Between Two Worlds (complete)

Chapter Sixteen: Rescued... Or Not

"Is it you?" asked a strangely familiar voice. "Aya?!"

Then Jay recognized who it was. It was that girl, Solona, who had pushed Aya into the portal!

"Solona!" Aya yelled. "Blast it! What in the world are you doing here!?"

"Shush! The guards are coming!" And with that, Solona closed the closet door.

"But what are you doing here?!" Jay asked in a whisper, withdrawing his arm from Aya's shoulders.

"I was going to look for you. I heard that the Queen had found you-" she started, but Aya cut her off.

"Wait... how did you get in here?" she asked suspiciously.

"Just- never mind that! I was walking through the halls and I saw this closet. I decided that I would pick up your things before I saved you, so-" Solona was cut off by Aya.

"Wait a minute- save us?! What kind of hero do you think you are, because you are not one in my mind!" she said.

"Uggh! Aya, I just wanted to get you out of here!" Solona said, annoyed.

Jay quieted them down.

"Okay, Solona, what about you help us get my parents out of the dungeon! Toni and Suddenly, well, that's a different story. Let's concentrate on the first task first. Ok?" he told the two girls.

"Okay," They both mumbled. It was hard to believe that they were actually friends. Or maybe they weren't...

Anyway, the three of them walked out of the closet with their belongings. They stuck close to the walls until they spotted a door marked Dungeons. But there was also a handwritten sign taped to the door. It said:

Extra Bad Punishments for our WORST Prisoners!!!!

Warmest Regards- Princess Valentine

"Wow. She seems... mean enough!" Jay said. Luckily the door was unlocked. But obviously, inside, the various dungeon doors were locked. Then Jay spotted his parents inside one of the dungeons. But he spotted something (or somebody) else in the corner.

"Is that- Is that Suddenly and Toni!?" Aya exclaimed.

"Yes! We don't have to meet that annoying princess again!" Jay exclaimed, trying to lower his voice. "Yes! Yes!" Jay and Aya started jumping up and down.

"We're saved a lot of trouble!" Aya said, still jumping. "No prissy Princesses to deal with!" She grabbed Jay's hands and they started jumping around in a circle.

"Um, hello?! Are you toddlers or what?!" Solona exclaimed in a whisper. They finally came back to sense.

"Um, how are we going to unlock the doors? And where are the guards?" asked Aya. She was back to being gloomy.

"Simple," Solona replied. She walked over to a bench and plucked the key ring out of a sleeping guard's pocket.

"Sleeping on duty, as usual," said Solona, laughing to herself.

"Wait, you know him?" asked Jay.

"No. But don't people always sleep at night?" Solona said sassily.

Sometimes she could be pretty annoying. She walked over to the cell door and unlocked the door when she found the right key. The door clicked open. Jay crept in. Aya held the door shut and stayed in the shadows while Solona threw the keys through the open window. They fell into the moat with a plop.

"Alright. Time to get out of here!" Solona said. She took off her black jacket and threw it on the ground.

"What are you doing?" asked Aya.

"My clothes are too heavy," Solona replied.

"What? You seemed fine enough walking all the way here with them on," Jay said.

"We're swimming out in the moat," she replied. There was a mountain of black petticoats on the ground. She was now in a thin black slip.

"Wow, you wear a lot of layers," said Aya, clearly disgusted in her too-short brown skirt and maroon button-up top. She wasn't even wearing a slip underneath. Aya was about as unladylike as they could get. Then Solona leaped out the window into the icy water. Aya and Jay shook the others awake and motioned for them to come, and they followed them silently. Mari wrapped her arms around Toni and they leaped out. Roy followed.

"Don't worry, there's no alligators!" Solona yelled. Aya walked up to the window. Then a splash could be heard. Jay squeezed his eyes shut and took the plunge after Aya and his family.