??? POV
The twins had been running for almost an hour straight, and they were starting to feel it. Their adrenaline was slowly running out, and the pains in their sides were increasing with every step they took. But since something dangerous seemed to happen every time they stopped moving, they were motivated to keep going.
"After all this running, P.E. testing should be a breeze," Conner said through heavy wheezes.
''And it was'', I said with a laugh
"We're almost there," Alex said unconvincingly. "Just a little farther!"
The forest had changed as they ran through it. The trees weren't so thick, and there was more space and grass between them. More sunlight fell through the branches, so nothing was in the dark. The path became wider, too, and much more visible.
The twins didn't feel as threatened by their surroundings; the forest almost grew friendlier the closer they traveled to the Corner Kingdom.
Conner collapsed to the ground. He was breathing harder than a fish out of water.
"I can't run anymore! I can't take another step!" he said with his limbs spread out as if he were making a snow angel in the dirt.
"We can't stop moving until we get into the Corner Kingdom," Alex reminded him through her own heavy breathing.
"I think we're there," Conner said.
"How do you know?" Alex asked.
"That's how," Conner said, and pointed upward.
In the distance, a tall tower was visible above the treetops. It was circular and made of square stones. There was a single window near the top, just below the pointed roof made of hay. It was partially covered in thick vines of ivy.
Alex gasped and clutched her hands together.
"It's Rapunzel's tower!" Alex said, and her eyes became a little misty at the sight of it.
"Are you seriously crying?" said Conner, who was still on the ground.
"It's just how I imagined it!" Alex said. "Get up! We're getting a closer look!"
Alex yanked on her brother's arm until he climbed to his feet, and the twins walked through the trees until they came to the base of the tower.
It was even taller than it looked, a few hundred feet tall at least. The twins' necks began to ache after looking up at the tower for a while. A large golden plaque was displayed in the ground in front of it that said:
QUEEN RAPUNZEL'S TOWER
"It must have been so hard for her," Alex said. "Seeing people and places so far away and never being able to visit them."
"At least she never had to worry about burglars," Conner said.
"I've got to go up there," Alex said.
"Do you have a jet pack or a grappling hook that I'm unaware of? "Conner asked her.
"No, I'll have to climb it," Alex said, surprising herself with the declaration.
"You have officially lost your mind!" Conner said. "We've almost been killed twice, and we haven't even been here a full day yet! We need to stop fooling around and find a way home, Alex! What part of that don't you understand?"
"Look," Alex said. "I'm going to climb up there for just a few minutes, and then as soon as I climb back down, we'll read the journal and find out what all the Wishing Spell items are, okay?"
"Alex..." Conner began. His face was turning pink.
"Please, Conner," Alex said. "I need to do this, or I'll regret it forever!"
Conner shook his head with the frustration that only a sibling could cause. He wanted to lecture her about how childish she was acting. But the way she was looking at him, with her big, wanting eyes, prevented him. It was so rare that Alex ever needed something, he supposed one last stop couldn't hurt.
"Don't kill yourself," Conner said. "But while you're up there, I'm going to start reading the journal and make a list of the Wishing Spell items we need to find."
Alex happily nodded and put her bag on the ground. She stretched for the climb she was about to make.
Conner sat on the ground and began flipping through the pages of the journal.
Climbing the tower was easier said than done. After searching around the base of the tower for a place to put her first step, Alex could tell why a long train of golden hair might be needed to get to the top of it. Eventually, she found a stone block with a chip large enough to put her foot in and take her first step.
"Here I go," Alex said. "Gosh, I wish I had a camera!"
"Trust me," Conner said. "The real Alex I know isn't going to want proof of this."
It was like climbing the world's most difficult rock-climbing wall. She relied on cracks and chips and uneven bricks sticking out just enough to put her hands and feet on. She moved slowly but carefully. If she were any larger, it wouldn't have worked.
"You're still at the bottom?" Conner said, looking up from the journal after a few minutes.
"Shut up, Conner!" Alex yelled back at him.
"I'm just saying, at the rate you're going Mom's gonna be eighty by the time we get home whether there's a time difference or not," he said.
I couldn't help but glare at my brother.
