I AM SOOOOOO SORRY THAT THIS IS LIKE 7 WEEKS AND 4 DAYS LATE! I've had a lot to do. I had a wedding reception to go to, I had been out of work for 3 weeks, I had over time before then, I just started a new job a few days ago, mom and I were sick and I just found out today that a friend of mine has cancer in his left lung. it's been hell and now with the new job it's going to be tough writing but I'm trying. plus I needed a break from this story, not only to make sure this chapter got done right, but because I needed to feel inspired to write again and I just needed a break from this story all together to work on my other posted and not yet posted stories. PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND MY SELFISH NEEDS! ENJOY!
Chapter 42: The Day The Earth Moved!
*Aria's POV*
I was woken up by loud knocking.
"'Groans.' Who is it?" I groaned out.
"It's your Uncle Fred." I heard. I rolled over and looked at my clock. 7 am.
"Uncle Fred~ it's 7 am. No school remember?" I whined out as I tried to go back to sleep. I heard my door open and groaned again.
"Time to wake up." He said as I groaned.
"Why.~" I whined out. This is what happens when I'm forced to wake up early. I whine, groan, pout, become childish and sometimes have a temper.
"Do you know what day it is?" He asked me.
"Monday, two days after Archie and I got kidnapped by the sea monster and the day after the cave was filled in to trap her and spring break still." I said as I started to lull back to sleep.
"Yes, but it's also the first day of spring." He told me.
"If you want me up for the Andrews tradition it's for boys only. Remember?" I told him in annoyance.
"Yes, well, I thought you'd like to participate this year." He told me.
"I'm not wearing a kilt." I told him.
"Girls wear tartans, not kilts." He told me.
"I'm not wearing plaid." I flat out told him as I pulled the blanket over me.
"Please. It took me a long time to find one for you." He said to me.
"No." I pouted out childishly.
"It'll make Archie feel better." He added in.
"No." I said in the same tone again.
"It's tradition." He told me as he started to get a bit more strict.
"Still no." I said in the same tone. I then felt the blankets get ripped off me.
"Gak!" I yelled out as I shot up and glared at him.
"Aria Beatrice Andrews you will get out of bed, put this tartan on and join us downstairs in 10 minutes. Do I make myself clear." My uncle said sternly. I shuttered when he used my middle name. I hated it so much. We stared each other down before I sighed, giving up.
"Fine." I muttered out as I reached over and grabbed the tartan from him. I was going to hate this so~ much. In case you're wondering, a tartan is a Scottish girl skirt that reaches the ankles, plaid most of the time meaning red and green, in short it's like a kilt and a school girl skirt combined but longer. It even had a sash to tie around. Oh joy. I put it on with white socks, the Scottish girl shoes I got and my black kiss tee shirt I had lying around. I put my hair up, did my eyes quickly, put in silver studs and rushed downstairs. I snickered at Archie in the kilt.
"Shut it." Archie said as I tried to hold back more snickers.
"Can I grab a peach before leaving?" I asked.
"Yes." Uncle Fred said. I quickly grabbed a peach before walking out the door and into Archie's car with them. We soon drove off to the historical run down part of Riverdale. Once we got there Archie and I were miserable while Uncle Fred looked happy that both of us were here and continuing this tradition, especially since he had to do this by himself last year. We walked up to the historical building with a bell on it.
"There it is you two. The Andrews' have been ringing that bell for over one hundred years." Uncle Fred said as he looked up at the bell tower with pride.
"How come dad hasn't been here for this?" I asked him all of a sudden. I know for a fact dad never came here and did this, at least not since he moved to the city anyways.
"Well, both my brother and sister don't live here in Riverdale and, since this is usually a tradition for the boys, Vivian decided, after getting married and losing her husband but still kept the Andrews name, decided against it and decided not to show Alistair and Tianna this and left it to me for Archie. As for your father, well, once he left he almost completely cut all ties with us. Actually, the only reason how I found out you were born was through my father, Artie Andrews." He told me all this as Archie and I stood in wonder. They weren't supposed to know about me?
"Is that why dad won't let me see grandpa?" I asked him. He nodded his head yes.
"Anyhow, since you'll be staying with us, I figured it'd be nice to keep this up with both of you instead of just Archie." He told me.
"You do realize that, unless I keep my last name, I'd take on my future husband's right?" I asked as a reminder.
