That night I slept a lot better than I had the night before, knowing that now I, or should I say we, were a lot closer to saving Grandpa. That morning the dark circles under my eyes faded, and I quickly was able to get ready and out the door. The comments on the bus still stung, but I was starting to get used to them; now I could ignore all the negativity. I hopped off the bus and went to see Marylyn at her locker, which felt like a regular routine now.

“So!” I said. “Any other thoughts on yesterday yet?” I asked.

“Yes, actually,” Marylyn said, “I think because the portal said that whom we wanted to see was in there, and because the name is Death’s Home, I think the name of the creator is Death.”

“Actually,” I said, “I think you're probably right, I mean it makes sense because he killed a lot of people.”

Marylyn nodded. “How about you come over to my house today?” she asked. “We can hang out and talk about our plans for Death.”

“Sure!”I said, “I don’t think my parents would mind if I were gone awhile.”

I smiled as we walked together. Death was in for it going against this team.

The rest of the day was kind of like the last. Every day at school is similar I've learned between my years at Ridgefield and few days at Seaside. School is starting to get more serious compared to the first day of school now, especially homework-wise, so on the bus, Marylyn and I did our homework so when we got to her house we could start planning to defeat Death right away. I was expecting Marylyn’s house to be humongous, and cool, and impressive, but as I walked up to her driveway with her, I never would have imagined what I saw. The whole house was a beautiful pearl white, with what seemed like not one flake of dust on any part of it. I felt dirty as I stared at it. The front door was a beautiful brown color with a golden knob, and the stairs leading up to it were made out of marble. I noticed as I got closer to Marylyn’s house you could hear the ocean and I watched as pelicans dove into the water, swooping behind her house. The shingles were also an excellent white and gleamed in the sunlight. I could feel my cheeks burn the color of jealousy.

“So,” Marylyn said, “this is my house.”

“Yeah,” I gaped.

We walked in, and it just got better. Full-screen TV, silk cushions, butlers, servants, and much, much, more. The babysitter sat us down and got us some snacks. We finished our homework already on the bus, so when the babysitter left the room, we immediately started discussing.

“So, for the portal, should we just jump in?” Marylyn asked.

“Well,” I said, “I think we should have a plan, but yeah I guess we jump. How can Death be defeated?” I asked.

“Well, we haven’t met him yet, so we don't know his weaknesses, so I don’t know if we can have a plan without already meeting him.”

“Good point.” I said, “then should we just go for it?” I asked.

“I guess.” Marylyn answered, “tomorrow at your house after school.”

“Perfect,” I answered. I admit I am a little nervous, but it's our best idea yet. We have to take the risk.

Its funny how life works how when, you want time to go by really fast it goes like a sloth, and when you want time to go really slowly it goes like a freight train, because those 24 hours went by fast, and next thing I knew I was at my house with Marylyn, in the attic, about to jump into the portal of death. But when Marylyn was going (I won rock, paper, scissor shoe), she tried to jump into the portal, and it shot her back out. Like someone throwing up a portion of food, they don’t like. Marylyn tried again and again, and even I gave it a go, but it never worked.

“Marylyn,” I said, “I think we need to do a certain thing in order for us to be able to make it through the portal.”

“Yeah, I agree,” I said after jumping into the portal for the tenth time and being dumped out. “What do we need to do in order to get into Death’s home?”

“Well,” I said, “here's a start. For us humans, you need to open the door to enter our homes.”

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“So, to enter Death's home, you need to,....” Marylyn stuttered.

“Let's sleep on it,” I said, “come over to my house tomorrow, and we can talk about it.

“Okay,” Marylyn said.

That night before I went to bed I thought and thought about it. What would Death want us to do in order for us to get into the portal? Do a dance, sing a song? No, we needed to play a song! We needed to play Castle In My Dreams again! But, where would we get the piano?

That morning at school I told Marylyn about my idea.

“That's a great idea!” she said. “And the piano problem basically solved itself. “I have a keyboard with a grand piano setting sitting at my house. I can have my babysitter bring it over this afternoon!”

