At Bay With Mrs. Prenderghast: Part Two

     Obliviously, my friend stood in the next room spying on what he thought was a secret rendezvous Sloth was having with an associate. While I happily worked my mind on figuring out examples of metaphors, similes, and analogies, Jarri anticipated his promotion outside of the evil scientist's office.

     After quickly finishing my first packet, I raised my head to find a new worksheet to complete. Instead, I saw Mr. Densen himself sitting at the desk in the front of the room. In the back of my mind, I knew he hadn't been there before, but that didn't matter. I was in my own quiet, everlasting paradise. Mr. Densen happily handed me a new packet, this one was about spelling.

     But luckily, through all of this fake hallucination, I suddenly felt thirsty. I needed a drink of water before I could continue. "Mr. Densen, could I please get a drink of water outside in the hallway?" I asked politely.

     "No, don't leave the classroom, Tansu," he told me sternly.

     "But I really need a drink of water," I pleaded.

     "Don't leave the classroom, don't leave," my teacher chanted in reply. I knew something must be wrong. This was not my Mr. Densen. Ignoring him, I rushed out of the door to find a water fountain, but to my surprise when I left the room I was in the hallway of... Oh yes! I had forgotten I was in the hallway of Mrs. Prenderghast's house. Confused, I looked around. Right inside that room, an illusion of my most leisurely dream existed. But here in the hallway, I realized what was going on. The ghost had been tricking us with illusions to do... I didn't know yet.

     That's when I saw it. The ghostly Aisha was performing some sort of spell, directly onto Jarri. He was lying flat on the floor, but was obviously still stuck in his mind, ensnared in his imagination. I had to do something, but what? I didn't even know what she was doing to him.

     In a quick decisive moment, I summoned all of the courage I had ever bundled up deep inside of me and called to Mrs. Prenderghast. "What are you doing to him?" I shouted.

     She stared at me, taken aback. A surprised look was transfixed onto her face. "How in the world did you escape that room?" she demanded.

     "I was thirsty, so I walked out," I answered uneasily. "Now...answer my question!"

     I suddenly felt an unknown evil force pressuring against me, dragging me back in the room. "Get back in now!" she ordered. Re-entering the room would have been so easy... Being trapped in a utopia for the rest of my life, doing quiet study without a care in the world. But that isn't life. With all of my might, I advanced and pushed against the force. "What...are you doing to us?" I asked her one more time in a desperate voice.

     "You'd really like to know, eh?" said a strange voice. It wasn't Mrs. Prenderghast, it sounded like it came from the walls. It was coming from the walls.

     As I continued to fearfully watch the specter of Mrs. Prenderghast perform the strange spell on my friend, I checked the walls to see who was there. But all I saw were paintings... Paintings! That was it! I spotted a poor Blue Lenny come to life in one of them. I was speechless but for a moment, in this crazy house I could expect anything now.

     The Lenny spoke up. "Those who dare to venture in this mansion are doomed. First, she leads you in with one of your wildest fantasies. While you're trapped unsuspectingly in one of the rooms, she begins performing her most evil and powerful spell."

     Definitely crept out even further, and beginning to panic, I quickly asked the Lenny what the spell was meant for.

     "The spell traps you in a painting to be one of her admired pieces of art...forever. She has gone mad over these three hundred years," he explained sadly.

     I stood, numb, taking in those words. My brain couldn't compute it. If I hadn't spent those ten seconds trying to understand the situation, the next thing that happened might have turned out differently.

     There was a high pitched screech that made my eardrums want to explode. I turned around to find who made that horrible sound. It was Mrs. Prenderghast, standing over Jarri and making the weird screeching noise. I felt numb again as I watched, powerless, as Mrs. Prenderghast started chanting. While she chanted she bowed over Jarri.

     "Evil child

     Should not live

     So I will make him

     Mine forever

     Conceal him in

     A portrait!" she chanted.

     Just as the last word, portrait, was said, Mrs. Prenderghast stopped bowing and backed away from my friend. His lanky Gelert body was thrown into the air. He was twirled around and around as bright colors of blue, red, yellow, orange, and pink surrounded him.

     "At least he's happy in his fantasy," I whispered.

