A/N: Welcome to this week's edition of "Starting a New Chapter"! Today, we're jumping right into the beginning of our story! What craziness will happen here? Please enjoy!


(Lexie's P.O.V)

Later that day, I left Audie's office and entered mine to collect my things. I was happy it was Friday and ready for the weekend. I was also excited to see my friends again, hoping to hit some of the sights and have some fun.

Once I collected my things, I headed out and went to my car in the garage, which was about a block from the building. Out of habit, I stuffed the book in the back seat of my car and went to pick up Liam from work.

He took a job at the local bookshop which had a cafe as well. Every time I came over, I would be welcomed by the smell of fresh grinded coffee. Not only that, but he was working on getting a driver's license in the States. It's been hard for him to get his license, but the DMV is close by and the people there are very friendly.

I stopped by the edge of the sidewalk near the bookshop and saw Liam come out. I always get excited to see him, no matter how many times I pick him up from work.

He came to the car, and opened up the front seat.

"Hey, Lex! Thanks for the pickup!" he smiled, as he closed the door and buckled up.

"No prob, Lee! Hope ya don't mind, but I gotta head to the airport to pick up my pals from the UK and Chicago." I informed him. "They're coming by for a visit and I wanted to show 'em around.

"No prob! Be nice to meet your mates." He smiled, taking a sip of his beverage.

"Yeah, I think you'll like 'em. My pal from Chicago, Natty, actually knows Audie from school, and Katie is really nice." I smiled.

"Cool! How's life with Audrey?" He asked.

"Doing good, she's a great boss." I replied. "She gave me an odd task though. It's some book that she wanted me to read and write a report on? I dunno, weird."

"Really? I know she's editor in chief of The NY Times but a book report sounds weird." Liam added, as I turned a corner.

"I know. Never thought I'd time travel on my school days." I groaned, recalling the many papers I wrote for school.

"Same…" Liam trailed off. As we approached the airport, he looked over and piped up, "Oh, that must be them over there."

To my delight I saw my pals, Katie Gemwing and Natty Poke. I've been friends with them for a long time since I met them online in a group for hobbyist writers. Katie is from the UK of all places while Natty is from Chicago. Man, amazing how there are kindred spirits in different places.

Once I made a stop at the airport, I beeped my horn while waving to them.

"Hey guys! It's me, Lex!" I beamed. "Hop on!"

They saw me, waved and approached my car. I unlocked the hood of the trunk so they could put their luggage in. Once that was taken care of, they hopped in the back seat.

"Hey, Lex! Good to see ya!" Natty exclaimed.

"Yes, so nice to see you again!" Katie chimed in.

At some point, I realized they hadn't met Liam, so gesturing to them I mentioned, "Guys this is my boyfriend Liam. Lee, meet Natty and Katie."

"Hi!" Liam smiled, turning and waving to them.

"Hello! Nice to meet you Liam." Natty replied.

"A pleasure to meet you Liam." Katie smiled.

"Nice to meet you guys too." Liam claimed. "Lex was really excited to tell me you were coming."

"Yeah, it's seriously nice to see ya-!"

BEEP BEEP BEEEEEP!!

Oy vey…the all too familiar beeping of the horn that the typical New Yorker employs as a means to tell people to hurry up. One thing Texas had going…they didn't have such rude drivers.

"Okay, okay! I'm moving!" I groaned.

I then put the car in drive and started pulling forward, sighing and rolling my eyes.

"There, that oughta make them happy." I muttered. "Jeez Louise, people are so impatient…"

"Welcome to New York, Lex." Natty reminded me. I remembered she did take a trip to New York for a family vacation, so she got to see first hand of 'The City That Never Sleeps'.

"They are rather rude here." Kate pointed out. "In the UK, we don't honk like that."

"Makes sense." Liam replied, adding "So we thinking of going to Nintendo World this weekend?"

"Heck yeah! I wanna get some merch and t-shirts!" Natty exclaimed.

"I could use a plushie or two." Kate added.

"Yes, sweet!" I beamed, turning on my blinker for a left turn. "Ohhh I might buy the whole store if I could!"

"Matt would get excited about seeing pictures of the store and once asked me to drain my entire bank account to own it." Liam laughed.

"Awww, that's so cute!" Natty giggled.

"Yeah, but I told him I'd get him something if he was on his best behavior." Liam mentioned.

I nodded, "I'm sure he would be. He's a sweet kid."

As we continued to drive and chat, Nat looked and saw a book sticking out of my bag.

"Hey, did you get a new book recently?" She asked.

