Keeper of the Wand

The Truth of the Necklace

Hey guys! So I forgot one picture to put on here from the contest and I'm super sorry about that. But this last but certainly not least picture is from Coraline Cipher. Although it's not colored in, the detail is amazing! I bet this took a while to do. I love the idea and detail to it! Great work Coraline Cipher! Check her out on Quotev! So here's the next chapter you all have been waiting for.

-Rose's POV-

After finally getting the poor squirrel out of Lobster claws, and bandaging the poor thing, it ran off. Marco thought it would be better if we went a walk around the neighborhood. As we walked, Marco turned to Lobster Claws, saying, "Okay Lobster Claws. The key to being good is 'do unto others as you'd have them do to you'"

"Simple enough," I said, as a bicyclist turned the corner and started riding his bike towards us. We all watched Lobster Claws. He noticed the biker and, when the biker was close enough, he punched him. "Like that?" he asked, looking at us. I glanced at Marco; this was going south very quickly.

"Actually, that's one hundred percent wrong and you want to do the opposite," he said, laughing nervously, "Now go apologize."

"That's all right!" we heard. We turned and looked and saw that the bicyclist had landed what looked like a very uncomfortable position on a sprinkler. "I landed on a sprinkler."

Lobster Claws looked and said, turning back to us, "This is too hard! I'm never going to get this."

"Yeah," Star said, "You should just give up."

"Star!" I said, scolding her. Although now I was starting to see Star's point. Marco laughed and said, "Don't listen to her. Next time, when you get the urge to punch somebody, just imagine how it would feel if it happened to you."

Lobster Claws stood their for a second. He suddenly raised his fist over my head and said, "I got the urge!" I braced myself for the punch, but it never came. When I looked, Lobster Claws had lowered his claw, saying, "Wow, that would've totally hurt."

I sighed, relieved I didn't have to worry about another bruise today. We contented walking down the sidewalk, when we heard crying. We found the source coming from a little girl, who was standing by a tree. I bent down to talk to her at her level.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked softly.

"My kitty's stuck in the twee," she said, pointing up. We looked up and there was a small cat, clinging for dear life on a branch high up. I was about ready to climb the tree, when Marco said, "Lobster Claws, this is your chance."

"Uh, Marco," I said, "Are you sure?"

"Don't tell me your doubting me."

"It's just, this is sort of a big step for Lobster Claws." Lobster Claws then walked over to the tree and climbed up the tree. He picked up the cat, as the girl said, "Careful with Mr. Mittens!"

Lobster Claws came down and held the cat out to the girl, saying, "Ta-Da!"

The little girl took "Mr. Mittens" from Lobster Claws, saying, "Thank you so much, Mr. Lobster Man."

I sighed, "That went a lot better then I thought."

"See?" Marco said, "I knew there was some good in him." Just the, we heard cat screeching and when we looked, we all yelp in shock. Lobster Claws was trying to eat Mr. Mittens. Marco quickly got Mr. Mittens out of Lobster Claws, and turned to us. My opinion on this plan was starting to change very quickly. Star on the other hand, said, "Now do you see what we are dealing with here?!"

"Mr. Mittens is fine," Marco said, "No harm no fo-" he stopped short when he turned around. We all screamed; Lobster claws was trying to eat the little girl. I tackled lobster Claws, making him spit the girl out. Marco caught her and put her down. Star gave her Ms. Mittens and she ran off screaming. We all quickly walked around the corner, continuing our walk.

Marco sighed and said to Lobster Claws, "Okay, that was my fault. I assumed you knew this but...you can't eat little children."

"Really? Not even the annoying ones?" he asked.

"Never," I said, although I could see his point about the annoying ones. Suddenly, we heard a woman screaming for help. We ran down a bit further, and saw a house on fire. There was a woman standing outside, her clothes singed from the flames and her hair blown back by the heat. She cried, "Help me! My baby is still inside!"

"Baby!?" We all said, shocked. Suddenly, I noticed piano music was being played. "Does anybody else hear that?" I asked, just as Lobster Claws ran into the burning building. I looked at Star, "Star, we can use some magic now."

"How about from both of us," she said, extending her hand. I smiled and took her hand, and we both said, "Cotton Candy Fire extinguish!"

