Chapter 28 - Part 3 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

I am not even sure what possessed my stupid brain when I decided I wanted to go down to the basement to see Manderine and the cage again.  When realistically it is the very last place that I want to be going to.

I think it was more about me being curious to see if how I had seen the cage in Omri's head, when I supposedly read his mind, is actually there for real.

So curious that I didn't really think it through properly.

I am already feeling very uneasy and on edge.  River and Dad have been away for over an hour and a half and I'm starting to get very suspicious.  Where are they and what are they even finding to do in this place?!  Surely they are not sat somewhere talking over Dad's upset STILL!!  Storm and Omri have also now disappeared so I'm seriously starting to think that something is going on that they are not telling me about.   I am hoping that I will spot them on the way down to the basement but I'm not holding my breath!

While Jazz and Cosmic keep an eye on Crystal, Mulberry shows me the way down to the basement. I don't have any idea of how to get there as I was unconscious when I was taken too it and from it over nine months ago.  As I follow Mulberry down the dark corridor I feel myself starting to get a little nervous and jumpy again.  Nervous to the point that I am seriously thinking about turning back and not bothering to go down there at all.  Do I really need to be going down there to look at the cage, look at that evil woman's face, and revisit the place where it all happened?!

Mulberry pulls open a heavy metal door - a horrible familiar noise that I recognize fills my ears.  I know instantly that this is the metal door at the top of the basements steps just by the noise that it makes.  I'd know that sound anywhere, it was the noise that filled me with dread every time that I heard it when I was down in the cage.  It signaled that someone was coming which always had my nerves jangling.

We start to walk down the stone steps and the room opens up in front of me - an all too familiar room that I hoped I would never see again.  I laugh at myself as I am the one who has stupidly chosen to come down here again  - why am I such an idiot sometimes?

I don't look in the direction of the cage until I reach the bottom of the steps.

I notice straight away that the cage is set up in exactly the same way as I had seen it in Omri's head.  This really shocks me for a moment!  So I can really read their minds!!  The only thing that is the same from my time in there is the bed that me and Honey slept on, everything else is new.

It is almost like they have given Manderine a living space that is a lot more bearable than the space that we had.  There is carpet on the floor and a huge bookcase full of books, and a sofa just like the ones upstairs, there is also a table and chairs, a television, a bedside table and lamp.  I laugh at the pot plant that is sat in the corner of the cage that is the only thing that I didn't see in Omri's head.

I just stand there staring around and realize I don't feel as bad as I thought I would about being down here again.  This place now looks a lot different so it somehow detaches itself away from the place where we were and where Honey faded, even though I know that it is exactly the same place.

"Are you sure you really want to be down here Tap?" 

Mulberry asks me curiously as he stands watching the expression on my face.  I tell him it's fine, but I don't really want to be hanging around down here for too long.

Manderine jumps off the bed, which is now in a different place to where we had it.  She had been lying on the bed reading a book when we came down the steps, which kind of amuses me.  I wouldn't have thought Manderine is the reading type, but I guess when you are bored and alone you will do anything to pass the time away and keep yourself occupied.   Manderine is now standing one hand on the bars quietly staring through them in our direction.

"Have you brought Prelude, Parsley or Fern with you?"  she asks quietly and even politely.  She is staring hopefully straight at Mulberry and is completely ignoring me.   She looks different somehow, her hair and clothes are different, but its her face and the way she is standing, she almost looks ... defeated.  "You did tell them where I am didn't you Mulberry!?"

"No bitch I've told you, you are NEVER seeing my brother or nephew EVER again!!  Fern either, neither of your children want anything to do with you ever again!!  The three of them are far better off without you in their lives!!"  Mulberry starts laughing and Manderine just stares blankly through the bars at him. 

One thing that River has told me - the Freeze family moved out of town not longer after our abduction but Fern stayed behind and is now living with Prelude and Parsley.  Prelude has kind of adopted her.  It will be interesting to see how she reacts to me when we meet again.  I wander if she is still mad with me, we never did have that conversation over our break up!! 

"In fact Prelude is moving on and getting over you bitch!!   He has now sobered up and has even started dating a really NICE woman who WILL be good for him unlike you - Fern and Parsley love her!!  Finally they get someone who can be a good Mom to them ... because you've never been any sort of Mother for any of your children have you Lime!!"

I laugh as I watch her suddenly snap back into the Manderine I know.  Mulberry has obviously made her angry with what he has just told her.  A hail of verbal abuse comes from the cage as she throws the book that she has in her hand through the bars.  The book narrowly misses Mulberry who ducks out of the way of it and starts laughing at her.  I wander how many times he has been down here to see her, it's pretty obvious he has been down here once at least.  She knows exactly who Mulberry is.

I am pretty surprised by what Mulberry said about Prelude dating!!  The last I heard he was still a hopeless drunk!!  I can't help but ask out of curiosity, wandering if I know who he is dating.

"You know your Aunty Violet's sister don't you."  he smiles then laughs  "Everyone knew he was with the wrong sister, only Prelude couldn't see it.  Citrus has always had a thing for Prelude which was never a secret.  Her marriage broke up a while back and she moved to Sugar Valley to help Affair with the triplets.  Affair, Fern and Parsley have been causing some mischief to get them together which has pleased your Granddad because she is a pure purple berry!!"  he starts laughing but my mind is stuck on the triplets - What triplets?  so I ask him.   

