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Enjoy!

Chapter 13: Arm Yourselves

'Oh no.' CJ thought to herself in both fear and annoyance as she hastily scrambled back onto her feet. 'Not this freak again…'

She'd had to deal with Mabel and her superspeed before, and was really not eager for any sort of rematch. Worse than that, Mabel appeared to have been practicing a little with her stolen pocket watch. Before, she had often skidded out of control or roughly collided face-first with either trees or the pavement as she abruptly came to a halt. Now, Mabel had successfully ran CJ and all of her allies off of their feet while she remained standing.

CJ was the first one to unsheathe her sword and confront their enemy. The rest of her friends were still groaning, down on the ground. Dillon had managed to push Chad off of him, but was still breathing difficultly. Royce's bow and Celia's satchel filled with tarot cards had both been knocked out of their hands and were lying a few feet away. Red appeared to be struggling to stay conscious, judging from the way her eyes were rolling in her skull and her incoherent blabbering.

'Stupid girl.' CJ scoffed to herself as she tore her eyes away from Red. Why did she suddenly have to discover that she has magical abilities, and thus alert the villains to their precise location? If they would get out of this, she would have to teach her a lesson.

First things first, dealing with her actual enemy.

CJ rushed at Mabel, who disappeared in another flash before she could even blink. CJ felt the familiar sensation of something smacking into her side at a high speed. The pain still radiated through her body, but at least CJ managed to stay on her feet and even lash out with her blade, though she hit nothing but air.

Barely a second later, Mabel stood all the way at the other end of the square. "Missed me!" She cackled. "You're gonna have to do better than that, villain girl!"

"Come closer and say that to my face!" CJ snapped in reply. Around her, all her friends were also getting to their feet, safe for Red, who sat on all fours like she was about to hurl.

"Very poor choice of words." Mabel's eyes shone, and then she was gone again. Before CJ had a chance to raise her arms in defense, she felt a fist plow into her face at lightning speed. This did make her flop to the ground once more and caused her to see stars for a second.

"CJ! Get up! Form a perimeter!" Royce urged her. He had grabbed his bow and tried to look in every direction at once. Mabel had disappeared for now.

"I am getting so sick and tired of that brat!" CJ spat, wiping her mouth as she scrambled back up. The others had formed a circle around Red, who still appeared to be unable to get up. "Celia! What's wrong with her?"

"I told you! Magic takes a toll on you… It's different from person to person… But it's Red's first time… I don't envy her…" Celia answered in an apologetic tone as Red kept swaying and occasionally made some gross gagging noises.

"Well… She did give away our position, so I'm not feeling particularly concerned for her wellbeing at the moment." CJ muttered.

"Complaining later. First we need to find a way to not only beat Mabel, but also make sure the other villains don't pick up our trail!" Royce snarled.

"How did you beat her before, at Beast Castle?" Chad inquired.

"I hit her with a blast from the magic gun." Carlos answered.

"Great. Let's do that again."

"But I had the element of surprise back then. Now she knows what to expect, and I'm pretty sure she has been practicing with that pocket watch, meaning she is fast enough to dodge any of our projectiles." Carlos went on.

"So, what? We just hope we get lucky? Or we wait for her to tire out? Surely using that thing has to be, I don't know, exhausting or something…" Chad suggested.

CJ hadn't really considered that. She really hoped this would be the case, but severely doubted it. Surely, if the magic users like Mabel and Nera would have ran the risk of quickly exhausting themselves, Levi wouldn't have allowed them to go out on their own.

"Chloe! Get Red on her feet! We have to be ready to get moving!" CJ barked, and Chloe obeyed.

A whoosh, and a flash, and CJ was thrown backwards, along with all of her friends. They managed to stay on their feet, but only just.

"You can just surrender. It'd be much less painful…" It was clear that Mabel was enjoying herself. Her voice was coming from behind CJ, who whipped her head around. Mabel again charged, knocking everyone backwards once more. This was getting increasingly frustrating.

Chloe and Red, the latter having been helped back on her feet, had been pushed down again. Red let out a loud groan, her bright red hair splayed across the pavement.

