The Stronghold

Curse Breaking And Adam Levine

I woke up to the sound of music. Maroon 5 was playing on the radio, accompanied by the beautiful sound of... snoring.

Tom was asleep in the back by me, shoved up against the window. Rebecca was drooping forwards in her seat in the front and Dad was driving, singing under his breath.

"She said goodbye, too many times before," he sang, so quiet I could barely hear him.

"This Love?" I guessed, sitting up, being careful not to kick Tom. Dad jumped and then nodded.

"I didn't realise you were awake," he said.

"I was asleep until a minute ago. Where are we?" I stretched and revelled in the fact that the roof was still down, not cramping my arms.

"Getting close to the hotel you lot were staying in before," Dad replied.

"How did you find the address?"

"Magic."

"Oh." I fell silent and rested my head on the cool glass of the window, feeling the wind blow my hair backwards, forwards and in every direction. I couldn't be bothered to fix it and so stayed still, humming along to the song playing.

*

"We're here," Dad said at last. I looked out of the window at the dawn sky and glanced down at my watch.

"2AM," I noted. "Good timing."

"Are you okay?" Rebecca asked. She'd woken up about five minutes after I did.

"Nope," I said cheerfully, vaulting over the window and walking into the hotel doors. Literally. My nose started to bleed but I ignored it, wandering to the lifts and going up to the room.

Strolling along the corridor, leaving droplets of blood everywhere, I continued to hum Maroon 5 songs under my breath.

"I'm back," I called as I opened the door. Georgina barked and jumped up at me, springing remarkably high and licking my face.

"Did you find Rebecca?" Sophie asked, uncurling from her cushion and standing up.

"Ask her yourself," I said, walking over to the bed and promptly collapsing onto it. "And if someone could get me a drink, I'd be eternally grateful."

The advantages of living in a hutch, Salt said smugly. I raised my head off the pillow and glared at him.

"You won't be there for long," I warned.

"Why not? You're not going to eat him, are you?" Emmi said with some concern as Shaade handed me a glass of water. I gulped the drink down before replying.

"No. We found a way to get you all back to normal."

"How?" Shaade said immediately. "I don't think my ear can take any more chunks taken out of it."

Josh squawked and circled the room, landing on the lampshade and staring at me out of one pale blue eye. The curious thing about the animals my friends had become was that they kept their eye colours. Georgina's was most interesting - one minute they were blue, the next they were grey, the next greeny coloured, the next gold...

"Becca!" Sophie and Emmi squealed, running over to hug her. Shaade looked at her coolly and Georgina growled. I sighed and went back to staring at the ceiling.

"Why did you abandon everyone?" Shaade asked coldly, obviously repeating Josh's question.

"I was afraid," Rebecca shrugged. "And something was calling for me to leave."

"Do you still have demons in your system, by any chance?" Dad queried, following Tom into the room. If the expression of shock on Salt's little guinea pig face got any bigger he would have no face.