Leo Blue POV
I felt the slippery little fish friends around me crawl up and out of my shirt. I can't exactly feel the bottom of the water, but do I need to know how deep the water is? No. In fact, it's more fun not knowing.
"KopeLYNNNN!" I ended up yelling of excitement. Kopelyn sits still, crossing her arms, but laughing, "You are SO stupid!"
"Why? Because I jumped in the water?"
"That's exactly why!"
"Well, I wouldn't do it if I couldn't swim. Let me tell you, that would be stupid." Then I felt my voice trail off. Kopelyn still wasn't doing anything. "You can swim..... right?"
"Yes, I could swim!" She stammered.
"Then what are you waiting for?" I gave her my hand, which she reluctantly took and I pull her in the freezing water.
The two of us swam a long way to the edge of the lake, where after a while, we found the tall grass on a piece of land that swayed in the light wind. There were a few tall trees that seemed perfect for laying under.
Kopelyn and I sat under those trees and looked up at the sky full of stars. "Weird." I hear her mumble, "I've never fallen asleep outside before, with all the trees and bushes watched me."
"You've never fallen asleep outside before? Really? You out of all people, even after your journey to get away from your parents?" I ask as I acknowledge the stars sparkling through the trees as I lay down. Kopelyn lays down too. "I slept at the airport, I slept on the train, at Peter Ofgrace's house, at a motel, under a bridge." Kopelyn explains tiredly.
"Interesting. Too bad we don't have any blankets. It sure is getting cold, and boy am I starving! I should go fishing." I say as I jump to my feet.
"Fishing?" Kopelyn sits up, suddenly intrigued.
I took myself on a short walk and notice about five dead fish were piled up on the shore. I took them and walk back to where Kopelyn and I were relaxing under the trees.
Kopelyn was already sleeping.
Snoozing away.
Possibly dreaming of sugar plums dancing in her head- no, no, absolutely not. The Sugar Plum Witch is already dead.
"Okay, more for me I guess." I say as I take a bite out of a slippery slimy dead fish.
I sat back down and began to think.
As the sun began to rise, I woke up Kopelyn who seems to be pretty good at staying asleep through the night.
"Oh, Kopelyn! Oh Kopelyn!" I say to her ear. She rolled over, and stretched her back with a yawn. "Kopelyn, do you know what time it is?"
"I don't know, maybe 9:30 or something."
"Nope! It's time in embark on our journey to safety! No time to waste!"
The future is in our hands and it's up to us to get back home.
"So, we just need to venture into the dark forest and find our way back." I say as we begin to walk somewhere without a single plan for action. "Okay, okay, you know what, I have a better idea." Kopelyn says quickly.
"Really? What?" I ask.
"Climb up that tree and get a look around. I think it's good to know maybe how big this forest may be." She says with a shrug.
"Alright, go for it!"
Kopelyn pauses to think for maybe a second, and walks to the tree and looks up at it. I start to wonder, what if I climb it up too?
"You can climb.... can't you?" She says mystically, as she turn to me with her brow raised.
"Well.... of course!" I tell with fake enthusiasm. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to tell her the truth about why climbing trees aren't really my thing, but wouldn't it seem odd if I jumped right into the water, but didn't emidiately climb the tree? Maybe so.
"Well..." I start as I follow Kopelyn as she begins to go branch by branch up the sturdy tree. "The last time I tried to climb a tree, I was so excited, but not normal excited. I was going crazy, I was so excited. I was so excited to climb the tree that after I reached the tippy top, I was so excited that I slipped and I fell all the way down, I kid you not!"
Kopelyn snorted to herself. Most people do find that story funny, even though it's..... not.
"Okay, idiot." She says swiftly.
Oh, now she thinks she could make fun of me because she's finally comfortable.
"Oh, ha ha. Well, yeah, I was five years old and I drank too much coffee." I said the ha ha part sarcastically.
"And then I broke my rist." I added under my breath.
"Damn. You fell that hard?" Kopelyn laughs.
"Yes." I answered suddenly awkward. What must I say next? Kopelyn is finally intrigued by an extremely uninteresting story that I've told everyone since I was five. I was just now noticing that Kopelyn was actually watching me for every time that I was speaking.
You might be surprised, but most people don't actually look at me when I'm talking.
The two of us began to climb to the very top, where the air became warmer, and so much brighter. I stepped on a shorter tree branch, that emidiately broke when I stepped on it.
"Agh!" I scream shortly when I was in mid air for a moment. Kopelyn catches my wrist. "Hey, don't fall!"
"I didn't."
"You know, if you save me, I got to save you."
