I hold out my hand ready to release the magic bean, but before I can a wind bursts through the room, and a soft pink portal illuminates on the floor.
"Did you throw it?" Peter yells over the wind.
"No!" I yell back.
Before I have time to think a figure shoots out of the whirlwind and lands directly on Peter, causing them both to fall to the ground.
The portal disintegrates, and I get a close look at the man next to Peter.
"Graham!?" I say.
"Hey Arabella," he huffs painfully, looking up at me.
He looks to the right and gives a huge smile, "PETER! Is that really you!?"
Peter returns the smile, "Sure is, though I wish we didn't have to meet again like this."
"Yah, sorry about that," Graham says, his force strained with uncomfortable pain. The two of them rise from the floor and face me.
"Why are you here?" I ask, "and how did you know where to find us?"
"I just told the portal to take me to Ana, where is she anyways?" He begins to look around him, expecting her to pop out at any second.
We tell him about what happened to Peter, and where my sisters are now. His body tenses up, and inside him an anger I've never seen before flares up.
"We were just about to depart when you showed up," I tell him.
"Well let's not waste anymore time," He answers, his face dark and stoic, as if he was using all his energy not to explode.
"Wait," Peter begins, "the portal didn't bring you to Ana, it brought you to her twin sister, which makes sense because magic usually works through blood and it was just going to the next best option. But it should've been able to reach Ana since magic beans can access all realms."
"Do you think Rumpelstiltskin put the same entrance block that my parents put on Floristian?" I ask.
"I think so," he answers, "We could try the magic bean but it's not worth losing our only method of travel."
"Maybe we could go to your parents and ask them to help us, or one of the fairies back home," Graham suggests.
"No," I answer back flatly, "If we go back home everyone will want to get involved, and I can't risk people's lives like that. And besides, my guess is my parents will be even more angry at me."
"Why would they be mad at you?" Peter asks.
"They were angry at first, actually they wanted to come and get you the moment you left. I stole the beans back before they could do it, I believed Ana, Sam, and you could handle this on your own, and I still do, but this is too big for us Arabella. We have power, but the enemy has a darkness none of us can match, and that's not something to play around with," Graham speaks like nothing I'd heard from him before. I guess that's the effect of losing the one you love.
"I agree, but that didn't exactly answer my question," Peter chides in.
"Oh I'll tell you later," I retort back, I make a mental note to tell him exactly what he missed as soon as the conflict dies down, "Right now we need to head back to Floristian."
"Are the lost boys there?" His eyes light up, I keep forgetting how long he's been gone.
I respond with a nod and throw the magic bean onto the floor. Graham jumps in first, Peter grabs my hand and together we jump into the portal.
// Hi guys!! I'm so so so freaking sorry that I've been taking so long to update, and also that this chapter is so short. Things have been crazy busy lately, and I'll do my best to update more regularly. Hope everyone had happy holidays and thank you for reading :)