Taking Fantasia : A Disney Fanfiction

Chapter 60: The Magic Oven

Chapter 60: The Magic Oven

4 - freaking - a.m.

Chink. Jim finished the last dirty dish. His haggard reflection glared on the sparkling surface as he set down the plate.

He untied his apron and dropped the sponge. Plunk. Greasy bubbles jumped from the suds bucket. Jim groaned. He pulled on his face.

It had been a long night.

Too tired to move and too exhausted to sleep, Jim sat back on his thoughts. His brain was busy as a locomotive and loud as a kettle. Different thoughts buzzed in and out of each other, swarming for his attention. And a solution.

Concern for Wendy nettled his mind the most, with the occasional uneasy sting for Billy Bones, longing pang for Ariel, and blinding anger for Peter.

It was overwhelming. The energy in his brain approximated across his body systems. Unable to contain the energy, Jim stood. The stool tipped over.

Jim's hands shook. He reached for the nearest tool he could find. A screw driver. Slouching next to an oven, he started picking apart a broken blender.

His hands came to life. Nimble and swift, they operated with minds of their own, flying flawlessly over the gaskets, couplings, and springs.

And as he tinkered, Jim's mind quieted. Peacefully, he began to reassemble the parts into nothing in particular.

Then, calmed, Jim concentrated on Wendy. He closed his eyes, willing himself to solve her problems. Wryly, he wished life was a broken appliance that he could fix with a little logic and an hour of quiet tinkering.

Jim sighed. He looked down at his construction.

He was intrigued, despite having tinkered the device.

It was a hand guard. A skeletal glove, attached by a line of five rings around the fingers and a bracelet around the wrist. Jim hunched over.

He'd made it with Wendy in mind. Something she could wear to store the needle and thread. It was a whim: but if he could just weld a plate, spindle, and some sort of pulley system...she could use it as a weapon.

Jim yawned. He remembered Headmaster Mickey saying something about Wendy being pushed to far.

"Yeah." Jim mumbled, closing his eyes and leaning against the oven. "That'll happen."

Suddenly, Jim's eyes popped open.

The oven was...hot.

Sitting up, Jim turned. The oven was off. He turned again. It wasn't even plugged into the socket!

Frowning, Jim walked around the oven. Quickly, he slapped the stove top. It was cool.

Slowly, Jim knelt. The heat was coming from inside. Within the oven itself.

Jim looked around. After leaving Wendy's doorstep, he'd hoped that Silver would be in the kitchens. For advice. But the cyborg was not here. He was alone. Jim grunted. With a freaking magical oven that was running a temperature.

Magical...

Jim stared at his reflection in the glass door. Carefully, he unhinged the frame. He opened the door. Thick heat wafted through his hair. It was as if the oven was breathing.

Jim waited, inhaling waves of heat.

Then, he reached a hand into the chamber.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHH!"

Jim lurched backwards. Fleetingly, he glimpsed a black, bottomless pit inside the oven before landing flat on his back.