The Vacant Years(Sequel to Along For The Ride)

Chapter 7

"So, what do we do now?" August asks after a few minutes of silence. I prop myself up on one elbow and turn to look at him. "I don't know. Climb the wall?" I say. He slightly laughs. "Yeah..." He says. Then we hear a distant neighing sound. August looks over the couch and I get up off the floor. I look towards the hall, where we heard the noise come from. Then, a minute later, a Nightmare emerges from the dim hallway. How the heck did it get in here?! August jumps up and the Nightmare turns towards us. I grab August's arm. "Don't do anything stupid." I whisper to him. He nods.

Then the Nightmare charges towards us. Well, that plan was a fail. I quickly form a sheild around us. The Nightmare skids to a stop and stares at us. Then it begins circling us. August looks at me, confusion written all over his face. I shrug and sit down. August sits across from me as the Nightmare continues to circle us. "What are we supposed do?" August asks. "I don't know. Just sit here, I guess." I say. August nods. I glance over at the Nightmare, who stops and looks over at me. It's eyes freak me out. I quickly look away.

I look out of the corner of my eye and see the Nightmare walking around us again. Man, I wish Bunny was still here. Maybe I can try to get out through the top of the sheild, just open a hole wide enough for me to get through. Then, I can get rid of the Nightmare and we'll be good. I stand up. "Jess, what are you doing?" August asks me. "I'm gonna try and get rid of the Nightmare." I say, mentally measuring how big the hole should be. August sighs. "Whatever, just...whatever." He says. I stand, ready to fly out of the hole.

I quickly open a large enough hole and fly out. I glance behind me and see the Nightmare charging towards me. I quickly close the hole I opened in the sheild and turn back to the Nightmare. It runs into me and I fall to the ground. I quickly get up as the Nightmare lands a few feet in front of me. Then it runs at me and I run around it to the other side of the room. I head up the stairs and start down the hall. As I approach the corner, I'm suddenly falling. A second later, I land on hard ground. "Jess?" I look to my left and see Bunny.

That's when I realize that I'm in one of his tunnels. "How'd you get here?" He asks me as I get up. "That's not important, okay? Right now, we just need to gert rid of the Nightmare-" "A Nightmare?!" He interrupts. He pushes past me and climbs out of the hole I just fell through. Then, a few seconds later, I hear this, "Ha! That'll teach you not to mess with E. Aster Bunnymund!" I find it strange how Bunny is somewhat amused with all of this. Then, I'm being pulled out of the hole by Bunny. He sets me down just as the hole closes.

Then I remember August. I need to get him out of that sheild. I take off back down the hall and down the stairs. August stands inside the sheild. I make it disappear just as Bunny hops down the stairs to join me. I walk over to the couch and sit down. Bunny follows me and stands next to the couch. August just stands where he was in the first place. "So, can we go back now?" He asks. Bunny looks at him. "No." He says. "But-" "We aren't going back." Bunny tells him. Then August looks over at me, a strange look on his face.

He looks at me for a second, then I realize exactly what he's telling me. The snow globes I found here the last time we were stuck here, there's more of them. I climb over the couch and run towards the hall. Then, I'm falling again. I land on hard ground. I look up and see Bunny looking down at me. "Nice try, Jess." He says. Then he looks up and suddenly, August lands next to me. "I told you we aren't going back. Now, you two are gonna have to stay down there for awhile." "But, why?" August asks. "It's to teach you a lesson, have fun." Bunny says.

Then we're falling again. I look back up and see that we are surrounded by dirt and that the hole we fell through is, like, twelve feet above us. We definitely won't be leaving anytime soon. I look over at August. "Thank you," I say. "Thank you very much." "What did I do?" He asks me. "You gave me the idea, that's what got us down here in the first place," I say. "Plus, the last time I did that, it was three years ago and I got my Guardianship taken away." I can hear the sadness in my own voice that wasn't supposed to be there.

August looks at me, a sad look in his eyes. I avoid his gaze and stare at the ground. He puts a hand on my shoulder. "Jess, I'm so sorry." He says. "Don't be," I say. "It was my fault anyway." He takes his hand off my shoulder and we sit in silence for a few hours. And then, we're suddenly rising up towards the hole. We stop a few feet below it. Bunny looks down at us. "Learn your lesson yet?" He aks. "Yes, now can we get out of here?" August asks. Bunny pulls me out first, then he helps August.

"Now we can go back, if you want." Bunny says. "Of course I want. Now, let's go." I say. Bunny opens another hole, one that'll actually get us somewhere, and we all jump down it. A minute later we land on the floor of the main room in the work shop. I get up. The others are standing around us. Then, I notice something. Jack's not here. "Wh-where's Jack?" I ask, panic setting in. Tooth floats over to me. She puts a hand on my shoulder and says, "North was right. Pitch is stronger than we thought." "What does that mean?" I ask, almost shouting.

"Pitch's power took it's toll on all of us, mostly Jack. He was becoming weaker by the minute. Pitch took the opportunity to...to..." Tooth doesn't finish. I just look at her. She turns away from me and walks away. "He took Jack," North says. "Which made us weaker. He also took Sandy." I feel deprived of air. This can't be happening, not again. "We know where they are, so we can get them back." Tooth says. "We can't wait as long as before. We need to go, right now." Bunny says. I stand completely still, like I'm paralyzed.

"Phil!" North calls. Phil runs past us. A minute later, he comes back and nods to North. The others walk towards the large doors where the sleigh is. I continue to stand there, in that spot. Then, Bunny grabs my arm and, literally, drags me along with him. He picks me up and sets me in the sleigh. He sits next to me and then we're flying through the tunnels. A second later, we're out in the open. North pulls out a snow globe and whispers something to it. He throws it and it becomes a portal. We come out in the large room that the others were standing in when Jack and I left that one room.

I come to my senses quickly and jump out of the sleigh. "Jack!" I shout. Bunny grabs me, stopping me. "Something is wrong." I hear North say. I look back at him just as Bunny lets go of me. "What do you mean?" I ask him, turning around to face him. "They are not here." He tells me.