Author’s Note
Author’s Note at the end again, and will be for the rest of the story. :)
Chapter IX
“I was in Oz trying to gather some emeralds for the fairy godmothers, but the Wizard of Oz caught me and cast me off to your world as a punishment. When I arrived it was raining and I saw a bottle of your memory erasing formula on the ground and drank it thinking it was a helpful potion. I completely forgot my old life and made myself at home with you and your family. Eventually the formula started to wear off and so did Frankie’s. He started chasing after me and trying to kill me, but I remembered that I had the power to transport myself between worlds using my mind, so I got out of there before he could catch me.” Victor hangs onto my every word as I explain to him, going on to tell him how Dexter and I arrived here. I leave out the Jefferson parts though, not wanting him to feel worse and more confused than he looks right now.
“Henry mentioned that you have another husband?” he asks, looking about as uncomfortable as I feel. Great, I should have known that he would have caught that.
“Yeah, before I met you there was already Jefferson,” I tell him, “I am extremely sorry for everything,” I apologize, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me. He stays silent for a few moments.
“It’s okay, it’s partly my fault anyways. From now on I won’t be leaving any stray formulas out in the open for people to drink. Even if they were by the trash,” he says smiling.
“It was not by the trash!” I tell him, then again, it was pretty dark out, for all I know it could have been in a crocodile’s mouth and I wouldn’t have noticed. “Anyways,” I start, changing the subject, “What happened to Frankie?” His face darkens.
“I had to put him down,” he tells me. I know it must have killed him to do that. Frankie was like his baby.
“I’m sorry,” I truthfully tell him; I know it’s partly my fault.
“It’s not your fault,” he assures me, as if he knows what I’m thinking, “I should’ve known better than to create another life from bits and pieces of serial killers and other dead criminals. After I thought that monster killed you I decided to go back to a previous idea and try to figure out how to make another life from scratch, that way it wouldn’t have any memories of desires to kill,” he says giving me a small smile. “I couldn’t figure out a way to get it to work, but I didn’t get much of a chance to try before the curse took over.”
“Oh, that reminds me of another question I’ve been wondering, why was your world brought here? Your world isn’t a magical world,” I ask.
“I have a history with Regina. I believe I’m the only one from my world that she brought here, but even with all the worlds, it seems like she only brought the people here who were either personally associated with her or a threat in some way,” he says, “Storybrooke is a big town, but not big enough to hold everyone from the other worlds. I mean, have you seen the Wizard of Oz here at all?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t seen the majority of the people in this town yet,” I tell him, shrugging.
“Well, trust me when I tell you that I haven’t noticed anybody from Oz here, despite it being a magical world,” he smiles.
“Huh,” I say, thinking about that. I wonder if my daughter is here, Grace. I love that name. Jefferson told me a little about her, but he never actually said if she’s here or not. When he took me to the wishing well, he said that he drinks from its water every day in hopes that it would bring his daughter back to him. It starts to worry me that she’s alone somewhere in another world without anyone to take care of her. Now I really need to find Jefferson.
“Well, I’ll see you around Victor,” I tell him, giving him a small hug.
“Okay,” he says. I give him a good-bye wave and head out the door. He heads back into Henry’s room to make sure he’s doing okay.
I’m about halfway out the door when I hear footsteps running behind me. I turn around to see Dexter trying to catch up with me.
“Where are you going?” he asks, in his usual cheerful mood.
“I’m going to find Jefferson,” I tell him as he opens the door for me, grinning. We start heading down the sidewalk together. “What are you doing?” I ask, wondering if he’s planning on following me all the way to Jefferson’s house.
“I need to find out if my date with Ruby is still on for tonight, now that I found out from Henry that she’s actually Red Riding Hood,” he says.
“Nice,” I laugh.
“Yeah, and she also used to be a werewolf apparently,” he tells me. I turn to look at him.
“What?” I ask, “So you’re a cat and she’s a dog,” I ponder that for a while, “Well, I guess opposites really do attract,” I laugh. Simon looks seriously at me for a second.
