Xalo’s Story

It was a lovely day at the Manor...except for the fact that half the kitchen was now on fire.
 Karoline and Kelly walked down the stairs and see the kitchen: Hmm, must have been another of Kathryn’s cooking experiments...
 Kathryn: I'M GOING TO TORCH THIS ENTIRE KITCHEN! AND THAT STOVE'S GOING FIRST!!!!!
 Kelly: Why?
Kathryn: IT DIDN'T HEAT UP FAST ENOUGH!!!
 Julia, Amanda, and Vicki walk down the stairs. 
Vicki: What's that smell? *wrinkles nose*
Kathryn: WHAT?!?! GET THE *bleep* OUT OF HERE BEFORE I INCINERATE YOU TOO!!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT MY COOKING!?!?
 Emily and Larissa walk down the stairs: Cooking? Breakfast! Oh, you just burned down the kitchen again, never mind.
 Their faces fell when they arrived just in time to see the waffle iron go up in flames
Everyone: Lindsay!!
Lindsay walks down to the kitchen half asleep. 
Lindsay: Kathryn, what did you do THIS TIME?!
Kathryn: Why do you always assume that it was my fault? *looks hurt*
Lindsay: Because it always IS your fault...
 Julia Well, I have to go to work now... (Julia acts, in commercials)
 Kelly, Amanda, Vicki: Yeah, same here.
Kelly, Amanda, Vicki, and Julia head for the door
 Kathryn: Well, I have to go think up my next evil scheme to torture you all, er, do my homework (Kathryn is still in college, so is Karoline) Come, Karo. Let's go play our instruments loudly, to torture poor Lindsay, Emily, and Larissa who have boring jobs (they work at home).
 = night =
Kelly and Julia have *gasp* dates tonight, but everyone else is at home, talking
Kathryn: Why won't you let me summon a demon, just one? I want to vanquish someone tonight! NOW!!!
 Vicki: We've had this conversation before! Demons are dangerous! What if you summon one that will kill us all?!
Kathryn: Don't be such a stick-in-the-mud! Come on, Karo! Let's go summon the demon!!!
 Karoline (*nervously*): Ok Kathryn, whatever you say...!
Lindsay: Hey! Stop!
*Kathryn grabs Karoline and orbs upstairs to the Book of Shadows, then locks the door*
Lindsay: Hey! Not fair orbing, until we can do it too!
Kathryn: Sucks to be you! Hmm, to summon a demon... *reads spell*
Karoline, interrupting: Hey! I get to pick the spell and demon this time!
Kathryn: Ok, if you insist...
 *Karoline turns pages, finds a spell, and reads it...*
*Suddenly, Emily appears in the attic*
Kathryn: YOU MORON! YOU USED THAT SPELL I WROTE TO SUMMON EMILY WHEN I NEEDED A TORTURE VIC-NEVER MIND! Now you let her in the attic, and we can't summon the demon! Loser!
 Karoline: Oh well, let's go downstairs" *pretends to be disappointed but is actually relieved that the spell didn't summon a demon*
 Downstairs, the others are watching a love movie. Karo walks off to join them, accidentally leaving Kathryn alone with the Book of Shadows...
 *Kathryn quietly copies down a spell, the follows Karoline*
 Kathryn: Hehehe…
A few minutes later, when everyone is watching…
Kathryn: I have to go to the...bathroom...
 
*She walks there, puts the paper with the spell on it in her pocket, then astral projects into the movie the others are watching
Now, she is on the TV screen. She chases off the movie people...*
Kathryn: Ha! I can summon a demon now, and you can't stop me!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
 *Reads spell to summon demon*
*An ugly demon with spikes on its head appears*
Kathryn: Hey, an ugly demon with spikes on its head!
*The demon kicks her, which she blocks and retaliates with a counter attack, punch. The demon sweeps her*
Lindsay: Ten bucks on the demon offing her!
 Others except Emily: LINDSAY!
 Emily: I'll take that bet!
 Meanwhile, on the screen Kathryn thinks *hmm, If I kill the demon, Lindsay loses money! Good deal!*
 Kathryn turns to pyro the demon, but her hands are upside down, and he freezes into ice instead
 Others: *gasp!* new power!
 Kathryn: Sweet!
 Kathryn then sets him on fire and watches him burn for a while.
Kathryn: This is getting boring...
 She freezes the flames on him.
Kathryn: What strike should I use to kill him? Elbow? Backfist? Side thrust kick?
Kathryn turns and side thrusts him into little bits.
 Emily: YES!!! Pay up...!
 Kathryn: Demon vanquished, Lindsay loses, Mission accomplished!
*Astrals out of the TV*
Karoline is in the living room with the others, who are now bored because the movie and demon fight are now over.
Suddenly, the doorbell rings.
Larissa: I’m not getting it; only demons come ringing this late (it was 10:00)
Lindsay: I know, let’s make Kathryn go!
Kathryn: FINE! *She opens the door* Karo! Our new saxes are here! You know, the ones with “tequila” color scheme?
Amanda: *groan* Looks like we’ll be up all night listening to them “testing out their new saxes…”
Karoline: “Yeehee! Let’s play!!!” 
Kathryn: “Yeah! Hey, do you or Lindsay wanna come play saxes with us? We have 2 extras!”
Emily: Ok! We’re in!
Lindsay: Yeah, if you can’t beat them, join them. 
½ hour later…Julia & Kelly are just getting home. 
Julia: What’s that noise?!
Lauren orbs down to play saxophones. 
Larissa: Not ANOTHER sax player! 
Kelly: Hey Larissa it’s not all bad. Our new various electric string instruments showed up with their sax shipment, and IT’S YOUR TURN TO PLAY THE BASS!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Larissa: FINE! Cool, let’s go join the family jazz band!!
Kathryn, from upstairs: You know Vicki, we could use an, er…brass player up here!
Vicki: OK!!!
Amanda and Julia are left alone downstairs. 
Amanda: I’m bored! What can we do, we were never in band?
Julia: Hmmm…Maybe we could go sing and play the piano or something, they have all those Chicago songs like on the soundtrack.
Amanda: Cool! Let’s go!
Now, everyone was upstairs in the home band recording studio. Kathryn was insisting that they play a song with an excessively long solo section, and everyone except Karoline, who was still deathly afraid of solos, wanted to. Karoline reluctantly agreed, then she said: OK, but just one more song. We have school tomorrow.
After the song was over, everyone left except for Julia. Julia was the designated cleaner in the house, and she also had to put away stuff that was lying around. This was because she had telekinesis as her power, so she hardly had to work at all when she was cleaning. 
Julia, to herself: I wish I was in my room now. I don’t want to walk so far just to get there. Suddenly, she disappeared and reappeared in the room she shared with Kelly. 
Kelly: *screams* EEEEEE!! What the…? Who are you and what have you done with the real Julia?!?! 
Julia: Kelly, it’s me. I think I have a new power or something…
Kelly: NOT FAIR! Shut up and go to bed before I draw something dangerous and sic it on you!
Julia thought I want to go to bed. And Kelly is the queen of everything!…wait…where did that come from…?
Kelly silently, to self: Hehehe…
Meanwhile, over in the newer side of the house, there was a fight waiting to happen. Kathryn was sitting on her bed. She would make a fireball in one hand, freeze it with the other hand, and throw it off the loft down onto the sleeping head of, who else, Lindsay. This wasn’t a problem until the iced fireballs were rapidly approaching softball size. They also hit various other objects and people in the room. When a huge frozen fireball came just inches away from her head, she decided to enlist the help of her “slaves,” Emily and Larissa. Emily and Larissa always did what Lindsay told them to, mostly because they were afraid of her wrath. This was tragic because they usually suffered serious bodily harm while catering to Lindsay’s every whim, and these days, most of the whims had to do with torturing Kathryn, the living incinerator/ice thrower. Karoline was similarly “enslaved” by Kathryn, for the same reasons as the other slaves. 
Lindsay: Emily, go up there and do your little make people’s fears come to life power thing on Kathryn.
Emily: B-but we don’t want to…kill her.
Lindsay: Don’t. Just do it enough to make her all scared. Maybe it will teach her not to THROW FROZEN FIRE THINGYS AT ME ALL NIGHT!!! Larissa, shield her with invisibility! Go now!
 Karoline was upstairs in the room with Kathryn. She rolled over in her sleep and touched one of the things that belonged to Lindsay that was being held hostage up there. She got a premonition, and she projected it for Kathryn. 
Kathryn: Oh, so now she thinks fear will rattle me, eh? She can’t even touch me!
One of Kathryn’s fears was now happening, but it wasn’t the biggest fear, it was one of those little ones she kept in the back of her mind. Hmmm…she thought as she orbed away, across the room. Emily fired an even stronger burst of power, but it was just as Kathryn orbed away, and she hit Karoline, with the full force of her power. She saw Lindsay and Kathryn downstairs fighting: one of her worst fears was that her sisters would die at each other’s hands. Emily reversed her power blast, only to discover that Kathryn and Lindsay were standing on the balcony railings, across from each other. They jumped at each other, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were falling over 100 feet down to the first floor (they were on the loft 3rd floor). Kathryn shoots a fire blast from midair and the camera does the Matrix Spin around them. Only one thought is in their minds: Must kill the other. Karoline, Larissa, and Emily watched the scene in horror from the loft. There was nothing they could do. 
 Suddenly Kathryn thinks: Huh? What are we doing here? AAAH! 
She grabs Lindsay and orbs back onto the landing. Lindsay snaps out of her little trance. Lindsay: Y-y-you saved my life…?
Karoline, Lindsay, Emily: Uhhh, what?
Kelly was awakened by the noise from upstairs. She woke up Vicki, Amanda, and Julia, and 10 minutes later, everyone was in the living room with hot chocolate and blankets (it was midwinter). Julia had the Book of Shadows. 
Julia: What happened up there?
Karoline: I’ll tell them. *she tells them about everything that happened.*
Kathryn: It was almost like there was another presence inside me, telling me what to do.
Lindsay: Yeah! It was weird, I didn’t even realize it was there until later. 
Vicki: Sounds demonic. 
Julia: (flipping pages) Here, it’s one of the Anger Demons. They are a coven of demons. They all have names like Revenge, Envy, Hatred, etc… They possess people, usually those who have had unresolved conflicts with others for a long time. They cause the people to destroy each other. Maybe your attacker was…Killing Wrath. 
Karoline: Sounds just like you two.
Emily: I second that. 
Kathryn and Lindsay both turn and growl at them.
Karoline: See what I mean?
Julia: It says here that the two who are possessed must have a strong dislike or hatred of one another, they must have a strong desire to kill one another. In order to guard themselves from another attack, they have to make peace with one another.
Lindsay: Heh…shouldn’t be that hard. 
Kathryn: I promise I won’t try to kill you, or throw things at you-
Emily & Larissa in unison: Or TAKE US HOSTAGE to get your revenge on her!
Kathryn: -that too…
Lindsay: Yeah, me too.
Karoline: Ok! Hey, who wants to go outside and play truth or dare in the hot tub, there is snow on the ground…
Kathryn: OOH, ME!!!
Kelly: Well of course YOU want to…
Everyone else: Yeah, we do too, let’s go.
 Everyone plays truth or dare in the hot tub all night long, so they all decide to call in sick to work/school and stay home. 11:00 AM finds Kathryn in the kitchen, trying once again to make breakfast without going into a rage and destroying the kitchen. Again. 