"Have you not been told ... Prelude is now a Granddad ... the old fart!"  he is almost howling it seems to have amused him.  "You know that Cherry was pregnant when she snatched you - well they had triplets two girls and a boy, Magnolia, Sugar and Moon ... they took us a little by surprise all three of them being colourless like Affair. "

No, I haven't been told, but then that is nothing new is it!!.  I haven't even given Cherry being pregnant a thought either while I've been away, but that is probably because I was trying not to think about the whole baby thing after Honey faded taking my two with her.

I should imagine I am in for quite a few surprises when I am back home.  It amuses me to find out that Affair now has three babies, I bet he is loving it!  I remember how he used to be with us when I was a toddler.

Affair used to spend a lot of time helping to look after me Mosaic and Coral when he was a teenager when Mom was in and coming out of her coma.  I remember Mom's coma quite vividly and now I know that Manderine was responsible for her coma, which makes me turn and glare at her.

Manderine doesn't look happy seeing me glare at her.  She turns her attention to me then and starts to study me curiously as she listens quietly to me and Mulberry talking.  I watch as a few different expressions flash across her face and know she finally realizes who I am when she starts to laugh sarcastically and loudly.

"Oh the phyco freak is back!! Come to beat me up again have you?!"  she just glares at me through the bars.  I see her face switch, she really doesn't like me and the feeling is mutual.  Just seeing that look of hers again starts to get my back up.  "It's a shame those vampberry didn't get you along with your little girlfriend - they would have rid the world of one more freak along with your freak brats!!"

"Shut up you evil bitch!!  I should come into that cage and fade you!!"  I yell at her  "You are just very lucky I didn't know what you'd done to everyone, especially my Mom when we shared that cage together!!"  she laughs at me with that evil cackle of hers.

"Come on then - try it FREAK!!"  she starts taunting me  "You just come in here and try it!!"

I would love to, but we have all by warned by Jazz, none of us are to touch her!  As much as he and probably most of us want to fade her, we can't because Jazz is scared of her not passing over, he thinks she would be evil enough to stick around in spirit form just to finish the job she started.  If she comes back in spirit form then there would be no stopping the torment and devastation that she could cause.   

"I'm not coming into that cage because fading is too good for you!!  Rotting in there until you fade from boredom and lonely old age is much better - even Storm agrees with me!!"

"SHUT UP!!  FREAK!!  My boy wouldn't say that!!"  she yells at me

"Oh he does!!"  I laugh at her  "Shame you can't see him then he'd tell you himself!!"  I suddenly hear Storm laughing behind me so I turn to look at him.  "Maybe you should find a way to tell her Storm - she doesn't believe me!!"

"You are a FREAK!!  My boy isn't here!!  He wouldn't just leave me here to rot!!  You are making it up!!"  she snaps at me quite nastily. 

Manderine doesn't realize that her boy, as she calls him, hates her as much as the rest of us do!!  It is not like she's ever been any kind of Mother to Storm and Parsley, all they have ever seen of her is a fortnightly visit to the prison and have just sat staring at the woman who gave birth to them across a table.  My Mother and Ice have been their surrogate Mothers.  Unlike their Mother their two Aunts have always been there for them so Storm has taken what Manderine has done to both my Mom and Ice in the past pretty badly and hates her for it!!

"Oh he's here alright just like Cosmic - and he is happy to leave you here rotting like the rest of us!!   Storm came away with me on my little holiday because he could not bare to be in this place with you!!  He doesn't even blame Forrest for fading him - he blames you!!"

Mulberry is frowning at me and I smile at him.  Storm stands scratching his head as he looks around then he starts laughing.  He makes his way towards an easel that is in the corner of the room that I hadn't noticed when I came down the steps.  He starts to pull the easel over towards the cage.  Mulberry's and Manderines eyes are nearly popping out of their heads as they watch the easel seemingly moving itself across the stone floor towards them, they can't see Storm like I can.

"Cosmic is doing that ... that isn't Storm!!"

"It is Storm alright, Cosmic is upstairs with Jazz."  I snap at her thinking she probably won't believe it is Storm and I really have no way of proving it. 

Storm stands there staring at her for a moment.  He starts laughing then starts painting letters onto the canvas, which obviously I can not read.  When he's finished he pulls the easel right in front of the cage so that Manderine can see it clearly.

"You can ROT IN HELL GREEN MOMMY!!  I HATE YOU!!  Storm"   Mulberry starts howling when he reads out loud what Storm has written.  Manderine just starts screaming and collapses down onto her knees as she stares up at the easel.  I am now guessing by her reaction that she believes that Storm is here and wrote that, which I didn't expect.

"That is what Storm used to call her when he was little - green Mommy while he called Ice his blue Mommy and Lilly his no colour Mommy."  he looks at Manderine and laughs  "Yep that's Storm alright - Cosmic wouldn't know he used to call you green mommy!!"  Mulberry seems really amused by this as he continues to laugh while Manderine is in a heap on the floor crying and squealing. 

"We need to go upstairs Tap, Crystal is awake."  Storm tells me before he floats off up the stairs laughing without another word or a backward glance.   I tell Mulberry about Crystal being awake and chase after Storm.

