The basement room was eerie and strange. There was a large pit towards the center and Andrew could see nothing but darkness below it. A narrow bridge ran over the pit and connected one side of the basement to the other. All around the room were large crates. He wondered if Scarlet and Madelaine were in any of them. As he walked in, scouring the room madly because he knew they were there somewhere- a slightly familiar voice called out to him. "Andre?"

  To his right, on top of a bunch of crates was a big metal cage hanging from a chain affixed to the ceiling. Inside were Scarlet and Madelaine. 'How cliched,' he thought. They looked as surprised to see him as he looked dumbly up at them. Where was Silver when you needed him?

  From the opposite side of the room, a dark figure made its way across the bridge, While initially a bit apprehensive, Andrew was relieved to see it was that creepy man, Lord Gravis. He surely wouldn't harm him.

  "You! What are you doing here?!" Gravis sputtered.

  "I er, I uh, I came to save them." Andrew pointed at the two in the cage.

  "Why?" came a voice not from Gravis, but from inside the cage. "Go back home!" "We didn't ask you to!"

  It probably wasn't the best time for a confrontation with the witches, but nonetheless Andrew asked, "Are you my cats?"

  The witches looked at each other. Obviously there were more perplexing things than his question. For instance, how did he get there in the first place?

  "I already told you people, I'm not one for sentiments!" Gravis held up his large blaster gun at Andrew. This elicited no response from Scarlet or Madelaine. "You know you can't harm him."

  "Oh I know I can't harm him," smiled Lord Gravis maliciously and Andrew tensed up at the maniacal look on his face. "but I think I'll be good with trying HIM!"

  As Gravis pointed the gun over his head, he turned just in time to see Silver hop into the room. He was on a platform above Andrew and was in perfect range for the shot. Andrew saw his eyes go wide as he registered what was happening and Gravis fired his blaster. Next thing they knew, a loud bang went off, there was a cloud of smoke, and once again the goon was knocked to his feet several feet from where he previously stood. The cage rocked wildly sideways and Madelaine looked irritably from inside it. A chunk of the cage had been melted off.

  Andrew looked back to Silver and sure enough, he was fine. Scarlet towered over him, her eyes wide in shock. "What are you doing here?"

  "Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Silver's plastic smile covered his face. "How've you been, Elaine?" He looked over at Madelaine who was dangling, somewhat surprised, in the cage. "Huh," she said in response.

  "What are you doing? I thought we had a deal! Get back in that cage!" screamed Gravis as he struggled to get in an upright position, but Scarlet looked at him with death in her eyes. "You- You've got some nerve..." she said in a small cold voice, and she flicked her wrist. He flew backwards and hit the wall on the opposite side of the room.

  "You," Scarlet's face displayed a complicated sort of emotion as she looked down at Silver. "Why-? How-? Nevermind that now... you have to get out of here!"

  Silver simply smiled. "But I just-"

  "It's dangerous here! Leave!"

  Silver's face fell for the slightest second. He recovered in the blink of an eye. "I knew you would be difficult so I brought this little bunny rabbit here along. As a hostage." Silver nodded towards Andrew.

  Andrew's breath caught in his throat. Bunny rabbit? Hostage? He thought his purpose was to locate the witches.

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  "How did you- Leave him out of this!"

  "Oh, but I can't do that." Silver crossed his arms. "Either you two come back with me or-" Silver looked at Andrew with an expression that seemed to be an extension of the irritated faces he'd been making at him all this time, "...or I'm leaving him here. Your call, of course."

  Madelaine finally got out of the cage with one elegant hop and floated down next to Scarlet. "We're looking for our master," she said to Silver.

  "Ahh, ol' grammy, eh? And that's why you're getting yourself caught?"

  "They say they have her. That she finally surrendered," Scarlet explained.

  "I see," Silver said, thoughtfully stroking his chin. "But they're definitely lying though."

  Scarlet and Madelaine were taken aback. They exchanged confused looks and then eyed Silver suspiciously. "How do you know?" asked Madelaine.

