Jesse's POV
I made it through into the castle unscathed.
Step one: nailed it. Now, I had another problem, and that would be finding Petra. Or maybe that would be step three. The real step two was simply navigating the hallways of the castle- that place was huge!
The first room I walked into was very grand, and it looked as though it had a bit of a Gothic touch to it. The bricks were black and there was a large, expensive looking chandelier dimly lighting the place. A circular carpet sat in the middle of the round room, and various corridors branched off the sides.
"Whoa..." I said, stepping into the middle of the room. My voice danced off the sides of the walls releasing an echo. I spun in a circle to get a panoramic view of the place. Decorations were hung around the place including banners and shields.
I knew that if I just started searching around, it would take too long to find Petra, so I resorted to the next thing that came to mind.
"He-llo?" I called. Yeah, I know, kind of stupid, but a part of me hoped it would work.
Everyone must have been asleep because there was no answer. I suppose Dan's power has its downsides too.
The only thing left was deductive reasoning. The hallways seemed to just lead to different rooms of the castle. (Which I was hoping to explore later. The place was so cool!)
"Ah, hello there," I said, noticing a hatch on the floor somewhat hidden away. I walked over to it, my footsteps echoing off the sides of the walls.
I opened the hatch, which opened up to a ladder leading downward.
"Ooh, creepy!" I said in delight as I started down. It shuddered under my weight but stayed in place as I climbed.
The ladder led down to a gray stone room. Around the place were tables of various scattered papers and scribbles of things. Off on the sides of the walls looked to be cages, or jail cells.
"Huh," I said as I walked inside.
"Jesse!" someone whispered. I looked in the first cell, and chained up inside was Petra.
"Petra!" I said happily as I rushed over, "What are you do—"
Petra looked scared. "Jesse! Behind you!"
I jumped as a pair of hands grabbed firmly on my shoulders. I struggled to turn around, but they had me tightly in their grasp.
"Uh! Let me go!" I squirmed. They grabbed me by the ear and pulled me along. I tried to resist, but that just made it hurt more. They swung open a cell door across from Petra and threw me inside. I landed hard on my side as they slammed the door shut and locked it.
"Oh! Hey!" I exclaimed. He turned around and backed away from the cell. He wore all black and what looked like a red and white cat mask over his face. I could only assume that it was Cheshire.
"You expect to just waltz right in and free her?" he said, "It doesn't work like that. Not with me. Who are you?!"
"I'm afraid that isn't your business!" I said angrily.
"How did you contact her?" he demanded, turning to Petra.
"I didn't!" Petra protested, "She found me herself!"
"Oh, so she just knew you'd be here?!"
"Apparently!"
Cheshire sighed and calmed himself down.
"Look," he said, "I'm not here to harm you. Yet. All I want is that feather quill, and you can both be free. That's it. But if you make me go to further measures to get what I want, I will not hesitate."
I suddenly got an idea, although I wasn't sure if it was a good one.
"Sir, how about a different bargain?"
Petra looked at me with concern and moved her lips like she was saying, "What are you doing??"
"And what do you have to give me?" Cheshire asked, coming over to lean against the side of the metal bars. I reached into my pockets and pulled out the enchanted flint and steel.
"Jesse! Don't!" Petra shouted.
"Quiet, the girl is talking," Cheshire chided.
"Free both of us, and you get this!" I held it out so he could see it.
"And why would I want that?" he asked.
"Because," I said, "It has the power to unlock portals to other worlds. Just don't make us give you the quill and we'll give you the flint and steel."
Petra looked at me like I was crazy, and then I started thinking about if I had really made the right choice. I had thought that the power in the quill was more powerful than the flint and steel and we could at least try to use it to find our way home. It would also be safer for the others living here if Cheshire was kept away from the quill. There was no backing out now, though.
"Do we have a deal?" I asked. Cheshire crossed his arms.
"I am shocked and offended that you think so little of me," he said, "Do you think I would free two people for only one payment."
"Oh, come on!" I protested, "Just two girls for an entire network of universes!"
"Jesse, stop talking!" Petra demanded. I realized I was basically dooming all the worlds in the portal network by giving over the enchanted flint and steel.
"How about my deal," Cheshire suggested, "Give me the flint and steel and the quill, and you both go free and I never bother you again. But, if you don't give them to me..." He turned to me. "This one dies."
I felt my stomach drop. Petra was stubborn as heck when it came to these things, but now that my life was on the line, she was pretty much being blackmailed with my life.
"Fine!" she yelled angrily on the borderline of screaming, "Take it! Take the feather! I don't care."
She threw it threw the bars and slumped in her cell, crossing her arms. Cheshire picked up the quill and smiled.
"Pleasure doing business with you, m'lady," Cheshire said. He came over to me and held out his hand. I pushed the flint and steel through the bars. He shoved the two items into his pocket and walked over to a table.