"And who is this?" Mabel cockily strutted from left to right in front of the group, just out of reach. She gazed down at Red with mocking interest. "I don't remember seein' her before… But she looks like a villain… Hmm, she smells like a villain… And she's with you… Which means I don't have to play nice…" With that, she rushed in and crashed into both Chloe and Red, sending them flying.

"Chloe!" Chad yelled as he charged at Mabel.

"Chad! No!" CJ shouted.

She was too late. In the blink of an eye, it was suddenly Chad who was hurtling through the air and crashed into Royce, who had to drop his bow in order to catch him.

"Get off of me!" Royce grunted. "Carlos! My bow!"

Carlos hastily threw Royce's bow back towards its owner, only for it to get intercepted mid-air by Mabel. "Cute toy." She pouted as she casually tossed the bow over her shoulder.

"You are so annoying!" Royce growled, taking a dagger out of his boot so he could at least defend himself.

Mabel kept on rushing in and crashing into CJ and her friends, slowly but surely battering them to mush. CJ lost count of how many times she or one of her allies was thrown to the ground, but the bruises and grunts of pain gradually grew to an obscene amount.

Celia and Dillon tried to hit Mabel from a distance, she with her tarot cards and him with his bow, without success. Carlos fired his magic gun numerous times, but, as predicted, Mabel saw the blasts coming from a mile away and effortlessly dodged them.

Mabel eventually recognized who Red was, which, to be fair, wasn't that difficult due to the many heart-shaped trinkets decorating her jacket and pants. "No freakin' way! Don't tell me that pathetic little piss stain is the daughter of the Queen of Hearts!" She shrieked with laughter. "Oh, this is too good… A little Wonderland reunion… I don't know if you know, princess, but my father has radically improved the real Wonderland ever since your mother left… You should see it sometime… Oh wait, I guess you'll be either frozen or dead soon…"

Red was still too out of it to really respond, but Chloe really let her anger be known as she desperately tried to lunge at Mabel, only to hit nothing but air.

They needed to do something. Every second spent fighting Mabel was a second where the stone men or, god forbid, Levi himself would come closer to finding them. Still, CJ could not think of anything. Mabel did not seem to tire, and the heroes still had yet to land a hit on her. CJ tried to anticipate when Mabel would strike and lash out with her own sword at just the right time, but alas. Royce's strategy of getting behind obstacles like cars, fences, hedges and even frozen Auradonians also did not bear fruit, as Mabel was quick enough to simply get around them and strike from another angle.

"Dillon! Give me your bow!" Royce barked after he had been thrown to the ground for the umpteenth time.

Dillon hastily did as he was ordered, but Mabel again intercepted the throw, caught the bow herself, and casually snapped it in two over her knee. "Boohoo… Really gotta be faster, guys…"

Royce started yelling obscenities once more, and CJ really wanted to join him. Carlos, however, seemed to be considering something. He was still holding his magic gun, and started tinkering with one of the switches on the side.

"CJ!" He yelled, much too loud if he didn't want Mabel to overhear them. "You're faster than me! Try to fire the gun at the right time to hit Mabel!"

"What!?" CJ squealed, but she had no time to complain, because Carlos already threw his magic gun in her direction. CJ cursed under her breath, because, of course, Mabel zoomed by at exactly the right moment and plucked the gun right out of the air. "Dammit, Carlos!" CJ lamented.

"Hahaha, guess you'll never learn! Poor little-" Mabel laughed, before her voice suddenly got cut off. She abruptly halted mid-run and froze up, her entire body rigid and faint spasms causing her to tremble and shake like she was being electrocuted. In fact… As CJ looked closer, she noticed tiny zaps of electricity radiating from the grip of the rifle Mabel was still clutching. Her fingers were clutching the weapon tightly, like she was unable to let go.

"Yes! It worked!" Carlos threw up his hands in celebration.

"What did you do?" CJ panted as she made her way over to Mabel, who had fallen over and was now just lying on the ground, thrashing like a fish on dry land.

"I included a setting on the rifle that only makes it respond to my fingerprint." Carlos explained, smiling proudly. "If anyone other than me would try to operate the rifle, they would get electrocuted. I hadn't had a chance to test it on a live individual, but it appears to be working."