“You know, that reminds me, I haven’t turned into a cat in forever! I’m really starting to miss it,” he sighs, “I really wish I could turn into a cat again,” he tells me, “I love being a cat.” I laugh and look ahead to where Dexter’s car is parked, but what I see coming up from behind Dexter’s car makes me stop dead in my tracks.
“Dexter, I think your wish will come true sooner than you think,” I tell him, watching a purple fog making its way towards us, enveloping everything in its path.
“What is that?” Dexter asks after noticing the fog himself.
I gulp, “It’s magic… magic is coming to Storybrooke.”
As it gets closer I squeeze my eyes shut and hold my breath. The purple mist passes like a bitter cold winter wind. It prickles my skin with little shocks, just strong enough to feel, not to hurt. It’s a thick cloud though, and holding my breath was getting to be a little harder as the seconds past. After I can’t hold it any longer, I give up. I open my eyes and I can’t see anything around me. I can feel Dexter’s hand on my shoulder, but I can’t see it, the magic surrounding us is so dense. After what seems like forever, the cloud passes. I look around the block and see a few people around looking just as confused as I am. Where did this magic come from? Somebody must have brought it here. Pure magic of this supply doesn’t just appear out of nowhere, especially in a world that isn’t supposed to have magic at all.
We get to the car and Dexter gives me one of his goofy grins. “What?” I ask.
“Do you think I can actually turn into a cat again now?” he asks, looking hopeful.
“I wouldn’t recommend trying, who knows what affect magic will have if used in this world,” I warn him, “You saw what happened to Henry after what was supposed to be just a sleeping curse.” Disappointed, he opens the driver’s side of his car door.
“Need a ride to Jefferson’s?” he asks.
“No, I’ll walk. It’ll give me time to clear my mind,” I tell him.
“Okay, see you later,” he waves and drives off to Granny’s.
On my soon-to-be long walk to Jefferson’s I take the time to really look at the town as a whole. It has been very well constructed, I have to admit. It must have taken a large deal of creativity from whoever constructed everything from the buildings, to the false memories that everyone who lives here had. Whether it was Regina who decided how everyone lived their lives here, or whether it was something else, it’s all pretty impressive.
After about twenty minutes of my peaceful walk through the town, I arrive at the edge of the forest. Looking closer, I see a man and a woman emerging out of the trees on a narrow dirt path. I recognize the girl as the girl who asked Dexter and me about a man named Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold must be the man walking beside her, arm around her he waist. They look like a normal couple in love.
“Alice!” the man calls, still quite a distance from the road. I wonder how he knows my name; I sigh. I guess I’ll find out soon. I stop at the mouth of the path and wait for them to make their way up. When they do, the girl smiles at me in recognition and I pleasantly return the smile even though all I want to do is find Jefferson.
“How do you know who I am?” I ask the man. Up close I can see that he has shoulder length, styled brownish gray hair and brown eyes to match. He has a sharply shaped nose and soft age lines at the corner of his smile.
“My dear, you don’t recognize me?” he asks, smiling. I try and think back, but never do I remember seeing this man before. “Well,” he starts, “I suppose I do look quite different since the last time you saw me. Belle dear, do you mind waiting here while Ms. Alice and I discuss an important matter?”
“Go ahead,” she says, backing off a little and half-heartedly starts looking at some of the forest’s plant life.
“Belle?” I question, looking at the girl. Then I realize, “Rumpelstiltskin?” Quite different is a bit of an understatement. The last time I saw Rumpelstiltskin, he was bearing his own dark curse. His whole body was covered in green, with terrible teeth and thin, gray hair. He looked like, well, a beast. “What do you need to talk to me for?” I ask him.
“I do believe that you still owe me a favor, from the deal we made when I granted you the ability to transport between worlds. Am I right?” he asks.
“Yes,” I slowly answer, unsure about where’s he’s going to take this. “Do you just feel the need to remind me now that the curse is broken?” I ask.
“Not exactly,” he tells me, “I actually brought it up because I know what favor I would like to ask of you.”
