Shrunk [#Wattys2016]

Chapter 7

We walked to the glowing light and realized it was higher up than we last thought. Is this a bookshelf? Yah. It's a bookshelf.

"Hello?!" I screamed.

We heard a startled gasp and the light disappeared.

"Dude. Don't scream at it." Ry said.

"Hello? Is anyone up there?" Niall's strong voice rang out kindly.

If I heard that voice in a strange dark room I would've done anything it told me to do. Wait. Cass shut up. That's highly inappropriate.

"W-Who is it?" Something called out.

"Um. My name is Niall. And I have two of my friends here. Cassandra and Ry."

"What do you want?"

"It's a pretty funny story actually." I mumbled.

The thing stayed silent and wasn't showing any signs of coming down.

"We're humans that got turned into toys. And-"

Then the light came closer at an extremely rapid rate. Wait.. Did he jump off the shelf? We quickly stepped out of the way and he landed with a strange plop.

"What?! You're pulling a prank huh? Always funny pranking the nerd yah? Where is Ken?" The worm said.

At the mention of Ken's name my stomach flipped and the hair on the back of my neck stood.

"What? No. He's not here and this is real." Niall said.

"How can I believe you?" The worm questioned.

"Do you not recognize me? I sure do recognize you." I said.

The worm came closer to me and scrunched his eyes. His features softened and he smiled.

"Cassandra. What happened?" He asked.

"Niall. Care to explain?" I asked.

Niall nodded and started his long story. Some parts I felt were unnecessary but whatever floats your boat.

"What a story. Sorry, but what makes you think that I can help?" He said.

"We came here looking for a book worm. Maybe he could've found a book about this?" Ry asked.

"Wait. Dobby. You're not a book worm. You're a glow worm." I said.

"Great. Absolutely fabulous." Niall said.

"I'm part book worm." Dobby frowned.

"Dobby, just because you throw a pair of glasses on your face does not mean that you're a book worm." I said.

"Fine, the real book worm is in the back. He's really old and no one really sees him, but this is pretty serious." Dobby said leading us through a hole in the book shelf.

We followed him through the hole and glanced around.

"Dobby?" A frail voice rang out.

"Yah. Pa. I'm here." Dobby said.

I looked around the room and saw a worm with a long beard and wire glasses. I looked at Niall and Ry shrugged shyly.

"You have people with you?" The worm asked.

"Yes Pa but it's really important."

"Ahh. Go make some tea Dobby I feel like we have a lot to discuss."

The old worm gestured for me to sit beside him and I glanced at my friends. They motioned for me to go so I did.

"Dear. What's happening. The air around you feels distressed."

"Well sir. It's quite a wild story." I said.

I saw his face light up as he shook his head.

"Cassandra please call me Pa. You've done so much for this place we're all friends."

"Ok. Pa....well Ry and I...."

I told him the whole story. Dobby walked in to hand us the tea and listened to the story from my point of view. They all frowned when I told them about my "brother" the night before. And laughed when I told them about Ry freaking out over the news. Then when I told them about Ken Pa stiffened. I frowned a little but continued.

"And that's how we ended up here. We thought that maybe this wasn't the first time it's happened and maybe you could help us." I said.

"You're right. This isn't the first time it's happened." Pa said.

We all leaned in as if we didn't he would disappear.

"Well actually almost happened. I stopped it before.....he could. Of course I was younger."

"Who? Who was it?" Ry asked quietly.

"Well I don't know how to say it but it was Ken."

We all leaned away in shock. I knew something was wrong with him. Just the air around him stressed me out.

"How do we get back to normal?" Niall asked.

"Last night was the blue lightning strike. They only happen every  year. And every hundred years is when they happen two days in a row. In one of these books is an old legend about children's toys coming to life and playing with the children. Some toys loved being toys and some well, didn't. What the story doesn't say is that the toys who didn't want to be toys traded places with the children then got rid of the toy, or then children. When the blue lighting strikes that's when the toys come alive but the magic only works for twenty four hours. Then all the toys have to do is be touching the child and say "I wish to be real". This year just so happens that the lightning will strike again tonight."

"So you mean if we don't fix this we'll be immobile toys for two years?" I asked.

"Yes, but to fix-"

We all heard loud banging but he door.

"Dobby! Let me in! I need to talk to your old man." We heard Ken yell through the door.

"Oh no. Quickly. There is a back door through the hallway and to the right. What you need to do is Niall needs to be touching the toy, say the words and you girls should turn back as soon as he does. Don't let the toy touch you no matter what. And never trust anybody except for yourselves. Especially Ken. Go! Go!"

We took off down the hallway and headed toward the door. Niall pulled me out of there as soon as Ken managed to break the door. We closed the back door and found a spot to hide. We heard muffled yells and something that sounded like a slap and then a thud. I gasped as the back door swung open and Niall placed his hand over my mouth. It was another guy Barbie Doll he looked around and stormed back into the house. We all sighed in relief as we sunk down to the ground.

"What now?" I asked.