Kathryn: I will not burn anything, I WILL NOT BURN ANYTHING!!! VICTORY WILL BE MINE! I SHALT TRIUMPH!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!!
Kelly, Julia, and Amanda charge down the stairs, thinking that a demon is in the kitchen
Kelly: Oh no! Demon in the kitchen! Shouting!
Julia: IT WOKE ME UP! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…!
Amanda, who has already reached the kitchen: Oh no, it’s not a demon, just Kathryn.
Kelly: Who’s she yelling at?
Amanda: Apparently, the scrambled eggs…
Kathryn removes the food from the stove, having successfully cooked something without torching it in fury.
Kathryn: I’ll be right back, I have to go astral and wake up the entire house!
Astral Kathryn runs around waking up Vicki, Lindsay, Karoline, Emily, and Larissa. 
AK: Ha! Victory is mine! I have defeated the evils commonly known as eggs, bacon, and sausages, and also their evil machine, the stove of IMMINENT DOOM! Yaaaaaaaaay!
She astrals out just as Lindsay and Emily begin to barrage her with pillows. 
Emily: She can’t hide for long, grab my hand!
Emily orbs out with Lindsay and they reappear in the kitchen.
People in kitchen: You never told us you could orb!
Suddenly, Lauren orbs in from the whitelighter land, which is also known as Cloudville. 
Kathryn: Lauren, out! Go eat at Cloudville, or McDonald’s, or somewhere besides here. 
Kathryn attempts to hit Lauren with a spatula. 
Lauren: No, Cloudville has no decent restaurants, and whitelighter pay isn’t enough to afford fast food, let alone restaurants!
Julia: Well maybe we’d have more food to spare if SOME PEOPLE *looks in the general direction of Karoline and Kathryn* didn’t run up the electricity bill when they forget to turn their amps off!
Karoline: Hey, it isn’t our fault…Ok maybe it is. But this is just ONE TIME!!!
Vicki: Sure…
Kathryn: Besides Lauren, aren’t you late for your meeting with Manny at the Love Nest?
Everyone else: Eeeew! 
Lauren: Omigod, yes! Ta!
Emily: Good use of Lauren-Eliminator tactic #847602, the Love Nest Diversion!
Phone: Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Pick me up for crissakes—I mean, Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
Lindsay answers the phone. Yo! Who’s calling?
Phone: I’m Kyle, aka Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…
Lindsay: Ok, we get the picture.
Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…: Hi, I’m your long lost brother.
Lindsay: Right…is this a prank phone call?
Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…: No, I’m your long lost brother.
Lindsay: Go away. We don’t have any “Long Lost Brothers.”
Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…: But I’m your long lost brother.
Lindsay: I already told you, we don’t have one.
Lindsay is beginning to lose her patience…
Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…: Didn’t your mother tell you about me?
Lindsay: NO! WE HAVE NO LONG LOST BROTHER, SISTER, COUSIN, OR LLAMA! NOW GO AWAY!!
Kippee, Kipster, Kipsqueak…: Awww darn…oh well. 
Larissa, seeing Lindsay screaming at the phone: Telemarketer?
Lindsay: No, worse. They insisted that they were our long lost brother.
Larissa: How annoying. 
Lindsay: Yeah, tell me about it. So, what do you want to do today?
Larissa: I dunno, wadda you wanna do today?
Lindsay: DON’T start.
Suddenly, a demon shimmers into the house, grabs some objects off a shelf, and shimmers out. He seems completely oblivious to the two people watching him. Lindsay goes over to go see what he took. 
Lindsay: Oh, he just grabbed a few family portraits, one from when we were younger and one from just recently. We can always get some more, there are probably duplicates in the photo album.
Larissa: Shouldn’t you go back in time to get them back?
Lindsay: Nah, we’ve got doubles anyway. What would a demon want with pictures?
Larissa: I don’t know, but Julia probably does. Let’s go see her, she reads the Book a lot. 
They go up to the attic where the others are waiting. Kelly is writhing on the floor, apparently in intense pain. Julia is frantically looking through the book, and Lauren is standing around looking confused. 
Julia: Could be this, the Demon of Voodoo. But, they would need a picture, something to base their idol on.
Lindsay: Erm…
Larissa: A demon shimmered in a few minutes ago. He took the family portraits from the display case, the one of us as kids and the recent one.
Julia: Well, he apparently tortures people until they either lose their sanity or commit suicide to get rid of the pain. He doesn’t have the power to kill. 
Amanda: Show me the duplicates of the pictures. 
Vicki tosses her the photos.
Amanda: Yes…Kelly’s standing on the far left of the picture. If he continues his pattern, he will torture…Lindsay…next.
Everyone looked down. They knew that she had a lower tolerance for pain than the rest. They also knew that she had to devote more time to her job and had less time for working out than the rest. 
Lindsay broke the uncomfortable silence: Damn the photographer, he coulda put someone else on the left side!
Julia: Hello, focus! Let’s worry more about getting rid of the demon and less about pain and torture. 
Just then, the demon stopped torturing Kelly. Lauren ran over to heal her. 
A few minutes passed, and the demon didn’t have a new victim yet. Julia was looking at the picture now, and she said: Next person in the picture is Karoline.
Another silence, while everyone waited to see how she would react. Just then, the torturous demon started his evil deeds, and was torturing Karoline. It continued like this, with the demon moving through the picture, torturing people, when he stopped, Lauren would heal them, and the person would be fine, left with nothing but the memory of the extreme pain caused by the Voodoo Demon. Surprisingly, Lindsay was untortured; the demon had apparently skipped over her. 
Emily: Consider yourself lucky, and just be careful. Call for Lauren or one of us if there’s any trouble. 
Lindsay: Ok, ok…
Julia: OK, demon alert appears to be over. You can go back to your “normal lives,” as normal as our lives will ever get these days…Kathryn and I will stay up here and see if we can do anything about this demon. 
A few minutes later, Lindsay was downstairs. A demon shimmered in behind her, held a cloth with drugs on it up to her mouth (until she was knocked out) and shimmered out with her. 
Julia: Hey, we might have found something, come up here!
Emily: Where’s Lindsay?
A demon shimmered in.
Demon: I know where she is. You have to come with me.
Kathryn: *calmly* Get out of here before I blow your demon ass back to hell where you came from.  
Everyone else looked as if they felt the same way Kathryn did, but they weren’t the kind of people who would say it. 
Demon: I wouldn’t do that if I were you. 
Karoline: Yeah? Give me one good reason not to.
Demon: I’m the only one who knows where your sister is. Kill me and you will never see her again. 
Kathryn: You’re probably lying to save your cowardly ass. I should just flame you right here. *Holds out hands menacingly* 
Demon: B*^#% ! Just listen to me. I will take you to her, no tricks, if you spare my life. 
Kelly: Kathryn, I think this is the only way. If he’s lying, you can pyro him into oblivion as soon as we get Lindsay back, Ok?
Kathryn slowly nods and is obviously disappointed. 
Demon: Ok, grab onto my demon friends and they will shimmer you there. *Three more demons appear*
Everyone grabs onto a demon and they are transported to a medium-sized room somewhere. It has no windows, so they assume it must be in the underworld. The demons tie them up, taking extra care to put double bonds around Kathryn’s hands. The Voodoo Demon walks into the room, dragging Lindsay behind him. He is in his human form and is not tall, muscular, or impressive in any other way, except for his planning. He was brilliant at that. He had his to giant, extremely muscular aides tie Lindsay up so that she was in a standing position but unable to move. Voodoo Demon turns his attention to the 8 others sitting against the wall.
VD: I was originally going to just do my voodoo tricks on you until you all went insane or something like that, but I have found a way to do even better. I will have your powers, and then I can RULE the UNDERWORLD!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!! 
Kathryn: Oh come on! You call yourself evil, and you can’t even get a decent evil laugh! Shame on you.
VD: SHUT UP while I tell you about my plans and your demise. While torturing you, I found out that you have a weak point-her *he gestures toward Lindsay*. I decided that she would feel the most physical pain by being tortured, and you would feel the most emotional pain by having to watch her. I will now torture her, and you have to watch. If you look down, I will see, and I will just torture her longer. I may choose a different victim next time, or I may keep the same one.
Julia: How will you…decide?
VD: I have my ways… Anyway, let the torture commence!!!
The big thugs started punching Lindsay. VD seemed to be enjoying watching the torture, probably because of his sick sardonic sense of humor. But as much entertainment as he derived from watching the torture, he got twice as much from watching the other 8 sitting by the wall. Kathryn sat expressionless. It was not in her nature to show emotion. Julia, Vicki, and Kelly just sat silently. You could see the sadness in their eyes. Amanda had a look of intense pain on her face. Since Lindsay’s negative emotions were so strong, Amanda could not turn off her empathy and was picking them up. She was also getting intense depression from all the watchers’ sadness. Karoline, Emily, and Larissa weren’t as good at covering up their feelings. You could tell exactly what they were feeling just by looking at them. Voodoo Demon got the most satisfaction and amusement from watching these three. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the thugs untied Lindsay and threw her on the ground near the others. 
VD: You can go. Just know this: I will be back. Nobody is safe. 
At this, everyone either orbed out, or grabbed onto somebody who could. They all ended up at home, and started calling for Lauren. Lauren healed Lindsay.
Lauren: What happened?
Karoline: *tells Lauren about demon*
Lauren: Hmm, maybe that’s why I couldn’t orb to you. They must have shielded the room, and it was in the underworld. I’ve never orbed there before. 
Julia: Yeah, but what disturbed me more was his threats. “I will be back,” “Nobody is safe.” 
Karoline shivered.: But, there must be SOME way to get rid of him…right?
Julia: Not necessarily…
Vicki: He seemed to want our powers. Giving them to him might be the only way to get him to go away.
Kathryn: NEVER!!! *She gets mad, torches a paper in her anger, freezes it into ice with the flames still on it. She blows on her hand as if it were a smoking gun*
Kelly: Cool it, Pyro!
Amanda: Yeah, I’m not to keen on giving up my powers either.
Larissa: Oh, god forbid we should have a normal life! Don’t you see that something good could come from this?
Kathryn: No.
Larissa: We could get rid of the only barrier between normalcy and us. 
Karoline: But, see, for us, this is normal. I couldn’t imagine living without being able to stop time or blow things up. Our powers are the only thing keeping us from being exactly the same as everyone else. *Karoline stands up from her spot on the couch* We need to embrace them as a part of us instead of wishing they were gone so we could be “normal.” Eventually you will see things as I do, if you don’t already. Nothing the demon does can force me to give up my powers. NOTHING!
Larissa sat back in shock. She hadn’t expected this kind of response, especially not from Karoline. It would have seemed more normal from Kathryn or maybe Kelly, but she never thought that Karoline would say something like this. Usually she just followed someone else around and always shared their opinions, Larissa had forgotten that maybe Karoline might have an opinion of her own too. Deep down, Larissa knew she agreed with Karoline. Kathryn was happy. She nodded in agreement with what Karoline had said. She had been waiting for Karoline to do something like this, show some independence, for a while now. However, Larissa was not about to lose a potential argument because of just one little speech. 