"Don't remind me." He said in a slightly bitter tone. Did he not want me to get married? Naw, I think it's because he doesn't want to think about the day I grow up and live on my own. Uncle Fred always did view me as a daughter he never had ever since the day he met me.
"Skipping all this, can we just ring the bell already?" Archie asked in a sour mood.
"I think there's more too it than that." I said while we walked up to Uncle Fred up the stairs to the old building. It looked like it could be a town hall at one point in time.
"She's right Archie, There's more to it than that. For example, We have to recite this poem while dancing a jig, like this." He said before handing Archie an old scroll. Right after he handed it to him he started doing a Scottish dance. I giggled at the sight if it. How could I not? It looked like he had a wedgie he was trying to undo while trying not to burn his feet on the hot sand. Archie was marvelling at the scroll so I decided to take a peak. Archie started reading it but since he was mumbling I couldn't hear him and he wouldn't let me see it.
"Archie.~ I wanna see.~" I said to him.
"Here." He said as he handed me the rolled up parchment. I unrolled the parchment and gave it a look over, remembering the poem instantly, before looking up. When I did I saw that Uncle Fred had Archie dancing the jig with him. Once I saw Archie smiling I couldn't stop laughing.
"It hurts! 'Laugh' Too 'Laugh' Funny." I said as I kept laughing. I was laughing so hard my stomach started hurting, I was crying and I squeaked at the end of my laughs and when I breathed in.
"I hadn't seen you laugh that hard since the time I dressed up as Superman and jumped off the shed to fly but fell in that mud puddle." Archie said to me. I then remembered that back when we were 4 years old and started laughing again.
"I remember! 'Laugh' You 'Laugh' Swallowed 'Squeak' Mud!" I said as I laughed even harder than before. I actually fell on the ground. Actually, I rolled down the stairs from laughing so hard.
"Aria!" I heard.
"You alright?" I heard again. I finally stopped laughing and looked up with a smile.
"Yeah, why?" I asked them.
"You rolled down the steps, that's why." Uncle Fred said. I looked and noticed the stairs in front of me.
"Huh. I didn't feel a thing. Weird." I said as I stood up.
"We should continue, and you're joining us young lady." Uncle Fred said as we made our way up the stairs and back to out spot to start. We started dancing and chanting the poem. It was fun. We didn't notice the eyes that were watching us from a far.
"Oh, uh, hi. I know this must look sorta strange to you guys." I heard Archie say. I looked over and saw Betty, Veronica and Jughead had seen us. Oh gosh no. Once I saw Jughead I turned beat red and hid behind a pillar.
*Not good. Not good not good not good!* I squeaked in my mind. I love my heritage but this was ridiculous really. I'm embarrassed because of the dance and me wearing this ugly tartan. Yuck.
"Hey, wasn't Aria just with you?" I heard Betty suddenly ask. I tensed up. Why couldn't I just stay home?
*Maybe I can sneak to the car?* I thought to myself.
"I thought you looked cute up there." I suddenly heard Jughead whisper in my ear. I jumped into plain sight as I shrieked loudly.
"Jughead Jones I told you to stop sneaking up on me like that! Jimmy does that enough to me!" I yelled out as I held my right hand over my pounding heart. I was now taking deep breaths to try and calm myself.
"Aw, I'm sorry. I didn't think I'd scare you, I thought you heard me." He said as he came over to me. Now I was turning red from embarrassment. I didn't feel like looking at him or any of them.
"We can explain all of this." Archie started to say.
"Forget it Arch. Whatever you, your father and your cousin do on your time is completely up to you. Besides, were here on a mission to save old town." Betty told us all of a sudden.
"Save it?" I questioned. Jughead then had his arm wrapped around me, guided me to Archie and turned us around as he pointed at the bell tower.
"Look." He said. We looked and was the bell that we were supposed to ring was being lowered down. My uncle stopped doing the jig and looked as well.
"Are they tearing this town down instead of preserving the history?" I asked them. I had seen this happen in the city a twice in my life and both times were really sad.
"Yes, condemning it to tear it down and build a new mall." Betty said in an upset/angered tone. Veronica then perked up.
"You didn't tell me they we're building a new mall." Se said before she got an upset look and pointed a finger at Betty.
"That changes everything." Veronica added.
