Chapter+3

Chapter #3 When I arrived home I went up to my room and started packing. Just as I closed my bag my mom came into my room. “Are you ready to go to Jessica’s house?” My mom asked me. “Yep!” I replied excitedly as I grabbed my sleeping bag and pillow off my bed. When my mom had left my room I ran over to my dresser and pulled out the package my principal had given me. I opened a hidden pocket in my backpack and shoved the package in. Once it was concealed I hooked my sleeping bag and pillow on top of my backpack and rushed downstairs. “Bye mom!” I shouted as I yanked open the front door and dashed outside. As I closed the door behind me it started raining. Realizing this I went back inside and darted upstairs until I came into our guest room. There,I dove into the closet and jumped back out holding an umbrella. Clicking it open as I ran back out the front door into the rain. Clutching the umbrella in one hand while pulling on my raincoat with the other I raced down the sidewalk to Jessica’s house. When I arrived at Jessica’s house I knocked on the door. No one answered. I knocked again,no one answered. Just as I was about to leave the door was yanked open. “Oh,hi Bella!” Jessica’s mom greeted me. “Come in,come in,” she added. As I wiped my feet I realized that Lucy,Jessica and Catherine weren’t anywhere. As if she could read my mind Jessica’s mom exclaimed, “The girls are upstairs waiting for you.” As I walked upstairs with my backpack I thought I could hear faint giggling,but when I stopped to listen,only silence. I finished climbing the stairs and walked down the hallway until I reached Jessica’s bedroom. I dropped my stuff on the floor and looked around. While doing so I realized that no one else was in the room and the shades were pulled closed. All of a sudden the door slammed closed,locking me into complete darkness. Something grabbed at my foot and pulled me to the floor. I let out a quiet yelp and closed my eyes. Just then whatever had been holding on to me let go and I opened my eyes to see the light on and my three friends rolling around in laughter. “Are you o.k.?” Jessica asked,realizing that I wasn’t laughing with them. “Ya,just a little frightened I suppose,” I replied. “Sorry,we just felt a sudden urge to,” Catherine exclaimed. “No,it’s because I spooked you guys first,” Jessica argued. “I guess it was a little funny,” I admitted. “I brought the package,” I exclaimed,changing the subject. “Let’s open it right now,” Lucy suggested. “No,I think we should wait until after dinner,I’m hungry,” Catherine replied. Just then Jessica’s mom yelled up to us: “Dinner’s ready!” Because we were so hungry we shoved eachother out of the way,down the stairs,into the kitchen. We each lined up with our plate to receive food. “Thanks for dinner mom!” Jessica exclaimed. “Mmm,looks delicious,” I added. For dinner we were having salmon with a sauce,asparagus and potatoes. After dinner we cleared our places and ran upstairs. Once we were confident Jessica’s mom was not in earshot we closed the door and took the package out of my backpack. “You open it Bella,” Jessica exclaimed. I turned it over in my hands,then carefully pulled of the tape. As soon as I pulled off the last piece the wrapping fell off to reveal a folded piece of paper. I carefully unfolded the paper,soon realizing it was a map. When I had finished unfolding the map we realized that it was a map of neighborhood. An underground map to be precise. On the map was a red “X” labled: start. The “X” appeared to be on top of Jessica’s house! “Do you have a basement?” Catherine questioned Jessica. “Yes,why?” She replied. “Because,this map is titled to be an underground map of our neighborhood,” Lucy exclaimed excitedly. “Let’s go!” Exclaimed Catherine. “Wait a second. I think I know where this tunnel starts,” Jessica added. “Well,since it looks like this might be an adventure,grab your packs! We’ll need to fill them with some food,” Lucy exclaimed. “I already did,” I replied. “Me too,” Catherine added. “Me three,” Lucy exclaimed. “Well,then I guess I just have to pack,” Jessica concluded. “Fortunately,I always keep a spare one packed,for some strange reason,” Jessica exclaimed. When we reached the stairs going down to the basement Jessica yelled to her mom, “Mom,we’re going on an adventure!” On that note we trooped down the stairs into the basement. “It’s over here,” Jessica exclaimed,walking over to a wooden box in the corner. She pulled the box away to reveal a gaping hole in the side of the wall. “This is it,” I told myself as I followed Jessica in. The hole turned out to be a long winding tunnel. We realized this after following a dim light in the distance for what had felt like an hour. The tunnel was surprisingly,not dirt. It seemed to have wood floors and stone-ish walls. We had kept on walking until we came to a fork in the path. “Hey Bella,did you bring that map?” Jessica asked. “Of course,” I answered as I pulled the map out of my bag along with my mini-flashlight. “According to the map we should take this one,” I exclaimed,pointing to the one on the right. “Apparently,we take a right on all forks,” I added. So,we continued walking for about three hours until we came across a great wooden door. After staring at the door for a minute I noticed a