Alex and Conner were lost.
"We're not lost. I just don't know exactly where we are," Alex told her brother.
"So, in other words, we're lost," Conner said.
"All right, Conner, we're lost!" Alex said, and hit him with the map.
They had left the Red Riding Hood Kingdom in such a hurry, they thought they might have taken a wrong path. Alex kept looking down at the map, trying to see where they had made a wrong turn, and kept walking into bushes and trees.
"We could be in the Fairy Kingdom, or perhaps we're back in the Charming Kingdom," she said. "But the eastern gate of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom is close to so many borders, we could be in the Sleeping Kingdom, for all I know."
"How is anyone supposed to find their way around this place? It's all just a bunch of trees and dirt roads with the occasional castle!" Conner said angrily. "We're never going to get home!"
"It's just a slight set back. We'll be back on track before you know it, "Alex said.
"And exactly what track are we on?" Conner asked. "I hate to bring this to your attention, but we've only collected three of the eight Wishing Spell items, and we have no idea what two of them are. And, to be frank, we're not even sure if the Wishing Spell will work when and if we do collect everything."
"Don't be so negative, Conner," Alex said.
"Alex, I'm just being realistic," Conner said. "We still have so many places to go, and so much more ground to cover. And after seeing that weird jungle woman in Red Riding Hood's castle take a chunk of the basket, we may not be the only ones going after this Wishing Spell thing. What if we don't succeed? Have you thought about what we'll do if we get stuck here?"
She hadn't thought about it and didn't want to. She was afraid that thinking about it made it much more possible.
Alex inspected the map further, tracing it with her index finger.
"All right, I think I figured out what we did wrong," Alex said.
'' We, huh, you made the mistake'', Connor said
"We? You've been hogging the map since we got it," Conner said.
"All right, I think I figured out what I did wrong," Alex said, her cheeks reddening. "The path we should have taken is just on the other side of the forest next to us. We'll walk through the forest, get on the correct path, and then be on our way into the Fairy Kingdom."
"Great," Conner said.
They walked off the path and into the forest beside them. After walking for a while, they noticed that the forest was very still and eerily quiet—too quiet, especially for Conner. He'd had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach since they'd entered the forest.
The trees grew taller here, but whenever the twins looked up, there were no birds or bugs or anything to be seen gliding from tree to tree. The whole forest, excluding the trees, seemed lifeless.
"Hey, Alex?" Conner asked.
"Yes, Conner?" Alex said.
"Have you noticed we haven't seen any animals or birds for a while?" he said.
"No, I haven't; I've been a little preoccupied," Alex said, still looking down at the map. "I'm just saying, don't you think it's kind of strange we're the only—aaaaah!"
''Trapped'', Egghorn and Bobblewart said in unison
Without warning, the twins were jerked suddenly upward and suspended in the air. They were dangling above the ground in some sort of roped net. They had walked right into a trap.
"What's going on?" Alex yelled. "What is this?"
"It's some kind of trap!" Conner said.
"Help!" Alex screamed. "Somebody help us!"
Unfortunately for them, their cries were heard by the wrong people. Two figures ran through the forest straight toward them. One was tall and lean, the other was short and round.
"Egghorn, we caught something!" said the low, growly voice of the smaller.
"It's about time!" said the high-pitched, raspy voice of the taller.
They came close, and the twins could make out the frightening faces of a goblin and a troll standing before them. The goblin was gangly and thin with big, yellow eyes and pea-green skin. The troll was fat and frumpy with a huge nose and horns. Both had big, pointy ears that stuck out on the sides of their heads.
"Let us go!" Conner demanded.
"You can't do this!" Alex yelled.
The goblin and troll paid no attention to what Alex and Conner were saying. They stared at the twins like insects in a jar.
"Ooooh, look how young they are, Bobblewart!" the goblin said.
"Plenty of time to serve!" the troll said.
"What do you mean serve?" Conner said. "You'd better not hurt us!"