"No, it doesn't. We don't need a new mall in reality and, even if we did, it could be built some place else where it's more efficient and less historic. This place has history for the Andrews, and I'm sure many more, so I'm willing to sign it and try to help out anyway I can." I said with a smile as I grabbed the petition and pen from Betty and signed my name on it. I looked up and saw them taking the Bell away.
"When I think of old town, I think of lemon drops." Jughead said as he fantasied about lemon drops.
"Lemon drops?" We all questioned.
"Yeah~ you're gonna have to walk me through this one." I said to him in total confusion.
"You won't know this Aria but do the rest of you remember Old Town's Candy Store? Mmm. They sold the best lemon drops around." Jughead exclaimed happily. Seriously, how could you not love Jughead and his passion for food.
"That's right. I even remember being a kid at the Old Town Spring Festival." Betty said as she smiled and held her hands together. That must've been fun for all of them. I don't really remember having fun like that. I remember saving money so I could go to the arcade a few times and usually the park, museum or library whenever I could go and the one time I went to the Bronx zoo but that's it. I bet they all had loads of fun at places like that.
"Where an Andrews would always ring that bell." Uncle Fred added as I tried to picture all of this. I couldn't. I tried to push the sadness and jealousy away. We then heard a ding as we looked over at the bell being taken away.
"At least they're preserving the bell at the museum." Betty said to us. One good thing at least.
"So much for our family tradition." Uncle Fred said as we saw the truck, with the bell inside of it, drive away. He then turned to us.
"Well you two, I'm heading home to morn the forgotten dreams of our ancestors." Uncle Fred said in a sad tone before walking away from us. I didn't know what to do. What could we do?
"So Archie? When did you and your dad start wearing skirts?" Jughead joked around a he went behind Archie and put his hands on Archie's shoulders from behind as he snickered.
"It's a kilt, not a skirt. It's a scottish tradition for boys and men." I scolded Jughead.
"Then what are you wearing?" Betty asked me.
"It's a tartan. This is a scottish girl's skirt." I said as I looked at it.
"It's ugly, but part of my heritage." I said as I sighed. That's when it happened. An earthquake. As the ground shook I heard a strange growling sound. It was over as soon as it started though. Betty and Veronica held onto each other as they sat on their knees, Archie and Jughead used each other to balance and I managed to stay standing as I kept my feet firm on the ground.
"What was that?" Veronica asked in a scared tone.
"I'd say it was an earthquake." Betty said with worry.
"I don't think so. Earthquakes don't growl." I said as Archie shoved Jughead away from him.
"She's right. I have a feeling this case just turned into a weird mystery." Archie said before I groaned.
"No!~ I'm still recovering from the last one.~" I whined out. I was tired of all of these mysteries. I wanted normal for one week after the last one before hopping back into it, not one day!
"She's right Archie-kins, not another one of your weird mystery things." Veronica agreed with me.
"Don't you remember what we learned last year in geology class?" Archie asked us. I did. Jughead slowly started thinking. I know exactly what he was thinking.
"Yeah, stay far away from the rock tumbler." Jughead said as I giggled.
"I warned you not to stick your head in it. But that's not what Archie's getting at." I told him these things.
"It's not?" Jughead asked.
"No." I said while shaking my head.
"The plates. The earth has plates that shift, but where we're located, those plates don't exist so we shouldn't have earthquakes. I think something is tunnelling underground and I hope to the heavens I'm wrong about something tunnelling underground." I said as I prayed, sighed, hoped and groaned about it. I'm usually right and I hate it when I am when it comes to the weird mysteries. I then thought about something.
"I know the right guy with equipment, and brains with a cute smile, who can help us out." I said as I thought about Dilton. I lightly sighed with a smile on my face.
"Hey.~ What about me?~" Jughead whined in a childish manner. I giggled at that.
"Archie? Can you bring Dilton here with his equipment? And girls, I think you should get out of here, while it's safe, and get more people to sign." I said with a smile.
"It'd be easier if you came with us, with you around we'd have 10 of these signed." Betty commented and complimented me.
"As great as that is I think I should stay here and examine the area to see what's up before anything bad happens." I commented.
"Good idea. And I'll stay right by you." Jughead said as he started walking over to me. Archie grabbed him and yanked him backwards before dragging him to the car.
"Oh no you don't. After the last make out session you two had, I'm not leaving you two alone again." Archie said as they reached the car.
"But Arch-" Jughead started to say before getting shoved in the car.
