"I don't see anything," Ben, Jay, Lonnie, Gil, Uma, and Audrey all looked to where Doug was pointing at. "Right over there. I saw something massive shining on the surface of the water," he explained to everyone. They all double checked, only to come up short. Ben spun to face his determined friend. "There's nothing there, Doug." "What do you mean "nothing"? I saw something! Something long and…. I don't know to describe it! Shiny, I guess!" Poor Doug tossed his hands into the air. Audrey shrugged dismissively. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now." Oh, how I wish.

We sailed on for another hour without incident. Finally, just after sunset a feature came into view not too far ahead. Jane pointed to it excitedly. "Look! Look, land! We're there! We're there, guys!" There was indeed land ahead of us! Only…. Evie and Jay worriedly looked at each other while the rest of us were gawking at the structure in front of us. My mouth dropped open a little. Oh…. Oh no, this isn't good. Audrey whirled around to give me the sharpest glare.

"Oh, great! How are we supposed to get passed that?!" She was referring to the large, and more importantly, tall rock formation seemingly circling the island. It literally looked like the red stone wall was protecting the land of Prydain inside, which I wouldn't be surprised if it was. It could have been erected by the Horned King to guard his kingdom for all we know. But the biggest issue was that there was no way for the Argo to sail through it. No gates, no holes; not even a ridge or a crane. Just a big, massive, red-stone wall blocking our vision from going any further.

Jane looked to me. "What are we going to do, Mal? How are we going to get to Prydain now?" "W-We'll think of something," I tried- in vain- to sound confident. Audrey tisked. "Yeah right. See, this is what comes from following advice from "gods". I bet they didn't warn you about this!" "It's ok. We'll figure this out," I reiterated. But she just shook her head. "Really? Are you blind?! We're facing a stone wall! You can't just "will it away"," she twirled her hands for emphasis. "I think Audrey has a point, Mal. There was literally no foreshadowing of this. How would we have known? There's no maps of Prydain; and certainly none with any walls around it," Doug added his two-cents.

I drew in a deep breath before addressing everyone again. "You're right; this was unforeseen. But we can't stop here; not when we're so close." "Oh, really? Then what are you gonna do about it? Pray, tell us," Audrey's arms folded in a smug fashion. Having enough of her attitude towards me, Harry came up beside me, placing his hand on my back and shooting her a glare. "Watch it," he warned her in that temperamental voice of his. This made her back off- slightly.

I thought for a moment, letting my eyes roll every which way. "What if… I turned into a dragon and burned a hole through the wall?" "Forget it. Even if the temperature of your flames was above average, it would still take days to burn through that stone; never mind creating a hole big enough for the Argo to sail through," Doug immediately shot down my suggestion. "We could try magic," Jane offered. Ben shook his head this time. "I don't think it'll work. We only know spells to create; not break through anything." "Oh, right," Jane's gaze scrolled downward. During the time we were all discussing this, Jay glanced back out at the horizon in the opposite direction of the wall. His eyes narrowed, as if to get a better look, then instantly widened horrified. "Uh, guys? We have a bigger problem!"

All our heads turned to where Jay's finger was aimed. It took a second to realize what was happening, but it soon became apparent. My heart couldn't have sped up faster; instead of crying, my eyes grew so dry with terror- everyone's did. It was faint and very far away, but you could see a bolder-like figure barrelling straight at us in the water. You didn't have to be an idiot to know what it was either; we all knew immediately. Jane actually let out a screech. "M-M-Monstro!"

