Like Father,Like Daughter - Hugs.And.Kisses (best novel books to read TXT) 📗

can't tell you that."

A crash. "I want to see him."

"He said he'd come and see you when he was finished."

Silence for a few minutes. "Fine. You can leave." I went back around the corner, pressing my back against the wall. The two passed by me without so much as a pause and I let out a silent sigh of relief. I slipped over to the doors. I looked in through the crack between the wood, thankful that the doors weren't completely shut.

"Calm down Vanessa." Lock's voice floated from out of my range of sight. "Cay said he'd come see you once he's done, didn't she?"

"Yeah, but she'll say anything to make me shut up." My eyes widened as I saw the girl that the voice belonged to. Barrel was right; this girl looked exactly like me except that her hair was longer and black, and she had a thing for sluttish minis. She was sitting on the throne dad had been sitting in earlier, her legs draped over one of the armrests and her back against the other. Black leather boots reached up to her knees, and patterns of red swirled over her black dress like blood.

Lock finally walked into my line of view. "Well, then go look for him in a little while."

I heard footsteps behind me but didn't move fast enough to stop the hand that had grabbed my arm from pulling me up. A webbed hand covered my mouth. "What are you doing here?" Cay hissed. "Damn it, if Vanessa finds you-"

"Cay?" The girl, Vanessa, called. "Is that you?"

She bit her lip and looked down at me. "I'm really sorry about this." She shoved the door open and dragged me inside. "Yeah, it's me. And look I found outside."

Vanessa smiled down at me, her black eyes flashing dangerously. 'A puppet spell?' I thought, remembering the effects of the one Shock had cast on Lock. 'No, her eyes aren't totally black.'

"You can leave." Vanessa dismissed Cay. I watched her over my shoulder. She stopped at the door, casting me an almost apologetic look before walking out and shutting the large door behind her. I turned my attention back to my… twin. "Well, well, well. How in the world did you get out?"

I stayed silent.

Her eyes narrowed. "I asked you a question!"

"Go to hell." I spat.

She smiled at me with a sickeningly fake innocent sweetness. "Aw, are you still bitter about your wings little sister?"

I growled, my lips curling back into a snarl. "I'll kill you!" I lunged at her, only to fall to the floor in an ungracious heap as Lock's fist slammed into my stomach. I clutched my abdomen, fighting for the air to speak. "L-Lock…" I looked up at him, a tear rolling down my cheek. I scanned his face for anything, anything that would show that he felt bad, that he recognized me.

Nothing. Not so much as a flicker. I let my head drop, preferring for my tears to fall on the floor than be watched by that bitch on the throne.

xXx

Sally stumbled over a loose stone as she followed the tracker spell Shock had cast. She'd been walking for what seemed to be forever through the dark halls. She sped up a little as the tracker did. It had only led her down deeper into the dungeons, where even the torches were gone. But the little orb's white light was bright enough to illuminate the corridors considerably.

Abruptly it turned. Sally did as well, and it put her in a rounded room much like the one she'd found Shock, Barrel, and Aubrey in. But she didn't see anything; no doors, no other halls, and certainly no Jack. Then something in the corner caught her eye, standing out against the dark stone. Walking over, she picked it up. After a moment of examination, Sally realized what she was holding and her eyes widened. It was one of Jack's fingers. Spinning around, she saw the rest of Jack's bones scattered about the room. Looking around she located his skull sitting in a corner, its eyes closed. Well, most of his skull at least. His jawbone was missing.

She ran over and picked it up, shaking it gently. "Jack…" She whispered. The empty sockets snapped open. She smiled. "Don't worry; I'm going to put you back together." Glancing around, she spotted his jaw and picked it up, placing it back in its rightful spot.

"How did you get down here?" Jack asked.

Sally smiled at him again. "Having detachable parts comes in handy sometimes." She sat down, holding his skull in her hands. "Did Raphael do this?"

Jack looked solemn. "Yes. He tore me to pieces, and then threw me down here. I was so worried about you Sally."

Sally kissed his cheek. "You don't have to worry now."

"My chest's over there." Jack motioned with a struggled nod to the opposite corner of the room. Sally turned to see that indeed, Jack's torso was sitting there, his pinstriped shirt still on it. She walked over and placed his head back on his neck.

"Better?" She asked.

Jack rolled his head around a couple of times. "Much." Sally nodded and began to pick up his pieces and put them back together.

