Note from LuluCalliope: This is the sequel to SivMeille's The Trade. We (fellow writer BlackNGreen and I) have received permission to make this sequel. If you haven't read The Trade, please do, and then come back. Just a head's up: I am extremely cautious of the measures that has been taking against M-rated stories, and I am thinking that this story will be less explicit with sexual descriptions. Also, the graphic relationship that the Beldam had with Coraline in the first story will not be a focus…instead, the main story will be on their children and Loman's affect on them. (Also, SivMeille, BlackNGreen and I do not own the rights to Coraline.)

Chapter One: Rational

"Dre, is that you?" Coraline's voice echoed throughout the mostly silent house. Bel was downstairs, busy making a special supper: a good Irish stew for their children. It was Dre's favorite. She was the only one who wasn't out playing tag in the garden. Bel was keeping an eye out for them as he cooked—Coraline had wanted to go out and get some fresh air, but Bel insisted that rest was more important. He didn't want for her to leave his sight after the morning sickness has started again, not after all of the dangerous stunts she pulled during her second pregnancy during their brief separation. He still shuddered to think of what could have happened if she had remained trapped in the well with two of their children.

Coraline sighed as she ran a hand lovingly over her stomach. She kept hearing the light pound of her daughter's footsteps from earlier. Dre had stormed out, crying hysterically. Coraline frowned. They had been fighting a lot lately…even more than she had when she was in the "real world". And it was the real world that had been the cause of their last argument: Dre had expressed a desire to go into the real world and find other friends, children her age. Coraline refused, not wanting for her—or any of her children—to encounter any dark secrets or unfamiliar faces. It would only make things more painful.

But Dre had vanished. Coraline resigned herself to the idea that her daughter was out in the gardens, choosing to sulk instead of play with her younger siblings. It was a rational, logical thought…not one as irrational as the mere suggestion of going into the real world.

Dre stared up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. Even in the dark, she could see the polka-dot pattern of her wallpaper. The comforting shapes did nothing to soothe her nerves. She had always been rebellious, but this was, by far, one of the worst things that she had ever done…and one of the riskiest ones.

She reached a verdict. She grabbed an old blue blanket from the foot of her bed, wrapped it around her shoulders, and crept to the door. She pressed her ear against it, listening. She expected to hear her mother's light, whistling snore from down the hall. But instead—

"Oh, for Pete's sake," she groaned, using an old saying of her mother's. There was no use in trying to be quiet now—her parents were wide awake. She yanked open the door and stormed down the hall to her parents' room. She rapped on the door sharply. "Keep it down in there!" There was a shocked silence broken only by muffled, sheepish giggles. Dre rolled her eyes and walked away. Her parents had a very…passionate relationship, and Dre was used to overhearing and interrupting their lovemaking. She was more annoyed by it now than she was disgusted.

As she reached her destination, she made sure to step on all of the creaky floorboards leading to her room, but not the ones after it. Her brothers' room was past hers. They were probably asleep by now, but they wouldn't mind being woken up if she had a good reason for it. And she had a very, very good reason indeed.

She pushed the door open silently, but the boys woke up immediately. "Dre, is that you?" One of them yawned—she couldn't tell which one it was in the dark. They looked too similar, and she could never remember which one slept in the top bunk and which one slept in the bottom one.

"What time is it?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Shut up, you guys," she growled, closing the door and pouncing onto the bottom bunk—the twins had bunk beds. She was envious of their pretty cool bedroom, and she often hung out in it just to be around the beds. In spite of the number of times she had visited their room, she could never remember which twin slept in which bunk.

"What's going on?" The one reclining on the bottom bunk asked and Dre could see which twin it was now that she was closer to him. It was Bonaventure…his hair was darker and black. Belmiele had blue hair that glowed in a certain light.

"Can you—?" She was interrupted when the door was pushed open. She held her breath, expecting to see the willowy figure of her mother in the hall. She exhaled a sigh of relief when her sisters stepped into the room: slight Pandora Belsole and tiny Belva Lumina.

"Why aren't you guys in bed?" She asked softly, hugging her legs to her chest.

"Why aren't you?" Pan shot back, and Dre smiled. She didn't see the harm in letting them in on her little secret as well…

"Dre, I'm scared. I don't like monsters," Elva admitted, and Dre scooted over to make room for her sisters.

"Well, do you want to hear a secret?" She asked softly. "It might scare away the monsters. They hate secrets."

"Secret, what is it?" Belmiele—the lazier of the two—was awake now, and he swung his head over the side of the bed, staring down at his siblings with big dark eyes. Dre laughed to herself.

"Alright, I'll tell you all. But you have to promise that you won't tell Mom and Dad. Got it?"

"Okay, we promise," they all chorused, and Dre pulled them all in closer.

"I went to the real world today."

Translations/Meanings of Names:
Bonaventure Lerato: Good Luck, Song of my Soul
Belmiele Charlie: Named after Italian hero in story and his maternal grandfather
Pandora Belsole: Named after goddess of curiosity and Italian heroine
Belva Lumina: Beautiful View, Of the Light

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