Clean it Up! WIP

Clean it up!

Ally was angry! No, there was more to her feelings than just that. She was, mad, sad, and extremely frustrated all at the same time. Her siblings had long ago finished cleaning their rooms and had gone outside to play. Meanwhile she had to sit in the middle of a big mess her only companion being the snoozing cat at the end of the bed. With a grunt of defiance Ally threw a group of dirty clothes at the door.

“This is stupid.” she shouted at the pile. Her mother who was passing by just then, stopped and said

“It may be stupid, but it still has to be done. If you had just done it when I first asked you to, it would have been done already.” Ally, waited but her mother said no more. Instead of starting to work, Ally, threw herself on her bed and silently wished she could go to a far away place. Despite all of her wishing she knew that she would be stuck in this room until it magically cleaned itself up. In defeat she sat up on the end of the bed and was about to get down to work when she had a wonderful idea. Quietly she stood, and tiptoed down the hall to David’s room where she retrieved the story about the magic cat. With the pages securely under her arm she stole back to her room to read them. She sat down on her bed propped up with pillows, and gently laid the pages before her. As if by magic, the words carried her imagination away. It was so real that she could almost see, smell, touch, and taste it. As Ally read her eyelids became very heavily, until the weight of them became too much to fight against and she fell fast asleep. After what seemed like mere moments she was awakened by something and sat upright in bed.

"What was that sound?" She pondered but after a moment realized that it was not a sound that had awoken her but, silence. She looked at the night stand it was 4 o’clock just as it had been when she had sat down to read. Confused, Ally glanced around the room. At first nothing, seemed to be out of the ordinary, until, she bent down to clean up the disheveled papers. It was then she grabbed the Fairy clock off the night stand to examine it closer to her surprise, the minuet hand was not moving at all. The clock had stopped completely. She jumped up and followed the power cord to the outlet where she found that it was still receiving juice. With wonder Ally quickly picked up the page that she had been last reading and scanned the text until she found the passage that read.

“I have stopped time in your world so that you can help me in mine.”

Bewildered Ally looked up from the page and to her surprise found that she was not alone anymore. Standing across from her was the most beautiful woman Ally had ever seen. The stranger in the sea green dress just stood there smiling at Ally with her big brown eyes. Like a lighting bolt, Ally was suddenly struck with the realization that there was now someone in her room. She started to back toward the door but tripped over the previously discarded pile of cloths and wounded up in a heap on the floor. When she found her voice she asked.

“Who are you?” She said her voice quivered a little.

”I think that you know who I am child.” the woman said pointing to the pages on the bed. Ally just looked at her and blinked blankly. The woman laughed a deep throaty laugh and clarified.

“Please do not be frighten I am Thunder your brother helped me turn back into a human.” She said holding out her long slender hand. Ally shook her head, scrambled to her feet on her own, and stammered.

“You… You … are just a story, David made up.” Thunder just smiled down at her and waited. After several moments of uncomfortable silence the only thing that Ally could think to say was.

“David is not here he is in the woods with Katherine and Oliver.” Thunder just laughed again. Her laugh was so infectious Ally found herself drawn to it.

“Yes I know." Thunder said and sat down on the end of Ally's bed patting the seat beside her before continuing. "I came here to see you. David told me how clean and organized you are.” She said then stopped talking and frowned down at the mess all around her. Ally gulped guiltily and looked at her hands. Thunder just shrugged and continued unfazed, “You see I have lost my wedding ring and I can not get married without it. I have been so busy lately with matters of state that I have not had a chance to clean anything up. I need you to come to my home, clean it and help me find my ring.” Ally looked from her mess to Thunder and then back again then put her hand on her hip and sneered at Thunder.

"You have got to be kidding. Even if I wanted to come and be your housekeeper, I can not leave until I clean up my own mess." Thunder shook her head, sighed and then raised her arm and snapped her fingers. There was a bright flash of light that filled the room and caused Ally to close her eyes. When she opened them again her room was clean. All of her movies and books were neatly on the shelf. The dirty cloths and David's story were gone. Even the floor looked like it had been vacuumed. She had to do a double take just to make sure that it was real. Ally looked at Thunder and said in amazement.

