Story Three: 'Privacy is for the Dead'
Summary: Desperate for some privacy, Alexandra and Melody decide to sneak back into the tunnels underneath the Cabot mansion where they first met. Unfortunately, the others tag along, still completely unaware of their relationship.
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"Are you guys still throwing a Halloween party?"
Alexandra moved her arm off her eyes and turned her head to her left. Melody was also on Alexandra's bed, lying flat on her stomach, reading one of Alexandra's 'Cat Fancy' magazines. The blonde girl had asked her the same question at least three times a day since the beginning of October. She was like an excited child who knew the answer, but just wanted to hear it over and over for confirmation.
"Yes, Darling," Alexandra confirmed, slipping her arm back over her eyes.
Melody's hands picked Alexandra's arm off her face. "What are you going to be?"
Alexandra shrugged and stretched lazily, using her free hand to pull down her yellow dress which had been slowly slipping up her thighs. "I don't know…maybe something sexy."
Melody laughed and climbed off the bed. "You're always something sexy."
Alexandra rolled over on her side to watch Melody go to her vanity to look into the mirror. "This year I'll be something really sexy – like, borderline pornographic."
Melody whipped her head around, face red but with a big smile on her face. "Oh you!"
She picked up a blonde wig off the vanity to throw it at the laughing Alexandra. Melody paused and looked at the wig thoughtfully before walking back to Alexandra. Melody placed the blonde wig haphazardly on Alexandra's head, standing back to look at her girlfriend. "Hm…"
"Do gentlewomen prefer blondes too?" Alexandra asked, twirling a piece of fake blonde hair in her finger.
Melody placed her hands on either side of Alexandra, leaning in towards her face. "You know, I've always wanted to kiss myself!"
Alexandra opened her eyes and let out a laugh that came out like a surprised cough, the gust of air that exhaled from her lungs blowing back Melody's bangs. "Come again?"
"Well," Melody explained matter-of-factly as Alexandra mentally braced herself for a nonsensical explanation, "I really love myself – as everyone should love themselves – but I can't let myself know that I appreciate myself with hugs and kisses because I am myself. And mirrors don't work either; I just end up tasting like glass and dust."
Alexandra had to absorb her explanation for a few seconds. "So…you're going to pretend I'm you and make out with me?"
"That's the plan!" Melody said happily as she brought the rest of her body on the bed.
A huge, perverted grin spread across the millionairess' face. She reached up and brought Melody closer to her face. "Well then, appreciate away."
Melody closed her eyes and tilted her head to one side, lowering her body onto Alexandra. "I really love myself." Alexandra made a noise of agreement, tugging Melody's head closer. "And I really, really love…"
"ALEXANDRA! HEY SIS!"
Alexandra and Melody pulled away as loud, urgent knocks rang out from her door. Alexandra felt her blood rush back to her head, gritting her teeth in anger. "Alexander…!"
Melody, knowing Alexandra's infamous short temper was beginning to rear its head, brought her face back to hers, but Alexandra's eyes were locked on the door, breathing hard through her nose like an angry bull. "Don't get upset, Alexandra…"
"COME ON, SIS! STOP HOGGING MELODY! I NEED TO SPEAK WITH HER!"
Alexandra growled and slipped out from underneath Melody and stormed towards her door. She took the wig off her head and threw it against the far wall.
"He doesn't know," Melody reminded. "Don't hurt him too much!"
Alexandra glanced back at Melody, "That's why I threw away the wig! I was planning on strangling him with it!" She reached for the doorknob and unlocked the door, swinging it open violently. "What is it, Alexander?! Can't you see we're busy?!"
Alexander pushed her away. "Yeah, yeah, real busy gossiping and painting each other's toenails, I'm sure."
Melody perked up. "Gee, that sounds like fun!"
Alexander marched over to where Melody was sitting on the bed. "Yeah, real fun, listen Melody – did you review that contract the others signed yet? I want to get it back to Ravon Cosmetics before they use some talk show host to promote their line instead!"
Melody got up and headed towards the vanity where her purse sat. "Oh yeah!" She dug through her purse and pulled out the contract. "And here's my review: I found it boring with too many words and not enough pictures. I give it one star out of four."
Alexander slapped his own forehead. "No, no, noooo, Melody! I meant look it over!"
"I did look it over! And I reviewed it, too!" Melody protested.
Alexander sighed loudly and pulled out a pen from his pocket. "Just sign it!"
Melody took the pen and placed the contract on the desk, looking annoyed. "Golly, if all you wanted me to do was to read it, you should've said so in the first place!"
"Yeah…when will I learn?" Alexander groaned, rubbing his eyes from underneath his sunglasses.
Melody signed it and gave it back to Alexander. Alexandra rushed over to her brother and began dragging him out of the room by his collar. "Are you happy now, brother dearest? Now shoo – we have a lot more gossiping and painting toenails to-"
"Miss Cabot!"
Alexandra sucked in a breath to prevent from screaming and released her brother. The head housemaid, Darla, wheeled in a serving tray with bowls and covered plates.
"Miss Cabot, I heard Miss Valentine was over and thought you two would like some snacks," Darla explained, smiling brightly.
Alexandra forced her lips to turn into a smile and spoke through her gritted teeth. "T-thank you, Darla, dear…"
Darla smiled proudly, her wrinkled face beaming. Then, it twisted into a scowl when she heard the tin cover being lifted off one tray. She turned to see Alexander digging into a tray full of cookies hot from the oven.
"Alexander Cabot! Those are for Alexandra and Melody!" Darla scolded, wagging her finger at Alexander who began to quickly stuff as many cookies as he could into his mouth. She grabbed the tray and held it away from him. "I'll make you cookies when your friends are over!"
"But my friend is over. Melody is my friend, aren't you, Melody?" Alexander countered as coolly as he could with a mouthful of cookies.
Melody shrugged. "You can't win against logistics!"
Darla sighed and turned around. "Don't worry, Miss Cabot, I'll make some more cookies and come back."
"No!" Alexandra interrupted, a little too desperately. Darla and Alexander stared at her in a mix of surprise and confusion. "I mean – it's okay, Darla, we'll just eat the remaining cookies. Now, please, everyone lea-"
Suddenly, a frantic pounding of feet outside the door echoed in the hall until Felicia, the youngest housemaid, almost fell into the room. "It's on!"
The others stared at the panting housemaid in surprise. When Felicia's frantic blue eyes met Darla's annoyed glare, the girl quickly straightened up.
"Goodness, Felicia, what is going on?!" Alexandra inquired, still staring at the maid in surprise.
"What's on?" Alexander asked as he swiped some more cookies off Darla's tray while the maid was distracted.
Melody suddenly perked up. "Oh! That show you were talking about before! About the cute animals!"
Felicia nodded. "Yes! It's on right now!"
Alexander emptied the tray, his pockets and mouth now full of cookies. "Let's watch it, my friend Melody."
Darla glanced at the empty tray and scowled at Alexander. "I'll make some more cookies then."
Felicia grabbed the remote from Alexandra's nightstand and flipped the channels. Alexander settled on one edge of Alexandra's bed, wiping his chocolate-stained hands on her royal red sheets. Alexandra glared at him from the side of her eyes, making a mental note to murder her brother after Melody left. Melody hopped onto the other side of the bed and watched the enormous flat screen TV. Alexandra watched her, a frown on her face.
