“Alex, don’t be ridiculous,” Arthur said. “There’s got to be another way to free you from the witch’s curse besides killing you.”
“I’m afraid there isn’t,” she said. “This curse is unlike any dark magic I’ve seen or heard of. It fills me with so much anger, it blinds me—I’m barely aware of the damage I’m causing! I get trapped inside my head with feelings of self-doubt, self-hatred, and regret. All I can think about are my mistakes, my flaws, and how undeserving I am of love and happiness! The more my misery grows, the more powerful I become—and the more powerful I become, the stronger the curse gets. The voices in my head have to be stopped, and there’s only one way to put a creature out of its misery!”
Arthur couldn’t believe he was hearing such things. Their shared dream had quickly escalated into a nightmare.
“I refuse to believe that,” he said. “There must be something Merlin and Mother Goose can do to help you—there must be something I can do to save you!”
A thick layer of mist suddenly rose off the lake and blew toward them. The mist formed the shape of a large hand, wrapped its fingers around Alex’s body, and started pulling her toward the lake.
“What’s happening?” Arthur shouted.
“The witch must be waking me up!” Alex said.
Arthur grabbed Alex’s arm, but he was no match for the giant misty hand.
“Alex, you need to listen to me!” he said. “We’re going to save you from this! We’re going to find you and free you from this curse, I promise! You just have to stay strong—don’t give up yet!”
Alex stared up at Arthur with eyes full of tears and fears, but very little hope.
“Good-bye, Arthur.”
Alex was pulled from Arthur’s grip and dragged underwater, and she disappeared from sight.
“AAALLLEEEXXX!”
Arthur rapidly awoke from the nightmare. He was sweating profusely, and his eyes darted all around his room as he remembered where he was. His heart was beating so hard, he could hear it over the sound of Merlin and Mother Goose snoring in the next room. Arthur had never been so affected by a dream in his life, so he knew it hadn’t been a normal dream. Alex was in trouble and she needed help.
The squire leaped out of bed and stormed into Merlin and Mother Goose’s room. His elders awoke in a terrible fright and sat straight up like they had been electrocuted.
“Arthur? What is it, my boy?” Merlin asked, and reached for his glasses.
“Where’s the fire?” Mother Goose said, and reached for her flask.
“Forgive the intrusion, but something terrible has happened!” Arthur announced.
“Have the Saxons invaded?” Merlin asked.
“Are parachute pants back in style?” Mother Goose asked.
“No, it’s Alex,” Arthur said. “She’s been cursed by a terrible witch! We need to go to the Otherworld immediately and rescue her!”
“How do you know all this?” the wizard asked.
“Alex and I were communicating with each other in our sleep! She was trying to contact her brother but found me instead. She told me she’s been cursed and is being forced to do terrible things! Then a hand made of mist rose out of a lake and dragged her under the surface!”
Arthur explained himself so quickly, he had to catch his breath afterward. Merlin and Mother Goose looked at each other with sleepy, uneasy eyes—but they weren’t concerned about Alex.
“Artie, have you been drinking my bubbly?” Mother Goose asked.
“You have to listen to me!” he pleaded. “Alex is in trouble, and she thinks the only way to stop the curse is if someone kills her! We’ve got to do something before she gets hurt!”
“It sounds like you just had a terrible nightmare,” Merlin said.
“It wasn’t just a nightmare. It was the real Alex!” Arthur said. “I swear I’m not overreacting!”
His elders still weren’t convinced.
“It’s not uncommon for dreams to feel very realistic when they’re about the people we love,” the wizard said. “Why don’t you fetch my dream dictionary, and we can get to the bottom of what Alex actually represented in the dream.”
Arthur grunted loudly and paced in a circle. No matter what he said, Merlin and Mother Goose only saw him as a love-struck teenager. Arthur desperately needed their trust, but they would never take him seriously unless he proved himself trustworthy. A transformation was needed to gain their respect, and luckily, Arthur knew just the thing to do it.
The squire raced out of Merlin’s cottage and ran into the woods. It was raining and still dark outside, but Arthur persisted. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and was barely clothed, but he was numb to everything except his fiery determination. Finally, he arrived at his destination and entered the clearing where the great sword lay in the stone.
Arthur was destined to remove the sword once his training was complete and he was ready to be crowned King of England—but given the circumstances, he hoped his desire to save Alex would somehow expedite his destiny. Arthur might not have been in any danger, but if Alex was in trouble, then his whole world was at stake.
So the young squire wrapped his hands around the sword’s handle and pulled on it with all his might. His fingernails bled and blisters covered his palms, but Arthur kept pulling, as if his life depended on it….
CHAPTER FIVE
TURBULENCE AHEAD
As soon as Conner had an inkling of his sister’s whereabouts, he rushed to the nearest computer and bought the five remaining tickets on the next flight to New York City. He used Bob’s credit card without asking, but Bob couldn’t care less. All that mattered to anyone was finding Alex and bringing her home. Liberating the fairy-tale world would have to wait until they figured out what was happening in Manhattan.
At five o’clock the next morning, without any sleep whatsoever, Conner, Bree, Jack, Goldilocks, Red, and Charlotte piled into Charlotte’s SUV and headed to Willow Crest International Airport. Conner had no idea what to expect once they got to New York, but he knew it’d be easier to handle it with his friends at his side. They left the hospital in such a hurry no one had a chance to pack, but knowing what his friends usually carried on their persons, Conner managed to grab a duffel bag before they left the hospital so Jack’s and Goldilocks’s more questionable belongings could be stowed.
When they arrived, Conner ran into the airport to check their bag while his friends waited outside. They stood on the curb by Charlotte’s car and took in their first sights of the Otherworld beyond the halls of Saint Andrew’s Children’s Hospital.
“So this is what they call an air port,” Jack said as he cradled Hero. “What exactly is a port of air?”
“It’s where you board planes that take you to other locations,” Bree explained.
“Like a stable?” Goldilocks asked.
“Yes, but with much bigger horses.”
Jack and Goldilocks nodded and looked around in awe, but Red wasn’t as impressed.
“It’s rather colorless in the Otherworld, isn’t it?” she remarked. “If you ask me, the whole gray and glass thing is a bit overdone.”