cord against the corner of the door. I walked over to it and yanked down hard on it. As I did so a horrible scraping noise erupted and the door opened. “How did you do that?” Catherine asked admiringly. But,instead of answering I stared ahead at an even bigger steel door. In the middle of the door was a large red button with a sign next to it reading, “Push me!” Without a word Lucy walked up to it and pressed the button. “Lucy,what are you doing?” I asked. Like me she ignored the question and stared ahead. The steel door had been replaced by another door. This time the door appeared to be made of paper. Jessica stepped up to it and took a pencil out of her bag. Before we could stop her she wrote,wrote and wrote. The paper was soon replaced by a sheet of water. It was Catherine’s turn. She walked up to it and put her hand through it,raising her hand to create a gap that we could walk through. One by one we went through,followed by Catherine. On the other side we didn’t have a single drop of water on us. The next room was empty,then led out to what I assumed was more tunnels. We all walked across the room to the tunnel leading out. Since I was the first to reach it I was the first to realize that to get through the tunnel we would have to crawl on our stomachs. So I lowered myself to the floor and started crawling. I could hear my friends behind me. After a few minutes the tunnel opened up to a brightly lit room. I soon realized that the room was a cave! I stepped aside so that Jessica,Lucy and Catherine could crawl through. “Wow,this is amazing!” Lucy whispered. At that moment I noticed a hunched over figure wrapped in silk in the corner. “Shh,guys look over there,” I pointed to where the figure was hunched over. “Let’s go back,” Catherine whispered. As we were turning around the figure in the corner exclaimed, “No,please stay. I have much to tell you.” So,one by one we walked over to the figure. “My name is Marlene,” she informed us. “I’m the sorcerer who played that trick on you Bella.” “Your great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great,great grandmother made my parents turn her invisible so she could play cruel tricks on others. She forced them to do it. They had no choice. So I made a choice to play a trick on her 10th descendant so they would have a horrible time just like your great(x9)grandmother did to others. I’m sorry,it’s just now you know,” Marlene explained. “The only thing is now you can turn invisible whenever you want,” Marlene added. “All you have to do is twist this bracelet three times then you’ll disappear from sight,” Marlene continued while she handed me a woven bracelet. “Why would you give this to me if you wanted to play a trick on me?” I asked. “Well,because I was always taught to give back,” Marlene replied. Just then an orange tabby cat entered the room. “Oh,this is my cat Tinker,” Marlene exclaimed. “She has some magic of her own,” Marlene added. “Any ways,do you four have any questions?” “One. How did the entrance to your lair and up in my basement?” Jessica asked. “That’s simple,I just move it every now and then,” Marlene answered. “It’s getting late,you girls better get back. First,come take some cookies,” Marlene exclaimed. So,we walked over to her little table and sat down. While Marlene had gone off into another room to make some tea,Tinker,her cat strode over to where we were sitting and sat on Jessica’s lap. All of a sudden Jessica let out a screech of pain. “OUCH! That cat scratched me.” Just then Marlene came in with a tray of hot tea. “I forgot the cookies! I’ll be right back,” she exclaimed. Marlene rushed back into the other room. “OUCH! Now Tinker scratched me,” Lucy complained. Marlene came back into the room with yet another tray,this time filled with an assortment of cookies. When we had finished she grabbed the trays and carried them into the next room. “OUCH!!” Catherine screeched. “Tinker scratched me!” She exclaimed through clenched teeth. Marlene came back in carrying our packs. Forgetting about the cat scratches for the moment,we rushed over to help Marlene. “Thankyou for everything!” I exclaimed. “Take this door. It will lead you home much quicker than the tunnels will,” Marlene suggested,gesturing towards a wooden door at the back of the room. We walked over,thanked Marlene again and headed on our way home. Strangely,only about 10 minutes later we found ourselves in Jessica’s basement. Without a word we trooped up the two sets of stairs,exhausted from our journey.

The next day at school my friends raced towards me as I made my way to our meeting spot outside. Jessica spoke first, “So,you know how we were scratched by that cat at Marlene’s? Well,I think it turns us invisible when we want. For example,I was walking past a group of girls I don’t particularly care for and all I wanted was to turn invisible and next thing you know I was invisible!” Jessica explained excitedly. “It worked for all of us!” Lucy put in. “This is cool! We must not use it for cruel jokes though!” I declared. “Agreed!” We all cheered.

Acknowledgements

Thankyou to Jessica Miller for letting me use her idea of the ‘Girl in Oregon’ book and it’s many contents. Also for the idea of my sorcerer-Marlene. I want to thank Jessica also for her great editing tips and skills!