"So are we all really going to watch some cute animal show? In my room? During—" Alexandra asked.
"Ssh, Alexandra! It's starting!" Melody interrupted.
Alexandra sighed as loudly and dramatically as she could, but everyone's eyes were now focused on the TV. She began to sit on her bed, only to be frightened by an indignant yowl. Alexandra stood back up and looked down to see Sebastian stretched out right in the middle of the bed.
"You couldn't sleep on one side, you dumb furball?!" Alexandra snapped, glaring down at her cat.
Sebastian snickered loudly and moved his tail out of the way so Alexandra could sit on the very edge of her bed. Alexandra sighed less loudly this time and settled on her now crowded bed. She looked at Melody's back, wishing she had the seat next to her instead of her brother. Then, all her thoughts ended when she heard a tiny, adorable meow of a fluffy kitten on the screen.
"Little Belle is too little to join her mommy outside," the narrator of the show began. "But that doesn't stop her from exploring the house! What secrets will her little paws find?"
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"What happened?" Alexandra asked Melody, holding her head in a daze as she led the blonde outside towards the front gate.
Melody giggled, "You were in a trench!"
Alexandra glanced back at her, "You mean a trance?"
"Well, whatever you were in, it made you and everyone else watch three straight hours of those cute animals!" Melody chirped. "You didn't even look at your dad when he came in."
"Daddy came into the room? I don't remember being there when we all revived," Alexandra replied.
"He asked you to go on a dinner date with one of his client's sons," Melody reported.
Alexandra stopped dead in her tracks. "What?! What did I say?!"
"You said, 'Okay Daddy,' to everything he said, actually. You're such a good daughter, Alexandra!" Melody praised.
Alexandra whirled around, hands ripping at her hair. "W-w-w-w-why didn't you stop me?!"
"Because the son sounded like such a nice guy," Melody replied, confused.
Alexandra gawked at Melody for a moment before turning back around to pull at her hair again. "OOOOoooh! Melody!"
Melody laughed, "Relax, Alexandra, you don't have to marry him!"
Alexandra sighed and continued walking, letting her arms dangle infront of her. "Great. I got a date with a complete stranger, but I can't get a date with you with my dumb family and housekeepers around!"
Melody turned back to the mansion and began walking backwards so she can gaze at its massive form. "For such a big house, there's no privacy," She turned back around and skipped over to Alexandra, taking her hand into hers. "But it sure is fun!"
"Fun…sure!" Alexandra wept.
They got to the front gate where the guard opened the door from his booth. Alexandra glanced at the guard whose nose was buried in a novel. She leaned over and kissed Melody lightly on the lips.
Melody's blue eyes suddenly filled with hurt, "I'm sorry, Alexandra. I should have never watched that show."
Alexandra shrugged, swinging one hip to the side in an attempt to look as cool as possible. "It made you happy, so I'm all for it. I just wish we could get some privacy once in awhile.
Melody agreed, "Yeah, we would have to hang out with your ant-sitters in the tunnels to get any."
Alexandra perked up, a devious grin spreading on her face.
"No one is allowed in that tunnel… It's perfect!" Alexandra proclaimed.
Melody made a squeaking noise and covered her mouth. "But it's spooky in there…don't you think?"
Alexandra waved her hand. "Sebastian hung out in there and he was fine, I'm sure we can too!" When she saw Melody wasn't completely convinced, she toned down her excitement a bit. "Come on, let's just take a closer look next time. Okay?"
Melody breathed out in resignation. "But not at night, okay?"
Alexandra nodded. "In the daytime, then. Good-night, Melody, darling."
Melody smiled and turned to hurry down the street. Although she was scared of that tunnel, she wanted Alexandra to be happy. She was sure it would be all-right, and they could finally get some privacy…right?
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Two days later, Alexandra packed a backpack with Melody watching anxiously, her own pink backpack strapped to her back. Alexandra stood up, slinging her bag over her shoulders. "Okay, are we ready?"
"Are you bringing the vacuum?" Melody asked.
Alexandra sighed loudly, "Melody – if we do encounter any ghosts, we couldn't defend ourselves with a vacuum like you seem to think."
Melody turned her nose up and looked away angrily. "It worked for Luigi, so I'm not going without one."
Alexandra rolled her eyes and grabbed the vacuum Melody had brought from home. She didn't even want to ask who Luigi was.
Melody smiled brightly again. "Okay, LET'S GO TO THE FORBIDDEN TUNNELS, YAY!"
Alexandra covered the blonde girl's mouth frantically, looking around. "Melody! Ssh! It's called 'forbidden' for a reason! We can't let Daddy or anyone else know where we're going."
Melody blinked and turned to face Alexandra. "Okay, but…" She motioned to Sebastian who sat on the floor beside them, washing his paw to express his disinterest. "…Now Sebastian knows." Melody's face turned dark. "Should we get rid of him?"
Sebastian howled in fear and hid behind a vase near Alexandra's door.
Alexandra smirked at the cowering cat. "No, Sebastian is going to be our lookout, aren't you Sebastian?"
Sebastian nodded frantically. "Mrowyr!"
Melody's face brightened again. "Okay! Now can we go?"
Alexandra grinned. "Let's."
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Meanwhile, outside the mansion, Josie, Alan, Valerie, and a very annoyed looking Alexander marched briskly towards the front door.
"I can't believe you didn't double-check!" Valerie fumed at Alexander as Josie and Alan followed. "This is Melody we're talking about!"
Alexander turned to Valerie and held the contract up to her scowling face. "I thought even Melody couldn't mess up her own signature!" He pointed to a hand-drawn picture of a stop sign on the line reserved for Melody's signature. "WHO DOES THIS?!"
Josie covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her laughter. "You did tell her to 'sign' it, Alex."
They began their march back towards the Cabot mansion.
"We have to hurry! Revon is threatening to rip-up our contract and go with that afternoon talk show lady!" Alexander explained as his march turned into a run. "A talk show host! For a make-up line! What are they thinking?!"
Alexander and the others dashed into the mansion, almost running into Mr. Cabot.
"STOP!" Mr. Cabot boomed.
Everyone skidded to a halt. Alexander turned to Mr. Cabot and fell on his knees. "Dad! What?! We have to get Melody before-"
Mr. Cabot quickly interrupted him, "You're looking for Melody, and I'm looking for your sister! I saw them both in here earlier and now they've vanished. Your sister has a date tonight with my client's son, and I think she's got Melody aiding her escape."
Josie's face twisted into a deep frown. "Really?" Her voice was uncharacteristically dark.
Alan glanced at Josie's expression in surprise before turning to the group. "Let's split up and look for them, gang."
Mr. Cabot's eyes were focused on something behind the group. "I have a better plan."
They turned to see Sebastian peeking at them from around a corner. When the cat met their eyes, he ducked back around the corner.
"Sebastian, I've got a proposition for you," Mr. Cabot explained, stepping confidently towards where Sebastian was lurking.