“Wow! If you can just snap your fingers and clean up any room why do you not just do that in your own castle?”

“I would love to, but I can only use my powers to help someone else I can never use them on myself.” Thunder said impatiently. "Now, I have fixed your dirty room and I have stopped time. Will you please, stop fretting and come help me now? I do not have much time.” Ally looked from Thunder to her room again clearly confused.

“No I will not help you.” Ally said jumping off her bed and stomping her foot. “You are not real! You are just something that David dreamed up and now are now in my nightmare because I was reading his dumb story before I fell asleep. In a little while I will wake up just as David did, and it will be all over. I will still be sitting on my bed in the middle of a big mess.” She was so mad that she threw open the door, and stormed out. On the way down the hall, she passed by the laundry room so she looked in. Her mother was putting the dirty cloths into the washer. Her hand was stopped mid toss and some of the cloths that had already been released hung in the air above the washing machine. Ally was starting to get scared! Was this really happening to her? She went to her dad’s office but he was not there so she went down the hall to the bathroom she found him standing in front of the sink looking at him self in the mirror. He had a funny look on his face and he was pulling his long red beard up over his eyes so that he had busy eyebrows.

Ally asked and touched him on the shoulder he, just stood there staring at himself unblinking in the mirror. Ally looked at his reflection and giggled then snidely said.

“You should not make faces like that. They might get stuck that way.” She went down the hall into the living room. KC their dog was trying get up on the couch for a long nap. She had both of, her front feet up but the back ones were not touching anything. Ally touched her on the back of the neck but she did not move. Unsure what to do next Ally stepped over Matilda and Poppy who were frozen in a tug of war over a sock then headed back to her room. Thunder was sill sitting there on her bed where Ally had left her.

“I guess that I can try to help you.” Ally said with a sigh “After all you did clean up my room." Thunder got up off the bed, and held her hand out to Ally who reluctantly took it. Thunder smiled down at her and said leading her out of the house.

“David said that you would be hard to convince but I never figured it would be this difficult.” Ally looked at her with mild annoyance but followed Thunder out the door and across the field toward the hills behind the house. Soon Ally could not stand it any longer, she turned to Thunder and demanded in her most offended tone.

“When did all of this chatting about me happen? I read David’s entire story there is nothing about me in it. Unless you are counting when I was frozen and you came along and sneezed in my open mouth.” At first, Thunder just smiled down at her remembering but after a bit of silence Thunder casually replied.

“I stopped by David's fort before I came to your room. He told me that you would be the best person for the job, but that it would be hard for me to convince you. You would probably say no. He told me that I would have to wait until you decided for yourself. He also told me that no amount of pleading would help that you would agree eventually and I would just have to be patient.” Thunder continued walking but Ally stopped in her tracks angry again.

“You mean that I was the second pick for this mission that you wanted David but he was too busy to lift a finger to help you so you settled for me.” Ally turned around and was headed back to the house in a huff. Thunder ran after her, grabbed by the hand, and spun her around.

“If you could just, try not being so angry for just a minute and letting me a have a chance to talk to you. I could make you understand that I wanted you from the beginning. I just had to talk David first because I needed his help to convince you that I could exist. You see our world exists along side of yours invisibly unless you believe in it." Thunder took a deep breath, before continuing. "Please don't look at me like that. I know that you have read stories before where the characters were forced believe in what they were seeing and doing in order for it to be real.

When, I first came to you for help you did not believe in me enough to even see me. Please help me! I must get married before the full moon. We live in a magical place that has rules and legends that must be followed or bad things will happen to us. I have given my life to the Eagle Man and we are to be married just as the oracle predicted. If I do not marry him, the spell that David broke will once again be in affect and I will once more be trapped in the magic chest along with all of my friends. It is not only my life that you will be saving it is all of the others as well.” Thunder finished and looked down at Ally who just stood there with her arms across her chest staring back at her.

