CHAPTER 3
“Okay, class,” Ms. Keane said as she led everyone out of the art exhibit. “We’ll be heading over to the historical exhibit in just a few minutes. After that, we’ll take a break so that you can go have some fun in the fair some more, okay?” The kids all cheered, following behind her as she started off towards the section of the fair with the historical exhibit. I think this was a great idea, she thought, letting the kids get a sample of culture and history while they have fun. It’s a wonderful way for them to learn.
She didn’t get too far, though, because Bubbles and Buttercup flew over a moment later, calling for her attention, “Ms. Keane! Ms. Keane!”
“Yes, girls?” she replied, noting the concern in their expressions and wondering if something wrong happened with Blossom.
Buttercup stopped in front of her and motioned towards the front of the park, saying, “I know this sounds crazy, but you’ve gotta get the class out of the park as soon as you can, okay?”
“It’s important!” Bubbles added.
Ms. Keane looked at them oddly, “Why? What’s the matter?”
“It’s a long story,” Buttercup said. “We just… Blossom just thinks somethin’ bad’s going to happen to you and the class. I dunno if I believe her myself, but better safe then sorry, y’know?”
Looking back at the class, Ms. Keane reluctantly said, “Well, I… I suppose… if it’s for the safety of the class, I mean…“
“Great!” Bubbles shouted, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her in the direction of the front gate, “Let’s go…” Ms. Keane was surprised, but didn’t resist, and watched to make sure the kids were still following her, although they looked even more confused than she did. Blossom thinks something’s going to happen to us? she thought. I hope she can tell me what it is…
* * *
“No, no… rats!” Blossom said, looking around the back of the fortune teller’s hut in hopes that she was around nearby. She didn’t spot any sign of her, and thought furiously, trying to figure out where she might have gone. Is there an employee’s area nearby? If she’s not there, then at least maybe someone there can tell me if they saw her… She gave the area one last glance before flying over to a nearby ride.
It was a merry-go-round, with the ticket salesman out in front… stopping in front of him, she kept her eyes down at the ground so she wouldn’t make eye contact with him, and asked, “Excuse me, sir? Did you see the fortune teller from the hut over there go by recently?”
“Umm…” the man said, scratching his head. “I think so… I don’t know the fortune teller, but yeah, someone kinda dressed up weird like that left the tent and went for the back parking lot…” Blossom didn’t even wait for him to continue, and flew off towards the back of the park. The man, in the meantime, blinked a few times and just shrugged, reaching out to collect the tickets of some people approaching the ride.
It didn’t take Blossom long to find the back parking lot, which was obviously reserved for fairground personnel. As she scanned across the vehicles, it suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea what the lady probably looked like outside of her outfit, and that by now, it was likely that she had driven off already if she had been heading for her car. She began to sweat a little and told herself, Okay, calm down… Maybe you’re making too much of this… maybe this curse doesn’t work outside the park. Maybe everyone will be fine once they leave. But just in case, I’ve got to see if anyone knows where the fortune teller lives. I’m going to talk to her one way or another.
She lowered her head a little and rubbed her forehead, trying to clear her thoughts. The mental images of Bubbles and Buttercup’s deaths were frozen there, in her memory, and she couldn’t stop thinking about them. How can that even happen to us? she wondered. But then, she already knew the answer to that. They were tough, but not invincible. Their skin may be able to withstand acid or lava, or heavy impacts, and had an overall toughness not unlike titanium, but it was still just skin. A heavy enough impact could still hurt them… a strong or sharp enough force could still cause the injury she saw in Buttercup. And as for Bubbles, all three of them still had to breathe, just like everyone else… cut off their air supply, and they were as good as dead.
But the other kids should be okay, with the girls watching them, Blossom thought. Once they’re out of the fair, and all grouped together, they can have an easier time making sure nothing happens to them… As she thought this, a horrible thought struck her, how similar the injuries were in all the classmates when she saw them… the blood drained from her face, and she immediately forgot about the fortune teller for now, rushing off to find the class and cursing herself for not realizing this sooner…
* * *
The school bus pulled out of the parking lot and drove out along the road leading back into Townsville. All of the kids on the side facing the fair pressed their faces up against the glass, watching sadly as the bus distanced itself from the fair grounds. Mitch just sat at his seat with his arms folded and declared, “This is stupid!”
