Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Trick or Treat ❯ The Test of the Pirate-Ninja ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's note: If you want to try to guess who The Voice is, you can. I'll give you at least one hint in each chapter, if you can figure out what the hints are. Even the chapter before this contained a hint. Basically, think of a TV, book, or movie character who does the things The Voice does, or acts in the way that The Voice does. That will be half of the answer. ^^

Disclaimer: Yet again, I do not own fairies, princesses, ninjas, pirates, pirate ninjas, schoolgirls of the killer or dead variety, foxes, fox-girls, hobos, or candy companies of any sort. I also do not own the idea of haunted houses or portals to other dimensions. And I definitely do not own Nancy, Katy, Sapphire, Jaci, April, or David, although I do own myself. And I do not own anything else that may be mentioned in this story, whose ownership by me may be questionable.

Trick or Treat

Chapter Two

“Welcome to your doom,” The Voice said. “You will be unable to escape until you can pass the tests I will give you. From now on, you will become whatever your costume is. If you all pass your tests, you will escape this place unharmed. If any of you fails, all of you will be trapped here forever.” The Voice paused a moment. “One of you may want to catch Amanda before she hits the floor.”

The friends looked at the spot where Amanda had been standing a moment before. She was now falling, apparently unconscious. David caught her just in time, with Katy's help. “What did you do to her?” April said, holding her knife, which had just become real, in front of her.

“You know the story of Sleeping Beauty? Yeah. She's a princess. That's the other thing, see, she doesn't really have a test. But you'll all have a time limit. If you don't complete your tests within two hours, she will die. Anyway, David, drag your sister over to that bed to your right.” Where there used to be empty space, a bed had appeared. David obeyed The Voice and walked over to stand next to his sister's friends. “Good. Now, in front of you, you will all find a key.” Six identical tables, each holding one key, appeared in front of them. “Pick up the key, go upstairs, and try to find the door that the key matches. There are hundreds of doors, and as soon as I say, `Go,' your time will start. Remember, you have two hours. Go.”

Everyone ran forward, grabbing their keys, and running up the stairs. They all wondered how they would be able to find a door to fit their keys in time, and especially how they would finish a test in time to escape the house. David was the first to reach a door, trying his key. It didn't fit. He ran away to the next door just as Nancy reached the first.

Jaci, instead, ran down the hallway to try the doors at the very end first. April and Sapphire followed her, thinking that her method was probably the best. Finally, Katy selected a door at random. She turned the key, and to her amazement, opened the door. She stepped inside.

“Welcome, Katy,” The Voice said. “You have exactly one hour, fifty-eight minutes, and twelve seconds to complete your task. Look around you.” Katy did. She was on a pirate ship in the middle of the sea. The waves were not moving, nor were any of the pirates on the ship. “I have stopped time, for the moment, in order to allow you to listen to what I am saying. As a pirate-ninja, you must fight your way to a treasure chest in the captain's quarters. You will not have a sword to begin with. If you can find one, you may use it, but your ninja skills will be very useful to begin with. Hide in the shadows, sneak up behind your enemies, and if you want to or have to, use your hands to kill them. Don't worry, you have ninja powers, now. You can do it. I'll give you a few seconds to hide in the shadows before I start time again. Go.”

Katy ran faster than she ever had in her life, reaching a corner that was virtually invisible to any of the pirates on the ship. “Okay,” she whispered to herself, “Now, how can I do this?” She looked up, noticing that she could potentially scale the wall next to her and reach an upper level, where a pirate was standing guard. “That brings me farther away from the captain's quarters, though,” she mumbled, “And it will probably make me more visible.” Instead, she moved along the wall, rounding the corner, and entering an area where she could better see the pirates moving around on deck. She crouched down, watching them. A few times, she swore that the pirates saw her, but every time, they quickly turned, apparently distracted by something else that she could not see.

She waited a few seconds, until a pirate came within ten feet of her, still not noticing that she was there. She swiftly ran up behind him, whispering in his ear, “Arrrgh.” She then broke his neck before he could make a sound and grabbed his sword. She made it back to the shadows before his body hit the ground with a “thud.”

Of course, the sound of the body hitting the deck aroused the attention of the other pirates, who crowded around the dead pirate in order to find out what had happened. Katy seized this opportunity to run through the shadows and toward the captain's quarters. Miraculously, no one noticed that she was there. They were all preoccupied with the body. She found the captain's quarters, thrilled that she had done so with so much time left, and only having to kill one pirate. Her joy turned to fear, however, when she opened the door and found the pirate captain standing in front of her, brandishing his sword.

Katy reached for the sword she had swiped from the dead pirate and stood, ready for the captain to make the first move. He charged at her, swinging his sword. Katy dodged. The captain turned quickly, evading the sword Katy had swung at him. He tried quickly to stab her, but she was once again to fast for him, diving under the table behind him. The captain looked around, wondering where Katy had gone. She waited until he was looked away and swung her sword at his feet, slicing one of them in half. The captain fell, and blood was everywhere. Katy crawled out from under the table and stood over the pirate captain, who was now screaming in pain. Knowing that she had only a few seconds before the other pirates came in and discovered what had happened, Katy sliced the pirate's head off, raced over to the chest, which was mysteriously, unlocked, and opened it up. Inside, there was only a solid gold candelabrum. Katy frowned, wondering whether or not that was really what The Voice wanted her to get. She thought about it only for an instant, however, because she heard voices shouting behind the door. She jumped onto the table and, from there, jumped onto a bookshelf. She lay down, trying to make herself as tiny and invisible as possible. The pirates surrounded the body, arguing over what had apparently happened to their captain. However, the first mate was looking around the room, searching for the captain's killer. Katy held her breath as his gaze drifted her way, but for some reason, he did not see her. He looked away, and Katy used this opportunity to leap silently to another, lower, shelf, and out the door.

She was home free, and she was fairly certain that she still had plenty of time left. She breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the now-empty deck. There was one problem, though. “Uh, voice?” she whispered. “What do I do now?” The ship stopped moving, because the ocean stopped moving. The voices in the captain's quarters also ceased.

“You have completed your test, Katy,” The Voice said. “Well done.” A door appeared in front of her. “Enter through this door, place the candelabrum on the desk, and exit through the other door. Then take a seat on the couch.”

Katy stepped cautiously through the door. Inside the room she entered was a single desk. The walls of the room were adorned with various paintings. She obeyed The Voice, laying the candelabrum on the desk. Then she exited the room through the door he had indicated.

This room contained a plush crimson sofa. The room itself was red, and everything in it was various shades of red. Katy smiled. “I like this room.” She sank back on the sofa, but she couldn't help but worry about her friends. Her task had been difficult. She had almost died multiple times. She wondered if they were all okay, and if they would escape the house alive.