After some time had gone by and she had gotten the hang of it, Alex moved more quickly, carefully pulling herself up using the ivy. The higher she climbed, the less she looked down at the ground, fearing it would tamper with her effort to reach the top.
She was so determined to see the top of the tower, to be in the room where Rapunzel had lived and to see what Rapunzel had seen through her window every day. She wanted to be where somebody else had been during the loneliest times of their life.
Rapunzel's story had always been easy for Alex to identify with. Alex felt she was in a tower of her own, looking at the world from an un reachable location.
She was almost halfway up the tower by now, and she was above all the trees in the forest. Any tiny misstep would no longer result in potential injury, it would mean death.
"There's a reason the witch put Rapunzel up there, you know!" Conner called up to her. "So no one could reach her!"
"I'm not listening to you!" Alex said, and then, stupidly, looked down.
Beads of sweat appeared on Alex's forehead. She felt like her heart had fallen out of her body. What was she doing? There was no way she could climb back down. Was she really risking her life just to see the inside of a tower? If she ever reached the top, would she be able get back down? Would she have to wait until her hair grew long enough to climb before she saw anyone again?
What would Conner do if she got stuck up there? Would he try to find the fairy-tale world equivalent of a fire department with a ladder long enough to get her down? Or would he find the Wishing Spell items on his own and go home without her?
The more Alex worried, the more she climbed. She knew it wouldn't be productive to worry and stay still, so she just kept going. It felt like hours had gone by.
She looked up. She was only a few feet away from the window! Just a few more feet and she'd be there! Finally, she felt the windowsill with her hand sand slowly pulled herself up to it... then through it... she was almost through the window...
Alex swung her legs over the window and into the tower.
"Thank God," she said to herself. She might be stuck in the tower, but at least she was safe.
Alex looked around the tower; it wasn't at all what she had expected. It was a large, circular room with no furniture or decoration of any kind. In fact, it was completely empty except for some hay and bird droppings littered around the floor.
"Hi, Alex!" said a voice inside the tower.
Alex jumped and screamed. She was completely shocked to see Conner sitting up against the tower wall just a few feet away from her.
"It took you long enough to get up here!" he said with a laugh. He was eating an apple, and he had the journal open in his lap.
"How in the world did you get up here?" Alex demanded. She was still out of breath from her climb.
"I took the stairs," Conner said with a mocking grin. "I was reading the journal. It says that after Rapunzel became queen, she installed a staircase inher tower so she could come back and visit whenever she wanted. The door to the staircase was on the other side of the tower. We just didn't see it."
"Oh," Alex said sheepishly. "That would make sense."
"Apparently, since Rapunzel was the only known ward of the witch, when the witch died, Rapunzel inherited all the land from her. That's how she became a queen," Conner informed her. "But you would have known that if you had read the journal. It's full of fun facts and helpful hints on how to get inside difficult places."
"I suppose," Alex said, and straightened her headband. She wasn't going to let this ruin the accomplishment she had felt after climbing the tower. She turned to look out Rapunzel's window.
The tower was surrounded by a sea of trees. Far off into the distance, Alex could barely see the rooftops of a tiny village; beyond the village was a large mountain range that rolled across the horizon. Now this was exactly what Alex had expected.
"It's quite a view, isn't it?" Conner asked.
"Yes," Alex said, almost in a whisper. "It's breathtaking. I just wish we could see it all, everything in the Land of Stories. But I did a lot of thinking on my way up here, and I know we have to get home. That's what we need to focus on."
"About that," Conner said. "You really need to read this, Alex. I've only skipped through a little bit of it—most of it's hard to read, because it's written by hand—but the situation is much more serious than we thought."
He handed her the journal. Alex sat next to him and opened it to the very first page and began reading.
Dear friends,
I don't know how, why, or where you found this journal, but since it has found its way into your possession, I hope that it will be of use to you. What I am about to tell you is going to sound ludicrous, but I ask that you allow me to explain. Had I not seen it with my own eyes, I would have never believed it my self. I am but a simple man from a simple village in the Charming Kingdom, but I have been to another world. It's a world with people and technologies that our world has only dreamed of and places we can only imagine. I know it seems absurd, but I promise you that an extraordinary place exists out there. We just can't see it. During my visit, among the many things I experienced, I fell in love. I fell into a love so deep it was unlike anything I've ever known. I never thought this kind of love was real. It's as if I am no longer living for myself anymore, but for her.
