Cedar POV

After Gage led me out of the studio, we were met with a large, bulky guy. Despite this, he had the sweetest, most baby-like eyes that would make you go, "Aww!" It was like I was looking at a big, furry kitten!

"Hi, Jittery! This is Cedar, the artist who painted me a face!" Gage cheerfully greeted him.

"Hello, Cedar," Jittery waved a fuzzy paw, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Jittery Leon."

"It's nice to meet you too! I'm Cedar Wood," I smiled, "Gage told me a little bit about you."

"He did?" Jittery cast a glance at Gage, but then returned my smile, "I didn't expect the greatest artist in Ever After to be so pretty! I'm sure if we knew you back in Oz, then I'd bet that Gage would talk about you forever and ever!"

Oh, never before had I wished that I could blush! "I-I-I . . ." I struggled to find words, ". . . Thank you."

"Let's not get too flabbergasted, now," Gage laughed, "I'm very excited to start exploring, and I don't think I can wait any longer!"

"I have to admit, I'm very curious myself to see more of Ever After," Jittery agreed.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" I asked, "I have to introduce you to all of my friends, too!"

"That's awesome!" Gage exclaimed, "Why, you'll have to tell us all about them!"

"Oh, there's too many of them! Where to begin . . .?" I thought for a moment, "Well, I guess there's . . . oh hey, Raven!"

"Hi, Cedar," Raven Queen waved in my direction, then she momentarily studied my two companions, "Can you introduce me to your new friends?"

"Oh, yes! This is Gage Scarecrow, and this is Jittery Leon," I said, pointing to each boy. They waved as their names were spoken.

"How do you do?" Gage smiled, then he bowed.

"I'm fine, thank you," Raven laughed, "Well, I gotta go find Nevermore again. Who knows where that dragon is now." Then she walked off, occasionally calling out "Nevermore!"

"Dragons? What are those?" Jittery asked.

"Well, they're like big reptiles, but with huge wings!" I described, "And they're magical. Sometimes, they can breathe fire, and other times, it's ice."

"Whoa," Gage laughed and shook his head, "Ever After is weird."

"Heh, I guess it can be," I chuckled, "Look! There's Apple! Hi, Apple!"

"Hello, Cedar," Apple flashed a bright grin at us, "Who are your friends? Are they transfers?"

I shook my head, "No, they're just visiting. Over here's Gage Scarecrow, and this is Jittery Leon."

"Nice to meet you," Apple curtsied.

This time, Gage and Jittery bowed back. "The pleasure's all mine," Gage said.

Apple giggled, "Oh, I wish I could stay with you and show you around the Village of Bookend, but I'm running a little late. You see, I have to meet Maddie at her dad's shop for a meeting, and I don't like leaving people waiting."

"I see," I nodded, "See ya!"

"Good bye," the blonde princess waved to us, "I hope to meet you again!"

"She seems nice," Gage commented.

"She really is," I agreed, "Even though she doesn't really have a choice."

"What do you mean?" asked Jittery.

I considered my words carefully, "Well, her mom's Snow White, so that means she's the 'fairest of them all', so she has to live up to the title, otherwise her mom will get mad at her for not living up to her destiny."

Gage and Jittery just stared at me, "People get mad at you for not following your destiny here? Strange."

"That's just how things work here," I responded.

Suddenly, my friend Madeline Hatter rushed out of her father's teashop, "Cedar! Hi!"

I couldn't help but giggle when I saw her. She just carried craziness with her wherever she went! "Hi, Maddie! What's new?"

"Are these your friends?" Maddie inquired. She waved vigorously, "Hello!"

"I'm Gage, and this is Jittery," Gage stepped up, pointing to himself and Jittery, "We're just visiting, but everything here seems really cool!"

"That's because it is!" Maddie chuckled, "We have all kinds of stuff to do here! Oh, where to start? Well, there's my dad's Tea Shoppe! You should stop by sometime! We have all kinds of mad things lurking in corners they probably shouldn't be!"

"Sounds awesome!" Gage exclaimed, "Oh, Cedar, there's so much to do, yet too little time! What should we do first?"

"Um . . ." All of a sudden, somebody poked me, "Ow!"

"Ow? What kind of place is that?" Gage asked.

"No, it's not a place," I replied, "Somebody just prodded me, quite harshly."

