I am going to bed. But because I wuv you all very much, here's the chapter.
Disclaimer: you know who does and doesn't belong to me by now.
Salem
March 18, 2016
"You mean with Bruce and Alfred? And the huge house? And the secret passageways?" I squeal, glomping onto Auntie.
"Yeah," she laughs. "Not get off me so we can stop home first. I don't know about you two but I'm not going there in my uniform." She grimaces and looks down at the blue (and dorky) outfit she's wearing.
A short bit later, I'm comfortably clothed in a red "keep calm and carry on" shirt, Allie in a black t-shirt with a picture of an x-ray of a dog with shredded paper that said homework in its stomach, and Auntie changed into a black band shirt with white fangs on it and "My Chemical Romance" in between them. We all chose jeans, although each pair is as different as ourselves. Mine have patches on the knees over the pre-torn parts that were starting to peel off, Allie's are black with faded spots at the knees, and Auntie's are plain blue jeans.
"Ready?" Auntie asks. I nod along with Allie, but stop when I feel like I'm missing something. I realize I don't have my bag.
"Wait!" I run into the bedroom and retrieve my purse before running back to the front door.
"Ready!" I exclaim.
"We're going to take the zeta," Auntie informs us as we walk out of the apartment.
"That's the one in the bad…well, worse, part of town," Allie hisses as Auntie locks the door.
"I know, that's what makes it such a perfect hiding place!" Auntie beams, like she had installed the system herself.
"Well, it's better than a two hour bus ride with a bunch of potentially sick or unstable people," I say comfortingly while patting Allie's back. She grumbles, but starts walking. As we walk down the streets to the zeta we have light conversations about what's going on at school and at work. Apparently there's a guy named Quinn who goes out of his way to give Auntie a hard time. I tell her that it's kind of like the group of kids from school. Apparently they don't like the fact that I sorta had Allie blow them off, but I figure they'll get over it. There are a few time that while we're walking Auntie had to pull out her can of mace to threaten some creeps. I offer my Swiss army knife, but she just looks at me and confiscates the item before then interrogating me of where, when, and from whom did I get it from. Luckily I'm able to dance around her questions long enough until we got to the tube.
"Hey, isn't that the tube?" I ask, pointing to a dumpster in an alley. Auntie's gold eyes stop burrowing into me and turn in the direction I'm pointing. She relaxes a bit.
"Why, yes it is. But, just because we're here doesn't mean you're off the hook." I roll my eyes.
"Who chose the dumpster as a disguise?" Allie moans.
"I'm with her this time," I say, my voice funny because I'm pinching my nose. It smells like old baby diapers with spoiled grapes and sour milk that sat in the hot sun for a month. I gag.
"The faster you get in, the faster the smell disappears!" Auntie smiles. I look at Allie and push her forward. She glares back at me before looking back at the dumpster. Allie scrambles up and perches on the edge of the dumpster for a second before crawling down.
"This had better be fake rat poop!" she yells. There's the beeping of buttons, then a faint robotic voice announcing her disappearance.
"You're next," Auntie says. I gulp and climb to the edge. As I stand at the edge Auntie and I notice a woman walking by. When she sees us she slows down. I look at Auntie who looks back at me. I think quickly before looking back in the dumpster and yelling.
"Hey! I think there's a dead cat in here!" I crouch down further and lean forward. Auntie pretends to look over the side.
"Ooh, that'd look great with our collection!" Auntie cheers. The lady gives us a disgusted look before rushing away. Auntie and I snicker. I dive in quickly, so that no one else will see us.
As I follow, I avoid the rat poop Allie mentioned, and yellow gunk caked on the walls. I close my eyes against the blue flash and step out of an abandoned telephone booth in Gotham. Allie is waiting for us. I turn.
"Wow, who would throw this away?" I exclaim, looking at the antique closely. "It would make a really cool storage unit. Or you could put it up for display at your house! Oh! Or you could fix it and keep it in your room to call people with!"
