The twins wake up. They look around expecting bright colors. But it's just their normal room: moving boxes; cracks in the ceiling, nothing's changed. They notice the button-eyed dolls on the chair where they left them, where the Other Mother was sitting. (Y/n) picks it up, and absentmindedly goes to scratch her wrist. She stops, noticing that the rash on her wrist IS GONE. "It's gone, my poison oak, it's gone!" She turned to Coraline. Coralline looks for her own, but sees hers is gone too. The twins grin at each other, then go to the door and open it, but it was back to bricks. "Huh?" Coraline said. She shakes her head and pushes the door shut. The kettle blows from the kitchen. Mel and Charlie finish their

"Go Lean Breakfast Twigs" and mugs of instant coffee. Preoccupied with work, they half-listen as Coraline recounts her and her sister's dream, her breakfast untouched. Fog lies outside the windows. "It was incredibly real, Mom! Only you  weren't really you; you were our other mother." Coraline said. "Buttons for eyes, huh?" Mel asked, and Coraline nods. "Coraline, you only dreamed you ate all that chicken. Take your multi-vitamin, at least." Mel walks away, and (Y/n) rolls her eyes. She knew their parents wouldn't believe this, which is why she didn't bother to tell them about it, just decided to listen to her twin do that instead.

"You were in the dream too, Dad. You had wild-looking pajamas and orange monkey slippers." Coralline continued. "Orange? My monkey slippers are blue." He shows them the shoe color. "We know, dad." (Y/n) deadpanned. Charlie stands, put his dishes in the sink, and whispers over his shoulder. "Pssst. Can you get me some of that magic mud you were talking about?" Coraline points to her rash-free wrists. He nods. "Because I have a terrible case of  writer's rash.

On my—" Mel clears her throat, interrupting. "If the real Charlie Jones wants his pages  edited, he'd better wrap them up ASAP." He crisply salutes her, turns on his heel, and marches out the door. Mel gets up to clear the table with Coraline and (Y/n). "Coraline, why don't you go visit downstairs? I bet those "actresses" would love to hear your dream." Mel said. "Miss Spink and Forcible? But you said  they're dingbats." (Y/n) sad. Mel nods. "Uh huh." Coraline sighs, and she and (Y/n) get up to go.

It's drizzling and a white fog has lowered over the house and grounds. Coraline and (Y/n) are in yellow rain ponchos, garden shears in hand, and (Y/n) opens the front door. Stepping out onto the porch, they trip on a big bundle of mail. Annoyed, Coraline picks it up, starts leafing through the envelopes. "Bo-bin-sky...Bo-bin-sky....Bo-bin-sky... " she read. "Who?" (Y/n) furrows her eyebrows. They smell something bad, and Coraline sniffs the envelopes. "Ohh, Poo-eeeee!"

They go down the front steps and finds a sign that reads "Bobinsky there" with an arrow that points up long, winding outside stairs. With an "oh well" shrug, they go up. At the top, (Y/n) knocks on the door, a little anxious. "H-hello?..." She knocks again. "I think our mail got mixed up. Should we leave it outside or..." The door swings open. Curious, Coraline and (Y/n) peek inside: it's dark and cramped with something boiling on the stove and a caged chicken. "Hmmm..." Suddenly a huge blue man swings down behind them and scolds:

"SEE-KRET..." they whip around to find Mr. Bobinsky, upside down, reaching right at their face. They duck as he reaches past them to his actual target which his is door knob, and pulls it shut. The giant, dressed in a sleeveless T-shirt and shorts, pulls a raw beet from his pants. He's not happy. "Famous Jumping Mouse Circus not ready, little girls!" Coraline and (Y/n) share a puzzled glance. "Circus?..." "Oh, uh, we brought this for you." (Y/n) holds him the mail. Bobinsky takes it, smelling the stinky envelopes deeply. He nods approvingly. "Mmmm...

Noviseer." He said. "Huh?" Coraline and (Y/n) ask. "New "cheese" samples." He swings down like a spider monkey and stands beside them on the balcony. They back away. "Very clever, using this "mix up" to sneak  my home and peek at meeshkas." He said. "Meeshkas?" (Y/n) asked. "The Mice!" He said. "Oh, sorry. We're Coraline and (Y/n) Jones." Coraline said. "And I am the Amazing Bobinsky! But you can call me Mr. B, because amazing I already know that I am.  He smells his mail again, makes a pleased sound, then falls off the side of the third story porch. Coraline and (Y/n) rush over, and look down. He cartwheels in from the porch railing behind them.

