayed out there any longer, a giant pair of hands belonging to a figure with the most glowing evil red eyes would have tried to grab me from behind right on the spot...