I did my best to block out everything that was surrounding me. I shut my eyes as tight as they would go, I cupped my hands over my ears, I shied away from anything that happened to brush up against my skin. The only thing that I could expect was that the bloody hand that emerged from the book pages has dragged me into Hell. After all, demons don't grab your face and take you into Heaven, only angels can do that. I was terrified that, if I simply looked through a space in between my eyes that was as slim as a needle, I would be horrified beyond words at the sight of wretched souls burning to the bone in a lake of boiling lava. Maybe I would even see the face of Lucifer himself... his terrible, hideous face.

This has to be a dream! I thought, trying desperately to calm myself, but to no avail. Hands can't come out of books, and they certainly can't drag you to Hell! You can only go to Hell if you die... I haven't done anything wrong! I'm not dead! I CAN'T BE DEAD!

A faint voice was heard through the sounds of my pitiful inner screams. They sounded like they were miles away.

"Brittany, open your eyes!" They yelled.

"I can't!" I screamed, shutting my eyes even tighter.

"You can, just trust me."

They sounded closer now. Probably burning alive, practically a skeleton already.

"No!"

I shrieked when someone, something, grabbed my wrist and pulled one of my hands away from my ears. To my surprise, I didn't hear the pained screams of tortured souls, nor did I hear Satan welcoming me into his fiery kingdom. In fact, I could hardly hear anything at all. Aside from the slow breaths of the person in front of me, all that reached my ears was the sound of lightly flowing water. It wasn't quite like a waterfall, it was too soft and peaceful for that... It was more likely to be a river, a lake even.

"Brittany, you can open your eyes."

With my ears uncovered, I was able to recognize the voice of my cousin, Bastian. How is he here? Did he get grabbed by the demon as well? Is he okay? He's not hurt, is he?

Slowly, cautiously, I opened my eyes.

When I saw my cousin kneeling in front of me, still holding tightly onto my wrist, I knew that it was, in fact, his voice that I had heard. It wasn't a devil imitating him in order to give me a false sense of security, it was really Bastian. The blonde boy almost seemed to be glowing, since the sunlight that lit up the sky above us seemed to radiate off of him. His concerned frown slowly lifted into a half-smile.

"See, you're okay." He assured me, letting go of my wrist.

He started to stand and back away from me a couple of steps, allowing me to see more of our surroundings. A part of me was still terrified of what I might see if I looked up and surveyed the area, so my eyes instantly went to the floor. It wasn't a floor that I saw, exactly, but the bottom of a boat that seemed to be made entirely out of sea shells. I was sitting at the end of the boat, my back up against the curved, half-foot high walls. When Bastian had left me, he went to stand at the opposite end of it and stare out at the lake that we smoothly drifted on. As I started to get to my feet as well, I decided that the lake would be the first thing that I looked at.

My eyes went to look over the side of the boat, where I could see nothing except miles of seemingly endless water. The lake water was as clear as a crystal, so pure that I was able to see the multicolored fish that seemed to swim many miles under us. They were probably a lot closer to the surface than they appeared to be, trying to take in the sight of the clear blue sky just as I was. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the sun shined high above the world in the direction that Bastian was staring in. After marveling in the beautiful sight of the lake, I joined him at the front of the boat.

When I finally caught a glimpse of the scene that Bastian had been looking at for almost a minute now, I doubted that I would be able to take my eyes off of it either. The shell boat that we stood in was floating towards an enormous kingdom, its walls seemingly made entirely out of shining silver. Gigantic silver ships lined the perimeter of the city, leaving only one opening in front of the city gate. The boat seemed to be going directly towards the gate, even when there was no current that guided us there, or a propeller that moved the boat on its own.

"I'm dreaming..." I said, still unable to turn away from the silver city before me.

"It's not a dream." Bastian corrected me. "It's just made out of them..."

This place is made out of dreams... Dreams can't do anything except appear while you are asleep. I must be asleep, then. This can't be real. None of this could ever possibly be real.

"It is a dream, Bastian." I finally looked over at my cousin. "None of this could ever appear in real life. I mean, the water is never this pure in reality, and the boat is moving on its own. It's not practical, and you can't convince me otherwise."

"That's the beauty of it. It's not practical. It's not realistic. But none of that matters, because it's all real."

I raised my eyebrow at him, starting to get slightly annoyed with his persistence.

"Okay, if this is real, then where are we?"

"Fantasia."

All that I did was stare at him. A disbelieving, skeptical stare, but a stare all the same. Bastian noticed my expression, and explained.