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Alexandra put one foot on the metal door infront of her. It had been boarded up with a 'Do Not Enter' sign tacked onto one of the boards. She pulled at one of the boards with all her might, grunting as she strained her back to pull. Gasping for breath, Alexandra tried again, this time putting both feet on the door, making her several inches off the ground. Melody watched a foot away, hands holding onto the straps of her pink backpack. Seeing that she would be unable to pull off the planks of wood attached to the wall and door, Alexandra hopped back down and glowered at the door.
"Well, that takes care of that," Alexandra sighed.
"Too bad you can't fall in again," Melody said with a giggle.
"Well, there has to be some other way," Alexandra concluded.
She put her hands on her hips and looked around the tunnel. A path to the right led towards the wine cellar, but the path to the left led into a long, dark hallway which even she had never explored as a kid. She always had a bad feeling about that way, and her instincts warned her to avoid it at all costs. Or it could've been her overactive imagination.
"Maybe we can go down that way," Melody suggested, pointing to the very hallway Alexandra wanted to avoid. "It looks kind of scary, but it'll be okay because we're together!"
Alexandra's heart skipped a beat as Melody smiled at her. Melody knew there were few people in the world who could say "no" to her, and she often used it to her advantage. "…O-okay. Sure."
Melody led Alexandra back down the tunnel and into the dark hallway. Spiderwebs seemed to decorate the hallway, accentuating its creepiness. Alexandra checked the darkest corners, expecting to see rats. Melody took the vacuum from Alexandra's hand and pointed the nozzle around, ready to catch any ghosts, Alexandra presumed with a secret eyeroll. Still, Alexandra wouldn't be too surprised to see a ghost. She felt like she was being watched, or followed. When Melody wasn't looking, Alexandra would look over her shoulder, checking to see if anyone was there. This wasn't a good idea. Alexandra never admitted any idea of hers wasn't a good one, but this time…
"Maybe we should just go back," Alexandra said, stopping to turn to Melody. She put a hand to her hair and closed her eyes, trying to look as calm as possible. "It's too dark and dirty in here."
Melody bit her lip. "I guess you're right. I didn't bring an extra vacuum bag if we catch too many ghosts!"
Suddenly, footsteps began echoing down the hall behind them. Alexandra and Melody froze, staring wild-eyed into each others' eyes. Alexandra instinctively took Melody's hand and began to quietly lead her away from the footsteps. Melody twisted her body and tried to peer down the hall behind them. Alexandra tried to look for a hiding spot in the dark, but only saw walls surrounding them. The footsteps began to get closer, louder, and faster.
"Melody, get behind me," Alexandra whispered, stopping and dragging Melody behind her back.
Melody escaped from Alexandra and suddenly ran towards the footsteps, switching on her vacuum. "Go away, ghosts!"
Alexandra, completely taken off guard by Melody's sudden actions, rushed after Melody. "Melody! Wait-!"
"HEY!" a male voice rang out.
A loud crunching and grinding noise rang out, as if something had been caught in a vacuum.
Alexander held his hands over his eyes. "You dumb blonde! You and your crazy vacuum sucked up my sunglasses!"
"You should thank me, Alexander. Your sunglasses were really a ghost!" Melody explained.
Alexandra's face turned bright red in anger when she saw Alexander and the others in the darkness. "YOU SCARED US, YOU DUMMIES!" She paused in realization. "Wait a minute…how did you find us?!"
Valerie put her hands on her hips, looking down at Sebastian with a grin. "Sebastian led us right to you two…after your father offered him a month of feeding him fish three times a day."
Sebastian snickered and rubbed himself against Valerie's legs.
Alexandra glared down at Sebastian. "Sold out, by my own cat! You're lucky I don't need an extra set of slippers, you traitorous feline!"
Alan laughed. "C'mon, Alexandra, escaping through the tunnels to avoid your blind date?"
Alexandra blinked. "Blind date?"
Josie and the others glanced at each other in confusion. Josie turned back to Alexandra, peering at her suspiciously. "The client's son…?"
Alexandra suddenly remembered Melody telling her about it. "Oh! Uh, yes, you caught me! That's what we were totally doing down here…ha…"
Alexander whipped out the contract, pointing to Melody's 'signature.' "As for you, Melody, what is this?"
"It's a cute little stop sign! I drew it myself!" Melody said proudly.
Alexander groaned. "Melody – you were supposed to write your name! That's what 'sign' means!"
Melody looked annoyed. "Well, golly, if all you wanted me to do was write my name, you should have said so!"
Alexander made a sobbing noise and turned back around. "Yeah, when will I learn? Come on, let's get out of this creepy place!"
Alexandra chewed her lip so hard it almost bled as she followed the others back down the hallway. Melody took her hand in the dark and gave it a reassuring squeeze. However, Alexandra quickly pulled her hand away when Valerie and Josie turned their heads in their direction.
"Next time you come up with a scheme to avoid a date, don't drag Melody into it," Josie said, uncharacteristically cold.
"Yeah, she's the pure one of us, so keep your evil self away from her," Valerie agreed, venom also dripping from her voice.
Alexandra raised an eyebrow as Josie and Valerie turned back to watch where they were going. She was use to that kind of treatment, and she knew somewhere deep inside that she deserved it, but it was rare that Josie acted so coldly to her – at least to her face.
Melody was equally confused and concerned about what had just happened. Valerie was very protective of her, but Josie? She looked at Alexandra who wore her usual frown, relieved that she didn't look bothered by it.
"Hey! What the-?!" Valerie suddenly called out in surprise.
Melody looked up to see a wall blocking their path. Josie and the others were staring, dumbfounded, at the wall and kept giving each other disbelieving glances.
Alexander began to panic, holding his head. "Oh no, no, no, no! We're trapped! Forever! We're going to lose the Revon deal!"
Alexandra glared at her brother. "Relax, Chicken Little! We probably just made a wrong turn!"
Josie looked around. "I don't know, Alexandra. We came here by walking straight, and then we turned back walking straight. I never saw a turn or anything."
Alexandra didn't verbally admit Josie was right (that day would never come), but she knew she was. Even in the pitch dark, they could not have made a turn anywhere – two stone walls surrounded them on both sides. Alexandra crossed her arms close to her chest and shifted her weight onto her other foot.
"C'mon, let's check around," Alan suggested. "Maybe it's one of those trick walls – like in the movies."
They scattered and began feeling around the wall and the walls surrounding it. Valerie prodded every loose stone, expecting some sort of trick stone that was some sort of pressure plate. Josie ran her hands along the wall. Alan's hands were close by, and one time they touched causing a minute worth of awkward apologies and blushing from the two. Alexander had resorted to curling himself up on the floor and rocking back and forth. Melody stepped over him and began vacuuming the floors, causing everyone to stop and stare at her.
Melody noticed the stares and stopped vacuuming, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, if we're gonna be down here forever, I might as well start cleaning up!"
"Don't say that, Melody!" Josie pled frantically, sounding like she was near tears.
"Look, let's just keep walking! Maybe there's some sort of exit down that way," Alexandra interrupted before the conversation went further.
"Well, we're not finding any way to lift that wall back up, so I'm with Alexandra on this one," Valerie agreed.
Everyone seemed to feel better that Valerie had agreed with Alexandra's plan and they began walking again. After a few feet of walking, they came to a fork in the tunnel. Two ways led into pure darkness, making it hard for the group to determine which way to go.