I take one last look at the cage and Manderine who is still squealing on the floor as I run quickly up the stone steps - happily thinking I will never have to see either her or that cage ever again!!

As soon as I walk into the vampberrys living room Crystal comes flying across the room at me and throws herself into my arms.  She is shaking and crying and she starts to scream hysterically about the bad man being in here.  I am a little surprised because I can only see Cosmic in the room besides Storm and I really didn't expect her to react like this with a spirit.

"She got absolutely hysterical when she saw Jazz, he had to leave the room!!"  Cosmic starts laughing as I stand there holding her, trying to calm her down.  "She's okay with me she actually smiled at me when she woke up, it's just Jazz that she really doesn't like!!"

"BAD MAN!!  He really is here Tap, we need to leave this place now - he is one of THEM!!!"  Crystal is almost screaming.  I expected her to react badly but she didn't even go this far with Dad and Mulberry in Rainbow Valley.

"Everyone here is my friend Crystal, you are safe here nobody will hurt you!!"  she shakes her head and carries on crying insisting that we have to leave now before the bad man returns.  "River, Dad Mulberry and Storm are here and we are with friends we are in no danger Crystal!!"  she looks nervously at Cosmic  "That is Cosmic he is my friend like everyone else here!!"

"Where are we?"  she asks looking around at the strange surrounding.

"We are in Sugar Valley, nobody here will hurt you!!"

Just as I say this Jazz walks into the room with Dad, River and Omri.  I can't help but notice that Dad and River both look upset and like they might have both been crying.  River especially has the tell tale red eyes that he gets when he has been crying.  I wander what has upset them?

"NO!!  HE IS A BAD MAN - TWO BAD MEN!!!"  She points at Jazz and Omri as she screams even louder.  "They have the shiny eyes, they are cold, they have nasty sharp teeth and they bite!!"  she tries to bury her head inside me and is almost squeezing all the air out of me because of how tight she is holding me.  I am very shocked by what she has just said ... it's almost like she knows and has seen a vampberry before.

"What did she just say?"  Jazz says walking towards us which makes Crystal start screaming even louder so he has to stand still and stay where he is.

"Crystal have you seen the men with the shiny eyes and sharp teeth before?"

Crystal nods and keeps telling me they are the bad men from the woods.  I am a little shocked for a moment, thinking of all the things that she has said to me about the bad men.  While I've been thinking she meant just ordinary people I'm getting a nasty feeling that she has been talking about vampberrys.  A few things that she has said to me now start to fall into place like they only come at night and that is why she sleeps in busy places with lots of light because they don't come after her there.  She has seen vampberrys before.  So I tell Jazz who insists that she couldn't possible have seen any vampberrys in Rainbow Valley or Amber Meadow. 

"Look!!"  she says showing me her arm and I can see the scar that she is pointing too which I've never noticed before.  It looks exactly like the scar that I now have on my neck courtesy of the vampberry that tried to drain me.  "They bite nasty but I got him with a stick!!"

I feel like crying remembering exactly how a vampire bite feels struggling to imagine just what Crystal must have been going through, imagining she must have been running from vampberrys for most of her life!!  I tell Jazz she has a vampire bite as I hold out her arm so that he can see it.

 "She can't have!!"  he says as he steps forward to inspect her arm.  Crystal starts to scream again and while I'm trying to calm her down so Jazz can get close enough River steps up to Jazz and puts his arm around him and Storm does the same.   River tells her like I had that Jazz is our friend and he won't hurt us.  She stops screaming and starts to eye Jazz very suspiciously as he smiles at her and leans forward to take a good look at the mark on her arm.

"Okay maybe she has!"  he laughs a little then starts to look very confused.  "Vampberrys don't venture into Rainbow Valley - its far too warm and dangerous!!"  he is frowning and goes quiet like he's thinking.  "Unless ... they have been passing through there in winter and she has been spotted ... we do tend to prey on the homeless there is less likely hood of them being missed.  Obviously they might have been chasing her trying to catch her because she is silent - I guess that would keep them in the area - their sole aim would be to catch her and take her to the originals to earn some brownie points - I doubt they have told the originals about her because they would have been in there and taken her by now!!"  he scratches his chin for a moment  "It doesn't make sense because they should have caught her, she is only a mortal, how would she get away from them, a mortal could never out run a vampberry or vampire!!"

"They don't like tree sticks!!"  Crystal says suddenly  "I hurt their eyes!! and I run!!"  This makes me laugh a little remembering Rivers wooden stakes, Crystal must have been fighting them off using tree branches.  Wooden objects do make vampberrys very nervous!  

 I suddenly remember that night that me and Crystal spent sleeping in the woods ... I feel sick thinking about the danger that we could have been in from the vampberrys and I didn't have a clue, I thought we were perfectly safe there but obviously now I know we weren't safe!!

I explain to Jazz that she does run like the wind, I could never get anywhere near her and she scales walls and climbs trees like a cat - she's gone before you know it!!  Jazz starts laughing and says now that he's though about it - she would only have to run or hide out of their sight and they would lose her with her being silent they wouldn't be able to track her or find her without seeing her.  Somehow she has probably been lucky enough to keep losing them and that's how she's avoided being caught.