"Let us out of this net right now, or I'll report you to the local authorities, "Alex said, not knowing whom she could be referring to.
"And they'll grow bigger and stronger every day!" the troll said.
"Bobblewart, get the cart!" the goblin instructed. "They're going to make the perfect slaves."
The twins struggled twice as hard against the net when they heard the word slaves. They remembered what Froggy had told them over tea. The trolls and goblins had been banished for kidnapping and enslaving innocent people... and now Alex and Conner were living proof that it was still happening. How were they going to escape this?
Bobblewart, the troll, ran off and returned a moment later driving a small cart pulled by a frail donkey. Egghorn, the goblin, cut a rope above the net, and the twins fell hard into the cart. They continued to fight against there straints of the net, but it was no use.
Egghorn climbed aboard the cart and sat next to Bobblewart. They both took the reins and whipped the donkey belligerently until the cart reached full speed.
They traveled for the rest of the day. All the twins could see through the net were treetops and sky zipping past them.
"Alex, what are we going to do?" Conner asked, still fighting against the ropes of the net.
"I don't know," Alex said. She was trembling like a small dog.
Alex managed to squirm her way to a seated position under the net to see where the troll and goblin were taking them. They were headed straight toward a line of boulders the size of mountains. Alex gasped; she recognized the rock formation from the map.
"What is it? What do you see?" Conner asked her.
"They're taking us into the Troll and Goblin Territory," Alex said, completely white-faced. "I can see the boulders that surround it!"
They remembered Froggy telling them the boulders had been placed around the territory to keep the trolls and goblins inside, but, clearly, as the cart squeezed through a crack between two of the boulders, the in habitants had found ways around their imprisonment.
The cart went through the boulders and into the kingdom, but there was nothing to see. There were no trees or buildings or life of any kind.
"I don't understand," Conner said. "Where do they live?"
"This looks like a medieval junkyard," Alex said.
The cart went through a gigantic hole in the ground and traveled down, deep into the earth. It was pitch-black, and the twins could barely see their hands in front of their faces. The smell of mildew and decay was horrible.
"The whole kingdom must be underground!" Alex said.
After descending in the dark for quite a distance, they saw tiny lights ahead of them. They came from lanterns scattered around a group of humans digging tunnels.
"What are people doing down here?" Conner asked, and then saw the trolls and goblins behind them.
"Faster!" the trolls and goblins demanded, whipping the humans.
''I feel so bad for them'', Bree said symphatetly
Alex had to cover her eyes at the sight of it. "They must be slaves! Oh ,Conner, this is horrible! This is so horrible!" she said.
Conner hugged his sister, and she cried into his shoulder.
"It's okay, Alex. We'll find a way out of this," Conner said, but even he was scared.
There were hundreds of huts and small homes stacked on top of one another all around them. It was an enormous underground world.
"This place must be like one giant ant colony," Conner said.
The cart moved through a stone arch with large statues, one of a goblin and one of a troll, on either side of it. They were frightening, with harsh features, and they were anything but welcoming. A sign carved into the arch read:
BE TROLL, BE GOBLIN, OR BE AFRAID
"Most people just have welcome mats," Conner said.
Past the arch was a long tunnel constructed of stones. The cart traveled through the arch and a light could be seen at the end of the tunnel. There was much noise coming from the end of the tunnel, a combination of high-pitched laughter, rumbling conversation, and loud clanking.
The twins were soon driven into a massive common room with hundreds of goblins and trolls spread everywhere on numerous levels. Some were even hanging from a chandelier.
Everything was made of stone; they ate and drank from stone plates and goblets and sat on stone chairs at stone tables. They were served by other enslaved men and women. Each troll and goblin behaved in a more vulgar way than the last.
In the center of the chaos, on a platform overlooking the room, were two thrones. The Troll King sat in one and the Goblin King sat in the other. A crown made of rock was on display directly between them, just above their heads, demonstrating that they equally shared power over the kingdom.
They watched over their citizens with crude smirks, enjoying the festivities around them.
