“So you agree that this is what I have to do,” Loki said. “I’m glad I got the Baby Tears then.”
“You did a good job getting those,” Charmwill said. “And Fable did an amazing job taking the child back to its parents. She’s a bright kid. Do you know why?”
“Not particularly, but I can’t deny she is amazing,” Loki said.
“She is amazing because she believes in her Chanta. She doesn’t need logic to act. She only acts on what her heart tells her. She simply follows her bliss,” Charmwill said. “And before you wonder and whine about what the Chanta really is, let me tell you about something that is preventing you from finding your Chanta.”
“Really? What is it?”
“One of the items you carry with you is holding you back.”
“Holding me back?”
“In order to follow your bliss, and in order to let the world conspire with you to get what you want, you need to get rid of something that’s in your possession all the time,” Charmwill said. “It’s holding you back from reaching your goals because it’s consuming your mind, which is consuming your heart, and holding you back from the great powers you possess.”
“Item?” Loki furrowed his brows. “What item?” he started touching his pockets, thinking about what he owned.
“Again, I can’t tell you,” Charmwill said.
“But that’s going to drive me nuts,” Loki said. “Is it my Alicorn? My fake pack of cigarettes? What is it, Charmwill?”
“When the right time comes, it will be shown to you,” Charmwill said. “But you will have to be smart enough to get rid of it then, or you will miss the chance to save yourself from a great evil.”
“Great evil? Do you mean in the Dreamworld?”
“It’s not going to be an easy dream, Loki,” Charmwill said. “Now, I think I have to go.”
“Not so soon,” Loki took a step forward. “You haven’t answered all of my questions.”
“This is your destiny, Loki,” Charmwill said. “Only you can write it and answer the questions. I’ll see you again when you finally find your bliss.”
“But wait,” Loki said. “Am I doing everything right? I mean I got the Baby Tears. Is there anything else I have to do so I can finally enter her dreams without her controlling it.”
“Who’s her?” Charmwill asked.
“Her? Snow White, the vampire princess,” Loki was furious by Charmwill’s question.
“Who said she’s controlling her dreams?”
“Oh. Come on, Charmwill,” Loki said. “What do you mean now? Of course it’s her who is controlling her dreams so I can’t enter them and kill her.”
“Didn’t she ask you to save her?” Charmwill’s features revealed nothing. Loki wished he could read between the lines of his aging face.
“Um—yes, but it might be a trick,” Loki said. “And even if it wasn’t, who could she possibly want me to save her from?”
“It’s not a who. It’s a what,” Charmwill said.
“You’ve totally lost me now.”
“Do you have any idea of what a ‘Genius Loci’ is?” Charmwill said in his educational flat tone again.
“A ‘Genius Loci’? What is that? Does it have to do something with my name ‘Loki’?”
“I don’t think so,” Charmwill said. “A Genius Loci is the entity or spirit that lives in places, especially archaic places. It could be malevolent or benevolent, depending on its history and where it came from, and who summoned it. A Genius Loci is a place that has a soul. It’s smart, it hears, and it can act.”
“Yes?” Loki wondered what this had to do with Snow White asking him to save her.
“The Schloss is a Genius Loci,” Charmwill said. “It’s a malevolent one, bewitched by an evil entity hundreds of years ago. The Schloss has a soul, a dark one, and it could act on it. It could do dark things if it needs to.”
“So Snow White wants me to save her from…”
“The Schloss,” Charmwill said. “She’s imprisoned in it by a greater force. That doesn’t say much about whether Snow White is or isn’t evil. It only explains what she wants to be saved from. That’s why she can never leave it.”
“So it has been the Schloss the whole time, sending the huge crow after us, controlling her dreams, and maybe controlling the vampire princess herself?” Loki gazed at Charmwill for more answers.
Charmwill nodded. “I believe that Snow White controlled her dreams so you didn’t kill her, because she wants to show you something in her dreams. But at the same time, someone has imprisoned her in the Schloss, and she will never be able to tell you or show you everything, or what she really wants to tell you, unless you free her from it.”
“And that’s why she needs me to enter her dreams?” Loki asked. “Because the answer of how to save her lies in there?”