Twisted Returns

"Lorraine? But... she - now?"

I always knew the day would come, and soon. But I never thought that it would be during an attack. Was this all planned to break me?

"Yes, now, and she wants you there," Valerie says. "Marigold sent me to get you."

"Okay," Dean says. "We'll get ready to go. Can you wait outside and stand guard for us?"

"Hurry. Diana, we don't have much time." She walks through the huge hole in the wall and disappears from sight.

"What is there to get?" I say impatiently. "We're ready. We can go."

Dean pulls me into a corner of the room. He drops his voice to almost a whisper. "Listen, I don't know if we can trust her."

"I know her. She's my friend. She's the one that helps me get ready for things and all that. We can trust her."

"I know her too," he says. "Maybe not as well as you do, but I know her. She doesn't have any magic, right?"

"Right."

"So how did she break in like that? It's just a bit suspicious."

"We have no choice. Lorraine needs us," I say. "And she probably got in because of that key. Marigold must have given her it."

"Yes, I care about Lorraine too. Just tell me - did anything seem off about Valerie?"

I replay the short conversation in my head. "Well, there isn't really much to go off of. But she called me Diana, not Dana."

"Then she could be cursed. We can't tell who's dangerous and who's not."

"A lot of people slip and call me Diana. Even my parents, sometimes," I tell him. "It's normal."

"Maybe that's true, but our lives are more important than Lorraine."

"Yes... I guess so. Do we stay, then?"

Suddenly a loud rumbling occurs. Everything in the room shakes - I don't know what to hold onto. Panicking, I grab onto Dean. I guess that's our answer.

A few seconds later, the rumbling stops and I let go. "What was that?"

"I don't know," he says. "Probably a - "

He's cut off by a loud crash. I snap my head over to the course of the sound. My heart speeds up and I feel slightly sick.

The short hallway that leads to the door has collapsed. The wall has crumbled into many pieces, completely blocking any entryway. Sharp pieces of the wall are still stuck to the ceiling. A small gap exists near the top.

"How do we get out?" I ask, breathing faster. This just brings back memories of someone comforting me...

"We don't," Dean says. "The windows are gone, so we can't jump out. Not that we would, but..."

"There's that gap near the top. If we could just climb up there..."

"Looks too unstable. It could fall right on us."

"it could fall on us? Wait... but then what about Valerie? She was standing just outside!" I rush over to the destroyed wall, keeping a safe distance as so not to touch it. "Valerie? Valerie!"

There is no answer. Dean comes up behind me, shaking his head. "She's not there. Either she ran, or she was crushed."

"How can you say that, Dean?" I nearly shout. "She's okay. She has to be!"

"Dana... I have to be honest. We both know that she could be dead, and we have to face it."

I know he's right, and I don't answer. Instead, I walk over to his bed. I lean against the headboard and bury my face in his pillow. I feel the bed give a bit as he takes a seat beside me.

"It's okay. Just relax."

----

After an hour of sitting in silence, I hear someone frantically calling my name.

"Dana? Dana!" I recognize this as Marigold.

"We're - " I start to say, but Dean slaps his hand over my mouth. "Mmphh."

"Could be an imposter," he whispers. I roll my eyes at how cautious he is, but I don't exactly disagree.

We carefully watch the door. Marigold (?) calls my name once more and then the remains of the wall begin to levitate. They fly back into place. The door reappears.

It opens to reveal... Marigold. As I had expected. Marigold gives us a strange look because speaking. She holds two white keys in her hands.

"How long have you been in here?"

"A few hours, maybe more," I say. "Is Valerie okay?"

She looks down at the keys in her hands. "No."

"What? Where is she? What happened?"

"That woman that came earlier was an imposter. She was trying to lure you somewhere dangerous."

"I was right," Dean says. "I knew something was up."

"We were searching the castle for you," Marigold says to me. "We couldn't locate you during the lock down."

"Then how did you know we were in here?" I ask. "And where's Valerie?"

"We noticed the broken wall... and a body, crushed under the wall." She holds up her hand when I start to say something. "It was the imposter's. We already removed it, but we found the key in her hand."

"So? It's just a key."

"This key can get through any wall in this palace. But there's only one in existence. Or at least, there should be only one."

"Oh no," Dean says, like he understands. Which he probably does.

"Yes. I think we may be fighting against duplicators. This is almost sure evidence. It will be a tough battle if that's so."

I only half listen to this. I don't know what duplicators are, and at the moment I don't really care. I resist the urge to scream.

"Where is Valerie?"

Marigold looks at me directly, for the first time since she arrived. "We found her body, tied up, and locked in a closet."