As the cart went through the room, many of the trolls and goblins hooted and hollered at the twins; some threw bits of food at them. Alex and Conner held on to each other tighter than ever, both trembling with fear.
The goblins and trolls were all grotesque and dreadful. They had warts and sharp teeth and horrible hygiene. They were the type of monsters Alex and Conner used to have nightmares about when they were younger.
Sitting on the kings' platform was a little troll girl about the twins' age. She had a round face with a small snout, and her hair was worn in pigtails just below tiny horns. She was sitting with her head resting on her hands and seemed bored and lonely; she didn't appear at all interested in the activities around her. She looked up as the twins passed her and gasped when she saw Conner. This took him by surprise.
(everyone snickering)
"What is she looking at?" Conner asked. "Do you think she wants to eat me or something?"
The cart turned a corner and descended down another long tunnel. They were so deep underground that they wondered if they would ever make it back to the surface.
The cart entered a small and dim dungeon with a row of cells in it. Other slaves were imprisoned inside the cells: men, women, children, and elderly alike. They all looked exhausted and were ghostly pale. They were all silent and cowered at the sight of Egghorn and Bobblewart steering the cart into the room.
Egghorn and Bobblewart cut the net around Alex and Conner, yanked the bags out of their hands, and aggressively forced them inside a cell.
"Get in there!" Egghorn said, and slammed the cell door shut behind them.
"What do we have in here?" Bobblewart said.
He took the twins' bags to a table on the side of the room and dumped all their belongings out onto it.
"Stay out of there!" Alex said as she watched helplessly. There for the entire room to see was the glass slipper, the lock of hair, the chunk of basket ,the map, the journal, the dagger, their sack of gold coins, and everything else the twins had been carrying. Thankfully, the troll and goblin only seemed interested in the dagger and the sack of gold coins.
They took those with them and dumped everything else in a pile of waste on the side of the table.
"Rest up! You'll have a long day tomorrow!" Bobblewart said, and then shared a laugh with Egghorn and left the room with their cart.
All the other slaves stared at Alex and Conner through their cell bars. They had sympathy in their eyes, so sorry that the twins were about to experience everything they had endured for however long they had been there.
"Does anyone know how to get out of here?" Alex asked, but none of them responded, as if they had been trained not to speak. Even the children were silent.
"How is this happening?" Conner grunted. He violently shook the bars of the cell, but they didn't budge.
"That's no use," said a voice behind the twins. "Those bars are made out of pure stone."
Alex and Conner turned to face the prisoner occupying the cell next to theirs. Crouched over in the darkest corner of his cell was an old man. He was thin and had a long, gray beard and tattered clothing.
"There's got to be some way out of here," Conner said.
"I've heard every man and woman say that when they were first brought here," the old man said. "But sadly, there isn't."
"How long have you been here?" Alex asked him.
"Years," the man said. He leaned forward, and the light fell on his face. His face was as tired and ragged as his clothes. He had a wandering eye, so the twins couldn't tell which one of them he was speaking to.
"Say, don't I know you two from somewhere?" he asked.
The twins knew this wasn't possible, but the man seemed convinced and, for whatever reason, the man seemed oddly familiar to them, too.
"I don't believe so," Alex said. "We're rather new to the area."
"I could swear it," the old man said. "Are you sure I never traded you a magic flute for a chicken? Or perhaps a singing flower for a lamb?"
"No, I'm sorry, we've never traded anything with you before—" Alex said, and then she realized who he was: the wandering eye, the long beard, the raggedy clothing... could it be? She pulled Conner aside. "Conner, he's the Traveling Tradesman, the one from the journal!"
Conner couldn't believe it.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Sir," said Alex, kneeling down to him. "Are you by chance known as the Traveling Tradesman?"
The man had to think about it. Obviously the years of enslavement had taken their toll on his mind.
"Yes, I believe that is what they called me," he said. He was happy to be reminded of a time when he wasn't a slave.
The twins were so pleased to hear this.
"Ask him if he knows what happened to the man who wrote the journal!" Conner whispered into Alex's ear, and she nodded.