I get a nervous feeling in my stomach. Surely he won’t ask me of anything too terrible, right? He seems a lot more reasonable now, with Belle, than he did when I met him all those years back. When I met him, he was borderline crazy. I wait for him to continue.
“Now that I restored the magic to Storybrooke, I believe you will find your… ability returned to you,” he starts. He brought the magic back here? “I need you to use that ability to leave Storybrooke and find a place called the Wood Between the Worlds,” he tells me, “You are the only one here who can help me.”
“What?” I ask, “When?”
“Now,” he tells me. Now.
“What is it that you need from there?” I ask, feeling a little dizzy. I’m familiar with the name. From what I can remember though, it’s not actually a world. It’s just a piece of land that exists outside of all worlds, a land that connects all of the worlds together. Kind of like the inside of Jefferson’s hat, but much more complex. Jefferson’s hat only connects maybe twenty or so worlds, but the Wood Between the Worlds? It has entrances to an infinite number of worlds. “How am I even supposed to find it?”
“Well,” he starts, “In the Wood Between the Worlds, there are numerous pools of water, each being a portal to a different world. One of these pools leads to a land called Atlantis. I need you to find that pool, collect sand from its waters and bring the sand back to me,” he says, giving me a small vial.
“All you need is sand?” I ask, taking the vial.
“Oh, it’s not just any sand. This sand has a special power that I am in need of,” he explains. I can only dare to think what he needs this sand for, but I know there’s no use in asking. If he wanted me to know he would have told me, but that still leaves one question unanswered.
“How do I find the Wood Between the Worlds? Also, if it connects an infinite number of worlds, how am I supposed to find one specific pool?” I ask.
“That, my dear, is something you are going to need to figure out on your own,” he tells me. Oh great, now this has just turned into mission impossible. It could take me years to find the right pool! Its more years that I have to spend away from Jefferson, from Grace, whom I haven’t even had the chance to meet yet! Then again, it could just feel like years to me, I don’t know how time will work there. I can feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes.
“Do I have to go right away today? Can I say goodbye to my friends first?” I plead.
He sighs, “Go ahead, but I really do need the sand sooner rather than later,” he tells me. I nod and walk away from him. I can’t believe that this is happening. I look back at Rumpelstiltskin and see him and Belle walking together, holding each other’s hands. I feel a pang of jealousy and anger in seeing him happy after he just ruined the happiness I felt not even a minute ago. I’m beginning to wonder if getting my ability from him was even worth it.
*
“Alice, PLEASE pay attention!” demands my instructor. I sigh and roll my eyes as the rest of the class is in a fit of giggles. I love her and all, but sometimes it’s kind of hard to have my sister be my teacher. I open my book to the right page and listen to a boy named Christopher read the passage. We are talking about history, my least favorite subject. Today we are learning about the Ogre Wars. Everyone in the class is laughing at Christopher, like they always do when the spotlight’s on him. He is known around school as being a little odd, claiming that he can communicate with animals. The two of us have become friends over the years considering the fact that we are both kind of outcasts in school.
Finally after what seems like forever, class gets dismissed for the day. I gather my things and Christopher meets me by my desk. “Hey Alice, would you like to come over to my house today?” he asks. I scrunch my eyebrows together. The last time I went to his house he tried getting me to talk to his father’s donkey in the forest. Christopher is very kind, but one-sided conversations aren’t really my thing.
“Maybe some other time Christopher, my sister will be waiting for me,” I tell him, it’s not like I’m lying; Elizabeth really is going to be waiting to take me home.
“Oh,” he says, disappointed, “Maybe some other time.” I nod and smile at him before I start heading towards the door. He follows close behind me. We step outside and Elizabeth is nowhere to be seen. I start to worry, because there’s no way she would just leave me here by myself.
“Where’s my sister?” I ask, looking around for her. Christopher helps me look around the school house to see if she’s tending to her garden. I study her bed of roses but the only sign of her in them is the cursive letter “E” that the veins of the leaves make. She always signs her work. I keep looking but she’s nowhere to be seen. I feel the sting in my eyes, signaling the forming of tears, but I blink them away. I don’t want Christopher, or anyone for that matter, to see me crying.