I can't believe that I almost fell off a tree again. I knew deep down that this would happen to me.
At the top of the tree, I was so excited that the started to scream "I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!! WOO HOO! IMTHEKINGOFTHEWORLD!"
Kopelyn gives me an odd look, and then scavenges around a bit, while I was such in the mood for running and jumping, but it's hard to do that when your at the top of a tree. "Actually, if we keep on walking, we're not too far from the beach and we can write SOS in the sand." Kopelyn was mumbling mostly for only herself to hear really. I was on the other hand smelling the air.
The air, the beautiful wonderful air! The smell of the flowers, the leaves, the smoke...... smoke?
"Leo!" Kopelyn emidiately yells out.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know!" I yell back in instant panic.
The tree was infact burning.
Bright red flames were climbing up the whole side of the tree, and only a matter of time untill it falls over and Kopelyn and I die in the middle of the crackling flames.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, climb down!" I say urgently.
"No, don't climb down. No- don't go that way!" She was already yapping as I was only trying to look for where to exit.
Now I only knew Kopelyn for a few days, but I know darn well that she's extremely fussy.
I felt the gravity suddenly pulling the tree to the ground. The two of us are guaranteed to be burnt alive right here in the middle of nowhere.
"Ahhhhhh!!!" We both screamed as the tree began to fall.
We also grapped eachother.
Let's be honest. I would've grabbed anyone else who was here.
During our fall, I had a small instinct that somehow, we would be saved.
We stopped mid fall when we both landed on something soft like the fur of a cat. Alex, the black cat must've grown in order to save us.
Kopelyn and I both screamed at first, because how many cats actually can grow and save you?
Slowly, Alex floats to the ground and shrank back to his normal size.
"Thanks, Alex." I say breathlessly as I brush the dirt off of me.
"Did you two really think that I was gonna let you both die in the woods?" He asks angrily as he sat on a log.
"I don't know, Alex, but that sure was fun. I would do that again, right Kopelyn?"
Kopelyn was sort of wandering around like she had lost something. "Yes." She answers absent mindedly, "Leo, I lost my draw book. I will be right back!" She explained, panic radiating in her voice. She just hustles away.
Does Kopelyn need to worry so much? No. Just like me, she appeared hear, swam in a lake, fell asleep on the grass, climbed a tree, fell from the tree, and yet she still has both sandles on, not a speck on dirt on her dress, and her hair just falls into place like dominos.
I wonder if I look as good as her.
As she goes off to search for her beloved draw book, I turn to Alex, "You're a magical man, can you tell me where I am, what must I do, and how to return home?"
"Well, I don't know how you could return. You killed Sugar Plum-"
"No, I did not kill Sugar Plum, but go on."
"You're in, now believe it or not, this is California."
"No way."
"Oh, yes way. When Sugar Plum escaped her family, she traveled to California where she met the Water Witch. We're in a portal basically, there's no other human around. That lake you swam in, that's the Lake Of The Dead."
"........... The Lake Of the Dead?"
"Yes, Leo Blue. The bad side of the Cursed Pool."
"........."
"Sugar Plum never told you about that?!"
"I'm afraid not."
"Well, it's a portal basically. Apparently, according to the Water Witch, people could die in the Cursed Pool three different ways.... One, Suicide, that turns you into a squid, Two, if you die a hero, that transports you into the Cursed Pool as an orange fish. Three, the Water Witch murders you and tosses you in the pool. That turns you into a translucent fish in the Lake of Dead."
It took me a full minute to wrap my head around that. It's magic. The fish that were in that lake are actually........ dead people that the Water Witch murdered!?
"Is this some sort of punishment?" I question wearily.
"No, but if Sugar Plum takes you hear out of all places..... it's obvious that she doesn't want you around much longer. I think she just wants your dreams so she can kill you, and so she can live again."
"That is so weird!" I yammered, "How the hell am I expected to comprehend all that?"
"Easy." Alex sneers, "Just get out of here and don't worry about it anymore. Sugar Plum is dead. Thank goodness. She was a real drama filled bean bag."
"Cool, um, when can I.... you know, go back?"
"Oh..." Alex suddenly was shocked by the obvious question, not knowing even what to answer. "I think we're gonna be stuck."
He began to walk away, so I chased him down. "I'm stuck inside a portal forever? It'll be impossible to get home?"
"Right on."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but why did Sugar Plum have to die?" I yell as I toss my hands to the sky.
Just as I felt like the whole world was about to crash, I saw a dark figure in the trees, wearing a black coat, and walking freely. I squint just for a better look. "There's somebody out there." I whisper.