"Mr. Tradesman," Alex said. "Do you remember a man coming to you and asking about the Wishing Spell?"
"The Wishing Spell?" the Tradesman asked. At first, it seemed he had no idea what she was talking about, but then recognition dawned on his face. "Why, yes, I do! He was one of the last customers I did business with before I was brought here. Silly lad, he talked about wanting to travel to another world. And I thought I was mad."
"Did he ever make it?" Alex asked. "Did he find all the items of the Wishing Spell?"
"I don't know," the Tradesman said, and the twins slumped. "I never saw him again, so it's possible."
He looked up at them curiously.
"Why do you ask?" The twins looked to each other. They didn't know what to tell him. "Don't tell me you two are chasing after the Wishing Spell, too?" he asked.
They looked at each other guiltily. Conner leaned down next to Alex and began asking questions of his own.
"We're trying, but we don't know everything we're looking for," Conner said.
The Tradesman laughed. "No one does; that's the beauty of it. Some people know the descriptions of the items it requires, but no one knows what they are for sure."
"Like Hagatha," Alex said. "She only knew what the riddles were. The man she told them to had to figure out what they were on his own, but he could have been wrong."
"What if we found Hagatha and asked her for her opinion—?" Conner began.
"Hagatha is dead," the Tradesman said.
"Dead?" Alex gasped. "How did she die?"
"She fell into the Thornbush Pit," the Tradesman said.
"What is the Thornbush Pit?" Alex asked.
"Good heavens, child, are you daft? After the curse was broken on the Sleeping Kingdom, all the thornbush and shrubbery that had grown wild around the kingdom was cleared out and dumped into a large and deep pit," the Tradesman said. "Hagatha was collecting some of the thornbush for her home and fell in."
"That's awful," Alex said.
"She called for help for days, but no one would help her; no one wanted to help an old hag," the Tradesman said. "Just before she died, Hagatha cursed the thornbush so that it would grow onto anything or anyone near it and pull it straight to the bottom, where she was trapped, forever."
"That's intense," Conner said.
"Since then, however, it's been used as a wasteland. People from all over the kingdoms journey there to drop off anything they never want to see again," he said.
"I wonder if there's anyone else we could speak to?" Alex said.
"Whatever journey you were on, I'm afraid it's over," the Tradesman said. "Once you're here, you're here, and there is nothing you can do about it."
He turned away from them. A commotion came from up the tunnel leading into the dungeon. Trolls and goblins led the men and women who had been serving in the tunnels and the common room back into their cells. They all looked as if they could sleep for a year if permitted.
"Time for sleep!" a troll ordered, and then extinguished all the torches in the room with a bucket of water. "And if anyone makes a sound, no one will be fed tomorrow!" The trolls and goblins left the dungeon chuckling.
The room was pitch-black. Alex found Conner in the darkness and they rested beside each other.
"I just don't want Mom to worry," Alex said with big, teary eyes. "The longer we're in here, the longer she's going to be alone."
"I'm sure Grandma is with her," Conner said. "They probably have the entire police department out looking for us. It'll be an interesting conversation once we get home and tell them where we've been all this time."
"Thanks for being positive, Conner," Alex said.
Despite the little comfort her brother gave her, Alex cried herself to sleep. Conner couldn't sleep.
He couldn't stop thinking that, just a week before, he had been safe and sound in his own bed, fearing nothing but school work and Mrs. Peters. And now, here he was, in the dungeons of another dimension, facing a life of slavery. How quickly times had changed....
Conner had just dozed off when he suddenly awoke; he felt like someone was watching him. He opened one eye and saw, standing on the other side of the cell door holding a single candle, the troll girl they had seen in the common room. She had been watching him sleep.
"Can I help you?" asked Conner, very creeped out.
"What's your name?" the troll girl asked him in an airy and engaging voice.
"Why do you want to know?" he asked.
"Because I'd like to know everything about you," she said with a dreamy smile that made Conner feel sick.