"I'll say." Royce grimaced. He had picked up his own bow and joined the other two. "How did you know she would try to catch it?"

"I noticed the way she kept intercepting us when we threw our bows. I made an educated guess." Carlos shrugged.

"So, your gun will electrocute anyone that touches it?" CJ asked.

"Yep."

"And you tried to throw it to me?" She asked in a slightly accusatory tone.

"Well, yeah… I was sure Mabel would intercept it…" Carlos shrugged. "And I was right."

"Well, I guess so… Good plan, sort of… Just know if that freaking thing had electrocuted me, I would never have let you live it down…" CJ mumbled as she sheathed her sword.

Mabel was still writing on the ground, her wide, bloodshot eyes staring up at them in fear.

"What do we do with her?" Chad inquired as he joined them in looking down at Mabel. His lip was bleeding, and his tone made it clear that he really wasn't opposed to a bit of violence.

"I say we take the gun, take the pocket watch, knock her out and leave her in a building around here, preferably restrained." Royce quickly listed off.

"I agree with the first two." CJ nodded. "Carlos, can you grab the gun and the pocket watch? Dillon! You got some rope in your bag, right? Bring it over! Celia and Chloe, you two get Red on her feet and get a head start. Make for the woods, and we'll join you in a bit."

The others nodded. CJ was happy that they did not feel the need to protest. There was simply no time for that.

"I'll go with my sister." Chad stated. "Just in case they might run into some of those stone men…"

"Fine." CJ curtly replied. Again, no time to argue.

As Celia, Chloe, Red and Chad made their way to the woods, CJ, Carlos and Royce concerned themselves with Mabel, with a shaky-looking Dillon standing off to the side.

Nothing spectacular happened as Carlos first wrenched his rifle away from the girl, and then yanked the pocket watch from her hand. He handed it to CJ, who could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Not having to deal with this annoying brat and her superspeed would make this whole ordeal a lot less difficult. Royce restrained Mabel with the rope handed to him by Dillon, with the girl only whimpering softly and still occasionally twitching as though she was being tasered.

"Just try to call for help." Royce told her in a dark tone. "See where that gets you."

Mabel notably shivered and kept quiet.

Just when CJ and Royce started to debate as to where to hide Mabel, they were suddenly alerted by faint, dragging footsteps.

"Darn." Royce muttered, his jaw clenched. The footsteps were getting closer.

"Do we take her with us?" Carlos asked, though he did not seem to like the idea.

"Nah. We're out of time. Let's rendezvous with the others and get as far away from this place as we can!" Royce suggested.

CJ nodded, and thus they set off.

"They're here! They're here! They're runnin' off! Cowards!" Mabel immediately started shrieking and thrashing in her bonds.

"You're lucky we didn't gag you!" Royce snapped without looking back.

CJ, Carlos, Royce and Dillon quickly made their way out of the outskirts of Auradon City, past some fields and large townhouses, before finally reaching the supposedly safe cover of the woods.

"Phew…" Carlos panted, taking a moment to breathe. He had a nasty bruise developing on his forehead. "That was too close…"

"We shouldn't stop. Not yet." Royce warned them. He too had clearly been in a fight, with scrapes covering his arms and legs. "First we find the others and then we keep moving further into the woods."

"But… Wait… Weren't we going back to Beast Castle? That's the other way around…" Dillon inquired, vaguely pointing over his shoulder. One of the lenses of his glasses had a crack in it, and his chin was bleeding. He was still carrying a quiver, but his bow had been snapped in two by Mabel. CJ considered they'd have to look for a replacement.

"We have two objectives at this point in time." Royce started to explain. "First, get as far away from the villains as possible. Second, don't let them know where we're going. If we headed towards Beast Castle in a straight line, they'd be able to intercept us."

CJ didn't like that their journey would most likely last even longer, but she also could not argue against Royce's logic. "So, how do we find the others?"

Royce smirked in a sort of insufferably mischievous way and simply pulled his phone from his pocket.

"I keep forgetting we can do things the easy way." CJ rolled her eyes as Royce dialed Chad's number.