“How do I know that you are telling me the truth?” Ally said defiantly. Thunder sighed unhappily and turned away she said over her shoulder as she once again made her way down, the path.

“What I have told you is true. I can not force you to do anything that you do not want to. I am going to my kingdom now it is up to you whether or not you choose to help me.” She then disappeared right in front of Ally’s eyes. Ally was so startled that she blindly ran after her screaming

“Wait please stop I believe you.” Just as quickly as she disappeared, Thunder reappeared, and in her haste Ally ran right into her. Thunder wrapped her arms around Ally and she collapsed into the warm embrace and took several deep breaths. Thunder patted her head and hummed into her ear.

“It is OK I understand sweet heart come lets go and find my ring.” Ally just nodded her head in defeat and followed Thunder into the woods. Thunders lead Ally to the small clearing at the base of Sleeping Giant Mountain. Ally had been to this very valley hundreds of times but she had only seen grass and rocks. Afraid that Thunder would disappear again she did not question her this time she just held tight to Thunder's hand and tried believe she was there. Thunder stopped in the middle the field and looked down at Ally. Who, looked up at her wondering what was going to happen next. Thunder said with a smile.

“Well, let us go in.” Ally looked at her dumfounded and asked

“Go in were?” Thunder nodded her head in the direction of the field and said

“There is my castle you have to believe it is there before we can go in.” Ally closed her eyes and took a deep breath and said.

"I wish that there was a castle here." Ally opened one eye but there was nothing in front of her. She was so disappointed that she almost turned tail and ran but instead Thunder put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Ally closed her eyes and with all that, she was worth, said.

“I wish! No, I believe that there is a beautiful castle here and that I am going to enter it and have a wonderful adventure.” When Ally opened up her eyes there before her was a magnificent castle where only green grass had been moments ago. Ally was so surprised that she doubted herself and the castle immediately started to disappear. She gritted her teeth and said

“Now stop that you stupid castle. I told you that I believe in you and I mean it! You better stay solid so that I can get my job done or else.” The castle snapped back into focus and she and Thunder proceeded, into the grand hall. Ally marveled at it all and wondered how such a structure could have remained hidden here for so long without anyone noticing it.

“Are you hungry? Thunder asked “We can go into the kitchen or we can just get right to work.” Ally thought for a moment then said

“I think that we should get right to work because I do not know what this castle plans to do. I do not want it to go disappearing while I am in it.”

“Alright fallow me!” Thunder said as she led Ally up the grand staircase and then to the fifth door on the left. “This is my room please enter but just remember to do so at your own risk as it is a bit of a mess.” Thunder leaned her right shoulder into the door and pushed with all of her might with a grunt of effort the door swung inward to revel a mound of everything. Ally took a step into the room then took a deep breath and plunged into the mess when she surfaced again she said.

“Well I have never seen the likes of this mess in all of my life this could take a while.” Just then, someone no taller than Ally’s knee ran up to Thunder and grabbed her hand he said franticly.

“Ma'am you must come quickly the cook says that if he dose not get the menu for the party right now he is going to quit.”

