Hannah Meets Hannah: Part Four

     "Did you really think I was helping you?" growled the Snow Beast. "It was merely a trap to get you all here. I've been after you for a long time, Hannah. Now, you're mine!" He jumped at Hannah. The Usul barely dodged the attack. She got out a bow and arrow and aimed it at the Snow Beast.

     "One more move and I'll fire!" shouted Hannah.

     "Not so fast!" said the Snow Beast. He reached down and scooped up poor Hannah Jewel!

     The red Usul let out a cry for help. "NO!" she shrieked. "Let go of me, you beast!"

     "If you shoot, then I drop the Usul!" roared the Snow Beast. Hannah looked behind her to see a cliff that went down hundreds, maybe thousands of feet.

     "Put her down and I'll put the weapon away!" demanded Hannah.

     "Put away your weapon and I'll let her go," growled the Snow Beast. Hannah slowly lowered her bow. "That's it… Now put it in your backpack!" Hannah proceeded to do so, but she had a mysterious glint in her eye. Just at the last second, Hannah was able to get the arrow in place and fire it at the Snow Beast in less than a second. He growled and dropped Hannah Jewel.

     "Sis!" cried Slushie Jewel as he saw his sister falling down the cliff. It was too late. Hannah Jewel had fallen out of reach. "NO!" Slushie Jewel began sobbing into his paws. "Hannah Jewel… You were too young!"

     Tears filled the gang's eyes as they watched Hannah Jewel fall to her doom.

* * *

     Darkness filled Hannah Jewel's eyes for a few seconds. The darkness lifted, revealing a colorful blur. The blur formed into what seemed like another ice cave.

     "Where am I?" asked Hannah Jewel.

     "Thank goodness you're awake!" came a female voice. Hannah Jewel looked around to see a faerie Zafara walking toward what turned out to be Hannah Jewel's bed. "I was worried! When I saw you fall from that high cliff I didn't think you'd make it!"

     "What happened?" asked Hannah Jewel.

     "Well, I saw you falling from the mountain, and then you hit the ground," replied the Zafara. "You were knocked out cold. Luckily, you just landed in snow, so I figured you'd be okay. By the way, my name's Eliza. What's your name?"

     "Hannah Jewel," replied the red Usul. "How long have I been out?"

     "Only five hours," replied Eliza. "Why?"

     Hannah Jewel didn't answer. Instead, she said, "I need to find my friends! They were at the top of the mountain when I got thrown off!"

     "You mean Hannah, Armin, and your brother, Slushie Jewel?" asked Eliza.

     "How did you know?"

     "I'm psychic. I can read your mind and find the people you're looking for."

     "Where are they?" asked Hannah Jewel as she sat up.

     Eliza sighed sadly. "They're all assuming you're dead. They've given up looking for you and have headed back to Neopia Central."

     "I have to catch them!"

     "Unless we can get a motorboat, which we can't, we'll never catch them in time."

     "Then we have to try and follow them! Whether we catch them in time or not, we need to tell them that I, Hannah Jewel, am alive! Is there any way to get across the sea to Neopia Central from here?"

     "We could take a rowboat, but it'll take a while. We'd need places to stop. We could stop at Roo Island once night falls. Let's go!" Eliza left the cave, with a Red Usul following her.

     * * *

     "I… I can't believe she's… gone," sobbed Hannah. She, Armin, and Slushie Jewel were on the ferry back to Neopia Central. "I could've helped her, but I reacted too slow…"

     "How am I going to break this to Alicia?" asked Slushie Jewel. "She'll be heartbroken."

     "I should've been nicer to her," came a familiar voice behind the group. It was the Cybunny who had been mean to Hannah Jewel. "Why did she have to die?" She began crying into her hands.

     "I… I wish she could come back," cried Armin. "I was going to give her a present after we had left the Ice Caves, but it's too late now…"

     Hannah looked at the roaring sea below. Somehow she felt that things were going to get worse.

     They did. Just as Hannah was getting deeper into her thoughts, a green tentacle reached out and took the Cybunny! More tentacles reached out and grabbed Hannah, Slushie Jewel, and Armin.

     * * *

     Eliza gasped. She felt something very, very wrong. Hannah Jewel's friends were in danger! "Hannah Jewel, we HAVE to hurry!" she cried. "Your friends are in danger! I can feel it!"