"That would work if one, we actually had a bedroom, not a fold-out couchbed, and two, if it wasn't being used as the main transportation system for Batman," Allie states.
"True," I say sadly, my dreams crushed. I took out my camera from my bag and took a picture.
"Why do you have your camera?" Allie asks.
"When do I not have my camera?" I reply, taking a few more pictures. I pat the machine one more time as Auntie comes through. She shakes something off the bottom of her shoe.
"Yeah, we're going to get that dumpster cleaned up. I think I saw the rat that made the poop." We all shudder as one.
"What now?" Allie asks.
"Welp, now we can catch a cab." I grin thinking of scenes where people hailed there cabs that took them to their exciting new destination. We step out onto the street, and I let out a piercing whistle. Auntie and Allie jump.
"What was that for?" Allie asks, rubbing her ears.
"To hail a taxi! I've always wanted to do that," I beam.
"Despite the damage to the eardrums of every life form within a mile radius, it did work." Auntie points to the yellow taxi cab pulling up to the curb. We all squeeze in the back. I was the first one in so i sat behind the driver. I put my camera away and look out the window.
"Where to?" the driver asks in a typical New York accent.
"1007 Mountain Drive, please," Auntie smiles. The cabby nods and pulls away. We sit in silence for the ride. I watch as the streets slowly change from cluttered and scary to clipped lawns and soccer balls to ginormous mansions behind fancy gates. It was kind of weird. Even the trees had fences as if they were trying to keep things out so that it could live in the illusion that it was completely safe.
Gradually, the mansions spread out, until we're just driving through a scattered forest of pine trees. Animals scatter and in the sky a flock of birds fly off in search of food. At the end of the long and winding road is the biggest mansion of all. I smile as the driver slows down.
"Here we are. Ya sure ya can get in?" the cabby asks, eyeing the huge gate.
"Yeah. Here's the money." Auntie glances at the meter before handing him a wad of cash from her pocket. We all stumble out, the cab driving away with a classic squeal of tires. We walk up to the gate, which has lots of cool scrolls and jagged parts.
"So how are we getting in?" Allie asks.
"Ooohhh! We could toss each over the fence! Or I have a trowel in my bag, we could tunnel under the gate!" I suggest.
"Or we could try the comm over by the keypad," Auntie laughs. I shrug and take my camera out again. Auntie walks over to the comm and she presses the red call button.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne is out right now, may I take a message?" an elderly sounding British man asks.
"Alfred, it's me! Tori?"
"Apologies, Miss Torrance. You were too close to the video screen for me to recognize you. I'll buzz you in." A moment later the gates open seamlessly, much to my surprise. They looked like the squealy kind you'd have to oil a lot. We start the long hike up to the mansion.
"Why don't we teleport?" I ask.
"Bruce had Zatara place a spell on the estate. No teleportation on or off unless it's through the zeta," Auntie explains.
"And why couldn't we zeta in?"
"Wouldn't want to scare the old man right? Him and his frail heart."
"You forgot the code didn't you?" Allie gives her a look that said 'I'm not buying it.'
"Psh. Nooo." Auntie looks away and starts to walk faster.
"Hey! I can still levitate us!" I skim my fingers over a red "X" on the inside of my elbow, using some of the telekinesis I borrowed from Megan earlier this week. I carefully pick them up. It feels like trying to balance a ball on the back of your hand. I'm still a bit unsteady, but I know I'll be able to hold them until we got to the top. We start zooming up the hill.
"Now this is my kind of traveling! Whoo!" Allie shouts over the wind. We touch down at the front door, where a grandfather-aged man in a black suit is waiting.
"Alfred!" Auntie squeals, pulling him into her arms.
"It's nice to see you as well, Miss Torrance," the butler smiles as he returns the hug. When he lets her go though he pulls a roll of newspaper out of nowhere and hits Auntie over the head with it.
