Okay, a much longer chapter, but it's good!

I woke up the next morning with covers on me, thinking that I was back home, that yesterday had just been one crazy dream. I rolled over and opened my eyes, finding myself face to face with a sleeping Spinner. I closed my eyes, hoping that they were just playing tricks on me, but when I opened them again, there he was. I rolled over, feeling my face turning red. Why was my face turning red? Was I falling for this guy?

I had to stop this. I couldn't fall in love with a guy that I had met only the day before. He was handsome, I couldn't deny that, but I was going to go back to my world eventually. I didn't want something to happen like mom and dad. They're happy, but I knew that dad missed Wonderland a whole lot from the way he always talked about it.

I got up, walking a little farther away to relieve myself. As I walked back into the camp, nothing seemed to have changed, but I felt something was wrong. I looked around, trying to find Duke. At first glance I couldn't see him. My heart started to go faster and I could feel myself panicking. I heard the snap of a twig and I thought I was going to jump out of my skin when Duke walked from behind a tree carrying a big fish.

"Jesus, Duke. I thought you were an enemy."

"If I was, I wouldn't make so much noise."

I knew that I was blushing from embarrassment, so I just looked at the fish. I bent over, grabbed one of the daggers that I had stolen and extended my hand for the fish.

"What?"

"We're not going to eat the fish with its scales still on. Give it to me, I'll de-scale it."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"It's not healthy to eat a fish with its scales on. Anyway, you must have gotten it from a body of water and I need to wash up, so hand me the fish. Where is the river?"

"It's a lake." Duke said as he pointed back to where he had come from.

"Cool. Please, tell Spinner that I'll be back in a few."

Duke nodded and turned back to play with the fire. I walked towards the lake, trying to watch where I stepped so that I wouldn't make too much noise. Who knew what lived in this forest.

The lake was easy enough to find since I just walked straight. Afraid that I would get lost walking back, I made small scratches in the bark of the trees so that I would know where I had passed. Once I reached the lake, I took off my shoes and look at the scenery. It was truly breath taking. The lake was still, barely a ripple over the entire surface. The trees that surrounded the lake were large and seemed to bend to touch the edge of the water. Finding that this stretch of beach was a little to exposed for my liking, I walked a little to the left until I was covered back the low lying branches of the trees. I took off the comfortable clothes that Spinner had lent me and I left the fish next to my clothes, since it wasn't going to run away. I tiptoed into the water. It was freezing and all of my hairs stood on end, but I knew that I had to get clean, so I took a deep breath and ran in.

Once I reached a swimming depth, I dived down and wet my hair, shaking it to let it go free. I swam back to the surface and found that I had swum farther from the shore than I had thought. I started to stroke back when I felt something grab my ankle. I tried to grab as much air as I could before I was dragged under, but I barely got a mouthful. I tried to swim against whatever held my ankle, but it was far more powerful. I could feel bubbles escaping my mouth and I wrapped my hands over my mouth and nose, trying to make sure that I didn't lose more of the precious air that I still held. I could feel the pressure building on me and I felt myself blacking out.

Suddenly, a hand around my ankle, attacking whatever was pulling me down. My ankle was finally freed, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to swim to the surface. I just hoped that the person saving me could. I felt myself being pulled up and I could no longer hold in the air. I let it all out, hoping that this would make it easier for whoever was saving me.

Then, I felt the surface. I breathed, gulping in as much air as I could, while at the same time some water. I spluttered, trying to get the water out of my mouth so that I could take in the air that my body screamed for. I turned to thank the person that had saved me when I saw that it was Spinner. I then realized that his hand was on my bare skin and that the water was not all that murky. I flailed back, hoping that the distance would cover my nakedness a little.

"What are you doing? If you keep flailing, the Snidder Snake will come back."

"I'll calm down, but look away."

Finally, Spinner understood why I was freaking out and his entire face turned red. He turned around so that he faced the beach. "I'll swim in front of you. If anything tries to grab you, call my name."

"Okay."

We started swimming and I realized that Spinner had saved my life. His clothes were completely wet and he looked a little cold. I felt bad about having made him jump in and save me. I would need to pay him back somehow. Once we got near enough to the beach so that I could stand, Spinner took off his jacket in the water and passed it back to me.

"Take it. I'll look away, but this is for anything else that could be around."

I took the jacket, blushing, realizing what a fool I had made of myself by just choosing to wash up. I put the jacket on in the water, feeling the weight of the waterlogged material. I got out of the water, feeling so much heavier than I had a few seconds ago. I walked quickly to the shelter of trees and started to get dressed, not wanting Spinner to stay in the cold water any longer. I got dressed quickly, slipping the shirt on while I tried to stuff my feet into my shoes. I ran out from the shelter of the trees and called his name so that he knew he could leave the water.

I saw him, watching the mountains with complete calm. His lips seemed to be blue from the cold and his hair seemed to be drying already. He really was such a nice guy, helping me for no reason, at least no reason that I could understand.

"Spinner, you can turn around now." I said quietly, almost afraid to break him out of his reverie.

Spinner turned around and smiled, "Well, at least you're dressed."

"So are you, but you're soaking wet. Come on, we need to get back to the camp so you can dry a little."

"We don't have to go now. You have to clean the fish anyway."

I smiled and walked back to get the fish and dagger. Back at the water's edge, I scrapped the fish's scales, letting them fall in the water or washing them off the blade. I felt Spinner crouch next to me, but I kept working. A nagging question came out of my mouth.

"How did you know where I was drowning?"

Spinner laughed, "I hoped that you wouldn't notice that."

I straightened up, "You mean you saw me get into the water?"

Spinner shook his head vigorously, "No! No, I saw you swimming. Then I saw you go under and you didn't come back up, so I dove in. I couldn't very well let you die."

I looked back at the fish and continued, not sure of how to thank him. Once the fish was done, I stood up and so did Spinner. I looked him in the face and kissed on the cheek.

"Thank you."

I walked back towards the camp, feeling Spinner still standing in the same spot. I kept walking, asking myself why I had done that… I did feel gratitude, but kiss him on the cheek?

I heard Spinner's steps behind me, but I didn't look back, trying to calm myself down so that I wouldn't have a complete freak out.

When we got back to camp, Duke had revived the fire. I put the fish on a spit, packed up the backpack, anything but look at Spinner. 'What is wrong with you? It was just a peck on the cheek. Just act normal.' I thought and then took a deep breath. I turned back to Spinner and saw that he had been looking at me, but I just gave a smile and started taking care of the fish. After it was cooked, I passed the fish to Duke while I went to put the final items on the horse. I knew that we had a long way to go, but we would not all be able to ride the horse. We could all take turns on the horse, but I wasn't sure that Spinner could ride it one handed. I decided to put all of our packs on the horse so that we would have less to carry while walking, and therefore be less tired.

When I turned back, Duke was putting out the flames with dirt and Spinner was walking towards me with the rest of the fish, the best parts were left. I smiled and took the stick, nibbling on the fish while Duke attached his pack to the horse.

"Ready to go?"

I nodded and started walking, focusing on eating my fish, knowing that getting closer to the castle was taking me closer to sure danger.