"Ha! You see, Caroline, and (Y/n), the problem is my new songs go oompah oompah. But the jumping mice play only toodle toot, like that. Is nice, but not so much amazing. So now I switch to stronger cheese, and soon, VATCH OUT!" He opens his door, crouches low and turns. He hands Coraline a beet. "Here, have beet. Make you strong." He salutes them. "Daas vee DAAN ya, Caroline, (Y/n)." He scuttles inside and slams the door shut. Coraline mutters. "Cor-a-line." Looking at the beet, she makes a disgusted sound and tosses it away, then they head down the stairs. When they to the the bottom, they start toward the back, gardening shears out. "Oompah oompah, toodle toot, toodle toot." Coraline hums to herself.

"EHHH! CAROLINE: (Y/N)! PA-DAZH-DI'-- WAIT!!" They look up. "No!!!" Bobinsky leaps all the way to the ground, landing beside them out of breath. "The mice...asked me to give you message." He said. "The...jumping mice?" (Y/n) asked. Mr. B nods gravely. He leans down, so close his mustache touches (Y/n)'s ear, and whispers. "They are saying: do not go through leetle door." The twins gasp. "Do you know such a thing?" He asked. "The one behind the wall paper? But...  it's all bricked up." (Y/n) said. The old man shrugs and straightens. "Bah. So sorry, is nothing. Sometimes the  mice are leetle... He points to his head and rotates his finger.

"...mixed up, hmmm? They even get your  name wrong, you know. They call you Coraline instead of Caroline, not Caroline at all!" He starts back up the stairs. "Maybe I work them too hard...." Coraline stares after him and (Y/n) snickers, and Coraline rolls her eyes. (Y/n) found it amusing how almost everyone got her twin's name wrong. They approach the family VW, where one pink suitcase remains tied to the roof. Coraline snips it free and takes out her special hat, a black Japanese schoolboy's cap.

They approach the steps to the basement flat. At the door, (Y/n) tries the comedy/tragedy door knocker and waits. She glances at the doormat, it reads "No whistling in the house."  She peers through the door. A yapping dog suddenly leaps up inside, startling her, and a moment after, miss Spink, wearing some sort of house robe opens the door and three scottie dogs shoot out and surround Coraline and (Y/n). Spink tries to quiet them. "Oh cease your infernal yapping! How nice to see you, Caroline and (Y/n). Would you like to come in? We're playing cards." She said.

"Still Coraline, Miss Spink." Coraline said. "Miriam, put the kettle on!" She winks at the twins and leads them into the living area, as Miss Forcible, taller and sporting a platinum wig and a very large bosom, prepares tea in the kitchen to the side. The dogs race ahead and jump onto the sofa. Coraline and (Y/n) scan the walls to see framed posters from the "Shakespeare" the ladies used to perform like King Leer and Julius Seize Her. Miss Forcible peers out her, half-blind without her glasses. "April, I think you're being followed." "It's the new neighbors, Miriam. Caroline and (Y/n). They'll be having the Oolong tea." "No, no, no, no. I'm sure they'd prefer Jasmine." Miss Forcible said. "No, Oolong." Miss Spink said. "Ah, Jasmine it is, then." Miss Spink sighs and face palms, and Coraline and (Y/n) shrug.

Forcible grabs a handful of tea, puts it in the pot and pours boiling water in. "Come on, boys!" The dogs leap off the sofa and as Coraline and (Y/n) take their place, they look to the side and see a towering bookcase filled with stuffed dogs in knitted sweaters with angel wings. "Are those dogs .... real?" (Y/n) asked. "Our sweet, departed angels. Couldn't bear to part with them ... so we had them stuffed." Coraline and (Y/n) shared a disgusted look. "Now, there's Hamish the third, the fourth, the eighth, the ninth. Angus the second, the fifth, the.."

Miss Forcible arrives with a tea tray and urges them to take a candy as Spink goes on and on. "Oh go on, have one. It's hand-pulled taffy from Brighton . Best in the world." (Y/n) reaches for a pink and green one. But the taffy is so old and sticky, her fingers get stuck. Then her other hand gets stuck, trying to get the first hand out. Coraline starts snickering and (Y/n) glares at her for a moment. "...seventh, the third, the ninth, yes, the fourthI'm right; and Jock Junior, Jock senior, Jock the third, the fourth..." (Y/n) using her feet, finally un-sticks the candy bowl which flies up and sticks to the ceiling.