A few minutes later, the group had reunited alongside one of the roads that ran straight through the woods. They spent a few minutes looking after their wounds before heading out. Celia had a nasty cut on the back of her head, Chad's nose was notably swollen and Chloe was walking with a slight limp, which Dillon diagnosed as a bruised ankle. Red was still extremely pale and seemed to constantly be on the verge of fainting or puking, but otherwise seemed alright.

Chloe managed to impress CJ by volunteering to keep supporting Red, despite her injury. Celia did not seem happy with this in the slightest, but chose to back her friend by pulling Red's other arm around her shoulders.

It was largely because of Red that the group continued to move very slowly, and the more uneven forest terrain certainly did not help. The long day of walking and the physically demanding fight they'd had were really taking their toll on CJ, who tired out when the sun was still high.

"Royce…" She eventually groaned, right as they passed a series of farmhouses. "I'm freaking exhausted… How about we hunker down somewhere around here and maybe get a move on at night?"

Royce just nodded. He too seemed like he could use a nap. "Alright. Those farmhouses look fine. Just give me a few minutes to check them out, make sure there are no stone men crawling around… Chad, come with me. The rest of you, stay put."

Chad joined Royce and the two hurried off. The others had dropped to the ground like individual sacks of potatoes, groaning and rubbing their sore feet. Red was leaning against a tree. She got a little color back on her cheeks, but still looked woozy and out of it.

CJ could not hold it in anymore. "Real nice job you did back there, Red! First you let the whole freaking world know where we are, and then you are nice enough to just lie on the ground like a wet blanket and let us do all the hard work! A real stand-up job…"

Red's eyes darkened, but she also started blushing slightly. Be it from anger or embarrassment, CJ never found out, because Chloe interjected.

"It was not her fault!" She snapped. "I mean, how could she have known that she has magic? And, look at her, CJ, she's been through enough today…"

"I get that she had no control over what she was doing, but she has made our entire quest much more difficult, not to mention annoying, by simply being here, so I don't think she's owed any sort of gratitude." CJ went on.

"But she's still here. She's part of our group, meaning we have to look out for her. Why don't you try helping her instead of continuously insulting her?" Chloe countered.

CJ was both annoyed and somewhat impressed by the way Chloe continued to stand up for Red. Maybe it was because CJ herself had tasked her to look out for their new companion? Maybe it was because Chloe was genuinely just a really nice person?

"And it wasn't all for nothing." Dillon joined in. CJ was surprised to actually hear him speak up. "We managed to take out Mabel, eventually. We even took the pocket watch. That has to count for something…"

"You took it?" Chloe inquired, her previously agitated tone replaced by curiosity.

CJ took the relic out of her pocket and held it up. It looked like an ordinary pocket watch, though it sported a few bumps and scratches, and neither of the clock hands worked. A part of CJ agreed with Dillon's argument. If not for Red's mishap, they would probably not have encountered Mabel, meaning they would probably have had to fight her and the pocket watch later on, possibly with the other villains at her side. Taking out Mabel on her own had already been one hell of a chore, so CJ did not like imagining what it would have been like to fight Mabel alongside the likes of Levi or Nera. The heroes had most definitely come out of this encounter victorious, while the villains had been severely weakened.

"Do you know how it works?" CJ directed herself at both Carlos and Dillon, who had spent the most time studying the relics.

"I think there was a passage on the pocket watch in one of Belle's books." Carlos answered, his eyes not leaving the relic. "Once we're resting again, I can take another look. Why? Are you thinking of using it?"

CJ bit her lip, but did not answer. That was, in fact, precisely her intention. CJ had experienced firsthand how devastatingly powerful the pocket watch could be. Her ribs still ached from all the times Mabel had rammed into her at superspeed. If either she or one of her group would somehow be able to control the relic the same way, then they would certainly have a bit of an edge over the villains. Finally.

Royce and Chad soon returned and gave the all-clear. Judging from the expressions on her companions' faces, CJ deduced that she was not the only one who could use some rest.

The farmhouse was nothing special, but it did offer up a spacious living room with plenty of couches to flop down on. Everyone took a few minutes to simply take a breather, eat some food and look after any injuries that had thus far gone untreated. Chad almost instantly dozed off, with CJ worrying if his loud snoring would alert the villains to their location.