He says he needs to try and get into her head, if for nothing else to see what has been going on with the vampberrys.  This is going to be fun.  I explain to Crystal that she needs to look at Jazz and let him look into her eyes.  She giggles for a moment, which I find strange, then she turns her head to look at Jazz but she still keeps a very tight grip on me like she doesn't trust him.

Jazz leans closer to her and I watch as his eyes start to glow.  Suddenly he yells and flies backwards and away from us.  Crystal just sits there laughing while Jazz picks himself up off the floor holding his head like it is hurting and swearing.

"Told you I hurt their eyes!!"  she says giggling.

I just sit staring at her in disbelief.  I had heard her saying it but I thought she meant she poked them in the eyes with a stick or something ... but she knew that was going to happen, that's why she giggled, she has done this before!!

She is just like me!!

"This is just crazy!!  There are two of you!!  She just threw it straight back at me just like you do!!!"  he looks at me thoughtfully  "There is only one thing we can try - Tapestry you will have to try and see if you can get into her head."  he says looking at me.  I think he's gone mad and I tell him what I think!!  "Whatever is making you two different from other mortals, you both have it, so I would imagine only you two will be able to get into each others heads."

"I won't be able to - I ... "  I look around the room and all eyes are on me, I'm a little embarrassed about saying it!!  "I ... I've looked into her eyes lots of times and nothing has ever happened."

Jazz laughs for a moment and says he can imagine what sort of eye staring I've been doing.  He says I probably wouldn't have been able to make anything happen because I've been looking in a sexual way and when I've been making eye contact with the vampberrys they have been opening the way for me ... I have got to open the way for myself by staring through the pupil, I'm not to just look at it but look through it.  I stare at him for a moment thinking this isn't happening!!

I tell Crystal to look at me and point to my eyes.

"Your orange things have gone!!"  She says and smiles like she's only just noticed my colourless eyes.  I start staring her in the eyes, suddenly she leans forward and starts kissing me.  Everyone starts laughing as I push her away from me and start laughing at her myself.  I guess I asked for that not explaining to her what I am doing.

"No Crystal!!"  I laugh at her  "Look at me, sit still and don't blink ... no kissing!!"  she laughs and says the first one to blink is a sissy!!

I know if she thinks she is playing that game she will sit there now for ages so I carry on letting her think we are playing the no blinking game.  We have played this game before and she always wins.  She still has her very childish streak, River thinks it is one of her traits, he thinks she will always act childishly no matter how sensible and civilized she becomes.

We sit for a while, I concentrate on her pupils and nothing seems to be happening, I wander how exactly am I supposed to look through them?  As I stare at them I notice her pupils seem to be getting bigger, I'm not sure if it's my imagination at first, I move closer and try to pretend the black part of her eye is a hole and I'm trying to look through the hole.  Suddenly I get that feeling at the back of my eyes.

"FUDGE!!"  I say in shock not really expecting this to happen at all.  Jazz asks me what's wrong  "I'm inside her head - I think." 

Jazz tells me to try and compel her.  So I tell her to fetch me a glass of water.  I'm a little reluctant to break the eye contact in case I can't do it again but then my eyes start to really hurt and I think I know whats coming, just like with the vampberrys I'm going to start seeing things soon so I quickly break the contact.  Crystal gets up off my lap and goes over towards the kitchen.  Jazz asked me what I told her to do so I tell him.  Crystal starts opening cupboards and gets out a glass and fills it with water.

"FUDGE TAP!!  Mango your kid is an alien!!"  he starts laughing then goes serious suddenly  "Now we are all in trouble because he can get into ALL of our heads and he read Omri's mind earlier!!"  I see him look nervously at Dad, River then Cosmic.  They all look worried suddenly.  Now I know they are definitely hiding something from me - why else would they be worried about me being able to get into all of their heads!!!!

Maizie walks into the room just as Crystal comes back to me with the water, I notice she locks the door and wander why she would do that?  I also notice from the moment she walks into the room her gaze is fixed constantly on my Dad who is totally ignoring her.  She couldn't make it more obvious if she tried that she still has feelings for my Dad!

I laugh to myself as I pull Crystal towards me and try to look into her eyes again - I know exactly where that water is going!!  As soon as I stare into her pupils I get the feeling behind my eyes - so I tell her what to do with the water and what to say then break the eye contact.  I smile at Jazz who just frowns at me and asks me what I've done but I just laugh at him.

Everyone watches Crystal who starts walking slowly across the room in Maizies direction.  Crystal stops and stands in front of Maize then throws the water from the glass forcefully onto her face.  Maizie is not impressed!

"Tapestry says you need cooling down you are like a dog on heat - find yourself a vampberry to play with and leave Mango alone - BITCH!!"  Crystal says to her then starts walking innocently back towards me.

Everyone starts howling, all except for Maizie and Dad.  Dad is staring at me wide eyed in shock while Maizie is glaring at me.  Maizie suddenly flashes across the room as she comes at me, almost knocking Crystal flying.  She stands in front of me hissing and baring her fangs at me while the water drips off her.  I can't help but laugh at her.

"I've warned you once before NOT to call me a bitch again!!"  she rares at me.

She makes the mistake of leaning too close into my face so I decide to try getting into her head like I just did Crystals.  I quickly focus on her pupils and dive through them.  I get her straight away before she knows what has hit her.  I think I must be getting pretty good at this!!