Within fifteen minutes, Sally had reassembled both of Jack's arms, save his left hand, and had started putting that back together. "Sally?"

She looked up from pushing his ring finger back in its socket. "Yes Jack?"

"Thank you." She smiled at him and went back to piecing him back together.

Ten minutes later, Jack was back on his feet. He bent down and grabbed the last of the four ribs Raphael had broken out of spite and slid it under his shirt. He flinched a little as he felt it mend back into place. "Good as new." He proclaimed, doing a little twirl to prove it. "Whoops!" He cried, falling over. Sally caught him, standing him upright. If Jack had skin, it would've been red. "Thanks."

Sally shook her head, smiling still. "Not a problem."

Jack smiled down at her before getting serious. "Let's go." He laid a bony hand on the tracker and muttered a few words under his breath. After a moment of deliberation, it flew out of the room. Jack bent down and scooped Sally up in his arms before running after it.

xXx

Vanessa chuckled as Aubrey laid on the floor, tears trickling down her face. Her face lit up as her fingers played with the handle of the dagger still in her boot. She pulled it out, examining the bright blade. The blood that should've stained the steel was gone, wiped away by some unseen force. 'We'll have to fix that.' Vanessa thought with a chuckle. "Don't worry Aubrey. You won't have to worry about anything in… a…" She trailed off, her eyes traveling from the heap that was her sister on the floor to the boy whose feet the heap was lying at.

"Lock, come here." Vanessa crooned. He looked down at Aubrey once before walking over.

"What?"

Vanessa grabbed his wrist and placed the dagger's handle in Lock's hand and closed his fingers around it. "Do me a favor and take care of that problem, would you?" She asked sweetly, smiling at him.

Lock looked down at the gleaming blade in his hand. "Sure."


Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Remember Me

"Shock!" Barrel yelled. "I found the book!" He held up a thick book with a black, leathery looking cover. A series of complicated spirals that seemed to be made up of a snake biting its tail decorated the center, painted in gold.

The witch stopped searching the shelf she had nearly emptied of books and ran over. "Find the spell."

"What should I look for?"

Shock groaned and grabbed the orb that was hovering around the book and shoved it into the black cover. It snapped open in Barrel's hands, the pages glowing red. They began to flip to higher and higher pages, stopping almost a quarter of the way to the end. Several lines of text were shining blood red. "All right." She bent the corner and shut the book, standing.

Snapping her fingers, a white orb, much like the one she'd conjured for Sally earlier, appeared in front of her. "Dnif em Aubrey." The orb began to fly off. "Let's go."

After chasing the telltale light for a while, Barrel spoke up. "Hey, should we be going up?"

Shock looked at him. "What… what do you mean?" She panted.

"Well, we just went up a staircase."

Shock swallowed hard. "They could've… gone this way. I'm… not really… sure…"

"You all right?" Barrel, being a football player, was used to running for long periods of time. But so was Shock. That's pretty much all they ever did when they were younger; ran from Jack, ran after each other, ran from Halloween Town to the Tree House, etc.

"Fine." She snapped, turned away from him. Barrel turned his vision back to the orb in front of them.

That's when it flickered. Barrel was a bit surprised, but figured he was seeing things.

But then it flickered again, and again, and again, until it flickered out completely. Barrel turned at the soft thump next to him, skidding to a stop. "Shock!" He scrambled over and knelt down next to her. "Shock, what happened?"

She turned her head weakly and motioned at the book. "The book's draining all my energy away. I can't carry the damn thing any further." Shock let out a small cry of protest as Barrel lifted her up onto his back.

"Hold on." He bent down and grabbed the book off the cold floor. "Any chance you can conjure up one more tracker spell?"

Shock snapped her fingers weakly. An orb, much smaller than the previous ones, floated in front of his face. "This is the last one. I'm out of energy." She muttered the spell under her breath before leaning her head against his shoulder tiredly. Barrel blushed slightly at the somewhat intimate (in his mind) contact. This was probably one of the first times Shock had touched him for a long period of time without him being in pain as a result. Barrel shook his head slightly; this was most definitely NOT a good time to start thinking about his feeling for Shock. 'Just keep your eye on the tracker.' He ordered himself, running after the light.

.o0o.

Aubrey let out a shriek as the knife in Lock's hand came inches from slicing her stomach open. She had long since realized that talking to him was pointless, he wasn't listening anyway, and had since lost the extra energy required to make her lungs take in the air to form words.