“Oh dear” exclaimed Thunder she turned to Ally, put some thing in her hand then dashed down the hall, calling behind her “I must deal with this please take Amulet he may be able to help you. Good luck, please ring the bell on the night stand if you need anything!” Ally looked after the fleeing women in wonder a minuet ago she was sitting on her bed grumbling about cleaning up her room witch now looked like a piece of cake in comparison to this. It seemed to Ally, that the entire room had been filled with a large dump truck. With a sigh she waded into the mess and opened up her hand sitting on her palm was a blue green stone surrounded by two squares of gold a small one in the middle and a larger one on the out side. She tilted her head to one side and studied the item in her hand. Now what am I suppose to do with you she thought. Clearing her throat she said “Hello I am Ally I guess that you are the amulet.” To her surprise, the amulet stood up on her hand by spreading the big and little squares apart into a little bipod “Do you have any suggestions on how we are to clean up this mess” Ally said to the amulet. The amulet walked to the end of her fingers and seemed to pear at the mess it shivered as if it was cold then it raced up Ally’s arm on to her shoulder and hid in her long brown hair. “Well you are not much help at all!” Ally said with a chuckle “I guess we will just approach this in the same way that I clean up my room at home we will separate every thing into piles by type then we will put all of the piles away one by one.” The amulet raced out of her hair and back into her palm it danced a little gig then stood at attention. “What did you do that for? Can you help me to get all of this stuff into piles?” Ally asked with hope in her voice. Amulet jumped off her hand like a springboard and into the mess. For along moment nothing happened then just as Ally was about to give up and start cleaning it herself, Amulet burst upwards toward the vaulted ceiling spinning at high rate of speed. This caused a vortex that lifted all of the articles off the floor when the floor was clear and every thing was spinning in the air the amulet stopped spinning. Then it started to dash back and forth as he did everything drop down into to piles of like items. Ally just stood back amazed until everything was sorted into tall piles and amulet collapsed on to the nearest pile of cloths. Running over to it, Ally picked it up “Are you alright?” Ally asked the Amulet only shuttered and fell still. She put it carefully on one of the large pink pillows in the bed then with determination she went to the first pile. It was a pile of just socks. She sat down on the floor and started to separate them by color and size. The more that she sorted the more fun that she started to have she knew that this was going to be a massive job but if she made a game out of it then maybe to would go faster. She looked down at the piles that she had created of the different types socks. There were red ones, yellow ones blue ones, and green ones. She started to chant as she worked

“Red, yellow, blue and green what is in store for me is yet to be seen. Green, yellow, red, and blue for a while, I did not know what to do. Blue red green and yellow that amulet is quite a fellow. Yellow blue green and red this is like no story that I have ever read.” Ally repeated her rime until all of the socks were sorted in to piles by color. She then matched the colors into to pairs. When she was all done, she had one small pink sock, fifty pairs of green socks, thirty pairs of Yellow socks, twenty pairs of blue socks, and ten pairs of red socks. Now that is a plethora of socks. Ally though as she put them all into there own separate drawers. Next, there was a pile of short sleeve shirts that was nearly as tall as the sock pile. She went over to the pile and picked one up she laid it across her front then she folded the right arm into the center when that was done she did the left arm then she put her arm around her waist and bowed forward folding the shirt in half so that the top touched the back. As she did this, she chanted

“First right, then left, finally you take a bow.” Soon all of the sort sleeve shirts were folded into neat piles there were twenty yellow ones, thirty green ones, and five blue ones. There were, also a tiny pink dress that matched the lonely pink sock that she had found in the sock pile. She put these items on the pillow next to Amulet who still seemed to be out of action. Ally made short work of the next pile of pants. After all of them were put in the dresser the only thing left in the pile was a pair of ruffled pink pantaloons this was put next to the dress and the lone sock. She then carefully untangled all of the necklaces and put them on the hooks next to the mirror. Mixed among the necklaces was a small bracelet with little pink roses in a line Ally decided that she would put this item on the bed next to the pink cloths she had found. When this was done she looked around at her progress. There was only one pile left, a large pile of rings. She looked around on the vanity until she found a ring box in the shape of a triangle she sat down and carefully put all of the ninety nine rings into it according to size. Ally was very disappointed that the very the very tip of the box was empty and guessed that it was the spot for the ring that was missing. “This is ridiculous” Ally thought now she was really mad she had just spent the last hour cleaning only to find that the thing that she was suppose to be looking for was not here. “I have to find another way of getting this ring!” Ally said aloud to no one in particular. She looked around at the ring box and then pink dress and booty on the bed then she had a great idea. She stood up and put the box on the vanity and then stood in the middle of the room and closed her eyes took a deep breath and spoke aloud to whoever was controlling this story. “I Ally now imagine that I find the missing ring.” She opened her eyes just a peek but there was nothing changed so she closed her eyes again and repeated herself louder and more forceful this time. “I Ally now imagine that I find the missing ring!” She inhaled a deep breath and held it as she opened her eyes what she saw knocked the breath right out of here it came out in a big whoosh from parted lips sending whistle bouncing off the walls of the large chamber. When the echo of her whistle faded, she looked more closely at the thing that was now in front of her. In the pink pantaloons, dress, and, booty, a little girl no taller then her brother Oliver stood before her. Ally was struck dumb she could not speak or move. The little girl found this to be hilarious and giggled wildly her blond curly hair bounced as she shook and danced in delight. As she spun Ally noticed something shiny on her left hand there on her ring finger was a small (insert birthstone color here) ring with a white gold band that seemed to glow on its own it radiated out through the stone in such a way that it cast a colored light all around the room. This had to be the missing ring Ally was so excited that she almost tripped over herself as she ran toward the little girl. Instead of staying were she was the girl let out a shriek of delight and ran. The pink ruffles flapped as the girl raced around the bed and out the open door. Ally screamed in frustration grabbed the amulet off the pillow and raced after the mysterious girl. This was turning out to be more work than Ally had bargained for. At least Ally now knew were the lost ring was even if it had just had run out the door. As fast, as she could Ally followed the girl out the door when she entered the hall she saw the little girl at the top of the grand staircase. Once again, the little girl let out a shriek of delight and dashed down the stairs. She called back over her shoulder