     "You leave the fantasy as she casts the spell on you," the blue Lenny sadly informed me.

     "What?"

     Jarri's eyes opened. He looked down to the ground below and screamed. He screamed until his body shrank and was jammed into a picture frame, when he could neither scream nor talk anymore. The evil Aisha picked up the frame and hung it on the wall. She cackled evilly.

     "It's your turn, Dearie," she said to me.

     "You'll never get me!" I shrieked, and started running down the hall, back to the stairs.

     I would find a way to get Jarri and the rest of the Neopians out of the portraits soon, but right now I had to save myself.

     I ran down the stairs so fast, I almost tripped and fell down. I ran through the old hallway, hearing the floors groan under my weight. I was now almost to the door, almost free. I was at the door now. All I had to do was open it and run. My hoof was on the lock, but I dropped it.

     "What if she locks up the house so I can't return? I need to find a way to save them now!" I said to myself.

     I could hear Mrs. Prenderghast coming down the hall now. I had an idea, a crazy idea, but an idea of how I might stop her, but I needed to go upstairs for it, and she was in the way. Almost as if the house knew what I needed, a secret door opened up right next to the front door. It was only about a foot high, so I went on my stomach and crawled in.

     The passageway got larger inside, so I stood up. I followed the narrow passage until I reached stairs. These stairs were in much better condition than the main ones, even though they were still decayed.

     When I got off the last stair, I found that I was in my earlier fantasy. It was almost like the house knew exactly what I wanted! Mr. Densen was sitting at his desk, grading a paper. He looked up when I walked to him.

     "Hello, Tansu, great job on your paper! 100!" Mr. Densen beamed.

     "Mr. Densen, how do you get the Neopians out of the portraits?" I asked, staring right into his eyes.

     "You kill Mrs. Prenderghast," he said quietly.

     "She's a ghost! How do you kill a ghost?" I exclaimed.

     "There's a way. I'm sorry, Tansu, but that's all I can tell you."

     After a brief moment of silence, I spoke up to the surreal version of my teacher. "Thanks Mr. Densen, goodbye!"

     I stormed out of the classroom and into the hallway of Mrs. Prenderghast's house. I heard her coming up the stairs, calling my name.

     "How do you kill a ghost?" I mumbled, trying to recall someone having to face this situation in one of the many books I've read.

     Suddenly, it hit me. In one book I read that I didn't like that much, someone killed a ghost by shining a light on them. I glanced around for any source of light. There was a window! Congratulating myself for being so brilliant, I ran towards it. When I was halfway there I stopped. It was night when we came! Hoping that for some reason the sun was still out, I continued running. It was sunrise! We had stayed in the creepy old house all night, and now it was sunrise! I felt weak with relief.

     Mrs. Prenderghast was now walking down the hall so I quickly opened the window.

     "Come and get me, Mrs. Prenderghast!" I taunted.

     "If you would like me to, Dearie," she cackled.

     I chuckled softly as she came towards me. She had no idea what was going to hit her in a minute. As she got into the shadow of the sun, she stopped moving.

     She had been running towards me so fast, she didn't see the sun's rays beaming down through the window until it was too late. Her ghostly form started dissolving in the prevailing light.

     "How did you find out my weakness?" she hissed as her body started dissolving into what looked to be colored water.

     "Reading does pay sometimes," I said as I watched her whole lower body dissolve into a puddle.

     "No, you evil child, you have destroyed me!" she screeched, her last words forever.

     The air in the house seemed clearer. I stared at the portrait of a red Kacheek, waiting for him to pop out of his frame. He did after a few seconds, cheering and crying from happiness. As more Neopians came out of their frames, the Kacheek ran over and hugged me. Everybody else also came over and hugged me or shook my hoof. They celebrated with screams of joy. Someone took the fruit out of the fruit bowl paints that had also somehow come to life, and passed them around. The last one to come see me was Jarri. He didn't look relieved at all. He actually looked kind of excited.

     "This was awesome, Tansu! Let's go explore that other old mansion tomorrow night!" he proposed happily.

     "Jarri?" I said, starting to feel weary.

     "Yes, Tansu?"

     "Let's go home."

     And for once, Jarri didn't say anything.

The End