David and Jess mounted the steps and found much to their disappointment no sign of their companions. They searched the entire downstairs with no luck. However they did find a warm pot of tea in the living room and the radio turned on to some classical station.

"Maybe they had a tea party." Jess said snidely.

"Maybe." David laughed.

A loud crash upstairs caught their attention. "Or not." Jess conceded.

He followed her to the stairs and they bolted to the second floor. Jess looked around the left side and snuck onto the landing. She looked down the other side of the staircase as well. She peered down both hallways. No signs of human life here, she thought.

She stopped and listened for a minute. There were voices coming from the third floor. They ventured further up the stairs and crouched down on the top step.

"She's not here." Sarah said clearly.

"She was a bad girl and we told her she had to stay in the corner." Rob said.

"Too much humor could get you killed my boy." Perry replied.

"We did leave her home." Orchid said annoyed.

"Stop, stop. I've heard enough. I know she's here. I can feel her very presence."

"That's tricky. How do you do it?"

"The stone. She has the stone."

"Sure thing killer." Rob joked.

"So Orchid is my little turncoat this time around." Perry said in a low tone.

"You never can tell." She said in return.

"I always thought you were good. I figured that you would turn on me, but I didn't plan on you brother's betrayal."

"So he did turn on you?"

"Certainly did. I chained him to the wall and left him there. Maybe he's decided to come back to me."

"I doubt that."

"I think I could persuade him."

"With what, your good looks and charm?"

Jess could almost see the grisly smile spreading on Perry's face. "You never know. He was always afraid of living. I can help him in that department."

"He's not stupid enough to join up with you again."

"Have it your way dear." He said to his daughter.

Jess shifted uncomfortably on her perch. She slid into David's arms and he held her close to him. He smelled her hair, so sweet and fragrant. He squeezed her tightly.

"We'll cook up a plan." He whispered.

"Sure." She sighed.

They slinked back down the stairs all the way down into the basement. They journeyed to

the tunnel once more and stopped in the garage. Jess sat herself on the hood of Thistle's truck. David leaned against the wall, his thin arms hugging his chest.

"What's the plan girly?" He said, at last ending the silence.

"It seems as though we're fucked."

"Eeekkk. Do you think we could enlist Thistle?"

"I'm sure he would be appreciative to get off that wall, but I don't know if we can trust him. You've seen how honest he was with me."

"I say we give it a try. And if he does turn on us, well hey, it'll be a fairer fight."

"Yeah five to two." Jess laughed. "I think we should talk to him first and then decide."

"That seems more fair. Let's go."

They started to head back when a soft low sound came from the corner of the garage. They both jumped back a little frightened.

"What now?" Jess exclaimed.

A glowing light formed there and Scarlett began to materialize into their world.

"Hey now." David said taken aback.

"Hello. Lovely garage, don't you think?" She said thickly.

"Sure thing. David this is Scarlett." Jess introduced.

"Hi there."

"Nice to meet you." She said.

She was a vision in a long blue gown hanging from her thin frame. Her hair was twisted into a ponytail that flowed down her back in long crimson waves. She had a long black cape draped over one arm along with a sheath containing what he assumed to be a dagger.

"I want to give you these." She said.

"What are they?"

"Magic gifts from my world. They were hand crafted by some of the most wonderful people that would like to help you in protecting their world."

"We'll have to thank them for that" Jess said.

"We'll do that another time. Here is your dagger Jessica and your cloak David." She said while handing them their presents.

"What do they do?" David asked examining his cloak. It was long, maybe all the way down to his ankles. It was a soft cottony material and lined with the finest looking red silk. It had one silver clasp at the very neck.

"Your cape can make you invisible. It also acts as a shield and will protect you from anything thrown in your direction. You just have to turn it around and wear it inside out."

He turned it over in his hands and opened it up, black side facing in. He placed it easily on his shoulders and closed the clasp. Instantly he vanished, exclaiming loudly that he couldn't see his own hands anymore.

"Amazing." He said astonished.

"Oh yes, and any object you hold will also appear invisible. It will give you incredible strength as long as you are wearing it. The only fault is if the clasp somehow gets undone. Then it goes back to being a normal cloak until you can get it clasped again."