''Aww, so romantic'', said most of the girls
So, I must find a way back. I must find a way to see her again. The first time I traveled into the other world was simple. A fairy that knew of its existence allowed me to travel with her. She warned me not to get attached to anything or anyone, but while my brain was obedient to her request, my heart betrayed it. The fairy has hence banned me from traveling with her. So, this time, I must find my way into the other world on my own. Naturally, I didn't know where to start. How does one go about traveling into another world? Who was I even to ask? How would I even be able to ask without appearing like a lunatic? Cinderellian society is very judgmental, and I surely would have been ridiculed if my mission were discovered. I came to the conclusion that I'd have to ask someone who was crazy in their own right, so no one would believe them if they spoke of what I had inquired. I needed someone I could trust, but who would never be trusted by the world. I figured such a person didn't exist, and I lost hope, until I remembered the Traveling Tradesman. He was infamous for finding naïve children in the woods and trading their items of value for items he claimed to be magical. He was rumored to have given Jack the beans that grew his beanstalk. Surely if anyone had heard of another world, it would be him. He was on the move at all times, since warrants for his arrest had been issued in all the kingdoms. He would be nearly impossible to find, but then again, my entire quest was virtually impossible. Late one night, I traveled to a tavern up the stream from my home. There I befriended two farmers, and I proceeded to buy them round after round of drinks. After we had had a few laughs about childhood adventures and adolescent mistakes, I asked them if they had ever heard of the Traveling Tradesmen. They both grew very quiet and were almost offended by the question. I assured them it was purely out of curiosity, and I wasn't accusing them of anything. I purchased another round of drinks, and after they were consumed the farmers confessed they had done business with him in earlier years. "I traded two goats for a watering can that was supposed to magically water all my crops by itself," one of the farmers said. "The damn thing never worked, and it had a leak! It was the biggest mistake of my life." "I traded two cows for a goose he told me would lay golden eggs!" the other claimed. "The goose was male! He gave me a gander !" They tried convincing me to call off my search for him, but after one final round of drinks, they told me of the routes he covertly took through the woods. I must have searched every patch of trees in the Charming Kingdom. Finally, in the woods just south of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom border, I found him. The Traveling Tradesman was an odd, elderly, disheveled man. He wore several layers of raggedy clothing, and he had a long, gray beard. There were dark circles under his eyes, and one of the eyes wandered to the left, so it was difficult to tell what or whom he was looking at. He traveled with a large cart that was pulled by a single mule. He was making a deal with a small boy holding a chicken when I first saw him." Wear this bear claw and you'll grow up to be the strongest boy in the village," the Tradesman told the boy, and then placed a necklace with a large bear claw around his neck and took the chicken from him. The boy smiled and ran off. The Tradesman placed the chicken in the back of his cart. He must have made other trades that day, because he had already collected two geese and a pig. "Are you a friend or a foe?" the Tradesman asked me." A friend, I believe," I said." Oh, good," he said with a jolly clap. "Then what may I do for you, friend? Would you like a bag of magic pebbles that grow into boulders? It'll only cost you a duck! Or perhaps you'd like to trade a swine for a loaf of bread that'll make you never be hungry again?" "No, thank you," I said cautiously. "I've come to ask you for advice." "Advice?" the Tradesman said. The eyebrow above his wandering eye rose. "That, my friend, is something no one has ever asked me for. What do you wish to know?" "I am wondering..." I started, but wasn't sure how to put it into words. "What is the farthest distance you've traveled? "The Tradesman scratched his beard and thought about it. "Well, I'd honestly say there isn't a place in this world I haven't been," he told me. "I've traveled from the Southwest to the Northeast and from the Southeast to the Northwest. I've been from the bottom of the Corner Kingdom to the top of the Sleeping Kingdom and from the tip of the Elf Empire to the coast of the Fairy Kingdom—""What about farther than that?" I interrupted him, fearing he might continue listing every journey he had ever taken. "Farther than that?" Both of the Tradesman's eyebrows were raised now. "What's farther than that? Only ocean is beyond that, and