And just like that everybody, and I do mean everybody, began screaming. "It's Monstro!" "It's headed straight for us!" "We're all gonna die!" "Don't Panic!" I was the only one imploring everyone to say calm. Once again, Audrey gave me the most vicious glare. "This is a perfect time to panic! That thing is going to crash right into the boat!" She didn't bother holding back any of her hatred for me anymore. "The Horned King must have it guarding Prydain's waters," Lonnie gasped. "We're gonna drown!" Someone- a male voice, though I didn't see who- tacked on hysterically. Gil looked to a shell-shocked Uma with nothing but pure desperation. "Can't you do something?! You're part sea-creature!" "Are you kidding?! Not even my mom take on Monstro!" Uma fired back. As I listened to all of them, my mind raced through a million thoughts. It only stopped on one when I remembered the Cheshire Cat's gift to me in my room.

I remember my mind going blank for the next occurrence. I didn't have time to take one last look at Harry. All I know is that my feet were suddenly zooming to my bedroom. I dashed inside and snatched up the box. First I took the Drink Me Bottle and put it in my pocket; one that could zip up just in case. Then without thinking, I stuffed the whole Eat Me Cake into my mouth. It tasted like vanilla with vanilla buttercream, but I didn't savour it. I swallowed and realized that I had likely three seconds to get the hell off the ship. No one was watching when I ran out of my room and towards the edge as fast as my feet could carry me. Only Dodger noticed me dive off the wood of the boat. "Mal!" He cried, but it was too late. By the time the others were looking, the water over side the Argo began to bubble.

Growing a mile high was a fascinating experience; mainly because if I didn't know what was happening, I would have thought nothing was happening. It felt like nothing; it didn't feel like I was getting pulled or stretched at all. All I know is that one moment I was in the saltwater, and the next, my top half was in the air again as I stood up. I did make the mistake however, of opening my eyes before I had stopped growing. That caused me to be a little motion sick. By the time I was exactly a mile high- at least I think that's as tall as I was- I was towering over everything. The sea was like a shallow pool to me now, coming up to just above my ankles. I couldn't see the exact looks on my friends faces, but I could tell they were in a state of shock by how quiet they'd suddenly become. It didn't help that I hadn't told anyone about the growing cake or shrinking drink either.

My first few seconds of being this new height were spent with me trying to steady myself; I was still a tad motion sick. Then I quickly checked to see where Monstro had gotten to. The beast was also shocked, frozen mid-swim not too far from me. Good, he's still back there. With that, I looked back forward and bent down to lift up the Argo in both hands. No one uttered a peep as I carefully raised it over the stone wall, placing it securely on the other side. I could now see Prydain's beachside too; it wasn't that far away from where I put the boat. Or at least it looked that way to me with my new gigantic eyeballs.

It didn't stay calm for too long though. The moment I set the Argo down onto the water, something smashed into the back of my right leg- hard. I winced, baring my teeth for a second and bending my now sore knees. Monstro had gotten over his initial surprise and was ready to start attacking me; even in this giant stay. I glanced over my shoulder to see him swimming back a way. He was going to charge me, attempting to take a bite this time. Heh, despite being so very tall now, I was still afraid of that whale.

I pulled out the now tiny bottle from my pocket; thank god my clothes altered their size with me. It took a moment to tug out the cork, but the second I did, I drank the full bottle, which was more like a drop to me now. But it did its job. Immediately after finishing, I planted my hand on the wall and catapulted myself over it. I tried to land as close as I could to the Argo, but unfortunately my measurement was off. While falling free-style through the air, I shrank back to my original size; only becoming truly back to normal once I hit the surface. My feet touched the water first, followed by the rest of me. I fell into the sea….. over fifty feet away from the Argo.

Landing wasn't pleasant either. My previously huge size meant that I had picked up a considerable amount of speed. I was falling pretty fast when I eventually reached the sea. It didn't physically hurt- not right away anyway- but it definitely rattled me. I think my body went numb at some point during the fall. But it was such a hard impact that it succeeded in knocking me cold out; a deadly scenario for any air-breathing mortal. My body went from falling through the air to sinking in the saltwater; all of my limbs and hair were trailing above me. My eyes were very narrow slits before I passed out. The last thing I remember was this blurry little, round, blue and yellow fish swimming above me. Then everything went entirely black.