“Look!” he shouts, pointing to a small white rabbit hopping into the forest. “That rabbit is my friend! He says that he knows where your sister is! Come on!” He starts running after the fluffy creature. I groan but know that I don’t have any other ideas about where Elizabeth could be, so I follow just in case.
I easily catch up to Christopher considering I’m the fastest twelve year old in these parts. Even the stronger boys in my class can’t keep up with me. As I run, I scan the forest, trying to figure out where the rabbit is leading us. I’m so focused on the little details of the forest that I don’t notice that the rabbit is slowing down. “Stop!” Christopher yells at me, pulling me out of my trance. Immediately I come to a dead stop and turn around to jog the distance between me and Christopher with his rabbit.
“What’s going on?” I ask, looking around. I don’t see Elizabeth anywhere. Christopher is bent down with his concentration on the rabbit.
“He says that some guards came and were waiting outside of the school house for your sister. They dragged her away and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke,” he explains, looking up at me “They disappeared right here.”
I slowly process what he said. “Do you know what kingdom’s crest the guards where bearing?” I ask him in disbelief that he actually seemed to be talking to the rabbit. He looks down at it as if listening to it.
“It’s not from the area, not something that he has ever seen from this world. Its design was just a simple heart,” he says looking at me. I purse my lips, trying to think of a kingdom with a heart on its crest. Failing, I shake my head at Christopher.
“I don’t know,” I tell him. He stands back up and thinks for a moment, but then a smile slowly forms on his face.
“Luckily for us, I know someone who might know,” he says, “Come with me!” We again start travelling full speed for a minute or so before Christopher slows down next to the largest tree I have ever seen. It was as big around as nine wooden barrels put together in rows of three. Before I can protest, Christopher starts climbing the tree.
“Who could possibly be up there that can help us?” I ask, starting to feel dizzy just looking up at the tree.
“Another friend!” he shouts down. That probably means that this “friend” is another animal. Frowning, I start up the tree after him.
Luckily we don’t have to travel too far up. I get to the thick branch that Christopher is sitting on and see that he’s looking in a large hole in the trunk of the tree.
“Owl,” he noisily whispers into the hole, “Where are you?” I watch the hole intently and am startled to see a pair of large golden eyes open reflecting the day’s light in the midst of the darkness. Moments later, a brown speckled owl walks out onto the branch and coos. I glance at Christopher not believing that this is the second animal today that we’ve gotten this close to without scaring off. “Who are the guards with the heart on their crest?” he asks the owl.
“Whooooo,” is all I heard from the owl, but Christopher, after focusing intently on it, gets a more complex message.
“He says that the kingdom we are looking for doesn’t belong to this world. It belongs to a world called Wonderland,” he explains. Wonderland? My parents used to tell me stories of such a place, but I never realized that such an unrealistic place could actually be out there. I’ve heard of many different worlds before, but Wonderland just always sounded so… unreal. I need to find my sister though, so if travelling to Wonderland is the only way, I’ll do it.
“How do we get there?” I ask, looking at the owl’s beautiful chocolate colored feathers. I can’t believe I just asked an owl how to get to a place called Wonderland. The owl coos again and I look at Christopher for a translation.
“He says it’s impossible unless you have a specialized magical object to serve as a portal between the worlds,” he explains. I frown. You can’t just buy magic from a special shop in the village. Even if you could, it would cost more than double of everything I have. Only the people with power and influence have access to something so precious.
“Is there no other way?” I plead, feeling the hope escape me. Christopher looks at the owl again and turns back to me.
“There is one way, but Owl doesn’t recommend it,” he warns.
“What is it?” I ask desperately. My sister is all I have and I will do anything to get her back.
“There is a man named Rumpelstiltskin who has magic. He can help us open a portal to Wonderland, but at a price,” he says.
A price, of course. “You mean like money?” I ask sadly, knowing that I don’t have nearly enough money to pay what I predict the trip will cost.
“Not necessarily,” he says, and I look up eagerly at him. “His price can mean anything. He loves making deals.”