"What was that for?" she asks, blocking her head from another blow.
"Frail heart, indeed. Now, who are these two lovely young ladies?" Auntie scoffs as she stands.
"These are my nieces, Allison and Salem. And they are anything but lovely young ladies." Auntie passes her hand over our heads as she introduces us.
"Nice to meet you," we say simultaneously ignoring Auntie's comment.
"The pleasure is mine. Would you like to come inside?" He turns gracefully and heads indoors.
"Dude, this is so cool! Did you hear his accent?" I whisper to Allie jumping a little. She smiles in agreement. I took a few pictures before we went in. We step inside the cavernous foyer.
"Where's Bruce?" Auntie asks, tugging a strand of hair.
"Ah. Miss Salem, Miss Allison, may I escort you to the kitchen so I can speak to your aunt privately? I just finished baking some cookies." I nod eagerly. As we follow the butler, I take in the rest of the house. Tasteful décor with a hint of gothic style seems to be the theme, although it becomes homier the farther back we go. Servant quarters maybe? "Here we are," Alfred says as he pushes open a heavy wooden door.
"Thank you Alfred," I smile as I walk in. It's nice and warm, but not overly so. Gleaming copper pots and utensils hang from racks, and everything is spic and span. I immediately dart over to the tray of cookies cooling on the counter in the center of the kitchen.
"Man, I wanted to hear what Alfred was going to say," Allie sighs as she joins me.
"Are you kidding me?" I mumble through cookie. "Alfred's cookies are the stuff of legend. I'd choose these any day. Have one." Allie takes a small bite, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Wow, I always thought Auntie was exaggerating when she talked about these. But now I think she didn't do them justice!" We eat until our stomachs are aching in protest. "Now what?" Allie asks as she rubs her stomach. I drop the rest of the cookies into my purse.
"Exploring! You heard all of Auntie's stories about secret passageways and the Batcave!" She smiles.
"You're right, come on!" Allie leads the way out of the kitchen, taking us back to the foyer. "Where should we go first?"
"Let's go up," I suggest, pointing to the grand staircase that curves down from the second story. We quietly run up the stairs, stopping at the top to search for Auntie or Alfred. "All clear," I whisper. We go left, walking down the hallway until we come across two carved wooden doors. I tug on the huge iron handle, opening the door with only a slight groan from the hinges. Feeling around, I flip the light switch. Instead of the dazzling chandeliers I was expecting, a series of lamps on small tables light up. Portraits line the walls. We walk over to them.
"Daniel Wayne, born May 6, 1879, died June 20, 1938, and his wife, Elena, born December 21, 1880, died 1930," Allie reads from the plaque underneath the nearest portrait.
"I think these are family portraits!" I exclaim, pulling a notebook and pencil so I can start a family tree. Allie walks down the room, looking intently at the portraits.
"Look," I call. In front of me is a picture of a teenage girl in an elegant red dress standing behind a chair. She looks completely uncomfortable with a forced smile. Her nails are digging into the chair and her eyes are just a little too wide. Allie and I crack up at the picture of our aunt at a younger age dressed up with a face covered in makeup. As we calm down I take a picture of the portrait.
"This is definitely going to be my new wallpaper," I giggle.
"Hey, I found Bruce!" she shouts. I dash over to join her in front of the handsome man's portrait. "This must be Nightwing," she says, pointing to the young boy in the portrait next to Bruce.
"Who's this then?" I ask, pointing to a teenager next to Nightwing's portrait. His face is sullen, like he wasn't pleased about being put in a suit, but he's still a quite attractive boy.
"Jason Todd Wayne, born August 16, 1998, died November 3, 2015," Allie reads quietly.
"He was only seventeen," I whisper.