"I'm Conner. Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Trollbella," she said. "I'm a troll princess. My father is the Troll King. Do you have a girlfriend, Conner?"
Everybody starts laughing, while Trollbella still did not get over that her Butterboy chose the Breemonster over her.
Oh no, Conner thought. She had a crush on him. He was suddenly so grateful for the bars between them.
"Um... can't say that I do," Conner said awkwardly. "It's hard to meet people after having been recently enslaved by trolls and goblins."
"Oh, I know!" Trollbella said, with big flirty eyes. "Trolls and goblins are the worst! I hate living here. I would move away if I could. Everything is so unorganized and everyone is so mean, and don't get me started on troll boys! They don't know how to treat a lady!"
"I'm sorry to hear that," Conner said, hoping a goblin would walk in and take him away to work in a tunnel and save him from this situation.
"I'm just a hopeless romantic myself," Trollbella said, batting her eyelashes and twirling one of her pigtails. "Can I call you Butterboy?"
(everyone laughing)
"Definitely not," Conner said.
"Conner, what's going on?" asked Alex, waking up.
"Who is she?" Trollbella asked. Her playful expression fell into a threatened frown.
"Relax, this is just my sister," Conner said.
"Hi?" said Alex, very confused about what was happening.
"I don't like her," Trollbella said, pointing at Alex. Alex was taken aback. Had she done something wrong?
''And I still don't like you squishy girl'', Trollbella said, speaking for the first time
"She grows on you," Conner said. "And if I had to be enslaved for life with someone, I'm glad it's her."
"Have you enjoyed your stay with us so far?" Trollbella asked.
"Not really," Conner said. Was she kidding or just stupid?
"We'd really like to get out of here if you could help us," Alex said.
"I'm not talking to you!" Trollbella yelled at Alex.
She then turned her head slowly and smiled at Conner. "I may be able to give you freedom in exchange for something else."
"What's that?" Conner said. Both the twins would have been on the edge of their seats if they weren't on a dirty dungeon floor.
"A kiss," Trollbella said, staring passionately at Conner.
Conner gulped. "Well, I guess we're going to be slaves forever."
Trollbella frowned. Alex hit Conner upside the head.
"Kiss her, you idiot, and then we'll get out of here!" Alex said.
"Don't hit my Butterboy!" Trollbella said. "And I never said I would let you go, I only said I'd let him go."
"I think he'd be more inclined if you promised to let both of us go," Alex said.
"No, I wouldn't! Please don't speak on my behalf," Conner chimed in, but neither of them was listening to him.
Trollbella nostrils flared up. She didn't like negotiating. She turned around and disappeared without saying a word.
"Way to go, Conner!" Alex said. "That may have been our only chance to escape!"
"There's no way I'm kissing that!" Conner said.
"Freedom or no freedom, you're asking way too much of me!"
The twins both jumped back from the cell door. Trollbella had quickly returned with a key; she was ready to make a deal.
"Pucker up, Butterboy," Trollbella said, and pushed her head up against the bars of the cell door.
"I can't do this. I physically can't do this!" Conner said.
"Do you ever want to see home again?" Alex asked him.
Conner looked as if he were about to vomit and cry at the same time. At a snail's pace he approached Trollbella with his lips extended. He wasn't going fast enough for Alex, so she pushed him toward the cell door and Trollbella grabbed hold of him through the bars. She planted a big, fat, juicy kiss on him.
"Plaaaah!" Conner said, breaking away from her. He was wiping his mouth manically and gasping for air. Trollbella had a huge, satisfied grin on her face.
(everyone laughing the hardest)
''I see, you find my embarrassing very amusing'', Connor asked Bree
'' I am not the only one'', she replied as pointed to the others.
"That was the worst thing you have ever done to me!" Conner said, pointing at Alex, feeling completely betrayed. "How could you?"
"All right, Trollbella," said Alex, ignoring her brother's dramatics. "A deal is a deal. Let us go."