"Which way?" Alan wondered outloud.
Valerie peered into each path, but saw nothing. She groaned and put her hand to her forehead, nursing her migraine. "What kind of crazy mansion is this?! I've never seen anything like this!"
"Our family has been on this property for generations," Alexandra bragged. "Each generation expanded the mansion, the tunnels, and the rooms in these tunnels."
Alexandra was extremely proud of being a Cabot, although at this moment, she wasn't very proud of the fact that one of their ancestors had trapped them underground. Still, Alexandra convinced herself, it was good to remind the peasants of their family's history once in awhile.
"I guess we should split up," Alan announced.
Josie rushed over to Alan, hugging one of his strong arms. "No! We have the stay together!"
"We have no idea where any of these hallways will take us," Valerie agreed. "If we split up, we could lose each other forever!"
Alexander made another long sobbing noise which caused the others to roll their eyes. Alan looked down at Josie's pleading eyes and then looked down at Alexander sobbing and holding his head. He sighed and nodded down at Josie. "Okay, let's pick a hallway and try it out."
"I think we should go this way," Melody announced, pointing to the right. "It's the right way. Get it?"
She laughed at her own joke as the others let out a unified groan at her pun.
"Let's go the opposite of whatever she's says!" Alexander said. "She literally 'signs' her name – what does that tell you about her sense of direction?"
Melody puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on her hips. "I happen to have a very good sense of direction, Alexander Cabot!"
Alexandra silently agreed with that. Melody had very little common sense, but she did have some sort of sixth sense about danger. She claimed her ears wiggled when she sensed danger, but Alexandra couldn't tell because Melody's ears were always buried under her thick blonde hair.
"Well, left is a good direction as any," Alan interrupted, obviously in agreement with Alexander. "C'mon."
Alexandra lingered as the others began to walk into the hallway. She shook her head and began to follow, only to feel one ankle become heavier than the other. Snapping her head down, she saw Sebastian clinging to her ankle, shaking his head frantically and meowing loudly.
"What are you doing, Sebastian?! Get off!" Alexandra barked, trying to shake Sebastian off her leg.
"Mrowwyyrrr yoooowwwrr!" Sebastian pled, shaking his head even more.
"Alexandra! Hey Sis! Come on already!" Alexander called from in the darkness of the hallway.
Alexandra frowned in the direction of his voice. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"
She began to walk again, dragging the leg Sebastian was clinging to. He continued to meow loudly and try to pull her back.
Alexander watched impatiently as his hobbling sister finally caught up to them. "What is with your crazy cat?"
Before Alexandra could reply, Sebastian leapt off her leg and dashed in front of the others, blocking their path into the hallway. He shook his head, pointed down the hall, and then made a begging motion with his paws.
"Oh! Are we playing charades?" Melody cheered.
Valerie studied Sebastian's frantic begging motions. "I don't think he wants us to go down there…"
Melody looked at Valerie in confusion. "Oh, I thought he was a bird!" She giggled, stepped over Sebastian and began to walk down into the hall again. "Valerie wins! This is a silly time for charades anyway, come on everybody!"
Sebastian meowed frantically and began to run after the blonde, but something made him stop dead in his tracks. He looked down to see Melody's foot firmly planted on a large, square tile with runes etched into it. It began to sink with her weight. Sebastian yowled in fear and with a giant leap, attached himself to the top of Alan's head.
"Hey, Sebastian!" Alan yelped in surprise. "What's with you?"
His question was quickly answered when the floor and the walls began to vibrate. Everyone except for Melody slowly began to step backwards so their backs were touching, watching the walls and floors with wide eyes. Suddenly, a large group of spikes shot out of the wall to the left of Melody. Melody watched with interest as the spikes miraculously missed her.
"MELODY!" Alexandra and Josie shrieked frantically at once.
The two looked at each other in surprise, Josie's expression looking particularly shocked. Before Alexandra could make an excuse for her sudden, passionate concern for her friend, spikes shot up out of the ground and missed her by mere centimeters. With a yelp she backed up, bumping into Alan who almost tipped over into more spikes which had shot up in front of his face. He caught himself and watched as spikes began coming out of the walls and ground faster in a deadly rhythm. Josie yelped as she dodged some coming out of the wall, Valerie had resorted to jumping around to avoid the ones coming at her, and Alan struggled to avoid his while Sebastian climbed over his face. Alexander was screaming and running around in circles. Alexandra was dodging herself, but kept one eye on Melody. Melody stood completely still, watching the others in confusion as every single spike somehow managed to completely miss her.
Suddenly, the spikes froze in place. Valerie was now flat on the floor with several spikes inches away from her back. Josie and Alan were clinging to each other, spikes surrounding them on all four sides. Sebastian clung to Alan's neck, all of his fur standing up on its ends. Alexander was sobbing, attached to the wall by several spikes through his shirt and pants. Alexandra was standing completely still, nervously watching the spikes merely an inch away from her nose. She felt the cold metal of others on her sides. With a long, quiet metallic sound, the spikes retreated back into the walls and the floor. Everyone except for Melody let out a long sigh of relief.
"First charades, and then you were all having a dance party! We're wasting precious daylight!" Melody scolded, completely unaware that her friends had almost died a horrible death. "Now come on, sillies!"
"NO!" the others yelled at once.
"Melody…don't move. Just…come back over here…slowly…" Alan begged.
Melody shrugged and walked back to her friends, beaming at their pale, sweating faces.
"The right way?" Josie asked no one in particular, holding her knees and panting.
"The right way," Valerie agreed from the floor.
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After unattaching Alexander from the wall and backtracking, they turned into the right hallway this time and began walking. Sebastian strode ahead, chest puffed out with a feline smirk on his face.
"Sebastian looks like he knows this place," Josie commented.
Alexandra huffed, "Crazy cat was living down here in this dump before he finally decided to live in the lap of luxury."
Sebastian turned his head to Alexandra and meowed indignantly. He turned his nose up and went back to looking ahead.
"It's almost like he's proud of this place," Valerie observed, squinting at Sebastian as if she was studying him under a microscope. "Maybe this was where he lived for a long time."
"How long?" Alan asked.
Valerie shrugged. "I doubt Sebastian will ever tell us that."
Sebastian snickered to himself and then sat down to wash his paws. The others looked to see that the hallway had opened up, as if they were in an underground bunker. Alexandra looked around to see torches lining the walls. She walked up to one and reached out, hesitating a bit before she tugged on it. As she expected, the torch pulled downwards with her hand and in an instant, the other torches lit up to reveal a large, open room with several doorways on both sides and old furniture around the room. A bookcase was on the far wall with dusty books on its shelves. Spiderwebs, dust, and dirt decorated the tapestries and various paintings on the wall. They looked around in amazement at the seemingly underground home they had found. Alexander paused and turned to his sister who was trying her best to look as unimpressed as possible, but was failing miserably.
"How'd you know that would happen?" Alexander asked his sister incredulously.
Alexandra released the torch and shrugged calmly. "Experience."
"Be careful, gang," Alan warned, looking around the room. "That hallway was booby-trapped, and this place may be too."
Sebastian stood up on his hind legs and patted his chest proudly, nodding his head.
"You'll protect us, Sebastian?" Josie giggled. "Thank you!"