"You have invisible people here?" Jittery twisted his tail around his finger.

"Oh, yeah! You should hear the narrators! Come to think of it, I haven't heard them lately," Maddie cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "HEY, NARRATORS! WHY AREN'T YOU TALKING!"

I shushed Maddie, "Quiet! They're probably on break right now."

Maddie just looked at me weirdly. I suddenly felt self-conscious, "Was it something I said?"

"We'll talk later. Right now, I have a meeting with Apple!" Maddie patted my shoulder, gave me a weird smile, and ran off. Jittery and Gage just stood in confused silence.

"She's always like that," I apologized.

"No, no, it's totally—!" Gage jolted, "Somebody poked me."

That's when we heard a shrill giggling. I looked up and saw, for a mere moment, a smile. A wide, sly smile.

"Kitty!" I shouted.

In an instant, Kitty Cheshire appeared, laying in a nearby tree. "Yes, Cedar?" Her eyes shifted from me, then to my companions, "Newbies?"

"No," I shook my head, "Visitors from Oz."

Kitty yawned, "Oz. Ozzz. Oz." She shrugged nonchalantly, "Meh. Sounds mundane." She glanced at Gage, then she locked eyes with Jittery.

To be honest, I started to feel bad for Jittery the moment they locked sight. Jittery began to quake a little, and I could see small beads of sweat forming on his palms, or rather, paws. Gage, for once, actually looked nervous. The straw boy reached out and patted Jittery on the back. He looked up and anxiously smiled, "So, you're Kitty?"

"The one and only," Kitty gleamed back, breaking her gaze with Jittery for only an instant. She giggled, feigning a princess laugh, "So what's your friend's name?"

"This is Jittery, and I'm Gage. As Cedar said, we're from Oz," Gage rubbed the back of his neck. I wondered what they were thinking. But, I already knew they wouldn't tell me. That was one of the downsides to being cursed with a truth spell. People don't tell me their secrets because they don't want me blurting it out in front of everyone. But, I guess that's fair. I wouldn't tell someone my secrets if they had no choice but to say it if they were asked about my secrets.

"Hmm," Kitty nodded, "Well, I hope to see you around soon." She winked at Jittery, then disappeared to who knows where.

Gage tapped Jittery on the shoulder, "You alright there, buddy?"

Jittery took a deep breath, "Yeah, I'm okay."

"That's really good!" Gage smiled, "Especially since you didn—!"

"Look out!" All of a sudden, Sparrow Hood jumped up, caught a bookball, and fell down in front of the two boys. Without asking, he used Jittery's arm to pull himself off the ground, "Thanks, man."

"No problem," Jittery said, his voice almost inaudible. Then, a couple more boys started to flock around the two from Oz.

"Sparrow, are you okay?" Hunter Huntsman asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he took out his guitar and played an ear-ringing riff, "This guy helped me oooouuuuuuttt!"

"Glad to hear that, good man," Daring Charming loudly thumped Sparrow on the back, "We can't have a man down at any time. We always need to be on our feet."

"Jittery . . ." Gage started tapping Jittery's shoulder like crazy, but there was something in the lion's eyes that made me uneasy. Then I realized what it was. Fear. And it only got worse when the boys started coming closer and closer to Jittery and Gage.

"What is he . . . ?" I started to ask, but it soon was answered. To my surprise, Jittery let out the loudest roar I had ever heard. It was even louder than Sparrow's guitar skills!

"ROOOAAAARRRRRRRR!" he growled.

"Aah!" The boys yelped, and they ran away in a heartbeat. And, if that wasn't enough, so did everyone else in the area, until only Jittery, Gage, and me were standing in an abandoned street.

"S-S-Sorry," Jittery stuttered. He looked really bad. His face was pale, and he was entirely drenched in sweat and shaking.

"It's okay, buddy," Gage patted him on the back gently. He turned to me, "Cedar, do you have anywhere we could get him something to drink, like warm milk?"

"Umm," I thought for a minute, "We probably have milk in the Castleteria. I'll lead you there."

"Thanks, Cedar," Gage and Jittery said at the same time. And then, we walked silently through the village towards the school.

Hello, again! So, it looks like we got to see a bit more of Jittery in this chapter. I heard good things about Gage's character, which is always awesome! Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!