Twenty

I held the envelope in my hands, raising my eyebrow at Jeff, who had flopped himself on the spare space of my bed. "This was just at the door?" I asked him, receiving a nod, "For me?"

"Well Mel it does have your name on it." Brian said, nodding down at the paper. I sighed, tearing it open.

"It's a letter." I stated, unfolding the folded paper. The words were extremely neat, the sender's handwriting curly and intricate.

"Read it then!" Jeff exclaimed, nudging me to read it aloud.

"Okay, okay! I will!" I swatted Jeff's hands away, clearing my throat to read the note.

"Dear Miss Melanie Woods,

I know what you're up to. Using your little influence on everyone to make them soft. Well, I want you to use your little influence on this: get as many Creepypastas as you can and fight me. Well, me and my ally. Just all of you, against the two of us.

You have a month to prepare. You'll need it. On the first of February, go to the portal and go to the Underworld. I assume you know who my ally is.

-Slenderman and Zalgo."

I read the note, dropping it in shock when I was done.

"Oh my god…..." Tim frowned, grabbing the note, and reading through the note himself. He set it down on the bed, standing up. I stood up as well, indicating for Brian and Jeff to do the same.

"What do we do?" I asked Tim, gently placing my hand on his shoulder. He grabbed my hand, holding it in his own as he spoke.

"I'd say we start with a meeting. Brian, get the girls. Jeff, get the boys. Melanie and I will get our bearings and meet you there." Tim ordered, making the two boys nod and leave my bedroom. I grabbed the note as he raised his free hand to his temple.

"This is all my fault, isn't it?" I asked him, making him shake his head at me.

"No, no, of course not. You're not the one declaring war, are you?" Tim said, making me slowly shake my head.

"But I'd just like to say that we should really take Slenderman's advice on getting as many Creepypastas as possible to join us." I mumbled, slipping the note into my pocket as I did so.

"Okay then," Tim sighed, "Let's go, Little Woods." Tim led me from my room to the living room, still holding my hand. As we were going down the stairs, I looked down at our joined hands. As I stared at our hands, my face slowly began to turn pink. I shook my head, brushing it off. We're only holding hands as a sign of comfort. We only shared a bed for comfort. It's all platonic.

When we finally arrived in the living room, I scanned over the faces, seeing everyone here as Tim and I discreetly let go of each other's hand. "sorry we're late, everyone." Tim said calmly, leading me to where Brian and Jeff were sitting, letting me sit with them as we were the only ones knowing what's going on.

"I'm really sorry for all this since it's Christmas, but this is a very necessary meeting." Tim began, slowly pacing along the stretch of carpet we've named 'the Talker Land'. He looked back at me, making me nod at him, urging him to continue. "Melanie got a war note." He bluntly stated, making Jeff facepalm, Brian frown at Tim in a scolding way and I only laughed. Easiest way to tell them, I suppose.

I stood up, pulling the letter out of my pocket. "This letter is from Slenderman and his new ally, Zalgo." I began, making people immediately stand up and start asking questions. "Shut it will you?!" I shouted at them, making them sit down, silenced.

I then read the note to everyone, and they all had mixed reactions. "He really teamed up with Zalgo? Those two have hated each other for like, centuries!" Nina exclaimed, making me nod.

"He did. I know that they hated each other, but for now it seems that they're working together." I said, frowning.

"What about the thing with getting other Creepypastas?" Ben asked, making me glance back at Tim, Brian, and Jeff, who nodded.

"That's the thing, Ben." I began, looking at everyone in the room. "We need as much help as we can get, so all of you have one job to do: call as many trustworthy Creepypastas as you can. If you think they'll help- tell them to come here as soon as possible." I explained, making them nod, but Jeff cleared his throat, making me look back at him.

"See, Mellie, we have a celebratory boxing day killing spree, so tell them to come on the 27th, everyone." Jeff informed, making me nod in agreement.

"Yeah, tell them to wait until then." I agreed with Jeff, making people nod too.

"Is that everything?" Jack asked, making me share a look with the boys, who nodded.

"Yep, we're all finished. Enjoy the rest of your day, guys." I said, but Toby gasped, grabbing Keith's arm, and dragging him to stand beside me.

"But...but you two do...don't have a... an alias like us." Toby said, making me share a look with Keith.

"Okay. I'll be mikrá dási, and Keith will be vlákas." I said, making Jack suppress laughter. Keith gave me a look, but I shrugged it off.

"So… what now?" Jane asked, and I shrugged, looking back at Tim. He shrugged in response.

"Go and do whatever you were originally doing. We're finished." Brian butted in, making me be very thankful to the man.

"Thanks for that, Brian." I said, smiling at him as everyone left, beside the four of us.

Jeff then excused himself, leaving just the three of us. Silently, I left the room, going back to my bedroom. Once in there, I went over to my bed, reaching under and pulling all of the magic-related books from under the bed. I lay them out on my bed, seeing a total of seven. I've already read them, but I'll need to make sure I know everything.

I went over to my closet, changing into a plain white shirt, a gray jumper and a black skirt. I pulled my tights up, slipping my combat boots on as I let my hair down, brushing through it. Once I was fully changed, I grabbed my new backpack, packing all of the spell books, half of the spell ingredients and twelve of the scented candles into the bag. I then added the notebook to the bag.

I grabbed the bag, slinging it over my shoulder as I went back downstairs to the living room, where both Tim and Brian were sat on the phone. I met Tim's eyes, and he quickly finished the call, putting his phone down. A few seconds later, Brian did the same.

"I had a thought." I said, opening my backpack and placing the stack of books on top of the table. I then grabbed my notebook and pen, opening it to the first page.

"What is the thought, then?" Brian asked, eyeing the books and the notebook.

"We have a month, and I don't know how many Creepypastas coming. Why don't we split into groups for the battle? Like, Immediately I know I want Jeff to lead a group who use knives, I want Ben with the Video game Creepypastas, I want Jane and Natalie to work with close range fighters, I want Jack to go solo as a healer and a fighter, and I want you, Brian, to work with the gun and long range fighters. Tim, I think you should double as our leader and a close-range fighter. Toby and Liu can work with Keith for his defence, and I can help him learn some medical stuff so that he can work with me." I said, writing the words down as I did so. Once I was done, I looked at Tim and Brian, seeing them grinning at each other.

"That's a great idea, Mel, truly," Brian began, trailing off so that Tim could continue.

"But we think that you should be the leader." Tim finished, making me stare at him in shock.

"Uh…. Ah... what?" I stuttered, looking between the two.

"Well, it's best. You literally just made up that plan." Tim said, referencing to the notebook in my hands.

"Fine." I said, accepting my leadership. "Slenderman and Zalgo want a war? Well that's what we'll give them."