“Where do we find him?” I ask, getting more excited that finding my sister is beginning to get closer in my reach.
“He has a castle to the west of here, not too far away and easy to spot,” Christopher says.
“Well then let’s go!” I smile and turn to follow the setting sun. Then the sound of Christopher clearing his throat stops me. “What’s wrong?” I ask, turning around.
“My parents are expecting me at home,” he says, looking down at his feet and turning a little red. Disappointment hits me, Christopher has helped me so much so far, and now I realize that I have to finish this alone.
“That’s okay,” I tell him, forcing a smile to make him feel better, “It should hopefully be a simple enough task anyways.” At this he smiles, turning around and walking towards his house.
“Good luck Alice,” he tells me, waving. I wave back and start on my lonely adventure.
*
The black night comes quicker than I expected. I think about stopping for the night, but the thought of not knowing what is happening to Elizabeth keeps me going. Christopher was definitely right though, the castle is huge and even in the nighttime it would be hard for someone to miss. I hurry to the door and rapidly knock. My shoes are starting to get damp because of the little drops of dew on the grass, making my feet feel like ice in the cold night.
Thankfully a light turns on and I can hear somebody walking towards the door. The door slowly creeps open but I don’t see anybody there. I take a few steps inside and am amazed at the beauty of the antique furnishings decorating the estate.
“What can I help you with my dear?” asks a nasally clown-like voice, accenting the “what”. Startled, I jump back and turn to see a man who is most definitely touched by dark magic. He looks like somebody rubbed earth and grass into his skin, making it look like he had arisen from the ground. I’m starting to wonder if this is such a great idea after all. “If there is nothing you need, Miss…” he says, gesturing back towards the door. I snap back into reality.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, “I was just wondering if you had something that could help me get to Wonderland, some guards from there took my sister and I want to get her back,” I look at him pleadingly. He raises his hand to his chin and shifts his weight jerkily into a thinking pose.
“Hmm, nope! I’m afraid I don’t Dearie,” he smiles cheerfully. My heart drops, I should have known this was a hopeless cause for a girl my age. I hang my head and am ready to just give up and go back to my empty home. “But…” he says, I look back up at him not sure what he’s going to say. He doesn’t exactly seem like he’s completely sane. “While I don’t have an object that will help you, what if I just give you the power to transport between many worlds?” he suggests, “It would be much easier.”
My eyes widen, I could have the power to transport between worlds? I could explore the different realms and come back with amazing stories to tell Christopher, and everyone else in my class.
“You would trust me with a power like that?” I ask, still dazed and in disbelief.
“Oh trust has nothing to do with it. You could bring back Orcs from Middle Earth for all you want, I just want a favor in return for the power,” he tells me. I can bring people with me through the worlds too? This is turning out to be so much better than I could have ever dreamed.
“What is the favor?” I ask, willing to do absolutely anything.
“Oh I don’t know yet, I will let you know when I think of one. Do we have a deal?” he asks.
“Yes, deal!” I smile. He laughs a shrill high pitched laugh and runs to a rack of potions, skimming the options and picking up a bubbly green one the color of quack grass.
“Drink this,” he tells me. I look inside the bottle at the small bubbles. Usually bubbles means boiling hot, so I cautiously take a sip. I am surprised to realize that the potion is actually quite cold, the bubbles fizz and absorb into the inside of my mouth before I can even swallow. I take the rest of the potion and my whole body feels like I’m swimming in ginger ale. When the potion seems to have taken its affect, I look back up at Rumpelstiltskin.
“Congratulations Alice, you are now the holder of an extremely powerful ability,” he says laughing again shrilly.
Author’s Note
Hey guys! Things are starting to wrap up, but there are still a few chapters left. Did you figure out which “fairytale” Christopher is from? If you know, comment! When I post the next chapter, I’ll add a multimedia picture back to this chapter as a clue. Also… throughout the story I mentioned or hinted towards EIGHT different worlds if I remember correctly. If you can guess all eight, comment on that too and I will mention your success in my next author’s note. Remember to vote! :)