The same surge of power filled me, and was released through the spell. The fire was extinguished and the lady ran inside her house. I let go of Star's hand and commented, "I'm never going to get used to that feeling."

Star nodded, understanding what I meant. The three of us ran inside and noticed that the "baby" that the woman was talking about, was her grand piano. "I was wondering where the piano music was coming from," I commented/ Marco nodded and Star said, "Uh, Where's Lobster Claws?"

We all looked around and soon found a hole in the shape of Lobster claws in the back of the house. We all ran towards it and saw that Lobster Claws was eating all of the ice cream from an Ice Cream cart.

"Well," Marco said, "He's not eating humans. That's a step forward." I nodded, but couldn't help but starting to side with Star on this whole issue. We managed to get Lobster Claws and decided to head into town. Once there, we came to an intersection, where an old lady was slowly crossing the street. I glanced nervously at Marco, "You sure about this?" I asked.

"He'll be fine," he said, "Lobster Claws. Here's an easy one. Help the old lady cross the street."

Lobster Claws walked over to the old lady and said, "Let me help you ma'am."

Marco turned to us, "I think he's getting the hang of this."

"Okay," said Star, who seemed to be slightly convinced, "Well, I'm not taking my eyes off him for one sec-" Something exploded behind us and when we turned, everything was in chaos. The old lady was trying quickly to get away from Lobster Claws, who was holding a car above his head. Flames were everywhere, and the bicyclist from earlier was riding around, his helmet on fire, yelling, "Where's a sprinkler?!"

I did a face palm; yeah, this plan isn't going to work.

-Time Skip!-

"That could've gone worse," I commented, as Marco turned off the news from what happened earlier today. Star, Marco, Lobster Claws and I were sitting in the living room, watching the news. Marco had just turned it off, so that Lobster Claws wouldn't have to watch anymore of it. He laughed nervously and said, "Yeah, you know how the news likes to sensationalizes things. I still believe you can be good. but until then, I"m going to find rubber bands for your claws."

As he walked by, Star was about to say something but Marco said, "Save it." He walked up the stairs and Star looked at me, "Okay, NOW do you agree with me?"

"alright, alright, I do," I said, admitting that she was right for once.

"Why is being good so hard?" Lobster Claws said.

"The problem is Marco is trying to make you something you're not," Star said, "You're vile, repulsive monster. Why fight it?"

"Yeah," Lobster Claws said, "I am repulsive. I shouldn't be helping humans. I should be hurting them. You two in particular."

"And I wish I could get back to smashing your face. Maybe there's a way we can both get what we want."

"Wait a minute," I said, "If we're going to get Lobster Claws' job back, we need to do it right. And I got a plan."

-Time Skip! (again)-

I was sitting under on a tree branch in the backyard, doodling a random picture of a bird in my sketch book, waiting for Ludo's army. The plan was that Star was going to lure them here by pretending to be asleep. When I see the portal open, I was going to take a piece of glass and shine it in Star's eye, letting her know to wake up. Just then, I heard the sound of a portal opening and when I looked, Ludo and his army were walking across the lawn towards Star. I picked up the piece of glass and shined it in Star's eye. She instantly woke up, ready to fight them. I placed my sketchbook down and jumped out of the tree, getting ready to fight myself.

Just then, I noticed Marco running outside. He runs over to me asking, "They're back?!"

"It's part of the plan," I said, hitting chicken monster, "We're going to let Lobster Claws beat Star up so he can get his job back."

"That's crazy!" Just then, Lobster Claws jumped over the wall that he was hiding behind and starts "fighting" star. I smiled, standing back and watching this. "See?" I said, looking at Marco, "All according to plan."

Star then falls to the ground, admitting defeat. Suddenly, Lobster Claws grabs Star's wand. My heart dropped; oh no.

"Lobster Claws, no!" I screamed, running at him to grab it. He swung his tail and sent me flying into the wall. I fell to the ground, moaning in pain. Marco ran over, "Are you okay?!"

"This is bad, REALLY bad," I said, watching Lobster Claws.

"Why?!"

"Whoever possesses the wand, also gets the power of whoever is wearing the necklace. Whether it be sister with sister, or" I swallowed, my voice shaking a little as I said, "o-or with slave and master."

Marco's eyes grew wide, and mine did too as I watched Lobster Claws. The wand changed from the purple wand with white wings, to a dark purple wand with black thorns. Lobster Claws eyes started to change too, as he said, "What's...happening....to me?!"

