Chapter 3- Ari's New Trick

"So slave, tell me about the pathetic town of Tenel." Stan ordered. Ari sighed. There wasn't really that much to tell but…

"Tenel has a population of about forty-five. It's a quiet, peaceful village. Nothing ever happens there." Ari explained.

"Hmph! I'll be glad when I wipe it off the map. Continue on slave, don't wait around!" Stan snapped.

Ari obeyed and continued down the path to the town. It was surprisingly quiet outside, no birds chirping or bugs buzzing. Ari began to feel uneasy. Something was waiting around the corner. A ghost, a madman, or maybe even…

"ARI!"

Ari let out a scream. She turned around to see one of the guys from the village.

"Sorry if I scared you Ari. But your dad's been going around telling everybody you can do a cool new trick!" the guy smiled brightly.

Stan nearly leapt out of the shadow. "A new trick? Slave why didn't you tell me?" he sounded excited.

"Wow! Cool!" the guy marveled. "That's so awesome! I'm gonna tell all my friends about this!" With that he ran off.

"Huh, I don't get it." Stan was disappointed. Pouting he went back into the shadow.

Ari blushed seven shades of red and put her head in her hands. How could her dad do this to her? He knew she hated attention so why was he telling everybody in town about Stan?

Ari pondered this as she drudged toward the town. Everything had happened so fast. Annie, the ghost, James, the contest, Stan…it was all just one big blur in Ari's mind. Yesterday she was just a normal girl living a quiet, peaceful life but now she was the servant and slave of her shadow who looked like her old, deranged teddy bear.

"God, this sucks." She sighed.

Suddenly Ari saw something out of the corner of her eye. She looked to see an old woman crying. Ari walked over to the old woman.

"Can you help me?" the woman sobbed. "My hat got stuck up in this tree. It was the last gift my late husband gave to me. I don't know what I'll do if I lose it."

Ari looked up. Sure enough, there was a hat caught on the end of a branch.

Stan popped out from the shadow. "I think it's time for a demonstration of my powers. Now watch slave as I terrify this old windbag with my elasticity!"

Ari watched as Stan stretched himself up to the tree and grabbed the hat. He shrank back down and tossed the hat at the old woman. She stood gaping at Stan.

"See girl, this old woman is stunned speechless by my malevolent powers." Stan gloated. "Now hurry on…"

"Are you an angel?" the old woman interrupted.

"NO! I'm the master of darkness and…" Stan steamed.

"You must be sent from God!" the old woman smiled.

"GET IT THROUGH YOUR PUNY, INSIGNIFICANT BRAIN YOU OLD BAG I AM NOT…"

"Oh thank the heavens! Thank you God! Oh bless you kind angel! You truly are the bringer of peace and love!" The old woman gleamed. "I'm going to town to tell everyone about the wonderful angel in your shadow Ari!"

Ari and Stan watched wide-eyed as she ran off toward town.

"Slave," Stan growled. "Make a note that she is the first one to die."

"What's wrong with being the bringer of peace and love?" Ari smirked.

"Slave, it is my duty in life to bring chaos and discord raging down on all the towns on this pathetic planet. Not to prance around bringing happiness and joy to all. And if YOU even suggest I should change my ways I'll…" Stan fumed.

"Forget I said anything!" Ari exclaimed in self-defense.

"Good girl. Now isn't there a town you should be going to?" Stan smiled in victory.

"Yes, master." Ari sighed. And with that she went back onto the path.

Right as she got to the gate she saw a boy from her school waving to her. Ari walked over to him.

"Hey! Your Dad's been going around telling everybody that you have this kind shadow that saved your sister from death. Is it true?" the guy asked.

Stan popped back out. "First off I am the almighty evil and you will address me as master! Second off…"

The guy stood gaping at Stan.

"See slave, the dark raging fire that is my unyielding evil freezes his soul." Stan grinned. Ari gave him a confused glance.

"HOLY CRAP IT TALKS!" The boy jumped up and down. "AND HE TELLS JOKES! TELL ME ANOTHER ONE!"

"Hey, don't get fresh with me, suckling! Do you know who you're talking to!" Stan growled.

"Okay, I think it's a good idea we get going. I'll see you in school tomorrow." Ari waved and quickly ran toward the gate to Tenel.

"See ya Ari! And bring the shadow guy tomorrow too! When everybody sees him you'll be the most popular girl in school! I'm gonna tell everybody you've got a special surprise in store for em!"

When she got to the gate she slammed them open and dashed in. Ari pushed the gates shut and snuck into the shadows. She sat down and groaned. Not only will the entire town know about Stan but so will all the kids that go to school. Ari began to hyperventilate, she couldn't take the attention. Ari would never forget that day in Elementary School…

It was show and tell that day and everybody was excited. But there was no one as excited as Ari. Today was the day she would show the entire class her most favorite stuffed animal in the entire world, you guessed it, Mr. Snuggles. When it was time for Ari to present she ran up to the front of the class and lifted up Mr. Snuggles for everybody to see.

There was a long silence that followed.