"Don't but Arch me." Archie said as he got in the car, started it up, and drove off to get Dilton.
"What was he talking about? What make out session?" Betty asked me as me face and the tip of my ears went beat red.
"Um, well. The night Jughead did the surprise dinner and dancing night we, um, well, kinda sorta, um, WeMadeOutOnTheCouchAndItWasIntenseAlright!" I was so embarrassed and stumbled my words that I blurted the last sentence together quickly. Betty was blushing lightly now while Veronica had a look of disgust.
"How can you make out with Jughead?" Veronica asked me with that look of disgust still on her face.
"Because I care for him." I said to her.
"Even though you did that with Dilton too." Betty teased me as I blushed again. The one time I made out with Dilton Betty walked in and, well, yeah. Embarrassment. She accidentally told Archie too so he's been watching me like an over protective brother now.
"Really? Dilton too?" Veronica asked me in a surprised tone.
"Oh please! Archie has done that with both of you at one time or another and I know he has." I said in a flustered tone. Now it was there turn to start blushing.
"We're, um, gonna go get more signatures now." Betty said as Veronica nodded her head in agreement. We soon parted ways as I looked around Old Town. I wish I could've seen it in it's glory days. I remember Dilton moved into a nicer house, two story with an above ground basement, bigger driveway and a huge back yard. They were a bit of a ways away from people and in the semi nicer area, like where Reggie lives and almost where Ronnie lives, and it's still close to the school to where he can walk with no problems. I remember Archie brought me there so he shouldn't get lost. Hopefully. I continued looking around when I felt another earthquake. I held my ground as it soon passed. I waited a little bit before walking again.
*Maybe I should head back now.* I thought as I head back to the Old Town Hall area, and just in time too. I smiled when I saw Dilton setting up his equipment and explaining it to Archie. I bolted over to them.
"Dilton!" I shouted out. He turned and saw me as he smiled. He stood up but then gave me a weird look. I stopped and looked at him.
"You're wearing a kilt too?" He asked me. I realized what he meant and sighed with an annoyed look on my face.
"It's not a kilt like Archie's, it's a tartan. An actual skirt." I said as I groaned. Why did Uncle Fred put me in this? That's when Jughead sneezed. After he sneezed the ground began to shake. Once it was over Dilton and I bent down to look at the readings. This was incredible.
"I just detected another earthquake." Dilton said to them.
"It's readings are off the chart. There's no way this is a normal earthquake." I added in as Dilton nodded his head in agreement. Then Jughead blew his nose.
"Chill guys, it was just one of Jughead's sneezes." Archie said as Jughead continued to blow his nose.
"I doubt it Arch." I told him sceptically. I then thought about it.
"Archie? Does Uncle Fred know we're still here?" I asked him. Archie's face went from confused to shocked in 2.5 seconds.
"I'll be right back." Archie said in a small panic before rushing over to a near by pay phone. After a bit we decided to go over and wait for him. Jughead was leaning against the phone booth while Dilton was examining the soil. I was just rocking back and forth from my toes to the balls of my heels just waiting. I didn't bring my lucky back pack with me so I had no music and so there was boredom. Archie soon got off the phone.
"Did you know that, some point in history, Riverdale's soil was as rich as a compost heap?" Dilton asked Archie specifically.
"No. But what does that have to do with the earthquakes?" Archie asked him.
"Maybe nothing." Dilton said as he stood up and removed the dirt from his hand.
"Maybe everything." He added in as he had a familiar look on his face. The thinking look.
"Dilton, if the soil was rich at one point, then that would mean a huge amount of worms helped make that possible." I said as all three looked at me.
"What do ya mean?" Archie asked me.
"Worms have a special ability to make dirt rich like compost, hence why it's good for them to be in a garden. But it shouldn't be possible." I said to them.
"Why not?" Archie asked me. I sighed and closed my eyes.
"Hundreds of thousands of worms live in the ground so there would have to be billions to make this ground rich." I told him.
"But there wouldn't be back then." Archie pointed out.
"Very good Archie, unless they died off and left the ground rich for a long while or there's a giant worm living underground that we have no knowledge about." I said to him. I could tell, without opening my eyes, they all gave me funny looks.
"You've been watching to many monster movies with Jughead. There can't be a giant worm underground." Archie said to me. I opened my eyes and looked at him.