that's it." "What about a different world? Have you ever heard of one or how to travel to one?" I finally asked. The Tradesman got a funny look in his eyes—or should I say eye." Young man, I've been all over the world, and I have never seen any suggestion of there being another," he said. This topic upset him somehow, and he hopped aboard his cart and took the reins of his mule. "Wait! Please don't go!" I pleaded. "You youngsters always take pleasure in harassing an old man. Well, I won't allow it," he said. He began to travel up the path. I was so desperate, I stood in front of his mule and was nearly trampled. "I mean you no harm, old man!" I assured him. "You don't understand! I've been to another world, another place and time, and have seen extraordinary things! I need to go back! It may be the greatest wish I will ever have. "My arms were spread out, and I fell to my knees. I felt like an imbecile, confessing a preposterous need to a preposterous man. The Tradesman sat still with his good eye fixed on me. "Is it truly the most desired wish in your heart?" he asked. "Yes!" I pleaded. "I've never wanted anything more in my life." "If it's a wish you desire, then there's only one thing you need," he said. "What is that?" I asked him. "The Wishing Spell," the Tradesman said. At first I thought he was joking. "The Wishing Spell?" I asked him. "You mean the childish legend?" "It's as real as the nose on my face," the Tradesman said. "Many men have spent their lives trying to obtain it. Legend has it that if you collect a series of objects and place them in close proximity, the collector's one true wish will be granted. "I didn't know whether or not to believe him. Perhaps he was harassing me now. My brain was critical, but my heart chose to learn more. "And how do I find these items?" I asked. "I don't have the slightest idea," he said. Now I was frustrated with him. All of that explanation for nothing! I turned my back on him and began heading back home. "But I know someone who does!" the Tradesman called after me. "Who?" I demanded. "I never trade for free," the Tradesman said, and extended an open palm toward me. I placed a few gold coins in his hand. He kept his hand extended, and I placed a few more coins into it until he was satisfied. "Her name is Hagatha," the Tradesman said." Where can I find her?" "Take this path west into the Dwarf Forests, past the three boulders, and then follow the smoke," the Tradesman said, and that was all the direction he gave. He took the reins of his mule and traveled away from me. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have chased after him and asked for more instructions, but instead I took off running toward the Dwarf Forests. I had never been inside the Dwarf Forests before. I had been told of their dangers since I was a child, and once I was there I knew why I had been warned. The trees grew so thick and close that someone could be standing three feet away from you and you would never know they were there. It took two days to find the three boulders the Tradesman had spoken of. They were three large rocks that stuck straight out of the ground and were tilted in a peculiar position. I thought perhaps they might have been pointing at something, so I lowered my head to look in the direction they pointed. The boulders pointed directly between two trees separated just enough that you could see a wide patch of the sky, and in this patch I could see smoke !I ran toward the source of the smoke. Wherever it was coming from was completely off the path, and I almost seriously injured myself jumping over bushes and tree roots as I went. Occasionally, I could see the sky through the tree branches and could tell if I was off track. I must have traveled in circles for hours. Every time I thought I was just about to find the place from which the smoke came, the wind would shift it in another direction. I was lost. Every way I turned looked exactly the same. I felt as if the forest had swallowed me. The sun was setting, and the smoke became harder to see. I started to panic; there was no shelter in sight. I thought for sure a treacherous beast would find me during the night and make a feast out of me. I started running again. I could barely see where I was going at this point. I could hear howling in the distance. I tripped and fell straight through a large thorn bush. I landed hard in the grass on other side of the thornbush. I was scraped, scratched, and bleeding. I got to my feet and looked around; I was standing in a large, circular clearing in the forest surrounded by a large wall of thornbush. In the center of this clearing was a small hut with a hay roof and a brick chimney. And rising out of this chimney was the smoke I had been following. No wonder it had been so hard to find! I must have been wandering incircles around it, not knowing it was hidden behind the thorn bush.I approached the hut slowly. It had one door and two windows, and