Hi everyone!
Thank you again for all who are following along. In this next chapter you will learn a little about Emily's background. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Emily
Emily had neither a good nor bad childhood. She had lived in a small cottage much like the one she lived in in the Land of Nothing. Having originally been from the Enchanted Forest, her old home had resided next to a vast sea. Her father, Frank, had been a fisherman and her mother, Heidi, had been a seamstress.
It had been a rainy day out on the sea. Frank having little success catching any fish, he was just about ready to pack his equipment up, when his pole dipped down. The tip bending to the point where it was touching the surface of the water, Frank wrestled and fought to keep the pole in his hands.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, Frank managed to haul the fish up out of the water into his boat. The fish was a flounder nearly half the size of his small rowboat; Frank reaching for his small hatchet the fish abruptly stopped flopping about.
"Please, kind sir," he said in fluent English. "Please spare my life for I am not what you think I am."
Frank was flabbergasted to hear the flounder actually speak, and in fluent English.
"I-I beg your pardon?"
"Please, kind sir, spare my life and in return I shall grant thee whatever thee desires."
"You can grant wishes?" Frank said stunned.
"Yes. My name is Alfred. I used to be a prince in a far off land until I was bewitched by an evil sorcerer."
"A prince?!"
"Yes, sir. The sorcerer had fallen in love with a princess I was meant to marry. The two had met each other long before I had come into the picture, and when he learnt of our arranged marriage he placed a spell on me. The sorcerer wanted me to suffer. He explained to me the only way I could return to my human form was if I were to grant ten wishes consecutively in a row to whomever I came across. Sadly, I have not been able to complete this task."
Frank looked at the fish with pity.
"I will assist you, Alfred. Just tell me what I must wish for."
Alfred's large black eyes widened with hope.
"Oh, you are a truly kind man! I thank thee! What you must do is wish for something, but there is a catch. You can only wish for one thing per day," he explained. "Also, you cannot wish for things that are impossible. These things include: wishing to bring someone back to life; wishing for someone to fall in love with you; and wishing for things that will change your way of life."
Frank scratching his chin, pondering what to wish for, his eyes instantly lit up at a thought.
"Why can I not just wish for you to return to your human form now?"
The flounder shook his head.
"As I've said, sir. I must grant ten consecutive wishes in a row in order to return to my human form. You must wish once per day in order to break the sorcerer's curse."
Frank growing hot behind the ears at his asinine comment, he began to look around the area. Being surrounded by water, while the shore was just a few miles behind him, Frank could not come up with anything creative.
"I'm terrible at thinking of things like this right in the moment. My wife on the other hand could have probably thought up twenty things by now."
Frank chuckled slightly before he snapped his fingers coming up with an idea.
"I've got it. I will wish my wife something. I don't think she'll believe me if I tell her I've met a cursed flounder, who is actually a prince, who can grant wishes. So, I wish for a flower that can change shape and color, and it cannot die."
The flounder bowing his head, a single white flower appeared in the fisherman's hand. Frank staring at it blankly, the white flower instantly changed into an orange lily.
"It worked!" he laughed out joyously. "I don't believe my eyes."
Alfred, too, looked quite pleased.
"That is one, my friend. Nine days and nine more wishes to go until I am free."
"And I shall return for the next nine days, I promise."
And so the fisherman did keep his word. Every day he returned and asked the flounder a single wish. Every time he would return, Heidi would expect Frank to bring home another gift. Having been rather skeptical and afraid of the flower he had brought her the first day, she was quickly growing more and more curious about the magical wishes.
"I only have two more days and the Prince will finally be free," Frank said one night.
Heidi, Frank, and their young daughter, Emily, were all sitting together in the living room. It was a cool night and Frank had started the fire in the small fireplace. Heidi sitting in an old rocking chair knitting, she glanced over to her daughter who was reading a book close to the firelight.
"I still think you should wish for something a bit… more."
"Like what?" Frank asked, however, he already had an idea what Heidi was thinking.
"Well," Heidi started, directing her eyes back down to her sewing. "Why not wish for a better house or clothes? Why not wish for us to live somewhere better."
Frank let out a deep sigh, shaking his head.
"I've already told you, Heidi. The flounder gave me three specific rules I must follow when wishing."
"Yes, yes, I know," she said testily. "But what if it is all false? What if he is just saying all of that just to make sure you don't abandon him?"
Frank stared at her confused.
"I don't understand what you mean."
Heidi halting her sewing, she stared up at her husband annoyed.
"Think about it. If someone were to have caught a flounder that could not only speak, but also grant wishes, don't you think any normal person would wish to change the way they lived? Don't you think any commoner would wish to live in a castle or become royalty? That would be the first thing I'd have wished for, and that is precisely what the flounder fears. By granting such a wish, do you honestly believe that the person would return for the remaining wishes? I don't think so. They'd be perfectly content."
Frank was stunned by this new revelation. Surely the flounder wouldn't have lied to him, would he? Shaking his head, the fisherman quietly got to his feet, heading into his bedroom.
The night wore on slowly. Frank tossing and turning in his bed, he couldn't get his wife's words out of his head. Could she be right? Could Alfred have lied to him for his own selfish purpose? Frank just couldn't believe that, and even if it was true he couldn't blame him for being selfish. If Frank had been turned into a flounder he, too, would seek any way possible to change back into his human self.