"...oh, and that's Jock's 2nd cousin, twice removed." She turns to Coraline and (Y/n), about to sip her tea. "I'll read them, if you like." Miss Spink said. "Read what?" Coraline asked. "Oh, your tea leaves, dear. They'll tell me your future. Drink up then, go on." Coraline gulps down the bitter brew. "No, not all of it, not all of it. That's  right, now hand it over." Coraline passes her the cup. Spink puts a saucer on top and swirls it three times, removes the saucer and peers in at the abstract leaf pattern. She purses her lips. "Oh... Caroline, Caroline, Caroline; you and (Y/n) are in terrible danger."

Coraline and (Y/n) look at each other worriedly. Miss Forcible snorts. "Oh, give me that cup, April, your eyes are going." She grabs it from her. "My eyes! You're blind as a bat!" Miss Spink snapped. Spink passes the cup to Forcible, who adjusts thick glasses and peers closely into it. "Oh, now, ummm... not to worry, children, it's good news:" Spink rolls her eyes. "There's a tall, handsome prince in your future." Miss Forcible said. "A what?" (Y/n) asked in confusion. "Miriam, oh really, you're holding it wrong." Spink forcibly rotates the cup. "See? Danger!" Spink said. "What do you see?" Coraline asked. The ladies, heads side by side, gaze into the cup.

They see a spiky claw formed from the leaves. "I see a very peculiar hand..." Forcible rotates the cup back again. Upside down, the claw hand looks like a giraffe. "I see a giraffe." "Giraffes don't just fall from the sky, Miriam." The stuck candy dish suddenly crashes to the floor, surprising everyone. "Oh!" Miss Spink said. "Oh, lord!" "Well, what should we do?" Coraline asked. "Never wear green in your dressing room." Miss Spink said. "Acquire a very tall step ladder." Miss Forcible said. "And be very, very careful." Miss Spink fell over, then stood back up. "Now, was there something you came to tell us?" They smiled.

Coraline thinks it over, then shakes her head. "No, I guess not. Thanks for the tea, though." They get up and leave, the dogs immediately return to their sofa. "Toodle-oo." Miss Forcible said. "Cheery-bye." The ladies resume their card game with Miss Spink turning to the dogs. "Do you have any nice Queens for mummy?" Coraline and (Y/n) climb the stairs up to ground level, intrigued by their fortune. "Danger?" Coraline asked. They walk ahead, the periscope following them, getting closer to (Y/n), then Coraline suddenly turns and grabs it, pulling up Wybie. "Great, the village stalker." She punches him in the arm.

"Owwwwwwww!" "Sis!" (Y/n) scolded. "What? He was stalking you." Coraline narrowed her eyes. "Ow. I- I wasn't stalking her. We're  hunting banana slugs." Wybie takes some salad tongs from a tool belt and snaps them. "What d'ya mean, "we?" Coraline asked suspiciously. There's a soft meowing from under his coat. He opens it up and the black cat emerges and climbs onto his shoulders, and (Y/n) giggles. "Ha! Your cat's not wild, he's a wuss puss!" "Coraline!" (Y/n) scolded again, glaring at her along with the cat. "What? He hates to get his feet wet. Geez." Wybie said. "Wuss-puss..." Coraline said, and (Y/n) sighs and rolls her eyes, then looks at the cat with an apologetic expression. The cat nods at her and (Y/n) watches him jump off Wybie, onto a tree and up onto the roof of the house.

"So... those dolls. Did you make them look like us?" (Y/n) asked. Wybie, scanning under the ground fog for slugs, sticks his head up for a moment. "Oh no; I found them that way. They're older than Gramma. old as this house prob'ly." Coraline is highly skeptical. Wybie returns to his hunt. "C'mom, our blue hair, our swampers and raincoat?" Wybie stands excitedly and presents a huge yellow-green slug to (Y/n). "Dang, check out Slugzilla!" He said, and (Y/n) giggles. "Oh no, it's Slugzilla!" Doing her best impression of when they always shout that in the Godzilla movies, but Coraline was not impressed. "You're just like them." She crosses her arms.

"Huh?" He looks from the slug to himself. "I meant our parents; they don't listen to us either." Coraline said. Wybie nods, not listening again, takes his camera, and gives it to (Y/n). "Uh huh... You mind?" He signals he's ready and she fires off one auto-flash shot after another as he strikes silly poses making sound effects: horrified of the slug one moment; ready to eat it the next; pretending it's something from his nose in another. They can't help but giggle. "Ew!" They said. Finished, Wybie tosses the slug back into the fog, and takes the camera back. He lowers his head, thoughtful, then glances up past them at the house. He sighs and speaks in a sad tone.