Then they began to laugh.

One by one every kid started to laugh at the stupid, little teddy bear. Even the teacher began to giggle! Ari felt tears well up in her eyes. In her tiny mind she assumed they couldn't have been laughing at Mr. Snuggles; he was the greatest thing in the entire world. They all had to be laughing at her!

The tears poured from Ari's eyes as she ran out of the school and into the woods. She collapsed into the trunk of a tree and just sat there crying. Ari's Mom found her an hour later. She took Ari by the hand and led her back home. It was then Ari decided to avoid as much attention as possible so no one could laugh at her again.

Ari felt a pain begin to ache in her chest and cold tears form in her eyes. It made her sad just remembering that day. Ari was about to start crying when from out of the shadows popped Stan.

"Slave, I don't get it." He moped. "When I appeared in this world humans were supposed to quake with fear and swear their allegiance. Why are they acting like this?"

"Acting like what?" Ari voice was shaking. She hoped Stan wouldn't notice.

"Acting like what?" Stan mocked. "Like they were just acting five minutes ago! Did you not notice that every single villager we've met has thought I was some form of entertainment? For three hundred years I was cooped up in an ugly pink bottle. Now, when I've finally come out, not a single person in this world fears me! I'm not the ruler of all evil; I'm an angel, a joke, a kind spirit who saved the life of a little girl. DO YOU THINK I WANT TO BE PART OF THAT LOAD OF CRAP! I…"

Suddenly Ari heard something. "Shh!" Ari put up her hand to stop Stan.

"Oh this is the icing on the top of the cake! I'm now supposed to take orders from my slave! You hear that world, a king is supposed to take orders from his minion."

"No really, could you be quiet. Something's wrong." Ari peeked out from behind the bush she had been hiding behind.

On the road were two men. One looked really scared, the other one looked horribly nervous.

"The water supply's been shut off! What are we going to do?"

"I don't know! There's no way I can run a hotel without water! I'll have to go close down. I hope the water comes back on or else we'll all be out of business."

Ari watched as the one man walked toward the hotel. She slowly crawled out of the bush and walked over to the other man. "Did you say the water's been shut off?"

"Yes!" The man chattered his teeth. "And you won't believe what turned it off!"

"What?" Ari asked.

"A g…gh…ghost!" The man shouted.

"A ghost?" Stan came out from the shadow. "Oh, one of those lower class beings. There's no reason to be afraid of them, for I am the ruler of all darkness, Evil King Stan!"

"By the way, nice shadow Ari. But what are we going to do about that ghost? There's no way anybody will go in there!"

This time around, it was Stan that gaped. "I'm not as scary as a ghost?...WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, YOU FAT, UGLY, USELESS, PIG-BRAINED…"

"I don't know sir." Ari did her best to ignore Stan. "But if the water doesn't come back on soon, we'll be in a terrible mess."

"I know!" The villager agreed. "And there's that legendary treasure that resides by the water pipe. If someone was to go in there…"

"LIVER SPOTTED, GERM INFESTED, DISG…did you say treasure?"

Ari had a bad feeling she knew where this was going.

"Yeah, a treasure! It's supposed to be really old and it's probably worth a lot of money." The villager explained.

"Say no more pathetic villager. My slave Ari and I will take care of the ghost!" Stan smiled.

"But…" Ari tried to interfere.

"That's great! The water line is in the basement of the church but you'll have to get the key from town hall. Good luck!" The villager walked off.

It took every ounce of energy in her to control the wrath she was about to unleash on Stan.

Before Stan could even order her to Ari began toward town hall.

The walk was short and quick. At the end of Tenel was town hall and the church. Ari approached town hall and entered its doors.

"Hey Ari! Come to visit your Dad at work?"

Ari was greeted by the smiling face of her father.

"If I didn't know better I'd wipe that smile right off of your face." Ari thought.

"No Dad, I need the key to the church. You see Stan and I are going to…"

"Save the village from the evil ghost? Ari, sweetheart, I'm so proud of you! You've grown up into quite the adventurer. You're just like your mother when she was that age. Let me go get that key for you." Dad rushed toward his desk. From the top drawer he produced a small, silver key. He came back over and handed the key to Ari.

"Now remember, be careful down there. It was locked for a reason you know. I've got to get back to work, so good luck and make sure you don't get killed." Dad kissed Ari on the forehead and went back to his desk.

Ari sighed in disgust. If there was one thing her father wasn't, it was comforting.

Outside Ari walked over to the church and unlocked the door. As Ari walked in the door slammed behind her.

Gulp.

She walked over to the only door in the church.

"This has to be the one to the basement." Ari shook.

"You're quite the perceptive one slave. Once I've finished getting rid of this ghost I'll prove to the village I am the Lord of Darkness once and for all." Stan grinned evilly.

Ari cautiously curved her hand around the knob. Slowly she twisted it until the door began to open.

Ari looked down the dank staircase and saw nothing but shadow. For a minute Ari couldn't move. But soon she found a scrap of courage left inside of her and began her descent down the dark and eerie stairwell.