The Lost and Found (A Sequel to Change of Identity)

Chapter 9 Socks

((Aw thank chu to you all for being so supportive of this fic! •o•
I'm glad you like it! ))

I led the way as we darted through (literally through) the small town's various houses and shops. The shack was really far from school, even flying through houses wouldn't get us there in less than fifteen minutes. Though for the first ten or so minutes, it was silent. After a whole, Caitlyn piped up.

"So, what weren't you telling Mimi back there?" She asked.

"She doesn't have to tell you either." Pacifica glared at her.

"Geez, Paz. Lay off!" I told her, and she sighed.

"Okay, but really, I wanna know." Caitlyn begged. "Mimi doesn't get confused over just anything."

"Oh, I see." I bit my lip. After a mental battle, I decided to at least tell her where the conversation had started. "She said I had a strange name and asked how I got it. I told her it was for my birthmark, and before you ask, it's the Big Dipper and it's on my forehead. Then she got all sappy about constellations. And after that, she asked me how I had such a strange name for a girl, and I said it wasn't supposed to be a girl's name. And she was confused by that. There. The end."

"How the hell is it not supposed to be a girl's name?" Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "I mean, really? How does a girl get a name that's not supposed to be a girl's name?"

"A girl doesn't get a name that's not supposed to be a girl's name." I said simply as we entered the small stretch of forest before the shack. I wasn't liking this one bit, and I wished Caitlyn would just drop the subject.

"I don't get it." Caitlyn shook her head slowly, ebony hair bouncing as she did so.

"I know you don't." I sighed.

"Let's talk about something else now." Pacifica suggested.

I grinned. Leave it to Pacifica to insert herself forcefully in defense.

"Why?" Caitlyn actually seemed to be interested, and almost, but not quite, as perplexed as Mimi. "I just don't get it!"

I sighed, exasperated. This was getting annoying. "Please, Caitlyn, stop. You're almost as bad as Mimi."

With that she recoiled, offended. "Okay, now I really want to know! What so you mean by any of this?"

I ignored her, continuing on. The pale yellow glow that the shack have off at night was nearing, signaling we were almost there. I was thankful, I couldn't take Caitlyn's interrogations for one more second.

"Okay, geez. Ignore me." Caitlyn sighed. "I'll find out."

I laughed softly. I knew she would. In the short amount of time I'd known her, I could already tell Caitlyn was that kind of person. No-nonsense, straight-to-the-point, persistent, and wouldn't stop until their final goal was reached.

"We're here." I announced as we reached the shack. I led Pacifica and Caitlyn down through the roof into the attic, where I saw Mabel on her bed.

Crumpled paper, mostly covered in pink and purple glitter, was thrown everywhere. I was proud to see Journal 3 lying open to a page about "kidnapping spirits" to her left. She was using her multi-color giant purple pen with the pink puff at the end to scribble down something onto another glitter-covered paper. I grinned. She was doing all the right things, at least in my book.

"She's looking for us." I told my companions, then noting Caitlyn, I added, "She doesn't know you exist. Sorry."

Caitlyn was just smiling. "Wow, you two are seriously identical. It's ridiculous!"

"That's nice." I rolled my eyes as I descended to my messy half of the room. "But for now, it's sock time!"

Ignoring the weird looks from Pacifica and Caitlyn, I found a clean-ish blue sock on the ground, which I promptly slid my translucent hand into. Grinning, I floated over to where Mabel sat, then around her so I was behind her. Grinning even wider, I poked her back. "Boo!"

She screamed, paper flying everywhere as she toppled backwards onto her bed, eyes seemingly peeled open. I could see my friends out of the corner of my eye, laughing so hard they were on the verge of tears.

"What the heck?" Mabel gasped breathily, pulling some hair out of her mouth.

"Hey, Mabel." I said, treating the sock like one of Mabel's old puppets and moving its "mouth" as I spoke.

"W-what?" Mabel stammered, sorting up and turning around to observe the floating sock behind her. "The last time I saw a floating sock was..." She shook her head slowly side to side, sighing. "All right, what do you need?"

I laughed. "You have keen observations skills."

"And you have a sock face." She giggled. "All right, seriously. What do you need?"

"Correction." A grin spread across my face yet again. "What do we need?"

"There's more people?" Mabel shook her head in annoyance and disbelief.

"Yeah." I confirmed. "Pacifica and this girl named Caitlyn."

"Pacifica?" She raised an eyebrow. "Where does she fit in?"

"Long story." I rushed to the point. "Listen, we need your help, obviously. Bill is storing our bodies somewhere and we need to find them. So you have to."

"Bill, I should've guessed. Any leads?" Mabel asked as if this happened every day.

"Somewhere at the school and..." Then it hit me. "The art room!"

"Huh?" She looked extremely confused.

"Long story." I said. "Anyway, search it. And we'll stick with you."

"Okie!" Mabel brightened at the idea of having a definite plan.

"I have to converse with my friends." I informed her, dropping the sock to the bed.

I flew over to Pacifica and Caitlyn.

"You think that went well?" I asked hopefully, knowing the answer was going to be "yes" no matter what.

Caitlyn grinned. "You two are like the best. Twin. Sisters. Ever."

I knew she was trying to be nice, but I still felt a pang of sadness at that remark. "We weren't always."

Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. "The best?"

I shook my head, sighing. "No. Sisters."

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