"Come on, let's find some place that's…happier." Allie grabs my hand and drags me out of the room. As she opens the door she jumps a bit before muttering something. We keep exploring, although we mostly find just bedrooms or sitting rooms. We even see Auntie's room. She has lots of posters on her walls and strangely enough the furniture is arranged in her room the same as it is in the apartment. I guess habits are hard to get rid of.
"Ugh, where are the secret passages? The revolving bookcases?" I groan, knocking on the walls.
"Let's try this one," Allie suggests, dramatically throwing open a set of French doors. She bows me through them, and I step outside onto a terrace. There's only a short drop from the railing to the ground because the hill has gradually increased.
"Maybe underneath us is the Batcave!" I peer over the rail to see if I can spot an entrance, but there's only a small graveyard.
"Allie, come see!" I call. She rushes over from where she was enjoying the view of the ocean. "Let's go down." I jump over the side, landing firmly on my feet. Allie, on the other hand, stumbles and falls on her butt. She quickly stands up hissing something and dusting off her rump.
"You saw none of that," she growls, pointing at me.
"Come on," I beckon.
"I don't know," she says uneasily, biting her lip.
"Don't worry, everyone's going to stay good and dead." Grudgingly, she joins me in front of the graves.
"Here are Bruce's parents," I whisper. I look over my shoulder when Allie doesn't respond. She's standing in front of another grave, eyes glazed over. I peer at the headstone. Jason Todd, the boy from before. "What's wrong?" I ask, gently shaking her shoulder.
Her eyes snap towards me. She gasps, "He's not dead."
"What do you mean? Of course he is, he's been dead for months."
"Well if he is, he's buried somewhere else. There's no body in this grave." I look down at the gravesite, channeling Allie's power. A taste worse than the smell of Druley's zeta fills my mouth. I see dark green smoke puffs over Bruce's parent's graves, but there's nothing over Jason's grave. I look back at Allie and the air next to her distorts like it would around a fire. I try to look closer, but the taste is getting unbearable and I'm pretty sure that throwing up on the graves would not get us any closer to seeing the Batcave. I take a cookie from my bag and relieve my taste buds.
"Let's head back, this is getting creepy," Allie shudders looking at the sky. I shrug, and we make our way back to the terrace.
"How do we get back up?" Allie asks as we look up at the ledge.
"Uh. Well, I could hoist you up there and have you pull me up." She sighs in agreement. I kneel down and lock my fingers. She backs up before running forward and jumping on my hands. I launch her up and she grabs the side of the rail and swings her legs back down to the other side of it. She turns around and climbs back over, hooking her feet in between the gaps of the bars. She holds her arms out to me. I jump catching her hands. She strains to pull me up, her hands starting to get really slippery the tighter she tries to grip mine, until finally I lose my grip all together. I hit the ground and am stunned for a second before the pain starts the flow back into my body. I sit up with a groan and rub the back of my head. I tap into Allie's teleportation and teleport up there. She facepalms.
"Why didn't we think of that in the first place."
"I don't know, but someone should have," I mutter as I stand up. As we walk back into the upstairs hall we see Auntie and Alfred waiting for us downstairs. We jump down the last four steps and smile at them.
"Did you enjoy the cookies?" Auntie asks.
"Yeah, they were delicious. Thanks Alfred!" Allie replies.
"Well, it's time to go, kiddos. Do you think we could use the zeta?"
"Of course, Miss Torrance. You know the way. Good-bye." Alfred sketches a quick bow before heading in the direction of the kitchen.
"Wait!" Everyone stops and stares at me. "We didn't get to see the Batcave."
"Dude, it's late," Auntie whines.
"But-" I start.
"Miss Salem," Alfred starts, "If you really would like to see the Batcave then you may come back at any time."
"Seriously?"
"Very seriously."
"AWESOME!" I squeal as I happily exit the manor and wave goodbye.
FYI, I had four tests today, one of which was a redo for pre-calculus (I made a 64 the first time) and have been running on six hours of sleep for the past three nights. Review or I will hunt you down and kill you.