I don't own iCarly. And thank you for all of your wonderful reviews. Sorry I've been gone for a bit.
Spencer felt worry and anger coursing through his veins. He knew his little sister extremely well, almost better than even Sam or Freddie. Carly wouldn't have called so early in the morning unless she was in real, serious trouble. Something was really wrong with Carly, and it wasn't just homesickness. However, for Sam and Freddie's sake, he tried not to let his real feelings show. If they knew just how much danger Carly probably was in right now, they would panic, and that wouldn't help them – or Carly – at all.
Right now, they were talking to the only person that seemed to be around in the abandoned town; a tiny, rather plump redhead who called herself Nell. When she had heard that they had come to save Carly, she looked ready to cry with happiness, which Spencer took as a bad sign. How much trouble could Carly have gotten into? As Spencer listened to Nell's retelling of the past events that had happened to her and Carly, Spencer couldn't help but get more and more agitated. Why hadn't Carly called him earlier with this?
'Because you were pouting. You weren't there for her. You're a horrible guardian, even when Carly isn't with you. Granddad was right.' Spencer felt a hot wave of shame sweep through him. He tried to distract himself by focusing on Nell.
"And I went through this book on Yakima, you know, to try and find out why people are acting so weird. If I'm going to find anything on Yakima, it would be in their history. And I think I found something on death and …" Nell handed the book to Spencer, and he knelt down to read the passage that Nell pointed to. Nell watched their expressions turn from disbelief to shock. Freddie looked up from the book.
"You think this way Carly was taken?" He asked.
"Makes as much sense as anything else does around here." Nell pointed out, spreading her arms out for an example.
"Shrimp's got a point." Sam tilted her head, looking at Nell properly now.
"Say this was true, where would they take Carly?" Spencer asked desperately.
A happier time ago, Nell would have been able to not think of a single place, but now she knew better. "In the basement of Carly's granddad's house, he has some sort of chamber. That might be where everybody is…" She barely got the words out of her mouth when Spencer took off running for Granddad's house, leaving Sam, Nell and Freddie to rush after him.
He burst through the open front door and into the foyer, his eyes scanning everywhere for some sign of Carly.
"Spencer!" Spencer turned to see his Granddad looking startled and …scared?
"What are you doing here?"
"You said I could drop in whenever I wanted." Spencer noticed how odd he probably appeared. Sweaty, breathless, looking like he had run a mile…
"Carly… Does not wish to see you."
"What?" Spencer was faintly aware of Freddie, Sam and Nell running up behind him. He felt slightly more hopeful. If Carly didn't want to see him – and who would, seeing as he was such a failure as a guardian? – then she would surely want to see her friends.
"Like I said, she does not wish to see y-"
"SPENCER!!" Everyone turned, trying to locate the sound and Spencer's body froze as he heard Carly's voice rip through the silence of the house, desperate and pleading.
"In here!" To Spencer's astonishment, the redhead called Nell ran towards the stairs and lifted up a stair to reveal a trapdoor, which she jumped into. He ran up and jumped in. He felt himself flying through the air, and then hitting rough solid ground.
"Spencer!" Spencer heard his name being called. He looked around, and saw to his horror,his little sister lying bound on the ground.
"Carly!" He ran to her, untying her, then enfolding her in a hug. He could feel Carly's body trembling against his, making his blood boil. What had happened to her?
Carly knew it was over. She couldn't move or speak. At least the blindfold was off. She had managed to shake it off, and nobody had bothered to put it back on. After all, she had already seen where they were taking her. Granddad's cronies had lugged her back into the underground cavern, and were lurking around everywhere. Even if Nell had managed to get help in time, they wouldn't be able to fight through practically half the town.
Then she heard footsteps and Granddad's voice up above, anxious. Suddenly, she heard another voice, warm and familiar. She knew she had just one chance. She jutted her head back, letting the scarf go limp, and then thrust her head as hard as she could above the rough fabric. She saw out of the corner of her eye people running towards her, and yelled with all her fear and emotion, "SPENCER!!"
The voices broke off, and then she heard the stair door being opened, and Nell's high voice yelping "In here!" A few moments later, she landed on the dirt floor. Out of the shadows, men and women began to advance on her. Carly wanted to yell a warning, but before she could, another person landed in the cavern. He was a contrast to the small girl, big and lanky. His appearance managed to send the people back into the shadows, making them watch and wait to see what happened, instead of just pouncing immediately.