She turned to Jess. "This my dear is for you." She handed her the green velvet sheath.

Jess touched it and already she could feel its power. She pulled the shining new dagger from its casing and admired the delicate glass blade. It was swirled with grey swipes just like her charm. The handle was bronze, also like her necklace.

"Is this a part of the origin stone too?" Jess asked.

"Yes. It was crafted from a larger piece that broke off. You can use it to open up a dimensional door

"Would I want to do that?"

"You'll know when. You'll need to at some point."

They walked once more through the chill, dim tunnel and stepped into the purple room. Thistle remained there still pale as ever. He looked up at them in the wane light and ventured a weak smile.

"How are you Jess?" He said in his deep basso.

"Fine and how are you?" Jess asked.

"I'm ok. A little tired. Is that you Scarlett?"

"Yes. I'm back." She said.

"What do you have planned for me?" Thistle asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us what Perry has planned." Jess said.

"I don't know much. I've been down here the whole time. He's boarded up the house like a fortress though."

"We saw. We were upstairs a while ago."

"Where are the others?"

"Upstairs." David replied.

"We want to know if you're on our side." Jess said.

"I can't promise you anything. Perry has some pretty strong magic and he could turn me to his will."

"Maybe we should leave him here." David turned to Jess.

"Maybe." She replied.

"I'm sorry Jess, for everything." Thistle said.

"Hey, it happens, right?"

"It shouldn't happen." He said.

"But it did." She turned to David. "I vote we leave him."

"I agree." David said.

"Perry's keeping them on the third floor." Scarlett said. "Why there?"

"That's odd. I would've thought he'd keep you all closer to this room. This is where all his power emanates from."

"Hmm." Jess frowned.

"Did you take your boots?" He asked noticing their absence.

"Yes. I switched them with my other shoes." Jess said. Before they had gone upstairs earlier she had traded her shoes. She loved these boots and was rarely without them.

"I would suggest taking them off. Perry told me he was going to use them for an old voodoo trick. You never know."

"I'm leaving them on." She replied. "These are my favorite boots. He's not going to take anything else from me damnit."

"Ok. It's your call. But I suggest you get upstairs while he's still dealing with the others."

"Good luck." Scarlett said as she faded. "I must get back to my world now."

Perry had them all now. He had used Orchid's own magic against her. He had grabbed a hold of her and taken that delicate little flower from her cuff. Before any of them realized what happened they were bound together in a tight little cluster, trapped in Orchid's thick green vines.

She grimaced at him, trapped by her own means. They'd all been arguing for some time now, hoping that Jess and David were still safely downstairs. They weren't sure that Perry had bought their decoy, but they tried to keep up appearances.

"So what will you do with us now?" Rob asked.

"Well I don't know yet. I'd hate to kill you all. Maybe I'll send you into an alternate dimension. Something where I'll never have to see you again, eh?" Perry answered.

"Sounds like fun." Rob retorted.

"Are all of your friends wise-asses Orchid?"

"Only the good ones." She answered.

Jess and David stepped into the same third floor bed-room that the girls had their slumber party in. Jess had her dagger unsheathed. David's cloak was ready to be clasped.

They observed the situation for a moment. It wasn't looking good at all. David made the sign of the cross and laughed at the gesture. Still trapped in the catholic world, he thought.

"So good to see you." Perry smiled

"Of course." Jess curtsied.

Perry turned to Jess. "So where's your necklace?"

"Do you really think I'm that stupid?"

"You tell me."

"Of course not. I thought I'd just kick your ass and save the stone for another time."

"Hate to disappoint you." He said reaching for her.

"Look out!" Orchid yelled. "The flower is on his cuff."

Jess ducked and Perry missed, landing on the wall instead.

David turned his cloak around and clasped the neck. He rushed at Perry knocking him off his guard. The boy having incapacitated him for the time being stepped off and turned the cloak back around.

Jess tried to break through the vines with her dagger with no luck. Rob pointed to his rapier which rested on the floor a few feet away. She grabbed it and cut through the vines with ease.

