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Marco found himself wandering through a maze of towering bookshelves that seemed to go on forever. The scent of dust hung heavy in the air as if no-one had even looked at this place in centuries. The air was thin, it was difficult to breath, something about less oxygen to help prevent fires. The light was dim and appeared to be coming from nowhere and everywhere. In all four directions, Marco could see corridors, with bookshelves so tall he couldn’t see the top as walls. Every few metres or so, equidistant from each other, pathways sprouted left and right. Tomes lined the walls, more than He thought possible, some green, red, pink, black, and some were colours he had never seen before. This was the library dimension; it contained books from everywhere, and they were in the Mewni section.
“Why are we here again?” Marco walks to Star who was practically dancing along the shelves, skimming each title as she looked for something. “Because, Marco, Eclipsa doesn’t know how to par-tey, and I know there’s a book here that will fix that”
The boy walks to the other shelf, rolling his eyes as he does so, and studies the spines of the books that line these halls. ‘a hunters guide to catching meat’, ‘a warriors guide to socialising’, ‘a book of alchemical spells’, ‘king Shastacan’s personal cookbook’. Marco picks up the last one, studying it. The cover appeared to be shifting colours, slowly but surely. First green, then red, then blue and back to green. The front held an image of king Shastacan’s smiling face. He turned the book over, the back read ‘thousands of recipes, exotic and new, handpicked by king Shastacan himself’ He opened the book and flipped through.
‘Corn coffee, teasing cheese, dragon cycle stew’ Marco shuddered at that last one ‘Loud lamb laginico’ he stopped on page 447 where it read ‘nibling nachos. Marco skimmed through the ingredients list and slipped the book into his hoodie to ‘borrow’.
“Ah Ha!” star stood back brandishing a cream-coloured scroll “we can go back now Marco, I have the thing” she looks at him, brandishing his dimensional scissors and somehow not noticing the book like shape beneath his hoodie.
As star opens a portal, Marco looked around, making sure that no hidden librarians lurked in the non-existent shadows, ready to lunge at him the moment he tries to leave with the book. None came, of course.
The two arrive in Star’s room, on earth, before star opens another portal to get to Mewni.
“Star, when you come back, could you bring some ‘Animātus pollen’ back with you?”
“Sure, what d’ya need it for”
“I wanted to try a new nacho recipe I found”
“Ok, se you Marco!” star walks through the portal into Mewni.
Marco took the book out from his hoodie, carrying it down the stairs and placing it onto the counter with a loud “THUMP”. He opened the tome to page 447 and began making nachos pretty much as normal. By the time star came back, carrying a small pouch of some glowing, golden, dust, it was time to add the ‘Animātus pollen’.
“I got that pollen for you” star gestured to the pouch.
“Thank you” he studies the book quickly “it says to add a single-” he turns to see star pouring half the bag into the cheese “…spore”
“What did you say Marco?” she had just finished emptying half the bag into the sauce.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine” the boy takes his spoon and mixes the sauce exactly as instructed in the book, before adding the nachos and putting in the oven as stated by the recipe. Marco walked to the couch and sat down waiting for the timer he set to go off. “How was teaching Eclipsa about parties?”
“It was horrible she didn’t even know what confetti was, I mean, who doesn’t know what CONFETTI is??!” the girl waved her hands franticly to punctuate every syllable as she complained about the queen’s complete and utter lack of partying knowledge. Before long, the timer went off and Marco walked into the kitchen, followed by star.
He reached the oven, pulled the nachos out, and placed them on the side, as he did this it made a gurgling sound like a warnicorn being murdered underwater.
“Is it meant to be doing that?” star eyed the nachos suspiciously
“I don’t know, I’ve never made them before” as Marco reaches for one of the chips exposed above the cheese, the whole dish morphed into a grotesque, gooey, mouth with hot cheese for gums and razor-sharp nachos teeth and BIT HIM! “OW!!” Marco was quick to put his hand under running water, the cheese on his hand cooled and hardened before falling off. “IT BIT ME!!”
“Hehe” star moves her arm from the side as the nachos go for her next, instead of biting her it, it managed to grab hold of the pouch, before drawing it into its ever-moving mouth. The moment the pouch disappeared, the nachos suddenly started to bubble and grow, absorbing everything in its path. Dark hollows formed in the shape of soul-less eyes above its mouth, which was now morphing, spreading out the nacho teeth to accommodate for the added cheese and lack of chips.
“RUN!!” both teens bolted for the front door, Marco looks back, they’re halfway across the living room, but the monster is close behind and gaining, its thick, unsettling, sloshing and bubbling audible as it seized the house. Almost there, just 1 more metre left. The monster was mere inches from both teens, expanding more rapidly by the second, its mouth, now larger than the Diaz family car, now a terrifying sight behind them. At the very last moment, Marco flung open the door and escaped with star, both breathing a sigh of relief before the house let out ear shattering creaks and clung to its last breath of stability as the cheesy goo spread, bending the sturdy walls to their limit. Windows were overtaken by the viscous yellow ooze.
Suddenly, a car swerves and crashes into a fire hydrant nearby, sending high pressured jets of water in all directions, one stream falling directly onto the exposed cheese through the open door. It cooled and solidified, leaving behind a wall of hardened cheese than slowly bended and buckled, before giving out.
“Marco look!” star points “cheese wall” the girl seemed to be amused by the whole thing.
“Quick, Star, use your wand, spray it with water!” Marco ran behind the house to get the hosepipe, open the door, then direct said hosepipe into the cheesy mass before.
“uuh, Marco! It just keeps on coming back!” star followed him into the garden after tossing a few water blasts at it.
The boy thought for a moment “I will spray it with water, you blast it out of the way, I think we need to take out the source”
The two fought their way into the kitchen from the back, as the got about a metre in, the cheese behind them closed, leaving a small bubble of air. They only had so long before the air ran out.
Millimetre by millimetre, they advanced, a slow, painful walk. Their bubble growing smaller by the second, despite all attempts to grow it.
Eventually, both teens made it safely to the oven. The tray, overflowing with chips and sauce, sat there. A slight glow emanated from within.
Marco quickly shoved the hosepipe deep into the tray, hoping he was right, lest they both die. He counted his heartbeats as nothing happened. One, two, three, four, on the fifth Marco started to fear the worst. The bubble was closing around them. The teens were forced to crouch, hosepipe now devoured.
a sickly gurgling sound began all around. It rose like a corpse from beyond. Starting a low rumble, but rapidly becoming an earth-shaking force of pure, unsettling, unnatural, and downright guttural, noise.
Slowly, cheese started to drip down from above. But when it touched Marcos’s skin, it wasn't hot, it didn’t burn him like last time. It was warm, like nachos should be. The cheese began to reduce, still covering everything, but no longer in control on the house. The occasional chip lay discarded on the floor.
“c’mon star, lets clean this up” Marco sighed
“No thank you.” Star ran up to her room.