  "Same way I knew about him, and this place." He shrugged. "It's really the same whether you go with them or come with me. So might as well come with me."

  "And what about Andrew?"

  "What about him?" Silver asked. "I don't really care. We can take him home."

  The witches sighed in unison. "Okay," said Scarlet. They turned towards Lord Gravis, who Andrew had momentarily forgotten was even there. "Sorry, we have to break our deal with you." announced Madelaine. "But you did feed us a bunch of lies after stuffing us in that silly little cage. The hex we put on you will still remain, though, sorry about that. We can't take it off even if we wanted to." He was about to speak when she gave him a dark look which shut him up for good.

  "Just be happy we're leaving without burning everything to the ground this time," said Scarlet.

  "Aw dang," mumbled a dispirited Silver who had probably wanted to see some destruction. "Why were you two in that cage, though? Didn't you go with them of your own free will?"

  "Yes, but that lunatic wanted to do this for presentation's sake for his bosses. Something to do with aesthetics and a promotion. I wasn't really listening. Can we just get out of here now? We're back to square one..." Elaine sounded exasperated.

  "Come on Andre," Scarlet called and Andrew followed them out. No one dared to cross them. The hallway where Andrew parted with Silver moments earlier was scattered with unconscious people. Andrew assumed Silver fired what he planned to burst through the floor with. It lowkey terrified him how not a single person tried their luck with a few shots at them. Hexes aside, they were deathly afraid of Scarlet and Madelaine.

  As they stepped outside, an elevator descended in seconds. Good old Esther. Scarlet and Madelaine hid their surprise well, but Andrew could tell they weren't expecting most of what had been happening. The airship didn't wait for the elevator to rise to the top before it started rising further upwards. So with them dangling in midair inside the elevator, the ship started to fly off. Esther must have really wanted to get out of there.

  When the elevator finally arrived at the top, Andrew wanted to lunge into his corner bean bag. Sure, he wanted to talk and he wanted answers- but he wanted some sleep more than any of that. He'd been giving it a lot of thought the entire elevator ride up. But then he remembered his position there. He had been used. Silver hadn't really needed him. He was just a token to ensure that when he found the witches, he could keep their interest. Andrew was scared he'd fall asleep and they'd just drop him home without giving him any answers. He didn't mind being used as Silver's pawn; he was rather grateful that Silver included him in his grand plan. It worked out for Andrew. But what he absolutely would not have is to be dropped home without any explanation. Then it truly would be a waste of his time and he truly would have been used.

  As they walked inside, Scarlet and Madelaine kept poker faces.

  "We have a lot to talk about, don't we? I'd like you to meet someone though," Silver said. Esther stood in the corner and stared awkwardly at the two witches.

  "Es?!" Scarlet nearly choked.

  "What are- how-?" Elaine couldn't decide on what to ask and then settled for silence.

  Andrew realized that they had just about as many questions rising up as he did.

  "But first things first," said Silver, "Can you do something about those ridiculous faces?"

  The witches took the time to glare at him before exhaling deeply. Their long crooked noses began to straighten and shrink back. Their skins changed shades. The long and dark scraggly hair seeped up more and more until they looked more like them as Andrew had seen in his mind. Silver smiled with satisfaction. "It's been a very long time since I've seen these faces."

  "Is there anything else you would like to request, little Sylvester?" asked Madelaine in a rather contemptuous voice.

  "Nah, I'm good for now, Elaine," Silver responded with goodwill and cheer. "Why don't we all take some rest? There'll be plenty of time for talking later." He looked at Madelaine. "I'm sure you want to know how your mother has been."

  Madelaine bit her lip and her eyes misted over. Complicated emotions manifested on her pretty face.

  "For now, make yourselves at home!" Silver announced cheerfully. "We've got a long way to go so we can take our time catching up!" he looked at Scarlet with a sweet smile but his voice sounded very bitter. "Isn't that right, my dearest big sister?"