ralph was now very fearful of what natacha could do. she turned kids into miniature statues with no speck of life. that was too scary.
" I used to love writing scary stories, but them I decided to stop and now that I have to write , the ideas won't come to me anymore.". he looked at the miniature children and felt weird. " did one wear a watch "
" yeah a big blue plastic one " asmien replied surprised by Ralph's question.
" and clerr'r those earrings on her those ear rings ?" ralph asked about a pair of earrings on one of the miniature children's ears
" they were her aunt's why do you ask ?"
" there's a way out of this place "
Ralph brought out the first book he found with a purple pen writing on it and read it to asmien " I have what I need to escape tonight,. I'm finally going to see mom and dad , will they still remember me , do people forget their kids ? ,. ". he pointed to a drawing depicting a girl In a unicorn. " the unicorn girl never took this off, and none of the kids in the cabinet are wearing it. "
". you're right and she's not in the cabinet.."
" then she did it , she escaped ,. I.. I've been piecing the other of her notes and she hid them throughout the other books so natacha wouldn't know her plan. "
" ok so what's your plan?" " see....."
" your plan sucks, you're not gonna find this today, you need to right a story for tonight. like right now. ". asmien said as she scrolled through a book really fast and jumps to another, she and ralph did that over and over searching for the purple pen writing, it'll take like a thousand years to search all these books . " we can't find anything here it'll take like a thousand years to search all these books"
" a thousand years... a thousand year old book. the pen marks and the old books. " ralph said looking upward the shelves. a moment later he called on monlar the library attendant to take them up to the top area
when he got there he reached out for a book and started a scrolling through the pages " come on , come on it's got to be here "
" this is the original hussling grittle , grims fairy tales ... that's totally unrealistic no one would just eat candy off. off a strange house " asmien said discouraging ralph about what he was doing
but ralph still kept his resolve he still searched for the purple pen writing, and soon he found something" I was right, more writing". ralph found the purple pen writing but this time it wasn't in the usual form this time it was a bunch of items listed proportionally
" it's a recipe for a sleeping potion" asmien had spent a long time with natacha making different kinds of potion and she could easily confirm what was there
ralph checked out the item but couldn't even pronounce some of them so he skipped that part and went straight to the bottom and read " it smells awful, I need to figure out a way to hide the stink so she'll drink it. I'm so close I'll put her to sleep and steal her keys . I wish I had magic I'd turn her into a toad.or a snail and laugh at her all daylong. and then I will turn her into a centipede and rip off her legs ... all hundred legs one at a time ! " and there the writing was brought to an end, ralph looked through the book for anymore writing but found none
asmien looked at ralph and said " I'll keep looking, you have to write a story "
" I don't think I can "
" you're the only one who can , you've got to buy us more time ".
" you don't think I'm weird ? , that .. that I write scary stories ".
" weird ? .. who called you that ? ... ". ralph felt happy about that until she continued.
" well they're right you are weird... I mean look at you , the thing that makes you weird are the things that separates you from the ordinary , no one likes to be ordinary, ordinary sucks.. so ordinary people are going to try to take that away from you . they call you names like ' try hard' or '
" or creep shell " ralph cut in to asmien's words
" yeah , or creep shell"
" thanks asmien "
" but you have to write "
" do you have these ingredients? "
" yeah, yeah I do , but she's right suckle weed stinks, how did she mask the smell"
" she must have found another ingredient," ralph replied
" the only other person who would know is natacha , and she'll never tell us " asmien said disappointed
ralph thought for a while before saying" I have an idea ,I could write a story to trick her into giving us the final ingredient of the sleeping potion."
" you know what happens if she finds out what we're up to, right?" asmien asked worriedly
" I know what happens if you don't try"
......
" not that one, you're happy with that one , I don't like you happy... I want a story that'll make you squirm!! "
ralph was sitting on his usual stool while trying to read a book he wrote to trick natacha into giving them the last ingredient for the sleeping potion but it seemed natacha saw right through him,. " here's a story I want, why burn your stories, "
" emm'"
" oh you thought I forgot about that didn't you ?"
" I'. i'. I was"
bang""
asmien dropped a tray full of bids that looked like eyeballs
.. she was trying to distract natacha " I'm sorry.. I.. I was just stupid"
" yes you are' I've only been saying that for years now you get it ". natacha said with no flicker of emotion
she turned to ralph " now where was I ?"
" you were about to tell me to start reading"
" well about that what are you waiting for? get on with it "
this was Ralph's chance he was going to trick her into giving them the last ingredient to complete the sleeping potion so they could escape.