"There shouldn't be sea monsters, giant girls and bugs, super heroes and super villains, werewolves, vampires, monsters, ghosts, aliens, demons, love bugs, Jack Frost, Santa Clause, people and monsters coming out of movies, mummies coming to life and living puppets either and yet we encountered them all. Who knows what kind of weirdness will happen in this town." I countered right at him.
"She does have a point, with us, there is no normal." Jughead agreed with me.
"Not helping." Archie glared at him and scolded.
"As much as I want to agree with you Aria, I have to side with Archie on this one." Dilton said to me.
"Thank you." Archie said with a small smile. I looked at him and shrugged.
"That's fine. Everyone has there own opinion on things." I said before walking over to the machines. The boys joined me as we looked at the machine giving off waves.
'Achoo.'
Jughead sneezed again.
"Bless you." I said to him.
"It must be something I ate." Jughead said before the ground started shaking violently again. We all screamed a bit. It was worse than before. Jughead and Archie held each other for support and Dilton and I clung onto the light post to hold ourselves up.
"What's happening Dilton?" Archie yelled out.
"Either old town is riddled with a vast amount of fault lines." Dilton started as he held on tighter.
"Or I'm right and something is alive and moving underground!" I yelled out as we held on tighter. In a few seconds everything stopped, even the machine stopped beeping. I looked over just to see Archie and Jughead let go of each other and face the opposite way in slight awkwardness and folded arms over their chests.
"Hey, it stopped." Archie said. I inwardly groaned as he stated the obvious. It was now silent, wait. Silent? I looked to where the machine was and it was gone. How was it gone? There was a hole. It that why?
"It must've only been a temp-" Dilton started to say but was cut off.
"Dilton, I think he meant the machine." I said as I bent down and examined the hole where it used to be. We then heard the other one go off so we looked to our rights and saw it, and a lamp post, sinking into the ground before disappearing.
"I think that rolls out earthquakes." Archie said in mild shock.
"You know, I really hate it when I'm right." I muttered out as I sighed. Why did I have to be right?
"Yes, it seems were dealing with-" Dilton started talking when I noticed the ground was caving in.
"Dilton! Watch out!" I shouted as I pushed him out of the way, and just in time, just as the spot he was standing on caved in.
"We need to go! Now!" I shouted out as I pulled Dilton up. We saw a trail of dirt ruffling up and ran straight to the car. We were urging Archie to hurry but I looked behind us and saw no escape.
"We have to run! Now!" I said as I hopped out of the car just as it started sinking. The guys jumped out and we ran. We stopped and looked as we saw the rest of the car sink into the ground.
"What was that?" Archie asked in pure shock.
"We won't know without proper data." Dilton stated as I looked at the hole.
"What are you going to tell Uncle Fred?" I asked Archie, referring to the car. Archie groaned. He didn't know.
"Dilton? If you need a sample then I'll get it." I said as I ran over to the hole. I could hear them calling for me but I ignored them. I bent down and examined the hole but found no traces of anything. Then I saw red.
"Oh no." I said in a high pitched scared voice. I backed up and stayed low to the ground just in time to see Archie's smashed up car get tossed out and over by the guys. I got up and ran after the running guys. This wasn't good. We stopped by the phone booth and rested.
"Okay, so it won't eat cars, it's attracted to sound, it lives under ground, I still say it's a gigantic mutated worm." I panted out.
"What were you thinking?!" Archie yelled out quietly to me as he, too, was trying to catch his breath.
"All in the name of science." I said to him as I stood up straight. Man I was a bit out of shape.
"That's still no excuse." Archie said to me.
"It actually is. Only Dilton and I would go to it, Jughead would back out, and you might not have." I said logically.
"She's actually correct Archie." Dilton pointed out.
"She's definitely right." Jughead agreed.
"You two are not helping." Archie scolded them.
"We need to get to higher ground, more specifically the roof of a building. The ground isn't safe." I said in a low voice as we looked around. We heard it coming.
"Stand still, don't move and don't make a sound. It'll pass us if it thinks we're not here." I told them.
"You want us to stand here?" Archie freaked.
"She's right. We can't outrun this thing." Dilton agreed.
"I hope you two are right, 'cause here it comes." Jughead said in a panic. I reached over and held his hand in comfort to calm him as whatever was underground soon passed us and went a few feet before stopping. We were in the clear. Well, until Jughead sneezed. It turned around and came right for us.
"Sorry guys." Jughead said to us.