"Oh. The Water Witch." Sighs Alex, "She must've seen you on her crystal ball, I would watch out if I were you. You might be in big trouble." Alex says.
"No, no, no!" I say as I back away, "Alex, you can't stop this from happening?!"
"Nope."
"Anything? Anything at all?"
"Nope."
Yet I dreaded to wonder where Kopelyn went. She's off looking for her draw book, and who even knows how far she's gone.
The figure, the Water Witch, I soppose, came closer and closer untill I was standing only six feet away from her. She really wasn't that scary at all. She just had stringy hair and red eyes, a broom. She looked at me blankly. "So, you're the Kid you made that dream deal?" Her voice was razer sharp, which actually was a little scary. She seemed to have a smidge of a New York accent mixed with an odd Louisiana accent.
"Yes. I am that kid. My name is also Leo Blue, and I'm from Hendersonville in Tennessee, and I'm trying to get out of whatever nightmare fuel this is, and would you be so helpful and maybe use your magic broom and wave it around or whatever you weird witches do to transport people, because I am getting very tired, and just now I'm realizing that my friend and I jumped off a tree because it was on fire, but now there's no fire in sight anymore like as if it disappeared, and I really really really wanna blame someone for that, and I think that someone might be you. So please get me outta here!" I ranted.
The Water Witch tosses her broom from left to right hand as she answers my salty demand with silence. She blinked once and says, "Sorry, I blanked out, will you repeat all of that?"
So I started to do that, but she started to walk away, which makes no sense at all.
"Hey, wait!" I start chasing her.
"Sure, I can live here forever, but I don't like to be alone in life! I have a future!"
"Well, you didn't have to except the deal." She responded airily as she twirls her broom, "Hey, Alex!" She shouts to the little black cat. Alex looks up at her with wide excited eyes. The Water Witch tells him, "Your personal boss has passed away, you are free."
"Free?" Alex was absolutely bewildered.
"Why, yes. In fact, you come to my cabin with me, and I'll give you a couple hundreds of dollars and you can be a free man. It's about time you go and follow your dreams, isn't it?" The Water Witch says grinning, and bending down to be closer to eye level with the cat. Alex's eyes, so full of hope had turned into fear as the Water Witch zaps him with her broom.
To my horror, Alex has turned into a few small pieces of burnt out car fur in about a second. The fur lays on the dirt helplessly.
I look from the cat fur, up to The Water Witch. "You killed him!?" I yell half accusingly, half not even believing. I could be gone in a second, if murder is that easy for her.
"Stand still." The Water Witch urgently threatened.
"Stand- stand still?" I already broke into a run the opposite direction, when a warm blast of air came at me, and somehow I became blind for a second, but when I opened my eyes again, I was laying on the cool hard ground.
I was on my driveway, and I opened my eyes to the sunlight and the concrete. I thought of Kopelyn first. Is she still in the creepy portal woods, did that Water Witch murder her like how she murdered Alex? I hope not!
"Kopelyn? Kopelyn!" I shouted as I jump to my feet.
"Leo! I'm safe, I'm alive!" She called from a distance, she voice getting louder with every step.
"Kopelyn! We made it! We survived!" Her and I hugged actually, which, from the day that I met her at the pool, I never would've expected that.
"Leo!?" My Mother's voice came bursting through the door. Oh no, she's so going to hate my guts for this.
"Mom! I've returned!" I say as I come up to the door.
She must've been in the middle of cooking dinner, I can tell because she's holding the rolling pin. "Leo, you've been gone for exactly two hours after I've called your name a thousand times!" She was livid.
Dad and Lesley both came out of the kitchen to acknowledge my presence. "Leo!" Lesley says with fake enthusiasm, obviously. Dad was was.... very thrilled. He says, "Golly jeepers, there's no doubt about it. Leo also brought his new friend!"
"Oh, yes! This is my new friend, Kopelyn. You folks have got to meet her."
"Well, nifty!" Dad says enthusiastically as he starts to pull Kopelyn by the hand into the cluttered kitchen.
"Um.." Kopelyn begins anxiously, peering at me as she's suddenly surrounded by strangers.
Author's note: BTW, just to make it clear because I really don't know if it's clear, The Water Witch trapped Sugar Plum in the blank book because of a deal that she made with her a long time ago. Sugar Plum was once a human, and so was Alex. Both of them her trapped, but also given powers. So now both of those two were killed by the Water Witch, so Leo and Kopelyn don't need to collect their dreams anymore. Yes The Water Witch did in fact kill Sugar Plum, because she made sure that the Lake Of Dead had enough birds around it, so basically she chose to kill Sugar Plum is a less obvious way than she usually murders people..