"I'll take first watch." Royce offered, which CJ was thankful for.

"And we can get to work." Carlos sighed as he took out some of the books he had been carrying with him ever since Beast Castle. "Let's hope we get some more answers about the pocket watch…"

"It would be very cool if we could use it." Celia stated, grabbing the pocket watch and turning it in her hand. "Like, imagine. One of us could just run up to the villains at lightning speed, and BLAM!" She clapped her hands, loudly enough that Chad woke up.

"Wazzagoinon…" He warbled.

"We're just talking about the watch." Chloe answered.

"Are we gonna use it? Can I have it? I'd love to be all fast and blurry… Make sure the villains will never see me coming…" Chad muttered in between a number of huge yawns.

"No one is using it until we figure out how it works." CJ replied.

"How difficult can it be, if a freak like Mabel was able to figure it out?" Chad shrugged, but he made no move to try to take the watch or something like that.

CJ noticed Red ogling the watch as well. "Are you able to talk again? Or are you still too busy sagging and groaning to do anything useful?" CJ snapped.

This time, Red was able to respond before Chloe could come to her aid. "You don't have any magic, do you, Hook? Be glad… It sucks ass…"

"If I had magic, you'd be damn sure I'd be more useful than you have been thus far." CJ retorted.

"Guys… Please stop fighting… My head just started hurting a little less…" Celia complained.

CJ did as Celia asked, partly because she felt responsible for her wellbeing and partly because she didn't really enjoy bickering with Red anyway. And so, the group sat largely in silence as the sun gradually set. Carlos and Dillon were leaning over one of the tomes they had brought from Beast Castle, muttering softly to one another. Chad had already fallen asleep again. Red sat furthest away from the others and faced a corner, most likely asleep as well. Chloe and Celia busied themselves with gathering whatever food they could find in the farmhouse to try and whip something up for everyone to eat later on. CJ too felt herself doze off, content in the knowledge that her allies were looking out for her and each other for the time being.

It was pitch black outside when someone woke her up by tapping her on the shoulder.

"CJ, can you take watch? I can barely keep my eyes open…" Royce's voice sounded from the darkness.

CJ groaned, but nodded. She did not feel like she could say no.

"We made you guys some food. It's mostly canned beans, but it's something at least…" Celia spoke up. CJ could not see her, since one of the group's main rules was to not turn on any lights at night, but did feel the plate of semi-cold beans being given to her.

"What time is it?" CJ mumbled as she started munching on the rubbery food.

"Just past one." Carlos's voice came from behind her. "Royce needs to get some rest before we head out again."

"Did you and Dillon find anything?" CJ asked.

"A lot of stuff about the origins of the pocket watch, but the parts about its powers or use are extremely vague… Those Wonderlandians loved their riddles and I can't make heads or tails of their sentence structure… Dillon and I were able to deduce superspeed is one of the powers described here, but other than that…" Carlos shrugged. Or, at least, CJ imagined his shrugging in the darkness.

"Did you check all your books?"

"No. It's kinda tough to read in the dark." Carlos sassily replied.

CJ rolled her eyes. "Try to see if you can make some cover. You can turn on a light and keep reading, but just make sure they can't see it from outside."

"Yes, ma'am…" Carlos stifled a yawn. "Hey, and CJ, could I maybe hold on to the watch for a little while? Maybe if I can study its mechanics while Dillon keeps on reading, we could probably learn a whole lot more…"

CJ debated with herself for a second. On the one hand, she felt like she should really keep a hold of the watch herself, but on the other, she could trust Carlos not to screw up. It wasn't like she was handing the reins over to Chad.

Speaking of Chad, CJ accidentally bumped into the couch he was sleeping on as she passed the watch along to Carlos.

"Wha… Wha?" Chad mumbled, obviously still sleepy. "A-Are we moving out? It's still dark… Can I have five more minutes? And can I have the pocket watch?"

"We are not moving out. You cannot have the pocket watch. Carlos is holding on to it for now. There's some food, though, if you're hungry." CJ told him.

That seemingly got Chad's attention, as CJ heard the couch shift and Chad making his way over to where Celia and Chloe were still busying themselves with the canned beans.