Alexandra huffed, "Too bad he isn't very good at protecting secrets."
Sebastian snickered and the others laughed as well, except for Alexandra and Melody. Alexandra checked around, suddenly noticing Melody was not with them.
"What a cute bookcase!"
Everyone turned to see Melody infront of the bookcase on the far wall, inspecting it cheerfully with her hands behind her back. Melody looked over the thick, dusty volumes crammed close together on each of the four shelves. Most of the titles were in foreign languages, but the ones in English were all about alchemy and science. A single, red book with no title was stuck out further than all the other books.
"Oh!" Melody said, noticing the red book. "I wonder if this one has pictures in it!"
Valerie rushed over protectively and grabbed Melody's outreached hands before they could take the book. "Wait, Melody! I've seen this in the movies and cartoons – it's a trap!"
"A trap?" Melody asked, confused.
Sebastian dashed over too, latching onto Melody's leg and tried to tug her away, meowing loudly.
"That's right – if you take that red book, this wall will revolve around and take us into the wall!" Valerie explained as she released Melody's thin wrists, letting them fall back to the blonde's shapely hips.
Suddenly, the red book wiggled back between the books on its own. A blue book on the shelf underneath slide out and poked invitingly out. Valerie gawked at it in surprise and Melody smiled happily.
"Then I'll take this blue book instead!" Melody announced, quickly grabbing the book before Valerie could stop her.
Valerie snapped out of her surprise and tried to prevent Melody from tugging the book out. "Huh?! Wait, Mel, n-!"
But it was too late, with a unified yell from the two girls and a long screech from Sebastian, the wall whirled around and took the bookcase and the three inside the wall.
"Melody! Val!" Josie yelped as the others ran to the now bare wall.
They felt around the wall before silently concluding that it was useless. They were now gone to who knows what part of the underground manor. Alexandra stumbled back, staring at the wall in disbelief. Feelings of all kinds welled up into her heart and mind, but she dealt with them the only way she knew how – angrily.
"You Dum-dum! Now how are we going to find ya, you-?!" Alexandra roared, kicking the wall. Pain shot through her toes and up her leg, causing her to hop backwards, holding her offended foot in her hands. "Ow! Ow! Ow!"
Josie's body bristled and she pointed at Alexandra angrily. "Alexandra Cabot, this is all your fault! Your scheming led Melody, Valerie, and Sebastian right into that wall!"
Alexandra whirled around and went almost nose to nose with Josie who stared defiantly into Alexandra's blazing eyes. "MY fault?! Melody and I would've been just fine if you all hadn't come along! And what is your problem anyway?!"
Alan quickly intervened, pushing Alexandra and Josie away from each other and putting himself between them. "Girls, girls! Now isn't the time – we have to find them!"
"I agree," Alexander agreed, trying to sound brave like Alan, but his shaky voice gave himself away. "Alan, you take the girls and go look for them."
Alexandra leaned to the side to glare at her brother past Alan. "And what are YOU going to do, brother dear?"
Alexander brushed off a dusty chair and sat down in it comfortably. "I'll stay here, of course, you know, just in case they come back."
He laughed, but it quickly turned into sobbing noises when Alexandra's hand grabbed his collar and pulled him off the chair.
+0+0+0+0+0+
Mr. Cabot, a self-proclaimed tyrannical millionaire, who struck fear in the hearts of his business rivals, was seated in a lavish chair, suddenly realizing how those hearts felt. He wiped his soaked brow with his third handkerchief, avoiding eye contact with the older gentleman seated infront of him. The man tapped his forehead with the fingers of his hand supporting his head, his piercing blue eyes glaring impatiently at Mr. Cabot. Besides the man, his son, a handsome blonde-haired and blue-eyed man that Mr. Cabot was convinced Alexandra would fall madly in love with and get the Cabots into his family's business dealings, sat restlessly. Between the three men, the only sound in the mansion was the ticking of Mr. Cabot's old grandfather clock. Suddenly, he heard the clinking of glasses and the sound of a cart rolling towards them. He let out a quiet sigh of relief, glad to hear another noise in the room.
Felicia wheeled a cart of coffee and light snacks over to the men. She peeked at the businessman's son who shyly smiled and looked away bashfully. Felicia's face turned red too, her hands shaking a little as she poured three cups of coffee. Mr. Cabot looked back and forth at the son and his maid. Never one to miss an opportunity, or at the very least, to turn a very bad situation around, he motioned to the young maid.
"That's good, Felicia. Why don't you sit down with us?" he asked. He looked at the businessman who now seemed to be a bit confused and surprised. "Felicia has been worried sick about Alexandra and her friends. You won't mind if she sits down, will you?" Before the businessman could answer or Felicia could object, Mr. Cabot motioned to an empty chair by the son. "Sit down next to Andrew over there."
Felicia opened her mouth a few times, completely taken off guard by Mr. Cabot's suggestion.
"Please do," Andrew said, a little too eagerly.
Felicia blushed again. "Okay…" She sat down next to him, not noticing Mr. Cabot's huge, satisfied grin.
+0+0+0+0+0+
Alan, Josie, and the Cabot twins continued exploring the rooms of the manor. Josie clung to Alan's arm, dragging him at a much brisker pace than the Cabots were moving. Alexandra continued to wonder why Josie suddenly had a vendetta against her after all the years of being rivals. Her brother's main concern was the Revon deal.
"This is getting serious! It's been hours and Revon gave me until the end of the day to submit the contract! And even if we do get out without Melody, Val, and Sebastian, I still have a stop sign on a legal document!" he moaned.
"Gee, really? That's news to us, it's not like you've been REPEATING YOURSELF FOR HOURS!" Alexandra yelled, knocking Alexander's shoulder with a balled fist.
"Ow! This is YOUR fault, Alexandra! You AND that crazy blonde ditz you're always hanging around with now! Two dummies! You two should get married because you're the perfect pair!" Alexander hollered as his face turned a bright red.
Alan rushed over and held Alexandra back as she came at her brother with a balled fist. "Hey, hey, hey! Cool it you two!"
Josie watched a few steps away, arms crossed and nose in the air. "Besides, Alexandra is too evil for good ol' sweet Melody."
Alexandra turned her attention on the redhead, pushing past Alan's hands. "Between my brother's whining and your attitude-!"
Alan grabbed Alexandra from behind her waist, holding her back. "Guys! Girls! Come on! Please! All this fighting is getting us nowhere!"
Alexandra and Josie stared each other down angrily for another moment before Alexandra sighed, letting her shoulders sink in defeat. Josie quickly uncrossed her arms and looked down in shame.
"Sorry, Alan," Josie apologized quietly.
Alexandra didn't apologize, but looked away from Alan's eyes. He didn't expect a verbal apology from her, but her eyes told him she was silently apologizing. Satisfied with that, he released Alexandra and walked ahead, stopping and turning to face the remaining group members.
"Now look, I know it is scary being down here, and even scarier now that we've all been separated, but we have to calm down and keep looking," he said.
Alexander marched over to his side, chest puffed out. "I absolutely agree!"
"Says the big chicken brother," Alexandra mumbled under her breath.
Alexander, not hearing his sister, continued, "Let's inspect every nook and cranny! Anything that looks suspicious at all, we should investigate it together!"
