Chapter 10: A Dark Dream

Penelope was wandering in a field with her goat and they heard music nearby. As curiosity struck her in the heart, she was lured to the music as if she were lured to the rocks by a siren.

She came above the hill, and saw a group of gypsies playing music. Penelope smiled at the sight, it has been a while since she been around gypsies.

"Come on Jaelle," Penelope and Jaelle ran down the hill to join the gypsies. They got into the dance and Penelope noticed two people from the crowd.

"Mama?" Penelope's eyes widened. "Papa?"

The couple looked at the girl and their eyes widened in surprise. One man had tan skin with green eyes and his wife had long black hair with medium skin and big brown eyes.

"Penelope!" They cried and ran towards their daughter.

"What are you doing here? I thought you both died."

"No dear," Rosella said. "We maybe dead, but we are in your hearts."

"We are very proud of you my child," Marko said, placing his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Come with us…. " Rosella said, as she and her husband took her hands. They led her and Jaelle to the dance. Penelope spent the time of her life back to dancing and performing.

Everyone was still sleeping in the peach stone, Penelope still sleeping, suddenly, slowly sat up and ripped the tight thread around her legs with her hands. She climbed down the web and slowly walked around the stone with her arms out in front of her as if she were a mummy.

Penelope walked towards the ladder and climbed up. As the girl's foot disappeared, Jaelle woke up and looked at the net and saw that James was still sleeping and her mistress was gone. The goat could sense that something was not right, she hopped off the web and ran towards Dragonfly sleeping on his hammock and tugged on his kilt with her mouth. She pulled him out of the hammock, landing on the floor and was still in his sleep state.

The goat sighed, knowing she had to wake him up the hard way, she placed her muzzle near his ear.

"BAAAAAA!" Dragonfly yelped and jumped up from his sleep and saw Jaelle.

"Jaelle? It's t'e middle o' t'e night," Dragonfly said. "Was it necessary to wake me up?" He slowly opened his big eyes, he saw the net, and James was the only one sleeping and Penelope was no where to be seen.

"Lass?" he asked. "W'ere are ye?"

Unsure of what he should do, he flew over to the jar, Mr. Grasshopper was sleeping on and shook him.

"Mr. Grasshopper?" the elderly incest snored, and the tall incest had to bellow. "Mr. Grasshopper!"

Mr. Grasshopper jumped and saw Dragonfly standing over him.

"Mr. Dragonfly?" Mr. Grasshopper asked as he yawned. "What are you doing up so late?"

"It's t'e Gypsy lass," he pointed towards the net. "She's gone, and I don't know where she went."

"What?" Mr. Grasshopper sat up and looked at the net. "Where did she go?"

"Men," Mrs. Ladybug asked, waking up from her glove, and noticed the goat prancing. "What's Jaelle doing and where's Penelope?"

"Beats me," Dragonfly said. "She could be outside."

Jaelle bleated and the bugs watched as she stood up on her hind hoofs. She held out her front hoofs and closed her eyes, and snored as she walked. Miss Spider noticed the commotion and woke up.

"What is Jaelle doing?" the arachnid asked.

"Is Penelope... sleepwalking?" Mrs. Ladybug asked. Jaelle landed on her four hooves and nodded. The bugs' eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?" Dragonfly was surprised.

"Sleepwalking?" Mr. Grasshopper asked.

"I never knew she sleepwalks," Miss Spider said.

"We better get her back to the web before she gets hurt," Mrs. Ladybug said. "But we can't wake her up, it's dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker."

In her sleep state, Penelope reached to the top of the peach, and Centipede was asleep, she then tripped over his feet and fell forward. Centipede's eyes flew opened and woke up. His eyes widened as he saw the girl getting up and spun around in a few circles as she danced. She stood still for a moment, smiling in her sleep and walked towards the fence pathway.

"Penny?" he asked.

Penelope walked down a hill to follow the gypsies and her parents.

"Oh what a wonderful day," Penelope said.

"Come with us Penelope," A gypsy woman said as she smiled. The girl ran to the top of a hill, with her legs feeling like jelly, and saw the other gypsies swimming in a lake.

"Jump in Penelope!"

Just as the gypsy girl was about to jump, everything turned dark and black as demons and flames appeared. Then Sponge and Spiker appeared as witches, cackling evilly and all the gypsies ran for their lives.

"Blech!" Spiker yelled in disgust. "Gypsies are disgusting rats! They should all be dead! Catch them Sponge!"

Penelope screamed and tried to run, suddenly she was then yanked up by the waist with a black cloud, she was held in front of Spiker and Sponge.

"We got you, you wench," Sponge said. "Let's lock her up." The fat woman used her hand to flung the girl towards a tall wooden pole. Penelope's legs felt like limp as her thin wrists were chained and struggled to break free. She looked up in fear and watched as Spiker and Sponge made their way towards her.

"Well, well," Spiker said. "Gypsies should be slaves and never run and hide. Will you be our slave gypsy?"

