Page 26 of Poltergeists & Change of Life

The severed magic dissipated with a hiss that sounded disturbingly like a scream.

"Thanks," I muttered, my heart pounding. "Guess this really is the world's most complicated game of magical Operation. Except instead of a buzzer, we get... what? Eternal damnation? Spontaneous combustion?"

“Let's not find out, shall we?”Tarja's voice was dry in our minds. “Now, focus on that golden thread to your left. It seems to be a key component of the time loop. If we can isolate it...”

We pressed on, each of us acutely aware that one wrong move could potentially end not just us, but our entire family. As we worked, the magical knot slowly began to untangle. It revealed layers of curses and enchantments more complex than anything I'd ever encountered. It was like peeling an onion, with each layer booby-trapped and potentially world-ending.

Finally, Tarja dropped her head to her front paws. "It's done. You've mapped out the curse structure."

I leaned in, trying to make sense of the floating diagram. "So... what does it all mean?"

“It means we're dealing with something far more complex than we initially thought,”Tarja's voice echoed in our minds, her tone grave. “The locket isn't just cursed. It's a nexus point forall seven objects. Breaking its curse incorrectly could trigger a cascade effect, activating all the others simultaneously.

"And that would be bad," I guessed.

"Bad?" Nana cackled. "Girl, that would make the apocalypse look like a Sunday picnic."

"So how do we free Stella without, you know, ending the world?" I asked.

And that's when the brainstorming session from hell began. We spent the next few hours tossing around ideas, each one more outlandish than the last. Nana suggested we try to "out-curse the curse" by layering on so many minor hexes that the original curse would get confused and give up. We tried it. Result? The locket started singing show tunes. Badly. And Stella was still stuck.

Aidon thought we could create a magical siphon to drain the curse's energy. We gave it a shot. For a brief, glorious moment, it seemed to be working. Then, the siphon overloaded and turned every piece of furniture in the room into gelatin. Do you know how hard it was to sit on a Jell-o couch? Not comfortable, let me tell you.

In a moment of sleep-deprived genius, I suggested we try to reason with the curse. You know, appeal to its better nature. Turns out, curses don't have better natures. Or a sense of humor. Or any interest in my impassioned speech about friendship and the power of love. Who knew?

We tried everything. Magical tuning forks. Cursed object feng shui. A particularly energetic interpretive dance that I was pretty sure violated several laws of physics and good taste. Nothing worked. Stella remained stubbornly stuck in her loop, and we were no closer to a solution.

As the sun began to set and cast long shadows across our gelatin-furniture-filled living room, despair settled in. We were out of ideas, out of energy, and dangerously close to beingout of hope. "Maybe," I said in a small voice, "maybe we're approaching this all wrong. We've been trying to break the curse, to overpower it. But what if... what if we need to work with it instead?"

Aidon looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "What do you mean?"

I gestured to Stella, still frozen mid-reach. "The curse trapped her in a loop, right? So instead of trying to break the loop, what if we try to... I don't know, extend it? Give her more time?"

“That’s an interesting idea,”Tarja mused. “If we could manipulate the temporal aspect of the curse, we might be able to give Stella enough awareness to break free from within.”

Mom's eyes narrowed. "Promising start. Go on."

"Well," I continued, warming to my idea, "if we could somehow stretch the loop from five seconds to, say, five minutes, it might give Stella enough time to find a way to break free from the inside. We will tell her what’s happening to make her aware she needs to do something, of course."

There was a moment of silence as everyone considered this. Then, slowly, Nana began to grin. "You know what, kiddo? That's just crazy enough to work."

And so began attempt number... well, I'd lost count at this point. This time felt different. Not only were we trying to negotiate with the curse, we weren’t acting out of desperation. Nana and Mom worked together to modify the diagnostic circle, while Tarja and I prepared a new set of incantations. It was a delicate balance, trying to influence the curse without triggering its defensive measures.

Once we settled on the approach to take and I began, I felt a familiar tingle in my fingertips. The babies’ magic was stirring. I placed a hand on my swollen belly, sending a silent prayerto whatever higher powers might be listening. Please, don't let them start another storm. This had to work.

The chant flowed from my tongue along with my magic. The air around Stella began to shimmer and distort. Ten seconds later, it became clear that the familiar five-second loop had stretched like taffy. We watched, hardly daring to breathe, as seconds ticked by. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. And more.

Selene and Nina started shouting at Stella about her predicament and her need to break free while I concentrated on my intent so the loop didn’t shrink. It might have been unnecessary, but I was taking no chances with my best friend. And then, miracle of miracles, Stella blinked. Really blinked, not the mechanical motion we'd seen a thousand times before. Her eyes widened, darting around the room in confusion.

"Wha- what's going on?" she asked, her voice hoarse. "Why are you all staring at me? And why is the furniture made of Jell-o?"

I let out a laugh that was half-sob, half-hysteria. "Stella! You're back!"

As we rushed to fill her in on what had happened, a swell of pride filled me. We'd done it. Against all odds, we'd found a way to beat the curse. Or at least negotiate a temporary truce. As the initial euphoria faded, reality set back in. We'd won this battle, but the war was far from over. The one thing that had become clear through this process was that we had six more cursed objects to deal with. And a power-hungry witch to stop.

“Well done, all of you,”Tarja praised. “But remember, there is more to do. We've bought ourselves some time, but Lyra's still out there. And those cursed objects won't neutralize themselves.”

We might be out of our depth. We might be facing odds that would make Vegas bookies weep. But we had something Lyra and her curses didn't: each other. And if there's one thing I'velearned in this crazy, magic-filled life of mine, it's that together, we could face anything. Even if "anything" involved Jell-o furniture and time loops.

---