“Catch me if you can.” Ally ran down the hall toward the stairs when she imagined that she would find the ring she did not think that this is what she had in mind it was just suppose to show up in the ring box. She put on a little more speed as she raced down the stairs hoping that she would not fall. When she reached the bottom she looked around franticly for the girl who was no were to be seen she got scared and spun around very quickly until she became dizzy and had to sit down. Just as quickly, as her rump hit the cold stone step she jumped up again when she heard that giggling terror to her right. Ally dashed after the sound and saw a door close this was no ordinary door it was a massive stone door that was so heavy that Ally had to use both her hands and put all of her weight against it to get it open again just enough for her to squeeze in. She wondered how such a small thing could run so fast and move something so heavy. Then she remembered that the girl had the magic ring this must be what was giving her the advantage. If Ally was to get the ring back in time, she was going to have to outsmart that child the problem was that she would have to figure out some thing really smart and fast. As she went through the door she found herself in a dark hallway Ally put her hand on the wall and rushed blindly forward soon she saw the glow of the ring before her it seemed to be moving slower than before the child must be slightly afraid of the dark. Ally took a deep breath let go of the wall and ran at top speed down the hall soon the hall curved around a corner and came to a dead end if there had not been a candle in a holder Ally would have smacked right into the wall. She stopped short however and spun around where had that child gone. To the right and left of her were massive wooden doors etched with

Roman numerals one and three on the right and two and four on the left each one had a bared window covered by a little door. Ally guessed that this little hallway must be some sort of dungeon. There was a small stool in between doors two and four so Ally grabbed it and went to the door marked I putting the stool down she stood on it and peaked behind the little door. The stall seemed to be empty.

“Any one in there?” she called through the opening there was no answer so she got down and carried the stool across the hall to the door marked II she called once more through the door but got no answer. Either there was no one in these cells or they were not the chatty type. Ally checked III and IV in the same way there was no response out of any of them. What is going on in here? How can a little girl just disappear? Ally really did not want to open up all of these cells and see what might dwell inside. She just wanted to get the ring and go home. I wish I could find that girl Ally thought then with a grunt of frustration, she sat down on the stool and put her head in her hands. Just then the wall at the end of the hall swung outward to reveal a larger chamber that seemed to be a bedroom of some kind. Sitting at a table with a blonde headed ogre dressed in a matching pink outfit was the child she was looking for. A little unnerved by the size of the ogre Ally cautiously edged into the room. Without missing a beat the child looked up and said as if placing an order.

Ally blinked and looked behind her.