"I don't know what happened a while ago, I'll admit that, but I know Fantasia when I see it. The voices were coming from the book... the hand came out of the book, and we went in it."

"You know, just a second ago, I was completely convinced that I had been dragged into Hell by a demon. That makes more sense than what you just said."

"I know, and I wouldn't have believed it either." Bastian put his hand on my shoulder. "I don't know why we've been brought here, or where we're supposed to go after this, but I'm telling the truth when I tell you that we're in Fantasia."

A part of me wanted to consider that he was being honest. Maybe we were in Fantasia, maybe we have been brought inside of the book. That part of me couldn't have been any larger than the end of a toothpick, however. A much larger, more dominating part of me chose to believe that this was all a dream, and that I would wake up soon enough. This would all be over in about an hour or so, and it would be forgotten just minutes after I woke up. Just like every other dream that I've ever had... except I've never had a dream quite like this. For a figment of my imagination, it seemed very real... I could smell the sea water that rushed at me in the wind, I could feel the sun almost blinding me when I try to look at it...

No! This is all a dream, and you know it. It has to be. There's no other explanation...

"This might not actually be so bad." Bastian stated. "You'll love this place, I promise."

"How attached can I get to a dream?"

Bastian sighed, whether out of impatience or understanding, I have no idea.

"What will it take to make you believe that Fantasia is real?"

"Anything can happen in a dream, so there's really nothing that can convince me."

He looked down at the water for a moment, deep in thought. I continued to stare at the silver city that the shell boat was quickly approaching. The faint sound of violins reached my ears, as well as distant chatter and laughter. How many people were behind that gate? Were they waiting for us? Or did they even know that we were coming?

"Don't get the wrong idea, okay?" Bastian asked all of a sudden.

"Huh?"

Before I could back away, he swung his hand at my cheek. A sharp stinging erupted in my cheek directly afterwards. By the time Bastian winced and uncomfortably stuck his hand back into his pocket, I almost felt as if my skin was sinking closer to my jawbone, trying to shy away from whatever had caused it such an unexpected pain. It wasn't like he slapped me hard, but it was certainly enough to have woken me up from the dream that I was currently living in. The clear blue skies still remained above me, though. We were still sailing across still-moving water that was as transparent as glass, on a seashell boat. When the boat gently collided with the edge of the silver dock in front of the city gate, I was more than ready to question the truth behind my previous belief. Is all of this real? Could we really be in Fantasia? But... that world is only a part of The NeverEnding Story, a work of fiction. Pure fantasy...

While I simply stared off into space in somewhat of a daze, Bastian rambled on like an apologetic idiot. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that in a bad way or anything, I just wanted to prove that you're not in a dream! I don't blame you if you're mad at me, I'd be mad at me too! I should have thought of something a little less violent, like pinching you or something, why did I slap you if I could have pinched you! Brittany, I'm-"

"We're really here?" I asked monotonously, stopping whatever nonsense Bastian kept going on about.

Bastian looked up at the gigantic gate before us, then looked back at me with a smile. With my eyes solely focused on the silver city walls, I couldn't tell if his smile represented his joy to hear that his cousin finally believed him, or if it was a victorious smirk that hid his inner desire to ask "So, how long will it be 'till you ever doubt me again?".

"In the flesh..." He responded.

He swung his leg over the edge of the boat and stepped onto the dock, making the boat shake a little with the shift in weight. I quickly took a step to the right, positioning me in the middle of the boat. Bastian started to walk towards the unopened gate, but stopped when he didn't hear any footsteps behind him. When he turned around, he simply saw me standing at the front of the boat, skeptically staring up at the gate. He sighed.

"It's alright." He told me. "You can come with me."

"Is it safe?"

He sighed again, a smile reaching his face once more.

"Now, when have I ever put the great Brittany Payten in danger?"

He held his hand out towards me, expecting me to take it in mine and follow him into the beautiful city. I hesitated at first, wondering what sort of things went on behind the abnormally tall walls, and if any of those things could get me hurt or... killed. It's been years since I've ever read a fairy tale, so it never crossed my mind that the main lady in the story never got killed. Captured by dragons or trapped in a tower, yes, but they never faced an agonizing death that you'd only see in a horror flick. But what if I'm not the main lady?

Then Bastian will keep me safe. He hasn't let me down yet. Why would he let me down now?

When I reached my final decision, I grabbed Bastian's hand. I've never seen a wider smile on my cousin's face.