I wander for a split second if I should try and read her mind to see if I can find out what they are hiding, but decide against it not really knowing how to do it properly and doubt they will give me the time to go poking around in Maizies head.  Instead I quickly tell her to do something then break the eye contact just as Jazz grabs her and pulls her away from me.

I tell Jazz I've just compelled her and he needs to let her go so that she can do what I've told her to do.  I start laughing as Jazz rolls his eyes at me and lets go of Maizie.

I told Maizie to go and sit in the corner, suck her thumb and be quiet like a good little girl.  Which she does much to my amusement.  Mulberry, Omri, Jazz and Cosmic are doubled over and howling while River and Dad just stand there a little dumb founded and keep giving each other side ward glances.  I am almost doubled over myself just realizing for the first time just how much fun I could actually have with this game!! 

"Okay Tap you've had your fun, we don't have time to mess about ... I need you to see if you can read Crystals mind."  Jazz says but he's still laughing as he keeps glancing over at Maizie who is sat in the corner like a naughty little child sucking her thumb and taking time out.  Cosmic is making me laugh as he's literally rolling around on the floor having hysterics.

I look around for Storm and notice he has disappeared again - I wander where he has gone?  I sit down on the couch and pull Crystal onto my lap she is just staring blankly back at me like she is in some sort of a trance.

I stare through her pupils, the feeling behind my eyes comes quickly followed by the intense feeling which I really don't like because it hurts.  I sit and wait for the flashes and the pictures which follow.  Suddenly we are back in our bedroom in Rainbow Valley, she is sat watching Dad, River, me and Mulberry talking.  I remember this was just before we sedated her for our journey home.

"Can you see anything Tap?"  Jazz asks me so I tell him I can  "YES!!  I knew it!!"

Jazz starts laughing and jumping around like an idiot, he sounds really happy about me being in Crystals head but I'm not so enthusiastic about it.  I'm a little nervous about what I am about to see in her head and know now it is going to have to be me who has to wipe away her memories of our time together.

Jazz starts telling me how to look back through her memories.  I listen carefully to what Jazz is telling me to do and I follow his instructions.  At first it is slow going but the longer I'm doing it for the quicker her memories start to move.  He tells me to keep on going, I'm to look for vampberrys or vampires he wants to know which they are and what they are doing.  He is almost certain that they won't be originals but he just wants to make sure.

I wander for a moment why he didn't just ask Crystal what colour they are, or does he think that she is colourblind too.  I am going to struggle to tell them apart being colourblind, the only way I can judge them is by the way that Celeste looked to me with the colourless looking skin and the jet black hair.  I'm a little disappointed that I am still seeing her memories through my colourblind eyes.  I didn't really think about it when I saw Omri's pictures in my head ... now I'm looking through Crystals memory I still can not see colour - which I hoped I might be able to do looking through her eyes and memories.

I watch as her time living with us flashes by until most of her memories are of the woods in the daytime and well lit up places like the hospital at night.  I see her rooting through bins and dumpsters, fighting over scraps of food at the back of shops with other homeless people.  I stop and watch moments of abuse that she gets from the other homeless people and anyone who passes her by.  I watch her standing in a shop doorway holding out one of the $20 notes that I gave her and a nasty woman telling her to sling her hook they don't serve filth in that shop!!  It really starts to upset me watching all the angry faces shouting abuse at her and what she has had to suffer just because she is colourless.

Jazz keeps annoying me with what feels like every few seconds he is asking me if I've found any vampberrys yet.  I have to tell him to shut up and I'll tell him when I've found any, he's making it hard for me to concentrate.

I find the vampberrys but I don't say anything I just keep searching through her memories to see what they do and what has been happening to her.  After quite a while of looking I break the eye contact suddenly not wanting to see any more.

"I couldn't watch anymore!!"  I tell Jazz when he asks me whats wrong and seems a little annoyed with me for breaking the eye contact as he watches Crystal coming back to life because I told her she was free to go before I broke the eye contact.  "My eyes are really hurting and I need a break."

"Well??  Did you see any vampberrys?"  Jazz snaps he seems very annoyed now.

I sit there telling him what I've seen.  I followed the vampberrys back in her memories to when she was just a small child.  She has been running from the vampberrys for most of her life.  I can tell quite easily they are vampberrys and not originals, their eyes shine and they all got close enough for me to see they did not have Celestes patterened eyes like I've been told all originals have.  I saw only three vampberrys, the same three vampberrys have been chasing her for most of her life.  The three became only two vampberrys when she was a teenager because she did actually manage to dispose of one using a piece of tree branch.  The vampberry that caught and bit her she skewered with a tree branch.  There are big chunks of her memory when they are not around and I noticed they only seem to be around when the trees have hardly or no leaves and their is frost on the ground.  Jazz thinks they only would be able to stick around in Rainbow Valley in winter - during spring, summer and early autumn she would have been quite safe from them.  Crystal just lies with her head on my shoulder listening to what I'm saying.

"They caught her once, when she was a child."  Jazz asks me how she managed to get away from them  "A spirit helped her to get away, a teenage boy, I saw him a lot when she was a child, he always seemed to be around helping her when the vampberrys were chasing her."

