Chapter 28 - The Curse is Broken!

After destroying Malaria and her magic, Bethylasia sat on the ground, and all the animals gathered around her in a circle. "Is everyone all right?" the princess asked.
"Yeah, I think so," said Mystery with a smile.
"But, sweetheart, your dress!" cried Sci Fi with a shocked look.
"Yeah, I know," said Bethylasia with a bored tone, "You see…"
"Oh, never mind the dress," said Fantasy, "What matters is that everyone's okay. And Malaria's curse is broken!"
Bethylasia remembered something and snapped her fingers. "My family!" she said, "Come on, guys, we need to check on them!" So she carried Sheila in her arms while all the animals followed her to the cellar.

Upon reaching the cellar, the princess led her friends to a secret room where some faint light was glowing behind the door. She opened the door, and saw a pink light glowing around the stone bodies of the royal family members. All the other animals gasped in surprise, too. Suddenly, tiny little pink and blue hailstones sprinkled from the top of the room, covering the stone statues completely! A white beam shot out from an opening, and everyone covered their eyes as more beams came shooting out from the hail-covered statues. The Pagemaster, who had heard some noises from the cellar, came bursting through the doors to witness what was happening. "My child, has Malaria been defeated already?" he asked his granddaughter with surprise. Bethylasia only nodded.

Just then, all the beams and hailstones disappeared, and in place of the statues were some people who were moving about. Bethylasia got a better look as the people began to stand up. One person was a man with brown hair, a beard and mustache, and brown eyes – that was Crown Prince Matthias! Another person was a woman with auburn hair and blue eyes, and she wore glasses like Bethylasia – that was Crown Princess Natalia! "Mama? Papa?" Bethylasia inquired with a surprised look in her eyes.
Matthias and Natalia looked at their long-lost daughter with big smiles, ran to her, and hugged her real tight! Bethylasia cried tears of happiness as she then noticed more figures moving; two of them were young men, and one was a young woman. The two men revealed themselves to be Alexander and Donovan, Bethylasia's brothers, and the woman was revealed to be Mirabelle, Bethylasia's sister. All the siblings embraced their youngest sister with a tight hug, laughter, and tears of happiness.

Suddenly, some fireworks shot off outside the cellar, and lit up the night sky with many colors! Quickly, the dark sky transformed into a sunny morning, and leafless trees began to grow beautiful green leaves and pink blossoms; some thorny bushes transformed into green bushes with white roses, and then something else happened. A magical stream of sparkles spun around Adventure, transforming him from a beaver back to a pirate book! "Arrrgh!" he said with happiness, "It feels good to be a pirate again!"
Another stream of sparkles spun around Fantasy, transforming her from a squirrel back into a fairy godmother book! She laughed and felt herself flying as she exclaimed, "Look at that! I'm flying again!"
More streams of sparkles then spun around Sci Fi and Mystery, making them jump for joy at being books again!
"What about me? What about me?" Horror asked excitedly as he jumped up and down. Yet another sparkle stream flew around him, and he transformed from a woodchuck to a "hunchbook!" "Hooray!" he shouted as he continued jumping for joy.
Bethylasia gave a big smile and cried, "Now I remember what you guys looked like before you were animals! This is a big miracle for me!"
"Not just for you," Matthias added with a smile, "But for all of us!"
"Of course," added Natalia, "We thought we'd never see you again! Too bad we didn't get to see you transform into a beautiful young lady."
"Yeah," said Bethylasia with a sad look. She looked at the ground and remembered her life in the real world as Becca. "If you guys don't mind," she told her parents and siblings, "I wish to continue my life living in the real world as Becca Ridges."
The siblings all gasped, and Matthias and Natalia gave surprised looks. However, the Pagemaster assured everyone with a smile, "Not to worry. Bethylasia and I had this kind of discussion earlier, and I told her that no matter where she chooses to live, we would always have each other. After all, she could dream about us, imagine us, or possibly write a book about us! Whatever she does, we will always be there for her."
"Very well," said Natalia with a confident tone, "The most important thing we want is for our youngest daughter – our heroine – to be happy at all times." Bethylasia gave one last group hug to her family before the Pagemaster motioned for her and the books to come with him.

In another part of the palace, the Pagemaster opened up his book of secrets, and showed Bethylasia what was going on in the real world. The princess saw a picture of Becca still lying unconscious in the library's restroom. "That's me!" she cried, "And I'm still unconscious! Grandfather, I wish you could take me back to the real world. And not just me – I also want Sheila and all my book friends to come with me!" When they heard the last part, all the books gathered around Bethylasia with big smiles, and the girl knelt down and hugged them all.
"Well, what do you know?" chuckled Sci Fi, "She's going to check us out, after all!"
"Of course," replied the girl, "I couldn't stay mad at you guys forever, you know!"
"We knew you couldn't, mistress!" said Horror with tears of happiness in his eyes.
Bethylasia then turned to her grandfather and asked him, "Do you know a way we can all go back to the real world?"
The Pagemaster nodded and said, "Just close your eyes and think of the happiest things that have ever happened in your lives!" As everyone shut their eyes, Bethylasia thought long and hard of happy memories. She thought of her real world family, laughing with Nicole, and her recent adventure in Libralia. Then, the Pagemaster waved his staff in the air for a little bit, and his granddaughter, Sheila, and all the books disappeared into sparkling blue smoke. The smoke travelled up in the air, and then made its way to the page showing Becca in the bathroom.

Back in the real world, Bethylasia and her friends fell from the ceiling, and the princess landed into Becca's subconscious. Becca moved around a bit as she woke up; she also heard five little thuds outside the restroom. She opened her eyes and looked around; Sheila was sitting on the sink counter, and the girl's backpack was lying next to the kitten. Becca then stood up, carefully put Sheila back into her backpack, and then ran out the bathroom door. To her surprise, Becca's class was still listening to Mr. Dewey talk before he broke them up into groups for the field trip project – hardly any time had passed since Becca went unconscious. "Becca, are you okay?" Mrs. Clarke asked her as the girl rejoined her class.
"Um, yes!" said Becca, "I just slipped on a patch of water, but I'm okay!"
A meow escaped the girl's backpack, and Mrs. Clarke gave her a suspicious look. "Becca, is there something in your pack that I should know about?"
Becca took off her backpack and stammered, "Umm, no! W-why do you ask?"
Mrs. Clarke just looked in the pack and saw Sheila. She was surprised at seeing a kitten in her pupil's backpack, and she cleared her throat and gave Becca a stern look.

Mr. Dewey, who had seen what was going on, walked over to the teacher and girl and said, "Oh! My cat, Natalie, lives in the library with me. She had kittens a few weeks ago, and I'm getting ready to give the little ones a new home. Young lady, if you are a responsible and loving person, you may have this feisty little girl all for your own!"
Becca beamed with joy and said, "Oh, thank you, Mr. Dewey!"
Mr. Dewey picked up Sheila and said, "In the meantime, I'll hold onto her while you do your project with some of your peers, okay?"
Becca nodded and went with Mrs. Clarke back to the center of the library, where all the other students were waiting.