Hellfire On The Other Side

Chapter 12

Charlene lays on her bed, exhausted from the escape from Frollo and Facilier. "If I had known that I'd get dragged into something as dangerous as this, I would've signed up for sword fighting classes," she says. Suddenly, she hears a knock on her door. "Come in!" she says expecting to see Shane opening the door. Clara walked in. "Can I have my bag? I want my own clothes." Her hands were wrapped in a towel, a little bloody but she was ignoring it. Charlene grabbed Clara's bag and hands it to her. She notices Clara's hand. "So what are you gonna do now?" she asks. Clara shrugged. "Find a place to stay for a while and figure it out. But right now? I'm going to wrap my hand up in a bandage and see if I can find Shane. I want to talk to him about something. Tomorrow though I have to go to the store, left most of my makeup and a lot of my clothes back in Paris." Charlene holds her charm and closes her eyes. "I can't track him, but if I know Shane, he's probably at the Voodoo Emporium. Clara nodded, with Charlene's permission, she used her bathroom to change into a simple purple dress and returned the one outfit. Then she left.

It didn't take long to find the Emporium. "Shane! You here?!" she called out. "Clara?! Yeah, I'm in here! I'm in the back room," Shane answers. Clara quickly hurried and found him. She let herself give a small smile. She went up next to him. "You know, you never brought me that alcohol last night," she laughed. A shadowy figure stands by a table under a green light. "So, Clara. What brings you here?" Shane asks. Clara frowned some. "I need to ask you a question. A serious one, all jokes aside. Four months ago, when we had our fight, I asked you what was out there if I turned good. What was waiting for me. Well, you never answered, so what is there for me if I turned good?" "Trust. Real friends. Respect. During the four months, I continued to use a voodoo for good. The people of New Orleans are starting to trust me. If they ever need help, they come to me. But I also let them know when I'm not needed. Just the other day, I got a box of chocolates for free from the store because I was seen as a hero. I even unlocked some new powers, as you can see," says Shane. Clara gave a small quiet laugh. "Are you saying we aren't real friends? Because then we both go through way more than we need to for not a real friendship. Also the last person who trusted me I had to..." Clara paused. "It doesn't matter..." Shane chuckles. "I bet you're wondering where I am right now. I assume that all you're seeing is a shadowy figure?" he says. "I have stopped questioning you. But since you mentioned it, yeah, where are you?" Clara laughed letting herself smile again. "Turn around," says Shane. "This better not be a trick..." Clara mutters before turning around. "It's a trick of some sorts," says Shane, emerging from the shadows. "Shadow projection. I learned it a couple days ago. I can create clones of myself using my shadow powers." He waves his hand, and the shadowy figures disappears. "Pretty cool, right?" "If I said it's cool, I'd be saying your cool and as your best friend, I cannot admit anything is cool about you." Clara laughed. She took out her dagger and started fidgeting with it, making sure not to poke her wrapped up palm. Shane walks over to the table. Again, I'm sorry for bringing Roma back. I had hoped that everything would be good. You deserve a relationship with your mother. And I seriously think that she'd be useful to my plan," says Shane. He sits on the table. "But I get the feeling you don't wanna talk about it." "Did she tell you what happened? I had hoped she didn't but it's whatever. What is this plan anyways? You keep mentioning it," Clara asked sitting down. "If I tell you my plan, it'll ruin it. Just trust me. And, no. She didn't tell me," says Shane. "I'll trust you for now but if it has something to do with me, I don't want to get played." Clara accidentally dropped her bag and a loud came. She opened the bag and quickly closed it. "Didn't realize I packed that..." she muttered. Shane goes wide eyed after the loud bang. "I'm just gonna ignore that," he says with a smile on his face. "And it's got nothing to do with you. More like how genuine your reactions are. It's all about fooling the baddies." Clara shrugged, "It's nothing bad, no bible with notes or anything just, a gift Claytin gave me. Or mailed me for my eighteenth birthday. It was stupid of him, if father saw it, well, I don't want to know what would happen. It's a photo album of us through the years. I am just not ready to look at it." "Ugh, I'm totally going to barf. You two are so lovey-dovey," he says, mocking Clara. "Oh, we are lovey-dovey! Look at you and Charlene! All the darlings and the, other things! I am sorry if I am being all lovey-dovey! But I was forced to break up with him through a letter on my birthday!" Clara forced a few