Larissa: Don’t you ever want to try something new? Don’t you ever wonder what it would be like if we didn’t have these “gifts”? Heritage is a thing of the past. This is here and now. I want to give up powers to the demon. Who’s with me?
Lindsay, Emily, and Vicki come over and stand by her. 
Kelly, Amanda, Julia, and Kathryn come and stand by Karoline. The “Karo Side” orbs away, upstairs. 
Karoline: Good. I have more followers. We will make sure that nobody gives up powers. I will not fail. 
Kathryn: No. You can’t force them to do as you say. They must choose to never give up their powers. It must be on their own free will. 
Karoline: We are powerful enough to defeat the demon on our own. I don’t care if they break away or give up their powers or whatever. 
Kathryn: NO! A house divided cannot stand. We must make peace with them. Only with them will we have the power to destroy the demon. 
Karoline: *sighs*. Fine then, besides, we have the majority.
Kelly: Kathryn, that doesn’t sound like you. Then again maybe all those video games are having an influence on how you talk. Why DO you play games anyway? Isn’t your daily life more exciting than any game? 
Kathryn: No. Well, it is but, ah, I’ll explain later. Deal with torturous demon first, worry about oddities of Kathryn’s mind later.
Everyone goes back downstairs to where the other group is having a similar discussion in the kitchen. 
Kelly: So, you decided that we need to be together and have full power too?
Emily: Yup. 
Vicki: So, uh, how about we just go about our lives until the demon attacks again. I don’t think we have enough information to do anything about him yet. 
Amanda: Yeah, okay. 
Everyone went to different parts of the house. Some people did work to make up for missing their jobs. Kathryn went upstairs, but nobody followed so they didn’t know where she was going or why. She went to the “Band Room” and took out her secret sax, the one she hid and didn’t let anyone else play. It was a deep burgundy bari with black keys. It was always spotlessly clean. She had a few barisaxes, but this one was her favorite. She took it out and started playing. 5 minutes later, Emily heard the playing and came upstairs to listen. She sat right outside the band room door, listening to the long solo. It seems so…soulful…so this is how she lives without expressing any emotion: She talks through the mouthpiece of the saxophone- Emily thought-So that’s why she liked it so much. Soon, everyone else in the house was sitting outside the room, mesmerized by the deep, soulful blues sounds. A few minutes later, Kathryn was done playing. She put the secret sax away and walked out into the hallway where everyone was waiting. She realized that they were listening to her playing, was kind of embarrassed, and orbed to her room. The next day, everyone woke up to a demon in their house. Upon closer examination, it proved to be the same demon that took them to torture room last time.
Kelly: You again. By the way, what is your name?
Demon: Time for your favorite thing: The announcement of who gets tortured today! Oh, and my name is Will. 
Kathryn: *sarcasm* Gee, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
Will: Today’s victim will be…..Emily! So, will you come willingly or do I need the drugs again?
Kathryn: Get your overly enthusiastic demon ass out of here, now.
Emily: Grrr, yes I will come “willingly.”
Will: Ok, I’ll be back for you guys in a few minutes. Have fun being tortured!!!
Will orbs away with Emily. 
Kathryn: I don’t like just sitting around and waiting for him to come get us so we can see him torture our poor innocent sister. It’s not like she ever did anything bad to anyone. She doesn’t deserve to be tortured.
Kelly: Well yeah but, who does deserve to be tortured?
Kathryn: Uh, me…
Julia: Why would he pick you? He knows you’re like, miss workout queen, soccer scholarship—
Karoline: Hey! I have one too!
Julia: Yeah, but you’re innocent. 
Kathryn: You don’t know the mindset of evil like I do.
Karoline: What’s that supposed to mean? 
Kathryn: I’ll tell you later. When this is over. 
Will and his demon friends shimmered back: OK, come with us, you know the drill; don’t kill me, yadda yadda…
Amanda: Yeah, hurry up…
Kathryn: We’ll kill you later. Coward.
Will and the demons shimmered them back to the torture room. 
VD: I will torture her just as I tortured the last one. You will still have to watch. By the way, I am Cthulu, but you can refer to me as Master. Today the torture—
Kathryn: I’ve got a better name for you: Jackass.
Cthulu kicked her in the head, but she didn’t seem to notice.
Kathryn: Go to &^*) you son of a &%#^*. 
Cthulu: RAAAAAAAAAR! I will have my revenge!!!! Let the torture commence! Two thugs begin beating Emily, just as they did to Lindsay before her. The others watched, with the same feelings as before. After a while, he threw Emily on the floor and told them they could go.
Cthulu: Know this: Next time, I will torture more of you! And there will be more thugs! With sticks! Still, people will have to watch. Leave now!
They orbed home so Lauren could heal Emily. That night, everyone was dealing with his threats in a different way. Julia was scouring the Book of Shadows looking for some way to defeat this evil. Kelly, Vicki, and Amanda were sitting in their rooms reading anime comics to try to take their mind off the situation. Karoline had her own secret sax, a blue and gold soprano, and she took that out and played it. However, she used a mute so that only she could hear her sound. She still wasn’t that great at solos and didn’t want everyone to come up and laugh at her.  Emily and Lindsay just sat in their room, wondering if they would have to be tortured twice. Larissa just paced around the second floor, aimlessly. Kathryn was in the kitchen eating Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. There were 5 empty pints already on the counter next to her. Later on, Lindsay got hungry and went downstairs to the kitchen. She saw Kathryn at the counter, with 10 empty pints next to her. She briefly wondered where Kathryn managed to get all that ice cream, because there wasn’t any in the house. Kathryn pointed to a pint with her spoon.
Kathryn: Want some?
Lindsay: Sure.
Kathryn: There should be some left in the fridge.
Lindsay looked in the freezer. “Some” was an understatement. The entire freezer was dominated by hundreds of pints of ice cream. Kathryn also had a drink next to her on the counter. Lindsay saw a bottle of Coke, a bottle of cherry syrup, and a strange bottle. Alcohol? So that’s why she called it “Cheery Coke”, because she spikes it. Hmmm…not a bad idea. Soon Lindsay and Kathryn were sitting at the counter eating ice cream. A large pile of empty pints dominated the kitchen. A little while later, Emily and Karoline came to the kitchen.
Karoline: WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!
Emily evaluated the situation: Hmmm, looks like fun. Got any more ice cream?
Lindsay and Kathryn both nodded and pointed toward the fridge with their spoons. 
Karoline thought: Well, if you can’t beat them, join them! 
Larissa, Julia, and Kelly came into the kitchen half an hour later. By now the kitchen floor was not visible because of all the empty ice cream pints.
Julia: WHAT THE H*$( ARE YOU DOING!?!? We are facing what could be the largest demon problem of our lives, and you are sitting in the kitchen, eating ice cream, and drinking spiked cherry coke?!?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?  OUT! NOW!
Kathryn, Lindsay, Karoline, and Emily get up and walk upstairs to their rooms. Since they are now on a sugar and alcohol high, they throw things around. Kathryn plays with fireballs. Karoline jumps to dodge one and touches her bed. She gets a premonition and calls everyone upstairs. 
Karoline: Uh, I think you’d better see this!
Julia: What? What did you see?
Karoline: Us. Getting tortured. Watch this. 
She projects the premonition for everyone to see. Several of them are being tortured, but the premonition is foggy, as if from a distance, and you can’t see the faces. 
Vicki: Is it possible to astral project into projections?
Kathryn: I dunno, I never tried that. It’s worth a shot though, right? 
She closes her eyes, and her astral form is now visible in the projection.
AK: Hi! Greetings from Premonitionville!
Karoline: Hurry up and get out of my head!
AK: Ok, I have necessary info. Leaving!
AK unprojects herself and her normal body’s eyes open. 
Amanda: Well…?
Kathryn: Gosh, I’m tired, I think I’ll just go to bed now…
Larissa: Oh no you don’t! We deserve to know anyways…
Kathryn: Ok fine. Good news: Emily and Lindsay aren’t getting tortured again. At least, that’s what the premonition told me. Are they ever wrong?
Karoline: No, tell us more. Fast. Now. Hurry up.
Kathryn: Ok, don’t rush me! Er…um…well…
An energy ball appears in Julia’s hand: TELL US NOW!
Kathryn: You’re all getting tortured. Big thugs with sticks. I think he was going to torture me later on. I can sorta read their thoughts, he seemed kinda mad at me. Really mad. Furious. 
Larissa: Well maybe if you weren’t always provoking him with your “colorful language” that you always seem to use when talking to him. 
Kathryn: Hey just so you know I’m not exactly the sitting back and doing nothing while some demon tortures my sisters type!
Vicki: So what do we do now, just wait until the demon comes to torture us?
Julia: I see no alternative. The book says that he usually seeks the help of the demon of bondage to secure his prisoners, but I don’t see how that’s supposed to help. Says you have to be in touch with your element to be able to defeat him, or else he will be almost immune to your powers. 
Kelly: Elements? 
Julia: Yeah. Every witch’s powers are slightly skewed towards one element. The five elements are water, air, earth, akashic, and fire. The last two, akashic and fire, are very rare in witches. Elements are often reflected in powers, and sometimes they show up in personality too. 
Lindsay: What elements are we?
Lauren: All whitelighters are akashic. It’s pretty obvious, Kathryn is a firewitch. Some are less obvious. I think that Emily is akashic—
Emily: What’s akashic?
Lauren: It’s like the spiritual element. Larissa and Vicki are air. Karoline and Amanda are earth. Lindsay and Kelly are water. Julia is akashic too. 
Kelly: So, if Kathryn’s element is fire, how come she can do ice too?
Lauren: Ice is an opposite of fire, so it’s very rare that both powers are present in one person. I honestly don’t know how that happened. Then again, you aren’t exactly a normal family…
Larissa: Great! Now our whitelighter who spends half her time in a Love Nest with Manny thinks we’re not normal. We have no chance at ever convincing a human again. 
Julia: Ok, but elements don’t really help us now. Torture, demons, let’s just go to bed and await our imminent doom. 
Karoline: Gee Julia, way to be optimistic…
Kathryn was off dyeing her hair; she was tired of its current color, boring blond. 
Kathryn: I think red would be nice.
Karoline: Sure Kathryn, whatever.
Kathryn: Earthies…
Karoline: What?
Kathryn: Tree-huggers!
Karoline: Hey! 
Kathryn: Earth-loving tree huggers don’t understand my sophisticated fiery concepts!
Karoline: Just wait till I get my hands on you, you evil cocky fire elemental!
With that, everyone went to bed. 
 
In the morning, 6 demons came with drugs and took Karoline, Kelly, Julia, Vicki, Amanda, and Larissa to the torture place. Emily, sensing fear in her sisters, woke just in time to see a demon shimmer away with Larissa. 
Emily: Kathryn, Lindsay, wake up!
Kathryn: Whoa, what’s that weird feeling? I feel all…tingly…inside. 
She reached for the door handle and got a premonition. It was of the six sisters that were going to be tortured. They were sitting in a circle, chanting some spell.
Kathryn: Uh, weird…!
Lindsay: What?
Kathryn: I don’t get premonitions. I just did. 
Lindsay: Huh? What was it of?
Kathryn: The others, sitting in a circle chanting.
Lindsay: Oh, they must have transferred their powers to you. I don’t know why though. I always thought that more power would be dangerous in your hands.
Kathryn: Heh…very funny. Now, what am I supposed to do with all the powers? 
