Diaz Plan Chapter 5

When Janna, Star and Marco arrived back on the beach, it was chaos. Several monsters were attacking people. Marco watched in horror as a wolfman as dark as shadow snatched up a young woman. The next thing he knew, the ground was belching up searing rainbow light all around the monster. Marco ran to help up the woman, but she just cried "Please don't hurt him! That's my boyfriend, he just...changed into that thing!"

"Star, don't kill it!" he shouted.

"Awww." Star lowered her wand. "But I mean, I have to do SOMETHING."

"I don't understand how my parents could have done this. Don't you have to have the wand to make any of the spells in your book work?"

"Well...no, not technically," Janna piped up.

"Janna? How would you know?" Marco ducked another blast of rainbow magic as the wolfman leapt at them.

She rolled her eyes. "You should talk to Glossaryck more. You know, the little guy that lives in the spell book. He's pretty sweet when you get to know him."

Marco pried a frothing wolfman off of Star to punch it in the face. Star leapt up to kick it in the sides while it was down. "If I'm going to fix this, you know, without killing them, I'm going to need my spellbook."

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Mr. and Mrs. Diaz hid in the shower building from the chaos on the beach.

"Okay, so, obviously I need more time with the spellbook," said Mr. Diaz sheepishly.

"Well, once they find out what you've done, I think you're probably going to have a hard time convincing Star to let you borrow it again."

"I know, I know! That's why we need someone to take the fall for this." Mr. Diaz peered out the window onto the beach, and then smiled. "Oh, perfect."

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Ludo stepped though a portal onto the beach, flanked by Lobster Claws and Buff Frog. "Sometimes, you know, it's just good to relax at the beach-" he was saying, when Mr. Diaz ran up to him and dropped Star's spellbook into the sand. There was a small pause, and then Ludo said "what-"

"Oh, son! Help us! This small ugly goblin you guys are always fighting has stolen Star's spellbook and caused all of this!" Mrs. Diaz shouted down the beach at the distant figures of Janna and Marco. They turned and began sprinting toward her voice as fast as possible.

"What," said Ludo.

"Don't worry son!" shouted Mr. Diaz, "I've caught up to the little freak and I'll get the spellbook back!"

"What?!" said Ludo, before Mr. Diaz punched him in the gut and grabbed the spellbook back.

"Oh my god, Boss, are you okay?!" Lobster Claws shouted, before Marco kicked him backwards into the portal. "OW! GOD, IT HURTS!"

"Man, Lobster Claws. I can't believe I used to think you were cool." Marco shook his head in sad disappointment as Janna and Mrs. Diaz shouldered Buff Frog back inside the portal.

Mr. Diaz lifted Ludo above his head. "This is for stealing the spellbook and being one hundred percent responsible for all of this!" he shouted, throwing Ludo back into the portal.

As it closed, Ludo could be faintly heard shouting "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"

Janna pried open the spellbook as Marco turned to his parents. "Are you guys okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Oh, son. It was a terrible affair. And one easily forgotten and never examined closely," Mr.Diaz said, as Mrs. Diaz buried her face in his shoulder.

Glossaryck floated up above the book. "Oh, hello, Janna," he said with a smile. "Marco," much less enthusiastically, and with a nod. Then he saw Mr. Diaz standing behind him, and began sweating. "Hello, sir."

Marco fell to his knees next to Janna. "You have to tell us what spell to change all these people back!"

"Oh, I HAVE to, do I?"

"Please?" said Janna, unwrapping a starburst and giving it to him.

"THANK you, Janna." Glossaryck bit off an edge of the starburst and talked through a full mouth. "Anyway. The spell used was one that was intended to reveal people's inner desires - how they TRULY thought of themselves. It just turns out that some people have darker ideas of what lies within than others. If you didn't know Ancient Elvish very well, you might misinterpret it as being a love spell of some sort."

"A love spell? But why would Ludo want to cast a love spell?" said Marco.

"Why indeed?" muttered Glossaryck, before he noticed Mr. Diaz narrowing his eyes at him. "Uh, anyway, spell you need to undo it is on page forty three. Bye!" And with that, he slipped between the pages and disappeared.

Just then, an explosion rocked the beach from where Star had been fighting the monsters. "STAR! We have to get this to her!" Marco grabbed the spellbook and took off down the beach.

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Star was pinned against the rocks by a monster that was like a cancer on reality. It was difficult to look at, difficult to imagine, a constantly shifting pillar of black smoke, limbs, and jagged fanged mouths. The chittering noise it made was enough to drive someone mad. Star shot a blast of rainbow light at it, but it simply opened one of its many maws and devoured it. As it bore down on her, from somewhere within the smoky depths a single, humongous eye opened to look down upon her, and Princess Star Butterfly knew the fear of death.

"STAR!" screamed Marco, throwing himself between her and the beast, holding open the spellbook for her to read. "Here's the spell to undo it! READ IT!"

"Oh Marco," Star whispered, transfixed by the eye. "There is no undoing this. Hope is dead, and this is the end of all things."

"STAR!"

Star shook out of it, and grabbed the book. "Your true face is neat but we didn't ask, please hide it again behind the mask!" she intoned, pointing the wand at the awful beast.

A nightmare howl, loud enough to tear the sky in two. A bright flash of pink light. And then the smoke faded, melted away. Reality healed itself of wound tore in it by the monster's presence. And in its place was Ferguson.

"Oh, hey guys," he said to an astonished Star and Marco.

Star gaped, while Marco gave him a deeply troubled look. They had no time to talk, though. They quickly ran down the beach to transform the other monsters back.

And as they left, Ferguson watched them.

Waiting.