Alan nodded in agreement, looking at a candle attached to the wall on his left. "Like this candle here! It's red and the rest of them on the wall are green!"
He pulled it and with a long, creaking of stone, the floor underneath him and Alexander dropped down. The two men fell through the floor with a unified shout.
"Alan!" "Alex!" Josie and Alexandra yelled, scrambling towards the hole in the ground.
Before they could get there, a stone tile slide out and covered the hole. Josie and Alexandra stared dumbfounded where Alan and Alexander use to be before looking at each other in horrified realization.
They were alone.
+0+0+0+0+0+
"Wheeeeeeeee!"
A cheerful voice echoed inside the walls of a large, abandoned laboratory. A large painting of a beautiful, raven-haired woman on the wall swung open and out slid Melody, Valerie, and Sebastian. They landed ungracefully on the floor, Melody seated on top of Valerie and Sebastian underneath them both, howling in pain and surprise.
"Ugh, where are we?" Valerie wondered, holding her head and shifting her weight off Sebastian.
"Oooh goody! We're inside a labrador!" Melody cheered, looking around with a big smile on her lips. "How cute!"
Valerie didn't bother correcting her, not in the mood to explain the difference to Melody. She looked around the dark room, seeing ominous shapes of various tools, beakers, and other scientific accessories right out of an old horror movie. She slipped out from underneath Melody and began to slowly walk around the room. "This…this is just ridiculous. It's stereotype and cliché evil mad scientist laboratory style…"
"Look Valerie!" Melody called. Valerie turned to see Melody peeking into a doorway, holding the heavy, wooden door open just enough to stick her head into the room. "Someone was pretty sleepy after they did their experiments!"
Valerie hurried over, intrigued. "What do you mean?"
She pushed open the door all the way to see a bedroom. Inside was a large, comfortable-looking bed with all the sheets neatly made, as if someone was going to return in there to sleep. Over the bed was a red canopy, spiderwebs and dust now draping from the cloth. A vanity with a mirror so dirty no reflections could be seen within its glass stood quietly in the corner. When Valerie took a closer look at the vanity, she spotted a small, green notebook with a quill stuck in an inkstand. She opened it to see dated entries and notes on its old, yellowing pages.
"It's a journal," Valerie stated, carefully flipping through the pages.
"Valerie! Don't you know it's not nice to read other people's diaries?" Melody scolded, wagging her finger.
Valerie was too curious to put it down, now reading through several entries. "Whoever wrote this, Melody, is long-gone."
"Where did he go? Bingo?" Melody asked and then giggled. "I just love Bingo night!"
Valerie looked up at the blonde, searching her smiling face to see if she was serious. Seeing she was, and not wanting to crush her dreams of Bingo and replace them with a more sad reality that the residents here were dead, she smiled weakly. "Sure, Melody. Bingo. I'm sure he'll be back soon."
"YEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!" a distant, male voice echoed from down the hall.
"That must be him now!" Melody cheered.
Valerie grabbed Melody's arm with the hand that wasn't carrying the journal. "That sounded like Alexander! Come on, maybe the others are closeby!"
They hurried out of the bedroom, through the laboratory, and into the hall where they saw Alan sprawled out on the floor with Alexander hunched over, holding his bottom.
"Hi guys!" Melody sang, waving at the two men groaning in pain.
Alexander glared up at a piece of knight armor, standing attentively by the door with its sword raised into the air. "What a place to fall! My poor million dollar bottom…"
Alan sat up, holding his head. "Melody! Val! I'm glad you two are all-right! Where's Sebastian?"
As if on cue, Sebastian casually walked out of the laboratory and looked at the two men. He snickered at Alexander rubbing his offended bottom.
"Where's Josie and Alexandra?" Valerie asked, looking around.
Alan sighed, "We fell through the floor, but the girls didn't. They're on their own somewhere else!"
Melody looked worried, putting her hands to her mouth. "Oh no!"
Valerie patted Melody's shoulder. "It's okay, Mel, they'll be okay on their own." She paused and thought about what she said. "Well…maybe they'll fight a lot, but we'll find each other again."
"Can't we rest first? I can barely move after that fall," Alexander complained, slowly straightening up.
Valerie and Melody led them to the bedroom where Alexander sprawled out on the bed, face down. Alan sat on the edge, attentively looking up at Valerie as she flipped through the journal. Melody stood further away, face still full of concern as she stared out into the lab. Sebastian was seated on a laboratory table, staring up at the painting of the woman. He sighed.
"I cannot believe what's in this journal," Valerie breathed.
Melody joined the others again, curious at the shocked tone of Valerie's voice. "Did you read some good gossip?"
"I wish!" Valerie answered, shaking her head.
"Well, what is it?" Alan asked, starting to feel nervous. "I'm guessing it's bad?"
"Very bad," Valerie said. She flipped through the pages. "Listen to this: this underground manor was owned by Sebastian Cabot who lived in the era of the witch hunts! His wife became seriously ill and Sebastian became obsessed with finding a way to make people immortal, so she wouldn't die."
"Immortal? Are you pulling our leg, Val?" Alexander asked from the bed.
Valerie continued, eyes glued to the pages of the journal, "At first, he experimented on volunteers. But of course, the only way he could find that out if his immorality experiments worked on his volunteers was to k…" Alan began waving frantically and motioning to a wide-eyed Melody. "…Uh…send them off to play Bingo."
"What a weird experiment!" Melody concluded, oblivious to the much darker truth.
Alexander slowly sat up to look at Melody, his face pale. "So what happened when all his volunteers…uh…went out to play Bingo?"
"That's the thing. When all his volunteers ran out, he began paying people to get him new 'volunteers' to experiment on," Valerie reported grimly. "And those 'volunteers' weren't very voluntary if you catch my drift."
Alexander audibly gulped.
"And his wife?" Alan asked.
"She died before he ever found the key to immortality. His fate is a little fuzzy, though. The last thing he wrote was about some 'counsel' not being very happy with him," Valerie ended. "I think all the traps we've encountered were to keep people out, and to allow Sebastian to get from the manor to his laboratory and the other rooms in secret."
"Other rooms?" Alan asked.
Valerie's face turned dark. "Torture chambers."
+0+0+0+0+0+
Alexandra dug through her backpack as Josie sat in an old chair in a corner. After a moment, Alexandra pulled out her cellphone and turned it on. There were zero bars and the 'emergency only' message flashed on its screen.
"I should've known," Alexandra growled.
Josie got up, sighing. "We're underground, Alexandra, of course it's not going to work. We need to find them the old fashion way."
Alexandra looked down thoughtfully. "The old fashion way, or we find another trap and let it take us away too."
Josie scoffed, storming out of the room and into a staircase spiraling downwards. "I'm not listening to any of your schemes, Alexandra. You'll probably lead me right to a trap and let me fall into it so you can have Alan all to yourself."
Alexandra ran after her, throwing her arms in the air. "Oh yeah! That would be a brilliant idea considering Alan isn't here! Don't worry, Josiekins, you'd probably fall right into his arms!" When Josie continued hurrying down the stairs, Alexandra laughed. "Do you really think that's the only thing on my mind?!"
Josie stopped, making Alexandra almost collide into her back. "Maybe that's not the only thing on your mind. Maybe you want Melody too!"