Lindsay: Uh, save the others, duh.
Kathryn: I only need one power to fight: mine. I’m going to put the extra powers somewhere they will be handy. Do we have any more of those potion vial thingies? 
Lindsay: Yeah.
Kathryn: I like the feeling of all the extra powers. Now I know why demons covet them. Power is intoxicating. It clouds your judgment. By the way, do you want to borrow someone else’s power? In case there’s a fight, yours isn’t much use. Neither is Emily’s.
Lindsay: Ok. I’ll use Julia’s powers, she can use…Larissa’s. 
Kathryn transfers the powers to them and stores the extras in the potion vials. 
Emily: Look at me, I’m invisible!
Lindsay: How can we see you if you’re invisible?
Emily: Good point. 
Lindsay makes an energy ball and throws it in the general direction of Emily’s voice.
Emily: OW!
Lindsay: Ha, I found you!
Kathryn: Quit fooling around. Can you use those powers?
But then she wondered…what if I…
Kathryn threw ice in the general direction of Emily’s voice. The ice was stuck on something in a human shape, only Emily was still invisible. 
Lindsay: Cool.
Emily: COLD!!! COLD!!! Stop testing your powers on me!
Kathryn melts the ice with a little fire. Emily becomes visible again. She is soaking wet from the ice melting and has a singe mark on her shirt from the energy ball. Lindsay and Kathryn laugh and give each other high fives. 
Lindsay: Yeah! I like this power!
Emily: You’re mean! And you ruined my shirt!
Emily goes to get dry clothes on before the demon comes again. 
Kathryn and Lindsay were bored, so Kathryn made ice sculptures, and Lindsay blew their heads off with energy balls.
Lindsay: Woohoo, this is fun! Hey, that sculpture looks like a person.
Kathryn: Yeah, it’s my old L.A. teacher, what she would look like as a demon.
Emily: Oh, sounds just like you. MEANIES! 
Will shimmered in.
Lindsay: Let me guess: The moment we’ve all been waiting for is here? Again?
Will: How did you guess? I think I need a new thing to say to poor innocent and non-innocent *looks at Kathryn and Lindsay* victims. The three just grabbed onto the demon and said: Move it! Faster! Now! 
Will: Gosh, you seem awfully eager for people who are going to be forced to watch their sisters suffer!
Lindsay: Less talk, more shimmer!
Will shimmers them there, and there are a lot more thugs than the last two times. The six who will be tortured stand tied to the posts looking sad and wishing they were somewhere else. 
Cthulu: But we can’t leave anyone out of the fun. To start off our little torture party, we will test a new form of torture that came to me in a dream. Kathryn is untied and tied to a stake with wood under it. 
Cthulu: I felt like resorting back to the old methods, to reminisce on years past. I think I’ll burn you at the stake!
All the others looked horrified, but Kathryn seemed unfazed. 
Lindsay, whispered to Emily: How does she do that not caring about what happens to me as long as the demons end up dead thing?
Emily: No idea. It works though, because the demons always end up dead, and we’re all still alive. 
Cthulu: Have fun! 
Cthulu drops several matches into the wood at the bottom of the stake. When the flames reach Kathryn, she stays still. She doesn’t look hurt, more like completely oblivious to what was going on. Once she had burn marks up to her thighs, Cthulu stopped the flames, untied her, and threw her back on the ground next to Emily and Lindsay, where the thugs tied her up. 
Emily: How come you seem so…unhurt? 
Kathryn: Because I am unhurt. I think the fire element runs so strong in me that external fire just gives me more power. See, the burn marks are already disappearing. It was actually kind of…fun. I had that extra power feeling, like when I had everyone’s powers this morning. If he had kept doing the burning thing longer, I probably would have even more power, and I would almost have temporary invincibility. That would throw him off a little, don’t you think?
Lindsay: Cool, do you think it works that way for me, or any of the others?
Kathryn: I don’t know.
Emily: We have to watch now, they are starting. 
Cthulu: Let the torture commence!
Lindsay: You know you really have to think of something new to say.
Cthulu: SHUT UP! You’re interrupting my immense enjoyment of their pain!
The demon thugs hit the 6 who were being tortured with sticks for 5 minutes, but none of them showed any visible emotion yet. Karoline didn’t like pain much either, she didn’t have a high tolerance for it. The thug that was attacking her hit her with the stick especially hard, and she yelped in pain. Her “I’m not afraid of you and you’re not hurting me,” facial _expression cracked.
Cthulu: Yes! YES!!!! More thugs!!!
Nobody except Emily and Lindsay could see that Kathryn was slowly working herself into a rage…
More thugs had now congregated around Karoline and were all hitting her at once. 
Suddenly, Kathryn’s whole body set on fire. She ripped through the bonds holding her back: STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
=Kathryn’s POV=
I could feel the fire running through me, feel the power. More power than I felt this morning, with six extra powers. I burned through the ropes holding Lindsay and Emily. Then I turned towards the demon. It was time for him to pay for what he had done and the pain he had caused. I turned toward the demon. He had a look of terror on his face, like he was thinking, “Impossible! What happened?” I flicked my hands up at him, but instead of a little stream of fire, a huge swirling inferno erupted from my hands. It hit him, and he was incinerated instantly. The thugs dropped their beating weapons and asked if I would spare their lives. No. I was not the mercy type. They too would die for what they had done. I let Emily and Lindsay help this time; they threw energy balls and telekinetically threw the thugs into the walls. I used my new kickass swirling inferno power to take care of the rest. Now that the extremely one-sided “battle” was over, I gave everyone back their normal powers and we orbed away. 
 
=Lauren’s POV=
I heard my charges calling, screaming for me to come down and help them. I orbed away quickly. When I got to the house, I saw the cause of their distress. There were not one, but six wounded ones needing healing.
Emily: Heal Karoline first.
I healed her, then went around and healed everyone else. 
I said: How did you vanquish 20 demons with just the three of you?
Lindsay: Well, Kathryn like, amplified her powers somehow and burned about ¾ of the room. We used borrowed powers from the others to attack because ours aren’t that destructive. 
Me: But, the fire element is the hardest to amplify, how did you…
Emily: Well, he sort of thought that it would be fun to use a “traditional method” to torture her, and he burned her at the stake. She wasn’t hurt, and the fire seems to have increased her powers. 
Me: Oh, that makes sense.
I thought, if Kathryn can get stronger with fire, can the others get stronger when exposed to their element?
Me: How did you feel, when the powers got stronger?
Kathryn: Angry, vengeful…why?
Me: Oh. That must be your advanced powers trigger. Everyone has one, it’s not the same as your normal trigger for powers. It’s more rooted in element than personality. Her triggers are similar to demons because they have the same element. Akashic element is like that too. 
Kelly: Ooh, fun, so we can become temporarily more powerful like she did?
Me: Yeah, basically.
Julia: Cool!
=Third Person=
Amanda: So um, what should we do now? We still have almost the entire day, and I don’t think anyone wants to go to work. 
Karoline: I have a great idea!
Emily: Oh no…
Karoline: Let’s go play video games!
Lindsay: Games? Why?
Karoline: Kathryn and I have this cool trick where we can play as ourselves in the game!
Vicki: Huh? How?
Kathryn: We make a potion that puts us in the TV. Then, we astral project out, Karoline uses the AP potion, and play as ourselves in the TV. It’s very interesting. 
Larissa: Ok then! Let’s go. 
They played video games all day long, taking turns being in the TV and playing. By nightfall, they decided that they were all tired of getting beat up by game characters and they wanted to do something else.
Julia: I know! How about we play “Truth or I Push You Off the Balcony Into the Swimming Pool In the Middle of Winter”!!
Kathryn: Hee hee! Sounds like my kind of game…! 
Everyone agreed because they were afraid Julia would throw them telekinetically off the balcony anyway. 
Julia: Ok, the choices are Truth or Swim. Oh, and if my judge *points to Kathryn* thinks you’re lying, I get to throw you into the pool anyway! Sounds like fun, doesn’t it! Oh, and if I don’t like what you say, it’s automatic swimming time for you! Hehehe! So, who is the first victim?
Nobody volunteers. 
Julia: Ok, I guess I get to choose! 
Everyone: *groan*
Julia: How about… Hmmm, not Kelly! Julia thought.
Kelly, to self: Aah, the beauty of putting my thoughts into people’s minds!
Julia: Karoline!!
Karoline: *groans* Why me?
Julia: Because, I said so. 
Karoline: Why do I get the feeling that no matter what I say, I will end up in the swimming pool?
Kathryn: Gee, I wonder…
Julia: Truth or Swim?
Karoline: Uh…I’ll just pick Swim because that’ll inevitably happen anyway.
Julia: Yay! *Picks up Karoline with TK and holds her over swimming pool* Sayonara! *Drops Karoline* 
Karoline: Aaaaaaaah! *splash!* 
Kathryn: Yay! This is a great game Julia! Who gets tortured next?
Lindsay: You know it hardly qualifies as torture, after the last few days and all…
Kathryn: Yeah, but it’s still excessively fun to watch! Who next? Who next?! 
Julia: Hmmm…Larissa.
Larissa: No! Why me?! 
Karoline, from swimming pool: Because, she said so. 
Julia: Ok, so what do you pick?
Larissa: Er…Truth, I guess…
Julia: Ok! Who’s your favorite sister? *cheesy fake smile*
Larissa: Linds—I mean, Queen Julia, ruler of the entire house!
Julia: I like that answer! I’ll keep you up here. 
Kathryn: Awww…darn! Oh well, someone will lose eventually. 
Karoline, from swimming pool: Hey! Not fair!
Kathryn: Ha ha, loser!
Julia: Hey, should I throw you down to keep her company? *smiles menacingly*
Kathryn: No queen Julia, I’d rather stay up here to serve you! Who’s the next victim?
Julia: Vicki.
Vicki: Darn…
Julia: Ha ha ha! Truth or Swim?
Vicki: Er…Swim I guess. I don’t want to answer any of your evil questions.
Julia: Oh goody, my favorite choice! Well, bye! *she TKs Vicki into the pool to join Karoline* 
Vicki: Aaaah! *Splash!*
Karoline: Woohoo, company!
Julia: Well, time to select the next victim!
Lauren orbs in: Hi everyone!
Julia: *looks at Lauren like a hungry dog looks at steak* Hey Lauren, Truth or Swim?
Lauren: Uh, swim? What’s that supposed to mean?
Julia: Have fun! *TKs Lauren down into the pool*
Lauren: Help! Aaaah! Save me! *Splash!*
Everyone: *Hysterical laughter*
Julia: Who’s next? Lindsay, how about Lindsay? Kelly put thoughts into her head.
Julia: Lindsay! Your turn!
Lindsay: Why me?
Karoline, Vicki, and Lauren: Because she said so!
Larissa: Because Julia’s evil, duh!
Julia: That’s it, you’re going swimming! *TKs Larissa off and into the pool*
Larissa: Hey? Why’d you do that?
Kathryn: No one is safe from the wrath of Julia?
Julia: Exactly! Lindsay?
Lindsay: Darn, I was hoping you forgot. Uh…Swim! Kelly sent her a thought.
Lindsay: Swim!
Julia: Ok! Hey Kathryn, want to do the honors?