Spencer. Her brother. He was here. Carly's mind struggled to make sense of what was happening, when she heard voices up above, then several loud thumps. Looking over Spencer's shoulder, she saw Sam and Freddie join Nell. They looked shell shocked. Carly wanted to do the brave thing and call out for them to leave, but just as she was about to three burly men and women jumped from the shadows and grabbed them.
At once each of Carly's friends began to scream and fight back. Sam, using her nails, managed to make such deep scratches on her attacker's arms that he dropped her in surprise. She started towards Freddie and Nell, to help them with their attackers, until she unexpectedly turned and ran for the other side of the cavern.
"Sam? What the heck are you doing?! Help us!" Freddie roared, trying to kick the huge man holding him, but missing and getting only thin air.
"Silence." With this word, the cavern immediately went silent. Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Even Sam, who was still running over to the wall, turned, looked and began running silently again.
Carly's grip tightened on Spencer as she saw her grandfather come forward towards her. This time his weapon of choice was a long dagger was a slanted point at the end. On the handle, Carly could see numerous symbols and engravings. For the first time Carly took in just how wild he looked. Rumpled hair, bright eyes, his forehead still bleeding from where he had fallen on the rock. When he spoke, his voice was several pitches higher than from when she had last heard him, probably from strain.
"Get away from her." He eyed Spencer, who only hugged Carly closer protectively.
"Well, now I see why you never wanted Carly and I to come over, you probably had a heck of a time hiding the underground chamber." Spencer, her face dead as her looked at his grandfather.
"You stupid little boy. You have no idea, no idea whatsoever, of what you are disturbing. This is an ancient ceremony that has been performed for many years now, and I WILL NOT LET IT BE WASTED ON THE LIKES OF YOU." And with that, Granddad jumped forward, trying to reach around Spencer to get to Carly, but Spencer kicked him back with one foot. As if on cue, more men and women began to pour in from around the chamber, circling Carly and Spencer.
"What's going on?" Carly asked, wanting to help Spencer fight off their attackers, and at the same time wanting to just go on sitting there, helpless. But she got up, and started to curl up her hands into fists. She thought she heard a man chuckle.
"Very feisty, just like her grandfather. It's a pity she has to die."
At this Carly felt Spencer's body tense and heard Nell and Freddie's simultaneous screams of horror. However, she tried to make the best of a bad situation. Maybe she could get something out of this.
"Before I die, does someone want to tell me what I'm dieing for?" Carly felt herself blush as she heard her voice trembling.
"Oh, come on Charles. Let the kid in on the secret." She could hear amusement in another voice, this time a woman's.
"The other children-"
"It's not like we're going to let them live anyway." Carly felt her blood turn cold. She hadn't thought they were just going to let everyone go, but it hadn't crossed her mind that her friends were in just as much danger as she was. She had almost accepted her fate, but the thought that everyone else would die sent cold fear racing into her body.
"Well, alright." A cruel smile appeared on Charles' face. "I'm going to kill you Carly. I've been planning to for quite a while now. It's a bit of a hassle, but it has to be done. You see, it's part of an ancient tradition. The sacrifice of one pure soul, for the lives of many.
Carly couldn't breathe.
"For as long as this town has been formed, we have had a deal with a high power. For the sacrifice of one innocent, pure human soul, we would be permitted one year of life. As long as we give this sacrifice, our hearts simply stop, and we are kept alive by this power. We can live forever if it suits us. Which is where you come in Carly.
"I have never seen another soul as pure as yours, which is precisely why you came to live with me. That's another gift we get from this power, you know, the ablitliy to see souls and their purity. Perhaps the power might give us more than a year of life if we give it your soul." Charles advanced on Carly and Spencer, who flung himself in front of his little sister.
"That lake of – of glowing – that was human -" Carly was having a hard time getting the words out.
"Ah, yes you saw that. How fascinating." Although he didn't stop walking towards her, Charles lowered the dagger just slightly, out of interest. "That is where we store the dead bodies. But apparently instead of bodies you saw souls. It has been also noted that the others who were sacrificed could also see the souls. But no matter."
'It does matter.' Carly thought. Everything seemed to click now. 'They were the ones who painted that picture on my mirror, showed me the way when Nell and I were running, they were the ones who gave me the strength when I needed it. I was right, they weren't trying to kill me, they were trying to warn me!'
But just as those thoughts finished running through her mind, Charles ran forward, shoved Spencer aside and plunged his dagger into Carly's stomach.
Carly could hear Nell's high squeal, Freddie's yelp and Spencer's shout of "NO! CARLY!"
But then the symbols on the dagger began to light up, and mutli-colored air was floating out of her, all over, and she knew it was over, her soul was not hers anymore.