It took a couple minutes (particularly after I was merging onto a freeway) for me to understand what Natty was asking me before I realized she was talking about the book Audie gave me.

"Oh yeah, Audie gave it to me." I explained. "It's kinda weird but she asked me to read it and write a report on it. Don't ask me why."

"Got it." She nodded. She then pulled it out and examined the cover. "Huh, it's called 'Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil'. Odd title, but looks cute, especially with the two cup boys on the cover. Mind if I read it?"

"Eh, feel free. Read it aloud though, I'm kinda curious too."

I've always liked to listen to something while I'm driving, keeps the stress off and makes the ride less tense.

"Kk."

She opened the book and proceeded to read aloud.

"Once upon a time in a magical place called Inkwell Isle, there were two brothers named Cuphead and Mugman. They lived without a care in the world under the watchful eye of the wise Elder Kettle."

Looking at the pictures with Nat, Kate squealed, "Aww, they're playing outside! How cute!"

Cuphead and Mugman...I've heard those names before...

"One day, the two boys wandered far from home, and despite the Elder Kettle's many warnings, ended up on the wrong side of the tracks and entered the Devil's Casino… wait, kids in a casino? That can't be a good sign."

"And it's titled the Devil's casino, that's horrible to think about!" Katie gasped.

"Maybe it's just a way of saying they'll take all your money?" Liam suggested. "Kinda like how they call chocolate cake 'Devil's Food'?"

"What the...?"

I stopped at a stoplight, and I was frozen in thought. The Devil's Casino?! What was that god forsaken place Audie and I were trapped in doing in a CHILDREN'S book?!

"'Inside, Cuphead and Mugman soon found themselves on a winning streak at the craps table. 'Hot dawg!' Exclaimed King Dice, the casino's sleazy manager. 'These fellas can't lose!'"

Nat seemed to arch an eyebrow a bit as she looked at the picture.

"Huh, seems he's a hot shot for a guy like him and pretty creepy seeing the craps table in the shape of a coffin.

"King Dice…what an odd name." Liam pondered.

"It isn't when your head is the shape of a dice." Kate pointed out.

I let out a sharp gasp…no. No no no no….not King Dice. What the crap was that sleazy creep doing in this book too?! Like c'mon, the dude tried to come onto me several times, was this some kinda sick joke?!

I get nightmares of that time to this very day…oy vey.

"Lex? You okay?" Liam asked, concerned.

"Yes, are you alright? You seem startled." Katie mentioned.

"U-Um...yeah I'm fine." I stammered. "Go ahead, keep reading.

"Okay… Ah here we go. 'Nice run boys', laughed a newcomer. The brothers gasped; it was the casino's owner; the-' wait, this can't be right."

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEEEEEP!!!!!

Snapping out of my trauma induced trance, I looked up to my rearview mirror and there was a blue Honda that looked like it was brand new. Behind the wheel…was your stereotypical Karen. Bob hair cut, sunglasses crowning her head, the whole works. And why was she beeping the horn you may ask…

Because I dared stop at a red light.

"Oh for the love of-!"

The idiot continued to beep her horn as I lowered my window.

"Ma'am! It's a RED LIGHT! I can't go yet!" I shouted, rolling my eyes.

"What's wrong, Nat?" Liam asked.

"Uh, don't wanna freak people out but the owner is…The Devil himself." She gulped.

"I'm sorry, what?!" Kate gasped.

"Uhhhhhhhhh..." I let out. "Did you just say...the Devil?!"

BEEEEEEP!!!!

I looked at the light. Still red.

"It's STILL RED!" I shouted through the window.

I let out a groan while rolling my window back up, rolling my eyes, "Ugh, some people…"

"Erm, yeah. He's the owner and wants to raise the stakes with them." Nat informed.

She scanned the image and saw something that surprised her.

"Wow, this Dice fella must be loyal. He's bowing to his employer, like he's a king. I know he's the king of darkness, but still."

"A kiss up is more like it…" I muttered.

"Okay, let's see what the deal is…oh my!" Natty gasped, startled.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Oh, nothing, just seeing his horrible face on the next page." She sarcastically replied. "Ugh, wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley…"

"Nor at his office…" I thought to myself.

My mind instantly went back to the time me, Josh, Steve and Sasha were all in the Devil's office together. Yeah, we actually met Satan himself. And lemme tell you, as a Christian…that was the single most scary thing I've experienced in my life. 0/10 on Yelp…would not repeat again.

"'Win one more roll and all the loot in my casino is yours!'" The Devil boomed. "'But if you lose, I'll have your souls! Deal?'"