Sarah pulled her wand out of her belt and waved it around. "I challenge you Perry. I call upon all the powers that my father once held. I call upon them to take you down." She pointed the wand at his chest and he could feel a terrible warmth spreading there.

Perry clutched the trunk of his body, the pain spreading into his limbs. He writhed on the floor, clambering towards her. He was building up energy to strike her down as he crawled to her.

The unsuspecting Sarah jumped up in jubilation. "It's working." She said.

David stepped over to her as she continued pointing. "Oh wow. That was wonderful Sarah." He said.

"Thanks sweety." She replied.

"Simply amazing." He said.

Perry's lips spread into a deadly smile. Two for the price of one. He got himself up to his knees. In the aftermath of his deadly rage he would steal Jess's dagger and transport himself out of this miserable world.

He leapt up as soon as he could and lifted his arms in pirouette form. He seemed almost like he would dance his way into another dimension, but instead he began to chant. He was calling upon all his powers.

Jess could feel the strength emanating from the house. It was strong and fierce climbing along the stairs now and veering down the hall to join them. Her boots began to feel heavy and hot. She could barely move them and squirmed in pain. The power Perry had called gathered in misty rivulets of smoke around his ankles and traveled up his body to his waiting fingertips.

"Duck!" Jess yelled.

Sarah dived in front of David as a bolt of energy flew from Perry's body. It hit them full force and they both fell to the tan carpet. Jess ran at Perry her dagger pointed forward, trying to fight the pain caused by her constrictive boots. Damn voodoo magic, she thought.

Perry turned his attention to her and sent a smaller jolt knocking her down. Rob followed suit and Perry smacked with the same force as David and Sarah's deadly blow. Rob fell to the ground. The giant red wood had been cut down.

Sarah whispered her last words to David softly. "It was the changing of the guard." She said wearily. "Dad wrote me a letter before he died. He died to protect me you see. If he didn't help me out the fates would've cut the string long before now. He told me to watch out for you, since you'd be the death of me. Looks like he was right."

"Damnit Sarah." He said, choking on his words.

"You can't stop love." She gasped.

Jess heard them, but she was blinded in pain. Her entire body felt constricted. She could hear Rob next to her mumbling something.

"I hated you dad. Forever. I won't ever be able to tell you how much I really did love you. I really did." He stumbled over each word with difficulty.

Orchid stood looking at her father in terror. She screamed as loudly as she could. He grabbed her by the wrist and wrapped her once again in her suffocating vines.

"Oh shut up." He said. "If I hadn't killed them they would've killed me. Now for Jessica."

He went to her crumpled body and lifted her arm, dagger wrapped securely under his fingers. He pointed it at the wall. "Open Scarlett's world for me please."

The wall glowed white hot for a second and he saw a blurriness there. He dove through it, dropping Jess's arm and her dagger with it. Jess fell into an oblivious sleep.

Five years later Jess found her way back to that dreaded house.

Orchid had called her, needing some help. The two girls hadn't spoken since the terrible events leading up to Perry's disappearance. He never ventured into their world again. They assumed that he had dominated Scarlett's world and decided to remain there.

Scarlett never bothered to contact them until now.

"Jess." Orchid said, folding her friend into her arms. Both girls had left Preston. Jess transferred to a small school closer to Dannemora a few months later and Orchid just dropped out, living off her father's riches.

"Hey you." Jess said quietly. "What's the news?"

"She told me to meet you here and she'd fill in the blanks later."
"I can't believe I'm back here."

"Me either. Five whole years Jess."

"Listen, I brought the stones. I think it's time."

Orchid's hair had grown out and was resting in lavender waves at her waist. Jess had chopped her own hair short. Both girls looked pale and weary for all the years passed in silent fear. Fear of his return.

The girls mounted the steps to that same bedroom where their lives had been shattered. Jess could barely force herself into that room. She could feel that it would open the door she had tried so hard to keep closed.

She sat on the edge of the bed, plagued already by her memories.

"Miss? Miss? Snap out of it." The police officer yelled.

She had been rocking on the floor when they found her surrounded by the lifeless bodies of her friends. She had a small white and purple flower in her hands. She was picking off the petals one by one and chanting ceremoniously.