"May I suggest a decongestant." Dilton said towards Jughead.
"Talk later. Think of a plan now." I said in a small panic. It look like the end for us until.
'Ring'
The pay phone started ringing. The worm creature, because I'm pretty sure that's what it is, stopped in front of us.
'Ring'
The pay phone kept ringing. It turned left towards the pay phone instead. Then the phone booth started sinking.
"Quick, while it's eating." Dilton said before we bolted.
"Quick, town hall, top floor!" I shouted as we made our way into Old Town's Town Hall and up all the way to the bell tower.
"We're safe for the moment." Archie said as we all looked down at the circling worm.
"But for how long?" I asked in worry.
*Time skip to a few hour later.*
This was horrible. We were stuck up here with no way out. And I needed to use the bathroom badly. Thanks to Jughead and myself we had some candy bars and chips to snack on along with some water to drink. We were all tired though.
"We may spend the rest of our lives in this tower." Archie commented as he was back to back with Dilton on the floor, Jughead was laying down and I was leaned up against the wall.
"Not true Arch. We'd most likely die from dehydration and/or starvation so 3 days minimum, 23 days max." I commented to him. Archie glared at me.
"What?" I asked him. It was true.
"I wonder if Pop Tate will deliver out here." Jughead said as I lightly giggled. Then we heard a horn honking. Oh no!
"Maybe that's him now!" Jughead exclaimed happily as we went over to the railing to see who it was.
"Oh no! It's the girls!" Archie said as he referred to Betty and Veronica.
"The creature will be attracted to the noise!" Dilton said with a look of fear on his face. This wasn't good. The guys started warning the girls while I snuck out. I had to stop them. I had to do something. I got down there and saw the worm going to the girls as they started driving this way. I found a metal pipe and used it to start banging on the metal light post. The worm went right over to it and started eating it. I made my move towards the girls. I flagged them down.
"Turn the car off!" I yelled at them as they parked.
"Why?" Betty asked me as I reached over and turned it off.
"Hey!" Veronica yelled out as I covered her mouth.
"Quiet. There's a giant creature under this town and no I'm not joking at all. It smashed Archie's car and ate a phone booth." I told them just as we felt the ground lightly shake.
"Stay here and stay quiet." I said as I slipped out of the car and saw the worm heading this way. I went over to another light post and banged loudly on it again. It trailed away from them and went right for me. I moved away just as the post started sinking. I ran over to the car.
"We gotta go. Now." I said to them. They listened and soon we started the car and drove to the town hall. The thing started following us.
"Ronnie! Drive faster!" I told her. She complied and sped up. We saw the boys making a bunch of noise as we got closer.
"Stop the car and turn it off. Trust me!" I yelped out. Ronnie did it and we stayed quiet. The worm went around us and right at them. They ran off as I hopped out.
"Get ready!" I yelled as I ran to a different area. The girls drove to get the guys as I started making noise by banging on a light pole.
"Hey worm! Wormy wormy! Over here! Free lunch!" I yelled out to the top of my lungs. I saw it coming this way. I held my ground and continued banging the pole until it was practically under me. I dropped the pipe and ran to where the car would be. I could hear the pole sinking as the car pulled up. I darted inside and we drove off. The worm started following us.
"You've GOT to be KIDDING ME!" I screamed out in rage as they saw it following us.
"We have to get out of here." Betty said as I thought about it.
"Not town. This thing will follow us there and destroy/devour the whole town!" I yelped out.
"Head outside of town. I've got an idea!" Archie said as Ronnie drove us outside of town.
"Faster! It's gaining!" I yelled out.
"Cliff!" Archie yelled out. I looked over and saw the cliff. We all screamed as we rounded the sharp corner, praying we didn't flip. I looked and saw it rounded with us.
"What are we gonna do? We can't keep running from this thing!" I yelled out in fear. I was actually afraid, something rare for me, as it got closer.
"I got a plan!" Archie then announced.
"About time!" I said as it was hot on our tail.
"We've got to bail out!" Archie said. Say what now? Did he say what I think he just said?
"But my car!~" Ronnie whined.
"Do you want to live to shop some more!" I yelled at her.
"You're right." She admitted. That did the trick.
"Everybody. One." He started as he was already ready to jump.
"Two." We all got ready to jump.