Trollbella smile dropped into a scowl. She reluctantly unlocked the cell door and opened it. And as she did, Alex caught sight of the other slaves in the dungeon. The few that were awake had been silently and intently staring at the twins. They had never seen anyone be freed before; they hadn't thought it was possible.
"You're free to go," Trollbella said. The twins briskly walked out of the cell, but as Alex passed Trollbella, she swiftly grabbed the key and pushed the troll princess into the cell, slamming the door behind her.
"Let me out of here right now!" Trollbella screamed.
"This wasn't part of the deal!"
"I can't leave without the others," Alex said.
She ran around unlocking the doors on all the cells.
"Everyone wake up! We're getting out of here! Come on!" She ran over to the pile of waste on the side of the room and retrieved al ltheir things.
"Guards!" Trollbella howled. "Guards! The slaves are escaping!"
"Trollbella?" Conner said. "Please be quiet! Would you do that? Please ?For your Butterboy?"
Trollbella blushed. "All right, Butterboy. For you, I'll be quiet."
The slaves all stirred to life. It took them a moment to understand what Alex was saying; they had dreamed about this day for so long. Many eagerly jumped up and left their cells, but others hesitated, including the Traveling Tradesman.
"Come on," Alex said. "What are you waiting for?"
"Are you two mad? They'll skin us alive if we try to escape," the Tradesman said.
This worried some of the others, especially the children.
"Would you rather die in your cell or die trying to get back the life they stole from you?" Alex said.
Alex's words must have inspired them, because they all gathered around her. Even the Tradesman was willing to take a chance for freedom. He nodded at Alex as he joined the group.
"Does anyone know the best way out of here?" Alex asked.
"We need to get to the tunnels!" a man said.
"Yes, the tunnels!" a woman agreed.
"How do we get there?" Conner asked.
"We'll go up to the common room and past the stone arch. The trolls and goblins have built tunnels leading to every kingdom. That's how they get around," the Tradesman said.
"Do we need to worry about anyone catching us?" Conner asked.
"They're all asleep by now," Trollbella said with a sigh from her cell," even the guards. That's why no one came when I called."
"All right, let's go," Alex said. "Everyone be as quiet as possible and help the older and younger ones in the group."
Everyone nodded, and Alex led the way out of the dungeon, praying it would be the last time any of them were ever in this room again.
"Until we meet again, Butterboy," Trollbella said, and blew Conner a kiss.
"Whatever," Conner said, and then followed the others out of the dungeon.
Trollbella smiled from horn to horn. This had been the most exciting day of her entire life.
The group of escapees traveled up the tunnel to the common room and snuck past a line of goblin guards.
Just as Trollbella had said, they were asleep while standing guard. They finally reached the common room and covered their mouths in horror at what they saw.
All the trolls and goblins that Alex and Conner had seen carousing on the way in were spread across the floor, passed out. How were they going to get to the other side of the room without stepping on one of them?
Some were snoring, others twitched in their sleep. Even the Troll King and the Goblin King were sleeping in their thrones. You could barely see the floor between the unconscious monsters sprawled across the room.
"Quickly and quietly!" Alex whispered to the group. "We can do this; just be as careful as possible."
They began tiptoeing around the sleeping creatures. Carefully they put their feet between the monsters' spread-out limbs, between the broken plates and goblets across the dirt floor, and between the knocked-over chairs and tables.
Every time a troll or a goblin made any noise or movement, everyone froze, their hearts stopped for a moment. If any of the monsters were to wakeup and see their slaves walking through the room toward the exit, it would be a disaster.
They were almost at the stone tunnel. Alex stopped in the middle of the room and made sure everyone passed her safely and that no one was left behind. Eventually, everyone had made it except her brother, who remained very still in the back of the room. He was staring at the Troll King and the Goblin King with wide eyes and an open mouth.
"Conner! What are you doing?" Alex asked in her loudest whisper.
"Look!" he mouthed, only a little whisper coming out.
"Look at the crown! It's the crown!"