Kathryn: Ok! *They do the power-switching spell*
Kathryn: *lifts Lindsay into the air* Just so you know Lindz, I’m enjoying this very much…*drops Lindsay into pool* Hehehe!!!
Lindsay: I’ll get you for this! *Splash!* 
Kathryn and Julia give each other’s powers back. 
Julia: The next victim is…Emily!
Emily: I won’t bother to ask why. I pick truth.
Julia: Darn. Oh well. I will win in the end. So, if you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Emily: I would donate it to charity, and put some in savings! Oops Emily thought Oh no, wrong answer!
Julia: Wrong! The correct answer is: Give it to Julia!
Kelly: Whoa, I never would have guessed…
Julia: Have fun! *She TKs Emily into the pool to join the others*
Emily: Darn! Aaaaah! *Splash!*
Julia: Another satisfied costumer! Well, who’s next? Amanda! Kelly thought to her. 
Julia: Amanda! Yes…
Amanda: Swim. Truth is too…true…for me. 
Julia: Great! *TKs Amanda into pool*
Amanda: Lemons! *Splash!*
Julia: *Looks at Kelly* Guess whose turn it is! Julia, this is your conscience talking to you. You do not want to throw Kelly into the pool. Kelly told her.
Julia: Nope, your mind tricks won’t work on me anymore. Truth or Swim?
Kelly: None of the above. 
Julia: Nope, that’s not a choice. I’m tired of waiting. I think I’ll just TK you now.
Kelly: I will never succumb to your wishes!
Julia: You don’t have a choice! *TKs Kelly into the pool*
Kelly: I will have my revenge! *Splash!*
Julia: Only one left up here, my judge. Maybe you’re just too scared to play.
Kathryn: Me? Scared? NEVER!
Julia thinks: One more TK throw and I win!
Kathryn runs over, vaults the balcony, and dives into the pool from the second story balcony.
Kathryn: See, you don’t win now because I jumped on free will! *Splash!* Victory is mine!!!
Karoline: Come on in Julia!
Julia: No! I don’t want to.
Kelly: I think poor little Julia is scared!
Lindsay: Yeah! Scaredy Julia!
Everyone starts flapping their arms and making chicken noises.
Julia: Oh, fine!
Julia jumps off balcony: Aaah! Help! Aaaah! Help! *Splash!* 
Julia: I wasn’t scared at all! Not one bit!
Emily: Heh, heh, right…
Now everyone is just swimming around and talking. 
Karoline: Let’s move to the hot tub, it’s getting all cold out again. 
Others: Okay!
Karoline: Let’s play a new game: Dare or Dare! I pick Julia as my victim.
Larissa: Wow, never saw that coming.
Karoline: So Julia, Dare or dare?
Julia: Um, dare.
Karoline: Wow, great choice! So what should we make Julia do?
*leans over to whisper with Kathryn*
Julia: Oh great. She’s seeking Kathryn for assistance…
Later on, after playing the game for a few minutes, they decided to change the name to “See who can think up the most awful thing for Julia to do,” and they played this game all night long. Julia was extremely miserable in the morning, but everyone else was feeling very peppy and high. Julia “accidentally” left some energy balls hovering right outside the door of Lindsay & Emily’s room.
Julia, to self: Ha, this will teach them to make me stand outside the hot tub, then have Kathryn freeze my feet to the ground! For like, 20 minutes!
It was actually more like 8, but time seems to last longer when it’s 30 degrees out.
Kathryn: COME DOWNSTAIRS! BREAKFAST IS READY!
Lindsay and Emily run out of their room and get hit by the energy balls.
Lindsay and Emily: Ow! Help! Save us! Lauren!
Lauren comes down to heal them and sees that they have been hit by energy balls. 
Lauren: Did a demon attack you?
Emily: Only if you consider Julia a demon. Note to self: Amplify one of Julia’s fears as revenge…
Lindsay: Kathryn said breakfast is ready. Let’s go eat! The food doesn’t last long, unlike when SOME PEOPLE *looks at Lauren* cook. 
They run down the stairs. 
Larissa: Ooh, yummy! Pancakes!
Phone: Ring, ring! Ring, ring! 
Lindsay answers the phone.
Phone: Hi, it’s me, Kipsqueak, you know, your long lost brother?
Lindsay: No. Not again. *slams the phone back down onto the charger base*
Vicki: Who was it?
Lindsay: Some weirdo claiming to be our long lost brother.
Julia: Is it demonic?
Kathryn: Sounds more like moronic to me.
Lindsay: Ha! Yes!
Kathryn: Hee hee…
Kelly: Yeah. Well, time to enjoy the first demon-free day in a while!
A demon shimmers in.
Amanda: You jinxed it.
Kathryn: Who gets to kill it this time?
Julia: I believe it is Emily’s turn.
Emily: Yes!
Vicki: This should be interesting. I wonder what the demon’s worst fear is. The last demon was afraid of…white candles…?
Amanda: Yeah, that was weird. Maybe he had a nightmare about them or something.
Lindsay: Ok Em, go vanquish. But don’t blow him up and ruin the carpet like last time. We had to hire the carpet cleaning people, and they were wondering how the strange stain got there, and we didn’t know what to tell them. 
Kathryn: Can’t you just restore the carpet?
Lindsay: It doesn’t get rid of the stains, for some reason. Besides, I restore plenty of the things you destroy, like the fridge, 4 times, and the stove, 9 times…
Emily had done her fear power thing on the demon, and now it was surrounded by…lemons.
Amanda: Wow, this is my kind of demon. Afraid of lemons, huh?
The lemons now grew teeth and tore the demon to bits. 
Julia: Great. Just what we need. A mess to clean up. Didn’t we tell you NOT to ruin the carpet!?
Emily: Grrr…besides, it’s not as ruined as it was last time. It just has demon guts all over it. 
Julia: I’m not obligated to clean the floor, because it was your fault.
Kathryn: Hey, let’s laugh at Emily because she has to clean the guts off the floor!
Everyone: Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha!!!
Emily: Oh look, you’re being mean again! What a surprise. 
Lindsay: Less talk, more cleaning!
Kathryn: Who’s next on the demon vanquishing queue? 
Julia: Uh…I am! Yay!
Kathryn: Darn…
Lindsay gets an idea. She walks over behind Emily and slightly pushes her. Emily falls over into the pile of demon guts.
Emily: HEY!!!
She takes some and throws them at Lindsay, who dives for cover behind the couch. 
Emily: I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!
Everyone in the kitchen watches the battle with interest. Kathryn decides to join in on Emily’s side, so she would stop calling her evil. Kathryn gets some demon from the floor, runs behind the couch and throws them at Lindsay, then orbs away before Lindsay can do anything. 
Lindsay: Hey! Not fair! Now you have more people!
Karoline: I’ll save you! 
She dives behind the couch with Lindsay as demon skin comes flying at her. 
Emily: Watch this.
She uses her fear powers. Suddenly, a lot more spiders come out from under the couch. Lindsay and Karoline run in fear, out into the open where they can be assaulted with ease.
Kathryn: Hahaha!
=Kelly’s POV= 
Larissa made herself invisible and joined Karoline & Lindsay’s side. I decided to stay uninvolved, until Karoline threw some demon at Kathryn, which missed and hit me instead. She would not go unpunished. They would all be punished for her actions! I drew a bigger pile of demon guts which appeared on the table. 
Me: Hey, anyone want to do target practice?
The four of us sitting at the table started to throw the new guts at the five in the living room, who were still against each other. Now, they had to dodge flying objects from two directions! Woohoo, the drawings come to life power is finally useful!
 
=Lindsay’s POV=
We were under fire, from people in the kitchen and people across the room. It was a losing battle.
Me, to others in living room: We can’t win! We must band together to destroy…THEM! *gestures at those in the kitchen*
Kathryn: OK, if it will guarantee our victory!
Karoline: Yeah! Now we have the majority!
We all hid behind the couch, and we had a stockpile of ammo. The kitchenees realized that they were outnumbered and couldn’t win in the open. They walked forward waving a white flag.
Kelly: We surrender!
Kelly drew another pile of demon guts, this time on the living room floor. I left my safe spot behind the couch to walk out and laugh at the kitchen people. Bad idea. As soon as I was near the demon pile, Emily, seeing an opportunity for revenge, dove out from behind the couch and knocked me over. Now she was the one laughing, and I was the poor victim.
Emily: Ha! Revenge!
She started to walk away.
Me: Not so fast! 
I tripped her and she fell on the floor too, so we started wrestling. Now everyone else was cheering, and Kathryn was doing a running commentary. This lasted a while, until everyone got tired. We all showered and decided to do *something* else. 
Everyone else went and did their own thing for the rest of the day, but for Emily and I, the war was just beginning. We spent the day rigging the house with traps for each other. I didn’t really care about the fact that there were other people in the house that might set off the traps instead of us. Oh well. Too bad for them. 
 
=Third Person=
Later on, everyone was bored with nothing to do. 
Karoline: I have an idea: Let’s actually cook dinner instead of ordering pizza like we do every night!
Kathryn: OK! Fun!
Everyone went to the kitchen. Kathryn took up her post as Kitchen General. She told everyone what to do. Normally, everyone would have protested, except for one thing: Kathryn’s way worked. Always. So, for the next hour, Kathryn had a bunch of peasants to command, and finally, dinner was done. When everyone was done, Lauren orbed in. Everyone in the room: Lauren! OUT! 
They all started hitting Lauren with various cooking utensils until Lauren orbed away. 
Karoline: Yes! Victory!
Amanda: And we didn’t even have to tell her to go to the love nest! 
Karoline: I’ll go light the nice candles we never use! *She takes out a lighter*
Kathryn: A lighter? Come, I’ll show you the real way to light candles!!
Kathryn and Karoline walk into the dining room. Kathryn sticks out her hand and a small flame appears. She touches the flame to the top of each candle.
Karoline: Great! We’ll never have to waste our money on lighters again!
Everyone sits down and starts eating. Kathryn absently sticks her hand into a candle flame.
Lindsay: Don’t do that!
Kathryn: What?
Lindsay: THAT! *she points to Kathryn’s hand in the flame*
Kathryn: Why? It’s fun!
After dinner, everyone heads upstairs. Karoline opens the door to her room, and water falls on her head. She realizes that someone must have put the water there as a trap. 
Karoline: KATHRYN!
Kathryn, from inside room: What?
Karoline: Did you booby trap the door with water?
Kathryn: What water?
Karoline: The water that fell on me, from on top of the door. How did you get in here without getting all wet?
Kathryn: I orbed, like usual. 
Karoline: Dang you…
Kathryn: Heeheehee, I mean, poor Karoline! I actually didn’t put the water there. Maybe you can get a premonition and see who did.
Karoline: Yeah, that would help. *touches door handle*
Karoline: Well, Emily and Lindsay are going around setting traps in the house with the intention of the traps working on each other, but apparently other people in the house are having trouble with them too. 
According to Karoline's premonition, which she projected for Kathryn, 
Amanda and Vicki were going to have a lot of trouble with one of Emily's traps. Apparently, Emily decided to cast a fear-reality spell in the doorway, and Amanda and Vicki stepped through it. Just then, Lauren orbed down from Cloudville. She said she had important news, but she had to wait for everyone else to say what the news was.  So Amanda and Vicki went and got everyone. Larissa: What is it Lauren?
Karoline: Which demon is it THIS time?
