Golden Turnip #1: Wake Me Up Later
Chapter 2: Sparkles And Spices
"Maya, there are some people who want to meet you," Jake said as he entered the room.
"Who else knows?" Maya asked, rather frightened.
"Know what?" Jake asked and Colleen also looked confused.
"That I'm a Princess," Maya answered.
"You told her?" Jake said, turning his eyes to Colleen, who shrugged. "It was about time anyway. And these people have no idea you're a princess."
Maya was a little curious to know who wanted to meet her, so she went with her parents back into the first hallway in the castle.
Waiting to meet her was a man who towered above her as most adults did and a boy her own age. He was taller than her too, but that was because she was short.
"Let me introduce you. This is the Crown Prince Toby," Jake said, indicating to the boy, who bowed. "And this is his uncle… uh… What was your name again?"
"Ozzie," the tall man said.
"So, uh… his Uncle Ozzie… that would be Prince Ozzie, I assume?" Jake said. He really liked formal titles.
"Anyway, this is Maya, our daughter. You and Prince Toby can go play together, or whatever it is kids do nowadays," Colleen said.
Everyone else walked away, leaving Prince Toby and Maya on their own.
"Where are your parents?" Maya asked suspiciously.
"…I wanted to come to this island, but my parents were too 'busy.' In the end, my uncle had to take me," Prince Toby explained.
Maya was silent. All she could think was will I be able to cook better now?
"You're the princess, right?" Toby said.
"Oh my goddess, you do know!" Maya said.
"I just heard about the legends and… wait, really? You're one hundred years old?" Toby asked.
"…Fine, yeah. It's true. I only just found out myself, to be honest," Maya said, sadly.
Prince Toby was just about to say something else, when someone burst through the front doors of the castle.
They all turned to face the doors and saw a young girl with short brown hair.
"It's my stalker!" Toby shouted.
"I'm not stalking you!" the girl shouted back.
Toby laughed, and Maya said, "How'd you know who it was? You didn't even open your eyes."
The girl walked over to Maya and Toby, looking at them both suspiciously. Then she stuck her hand out to Maya and said, "My name's Renee!"
"I'm Maya. So, do you two know each other? Did you come to the island together?" Maya asked.
"No! It was a complete coincidence; I swear," Renee said.
"We don't really know each other. We've met once before we came to the island, once on the boat and once when we found out we're going to be neighbors on this island. We never really talked any of those times, and yet we keep on meeting, again and again…"
After Prince Toby's explanation, there was a long silence.
"I am not stalking you!" Renee shouted again.
"How long are you two staying for?" Maya suddenly asked.
"Well, I don't know about Renee but I assume she'll be here as long as I am. And I want to stay here as long as I can. Teach my parents a lesson," Toby said.
"My parents are here to settle down. We are staying," Renee said, teeth gritted as she glared at Toby.
"Oh, great! So can we be friends?" Maya asked.
Colleen looked over when she heard this and saw the hopeful smile on her daughter's face. At that, she smiled too, and it was not a pleasant smile.
-In The Kitchen-
After a ridiculous conversation and promising to meet Prince Toby and Renee tomorrow, Maya ran into the kitchen, wanting to make something impressive.
Colleen and Jake looked into the kitchen when she was almost done and were delighted to see that it looked good. Well, it didn't look burnt, which was a good sign.
"Here, mother, try it!" Maya said when it was done, handing the plate to her.
Colleen looked at it. It looked good and it wasn't burnt but… Colleen couldn't tell what it actually was. She shrugged and ate a mouthful.
"Don't… eat it, Jake," she said, and went extremely pale.
"What? But… shouldn't it be wonderful?" Maya said.
"…It should be… but it isn't…" Colleen said.
"I don't understand! We introduced you to him; you talked to him for awhile. What does 'meet' mean, then? I bet the Witch Princess would know what's up," Jake said.
"…She's probably laughing… right now… that the Wizard's curse didn't even… work. And her curse is still in play," Colleen said.
"What? What Witch Princess? I thought this whole thing was about a Wizard's curse?" Maya said.
"It is, dear. The Witch Princess has nothing to do with it," Jake said quickly.
"Why are you always… defending her? She's as… much to blame as that… Wizard is," Colleen said.
"She didn't do anything wrong; not really!" Jake said.