Rocks and the little squirrel from earlier start levitating off the ground. but I was paying more attention to my necklace. I looked down and saw that is had changed color from a minty bright green, to a midnight black. I went to unclip the necklace, but suddenly, black veins shot from the star and started spreading through out my body, turning my veins black. I screamed and collapsed to the ground.

"Rose!" Marco yelled, crouching next to me. I curled into a ball, trying to ease the pain coursing through me. Suddenly, as quickly as it came, it left. I looked down and saw that the black veins were gone and my star was now red instead of black. I looked at Lobster Claws; Star was trying to convince him to be good. But Ludo was trying to convince him to be evil. Overtime Star was getting the upper hand, the black veins went away and the star was red. But every time Ludo was getting the upper hand, the star was black and the black veins were back, along with the pain.

It was back and forth between no pain, and excruciating pain. Tears were streaming down my cheeks and Marco was calling my name. The pain was becoming unbearable and I screamed again, holding myself and trying to curl tighter into a ball.

"Rose!" Marco yelled again, taking one of my hands. I slowly looked up at him and said, barely above a whisper, "Please make it stop."

Marco looked at me, shock and understanding in his eyes. The pain came back in full blow, and I tore my hand away from his, trying to hold myself. "MAKE IT STOP!" I screamed again, just wanting the pain to stop. Marco quickly got up and kicked Star's wand out of Lobster Claws hands. Star caught it, and it returned to normal. When that happened, so did my necklace. I uncurled and lied on the ground, feeling weak. My sight went hazy and I blacked out.

-Time skip! (again...)-

"Rose, please wake up."

"Marco, do you think she'll be okay?"

"She has to be! She can't be-" I shifted a little and slowly opened my eyes, making Marco stopped short from what he was saying. I looked and saw that Star and Marco were right by me. I also noticed I was lying on Star's bed, not mine. I moaned and slowly sat up, "Wh-what happened?"

"After you passed out," Star said, "Lobster claws got his job back."

I smiled, "At least that wasn't all for nothing."

"How are you feeling?" Marco asked. I was about to say something but then I felt my lunch coming up. I quickly got up and ran for the bathroom. Once I had taken care of that, I came back and sat on Star's bed, feeling even more weak then before. "I feel a lot better then earlier," I said.

"What happened?" Star asked.

"When...the wand fall into the wrong hands, so does the necklace," I said, "So when Lobster claws was evil, I was becoming evil myself. when he was becoming good, so was I."

"What...did it feel like?" I looked at Star, and said, "It felt like a deadly poison. It felt like something sickly was taking over me. It was the worst pain I've ever felt."

Nobody said anything for a bit, until Star said, "I'm going to go get an ice pack for you Rose. I'll be right back." She left, leaving Marco and I in Star's room. He looked at me, "Maybe you should take the necklace off."

I nodded, "I couldn't agree more with you." I reached to the back of my neck to grab the clasp, but something wasn't right. I started to panic and felt around the chain. "Marco," I said, "Please tell me you can see a metal clasp for the necklace." I lifted my hair for him to see, and when he didn't respond, I knew the answer.

"Get me a pair of scissors. Earth scissors," I said, trying to think of ways to get this necklace off. Marco ran out of the room and was back in a minute with regular earth scissors. I took the scissors and went to cut the chain, but that didn't work. I tried pulling the necklace off my head, but the chain was too small. I quickly got up and started looking for other things to get my necklace off.

"Rose," Marco said. I ignored him and kept looking for something sharp.

"Rose!" he said, trying to get my attention. I went to grab the earth scissors again, but Marco grabbed my hand, turning me towards him. "Rose. You know it's not going to work," he said, his voice sounding sad.

I looked at him, and the truth hit me hard. Tears welled up and spilled from my eyes. A sob escaped from my lips, and I couldn't stop. Marco pulled me into him, and I hugged him like he was the only thing keeping me from sinking any farther into sadness. My knees buckled and I knelt on the floor. Marco knelt on the floor also, still holding me close. I just kept crying, the realization of the necklace in plain sight.

This necklace is not only a blessing but a curse as well.

......

That's one way to look at the necklace. But there are still some unanswered questions about it. Hope you guys liked the chapter and I'll try to update ASAP. :)