that was all. I went to knock on the door, but it burst open before I had a chance. "Who are you?" said the woman who emerged from the hut. I knew from the second I saw her that it was Hagatha. She looked like a human tree stump. She was short and wore a brown hooded cloak. Deep wrinkles circled her face, and one of her eyes was squinted. Her nose was one of the smallest I had ever seen and was neighbored by a gigantic mole. "Are you Hagatha?" I asked her. "How did you find me?" she snapped. "I tripped through the thornbush," I said. "But how did you know I was here?" she asked. Her squinted eye squinted even more. "The Traveling Tradesman," I told her. "He said you knew of the Wishing Spell. "Hagatha grunted and sighed at the same time. Her lips wrinkled and looked me up and down. Reluctantly, she gestured me to follow her inside. "Come in, come in!" Hagatha said. The inside of the hut was an utter mess. There were vials of strange liquids everywhere; some bubbled, some glistened, some steamed. There were dozens of glass jars containing the strangest things: dead and alive reptiles, insects of every species, even a glass jar of various eyeballs. Even though they had been plucked out from their owner's lids, I swear one of them blinked at me .I was surprised to see how many animals were inside the hut as well; everything from geese and chickens to hummingbirds and monkeys all resided in cages. They were all restless, prisoners no doubt. "Have a seat," Hagatha instructed. She pointed to a chair at the end of a table so large that it almost took up the entire hut. "I see you are a collector of sorts," I said. She didn't welcome the conversation. She ignored me and collected a few items around the room, a bowl here, a vial there. "The thornbush surrounding your home is very clever," I said. "It must keep out most unwanted visitors." "Most," she said, and glared at me. "That thornbush is from the Sleeping Kingdom. I planted it here and it grew around my home in a perfect circle, justas it grew around the castle while the queen was in her one-hundred-year slumber. You are the first to break through it." "I do apologize—""This will cost you fifteen gold coins," Hagatha said, and took a seat across from me. "For what?" I asked. "You want to know what the Wishing Spell items are, don't you?" she asked. "That is why you're here, is it not? "I reached into my pocket and laid all the coins I had left on the table. Unfortunately, doing business with the Tradesman had left me short. "I only have fourteen coins," I told her. Hagatha did not look pleased. "You stupid youth and your wishes. Very well," she said, and scooped up all the coins with one swipe. She placed a bowl in front of her and emptied the contents of two vials into it: one red liquid, the other blue. "One eye of an eagle, the wings of a pixie, and the heart of a newt, "Hagatha said, and added these items into the bowl. "Plus three drops of giant blood, the big toe of an ogre, and a straw of gold hay. That completes the potion. "With all the ingredients added, the liquid in the bowl started to smoke and glow. Hagatha leaned over it and breathed it in. She closed her eyes and lost herself in a moment of deep thought. "Does this potion tell you what the Wishing Spell items are?" I asked her. "No, but it helps me remember," Hagatha said. "You aren't the first, and you won't be the last person to request the list. Consider yourself warned: Many people have lost their lives trying to acquire these items. They are impossible to collect." "I'd rather die trying than live the rest of life wondering if I could have done it," I said. "Then listen carefully to what I'm about to say, because I'll only say it once," Hagatha said. I leaned as close to her as I possibly could. The anticipation made every second feel like an hour. This is what I had come all this way for...."There are eight," Hagatha said. She took a deep breath and then listed the items:
"Glass that housed a lonely soul up 'til midnight's final toll.
A saber from the deepest sea, meant for a groom's mortality.
The bark of a basket held in fright while running from a bark with bite.
A stony crown that's made to share, found deep within a savage lair.
A needle that pierced the lovely skin of a princess with beauty found within.
A wavy lock of golden rope that once was freedom's only hope.
Glittering jewels whose value increased after preserving the false deceased.
Teardrops of a maiden fairy feeling neither magical nor merry.
I repeated the list to myself the entire way home and wrote the Wishing Spell list and my journey thus far into this journal. I don't know how I'm going to gather these items, but my goal is to find them and then record how I managed it, in case I ever need to do it again. If you're reading this, I hope it means I succeeded, and if you're reading this and are about to start a journey of your own, I wish you luck.
"Wow," Alex said, looking up from the journal.