“You know, I’m…” Buttercup said, from her position sitting next to him, “…I’m beginning to think you’re right…”
“Yeah,” Mitch said. “Was this Blossom’s fault? Why’d she want us ta leave?” Instead of answer, Buttercup just huffed once and looked over the back of her seat, out the window, thinking, C’mon, Blossom… where are you? This better not be some kind of big joke… Then again, she hoped with all the fiber of her being that it was just a joke… Blossom seemed so sure that they were going to die, after all…
Bubbles fidgeted nervously from her seat, taking a deep breath every so often just to make sure she could breathe okay. Next to her, Robin said, “What’s happening? What did Blossom say?”
“I don’t… want to say…” Bubbles told her, looking away from her and out of the window, watching as the bus started to cross a bridge. “It’s kinda bad…”
“Scary bad?” Robin asked.
Bubbles
nodded, and said in a small voice, “Yes…”
Robin smiled reassuringly and opened her mouth, about to say something comforting, when a shout from Ms. Keane at the front of the bus overpowered the rest of the conversation going on, although it wasn’t directed at the kids, “Driver, look out!!” The bus immediately swerved to the right, trying to avoid a car that was coming at them, driving partially in their lane, but it turned too sharply, and he started turning back to the left to compensate. The car, in the meantime, struck the rear end of the bus, and the impact caused that end of the bus to spin towards the right side of the road.
Since the driver had already started turning in that same direction, the entire bus skidded, and everyone was thrown against the right side, including Bubbles and Buttercup, since it happened so suddenly. By this time, the cars behind the bus, although they had tried to slow down quickly enough, bumped into it and made matters worse… it finally overturned, crashing down on its right side and sliding another dozen feet before the end of the bus smashed through the railing, leaving it hanging out over the side of the bridge. It finally came to a rest that way, as the traffic grinded to a halt around them.
After the initial shock, Buttercup came back to her senses and pulled herself out from underneath the seat she was pinned beneath, looking around. It was hard to tell where everyone was… some of the kids were visible, caught beneath others or thrown against some of the seats, but a lot of them she couldn’t see, probably trapped beneath something or other.
Making her way to the two closest ones, she pulled them out from beneath the debris, and cringed when she realized that they were injured a lot worse than she had thought, with broken limbs and deep, bleeding cuts. “Bubbles, I need some help over here!” she called out. When she didn’t receive a reply, she called again, “Bubbles?”
There was still no answer, and scooping the kids under her arms, she flew out of one of the open windows above her… she immediately spotted Bubbles near the front of the bus, hovering there and holding Robin under one arm. She was staring at something, and looked as though she was about to burst out crying any moment, her tightly shut mouth wavering.
“Bubbles, are you okay?” Buttercup asked, flying over… and when she did, she saw through the window on the front of the bus, where Bubbles was looking. Ms. Keane was crumpled up against the front inside, and her legs and arms were twisted at unnatural angles… but worst of all, her back must have struck hard against an edge there, because it was bending sharply the wrong way. It was far too obvious from how still she was that she had not survived the crash.
She’s dead, Buttercup thought. She’s dead… and probably some of the kids in the bus are, too…just like Blossom predicted… The more she began to see Blossom’s visions coming true, the colder she felt, knowing that it meant her own death could be just around the corner. The very thought of terrified her, and she vowed silently to herself to do everything she can to avoid it… for now, though, she turned back to Bubbles and said, “C’mon, we’ve gotta get the rest of the kids outta there!”
Bubbles nodded in agreement, even though she didn’t take her eyes off of the front of the bus for a few moments… eventually, she turned away, clenching her eyes shut to avoid a rush of tears, and flew safely to one side to put Robin down. She was about to head for the bus again when she spotted a lick of flame sticking up out of one of the windows… pointing at it, she cried out, “Buttercup! Fire!”
Buttercup saw it, and knew they had to get the kids out of there as fast as they could. She flew inside, holding her breath and squinting to see through the smoke that was now starting to fill the interior of the bus. She heard a cough to one side, and pushed a collapsed seat over to find Mitch beneath it. Grabbing hold of him, she flew outside of the bus and moved a good distance from it, noticing Bubbles now flying into the bus herself to look for survivors.
Buttercup set Mitch down and said, “You all right?”
Mitch coughed a few times, grunting, “Yeah… I think so…” Buttercup nodded and quickly started going back for the bus. She heard some gasping and loud coughing inside, so she started to call out to ask Bubbles if she was going after that one..