"What?!" Alexandra yelped, thankful Josie had her back to her so she couldn't see the visible blush on her face.
Josie turned to her, pointing at her face. "You're always dragging Melody off alone! I use to think you two were becoming friends, but it turns out you're just using her in your schemes!" Alexandra opened her mouth to reply, but Josie whirled back around and began almost running down the stairs, continuing her rant. "I don't get you, Alexandra! You have everything in the world and yet all you want to do is take the only things I have in my life!"
"Hey! That's not-!" Alexandra began to object.
Josie hopped off the last stair and continued to walk in an open room. Alexandra's attention was drawn to the corner of the room. The stone floors were a dark brown color, and there were chains on the wall. The room smelt different from the other rooms, and it was making Alexandra queasy.
"Are you even listening?!" Josie demanded.
Alexandra snapped out of her study of the room and looked at Josie seriously. "Josie, just hold on a minute."
"Absolutely not!" Josie hollered, marching into another room. "Why don't you stay here and let me find my friends?!"
Alexandra hurried after her. "Josie! I'm serious! Wait!"
Alexandra followed Josie in a large, open room. Streaks of brown led to a line in the floor before cutting off, leaving the rest clean.
"I've had it with you! I'm putting my foot down here and-!" Josie snapped, stomping her foot on the ground.
Suddenly, Alexandra and Josie found out why those mysterious streaks stopped. With a violent shake, the stones parted and Josie tumbled down a slide to a bed of large spikes. Josie screamed as she slid down partway, suddenly coming to a stop. She looked up to see Alexandra holding onto the sides of the slide with her free hand and her feet. Josie quickly noticed blood streaming out of both her hands, causing her to imagine Alexandra sliding down after her, hands gripping the sides so she could stop.
"Quit gawking and climb over me!" Alexandra barked, gritting her teeth as she held Josie's shirt.
Josie panted and worked together with Alexandra to pull herself up to Alexandra's back. Josie timidly climbed over Alexandra, using her backpack as a grip and a footing when she began to climb back up to the edge. Josie hauled herself up back to the floor, and then turned and reached back down to Alexandra. Alexandra climbed up the slide, gritting her teeth at the pain of having her hands torn up, and carefully took Josie's hand. Josie pulled her up and they both collapsed on their backs, panting hard. With another violent shake and grinding of stone, the floor slowly put itself back together. The girls continued to pant until Josie propped herself up on her shoulder, looking down at Alexandra.
"Alexandra…you saved me!" Josie breathed. "After all those horrible things I said. I-I-I'm…"
Alexandra put one hand up and placed it back down when it silenced Josie. "I deserved all that. Don't worry."
Josie's eyes welled with tears. "No, you didn't! I was just…you and…" She paused and took a deep breath, not wanting to meet Alexandra's eyes. "…I was scared…you would take Melody away from me…like you try to do with Alan… She's been spending so much time with you that I've been feeling…"
Alexandra smirked bitterly. "Jealous?"
Josie laughed, wiping away some loose tears, "I'm turning into you!"
"Ha! Don't kid yourself! You've always been a little crazy jealous, Josiekins," Alexandra teased.
Josie laughed again and flopped back onto her back. "Yeah… Of Melody…of Val…of you…"
Alexandra glanced at Josie before looking back up at the ceiling. "Do you wanna hear something really crazy jealous?" Josie turned to her head to look at Alexandra. "All my life, I've had everything, everything that a normal person would want: money, a name, and an enormous mansion with a torture chamber underneath it." Josie laughed, but let Alexandra continue. "But I never had the one thing I wanted."
Josie waited for Alexandra to continue, but when she didn't, Josie propped herself up to look at Alexandra's face. Her eyes were staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "…And…what was the one thing you wanted?"
"Somebody to like me for who I am!" Alexandra burst out, startling Josie. "Everyone who looked at me saw a walking stalk of cash, the key to getting in with the Cabots, and the ultimate dream of living the rest of their life out in luxury! I began to identify myself with that – I am a Cabot, I am rich, and everybody wants me because of my wealth! Even though I didn't know who I was underneath all the money, I still wanted people to like me for me!"
Suddenly, it dawned on Josie. "So…you thought...that by imitating me and having everything I had…that people would like you not just for your money?"
Alexandra sighed, "God, Josie. Everyone loves Josie – she's Josie! Josie! Josie and the Pussycats! And all you do is just…be you. And everyone likes you for it. So I guess that's what I thought. If I was like Josie, everyone would love me too, and not just because I have all this rotten money."
Josie was dumbfounded. All this time she thought the Cabots had the perfect life, a life she always dreamed of for her and her family. She had no idea Alexandra just wanted to be liked, she thought she was trying to take everything because that's what she thought she was entitled to as a rich millionairess.
"Melody…Melody was the first person who liked me for me," Alexandra sighed. "So…I'm sorry. I'm sorry I want to be friends with her. You're her friend, not me. I'll tell her to hang out with you girls more."
Josie smiled. "Alexandra, was Melody your first friend?"
Alexandra laughed bitterly. "Yeah. How sad is that?"
Josie smiled and lied back down. "She was my first friend too."
"Pretty sure Melody is a lot of people's first friend," Alexandra chuckled. "She just approaches everyone and loves them no matter what."
"Yeah! I love a lot of people!"
Josie and Alexandra laughed before sitting up in shock. They turned their heads to see Melody looking down at them with Sebastian in her arms. "MELODY?!"
The others dashed in with Alan leading. "Josie! Alexandra!"
"We heard you scream but didn't know where you were! Luckily, Sebastian led us right to you! Are you all-right?" Valerie asked worriedly, rushing over to Josie's side.
Sebastian meowed and leapt off Melody to sit on top of Alexandra's stomach. She looked up at her cat and grinned weakly. "You're still a traitorous feline."
Sebastian snickered. Melody sat down and took Alexandra's head into her lap, blue eyes filling with tears. "We were so worried!" She gasped, seeing Alexandra's hands. "Oh no! You're hurt!"
"Let me see!" Alan said, rushing over to Alexandra from Josie's side.
He inspected her hands with Alexander, Valerie, and Josie watching.
"Yikes, Sis! That looks bad!" Alexander proclaimed, searching around his pockets for anything to wrap the wounds with.
"Here, let me give you my shirt!" Melody said before starting to pull up her shirt.
"NO, MELODY!" everyone cried out at once.
Melody sobbed, covering her eyes with her hands. "But-!"
Alexandra sat up to look at Melody. "It's okay, Melody, I'm fine. See?"
"And I'm fine thanks to Alexandra!" Josie gasped. "She saved my life from another deadly trap!" She hugged Alan. "Oh, Alan, it was so scary!"
Josie suddenly let go of Alan and looked at Alexandra self-consciously. Melody was vacuuming dirt off Alexandra's face as Alexandra tried to push the nozzle away. Alexandra caught Josie's stare and then looked at Melody.
"Yeah, Melody, Josie almost-" Alexandra began to explain to the blonde.
"-Went to play Bingo!" Valerie interrupted.
Alexandra glared up at her. "No…she-!"
Alexander covered his sister's mouth. "Ha, ha, ha, ha! Yes, Bingo!"
