Charlie Bone and the Library of Fantasy
Chapter 8: Split Up: Part Four – A bit different
Author's Note: I do not support any couples in particular, just so you know. I find they're all just as good.
Gabriel yawned, sleepily.
He looked around him. He was in some sort of castle or tower or something like that. He was in a room and there were five open doors leading to different rooms/corridors.
"Hello?" He called out, afraid that he was alone.
"Gabe?"
Gabriel heard the response but couldn't see where it had come from.
"Fidelio? Is that you?"
"Yeah it's me"
"Keep yelling to me. I'll try and find the source of your voice. Where are you?"
"Uh…I'm in this weird room with all this armour in it…"
Gabriel found that Fidelio's voice was coming from the closest open door. Walking through the corridor that the door had led him to, he found a room full of armour.
Fidelio was standing next to one of the suits of armour. He was flicking it and observing it very closely. Fidelio turned around and grinned at Gabriel. Gabriel grinned back, but soon frowned.
"How are we gonna get out of here? This place is huge!"
"Well, we know where we are at least. We must be in that fairytale book. Fairytales have medieval castles like this one."
"Yeah I guess. But I wish we knew which fairytale we are in."
"Be careful what you wish for," warned Fidelio, "Or it might just happen."
Gabriel grinned heartily at this, for unknown reasons.
"Gabe? Fido?"
The boys smiled. They weren't alone. Olivia was there! They could tell it was her because she called out Fidelio's nickname that no one else really called him.
"Livvy?" They called out simultaneously.
Olivia appeared in one of the doorways.
"Hi guys!" she smiled, "Isn't this place great? It's so pretty! It's just how I imagine those medieval castles were like! We must be in that fairytale book! You know, that one with those random stories like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Romeo and Juliet, Little Red Riding Hood, Sl -"
"We figured. Sorry I cut you off there but we get the picture." Fidelio said.
"So what do we do now?" Gabriel asked.
"I say we find a way out of here before we need food and water."
The three searched the castle high and low but there just seemed to be no exit.
Suddenly, an eerie noise filled the new room they had just entered.
It was coming from a stairway. Olivia got a dazed look in her eyes.
"Come on, let's try the next room." Gabriel said.
The boys started leaving but Olivia didn't. They went back over to her.
"Hello? Earth to Olivia?" Fidelio waved his hand in front of her face.
She didn't move a muscle.
Gabriel stepped back.
"Fidelio, she looks as if she's been hypnotized."
With that, Olivia walked past the boys and started climbing the stairs to the source of the noise.
Frightened of their friend's odd behaviour, they clambered up after her.
They saw Olivia near a spinning wheel, reaching out to touch the pin bit.
Fidelio's eyes widened, now knowing where they were.
"NO!" He shouted. But it was too late.
Olivia fell to the floor in a peaceful slumber.
"Sleeping Beauty" Fidelio mumbled, shaking his head.
The boys walked over to her cautiously.
"What now?" Fidelio asked, after unsuccessfully attempting to wake her.
Gabriel was quiet for a moment.
"Kiss her."
Fidelio's eyes widened, twitching slightly, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth hung open.
"What!"
Gabriel's face was calm.
"Well, in Sleeping Beauty, the main character wakes up after she's kissed by someone. If someone doesn't kiss her, she won't wake until, like, 100 years later or however the story goes. And by then she'll be dead."
"Well why do I have to be the one to give her the kiss of life? Why can't we get out of here and get…I dunno…CHARLIE to do it! He's the one who likes being a hero! And we guys all know that he has a thing for either Emma or Livvy. We just can't tell which one!"
"Well," Gabriel said cautiously, "I think, I don't know, but I think that you have a thing for one of them as well. And if it's Olivia…"
"I don't have a thing for Olivia or Emma!"
"Well, I'm not good at telling when someone's lying so whether you're lying or telling the truth, I don't know. All I know is that I can't do it."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I'm embarrassed about that stuff!"
"So am I!"
"Well…uh…" Gabriel searched his brain for an excuse to get out of it, "I…uh…am sick! Yeah, I'm sick!"
"No you're not!"
"Uh…yeah I am! Haven't you heard I've been diagnosed with…uh…TMSDH+ESD!"
Fidelio looked at Gabriel, stunned.
"What the hell?"
"It stands for…erm…uh…The Major-ly Scarily Dangerous Hyperventilating and Excessive Sweating Disease!"
Fidelio now looked at Gabriel unbelievingly.
"Uhuh."
"What? It's true! It's a very dangerous disease!"
"Then why haven't I ever heard of it, if it is so dangerous?"
"Be-because…the name makes children cry!"
"Noooo, you're pathetic lying skills make children cry!"
"Aw come on, mate. Whether you like her or not, just do it so Olivia is okay!"
"I repeat, why don't you do it?"
"Because…uh…" Gabriel racked his brain again for another lie, hopefully a better one.
"…Um…because…I'm gay!"
So much for hoping it would be a better one.
Fidelio's face was mingled with disbelief, horror, disgust…and many other emotions that weren't good signs…
Fidelio's eyes started twitching.
"You're lying again. At least, I hope you are. After all, everyone in our dorm gets changed in the same room. You could have…looked at us! Ewww!"
"It's okay, relax. I was lying again."
"So just PLEASE tell me the truth, WHY CAN'T YOU KISS HER?"
Gabriel sighed, giving in.
"The truth is…I'm afraid of girls."
Fidelio looked at him weirdly.
"What is there to be afraid of? Unless they are schizophrenics, they aren't scary!"
"Yes they are"
"No they're not. You put up with Emma and Olivia all the time."
"Yeah but they're different. Olivia is…um…how to say…unique. And Emma's so nice that you simply can't be afraid of her."
"So if you can handle talking to Olivia normally, why can't you kiss her?"
"Because that's an…intimate…action! I can't do that! I'm too nervous and scared!"
Fidelio sighed, seeing he had no choice.
He pecked her quickly and backed off as Olivia yawned sleepily, waking up.
"That's strange. I fell asleep for no reason. Huh. What did I miss?" she asked curiously.
"Nothing" Fidelio replied, staring at his shoes awkwardly.
Olivia looked around the room. Seeing the spinning wheel, it dawned on her.
"I touched that and fell asleep like Sleeping Beauty, didn't I? And then one of you two had to kiss me to get me to wake up, huh?" She stared at the spinning wheel, "It was you, wasn't it Fidelio?"
"Yeah it was…"
Olivia was silent for a minute.
"…okay…" she said in a tiny voice.
Awkward silence filled the air. The tension was thick.
Gabriel spotted a large hole in the wall in the shape of a window.
"Hey guys, look! A way out!"
They all looked out the window. They had to be at the highest point in the castle.
"How are we gonna get down?" Gabriel moaned.
Olivia looked around the room. There were huge piles of clothes. Smiling, she started knotting them all together.
"Livvy, you're not expecting us to abseil down from the top of a very high castle on merely a string of clothes that could break, have the knots come apart or whatever, at any moment, are you?" Gabriel asked, fearfully.
Olivia gave him a look that said 'Uh, yeah I am actually.'
The boys groaned.
Author's Note: You can interpret this chapter how you like; Fidelio could feel specially about Olivia, was lying to Gabriel and trying to cover this up by trying to get Gabriel to kiss her or something like that OR Fidelio could be telling the truth and not feel anything for Olivia other than friendship.