laughs, obviously trying to hide the pain but her words near the end were shaky. Suddenly, Shane's smile fades. "Seriously? You didn't try to find him?" "I would have, and I knew where he was. He was in a middle of performance with his dad. And I couldn't stay around. I didn't know how far behind my father's guards were. Besides, I don't like crying if you can tell especially in front of each other. Besides you, Claytin is the only one who accepts me and loves me. Even my villain side. I wasn't letting him see this side of me in person," Clara explained. "Wow. I'm sorry, Clara," says Shane. "So why didn't you go through with it. You seemed very certain four months ago." Clara laughed. "I blame you, I told you how i hadn't smiled in those four months. I missed smiling and laughing with you. Also, when you have the press either completely silent or telling you to smile, it really makes you want to take out a dagger and stab them and I didn't even have my dagger on me, you know how much I hate that. What reminds me, stop hitting it out of my hand! No matter how angry I am, I doubt I'll actually hurt you!" "Oh, I know you won't. It's impossible. Before you even put your hand on your dagger, I put a blade resistance spell on myself. It's a simple spell. Anyone can master it," says Shane. "Anyway, I haven't heard from my dad in a while during the four months. He usually comes to torment me to try to get me to join him. But a couple of months ago, he just stopped. I knew something was up. The last time I was at this table, a great surge of energy was flowing through me. Now? Absolutely nothing." Clara looked to the table and back at Shane. "Well, at least I know I wasn't the only one tormenting you to be evil. But hey, we know where is now," Clara said. "Don't go talking to him in Paris though. I don't like the idea of both of our parents in the same place as either of us." "Jeez, I don't like the idea of both of our parents in the same place at all. That's bad news," says Shane. "Yeah well, what can we do? I know what I do, if father comes here, I run again and I keep doing that," Clara said shrugging. Shane hops off the table and walks over to Clara. "You can't keep running, Clara. Eventually you're gonna have to fight. Put that dagger to good use. How is it that the villain is too scared to fight?" "I am not scared to fight but the last time I was caught going against my father, well I had a broken left arm. I will fight anymore else, but I will not put myself at risk like that against him again. Especially now, I don't know what he plans on doing as punishment if he catches me again, and I don't want to know," Clara says twisted the dagger through her fingers carefully. Shane puts on his mask. "You really are stubborn. Listen, you've only ever fought against him alone. But you're not alone this time. You've got me, Tina, Charlene, maybe even Claytin. We've got your back," he says. "Maybe but now we aren't fighting just one but two villains, both our parents." Clara said sighing. "Hey what time is it? i actually don't know how long we've been here." Clara laughed. "Bold of you to assume that I'm scared of Facilier," boasts Shane. "And I think it's been about ten or twenty minutes. I don't really know. Whenever I come here, I sort of lose track of time. Why? You got somewhere you need to be?" Clara shrugged. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't. Life is exciting like that." Clara stood up. "But I don't really have a place to stay, so probably that's what I got. I need to find a place or I have to find a new motel or something. I don't think the one I spent last night will let me stay again." Clara smiled a smug smile. Shane makes a number of faces, thinking, "What did she do?" before ultimately deciding to drop it. "Well, I don't really have a place to stay, either. I just crash at Charlene's. Maybe Tina has a spare room," says Shane. Clara shrugged. "Maybe, I can ask but I'm honestly not sure anymore. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even slightly missing home. I love Paris and i love France. Also I lived in a mansion." Clara sighed. "But no use complaining." "Don't worry. You're no threat to them. I mean, in your hands, that dagger's pretty much useless," Shane jokes. Clara gives him a threatening stare. "Kidding! Besides, I'll vouch for you," says Shane. "I'll talk to her tomorrow about it then, don't know when I'd get to sleep tonight."Clara said giving a nod. "See you when I see you," says Shane. "Likewise," Clara said as she grabbed up all her stuff. "Bye Shane, don't do anything stupid!" "I can't guarantee that, Clara! It's the only thing I do perfectly!" Shane jokes. Clara laughed. She gave him a small punch in the arm and left. She had some things to do before nightfall. Shane turns around and looks at the masks on the wall behind him. "Friends," he says. "I need your help. This is way bigger than we think, and I know it."