Turning over he placed his hand down on his wife's side of the bed only to find she was not there. Sitting up Frank glanced out towards the window. Noticing a dark cloud was drifting across the moon, momentarily causing the room to become pitch black, a huge blast of wind suddenly slammed into the window causing the glass to break.
"What the devil?!" Frank said alarmed.
Jumping to his feet, the wind instantly died away. Carefully walking around the glass, Frank kept his eyes peeled out his window. The dark cloud drifting past the moon, allowing him some visibility, Frank was stunned to see his rowboat was not where he had left it on shore.
Frank and Heidi's room was the picture perfect spot. They had a full view of the open sea and the beach. Across the yard to the left was Frank's shed full of fishing gear, and close to that was a dock he usually had his rowboat tied to. It took him a solid minute to realize that Heidi was the one who must have taken the boat. Quickly putting on his boots, Frank scrambled out of the house down to the dock.
Heidi had waited for her husband and daughter to be fast asleep before she snuck out. She wanted to meet this flounder and see if what he had told her husband was true. Taking her husbands rowboat, Heidi rowed for a good thirty minutes, before having to stop. The rowing starting to tire her out, plus she was starting to form a kink in her shoulder, she allowed the boat to drift along with the weak current. Letting out a deep sigh as she stared up at the full moon, a sudden splash from close by caused her to look back down.
Her eyes widening in shock, there swimming towards her only a few feet from her boat was a fish.
"Well, this is interesting. I recognize the fisherman's boat, but you are most certainly not the fisherman. Who are you, if I may ask?"
It took Heidi a couple of minutes to find her voice (she wasn't accustomed to having a conversation with a fish).
"My…my name is Heidi and my husband is, Frank. He has told me all about you and your predicament."
Alfred nodded, smiling at her kindly.
"It is very nice to finally meet you, Heidi. I've heard plenty of good things about you from your husband. He cares deeply for you."
Heidi stared at him with a frown.
"Tell me, Flounder. You warned my husband about granting wishes. He said there were three specific things one could not wish for. What exactly would happen to the wisher if they were to ask for one of those three things?"
"I'm afraid something quite terrible. Specifically, if one were to wish to become royalty, the wish would backfire. Instead of gaining it all, you would lose everything you have. It is a kind of punishment, one in which it punishes those who have allowed envy to consume their hearts."
Heidi clenching her teeth firmly together, Alfred remained silent continuing to smile at her.
"I know it is my husband who is making the wishes, but could I perhaps make one as well? There are only two more wishes left."
Alfred staring up at the dark sky for a moment, he then looked back down at her with a twinkle in his eye.
"Yes. It is past midnight. But be warned. Your wish must not break any of the three rules. If you do you'll find yourself even more miserable than you can possibly imagine."
Heidi had had enough of the flounder's preaching. Who was he to give her such a warning? It was rather infuriating for her to be talked down to by a fish; then again, she had to remind herself this was a prince.
"You know I just don't believe a word you say, Flounder. I think you are lying and only claiming such nonsense, because you are afraid if one is granted the wish to become royalty: you'd never be able to return to your human form. And of course you should fear that possibility. If someone were granted such a thing, they'd have no need for the remaining nine wishes. And that is why, Flounder," Heidi hissed, raising her chin high into the air. "I wish to become royalty!"
"Oh, dear," Alfred said, as he started to sink down into the dark sea. "Oh dear, oh dear…"
Heidi rowing back to the shore, she came to a full halt to see her home was no longer there. Feeling a pang of fear start to eat at her chest, she rowed the rest of the way until the boat hit the sandy shore. Leaping out, she sprinted to the spot where her cottage should have been. There being absolutely no trace of it anywhere, she averted her attention towards her husbands shed to see that was gone as well.
"He was right," she said, collapsing to her knees. "He was right…"
Heidi had spent the majority of her time trying to find the flounder, but to no avail could she find him. It was as if he had just dropped off the face of the earth. She made the mistake of not heeding his warning and now she was paying the ultimate price. She would never see her husband or daughter ever again…
The memory of never knowing what had happened to her mother, and the fact her father had been driven mad with grief was enough to fuel Emily's magic. She had quickly discovered it was emotion that enhanced her abilities: specifically her feelings of anger and grief. Her mother never seeming to care for her, and her father who was too busy trying to figure out a way back to the Enchanted Forest, left Emily bitter.
Now Emily had something that could turn all her in sorrows into joy. She had spent every night going out to the apple tree and practicing her magic. Finally, after weeks of honing her skills she was ready to enact her plan. Placing both of her hands upon the apple tree, she inhaled deeply as her hands started to glow a deep red. The tree sucking in her magic, the apples started to glow a blindingly bright orange color. Feeling her power growing stronger, the apples began to let out a deep pink mist. Just like white mist it began to curl around the trees engulfing everything in its path.
"Listen well!" she proclaimed, raising her hands into the air. "The Land of Nothing will soon be changed forever! Once the mist consumes the entire land it will change it into something far greater! Far mightier! The Land of Nothing shall be reborn as Wonderland!"