"Well, that was a successful deal now, wasn't it," he said as he picked up a set of keys. He walked over to Petra's cage first and unlocked it.
"For a deceitful, filthy cheater like you!" Petra said, straining against the chains. Cheshire pulled out another key and unlocked her shackles.
"I'm sorry, but I believe my prices are completely reasonable." Once Petra was unlocked, he turned over to my cell and began unlocking my door.
"Besides," he continued, "I remember it was this one offering me the deal."
My door squeaked and slowly swung open. Cheshire leaned over and grabbed my arm and pulled me out, then pulled Petra out as well. He grabbed us both by the ears and yanked us out. Petra and I grunted in pain as we were pulled along.
He threw us out the front gate and before slamming the door, he said,
"Pleasure doing business with you."
As I was getting up, I noticed Petra glaring at me.
"Petra, I'm sorry, I just thought—" I began.
"No, you didn't Jesse. You weren't thinking," she interrupted.
"Hey, what happened?" Lukas asked as he and everyone else ran over to us.
"Now, we're never getting home!" Petra continued, ignoring Lukas, "What were you thinking?!"
"Jesse, what is she talking about?" Lukas asked.
"I... I gave up the flint and steel," I said, "To get Petra out."
"And I was forced to give up—" Petra began before cutting herself off.
"What?" Maya asked, "Give what up?"
"Jesse, you could have gotten yourself killed, what were you doing?" Petra asked.
"I was saving you!" I said, "What else was I supposed to do! You mean more to me than getting back home!"
"But what if I didn't need saving!" Petra said.
"Oh, like you just had the situation under control? You were chained inside a cell, Petra! You weren't getting out anytime soon!"
"He wasn't gonna do anything, Jesse! He wasn't gonna keep me there forever!"
"He threatened to kill me!" I said, "He would've done the same to you if you didn't have someone to stick up for you!"
"I don't need someone to stick up for me! I can handle things myself!"
"Hey!" Dan shouted, "You ladies wanna fight somewhere else? The guards are waking up."
"I'm honestly not sure if they're fighting or complementing each other," Sheldon said, "It's like they love each other... but they hate each other."
"Come on, let's just go!" Petra said, storming off. Everyone else followed, not knowing what had happened.
Lukas's POV
There was obviously tension between Jesse and Petra; they didn't even look at each other on the way back. Melody rode on the back of my horse this time.
"Lukas?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Are Jesse and Petra friends?"
"Of course they are, they're just..." I began, "Sometimes friends disagree, and that's okay."
Melody pondered this for a moment.
"So, you can look like you're not friends even when you are?"
"Yeah, I suppose."
"But... they were just yelling at each other... it seems like they aren't friends anymore."
"I know, but they'll get over it," I said, "I hope."
"Yeah!" Juniper said. Jesse rode on the back of her horse with her, "Hey, Shelly, kind of like us!"
"I guess," he shrugged. Petra rode on the back with him. Dan shook his head.
"Drama, drama. This is why I don't like people," he said.
"But... you like me, right?" Darling asked. He sighed.
"Yes, I like you, Darling. Now, what is this all about? Why aren't you talking?"
"Jesse tried to save me," Petra said, "But I didn't need saving. Now, Cheshire has our enchanted flint and steel, and one of those fancy feather things."
"But Petra really did need saving and she means more to me than that stupid, enchanted flint and steel!" Jesse said.
"Aww, that's so sweet," Darling said.
"No, not sweet," Petra said, "Now, Cheshire has complete control to any world he wants. Jesse, do you even realize what you've done?!"
"Wait, back up," Sheldon said, "Emotions aside, how exactly did Cheshire get his hands on a magic quill?"
"I had one by mistake," Petra said, "Lukas accidentally gave it to me."
Now everyone was looking my direction.
"I-I didn't know! You could have told me and I would've gotten you a new pen!" I said.
"I guess... but... but you were already gone and it was too late."
"So maybe that's why he stole you," Darling said, "He somehow figured out you had a magic quill!"
"If that guy could figure that out so fast," Dan said, "He's gonna be a serious threat."
"And now he's got both portal keys to go anywhere he wants, and we're stuck here!" Petra said.
"Look, we've got magic quills to spare, we can try to get you home if you want to," Sheldon said, "But Cheshire now has access to... wherever you came from to possibly take over your world."
"Then taking him should be our top priority," Jesse said, "Then home."
"Guys..." Petra said softly. Her eyes started to have a vacant look to them.
"Petra, stay calm.... We can't do this now, let's get off the horses..." Sheldon warned, but it was too late. Petra hyperventilated and tried to suppress a scream, which must have scared the horse enough to jump back on its hind legs and throw Sheldon and Petra off.
"Not again!" Jesse cried. One horse followed that one, and soon all the horses were galloping away.
People were shouting, "Watch out!" or "After them!" I think I screamed too, I don't remember. It was almost as if Petra's anxiety was contagious. I felt cold, white fluff hit my face.