Lauren: Actually, this has nothing to do with demons. I've been to talk with the Elders, and they've been doing some research. They've made an important discovery.  Witches are allergic to pie and lemons, so you---
Both Amanda and Vicki: NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kathryn: HAHAHA! Poor Vicki won't be able to eat pie. She'll have to change her motto to something other than "I like pie."
Karoline: Be nice Kathryn. Aww... I'm sorry Vicki. I don't know how I'd live if I were allergic to potatoes...
The Elders are watching from above, when they all had the same thought. Maybe witches are allergic to potatoes. Let's try it... *test out potato eating on a witch quickly* Oh my! They are allergic to it! We'd better tell Lauren Manning...
Lauren: Gosh, the Elders are calling for me AGAIN. I just came from there... *orbs away*
Amanda: Lemons have betrayed me! LEMONS ARE NOT THE MATRIX! 
Kelly: Calm down Amanda, or some guy in Cuba will die from a lemon explosion. 
Julia: Yeah. Deep Breaths... Both of you. Vicki, you don't want to shrink the clock like last time...
Lindsay: Or the time before that...
Emily: Or else that other time....
Kathryn: Or that OTHER other time...
Vicki: Okay, okay. I'll calm down.
Lauren: More news... say it's good news, oh-and that Kelly is a genius! 
Whoa, where did that come from?
Kelly: *smiles at Emily, both knowing the news and where Lauren's thought came from* What's the news, Lauren?
Lauren: You're a genius, Kelly. Whoa, where'd that come from? This is actually good news: Witches are allergic to potatoes, especially potato chips!
Karoline: *looks pale* what? .... no..... how.....
Lauren: The elders had a suspicion about potatoes, so they tested it out. 
They lessen a witch's powers. We'll just have to take them out of all our recipes...
Kelly and Julia: Wahhoo! I never liked potatoes!
Amanda and Vicki: No more potatoes for dinner!
Kathryn and Lindsay: *high five each other* YESSSS!!!
Larissa and Emily: I used to like potatoes, but then Kathryn showed me the way to ice cream world...
Lauren: Long die potatoes!
Everyone was so excited about this new allergy that no one noticed Karoline slowly slinking to the floor...
Kathryn: Okay everybody! Time for dinner. I guess I'll have to throw out the mashed potatoes I made tonight against my will! *Everyone cheers*
Emily: Kelly is all powerful... must obey. Do what she says, like the food fear-reality on Karoline, Amanda, and Vicki. I have failed with the allergies. Other sisters stopped Vicki and Amanda's fear from taking over, but Karoline is still available...
Kelly: None of the sisters realize that I'm not really Kelly... There are so many people in this house. The Source will be pleased with me. I have disabled one of the sisters...
Julia: Okay, let's eat! I'm starved.
Lauren: Okay! Count me in!
Lindsay: *sigh* Don't you have to meet Manny somewhere?
Lauren: That won't work this time. I'm your whitelighter, and I want to eat with you. Is that too much to ask?
Kathryn: Yes. 
Larissa: No, come on in Lauren.
Kelly: I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back.
Kelly walks down the hall to the bathroom and locks the door. She reaches her hand into her pocket and pulls out a spell.
Come to me, my demon friend,
And put one sister to her end,
Powerful you will become,
If of Karoline's power you take some.
There was a small flash and the demon "Oak Honor" shimmered into the room. 
This was one of the shorter female demons, but she was very powerful. 
She instilled fear all over the world with her horrifying power. She kills by sucking out souls and transferring them onto paper, in the form of an essay. 
(OH is an abbreviation for Oak Honor)
OH: *hisses* Where is the weak witch?
Kelly: In the foyer, by the front door. Be careful and quiet. She's unconscious, so just shimmer her somewhere and deal with her there. 
I'll be getting more sisters disarmed soon...
OH: What did you do with the other witch, the one whose form you have taken?
Kelly: She is safely hidden in on another plane of the attic. I've taken her powers, so she's not going anywhere. Now go! Before the others get suspicious.
OH shimmers out of the bathroom and into the foyer. Karoline is definitely unconscious. OH delicately, or at least as delicate as a demon can, picked her up and shimmered to a deserted cave near the bottom of the ocean.
 
 
Lauren: Gosh Kelly, you were in there a long time...
Kelly: Sorry. Did you save me any food?
Lindsay: Oh yeah. We have tons.
Kathryn: I have enough for all of us, including an extra Lauren.
Julia: Ohmigod! Extra Lauren, so we should have had to get an extra chair.
Amanda: Who's missing?
Vicki: HEADCHECK!
Larissa: Kelly, Amanda, Vicki, Julia, Kathryn, Lindsay, me, Emily, 
Lauren...
Kathryn: WHERE THE !@#$ IS KAROLINE???
Emily: *glances around and looks at Kelly and hits her with a fear-reality ball*
The demon taking Kelly's form is revealed, and the other's gasp. The sisters wait for Karoline to freeze the demon so they can sort things out, but nothing happens. Everyone hits the demon with something. It recieved a fireball from Kathryn, an energy ball from Julia, a flying coffee pot from 
Amanda, and a whole bunch of punches and such from Lindsay, Emily, 
Larissa, Vicki (who flew at him for extra power), and Lauren. It didn't vanquish the demon, but it did knock it out for 5 minutes. Long enough for them to tie it up for questioning. It was a female
Kathryn: Who the !@#$ are you?
Demon: I won't tell you.
Julia: Tell us now! Or else I'll prompt you with an energy ball!
Demon: *scowls* I'm Dlaregztif.
Lindsay: Okay. Now what have you done with our sister?
Dlaregztif (D): I haven't touched her.
Amanda: *can sense the truth in her answer, though knows it's not the whole truth* You may not have touched her, but you were involved. And where is 
Kelly? What have you done to her?
D: Okay, I'll tell you. I kidnapped Kelly, took her powers, and hid her away. Then I used her mind control power to brainwash Emily. I put the thought into the Elder's heads to research food allergies, then I had Emily make the fears of the allergens being lemons, pie, and potatoes. You  interfered with the lemon and pie effects, but Karoline fainted and you didn't notice. So I slipped off to the bathroom and summoned my colleague, 
Oak Honor. She has taken her.
Larissa: Where do you have Kelly?
D: That is classified information.
Amanda could sense her fear, and gave Kathryn the cue to "prompt" her a bit. 
 
So, Kathryn hit her with a "little" fireball.
D: Okay, okay. I'll tell you. She's in the attic, only on another plane.
Emily: Okay, Kathryn, you're the strongest, so you drag him up to the attic. 
We'll follow and then we can find Kelly.
Kathryn: Okay. *lugs the demon to the attic* Now, how do we get to this 
"other plane?"
D: At the risk of getting fried again, I'll spill it. Draw your symbol, a what-cha-ma-call-it.
Amanda: Emily, you draw it, you're the best artist.
Vicki: Go for it Em!
Emily: Okay... *draws the interlocking triangles symbol*
D: Now, say this spell. *hands the sisters a crumpled paper*
The door you open
Will contain
Your lovely sister
In another plane
The symbol flashed bright orange and blue and a doorway opened.
Lindsay: It worked, but I think you need a better spell.
D: Hey! I was a Social Studies teacher in my previous life, not a Language Arts teacher.
Emily: Whatever. Now let's go get Kelly!
The sisters went through the opening and there was Kelly; lying on the ground , unconscious. Lauren ran over and healed her.
Kelly: Whoa...what happened? Ohhhh... my head hurts...
Others: Umm.... well....you....demon....Karoline...gone....
Vicki: You were kidnapped by the demon Dlaregztif and he stole your powers and took your form. Then she messed with witch allergies, brainwashed Emily, and summoned a demon to take Karoline!!! *Kelly just sits there, looking shocked*
Julia: Okay, now back to the demon. *leads everyone back through the door and closes it*
D: What do you want NOW?
Amanda: We want to know where Karoline is.
D: I cannot, and will not, tell you. I will not betray Oak Honor's trust.
Kathryn: Okay, then we'll just have to vanquish you... *tries to sound disappointed*
Larissa: I bet you're REALLY disappointed... Anyway, does this demon come with a vanquish?
Julia: No, so our powers must be strong enough to defeat it. And guess who's turn it is...!
Others: No duh, yours.
Julia: Yep! *prepares an energy ball to throw at Dlaregztif* Here it goes... *releases ball at her*
Unfortunately, the demon had a plan. The sisters had forgotten that she still had Kelly's powers: drawings come to life, levitation, and thought control. Dlaregztif drew a mirror and sent the energy ball flying back to 
Julia. This caught Julia by surprise, and she shrieks in pain and falls to the floor.
Amanda: Oh no you don't! *flings a knife at the demon*
The demon just used the knife to her advantage. She used the knife to cut her bonds and then used levitation to hurl a bookcase at Amanda, and Vicki who was standing next to her. They went down with a loud "thud."
D: Three down, five to go...
Lindsay and Larissa were standing there in shock, watching Emily try her fear-reality at the demon. The demon simply picked up the mirror she had drawn earlier and rebounded the ball at Emily. Unfortunately, Emily's fear at that moment was that her sisters would get hurt. So Kelly, Kathryn, Lindsay, and Larissa were mysteriously flung into the wall.
It was Emily verses the demon. It was pretty hopeless... until Emily felt a semi-familiar tingle. She couldn't place what it was at first, but then she remembered! It was the feeling she, Kathryn, and Lindsay got when the others transferred their powers into them so the trio could save them.
Emily: But whose powers are they? Maybe it's a "kinesis" one. 
*concentrates on moving a knife at the demon* Apparently not.*flicks her hands in exasperation and suddenly the room freezes* Cool! Thanks Karrie!  Now how do 
I kill it? *looks around the room* Oh! Kathryn's awake.
Kathryn: Ugh... what a GREAT day. At least we finally have some peace and quiet. Wait! You can't freeze, that's Karo's powers!
Emily: Yeah, but I guess she transferred it to me, sensing I needed it. Do you think you could torch that stupid demon?
Kathryn: *smiles happily* Sure, if you insist! *throws flaming ice ball at 
Dlaregztif and the demon blows up*
Emily: Cool! Now if I can just unfreeze the room...*unfreezes everything*
Kathryn: LAUREN! Get over here and HEAL!
Lauren: Fine, fine. Don't give yourself a heart attack... *heals everyone*
Julia: Ugh... look at this mess! Lindz, do you think you can restore some of this poor furniture?
Lindsay: Sure, whatever you say. *restores the furniture, windows and other broken objects in the room*
Emily: *tells them her story*
Vicki: Well, what are you waiting for? Touch something of Karoline's and get a premonition!
Emily: Okay, I'm kinda new at this. *Touches Karoline's saxophone* 
Whoa, that was weird.
Amanda: Okay, now project it for us...
Emily: Oh... yeah. *projects for her sisters to see*
**********
Well, it was Karoline. She was unconscious on the floor of what looked like 
some sort of underwater cave. Oak Honor seemed a little mad about something.
OH: You'd better get here soon Dlaregztif, with some more witches for me. 
I'm getting hungry. I don't want to wait for this one's sisters. I'm giving you 10 minutes, my demon friend. Then I eat, no matter what.
**********
Larissa: Well, we've got to get there in 10 minutes.
Lindsay: Yeah, but where is there?