"Three!" He yelled as we all jumped. I hit the ground with a small thud, avoiding the rocks, and watched the car go over. We soon saw a giant white worm, growling in hunger, going off the cliff and after the car, landing in the water.
"We did it! We vanquished the creature!" Archie cheered as we gathered near the edge of the cliff.
"Well that solved the mystery of the earthquake." Archie said to us.
"Told you it was a giant worm." I said as Archie sighed.
"I really should listen to you more." Archie told me as I smiled at him with a cheeky smile. Veronica got off the phone with her father and we started walking away. Mister Lodge scolded Veronica on the totaled car, blamed Archie somehow and drove all of us home. Archie explained what happened to the car, which Uncle Fred didn't believe him and grounded him, and Archie and I went and checked out books at the library. Now it was night time, Archie was reading in the back yard while I got us some drinks, and when I got back I saw him and Betty talking.
"What's up?" I asked her as I gave Archie his drink.
"Archie won't sign my petition." Betty said to me.
"Because I've been doing some research about any legends on the worm creature." Archie defended himself.
"Alright, I'm curious. What'd ya find?" I asked him. I hated putting Betty on the sidelines like this but I had to know.
"It says 'back in prehistoric times they would live amongst the richest soil.' and Riverdale had the richest soil around. 'Once a year, the worm makes a pilgrimage back to the land of it's ancestors. Once it hears the song of it's ancestors, it returns to the deep earth for another year.' But we've never seen the worm monster here before." He read off and added in.
*Hm. Our ancestors would sing a chant and ring the town bell once a year, about the same time this worm shows up. I don't think that's a coincident.* I thought. Before I could voice my thoughts though.
"Wait a minute. What about the spring earthquake of the century?" Betty asked. This worm did cause 'earthquakes' sort to speak.
"Huh? What earthquake?" Archie asked her.
"I read some old articles at the museum. That's what I came to old town to tell you before we ran into the super snake." Betty said to us.
"It's a worm, not a snake Betty. Worms don't have bones and-" I was going to explain a bit more when the door opened up.
"Guys. I've been reading my instruments and-" Dilton had been walking over to us and started talking before we felt the ground shake. Uh oh. Not again!
"Yup! The monster's back!" Dilton told us. I then smacked my forehead.
"Of course! Worms don't drown! They can but not quickly anyhow. They take oxygen through the water and that giant worm monster could probably last days until it found a cliff to dig through!" I explained. Man did I feel stupid.
"Are you kidding me?!" Archie all but shouted. I shook my head no.
"How are we supposed to get rid of it?" Betty asked in a panic.
"Our ancestors chant! Archie, I was thinking, what if our chant and the ringing of the Old Town bell was the worm's ancestors song that keeps it at bay every year?" I asked him about it.
"It's no coincident than. We need to get that bell and bring it to Old Town." Archie concluded. We knew what we had to do. We rushed into town on foot, since Archie's car was totalled, and hurried to the museum to grab the bell and sing the chant while ringing it. When we rushed into town though, well, everything was getting destroyed and a few cars were dragged under ground.
"This is you're fault Andrews!" I heard. I looked and saw Reggie and Veronica were hidden behind a mail drop box as Reggie decided to get in Archie's face about it.
"You're stupid worm ruined our date!" Reggie yelled at him. Oh boy.
"My worm? Why is it my worm?" Archie asked him in slight anger as they got in each other's face. I split them apart.
"We don't have time for this!" I scolded them.
"You're to blame just as much as him Doll Face." Reggie suddenly added.
"Excuse me?" I asked him with attitude now.
"You heard me. All the Andrews are at blame for this!" Reggie yelled out. My face went red with anger.
"You listen here you jerk!" I screamed out as I pointed a finger at him and got in his face before continuing.
"We, Andrews, have been keeping this town safe from this worm for centuries. Centuries! And without us this town would not be here today! Now it's part of our heritage and tradition and I'm not going to let some brainless, spineless, egotistical Neanderthal stand in our way nor blame us for saving this town when we don't have to at all!" I yelled out before shoving him to the ground and glared at him.
"Now, you can either sit there or help us out and be considered a hero with all of us!" I shouted at him before grabbing Archie and continued down to the museum.
"Who would have figured that The first day of spring would be our last. 3/21." Dilton said to us.
"That's why I'm positive our family poem, as stupid as Archie thinks it is, has something to do with it." I explained to them.
"3/21 is in the poem!" Archie concluded.