“Awesome!” I answered.

That afternoon after doing homework on the bus Marylyn called her babysitter to bring over the keyboard for her. Her babysitter luckily didn’t ask any questions when she arrived at my house and quickly handed us the keyboard. Marylyn and I excitedly raced up the stairs to the attic with our hair flying behind us.

“Be quiet girls,” my mom snapped, “I’m trying to concentrate!” she whined.

“On what?” I whispered to Marylyn, “selling stuff on Facebook no one will buy?” We giggled. I quickly pulled out the Castle In My Dreams music that I hadn't touched in a while. It felt odd back in my hands. Marylyn and I quickly set up the keyboard, and I started to play the same melody I played only months ago in the attic. In the end, we waited, and Marylyn bravely volunteered to try and jump into the portal. It did the same thing as it had the day before, and it just squirted her right out.

“Ugh!” I groaned.

“Try again, maybe wish like you did to get something,” Marylyn encouraged me.

“Okay,” I answered, and I played it again, but wished this time; it still didn’t work.

“I don’t know Rose,” Marylyn said after being squirted out of the portal for the second time, “tomorrow's the weekend so why don’t we hang out tomorrow at my place and brainstorm some more?”

“Sure,” I answered, “It's just frustrating.”

“I know,” Marylyn said, “but we’ll figure it out.” I could always count on Marylyn to pep me up.

Marylyn called her babysitter again and went home with her keyboard, but we planned to hang out at eight at her place the next morning so we could figure the portal out.

Early the next morning I left my house and fled off to Marylyn’s. I knocked on the door quietly for Marylyn to answer and let me in.

“Shh,” she said, “my parents are still sleeping.”

“Ok,” I answered as she led me up her stairs to show me her room. It was really magnificent. It was a queen sized bed with a chandelier and beautiful pictures all over the place. Pink was the theme. Although I would have preferred blue, it was still a fantastic bedroom.

“Your room is so pretty,” I said as an understatement.

“Thanks,” Marylyn said.

“So, any ideas?” I asked.

“One,” Marylyn answered.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

“We pull each other into it so the portal can’t push us out.”

“I guess that's worth trying,” I said. We ran all the way back to my house, up the stairs, and into the attic.

“The portal looks smaller than before,” Marylyn observed. I noticed it too, she was right: it shrunk to half its size overnight.

“I think,” I said after thinking a minute, “it shrinks after every failed attempt we have to get into the portal.”

“That means we don’t have much time,” Marylyn said.

I nodded, “Then let's not waste it now, okay,” I said, “you go first.”

Marylyn didn’t refuse, “Okay, push me down with your arms once I'm in.”

“Okay,” I answered, and I started to push her once she was in. Marylyn got about three-quarters of the way in when the portal spat her at me.

“Come on,” I said desperately, “let’s try again.” But, no matter how many times we tried it never worked, and we decided to go back to Marylyn’s house to discuss.

“This is really hard,” Marylyn said.

“I know!” I answered.

“What should we do?” Marylyn asked, “at this point, it feels like we’ve tried everything!”

“Let's rewind.” I said, “So, we know that we need to figure out what we need to do to enter Death’s home in order to get into the portal, so let's just think, what would Death want us to do?”

“Die!”Marylyn said, “I don’t know how I didn’t think of this before! Death wants us to die!”

“I am not going to kill myself Marylyn!” I yelled.

“I know,” Marylyn said, “I won’t either. Then, we’ll think we are dead, so the portal thinks we are dead!”

“Yes!” I cheered, “Awesome idea! The plan that included tricking the piano worked for me so it might just work for us. Let's go back to my house right now!”

And with that, we raced off back to my house. My parents were now awake on their computers. We ran up the stairs and into the attic. The portal looked barely big enough for us to fit through.

“If the stakes were high before, now they're really up there. This is probably our last chance with the portal.” Marylyn said.

“Yeah, I know.” I answered, “ Okay, let's do this.” And then, we both closed our eyes and thought we were dead.