"You know, I've never been inside the Pink Palace." "You're kidding." Coraline said. "Seriously?" (Y/n) asked. "Grandma would kill me. She thinks it's dangerous or something." He replied. "Dangerous?" Coraline repeated, looking at the house, along with (Y/n). "Well... she had a twin sister too." Whybie began. "So?" Coraline asked. "When they were kids, Grandma's sister disappeared. She says she was stolen." Whybie said. "Stolen?" (Y/n) asked worriedly. The cat senses something and turns its Coraline's and (Y/n)'s dolls at the window. "Well, what do you think?" Coraline asked. "Uhhh, I-I don't know."

"Maybe she just ran away?" The black cat runs back and jumps onto his shoulder. "Wyborne!" His grandma shouted. "Look, I gotta go." He starts to pull away. "Wait a minute!" (Y/n) said. Coraline and (Y/n) look at each other in deep thought. That night, Coraline takes some yellow cheese from her pocket and puts it by the door. She lies down and her breathing slows, the dolls watching her with a nearly imperceptible smile on their faces. Later that night, the twins wake up and sit up, and look to their door, and spot a couple of kangaroo mice stealing the last bit of cheese.

They give chase after the mice, hopping down the stairs with the cheese. They follow the kangaroo mice directly to the little door, opened a crack, where they disappear. Coraline pulls it open. Bricks are gone; tunnel revealed. They don't hesitate to crawl through the door. They enter the other Kitchen to find Other Mother preparing a delicious breakfast. She looks prettier tonight; her black hair shining, lips redder. She stops humming a lullaby to greet them. "Welcome back, darlings." "Hi." The twins wave. She is grating yellow cheese into scrambled eggs. "So thoughtful of you to send this nice cheddar, Coraline." Other Mother said. "Cheddar?..." (Y/n) asked.

"Oh, the mice bait." Coraline realized. "Would you go fetch your father?" Other Mother beams at them. "Bet he's hungry as a pumpkin by now!" She said. "You mean our Other Father?" (Y/n) asked. "Your better father, dear. He's out in the garden." Other Mother said. "But our parents don't have time to garden." Coraline said. Other mother shushes her and puts a strawberry in her mouth. "Mmmmmm!" Coraline said. "Go on." The twins shrug and start for the door. Looking out, they see the broken-down garden from the real world, still grey and lifeless in the dim light.

Coraline opens the gate to the garden. A large crescent moon rises, and things start to grow. Two dead shrubs start to rise, then blossom, then the blossoms themselves are lit up by some gold and amber hummingbirds. The hummingbirds circle around Coraline and (Y/n), light their dragonfly barrettes, then continue on, lighting up pitcher plants that have grown up in a nearby flower bed. A beautiful frog pokes out of one blossom. The birds lead Coraline and (Y/n) up steps past a stone wall where bleeding hearts grow, and glow.

They spot Other Father, riding a praying mantis tractor on the hillside, planting seeds that instantly grow into flowering plants. "Hey!!!" He said. "We love your garden!" Coraline shouted. He waves back. "Our garden, Coraline!" A gang of snap dragons goes at them, tickling them till they fall down. Their squeals of delight grow into hysterical laughter. "Oh ah, stop! Stop tickling, ah!" Other Father hears this and looks over. "Oops, daughters in distress!" He guns the tractor full-speed over a little bridge, grabbing a gourd trumpet from a vine and blowing it. jack-o-lanterns surface in the pond below and spout streams of water.  Arriving beside Coraline and (Y/n), he waggles his finger at the snapdragons.

"Tickle no more, you dragon snappers!" Then he cuts a bouquet of them and presents it to Coraline and (Y/n). (Y/n) nods thanks as she takes them. "Well, she says it's time for dinner ... breakfast ... food?" She said. "Hop on, kiddos, I want to show you something!" They do. The Other Father grabs the gearshift knob, pulls it, and the mechanical mantis sprouts wings. They rise in the air. Looking down, they see that the garden is a portrait of their face. "I can't believe you did this!" Coraline grinned. "Mother said you'd like it! Boy she knows you like the back of her hand." (Y/n) doesn't hold back this time.

She stacks sausages on eggs on top of waffles, rolls it up and stuffs it in her mouth. The Other Mother feeds bits of sausage to the hungry snapdragons bouquet now in a vase. "Mmmm...so good!" (Y/n) said. "I love dinner, breakfast food." Other Father said. "Coraline, (Y/n), Mr. Bobinsky has invited you to come see the Jumping Mice perform after dinner." Other Mother said. "Really. That know-it-all Wybie said it  was all in Mr. B's head, I knew he was wrong." Coraline said. "Well, everything's right in this world, Kiddo." Coraline hurries to shovel in the rest of her meal, while her Other Parents smile at one another. "Your father and I will clean up while you  and your friend head upstairs."