"He loved me. He loved me not. He loved me. He loved me not. He loved me. That fucker loved me! That bastard loved me! I killed him. I killed him. He loved me and I killed him for it."

The police found later that the poor girl had just snapped. Her friends had died for various odd reasons and they never got a straight answer from the unfortunate broken child. She was in a mental hospital for ten months, chanting and rocking. One day she just stopped and asked to go home.

"She's perfectly fine in my opinion. I've run every test possible on her. She has no memory of what happened to her." The doctor said quietly.

"Better to keep it that way than to dig up a whole mess. Her friends all died of the strangest causes stemming from family ailments. One girl dead of a heart attack. Her father had that problem. Another dead because of diabetic shock. Apparently his mother Elana has just

been diagnosed as diabetic. One boy died after an epileptic seizure. He had an aunt with that problem. How they all died at the same time, we'll never know. I think I'd rather not. And two people disappeared. Perry and his son Thistle."

Jess looked up as Orchid loomed in front of her.

"Where are you sweety?"

"Back there. Back at the hospital. Back where I snapped."

Her friend looked for comforting words but found none. What could she say to the girl who suffered through hell? The girl who saw Thistle melt into a little flower before her. How he ever got off that wall they never figured out, but after seeing the carnage he decided where to go.

Orchid just decided never to speak after that day. Not a single word would escape her lips. The first time she spoke in five years had been to the ragged apparition of Scarlett.

Scarlett appeared to them then, these two travelers who had survived the madman?s terror. She was weak and pale, wearing a rag more than a dress. Her hair and face were covered in a mixture of mud and blood. She wavered as she stood before them.

"He's destroyed us." She gasped. "Beware. I feel he is coming back into your world." She fell onto the carpet just as so many others before her had.

Orchid looked at her companion. She reached down and felt for a pulse. "Dead." She announced.

"We have to end this." Jess said.

"I agree. The dagger is there, where you left it." She pointed to the floor where the dagger had fallen from her hand years before.

Jess picked it up, but she needn't bother. Perry entered the room from the same portal Scarlett had opened.

"Well that was fun." He said.

"Plundering and butchering for five whole years?" Jess accused.

"Has it been that long? I lost track of time." He noticed Scarlett on the carpet. "It's a shame. She was a true fighter."

They stared at each other in a stalemate of deadly gazes. "Where's my son?" He asked.

"I killed him." Jess said. "I plucked everyone of those petals and spread them on the floor for your benefit."

"Why thank you. Makes my job easier." He replied acidly. He raised his hand in Orchid's direction and the girl crumpled into a little pile on the floor.

"What have you done?" Jess yelled.

"I have ended her useless existence."

Jess ran to her friend and felt for her pulse. He hadn't lied. Orchid was dead.

"Let's end this thing now." She said boldly.

"I always did like you the best. So brave Jess. Always ready to take on the world. Why don't you join me? There are so many worlds to conquer. Too many to pillage all on my own."

"Thanks, but no." She said, standing slowly and gripping her dagger tighter. She rushed at him and drove the tiny sword into his chest. "I've had enough of you Perry. Would you just fucking die?"

He looked at her wide eyed. Her attack was certainly not expected.

"Good thrust." He said grabbing her neck. He constricted her throat as best he could with his dying hands. He sent a jolt into her body.

They fell together, joining the others. Perry melted into a pile of goo and the dagger rested in the middle of it all. Jess decided the only way to end this would be to rid the world of the stones.

She pulled herself up, jerking the dagger free of its squishy pool. She leaned against the bed and reached into her pocket. When she brought it out she had all four stones hanging from her fist. She opened the portal once more and threw the stones into it. She threw the dagger as well and the portal closed after it.

"May you never be found." She whispered.

Perry's spell on her was fatal and she could feel it working. She didn't care to fight it anymore. It was done; all was finished. The greatest closure for her now would be death.

She laughed at her own foolish life. Following some dream of greatness and she would die in a puddle of goop that was once Perry. No one would ever know the service she had done for the world.

"Oh well." She said to herself and rested her head on the floor for the last time.