"His name was Saffron Shine - he said I had to call him Saffy."  Crystal says suddenly  "He just disappeared one day and didn't come back."  she looks sad for a moment and I just stare at her wandering why she hasn't mentioned him before.  I wander if that spirit is the reason why she is not scared of other spirits, from what I saw in her memories he was obviously helping her to fight off the vampberrys when she was a child.  "I forgot about him he left a long time ago!"

"What colour is she supposed to be?  What's her surname? Where was she born?"  Jazz asks me with a very strange expression on his face.

"Amber Meadow and yellow she thinks ... she had a yellow teddy bear with her when she was dumped at the children's home when she was a toddler and she doesn't have any idea about her surname, all she had with the teddy bear was a note saying her name is Crystal."

Jazz has a strange look on his face suddenly as he continues to stare at Crystal.

"We need to clear her memory - we are wasting time - at this rate we won't be able to get you ready in time for tomorrow!"  Jazz says without taking his eyes off Crystal like he is deep in thought for some reason and something is really troubling him about Crystal.

I panic for a moment, not really wanting to clear her memory, this is the part that scares me most her not knowing me anymore and what might happen from here. I'm really scared we won't get this back again and that she might go off in another direction when she has a normal life and not even notice me.

I grab her hand and tell Jazz I need five minutes alone with her first.  He tells me I have only five minutes then someone will come and fetch me.  He also makes me release Maizie from her time out before I leave the room.

We walk out of the room and I take her into a strange side room right next to the living room which does not have a door but an archway leading into it.  I stare at the stone blocks covered in candles and wander what this strange place is.  They almost look like stone coffins.

"This place is creepy ... Tap why are we here with the bad men and bad lady?"  she pulls a face at me  "Is this what Sugar Valley is like because I don't like it!!  It stinks!!" 

I laugh at her for a moment thinking that she probably is struggling with the smell of the vampberry den a lot more than I am with it being her first time here.  I have to explain that this is not what all of Sugar Valley is like.  I tell her that the bad men as she calls them are vampberrys and this is where they live underground and after we leave this place today that we will never have to see them or this place again.

I stare at her for a moment wandering if I should tell her the truth.  Crystal does not have the slightest clue about what is going to happen to her still.  She has no idea that her memories of our time in Rainbow Valley are going to be wiped away and in just a short time she won't even know who I am.

"How did you know about the bad men in the woods and Saffy?"  she asks frowning at me

I just stand and stare at her for a moment not really knowing what to say to her.  She isn't going to understand if I try to explain and in a short time I am only just going to wipe it out of her mind anyway so if I stand here explaining we are only going to be wasting time.  I put my arms around her and start kissing her hoping that I will distract her so that I can avoid answering her question.

I hear a noise behind me but I try to ignore it a little annoyed thinking that one of them have come to fetch us already not giving us any time together.  Suddenly Crystal jumps breaking the kiss and starts to hold me tighter as she is staring over my shoulder.  She starts saying 'bad lady' as she backs up against the wall pulling me with her.  I look over my shoulder in the direction that she is staring and I don't see anyone.

"In the doorway she was watching us, another bad lady with shiny eyes, she went quickly when I looked at her."  she says nervously looking towards the archway. 

"Crystal forget the vampberry it was only Maizie."  I tell her as I try to kiss her again but she stops me by continuing to talk.

"No it wasn't Maizie she was a different vamp thing."  the way she says vamp thing instead of vampberry makes me laugh.

"It can't have been there are only three vampberry who live here, Jazz, Omri and Maizie.  This is where Storm lives and Cosmic the other spirit you saw ... nobody else lives here Crystal so it had to be Maizie!!" 

She carries on shaking her head, but I can't be bothered to start debating with her we are just wasting time that is quickly running out!!

"I love you"  I tell her which is something that I've never said to her before.  She squeals and jumps up into my arms with a big grin on her face.

"Does that mean we can now start doing more than just kissing?"  I frown at her wandering what she means, even though I think I have a petty good idea.  I was not really expecting that reaction from her - I don't know what I was expecting but not a question like that. I ask her what she means.

"You know all that other stuff!"  she giggles and starts blushing.  I think we are both thinking along the same lines but I decide to play her up interested to see how she says it.

"No what other stuff?"

"You know ... naked and horizontal stuff."

I howl at her wandering where she has got that saying from, thinking it can only have come from Storm, and if she even knows what it means.  She starts telling me that she over heard Dad asking River if he's noticed us getting naked and horizontal.  I laugh thinking about my Dad using that saying still.  She said they were talking about me debating on whether I would have learned my lesson after Honey or if I needed another talk on taking precautions. Crystal didn't understand what they were talking about so she asked River and he explained it all to her.

"So what do you know about getting naked and horizontal?"  

I ask her more out of mischief, thinking she still probably doesn't really understand.  She shocks me by saying she's seen it loads of times on the TV in different movies, she knows it's how babies are made and River has explained it all to her.  He's got a book that he's been reading to her and showing her the pictures, he's taught her all about the facts of life.  Where have I been while she's been watching these movies and when this has been going on?!  River has been giving her sex ed and I didn't even know!! 

