11: The City of Forests

"Can't believe it's real!" Helena exclaimed as she danced between the trees, humming a jig. She stopped at a certain tree and knocked three times. A small window opened from the middle of the tree. "What do you want?!" the grumpy pixie asked.

"Safe passage, through your city of forests, and directions."

"Where to?"

"Yesterday, a woman came through here in a horse drawn cart filled with groceries, I need to find her."

"No! I mustn't! She'll skin us alive! Go back to where ever it was that you came from and leave us alone!" The pixie closed the door and left Helena looking confused. "What do we do?" Jeffery asked Susie. "I don't know, this was the part where my head kept blocking." Helena said while she scrolled through her endless chapters of her story. "If I knew, I'd tell you." Susie said.

Helena had begun to type, it had been years since she had ever typed on the thing but it was like riding a bike thanks to muscle memory. She wrote her story as they walked through the forests. "How long is this thing?" Susie asked Helena, "The City of Forests can not be measured, it's too long."

"Then how will we know which way to go, or how long it takes us?"

"Relax, It won't take us that long, in my story it took the princess only a day to cross, but"

"But what?"

"But, that was with safe passage, something we don't have." Jeffery remained quiet while Susie talked to herself. "There's a road." He said quietly "What'd you say?"

"There's a road, over there." He pointed toward the small road that ran up the mountain. "Let's go!" Susie and Jeffery started running. "No! Wait!" Helena yelled.

Susie stopped but Jeffery tripped and fell on top of her. "Sorry" He whispered, being so close to her face. This was the closest he had ever been to a girl. Susie started leaning in closer to the Prince when Helena pulled her up. "Oh No you don't!" She grabbed Jeffery up as well "You too big boy."

"Why can't we go to the road?" Susie knew that Helena was doing her part as her 'Fairy Godmother without the wings', she was protecting Susie from the simplest of things that you really can't avoid, Love. "I'll go ahead and see if there are any dangers. But if there is, I want the two of you to go back through the forest and head home. Both of you; go home." Susie, already frustrated grew more. "If I'm not back in a while I want.."

"Yeah, yeah, we know head home."

Helena walked up the road, in the beginning it seemed fine but when she got to where she thought it was safe to turn around she saw it. It was a cottage built into the side of the Mountain. Helena couldn't help herself; she walked right in with no concern that the woman might have still been in the house.

The inside was very dark, mostly black. It was odd for someone who had such a bright personality. On the wall was an old giant playing card, the Queen of Spades. (Can You Guess What's Happening?) She stopped when she saw the odd glow and silent whispering. Helena walked toward the whispering and listened in. "Oh Mother; I wish you and Father could see your daughter now. You'd both be so proud of me. So much has been accomplished. That mad hatter man never knew what hit him when I went through his hat. Oh, I miss you two so much." Helena peaked over the corner and saw the two crystal coffins. The woman's head turned when the floor creaked at the weigh of Helena's foot on it. "Who are you? What are you doing un my home?" Helena fumbled backward. The woman answered before Helena could explain herself. "No matter Now, I guess you'll have to stay here now."

The woman pushed Helena toward the two coffins and locked the door behind her when she left the room. "Her Mother and Father? Who do you think you are lady? These are 'MY' Mother and Father!" Helena turned and looked at the frozen corpses that lay in their matching crystal coffins. (Sorry! I know, I am such a bad person! I killed them!) "Their here now, you have proof." Helena whispered to herself.

The door opened once more, the woman came in carrying 2 glasses of dark liquid. "It's Wine. I'm sorry if I scared you earlier, I didn't mean to be rude so I thought I could bring a peace offering."

"I'm not a drinker."

"Alright, More for me."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

"It's called being polite. You're my guest."

"What's your name?" It was a simple question really, but the woman overreacted to it. "What kind of question is that?!" Helena backed up, "A normal one?" The woman cooled down. "I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours."

"Well, mine's Helena."

"Luci"

"Lucinda" Helena whispered under her breath. She now knew who this woman was, she was her sister.

"Yes?"