"Ohhh, no! I would not wanna bet my life on that, I'd leave ASAP." Liam commented.

"As would I!" Kate exclaimed.

My grip on the steering wheel became tighter and tighter as my heart was beating faster…reliving those memories was terrifying to think about. Blockhead coming onto me, the Devil making snide comments to me because of my Christianhood, yeah. That was not a fun time.

"Lex, you okay? You look a bit tense." Liam mentioned. "It's only a children's story."

I wasn't sure how to answer that. Would they really believe me? Nah, they'd think I was crazy…but before I could even formulate an answer…

BEEP BEEP BEEEEEP!!!!

Finally, after a literal eternity, the light turned green and I was okay to go.

"Oh, NOW this light's wanting to turn green! Okay!"

I pulled forward and sighed. Reliving that time at the casino was bad enough, but it's even worse when you've got Karen McDoodoohead behind you beeping her horn. Annoying…

"Sorry, I need to pull over for a bit..." I sighed.

"It's ok, Lex. Want me to read some more?"Natty asked.

"Yeah go ahead, just gotta make room for Queen Idiot back there." I replied sarcastically.

As I pulled forward, I started to pull over on the shoulder. Nat nodded, turning the page and continued reading.

"Cuphead, blinded by easy riches, nodded and grabbed the dice for a throw. 'Good gosh Cuphead, no!' cried Mugman for he understood the danger. But it was too late!"

She then smiled a bit. "Huh, gotta admit, Cuphead looks like Scrooge McDuck when he sees a huge pile of cash."

I finally had a chance to turn around from the driver's seat and have a gander at the pictures. Cuphead really did look like Scrooge McDuck, so I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at that.

"Oh yeah... definitely does."

Katie giggles a bit in agreement, although she was suddenly unnerved by the wicked look on the Devil's face as his grin widened in fiendish anticipation, his eyes wide with malice as Cuphead threw the dice. While Dice looked on with knowing smugness, a nervous Mugman had ducked down, his large yet cute blue nose peeking over the rim of the craps table, looking scared by his brother's blind desire for easy riches,

"Okay, let's see what happens next…" She trailed off, turning the page. "'Snake eyes!' Laughed the Devil, while slamming the floor. 'You lose!' The brothers trembled in fear as he loomed over them. "Now about those souls…"

"Oh, jeez that can't be good." Liam muttered.

"He-he sure looks scary like that…" Kate shivered.

I remember when the Devil looked at me and Audie with that wide creepy grin that put even the Cheshire Cat to shame...gave me shivers down my spine.

"The brothers pleaded for their very lives. "Th-there must be another w-way to repay you." Mugman stammered. "Yes p-please mister." Cuphead added."

"Oh, that's low making those boys beg like that…" Katie shook her head in disgust.

"Oy, the worse."

I bit my lower lip as I chimed in, "It is the Devil so...um...yeah."

"Right, no argument there. (turns the page) "Hmm perhaps there is." The Devil snickered, pulling out a parchment. "I have here a list of my runaway debtors. Collect their souls for me and I just might pardon you two mugs."

Liam nodded while claiming, "A soul for a soul…oh yeah, that's him alright."

I rolled my eyes as I chimed in, "Key word here is 'might'. That's code for 'I MAY let you go, or I may NOT let you go'..."

Now, the truth of the matter is, he probably wasn't gonna let them go. Like at all. Just watch.

The next page shows an illustration of the Devil's foot sticking out from the door as he callously kicked both the Cup Brothers out of the casino.

"'Now get going!' The Devil roared, kicking the boys out most rudely. 'You have 'til midnight tomorrow to collect every one of those souls! otherwise I'll be the one collecting yours!'"

"Gee, how very charming…" I rolled my eyes.

"'Cuphead and Mugman were terribly frightened and ran away as fast as they could. 'Come on, mug!' panted Cuphead. 'We have to find the Elder Kettle. He'll know what to do!'"

We turned the page and...the pages were blank? Okay, am I on crazy pills or what?!

"Uhhhhh...that's weird." I raised an eyebrow.

"What? Where's the rest of the story?" Natty asked, flipping through the book.

"I thought you said Audrey just gave it to you." Katie pointed out.

"She did...but why would she-?!"

Just then I looked and Queen Karen was still behind me.

"What the-?!"

Once again, I lowered my window and waved my arm at her.

"Ma'am, I'm making room for YOU! You can MOVE now!"

"Sheesh, what's up with her?" Nat asked.

"Dunno. I know people in NYC are rough but she's pretty mean." Liam pointed out.