Lauren, Actually, I recognize the place. It's near the bottom of the 
Pacific Ocean, off the coast of the Caroline Islands. It was the site of -----
Kathryn: Then let’s go already!
Lauren: Okay, all right. Now everyone grab hands. *all orb into the 
cave*
OH:  I was wondering when I'd be seeing all of you...
Emily: Why, you want to suck out our souls and put them in essays?
OH: Yes.
Kelly: That's not going to happen! Haha... sucks to be you!
OH: Why?
Lindsay: Emily, would you do the honors?
Emily: Sure! *Freezes Oak Honor*
Larissa: Okay, I vote that we let Julia vanquish it, since Dlaregztif didn't really die.
Others: Okay. Go ahead Julia.
Julia: Yay! Thanks! *Throws an energy ball at it*
OH (who didn't blow up): MUAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm too powerful for you!
Emily: Whatever. *refreezes it*
Julia: Can I just kill ONE demon today? ARG!!! Good thing I memorized the entire Book of Shadows! The vanquish is:
Your need for souls in your essays is dire,
Your work will become your funeral pyre.
Others: *say the spell*
Kathryn: I had to fix that spell. Some idiotic warlock wrote another one. Do you want to hear it?
Kelly: Oh yeah. I could use some humor after today.
Kathryn: Okay, here it goes: Through the power of nine, we say this rhyme, so that Oak Honor dies, and Vicki can eat pie!
Others: *laugh hysterically*
Lindsay: That was in the Book of Shadows?
Emily: Sadness...
Larissa: That's a really pathetic spell!
Lauren (while healing Karoline): Yeah, I can't believe that thing would work.
Karoline: Hey! That was my spell! I liked it...
Kelly: Umm... maybe you should leave the spell writing to Kathryn...
Karoline: Alright, alright. Now somebody spill it. What happened?
Amanda: *launches into the story*
Karoline: Whoa. Now, I have two questions: 1) Emily, can I have my powers back? And 2) Can we orb home now?
Emily: Sure and Sure. *Wills Karoline's powers back to Karoline*
Lauren: Now everyone grab hands with me, Kathryn, or Emily... *all orb 
Back to the manor* 

Larissa: What do you guys want to do after a long day of demon fighting?
Lindsay: I don't know. What do you want to do?
Emily: I dunno, what do you want to do?
Karoline: I dunno, whadda you wanna do?
Vicki, Amanda, Julia, Kathryn, Lauren, and Kelly: DON'T EVEN START YOU 
FOUR!
Lauren: I have to go, the elders are calling.
Lauren orbs away to the elders.
Lauren: I know what you can do today: deal with the latest demon problem!
Karoline: *sarcastically* Great, sounds like fun…
Kathryn: *seriously* Great, sounds like fun!!!
Kelly: What is it this time Lauren?
Lauren: Well, there’s this amulet that shields good witches and makes the holder invincible, but it will only work if someone uses the activation spell in the next two days. The demons are trying to prevent good from getting the amulet in that time. 
Lindsay: So we just have to find the amulet and enchant it, right?
Lauren: It’s not that simple. The demons put it in a magic-proof safe. They gave the safe to a mortal to guard. They said that it has gold inside it and that he will get a share if he guards it for two days. The amulet is hidden under gold inside the safe. 
Emily: How do we get it?
Kathryn raises an eyebrow at Kelly.
Kelly: Do you think we could? All we have is amateurs.
Kathryn: I think because we know how to do everything, we could teach—
Larissa: Ok, what are you two talking about?!
Kathryn: Well, before we were all living together, Kelly and I were part of a crime gang. I was the getaway driver, she was the computer hacker, other people had other jobs.
Kelly: We didn’t have any money or a place to live until we joined them. We put our shares from the thefts together and we had a lot of money. When we came to live here, we hid the money away.
Julia: Hidden money? How much do you have hidden away?
Kelly: Oh, about 3.5 million or so…
Lindsay: WHAT? You HID 3.5 million dollars from us?! Why?
Karoline: They were probably afraid we wouldn’t like their “methods.”
Kelly: Yeah.
Vicki: So, what were you talking about before?
Kathryn: We were wondering if we could just steal the safe.
Kelly: Kathryn thinks it’s possible, even though we just have amateurs to work with. Lauren, what kind of person is guarding the safe? Where does he live?
Lauren: Oh, he’s rich. He lives in a nice house. It’s kind of cool actually; half of it is built right over the ocean.
Kathryn: Oooh, getaway…boat? *Remembers particularly fun heist, with getaway boat* Wait, I know! Getaway boat, then car! Hehehe…
Julia: No! We will not steal! Stealing is wrong!
Lauren: Actually, I think stealing might be the best way to do it.
Kathryn: YES!! Kelly, we must teach these do-gooders how to steal!
Kelly: Ok. Lauren, you can help me with the computer stuff. Kathryn, who do you want to ride with you?
Kathryn: Hmm, uh…Karoline. 
Kelly: Before we can have a plan, we need to know what the house and the surrounding streets and terrain look like. 
Kathryn: Karo and I can check out the streets and waters. We need an infiltrator. Lauren, is guard guy home during the day?
Lauren: No, he is at work all day. 
Kathryn: Good. There will be security, but we already know all about that.
Kelly, whispered, to Kathryn: Send Lindsay in?
Kathryn: Yeah, sure. 
Kathryn, out loud, to room: Lindsay, will you go in?
Lindsay: Uh, sure. I guess. But I don’t know how to avoid security and stuff…
Kelly: Don’t worry, I’ll show you. It’ll be fine. Kathryn, maybe you should get our crime stuff. 
Kathryn: Sure. I still know the vault code…
Kathryn orbs away and comes back a few minutes later with several boxes.
Emily: What is all this stuff? 
Kelly: Oh, our headsets, extra headsets, our power tools, our fake IDs, building blueprints, my special computer complete with PasswordHack upgrade…
Kathryn: Karoline, come with me…
Karoline takes Kathryn’s hand and Kathryn orbs them to the vault.
Kathryn: We have to take the cars to the house.
Karoline: Where did you get these? *Gapes at expensive nice cars*
Kathryn: We bought them with our stolen money!
Karoline: Which one should we use?
Kathryn: One? I need you to be a decoy in case the police show up…Don’t you ever wonder how fast the high-end expensive vehicles can go? Well, now you can find out!
Karoline: I don’t know if speed’s my thing. I’m afraid on roller coasters!
Kathryn: Here, take this one. It’s not like roller coasters, because you control it! Besides, we can always get rid of the traffic problem…
Karoline: O-Ok then. 
Kathryn: Let’s go.
Karoline: See you at home!
Karoline and Kathryn drive home.
Vicki: Nice cars. I won’t ask where you got them…
Kelly: Hey! We bought those! Never mind that it was with stolen money…
Kathryn: Our boat from the Italy theft is still there, it should do the job.
Larissa: Italy?! Gosh, you sure get around. I never left San Francisco!
Kelly: Yeah, we’ll tell you about all our “vacations” sometime. Lindsay, you come with me for “breaking into houses 101.” Kathryn, go teach Amanda, Vicki, and Larissa about demolitions. Julia, you and Lindsay will do the plan, but you can’t start that until we have a visual, blueprint, something. Emily will help me with computer stuff. 
Everyone goes off to follow their “orders.” Kathryn is just finishing showing Amanda, Vicki, and Larissa the joys of demolishing when Kelly comes back.
Kelly: Kathryn, go take Karoline and test your getaway cars. You need to block a couple of security cams. Also, walk Lindsay through the infiltration. You know what to do.
Lauren: Go now, he’ll be getting home from work soon.
Kathryn: Okay, let’s move. Lindsay, take this mike and get in my car, the nice new one not the ugly old one. 
Lindsay nervously plays with a microphone. Kathryn and Lindsay get into one car and Karoline takes the other. 
Kathryn: When I tell you to, push the green button on the dashboard. It pops one of the tires. Once you have a flat, you’ll have an excuse for parking in front of the security camera.
Karoline: Got it. But, how will we get home if we have flat tires?
Kathryn: There’s a spare in the trunk. Just make sure you change the tire slow enough for Lindsay to get out of the house.
Karoline: Okay. By the way, what do these other buttons do?
Kathryn: Well…I’ll tell you when we have more time. They are there for…emergency purposes. 
Lindsay: Will this really be as easy as Kelly said it would?
Kathryn: Yeah, I’ve done it before. Besides, it isn’t exactly a maximum-security military stronghold. 
Karoline: You’ve stolen from the military?
Kathryn: Just one explosive. We couldn’t get it any other way! We needed it for a heist.
Karoline: So that justifies stealing from THE MILITARY?!?! 
Kathryn: Not really, but it was fun!
Lindsay: Fun, right, ok.
Kathryn: Push the green button!
Karoline pushes the green button, her tire pops, and she glides to a halt. Kathryn does the same. 
Kelly, from house: Karoline, good, you’re in position. Ok Lindz, you’re up.
Lindsay: Okay. 
Lindsay proceeds to break into the house, with Kathryn giving her instructions for every step. 
Kathryn: …and you’re in.
Lindsay: Yes! 
Lindsay records a “movie” of the entire interior of the house. She leaves and gets back into Kathryn’s car, which is now repaired, without a flat tire. Karoline and Kathryn drive home. 
Kelly: Yes, good. Emily, I need you to go get the blueprints of the house from the contractor’s office. Feel free to use any method to get them, legal or not. If you need to bribe him, use this. 
Kelly tosses Emily a bag filled with money. 
Emily: Cool. Ok, I’ll be back soon. 
Kelly imports Lindsay’s movie onto the computer. 
Kelly: This is good, this is very good… Maybe you and Julia can start on that plan now. If not, we’ll have the blueprints soon.
Kathryn: And the sooner we have a plan, the sooner we get to steal again! I wonder how much gold is on top of that amulet…
Lauren: Kathryn, you’re not supposed to be stealing it for the gold!
Kathryn: No, of course not. The gold is just an…added benefit…
Kelly: Yeah! Exactly! Added benefit.
Just then, as Lauren was about to say something, Emily gets home.
Emily: Hi! I’m back! I got the blueprints!
Kelly: Good. Take them to Lindsay and Julia, they’re making The Plan.
Kathryn goes off to teach Larissa, Amanda, and Vicki more about demolitions. Half an hour later, Lindsay and Julia come down from the attic to show everyone their plan.
Julia: *Tells everyone about plan*
Kelly: That’ll probably work, most likely.
Kathryn: Yeah, but we don’t have much time. We have to start early tomorrow. We don’t have the explosives for that currently in our possession. 
Lindsay: Well, how are you going to get them?
Kathryn: I’ll be right back.
Kathryn orbs away, and reappears 3 minutes later with a bunch of dangerous-looking explosives. 
Kathryn: There, now we have the necessary stuff. Everyone can go to bed now, we don’t need to do anything else until tomorrow.
Everyone goes off to their rooms.
The next day, everyone is in the kitchen, looking at the plan again. 
Kathryn: Ok Karoline, time to get our cars in position. You go put your car where it needs to be, then I’ll pick you up and we’ll orb to the boat. 
Karoline: Got it. See you in a little while.
Kathryn and Karoline go to put their cars in position. 