CJ made her way over to the front of the farmhouse, where she would have a dark, yet unblocked view of the road leading up to their hiding place. The sky was still cloudy so CJ could not even stargaze as she tried to make herself comfortable. Barely a minute after she sat down, her hand grazing the hilt of her sword, she already felt her thoughts grow more hazy and unfocused.

As always, whenever she would have a moment to herself nowadays, her thoughts would shift to Archer. It was strange. It had only been about a week since everyone got frozen, but, due to the constant danger and traveling around, it felt like an eternity. CJ tried to remember the way Archer would intensely gaze at her with those incredible blue eyes of his. The way he held her. The way he made her laugh. The way he always did everything in his power to make sure she was happy and healthy.

CJ felt a knot in her stomach as she remembered how Archer had practically tossed her inside the protective barrier conjured up by Lancelot, back when the cursed lightning had turned everyone to stone. He had sacrificed himself in order to save her. He often did stupid things like that.

When CJ then recalled the golden ring in the little box that was waiting for her back at Auradon Prep, her stomach made even weirder jumps. CJ had never liked to think about the future that much. But this… Being with Archer, like, permanently… Wow… Never had a simple thought brought her so much happiness… All she had to do to accomplish that dream was defeat a bunch of villains… Again… It was always those damn villains standing in the way between her and happiness.

CJ was simply too tired to be consumed by dread or useless worrying. The half-baked beans she had consumed were upsetting her stomach, throwing her off her game even more. She was just focused enough to realize that, if the villains were to somehow discover this location and attack, she would not be in the best shape to combat them.

After what felt like hours, but could very well have only been a few minutes, CJ was suddenly alerted by a loud crash and the persistent mutters of panicked voices. CJ sprang upright and pulled out her sword. Something had to be wrong. Her allies were not stupid enough to make this amount of noise at night without there being something wrong.

CJ stormed back into the farmhouse, ready to take on any would-be assailants or otherwise protect her allies from harm. Instead, in the extremely dim glow of a single flashlight partly hidden underneath a blanket that had obviously been used for cover, she found all her friends huddled together around a single person who was spasming and thrashing on the floor.

"What's going on!?" CJ hissed, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Freaking Chad!" Carlos gnarled as he clutched the arm of the person on the floor.

CJ took a closer look, and saw that it was Chad who was flopping around, flat on his back. He was making the same convulsing movements Mabel had when she was electrocuted by Carlos's gun. For a moment, CJ thought this was again the case, except that Chad was not holding said weapon. On first glance, he looked totally fine, and then CJ saw the golden chain wrapped around Chad's wrist. The pocket watch!

"What happened!?" CJ snapped as she immediately knelt down beside Carlos and started yanking at the chain. Chad was clutching the pocket watch extremely tightly, and his constant spasms made it very difficult to get a solid grip.

"He grabbed the pocket watch and tried to use it! I'm sorry, CJ… I wasn't paying attention… A-And it was so dark…" Carlos tried to make excuses. CJ could tell he really felt horrible.

"Don't mind that! Let's just get that cursed thing off of him!" CJ grunted.

Royce was helping as well, lying across Chad's chest and trying to keep his shoulders down, while Dillon and Celia had thrown themselves across his legs in an attempt to reduce his kicking. Chloe stood to the side, tears streaming down her face as she clamped both her hands over her mouth. Red was still sitting in her corner, her brown eyes twinkling in the near-darkness as she looked on with casual interest.

Chad was starting to foam at the mouth and blubber incoherent nonsense. His eyes were rolling in their sockets like pinballs, and his face was starting to take on an unpleasant purple color. "Blargh… C-Cinnamon… Dogs… Blue times two… Dragons and swords… Clouds part… Gateways to the peak… Back and forth…" CJ did not understand a word of what Chad was saying, but she had more urgent matters to focus on. She was just about able to hook a finger around the chain and give a sharp yank, at the exact same moment that Carlos again wrenched at Chad's enclosed fist. Together, they were able pull the pocket watch away from Chad, be it still with a lot of trouble.

As soon as the relic left his hand, Chad immediately slumped to the floor in a limp and shivering heap. "F-Falling… Endless…" He muttered, before his eyes closed.