     "Great, more bad news to ruin my day," sighed Hannah Jewel. "What's going on?"

     "They've all been snatched away by a green underwater monster!" replied Eliza. "If we hurry, we can save them!" She hopped into the rowboat, followed by Hannah Jewel. The Faerie Zafara began rowing like mad!

     "Why did the monster snatch them away?" asked Hannah Jewel as she steadied herself.

     "They were traveling with Princess Cindy. The monster didn't want anybody to find out where the princess had gone, so he snatched them away, too."

     "Who's Princess Cindy?"

     Eliza rubbed head. "Do you remember that Cybunny who was being REALLY rude to you?" Hannah Jewel nodded. "Well, she's really Princess Cindy. She hates her life at the palace, so she ran away and pretended to be a normal Cybunny with a normal life."

     "Really?" Hannah Jewel whispered.

     Eliza nodded. "Those underwater monsters have been after her for ages. Now that they've got the princess, they want to get rid of all the witnesses."

     "You mean they're going to…" Hannah didn't need to finish her thoughts. Eliza knew just what was going to happen. "How much longer until we reach them.

     Eliza closed her eyes tightly. "We're right above them," she whispered after a few minutes.

     "How are we going to get to them? We can't breathe underwater!"

     "Well, the monster's lair is protected by a permanent air bubble. Once you enter that bubble, you can breathe."

     "But what about the rest of the underwater trip?"

     "Just hold your breath. It's not that far down." Without waiting for a reply from Hannah Jewel, she jumped out of the boat and into the water. Her pinkish-purplish shape soon blurred out, and then disappeared.

     "Eliza!" Hannah Jewel called. She sighed heavily. "Here goes nothing." She took a deep breath and dove into the water. She kept swimming for a little bit when she felt her oxygen supply running low. She blew an air bubble, feeling the need to breathe. Her lungs were burning and her vision blurred. She kept swimming down, down, down…

     Hannah Jewel took a deep breath of air. She was relieved that she had entered the bubble. It looked like an underwater palace surrounded by black dirt. Looking around for Eliza, Hannah Jewel noticed a shining object. She walked to it and picked it up.

     "Look at your beauty," came a voice. Hannah Jewel gasped and looked around. "You're a beautiful Usul, Hannah Jewel. Look at yourself in this mirror. You'll become more beautiful than you ever imagined."

     "I will NEVER look into this mirror," hissed Hannah Jewel. "I'm not falling for any tricks!"

     "Are you sure?" came the voice again. It was closer this time. Hannah Jewel looked behind her to see a yellow Acara with daisy chains in her long hair. "Go on, take a look."

     Hannah Jewel turned away from the mirror. Without a second thought, she threw the mirror on the ground. It landed with a SMASH and shattered to pieces. Hannah Jewel growled and looked at the Acara. "I will NEVER look into any of your mirrors, Vira," the Usul hissed.

     The Acara growled and jumped up into the air. Her yellow fur became dull, and her eyes became red. A black dress appeared on her body as her long hair became black horns. She grew bat wings and a devil's tail. Red nails grew from her fingers as black boots appeared on her feet.

     "So, you've figured out my plan, have you?" hissed Vira. "Very well. Before you get any ideas, I think you'd like to take a look at this!" She snapped her fingers, and a green, octopus-like monster with four eyes dug himself up from the ground. He growled evilly as he revealed what he had is one of his tentacles.

     "Eliza!" Hannah Jewel shrieked. Indeed, the faerie Zafara that was Eliza lay unconscious in the monster's grip. "Let her go, you horrible creature!"

     Vira laughed evilly. "Why would I do something like that? Now that you've both fallen into my trap, there's no escape! I have just what I need."

     "What are you talking about?" demanded Hannah Jewel.

     "I have you, Hannah, Armin, your brother, your little psychic friend, and Princess Cindy," laughed Vira.

     "You're not going to get away with this!"

     Vira closed her eyes and stretched her arms toward Hannah Jewel. The next moment, the red Usul was in a magical bubble. "Look into my mirror," Vira ordered as she held up her mirror. "Look into it!"

     "Never!" screeched Hannah Jewel. She felt her head turning. It was no use. Vira had complete control over her. Her eyes were forced toward the mirror. As her eyes met the object in Vira's hands, she could feel herself changing…

To be continued…