Kelly: Ok. We need all three of you for demolitions. We’re going to blow through the 4 floors of the house so the safe falls all the way down into the ocean. We’ll help Kathryn and Karoline fish it out, then it’s up to them to get it back to the house without getting caught. 
Lindsay: You really think Kathryn can get it back here without the cops stopping her?
Kelly: Oh, the cops will definitely interfere. But Kathryn and I are very good at our jobs. It will be fine.
Larissa: How do we get out of the house once the safe is down?
Kelly: You jump through the holes in the floor. They will all be aligned, because the safe has to fall through them.
Lindsay: You want me to jump into the ocean from the fourth floor?!
Kathryn, on microphone: Yeah! It’s fun!
Emily: Maybe FOR YOU it is…Isn’t the ocean water cold?
Kelly: Hello! Wetsuits!
Lindsay: Ok, if you insist. Besides, I get the 3rd floor, not the 4th.
Amanda: I get first floor!
Vicki: I get second!
Emily: Hey! THAT’S NOT FAIR!!
Larissa: It’s okay Emily. I’ll come to the 4th floor with you, then we can both be afraid of heights together.
Emily: Oh. Okay then…
Kathryn & Karoline, on microphone: Ok, we’re in position. The house seems to be deserted, proceed with the operation. 
Kathryn, to Karoline: Ooh, the water’s flat. That means MORE SPEED!!!
Karoline: Great. Just what I need…
Kathryn: No, speed is good. More speed means fewer police interventions. Plus, Kelly will personally ensure that the police are caught in traffic.
Karoline: How?
Kathryn: Easy. She controls the traffic lights. We will have a clear road, and they will be caught in traffic. We’ll still have to go fast to avoid them once they go off road.
Karoline: Got it, ok. Look, the others have arrived. 
Amanda, Vicki, Larissa, Emily, and Lindsay go into the house with explosives. 
Kelly, from headset: Ok, you paint the gray explody stuff 16 feet from the north wall and 4 feet 6 inches from the west wall. 
Larissa & Emily: Done.
Amanda: Done. 
Vicki: Done.
Lindsay: Done. 
Kelly: Ok, now stand back. Amanda, detonate the explosives.
Amanda: 5…4...3...2…1...LEMONS!!
The floor explodes and disintegrates in the same place on all four floors, and the safe falls through all four holes and into the ocean. It makes a huge splash that hits Kathryn and Karoline in the boat. 
Amanda jumps into the water through the hole in the floor. Vicki does the same. Lindsay jumps.
Lindsay: *screams* Eeeeee! *splash*
Larissa jumps, falls four floors, and lands in the water.
Kathryn: Emily, come on!! Hurry up!
Emily: I’m not going to! I can’t! I’ll get hurt or something!
Kathryn orbs up behind Emily and pushes her.
Emily: *screams* EEEEEEEEE!!!
Karoline: Kathryn! 
Kathryn: What, it worked! *Jumps through hole* BANZAI!!!!
Everyone swims down deep underwater and tries to pull the safe up. Even underwater, it weighs too much to lift.
Kathryn: Emily, orb down with me, grab the safe, and orb into the boat.
Emily: Ok. 
They orb down and put the safe in the boat. Kathryn moves to the boat’s controls. 
Kathryn: Everyone, hold on to something! *She starts the engine and accelerates*
Kathryn guns the engine and the boat goes flying across the water at 80 mph. 
Emily: Don’t you think you should slow down a little? We might go too far and have to turn around.
Kathryn: No, we need speed. I’m revising the plan a little.
She turns the boat and heads straight out to sea. 
Lindsay: Kathryn, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!!!
Kathryn: Watch and learn.
She turns the boat in so they are facing the dock they are supposed to stop at. Kathryn guns the engine, and soon they are flying towards shore at 115 miles per hour. They reach the shore, which is slanted upward, still going 115. 
Karoline: We’re going to craaaaaaaash!!!
Kathryn: I know!
The boat hits the shore and goes straight up the incline, which launches it up in the air. It flies over a low building and skids about 100 feet on the ground. The boat finally stops 10 feet away from the cars.
Larissa: *sarcastically* Nice driving…
Kathryn: Come on, we don’t have much time.
Kathryn and Emily orb the safe into Kathryn’s car. Emily, Lindsay, and Larissa get in Kathryn’s car, and Vicki and Amanda get in Karoline’s. Kathryn and Karoline go over the route with Kelly one more time, then they get going. 
Kathryn: Hold on to something…
Lindsay: Why? We have seatbelts.
Kathryn: Seatbelts won’t be enough…
Emily: Uh oh…
Kelly, on headset microphone: Wait for it, wait…GO!!!
Kathryn and Karoline both gun their engines and take off as fast as possible.
Amanda: Gosh you guys, you’re not racing each other!
Karoline: No, we’re racing THEM *She points to the police cars following them*
Vicki: Oh…Great.
Karoline: FASTER!! MORE…SPEED!!!
Kathryn: YAAAAAAAA!!! Speed!!
Karoline and Kathryn have now both reached 121 mph.
Kathryn: There’s a turn coming up, either skid or wing it. I like skidding!
Karoline: Got it.
Both cars slide around the turn, Kathryn’s leading by a few feet. They are now going downhill. One of the pursuing police cars doesn’t have very good handling, and it skids into a wall while trying to turn. The police car is totaled. Kathryn and Karoline are still speeding up, they have now reached 130 mph.
Lindsay: Are you sure this is a safe speed? If we were to crash, we’d die of the impact instantly.
Kathryn: But, see, we’re not going to crash, so it’s fine. 
Emily: *sarcastically* Great, that’s reassuring…
Kathryn: If you’re worried about crashing, stop complaining, shut up, and let me do my job. I HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE. WE ARE NOT GOING TO DIE! So Karoline, how are you doing?
Karoline: Good, but I’ve already used half the tank of gas. 
Kathryn: Not to worry, we’ll probably lose them with the next move. 
They veered off into the parking garage and slowed down to 80 mph. They still have to skid around turns and make that lovely “tires screeching” noise, but the police are too far behind to see where they went. They stop when they reach the roof. They turn until they are facing in the general direction of their house.
Karoline: You first.
Kathryn: Whatever, if you say so.
Lindsay: W-w-what are you doing? Where are we going from here?
Kathryn: There’s only one direction to go…
Kathryn drives towards the edge of the roof, accelerating as quickly as possible. She smashes straight through the concrete guard rail at 100 mph. The car goes flying through the air. It scrapes the corner of a building and bursts into flames. The car lands on the ground, but is still not destroyed. 
Kathryn: EMILY! ORB LINDSAY AND LARISSA OUT OF HERE, COUNT TO THREE, THEN ORB BACK.
Emily orbs away, Kathryn freezes the flames in the car, and Emily orbs back. Lindsay restores the destroyed parts of the car. 
Kathryn, into headset: Karoline, steer a little to the right when you jump. Don’t hit the building like I did. 
Karoline takes a deep breath in and out, then hits the accelerator. Her car goes flying off the roof and lands on the ground near Kathryn’s. Her car is not nearly as destroyed as Kathryn’s was, but Lindsay restores it anyway. The cars continue driving through the city at breakneck speeds, until they reach a long open stretch of highway. 
Karoline: Finally those annoying cops are gone. Now I can prove I’m better at racing than you!
Kathryn: I could beat you any time, any day, amateur!
Emily: Uh oh…
The cars both accelerate, speeding down the road as if it was the autobahn. 
Karoline: Those signs that say “Speed Limit” are just for fun, right? They’re not serious or anything…
Kathryn: OF COURSE! NOBODY LISTENS TO A SIGN!
Karoline suddenly pulls ahead, so Kathryn does the logical thing (for a cheating daredevil with a criminal past). She bumps Karoline’s rear tire. Karoline goes spinning off the road.
Kathryn: HAHAHA!!!
Emily: Hey!
Emily reaches out and turns Kathryn’s steering wheel, and Kathryn goes flying off the road too. 
Karoline: Thanks Emily!
Both cars try to accelerate as fast as possible and spin out of control. Kathryn orbs her car back onto the road.
Larissa: Why don’t you just orb home instead of having a suicide race?
Kathryn: I can’t orb that far with the car, it’s too heavy. But, if you want to stay out here in the desert…
Lindsay: No! Suicide is fine…
Karoline: I have an idea, we’ll play a different game!
Karoline drives up and rams Kathryn’s rear bumper.
Kathryn: Hey! 
Kathryn turns around and crashes into Karoline’s car head on. Lindsay restores both cars. Kathryn drives into the drivers’ side of Karoline’s car. Lindsay restores it. The “game” continued until Lindsay suddenly collapsed from exhaustion. Everyone gets out of the cars.
Karoline: Lindsay! Wake up!
Kathryn: We have to get home to Lauren, she can heal her. 
Karoline: Yeah. But we might have to drive *gasp* safely on the way home!
Kathryn: No! “Safely” isn’t fast enough to save her. You take Amanda, Vicki, Larissa, and Emily in your car. I’m going to get Lindsay home as soon as possible. 
Karoline: Don’t kill yourselves.
Kathryn: Don’t worry. Besides, when have I ever killed myself?
Emily: Well, there was that one time, with the demon and—
Kathryn: Never mind, that’s not the point. I’m leaving!
Kathryn gets in her car and drives off, at 90 mph, as usual. Karoline follows at a slower, safer speed. Kathryn gets home, carries Lindsay inside, and drops her on the couch.
Kathryn: Lauren, heal!
Lauren heals her. 
Lauren: How did this happen?
Lindsay: They were playing demolition derby with their cars, and I had to keep restoring them, and I just got too tired from using my powers so much…
Lauren: KATHRYN!!! LOOK WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PLAY DUMB GAMES AND FORCE OTHER PEOPLE TO USE THEIR POWERS FOR YOUR PERSONAL GAIN?!?!
Kathryn: LAUREN!!! *throws a fireball at Lauren, who disappears into orbs and reappears*
Lauren: HEY! JUST BECAUSE I AM ALREADY DEAD, YOU STILL DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO KILL ME WHENEVER YOU GET MAD!!!
Kathryn: Fine, so kill me. You won’t have the power of nine anymore…!
Lauren: Rrrrrrrrr!
Kathryn hadn’t thought about the personal gain issue. Technically, Lindsay had used her magic for Kathryn & Karoline’s personal gain, so…Lindsay gets the consequences?
Kelly: I’ll go and crack the safe. You need to be really quiet, or else I won’t be able to hear it.
Kelly starts cracking the safe. Karoline and the rest of the sisters get home a few minutes later. 
Karoline: So, what did we miss?
Julia: Well, Lindsay is healed, Kathryn fireballed Lauren…
Karoline was about to say something to Kathryn, but Kathryn looked as if she would burn anyone if they said the wrong thing. 
Kelly opened the safe to reveal about 1 million dollars in gold bars, and an amulet.
Lauren: Hurry, someone say the enchantment spell.
Julia: Ok. *Enchants amulet*
Vicki: So now it can protect us from evil?
Lauren: Yeah, I guess so. I think you should store it in Cloudville, it’s the only place demons can’t get to it. I’ll orb it there.
Amanda: Ok. Here. *hands Lauren the amulet*
Lauren orbs away.
Kathryn: Well, there’s nothing to do. I think I’ll make dinner. You can go and do something else, I’ll call you when dinner’s ready. 
Kelly: Okay. 

Go back and click the link to the second story section NOW!