An alarm went off in her head… She’s in that smoke-filled bus… she probably can’t breathe in there… and Blossoms said that she’d… Without a moment’s hesitation, she took a deep breath and flew right into the bus through the windows, ignoring the flames that were now growing larger. Sure enough, to her shock, Bubbles had collapsed to the ground, unable to move as her lungs tried unsuccessfully to bring in more air. Her heart pounding now, Buttercup scooped her up and flew her out as fast as she could.
Once they were back in the fresh air, she released her breath and immediately exclaimed, “Bubbles!” There was no answer, so she set her down next to Mitch and watched as her chest moved slightly. She was afraid, and thought, No no, don’t die on me! Don’t die on me, Bubbles, please!
Bubbles finally gave a little cough, and tried to open her eyes a bit before coughing a few more times. Relief surged through Buttercup and she said, “You’re okay! You’ll be fine, Bubbles, just keep breathing, all right?” Bubbles must have heard, because she nodded weakly, before coughing again. Buttercup looked over at Mitch and said, “Keep an eye on her for me!”
“Right!” Mitch agreed, and Buttercup turned to look at the bus again. The flames were now high up from the windows, and she had a sick feeling that it was too late… even if there were any survivors before, there couldn’t be any now. She turned away from Mitch slightly so that he couldn’t see her, and clenched her eyes shut, trying unsuccessfully to keep in her tears.
People began to gather near the accident site now, and there was also the distant sound of ambulances approaching. As Robin walked over to stay close to Mitch and Buttercup, she was crying, and even Mitch looked like he was starting to, as well. Behind them, a trail of pink light became visible in the sky back in the direction of the fair. Buttercup noticed this and looked up at it for a moment, realizing sadly that as big of a blow this was to her, that they couldn’t save most of the class, it was going to be even a bigger blow to Blossom, who had inadvertently caused it in the first place…
* * *
When Blossom spotted the plumes of smoke in the distance, she feared the worse. As she got closer and saw that it was indeed coming from the school bus, her tears began to form a trail in her wake… she felt some relief at spotting Bubbles and Buttercup off to one side, as well as Mitch and Robin, but was filled with sadness as she realized that there weren’t any other survivors standing around. They were all dead in that bus, she knew it even without having to check.
I killed them, she thought to herself, a thought that struck her repeatedly. She descended and landed, looking down in sudden concern at where Bubbles was lying with her eyes closed, but seeing her start to sit up, she knew she was going to be okay for now. Still, she was in shock, and looked at Buttercup, saying, “Buttercup… I…”
“I know,” Buttercup said, without even looking back over at her, eyes fixed on the flames in the bus. “We can beat this thing, though. We have to.”
“I don’t think we can,” Blossom said. “I can’t find the fortune teller… she’s gone… and nothing we do seems to stop these deaths from happening…”
Buttercup pointed over at Bubbles and said, “I stopped hers.”
“What?” Blossom asked.
“She went into the bus while it was on fire,” Buttercup explained. “I had a hunch she might have trouble breathing with all that smoke, and when I went in after her, she was in trouble… if it weren’t for knowing what you saw, I might not have gone in there until… until it was too late…”
“So, you
think…we can prevent them?” Blossom said, stopping to think about it… If we
can prevent the deaths, then there’s still hope…
“Blossom,” Buttercup said instead of answering, “you’ve gotta tell me. How do I die?” Blossom hesitated a bit, and Buttercup added, “I know I said I didn’t wanna know, but if I know what it is, then I can try to avoid it, okay? Please?”
After a moment of silence, Blossom managed to say, “Y-you get… cut in half… across your chest…”
Buttercup shuddered a little at the thought of it. She spoke a bit louder, although Blossom could tell from her voice that she was afraid, “I-I’m not gonna let that happen, all right? I’m not gonna die, and n-neither is Bubbles, or Mitch, or Robin. We’re all gonna w-watch out for each other, a-and make sure of it.”
Robin and Mitch glanced at each other, and focused back on Blossom. Robin asked, “What are you guys talking about? What’s happening to everyone?”
Buttercup told them, “We’ll explain everything, but we gotta get you to safety first. Just trust us, okay?” The two of them nodded, not fully understanding, but also deciding it would be best to go along with what they wanted to do.