"You can say that again," Conner said. "You read that much faster than I did."
"Did you read any farther?" Alex asked. "Did he find all the items? Did he make it back?"
"I don't know. There are a lot of pages missing," Conner said.
Alex scanned through the list of the Wishing Spell items. She hadn't expected them to be hidden within riddles.
"Most of these are pretty easy to figure out," she said. "Like 'A needle that pierced the lovely skin of a princess with beauty found within.' That's obviously the spindle on Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel."
"And 'A wavy lock of golden rope that once was freedom's only hope,' "Conner said. "That's totally a lock of Rapunzel's hair! "Conner looked around the space where he was sitting. From between two floorboards he pulled out a lock of long, golden hair.
"Found one!" Conner said. "One of the first things I noticed when I got up here was how much that Rapunzel girl shed! Now we're one-eighth of the way home!"
''Seriously, Connor?'' Bree groaned, I have to agree my reaction was the same.
Alex carefully wrapped the lock of golden hair in a tissue from her schoolbag.
"What do you suppose 'Glass that housed a lonely soul up 'til midnight's final toll' means?" she asked. "Whose soul was covered in glass?"
"I know!" Conner said. "Cinderella's glass slipper! That covered the sole of her foot!"
"Of course!" Alex said. "This list was spoken. Maybe Hagatha meant sole, like on a foot, but the man heard it as soul, like a person's spirit! Conner, you're a genius!"
"There's an alternative spelling?" Conner asked, but Alex went on.
"I wonder what 'The bark of a basket held in fright while running from a bark with bite' means," said Alex, thinking hard. "Basket, basket, basket...bite, bite, bite... Little Red Riding Hood! Her basket must have been made out of tree bark! And the bark with bite is talking about the Big Bad Wolf!"
"Okay," Conner said. "That would make sense."
Alex stood up and started pacing around the tower.
" 'Glittering jewels whose value increased after preserving the false deceased.' That's a tough one," she said. "Who was falsely deceased?"
"Didn't people think Snow White was dead after she bit into the poisoned apple?" Conner asked.
"Yes, that's right!" said Alex, jumping up and down. "She had a coffin made of glass and jewels from the dwarf mines! That must be what it means!"
"I'm so glad Dad and Grandma read to us so much growing up!" Conner said. "Who ever would have thought it would be this useful?"
" 'Teardrops of a maiden fairy feeling neither magical nor merry.' I guess we'll just have to find a fairy who has recently broken up with her boyfriend or something," Alex surmised.
"You don't think we could just kick her and make her cry?" Conner asked. "That just seems easier to me."
Alex ignored him and vigorously flipped through the journal again.
"Glass slipper? Check! Spindle? Check! Coffin? Check!" Alex said. "According to the notes scribbled in the margins, the author of the journal seems to agree with our guesses. I still don't know what some of these things are, though, like 'A saber from the deepest sea, meant for a groom's mortality' or 'A stony crown that's made to share, found deep within a savage lair.' "
"Like I said, there are a lot of pages missing," Conner said.
Alex was disheartened by this. The items they knew of seemed virtually impossible to collect, let alone the items they didn't know of. She walked over to the window and looked out at the view. The sun was just about to set, and, one by one, the fireplaces in the village nearby were lit and sent trails of smoke into the darkening sky.
"What if we get some of these riddles wrong?" she asked. "What if we guess the wrong thing? What if the author guessed wrong? What if he never made it back? What if he died trying?"
"We'll just have to do our best," Conner said, joining Alex at the window. "Some annoying little girl told me once that optimism always pays off, and she's usually right about things."
Alex smirked warmly at her brother.
"Okay, then," she said. "So far, we have a lock of Rapunzel's hair. We still need to collect Cinderella's slipper, Sleeping Beauty's spindle, jewels from Snow White's coffin, bark from Red Riding Hood's basket, tears from a fairy, plus two other items we have no idea about."
Conner gulped at hearing the list. They both looked out over the horizon and at the sea of trees that surrounded the tower. Somewhere out there, all of these things were waiting to be found.
"It looks like we're going to see more of the Land of Stories than we thought," Conner said.
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Fairytale💖er800