"Oh, nothing." Lucinda took a gulp from her glass of wine and sighed. "Here, have a sip." Lucinda handed the extra glass to Helena and she took it. Mistakenly Helena took a sip from the glass. She was fine for a moment, and then everything started blurring together. Lucinda had an evil smile on her face; it was one of a small victory. She let Helena lay in the puddle of wine, while she changed out of her peasant clothing and into her real ones.

"Wake up! Wake up you stupid girl!" Helena slowly opened her eyes and saw a woman in a white dress that was covered with black lace; it had a black lace collar and a black crystal tiara on top of her head. "Where am I?" Helena looked around her, she was tied up to a chair that was bolted it the ground. "The time has come; the walrus said. To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax… Do you know the rest?" Helena lowered her head trying to think. "Uh…yes. And of Cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings. What happened?"

"I shall be asking the questions here. Why are you in my Castle?"

"I-I just wanted to see what the inside looked like."

"Liar! How dare you lie to a Queen." Helena couldn't help but laugh. "Queen? Queen of what? The state of Delusion?" Lucinda smacked Helena across her face. "I am the Queen of Spades. This just happens to be my summer home."

'Tick tock, Tick Tock' Echoed in Helena's head "No. I went through the rabbits hole; I'm back in the kingdoms!"

"Poor Wolfie Princess, must have bumped your head pretty hard when you fell."

"Princess?"

"You really have no clue where you are. Pathetic excuse for a wolf you are." Helena's head raced with ideas of where she was then she realized it. "I'm in my wonderland."

"You're Wonderland, Ha your really are a foolish girl."

"No I'm not. I know who I am now, I know that this is my story and I have to finish it. I know that I am not tied up; I am free."

The rope that held Helena disappeared and when she stood up so did the chair. Lucinda (aka The Queen of Spades) Staggered backward. "What kind of magic is this?" The Queen of spades ran for the front door; she started shaking the handle but the door refused to open up. "You can't take the easy way out of everything, sister."

"I have no siblings, how dare you call me your sister."

"My name is Helena Wolfson, Daughter of Virginia and Wolf Wolfson, you are my sister. You were born in this world just as I was born in another."

"Get away from me! Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb! Get her!" Helena looked behind her and saw 2 twin brothers in black overalls bouncing toward her. The Door flung open, shoving Lucinda into a wall. 'Tick tock, tock tick' hummed in Helena's head.

She darted out the door and ran toward the woods. "We're coming to get you!" The twins sang as they chased her. 'Tick tock, tock tick, don't stop running you can't quit.' Rang in her ears. It all made sense to her now. Helena ran harder than ever before, she passed Susie and Jeffery, and The City Forests. Everything faded away as she passed it. She passed Susie's home, the town, everything. Helena saw the shimmering waves in the air. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" She yelled to herself. "We're going to get you!" The twins cried. Helena jumped through the portal but this time was different, this time she didn't crash into thousands of mirrors but instead she looked through them.

"My stories reached its ending, that's it. I was writing about me this whole time. I'm no longer in the kingdoms. No time has passed, its morning, and I'm asleep on the edge of the park. I hit my head while running."

"Miss? Miss?" Helena heard faintly. "Miss, are you alright?" Helena opened her eyes and saw Thomas hovering over her. "Thomas?" she asked, Helena grabbed her throbbing head. "No, my name is Tristan. Are you alright? Looks like you bashed your head in pretty bad."

"Yeah, sorry I thought you were some on else." Tristan helped Helena up off the ground. "I have one of those faces. But I know you, we're in the same English class at school, that and I live in the same complex as you."

"That's where I've seen you before, you sat behind Tim Perkins."

"Tristan! Tristan!" A little girl with flowing blonde hair ran up. 'Susie?' Helena thought. The Little girl carried a black messenger bag and an 'Alice' doll. "Sorry this is my niece, Susan." Helena stood up and looked around, there were no lights on in her apartment. She knelt down to where she was on Susan's level. "Hi Susan, I'm Helena. Do you like Alice in wonderland?"

"Are you kidding? She obsesses over that story." Tristan said looking down at the two. Helena smiled. "Well then have I got a story for you."

THE END

I hoped you liked the story! That's it, I'm not making a sequel, this was it for this story.