"Over my dead body!" The raven-haired girl hissed. She glared and spat in the woman's face, Spiker glared and backhanded Penelope in the face, making her cry out. The girl tried to clutch her stung cheek, but the chain won't let her hand tend to it.

"In that case," Spiker than shouted. "Burn her!"

Penelope felt wood piling around her with straw. The aunts light their torches and the girl screamed as she was burnt with smoke filling her lungs, making the aunts laugh.

She was brought to another world of darkness and everything brightened up. There was a huge room and everything and the furniture was huge. She remembered that it was her caravan. Penelope heard loud footsteps and saw Sponge and Spiker coming in, the girl gasped and hid behind a curtain. She watched as the women slipped a poison in her parents' goblets of wine, and they smiled evilly. They left the caravan. Then her parents came in and sat at their table and placed the goblets to their lips.

"No Mama," Penelope cried. "No Papa! Don't drink them! They're poisoned!"

But her parents drank them and fell to the floor.

"Nooo!" Penelope ran to her parents, but a force pulled her away. The ground collapsed and she fell down a chasm to the flames of Hell and saw the Rhino charging towards her. "Help me!"

Penelope was near the end of the fence pathway and stopped for a moment fighting off the demons from her dream. The bugs and Jaelle exited from the peach. They saw Centipede looking over the edge.

"Centipede?" Mr. Grasshopper asked. "Have you seen Penelope?"

Centipede let out a yelp and turned towards his friends, taking a deep breath.

"Oh yeah, I saw her walkin' around and she looked like a mummy."

"She's sleepwalkin' laddie," Dragonfly said.

"What?" Centipede gasped, with his blue eyes widening. "If she's sleepwalkin', she's down there!"

The bugs gasped in horror, they looked over and their hearts started pounding as they saw the gypsy girl making a halt in her sleep and her arms thrashed around her.

"Look out Penelope!" Miss Spider cried.

"Someone save her before she gets killed!" Mr. Grasshopper exclaimed.

Penelope lifted one foot and fell off the fence pathway. The bugs all screamed in horror as the girl was falling towards the unforgiving earth. Dragonfly knew he had to do something, he shot up like a rocket with his wings batting, and flew straight towards the falling sleeping girl. As he flew under, he caught Penelope in his arms and halted taking deep breaths in relief.

Penelope let out a scream as she woke up from her nightmare. She felt cold and looked around that the sky was surrounding her. She noticed that she was being carried by someone. She looked up and saw Dragonfly carrying her.

"Dragonfly?" she asked as he flew. "What am I doing outside?"

"Just in t'e nick o' time," Dragonfly said. "If it weren't fer ye goat, ye would 'ave been killed."

He flew back up and saw the bugs looking out, and all gave a sigh of relief seeing the girl in his arms. He landed on the peach and placed Penelope gently back on her feet. The bugs were glad to see the girl has awake, though she was confused.

"What was I doing outside?" Penelope asked.

"You were sleepwalking Penelope," said Miss Spider.

"I was?" the girl's eyes widened. "I hadn't slept walk before my parents and the Trotters died." Her eyes were starting to water. "Great, now I'm not afraid of that Rhino, I'm afraid of Sponge and Spiker burning me, I had a dream I saw my parents and we were at a festival. But then those witches appeared and were killing all the other gypsies. They even threw me at a stake and burned me! I also dreamt they put poison in my parents drinks, and then I tumbled into the flames of Hell seeing the Rhino," tears dripped down her cheeks. "I have a horrible feeling that Sponge and Spiker poisoned them. I think they killed them!"

Dragonfly hugged the sobbing gypsy girl close to his chest. The bugs all felt sympathy for the girl, and could tell she faced a lot of harder times than James did. They knew they had to be there for her, for comfort and protection.

"There, there, my child," Mr. Grasshopper patted Penelope on the back. "Don't you worry about them, I promise you that when we reach New York, we shall contact the authorities and place those aunts in prison."

"We will protect you from those hags," Dragonfly said. "My dear lassie."

"You promise?" Penelope looked up with blood-shot eyes and tear stained cheeks. "And also to protect James and Jaelle?"

"We promise," Miss Spider said holding Penelope's hand firmly.

"No worries, sweetie," Centipede said. "I'll give 'em hags a deck in the nose."

"Thank you," Penelope smiled at the bugs.

"It's late. Let's get you to bed Penelope," Mr. Grasshopper said.

"All right, good night."

Dragonfly scooped up the girl in his arms in bridal style and flew her down in the peach. Mr. Grasshopper picked up Jaelle and carried her down and set her on the glove.

Miss Spider placed the blanket over Penelope, and she kissed her forehead, wrapping her up again with her silk. The bugs said good night and went back to sleep. Jaelle licked her mistress and she curled in her sleep. Penelope soon drifted off to sleep.

Note: This is inspired from the scene in Anastasia.