Blossom walked over to them and picked them up, one under each arm, saying, “We’re going back to the professor right now. Buttercup, can you carry Bubbles? I don’t want to look at her… if the curse is broken, I don’t want to start it up on her again.”
“Right,” Buttercup agreed, going over and picking up Bubbles in her arms. “Why the professor?”
“I don’t know,” Blossom replied. “Maybe he can help us figure out how to break the curse… or maybe he knows a way we can track that woman down… either way, we need all the help we can get to make it through this.” She started flying in the direction of home, and Buttercup flew right alongside of her. The police and firefighters were arriving, and would undoubtedly have questions to ask, but they didn’t have time for them. Their lives were at stake every moment that they spent looking for an answer…
* * *
The girls stood around in a semi-circle inside the professor’s lab, all except for Bubbles, who was sitting until she could recover a little more. It didn’t take long for the three of them to lay it all out for the professor, Mitch, and Robin. About the fortune teller, about the curse, and about how it was all beginning to come true. Blossom kept her eyes locked onto the ground the entire time, not daring to look at the professor for fear of cursing him the same way. It was a lot to digest for them… after they were done telling them everything, the professor was at a loss for words, finally managing to say, “If this is all true… then…”
“…then they’re going to die,” Blossom said. “But maybe we can stop it. We need that fortune teller, she’ll know how to undo it. Can you think of any way we can find her?”
The professor rubbed his chin and said, “If she’s not at the fair, then she could be anywhere. If we’re lucky, she lives in Townsville, and if she has any sort of criminal record, maybe we can locate where she lives. Did she have any distinctive features?”
“Her face all around her eyes were scarred,” Blossom told him.
“That’ll do,” the professor said, nodding and walking over to a computer off to one side. “I can contact the police department and see if they have anyone on file matching that description.” He sat down and started working at it, typing quickly.
Meanwhile, back by the girls, Mitch shook his head a little, “Are we gonna be all right?”
“I hope so,” Buttercup said. “Just don’t go anywhere without tellin’ us, okay? We’re not letting you out of our sight.”
Robin kept her hands clasped together tightly in front of her, staring at them… she whispered, “…I’m scared…”
“Me too,” Bubbles said, then coughed before continuing, “But as long as we’re together, we’re safe… right?”
“Right,” Buttercup nodded. “I saved you once, I can do it again.”
“You saved me, too,” Mitch pointed out. “So am I free?”
Robin nodded, “And what about me?”
Buttercup shrugged, “I hope so. It’s probably your best shot… but until I know for sure, you’re stayin’ right here.” She looked over at Blossom and said, “Bloss, you don’t look so good, you all right?”
Blossom shook her head. She felt like she was going to throw up… the whole situation was weighing down on her mind and conscience, and made her feel sick to her stomach. She couldn’t take it anymore, and said, “I’ll be right back…” Without any further explanation, she flew out of the lab, and the rest of them watched her go. Bubbles looked like she wanted to follow, but decided it would be better if she stayed with the others.
Upstairs, Blossom went into their bedroom, heading directly for the bathroom attached to it. She stopped by the edge of the toilet and grasped the side, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. After she felt a little better, she grasped her forehead and went over to the sink, picking up a glass next to it and filling it with water. Drinking the contents of the glass, she set it back down and just stared into the sink, watching the water drip from the faucet and trying to sort everything out.
Even if we can stop them from dying the way I saw, she thought, I still can’t just go around looking at anyone ever again. People aren’t as able to defend themselves as we are, and it would be certain death. Will I be stuck like this forever? Will I ever be able to look at anyone safely again? Her eyes filled with tears, and she wiped them, gazing up at her reflection in the mirror. Already she was looking worn out by this, and she knew that the best solution for both everyone else and her own sanity was to find that woman and break the curse…
At that moment, an image flashed into her mind… in horror, she realized that it was her, but she was stretched out, lying on her back and… it was too horrible for her to watch, but it was still forced upon her just like any of the other images. The skin on her torso looked almost like it was torn or burned open, or maybe melted, she couldn’t tell… intestines and other organs were spilling out from her, and blood was dribbling out and pooling beneath. Her head was rolled back, the face was showing such horrible agony, eyes widened to their limits…
Blossom screamed and looked away from her reflection quickly, clenching her eyes shut tightly and covering them with her hands, but she knew it was already too late. She fell back from the mirror, landing on the ground in a heap and shaking violently. Oh god NO!!!! she thought. No no no no no no…