Alex looked up at the stone crown above the Troll King's and Goblin King's heads. "What about it?" Alex whispered.
"It's the crown for the Wishing Spell!" Conner said. " 'A stony crown that's made to share, found deep within a savage lair'!"
Alex could feel her heart beating in her throat. Conner was right. It fit the description perfectly.
"What are you two doing? We're waiting for you!" the Tradesman said from the stone tunnel.
Alex and Conner looked at each other. They knew they couldn't leave without the crown." Go ahead without us!" Alex said.
"Suit yourselves!" the Tradesman said, and then left with the others down the stone tunnel.
"I'm going to get it!" Conner whispered to Alex. "Be careful!" Alex said. Conner slowly moved through the room. He accidentally kicked a goblet, and it made a loud ding, causing a few of the trolls and goblins to twitch in their sleep.
"Sorry!" Conner mouthed to Alex.
He climbed up onto the throne platform. The crown was pretty high up; he would have to climb up onto the thrones to get it. He climbed onto the armrest of the Troll King's throne. His left leg was so close to the king's face that Conner could feel the king's warm breath through his jeans. Conner swung his right leg onto the armrest of the Goblin King's throne and reached up for the crown. It was still too high. He would have to jump for it.
Alex had to cover her eyes. Her hands were trembling. Conner jumped and tried to grab the crown, but he was just a few inches too short. He jumped again; the tips of his fingers touched it this time. He jumped once more—this time, the highest jump yet—and grabbed it. Unfortunately, on his way down, he missed the armrests and landed right in the lap of the Goblin King.
"Ahhhhhh!" the Goblin King screamed.
''I remember, that almost gave me a heart attack'' my brother announced
Alex took her hands from her face just in time to see her terrified brother sprawled across the Goblin King's lap, with the crown held tightly in his hands. Conner jumped up and ran as fast as he could, grabbing his sister's arm on the way toward the exit.
"After them!" the Goblin King ordered. "Someone grab them!"
The entire room of trolls and goblins began waking up to the Goblin King's yells.
Alex and Conner weren't careful about what or who they stepped on. They ran straight through the common room and down the tunnel of stones. Dozens of trolls and goblins chased after them.
The twins ran past the two horrible statues at the tunnel's entrance. The goblin statue suddenly crashed to the ground just as they passed it, blocking the tunnel. Alex screamed—had they been a second later, it would have fallen on them.
They turned to see the Tradesman, out of breath and holding his heart. He had just knocked over the statue and blocked the tunnel. The trolls and goblins had reached the end of the tunnel and were struggling to get past the fallen statue.
"That should keep them busy for a while," the Tradesman said. "Now run!"
"Where's everyone else?" Alex asked. "They've fled to the tunnels! They're safe!" he said.
"What about you?" Alex asked.
"I couldn't leave without you," the Tradesman said. "I'm old, children. I'd never outrun them anyway. You two still have a lot of living to do, so run before they get past the statue. Hurry!"
"We're not leaving without you!" Alex said.
"I'm wanted in every kingdom," the Tradesman said between deep breaths. "No matter where I go, I'll end up behind bars. I've done a lot of bad things in my day, children. I've made a lot of trades and deals that I shouldn't have. I deserve this. You don't. Now run!"
Alex's and Conner's feet moved before their minds could decide whether to stay any longer. They ran ahead and found a series of tunnels leading indifferent directions. Each had a sign above the entrance that said where the tunnel led to.
"Come on," Alex said, and grabbed Conner's arm, pulling him into the tunnel that said FAIRY KINGDOM above it.
They tucked the troll and goblin crown safely away in Alex's bag.
"Did we do the right thing?" Alex asked Conner as they ran down the tunnel. "Should we have left him?"
"He wasn't going to come with us; his mind was made up," Conner said.
He knew they had done everything they could, but he still felt guilty, too.
"How could a stranger give up so much for us?" Alex said.
"Maybe he thought trading his freedom for ours would be the only honest trade he'd ever make," Conner said.
''And it definitely was'', Connor said