Other Mother said. "Our friend?" (Y/n) asked curiously. There's a knock. Other Mother opens it to reveal the Other Wybie. He's cleaner, with better posture, and cute button eyes. "Great... another Wybie. Hello, Why-were-you-born." The boy nods, button eyes shining. "Hello?" (Y/n) asked. He just makes a shy smile and doesn't answer. "I thought you'd like him more, if he spoke a little less. So I fixed him." Fixed him? (Y/n) didn't like the sound of that. Did that mean...? "So he can't talk at all?" Coraline asked. "Nope." Other Mother said. Coraline looks Other Wybie over appreciatively. "Hmm, I like it." (Y/n) rolls her eyes. Of course. "Now run along, you three, and have fun." Coraline and (Y/n) head out the door with the boy.

The Other House lit by amber spotlights looks magical with ornate gingerbread trim; glowing topiary in the yard. The kids come out the front door. "You're awful cheerful, considering you  can't say anything." Coraline said. Other Wybie nods in agreement. (Y/n), Coraline and he start up the stairs to Bobinsky's. "Uh...It didn't hurt, did it, when she..." (Y/n) points to her mouth. There's an awkward moment, then he points past her, excitedly: a small blimp is flying towards Bobinsky's door.  They run up the stairs and watch it slip through an opening above his door. Coraline knocks and the door suddenly it spins, throwing them inside. They somersault to a stop and sit up. Down two rows of small cannons that face each,

an amazing miniature circus has been set up, with a ferris wheel beside it. "Whoa... cool!" Coraline goes right to the Ferris wheel where a mechanical chicken eats dried corn on the cob, fires up its belly, then poops out popcorn into paper bags. Other Wybie stomps a firing button and cotton candy shoots out of a cannon. He catches the cone, then starts firing off all the cannons. Coraline and (Y/n) look back to find him covered in the cotton candy. "Look at you!" (Y/n) laughed. Spotlights come on in the big top, the entrance opens, and a big voice is heard over loudspeakers. "Ladies and gentleman! For to tickle your eyes and ears and making hearts to thump, I – Sergei Alexander Bobinsky – am introducing..." They race to the entrance, stoop down to crawl inside. "my as-tound-ishing, stu-pen-dulous  and AH-MAZING Jumping Mouse Circus!"

They sit between miniature grandstands and watch as the little blimp, bathed in spotlights, enters through a flap. It circles around, rising to the top of the tent, then nose dives towards the ground. It crashes in the center of the circus ring, and opens like a flower from which 50 jumping mice spring up like Chinese acrobats to spell out (Y/n). "My name!" She says with excitement. Coraline furrows her eyebrows, but smiles. "The jumping mice leap to the ground in formation, brandish tiny instruments, and drummers start pounding.

The drum major mouse parachutes down and whips out a baton. On his signal, the group launch into a wild circus march. (Y/n), grinning, turns to the Other Wybie. "It's wonderful, Wybie!" The boy smiles and nods to the beat of the bass drums as the hopping band marches in and out of ever changing formations, pinwheels, x's, circles within circles. They hoppers begin to spiral to the center of the circus ring when the floor rises up from its center to form a six-foot tower of babel, the mice hopping to the top. The drum major balances on the tippy-top on a colorful circus ball. "Wow!" Coraline and (Y/n) said.

He runs the ball down and around the spiral as the mice hop off, and when he hits the ground, the tower drops away to reveal the other mister Bobinsky. He cracks a whip. (Y/n), Coraline and Other Wybie stand and clap. Other Bobinsky is in a ringmaster's outfit with a full length cape, bows graciously, doffing his tall black hat. His mustache is waxed, his eyes black buttons. "Yah! Whooo-oooh! That was great!" (Y/n) clapped. "Very very thank you, ladies and gentleman." On cue, the entire jumping mice band disappears into other

Mr. B's sleeves while the drum major swings up from the man's mustache and onto his head, where he's quickly hidden by the tall black hat. "We loved it, Mr. B. It was ... so ... so—" Coraline tried to come up with what to say. "Ahhhhhh—" "A-mazing!" Coraline and
(Y/n) shouted. "You are very velcome anytime you like, you and also your good friend there." They happily turn to Other Wybie, beaming with joy. "Dosvedanya, (Y/n)." Bobinsky takes her hand to kiss it. Other Mother kisses sleeping (Y/n)'s forehead, and sits back in the bedside chair. Other Father, close by, pulls a cotton candy cone off Other Wybie and munches it. Other Parents smile warmly, knowing something secret that makes them glad.