"So can we start doing it now?"  she asks again which makes me laugh a little but also makes me think that she still does not really get it completely she shouldn't have to ask it should just happen naturally.  Not that it really matters right now ... I know it is not happening for a long time ... after today we have to start over from the beginning again all this is going to be wiped away.  Even worse, I am the one who has got to do it!!

Crystal smiles at me she doesn't seem bother by my silence and that I haven't actually answered her question.  She wraps her arms and legs around me and starts kissing me almost like she's trying to lure me into it right now.  She's never kissed me like this before!!  I get quite lost in the heated making out that we are doing until we are rudely interrupted.

"Tapestry put her down - you've been gone for fifteen minutes Jazz is having kittens in there because you are wasting time.  They think you are up to something you shouldn't be in here!!"  

Cosmic is laughing quite loudly in the archway.  Yeah I guess they would be thinking we are up to something in here.  Only yesterday Dad pulled me up over Honey's pregnancy, somehow, he knows that we planned it - he knows that me and Honey were at it more than once a day to make sure she would be pregnant to stop Sunny from splitting us up and sending her away.  Dad was not impressed with me and the way he was carrying on you would think I am a raving nymphomaniac who just can't help himself.  I'm not so sure why he is getting so worked up about it now - it all went wrong and it's not like I've got babies to look after now is it!?  He's always so bothered about my sex life I think if he has his way I'll never have any children!!  It really doesn't surprise me that he probably thinks that sex is the reason why I brought Crystal in here!!

"No you can tell them we are still fully dressed and we'll be back in a minute!"  he tells me to hurry up and he disappears through the wall back into the living room next door still laughing.

I don't want to but I take Crystal back into the living room, I can't delay wiping her memories any longer ... but I think I know what I am going to do to make myself feel better about doing it.

Back in the living room I sit Crystal back on my lap telling her we are playing the no blinking game again and start staring through her pupils.  I'm not looking forward to this I don't like how it hurts and I am a little worried by what I else I might see. I have already seen enough that has upset me.  I'm also feeling a little uncomfortable with what I'm having to do, it's not only that I'm wiping our time together away but it's also the fact that I am doing this and she doesn't know what I'm doing - it's almost like I'm raping her mind and stealing her memories.

I think I've already decided that I really don't plan to be doing this again if I can help it.  When I leave here tomorrow I want to forget all about the vampberrys, I never plan to come back here so there is really no need for me to be compelling and reading minds.  I doubt that there will be any reason for me to be doing any of this again especially not out in the mortal world.

I get the normal feeling then just wait as I feel it intensifying. I start seeing flashes again and I know that the pictures will soon start appearing again.  When the pictures in my head are not blurred anymore I laugh at what I am seeing. I am watching what we were doing in the next room not too long ago.  I am seeing myself again through her eyes which is always quite a mad feeling.

Suddenly I see a vampberry woman in her mind, she is stood in the doorway for a split second then she moves away quickly.  That must have been the woman that she said she saw and I told her it must have been Maizie.  She was right - there is another vampberry here!!

I am distracted away from the woman as her memories move on and I am watching myself again through her eyes.  We are talking then we start the making out that we were doing before Cosmic  interrupted us.

I can't help but wish that along with being able to see what she sees, I wish that I could also feel what she feels - but I can't.  Then I would know for sure exactly how she feels about me without the constant worry that she doesn't fully understand what is happening with us.  Not that it matters now it will all be gone in a while we will be nothing but strangers again. 

I don't know why but I suddenly remember something that Jazz said - we are both the same so if I can get into her head she should be able to get into my head.  She doesn't have to lose these memories forever even though I am taking them away from her.  I guess maybe in the future when this is far from over I can show her my memories or her's that are now sitting in my head along with mine.

"What is happening Tap?"  Jazz asks me which disturbs my train of thoughts.

"Sorry I got distracted ... I'm in."  I tell Jazz

I listen to what Jazz is telling me to do again and I follow his instructions even though I really don't need to I can now rewind and fast forward her memories quite easily.  I find myself skipping back quite quickly through her mind.  Occasionally something that I see will make me stop and laugh, like the time she tried to take my trousers off because she wanted to see my hairy legs.  I keep rolling back through her mind until I find the part of time that I need.  She is lay there on the bench outside the hospital and she is watching me sat there crying.  I hadn't realized that she had been there all along, she watches me run out of the hospital and sit down on the bench and start to cry, I had just not noticed her already lying on the bench.

I tell Jazz that I am where I need to be the first time that we met.  He explains to me how to go about erasing memories.  He tells me to roll back to just before I appear in her visions and to wipe clean from there up until now.  I have to think about that for a moment - I don't want to wipe myself out completely but I guess I have to, she can never know I've been in Rainbow Valley.  Jazz tells me again how to wipe the memories away so I roll back again to before I walk out of the hospital and start to wipe everything away until there are no pictures left.  I know I'm nearly done when I see us in the next room kissing each other again.

I'm very careful to wipe around and leave intact 1 minute of her memories.  This is Sugar Valley not Rainbow Valley ... so what will it hurt?

"It's all gone."  I tell him when all of the pictures stop and when I look back and the first thing I can see in her memory, after that 1 minute that I've left, is Crystal making her way to the bench and lying down as she watches the people walking past the hospital bench that she is lay on.