Melody looked at Josie fearfully. "Josie! No! Everyone who played Bingo in this manor never came back!" She wept again, hugging Josie. "And I don't know what I would do if you went away without me! You're my best friend!"
Josie's eyes welled with tears, realizing how silly she was being over the whole Melody and Alexandra being friends. Melody was a friend to all; she didn't just belong to Josie. Josie hugged Melody and patted her head. "I'm sorry, Mel. I was being silly…"
She looked at Alexandra over Melody's shoulder. Alexandra knew she wasn't talking to Melody.
"Me too, for a long time," Alexandra admitted.
Melody sniffed and wiped away her tears, looking at the two girls. "Of course you two were! Who would want to play Bingo at a time like this?"
Alan ripped off the bottom of his pants and used the cloth to wrap Alexandra's hands. She smiled weakly at his attentiveness. In the past, she would've died for this kind of attention. Now, she found she didn't really need it. For the first time in her life, being with Melody, she felt happy and loved.
"Easy there, Sis," Alexander whispered as he and Alan helped her up.
"I'm fine," Alexandra grumbled. "Let's just get out of this deadly dump."
"I hear that!" Alan agreed.
Sebastian suddenly ran towards a door, meowing and pointing at it.
"Do you think he knows the way out?" Josie asked.
"I hope so! Come on!" Valerie said eagerly.
+0+0+0+0+0+
Sebastian lead them back up through a stairwell and into the Cabot wine cellar through a sliding wall. Relieved that they were finally back someplace they recognized, the Cabot twins led them back into the mansion where Mr. Cabot was waiting.
"ALEXANDRA CABOT!" Mr. Cabot boomed as the businessman joined his side.
Alexandra flinched visibly, foreseeing a severe punishment in her near future. "Y-yes Daddy?"
Mr. Cabot marched over, eyes locked with Alexandra's wide eyes. The others unconsciously took a step closer to Alexandra, holding their arms out in protection.
"YOU'RE BRILLIANT!" Mr. Cabot cheered, opening his arms wide.
Alexandra blinked. "I-I'm uh w-what?"
"Brilliant!" the businessman beamed. "I have never seen my son so happy before in his entire life! How did you know the young housemaid and him would be the perfect pair?!"
Alexandra blinked several more times. "Uh…"
"That's right!" Josie suddenly proclaimed. "Alexandra told us when we found her and Melody! She knew Felicia would be a better match for your son than she was and made it seem like she was running away!"
Alexandra looked at Josie. "I did?"
Valerie quickly covered her mouth. "Yes, you did! Sorry, Mr. Cabot, we had a rough time down there." She held up Alexandra's hands, the cloth Alan had wrapped around them already soaked in blood. "See?"
"Egad! What happened?!" Mr. Cabot gasped, looking at his daughter's hands.
"There were traps! Lots of traps! A-a-and a laboratory and a t-t-t-t-t-t-t-torture room!" Alexander wailed. "What kind of crazy ancestors did we have?!"
"Uh, excuse me, I'm going to check on my son," the businessman excused himself, face ashen. He turned and quickly walked away.
Mr. Cabot slapped his own forehead in disbelief. "You went down to the forbidden tunnels?! Why do you think they're forbidden?!"
"We didn't mean to, Mr. Cabot, honest!" Josie pled. "The wall behind us suddenly closed and we had to go in!"
Melody interrupted, "Did you know your ancestors really liked Bingo?"
Mr. Cabot raised an eyebrow at Melody before shaking his head. "Alexandra, go see Darla at once! I will talk to the others about what you all found."
Alexandra nodded dumbly, still in disbelief that she wasn't being sent to her room for the rest of her life. She began to walk away but Melody grabbed her arm and held it. "I'm going with Alexandra!"
"Don't forget to sign the contract for real!" Alexander called after her as the two girls went off.
Alexandra sighed heavily, "Thank heavens that's over."
"Alexandra?" Melody whispered sweetly. "Thank you for saving Josie."
Alexandra blushed and looked away from Melody's big, shining eyes. "Uh, w-well, you know…I had to. That's all."
Melody grinned. "I think you're getting soft."
Alexandra scoffed and put her nose up in the air, "Me? Alexandra Cabot? No way."
They laughed and Melody brought her mouth up to Alexandra's ear, whispering, "And I think I found the perfect place for us."
Alexandra looked down at her in a mix of surprise and excitement. "Oh yeah? Where?"
+0+0+0+0+0+
"Ta-da!" Melody sang, leading Alexandra into the old bedroom several days later.
Alexandra looked around in shock. "Wow! So this is where you guys were. It figures you would find the nicest place in the manor."
Melody took Alexandra's thin shoulders into her hands. "Now we can have the privacy your ant-sitters have…"
Alexandra grinned wickedly and turned to take Melody into her arms. "Finally."
Outside the room in the laboratory, Sebastian looked up wistfully at the painting of the woman. He stood up on his hind legs and touched the woman's hands with his paws.
"Gee, I hope Sebastian Cabot's wife didn't die on this bed!"
"What?! Don't tell me that now!"
"Don't worry, Alexandra! I brought my vacuum!"
Sebastian glanced over his shoulder as the vacuum switched on loudly inside the room. He listened to his master's high-pitched hysterical shouting and Melody's calm, sing-song voice answering it.
"Oooooh Melody!"
Sebastian brought one paw to his mouth and snickered.
+0+0+0+0+0+
Far away in a town called Greendale, Sabrina the Teenage Witch lied on her bed, reading from a book of magic spells. Her black cat, Salem, flicked his tail and watched her from his perch on her desk.
"Hey Salem? You know I've always wondered…does the Witches' Counsel always punish bad wizards and witches by turning them into animals?" Sabrina asked.
Salem stretched out his back. "Frequently, yes. They aren't a very original bunch. I got away lucky though."
Sabrina looked up from her book, wondering how anyone sentenced to be a cat for a hundred years could possibly think that. "What do you mean?"
"I can talk! There were some bad wizards who were sentenced far longer than I and don't even have the power to speak," Salem replied. "So, I'm lucky."
"There were wizards who did something more terrible than attempting to take over the world?" Sabrina asked, cocking an eyebrow at her ex-wannabe-dictator cat.
"'Attempt' is the word," Salem said, sounding offended. "I didn't actually do anything bad…" He paused and thought about that. "…Well, at that moment…"
Sabrina closed her book. "I don't even want to think about what others did to deserve worse than you." She got up and dug through her backpack. "Oh yeah, I got you a snack from the vending machine at school. I know you like these."
She tossed a Twinkie still wrapped in its package on her desk, landing by Salem's feet. He looked down at it and then looked up at Sabrina, eyes squinting happily in approval. "Ah…yes… Life is good! I'm one lucky cat!"
Sabrina grinned and hurried out of her room. "Well, I've got a date with Harvey. See you, Salem!"
Salem looked down at his Twinkie in horrified realization. "Sabrina! Wait! You forgot to unwrap it! Sabrina?!"
There was silence, Sabrina was long gone. He listened to her feet clamber out down the stairs followed by the shut of the front door.
Salem hung his head and began to weep, "Life is bad! Life is bad as a cat!"
He sobbed loudly, no longer so feeling lucky that everyone could hear him.