"You have got to be kidding!" Ally exclaimed "I am just here to get that ring." The girl and ogre wrinkled their faces, balled their fists, and took a deep breath. Ally held up her hands in defeat.

"OK, you win one tea party for two coming right up." They both instantly smiled and clapped their hands. Ally sighed as she left the dungeon to find the kitchen.

After wandering around the castle for some time Ally came upon a massive swinging door. When she heard someone screaming behind it she almost turned and left but instead she cautiously pushed it open. A large platter came hurling at her, she dropped to the floor and it crashed against the door.

"How do they expect me to make a grand feast in this mess." the chief shouted and threw another plate. After it came to rest, Ally got up on her knees and peeked over the counter. She cleared her throat and braced for impact.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my kitchen?" he demanded. Ally straitened up and asked as politely as she could.

"One tea service for two please." The chief looked at her as if she was an alien. Then he threw his hands in the air and declared.

"If you want tea make it yourself!" He stormed to the nearest door ripped it open, stepped inside and slammed it behind him. Despite wondering why he had just closed himself in what was clearly a broom closet Ally trudged ahead. She took Amulet out of her pocket.

"Hey buddy I know you are still tired but I need your help again." Ammey stood and looked at the mess. The little blue ball in the middle shook left to right.

“Awe, come on I know you can do it you are the all powerful Amulet! I saw what you did to that room upstairs this is nothing compared to that. You don’t have to clean them I just need them organized into piles of like items. Ammey sat motionless for a little while then dived boarded off of Ally’s finger tips again. As before he swirled around causing a vortex that all the items around the room were sucked into then they were placed back down in piles of like items. Ally felt a little like the sorcerers apprentice as she watched the mounds of dishes assemble themselves. There were large stacks of cups, saucers, plates, and mounds of different size pots. As before Ammey lay listlessly on her hand so, she laid him down on a dishtowel out of the way rolled up her sleeves and with a sigh began the daunting task. She started with the cups then moved onto the saucers. She wash, rinsed and placed the dishes in the strainer. When it was full she moved Ammey to the windowsill and dried all the dishes she had washed. Silently she wished Katherine was here to help put them away she didn't wish it too hard though because she knew this silly castle would pluck her from the fort and deposit her in this kitchen leaving the rest of her siblings dumbfounded. Instead she started to sing to pass the time. After finishing all of the simple dishes she started in on the pots and pans. Ally scrubbed, and then scrubbed some more until every muscle in her body ached. Satisfied but not finished, she went to the broom closet and much to the surprise of the chief who hid there got out a mop and broom. When the room was sufficiently swept and moped until it gleamed. Ally returned her tools to the closet. The chief peeked out the door at his immaculate kitchen. A wild look of admiration crossed his face. Speechless he stood there blinking down at her. She looked at him, her mothers words knocking around in her head so loud that she could not help but utter them out loud.

"You know, if you did the dishes as they were dirty and did not let them pile up the task of clean up would not be so daunting." He balled his hand into a fist and stormed out of the broom closet. "I am a chief not a maid." Ally thought for a minute about her own household everyone had a task and a partner to help them. She put her hands on the counter and said.

"If I get you a sue-chief would you make me a tea service for two?" The chief stood blinking his long eye lashes at her again, but after only a moments consideration he nodded." She slapped the counter, grabbed Ammey and ran out of the kitchen in search of Thunder.

Once again Ally searched the castle but found noone, suddenly she rememberd the bell on the nightstand. She hurried up to Thunder's room and snatched the bell giving it a few good rings Ally sat down on the bed to wait a moment later Thunder whooshed into the room.

"Did you find it?" she said holding her hands to her chest in anticipation.

Ally looked at the floor and mumbled. "Yes and no."

"I don't understand." Thunder said confused. Ally told her all about the child and the kitchen. When she finished she was only met by more head shakes. "We don't have a dungen!" Thuner was saying as Ally dashed down the stairs. Sure enough the door she could hardly open before was standing ajar and beond its threshold lay a grand library. Thunder placed a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off