"Yup!" I said as I tried not to make a sarcastic remark.
"How does the rest go?" Dilton asked us.
"Tintinnabulation, at 3/21, will cease the sensation, and the deed will be done." I said, remembering the poem I read.
"The sensation must be the worm's earthquakes." Archie mused in thought.
"Exactly! When we ring the bell, the tintinnabulation, it's the ancestral song that calms the worm, while our poem, reminds us why we do this in Riverdale every year on 3/21. That's why tradition is important, no matter how stupid it may seem." I told him. I could tell without even looking that he had a look of slight guilt on his face about telling Uncle Fred he didn't want to do this.
"I didn't want to do it this year." Archie mumbled as we went inside the museum.
"It's alright. I understand. No one really knew about it. I'm sure Uncle Fred didn't know either." I explained to him as we made it to the bell. Veronica talked to the people in the museum and allowed us to take the bell. Jughead and Dilton took the front end while Reggie took the back end of the pole that the bell was attached to while Archie and I walked on each side of it and got ready to ring the bell when needed. We saw the worm and…...Uncle Fred?
"Oh no!" I yelped out. I began ringing the bell and made it sound rhythmic like it was being rung by pulling on the rope. Then Archie and I began the chant.
"Tintinnabulation, at 3/21, will cease the sensation, and the deed will be done." We chanted. The worm was right in front of Uncle Fred, ready to devour him, when both perked up at the sound of the bell ringing. We got closer to where they could see us. Archie and I continued the chant while I rang the bell while the worm Rose up. Then it began to howl, as if it were singing, and wiggled around, almost as if it were dancing, as we smiled in joy.
"It's working!" Dilton exclaimed as the worm continued before diving into the ground, back into the deeper parts until next spring. Once it was gone I stopped ringing the bell as Uncle Fred came right up to Archie.
"Son, I'm proud that you carried on the tradition. Oh! And that you saved the town as well." He complimented him. Seriously? Thanking only Archie? I then saw Uncle Fred walk over and hug me too.
"And thank you Aria, for showing you're support, dedication, interest and respect for our tradition and being apart of it for the 1st time as well as being the only girl to be part of this tradition. Oh! And for helping save the town too." He said as he pulled away from the hug. That's better. I smiled at him and felt tears well up.
"It's good to be a part of my family's tradition." I said as I wiped the unshed tears away. I looked over and saw Archie, finally, signing Betty's petition. Reggie was complaining about how heavy the bell was before he fell backwards and the bell fell next to him. I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face. All of us worked together to bring the bell back into the museum, where Veronica and Mr. Lodge were waiting for us, and Uncle Fred and Mister Lodge worked out a deal for us to take out the bell every spring to take to Old Town, ring it while chanting the poem and then return it. Uncle Fred then brought us home so we could get started on our article.
"I thought I'd be a real doofus for carrying on our family tradition. I guess if I had taken the time to learn the meaning behind the tradition, I would've realized how important it was to keep the history of our family alive. ~Archie. It's nice to be a part of a family tradition. After all, who knows what evil lurks beneath the surface, and what silly traditions might save us from that evil. ~Aria. All I know for sure is that next spring we've got a date with a worm. ~Archie…...In a little town called Riverdale! ~Archie & Aria!"
We finished the article and I smiled happily.
"I can finally get out of this Tartan." I commented as I looked at it. Plaid was not my style at all.
"I see why girls wear skirts now at least." Archie commented teasingly. I grabbed his pillow and threw it at him.
"Yeah yeah. Laugh it up mud eater." I commented.
"I was four! And I fell in the mud! I could've been hurt!" He yelled out.
"Well that's your fault for liking Superman." I commented.
"Yeah, but at least I didn't break the chandelier off the ceiling thinking it was a good idea to be BatGirl and use rope with a hook on it to swing from the banister with." He commented back.
"How was I supposed to know it would break?!" I commented back as both a question and a statement. We glared at each other before we smiled and broke out laughing.
"Aunt Mary and Uncle Fred were so~ mad at us." I laughed out.
"Yeah. At least we didn't break any bones." He laughed back.
"And at least we had fun." I commented back.
"Though we didn't get ice cream for a week after that." He commented as we both laughed a bit longer before sighing. That was probably one of the best moments in my childhood. We wished each other good night before I head off to my room, changed into my pajamas, called Allegro onto the bed with me and fell asleep.