"Do I have to be present for my own birthday party? Because I want to go to sleep," Maya said. Her parents looked at her.
"But dear, it's still morning," Colleen said, without a pause at all.
"It's morning? Well, I don't care. I'm sleepy so see you later," Maya said, heading for her room. Jake and Colleen stared at each other.
"You don't think this has something to do with the curse, do you?" Jake asked his wife.
"I have no idea… Maybe it's…" but Colleen never got any further. She just fell silent.
-Z z z-
There was a knock on Maya's bedroom door. She shifted restlessly on her bed.
"Maya, wake up," Colleen called into the room.
"Wake me up later," Maya called back.
"You slept all through yesterday, Maya. That was your birthday! Now get up, lazybones," Colleen said. Maya snored in response. It was very fake and exaggerated, but it bothered Colleen very much.
"Prince Toby and Renee are waiting for you to get up," Jake called.
"They can wait a little longer," Maya said.
"There's a huge cake in the hallway, and nobody knows whose going to eat it!" Colleen said. Maya appeared at the door. "Oh, Maya. Why does that get you up?" Colleen asked.
"You ought to know that that works by now," Maya said with a pout.
She walked straight out of the castle, not even bothering to check if there really was a cake. There, Toby and Renee really were waiting for her.
"What are you doing here so early in the morning?" Maya asked, shielding her eyes from the rising sun.
"There's not much to do here," Prince Toby explained, "so we were going to go and explore the island. Since you're a 'native,' I thought that you should come and show us around."
Maya gulped. She wasn't really the adventurous type. She didn't like to go to most places on the island at all, mainly because her parents told her scary stories about them.
"I was thinking we should go to the mines. That place sounds dangerous," Renee said.
"Uh… Yeah, that's a good idea!" Maya said, trying to sound like she meant it.
"But first, Maya, get dressed," Renee said.
That's when Maya realized that she really had just walked out of the castle without doing anything beforehand. She ran back inside but quickly rejoined her new friends.
-At Garmon Mines-
Maya wasn't too familiar with the Garmon Mine District. She didn't even remember going there ever. She looked around herself nervously all the time.
She was supposed to be leading them all, but where to? And where was this place?
"These are the mines, aren't they?" Renee said when they walked straight up to a cave.
"I… I don't- Oh wait, here's a sign. Yeah, these are the mines," Maya said.
Renee walked in without any further contemplation.
"Wait! How do you know if it's safe?" Maya called into the darkness.
"I thought the whole point of this was that it wasn't safe," Prince Toby said, and then followed Renee into the mines.
Maya was torn. "Don't go in," someone said behind her.
She jumped and turned to see who had spoken.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Calvin's my name. I'm an archeologist," the man said.
Maya felt a little safer, but still kept a distance. "I'm Maya," she said.
"I know. I was there," Calvin said.
"Where?" Maya asked.
"I was there when you woke up. From the spell?" Calvin said, wondering if Maya knew what he was talking about.
"Oh, you're one of the original islanders, are you?" Maya said.
"No. I was the one who woke you up," Calvin said.
"Oh, really! Then… do you have any idea why, even after I met Prince Toby, I can't cook?" Maya asked.
"You mean the spell isn't finished? Well, the Witch Princess would know," Calvin said.
"Who is the Witch Princess? My parents mentioned her, but they won't tell me anything about her," Maya said.
"You ought to know about her but… I don't know where she is. Nobody does. She comes and goes when she wants to. Excuse me a moment," Calvin said and walked into the mines. He came out only a few moments later with Toby and Renee.
"Really?" Prince Toby asked, finishing a conversation he'd been having with Calvin while looking extremely disappointed.
"Stay away from the mines. There's nothing of interest in there for you kids… yet, anyway," Calvin said.
"What does that mean?" Renee whispered to Maya.
"Are you saying we're going to come back here one day?" Maya asked.
"How should I know?" Calvin said.
"Hey, let's go down to Flute Fields. We can play tag there," Renee said.
Tag sounded a lot safer than the mines, so Maya agreed. Calvin watched them run away, murmuring something about mysteries and magic to himself.
-Sparkles And Spices-
"Tag! You're it!" Renee shouted. She'd been chasing Toby and Maya for ages, and finally managed to catch Maya.
They were all out of breath, but all ready to start running again. Maya stood where she was for a moment, wondering who to chase after.