"Chad!" Chloe cried out as she immediately kneeled down next to her brother and cupped his face in her hands. "Chad! Chad! Wake up! Please, wake up! Can you hear me? Chad!"

"What happened?" CJ asked once more as she took a step back and hastily tucked the pocket watch away in the satchel attached to her belt. Now that the coast seemed clear, she needed some answers.

"Everything was fine…" Carlos sighed, rubbing his wrist. "Dillon and I were still scouring the books, holding a blanket over the flashlight… Royce, Celia and Chloe had just gone to sleep… Then, suddenly Chad started making a fuss… He was making these weird noises and stumbled around the room… I thought he was choking or something, but then I saw he was holding the pocket watch… I had only put it down for a second, CJ, and he must have grabbed it…"

"What did it do? Why is he like that?" CJ rubbed the side of her head. She really needed sleep.

"No idea." Carlos shook his head. "M-Maybe he tried to use the watch… We still have no idea how it works…"

"Is he okay? Will he get better?" Chloe asked, her eyes wide with panic as she kept on caressing Chad's sweaty forehead and wiping the hair from his eyes.

A million questions whirled through CJ's brain. Was Chad okay? Would he get better? What had happened? Why had he reacted to the pocket watch the way he did? Mabel had been able to use it just fine, so why not Chad?

CJ had to resist the urge to cuss Chad out for his blatant stupidity and carelessness. Chloe was still sobbing and tightly hugging her seemingly comatose brother, and it would be in very poor taste for CJ to add onto her misery.

"We gotta go…" Royce snapped. "That was a lot of noise we made just now… The villains might have heard, or their stone men… I say we pack up and leave right away…"

"Fine." CJ replied. She did not like it, but realized they really had no other choice.

In a chaotic operation, the group hastily got all their stuff together and moved out. With time not being on their side, they did not even take any effort to try and clean up or erase any trace of them having been there at the farmhouse in the first place. Royce was carrying Chad over his shoulder, while Carlos and Dillon held onto their belongings. Chloe was still panicked and stayed close to Chad, constantly feeling his temperature or seeing if he was able to speak coherently again. While Chad showed no signs of regaining his bearings just yet, he had thankfully stopped muttering nonsense and his face was gradually regaining its natural color.

The woods were pitch black, and both CJ and her associates spent as much time tripping over branches and rocks as they did actually getting somewhere. It took what felt like hours, during which time CJ could barely keep her eyes open and her legs were starting to feel like lead, before the group came across another place they could hunker down in – a shoddy shack that was probably used by hunters or hikers.

There were no beds, so CJ made herself comfortable on the softest spot on the moldy wooden floor she could find. She was exhausted, and could not find any energy to look after her friends for a second or join in their discussion. She closed her eyes and turned away, eager for some more sleep and the chance to escape the waking nightmare that was her life.

"Chad's breathing is steady, and he is not burning up any more. I think he's fine…" She heard Carlos say.

"But he won't wake up! Why won't he wake up?" Chloe whimpered.

"It has to be something with the pocket watch… All of this started when he grabbed it, right?" Royce opted.

"Yeah… We should continue to study it… Give me and Dillon some time, and we will be able to decipher all the Wonderlandian nonsense in these books… We'll know all there is to know about the pocket watch soon…" Carlos confidently replied.

"And Chad will be okay?" Chloe asked in a hopeful tone.

"I guarantee it." Dillon spoke up. CJ was so surprised she almost turned around. To hear Dillon state something with such confidence was really out of character for him, but it was certainly not a bad thing.

"Just, for now, no one touches the pocket watch, okay?" Carlos suggested. "Not until we know what we're dealing with. We don't want another 'Chad' situation…"

The others muttered in agreement.

On the far side of the cabin – which wasn't all that far in all fairness – one figure remained silent. Red's eyes, unnoticed by all, where sparkling as they rested on the satchel attached to CJ's belt. Where she kept the pocket watch for now.

CJ's eyelids were getting heavy. The last thought that went through her mind was that all this constant stress could simply not be worth it. Then her thoughts went back to Archer, and she realized that it was.