"Okay, you can let her go now ... we'll know if you've done it correctly by her reaction to you."  Jazz says laughing and I'm thinking Oh Fudge!  I hope that one minute that I've left doesn't disrupt her not knowing me!!  "Fingers crossed, you've just saved us ten tonne of stress!!"

As soon as I break the eye contact Crystal sits there on my lap staring around in confusion for a few moments.

She looks at me, confusion and terror flashes across her face as she dives quickly off my lap screaming so loudly it feels like my eardrums are about to burst.  She stands right in front of me and continues to scream and looks absolutely terrified.

"Crystal?"  I say to her as she stares at me blankly and in fear.  I try to put my arms around her but she backs away from me quickly.  She does not know me!

"GET AWAY FROM ME!! Who are you ... where am I?"  She screams in my face then tries to run away from me, I'm not sure she has even taken any notice of anyone else in the room at this point.  River calls her name, she stops running and turns her head quickly to look in the direction of his voice.  I see her looking around at everyone else in the room and she just stands there screaming as she starts backing towards the door, sheer terror written all over her face.

"It looks like you have done it Tap!!"  Jazz starts laughing  "She doesn't know any of us does she"  I shake my head miserably.

Crystal tries to bolt then, as she runs towards the door Maizie and Jazz fly at her catching her quickly.  I see Maizie jab a needle into her arm forcefully and she screams then drops to the floor.  I rush over and pick her up as her eyes roll to the back of her head and close as she slips completely under the sedation.  I scowl at Maizie because there was no need for her to hurt Crystal like she did jabbing the needle in with such force!!

I sit down on the couch and hold her in my arms now she's sleeping and calm.  I can feel the tears rolling down my face  just knowing that she doesn't know me anymore really hurting.  Mulberry tries to take her off me but I won't let him take her at first - I don't know where the thought came from but I'm scared suddenly that they are going to lose her and she'll wander off and disappear and I'll never be able to find her again.  Dad shouts at me to let go of her.

Mulberry takes her off me finally and scoops Crystal up into her arms.

"You know what to do Mulberry!!"  Jazz says to him  "You have about half an hour before she wakes up so you need to hurry ... walk into A&E with her say you found her passed out in the park."

I already know what the plan is.  We know that Crystal is going to kick off and scream the place down something stupid once she wakes up and sees people around her that she doesn't know.  Mulberry is going to stay with her and suggest another colourless person might be able to calm her down and he'll phone Affair and Mom who Dad has strategically got together tonight, Affair is watching Mom. We are hoping that Affair and Mom being colourless will calm her down.

Mulberry is to plant the idea into their heads that one of them, preferably my Mother, needs to take her home and look after her because she is colourless, which we know my Mom will fall for.  She in particular will understand the hatred that Crystal has had to suffer out in the coded world because of her lack of colour.

Really there is no need to even involve the hospital, she could be just taken straight round to our house, but if it's done openly with outside witnesses, nobody should go poking around asking too many awkward questions about her sudden appearance out of nowhere at the same time as mine and Rivers reappearance.  Hopefully when we do reconnect, nobody will get suspicious especially not our family of her sudden appearance just as we get back home and we end up together. 

I watch miserably as Mulberry walks out of the room with Crystal.  River puts his arm around me and tells me not to worry and that everything will be fine.  I just hope he is right!!

"So why did you and Dad come back into the room nearly TWO hours after you left both looking like you have been crying??  What is going on River?"  I turn to ask River

"Nothing for you to worry about Tap!!"  I look at him through squinted eyes  "We just sat talking and got carried away that's all!!" 

I shake my head and tell him I don't believe him and demand to know what is going on because I know something is!!!  I know they are hiding something from me and I want to know what!

"Honestly Tap ... I just got a little upset about Ocean mainly and I'm getting nervous, Mosaic, Coral, Parsley, Affair ... you know everyone I was close to before ... I'm scared about how they are going to treat me now they know the truth because of how I've been lying to them for the past two years!!"

"I don't believe you!!  I know there is something fishy going on here!!  You two going awol for two hours and both coming back crying - why are you lot so suddenly scared of me being able to get into everyones heads - are you scared I might see something I shouldn't!?!"  River laughs and tells me to stop being stupid I'm letting my imagination run away with itself ... so he recons, but I'm not convinced by the way he is laughing, almost nervously like he is hiding something and he's struggling to make eye contact with me!! 

"Jazz lied you know there is another vampberry here.  I didn't see the vampberry woman Crystal did, she was stood in the archway watching us when me and Crystal stepped out next door, when I turned round to looks she had gone."  River laughs at me and says it would have just been Maizie that she saw and I know how confused Crystal gets sometimes. 

"Well either you know and are lying to me or they are lying to the both of us!!"  he frowns at me  "I know Crystal wasn't confused and that there is another vampberry woman in this place because I saw her in Crystals memory when I read her mind, she was only there for a second but I saw her for long enough to know it definitely was not Maizie!!"

River just stands staring at me with a peculiar look on his face that I can't read, his mouth flapping like a goldfish.  He's just given himself away big time!!!  We don't get the chance to take our conversation any further because Jazz comes up and interrupts us.

"Right boys are you ready we are seriously running out of time!!"  Jazz stands smiling at the both of us  "It's time to start getting you two ready to go home!!"

While I'm excited about going home ...

I'm dreading what is going to happen between now and then!





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