She heard her stomach growl for lunch, and decided to end this quickly. She ran to the left and then swerved to the right; she raced around in circles until she finally managed to grab Toby's collar.
He fell over. "Ouch," he said.
"…Are you okay, Toby?" Maya asked, kneeling down beside him.
"Of course I am," he said, but as he tried to get up, Maya elbowed him in the stomach. "Okay, maybe not anymore."
"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Maya said, waving her arms around frantically.
When Maya elbowed Prince Toby in the stomach, he opened his eyes, which he hadn't done in a very long time. And then, as she said sorry, their eyes met, for the first time.
Renee came running over. "What the heck is that," she shouted.
Because above Maya and Toby, starry sparkles fell to the ground around them like snowflakes. Maya couldn't stop staring at Toby's eyes, since this was the first time she'd ever seen them. She felt her face getting hot as it grew redder and redder.
She was sure that this was the moment that the spell was complete. It had to be.
Suddenly, she realized Renee was laughing at her.
Maya stood up and shouted, "Why are you laughing at me?"
"You're blushing, Maya. Your face is so red!" Renee said. She tried talking calmly, but the moment she looked at Maya she started laughing again.
Toby stood up, finally, and said, "But what is this stuff?" He held his hand out and the sparkles started to pile up in the palm of his hand.
Maya thought about what to call it, and then said, "Its magic!"
There was silence for a moment and then Renee started laughing again.
"I have to go home and try something out now. Uh…" Maya felt a bit awkward. She was planning to run off and leave them there, but that seemed too rude.
She looked around, trying to find an excuse, and yelped when she saw Chase standing in one of Marimba Farm's fields.
Prince Toby and Renee looked at Chase and then back at Maya, but by then she was already running home. "…I wonder who he is," Renee said.
Maya got home quickly, considering she ran without a break the whole way. She ran into the kitchen and started baking a chocolate cake. All she could think about on the way home was the chocolate cake she'd eaten the day before, and wanted to make one even better than it.
Colleen and Jake looked into the kitchen, feeling very worried. "Do we have to eat it?" Jake asked.
"If you eat this cake then I'll never forgive you!" Maya shouted.
"Thank goodness," Colleen sighed.
"But why?" Jake persisted. "Who are you making it for?"
"Who do you think?" Maya replied.
Colleen and Jake had no idea. When Maya was just sitting at the oven, waiting for the cake to bake, there was a knock at the door.
She ignored it. "Maya, there's someone here to see you," Colleen said, in a spiteful way.
First Maya thought it must be Toby and Renee. But then she opened the door and gasped.
"…Oh my goddess, you have perfect timing!" she shouted with glee.
Chase was standing there, with the same indifferent expression as yesterday.
Maya ran back into the kitchen and heard the timer go 'brriiiing!' Then, a few moments later, she ran back into the hallway with the chocolate cake.
"Come on, Chase! Eat it!" Maya said.
Chase didn't look like he wanted to. "Do I have to? I just came to…" Chase looked at the expression on Maya's face. "Okay, fine."
Chase ate the tiniest slice of the cake he could manage to take. Then his face fell and he went pale.
"Huh? I was so sure…" Maya mumbled. Colleen and Jake feared that Chase was sick.
"This… has made it impossible for me to say what I came to say," Chase said, and left the castle. Maya was saddened.
She started eating her own cake, without caring if it was edible or not. She was surprised to find that it tasted delicious.
"Oh my goddess! This is the best cake ever! It's true! The spell's over… but why did Chase run away then?" Maya asked.
She stood up and let the cake fall to the floor. "NO!" Colleen and Jake shouted. They really wanted to know what a perfect quality, no, better than perfect quality cake tasted like. And now it was on the floor.
Then they noticed that Maya was crying. Again. She ran to her room and fell onto her bed, sobbing. Colleen poked her head into the room.
"Are you okay, dear?" Colleen asked.
"I tried so hard! I t-thought Chase would b-b-be impressed! But he just ran away!" Maya sobbed. Colleen stood at the door for awhile, listening to her daughter cry.
But by the time she entered the room, her daughter was asleep.
"Are you kidding me?"
-Rhyme 2-
Things will get better, little girl.
Stop your crying and face the world.
Clean your face of cream and cake.
Here begins your life awake.
-What next?-