"She's an idiot that's what she is...oh snap, she's coming over here?!"

Indeed, the wild Karen left her portable domain. She got out of her car while storming straight to my car.

This won't end well. Great.

Lowering my window, I put on my best customer service face, "Ma'am can I help you?"

"Listen here missy! You are a horrible driver, and should have your license removed!" She shouted, her voice high and tight.

"Excuse me, she was doing fine." Liam chimed in. "You honked at her while at a red light. Last time I checked, red means stop."

"Yeah, what laws did I break?" I asked.

"Don't talk back to me, missy!" She snapped. "You have no right to talk back!

"Hey, back off!" Natty argued. "You're acting like a child!"

Pressing the bridge of my nose, I sighed, "Look, I don't have time for this. You're harassing me when I obviously did nothing wrong. Have a good day.

I rolled up my window and tried to drive away but she was not willing to give up and started following us in her car, hers coming a bit close to mine.

"That lady must be insane! She's rearing your car!" Natty cried.

"Oh my god..."

I tried to drive a little bit faster but the Karen just kept up with me, until suddenly…

BAM!

I felt a huge bump in the back of my car. She was rearing at my car and bumping her's against mine. What the crap was wrong with her?!

"Oh gosh!" Natty exclaimed, clearly startled. "What is her problem!?

"Lex what do we do?!" Katie trembled.

I was horrified as the lady was continuing to tailgate me and bumping against my car.

"Someone call 911!"

"On it!" Liam declared, pulling out his phone.

This went on for an agonizing while, me trying to get away from her but then…

BAM! BAM! BAM!

We all let out startled yelps while Liam explained our situation to the 911 operator. The psycho lady then decided to speed right next to me like we were in freakin' Mario Kart or something.

"Yeah there's a crazy lady who's tailgating my girlfriend's car and is hitting the bumper! We're north on-!"

CRASH!

Now she was hitting the SIDE of my CAR! We all let our terrified screams while Lee held his phone tight.

"Ah!" Nat yelped.

"Yikes!" Liam exclaimed in alarm. He quickly looked over to me and asked in concern, "You okay, Lex?!"

I nodded to Lee while I was getting angry with the lady. She was going nuts because I was following the LAW! Like what the heck?!

I lowered my window, YET AGAIN, and shouted, "LADY! ARE YOU INSANE?!

The Karen now lowered her window as she roared, "NO! YOU ARE!"

"I'M NOT THE ONE TAILGATING, YOU MORON!" I screamed back.

At this point, Katie was pretty miffed with this psycho of a lady, because she lowered her own window.

"THAT'S RIGHT! NOW STOP IT!" she demanded. "YOU'RE GONNA GET US ALL KILLED!"

In the back of my mind, I felt bad for Liam as he had to cover his ear while answering the operator's questions. That must've been really stressful.

"Yes, she's still tailgating us. It's a blue honda with the license plate Tango 3 Zach 9 Ethan 31 Please hurry!"

"Can we try to cut her off?" Natty suggested

"I dunno, Nat, that might be risky…"

BUMP!

"Whoa!" Liam exclaimed.

"Oh, dear!" Katie cried, getting scared.

The crazy lady hit the side of my car, this time much harder.

It was so hard that it made Nat lose my grip on the book, making it fly open all over my car while it suddenly began to glow

But never mind that, we were gonna possibly die from a car crash…man, I never got to say goodbye to my folks, get married…or even write that stinkin' report for Audie.

"Oh, CRAP WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!" Natty screamed.

"EVERYONE HANG ON!" Liam shouted.

Everything was spinning and spinning, faster and faster, until finally…

CRASH!


(Normal P.O.V)

Soon after the road rage incident on the freeway, Lexie's red SUV crashed on the side of the road on a pole. The whole front was completely damaged, crinkled like trashed paper, and sides and back were faring no better.

And where was Karen that trashed her car at the scene? Nowhere to be found. As police investigated the crash they noticed something strange.

The people inside the car, just vanished. No sign of them for even 30 miles!

One of the police officers noticed the book 'Cuphead: Don't Deal with the Devil' lying on the floor of the car, having survived the wreckage.

"Hey guys, I found something interesting. I'll keep it for evidence." The cop notified his cohorts.

This was certainly a strange mystery…but what they didn't know was they shouldn't be looking on Earth for the missing young people.

They should be looking inside the book.


A/N: And so begins my adventure along with Liam, Katie, and Natty! Are we okay? Will I be safe in Inkwell while I'm now the Scribbler? Stay "tooned" for next week's chapter of "Starting a New Chapter"!