Chapter 3:
Maria opened her eyes to the sunlight warming up her face. She sat in her bed for a short moment, but slowly got up after the heat of the blankets became too much for her. The girl slid off her bed and arched her back and raised her arms up in stretch. "Wow that was really good sleep!" she thought, exhaling an airy yawn. She then went to check her computer once more, but didn't find any new notifications, so she decided to go downstairs and get some breakfast.
As she was about to leave her room, her phone buzzed. The teen walked back into the room, picked it up and checked it:
Abby S.: Morning Maria! Hope Im not waking u up but knowing u u probably have been up since 6 am even on the 1st Saturday of break. Want 2 go sledding today? I asked all of the others and Jamie and Raya are up for it. Just waiting on u Taylor and Fiona. Jake is bringing his friends too so Will will be there. I hope he doesnt bother us. Hes too much of a flirt and I swear he has no respect!
Maria then quickly check her schedule on her phone, and replied:
Maria: Yeah I'll go! I surprisingly don't have anything scheduled today. When and where will we be meeting up?"
The teen sent her message and walked back out her door. She walked down the steps, into the kitchen, and over to the pantry where she got out a box of cereal. After getting the milk, her phone buzzed again. As she poured the milk and sat down, she read the message:
Abby S.: Cool! Ur finally able 2 have real fun and not just be in writing class after writing class and lesson after lesson
As Maria began eating, she slowly responded:
Maria: Hey! My classes are fun too! I just don't often go to parties and all of that stuff you do. What about the time and place?
Abby S.: 11 gibbous hill park
Maria: Thanks!
After the girl finished eating, she put her bowl in the sink and and filled the bowl with water. She looked over at the clock and noticed it read 9:56. "Wow, I woke up late!" she exclaimed internally.
Maria immediately ran back upstairs, and back into her room. She opened her closet, and searched for a warm sweater and leggings successfully finding a red sweater with diagonal white stripes that could be interpreted as a candy cane pattern. She also found a particularly warm pair of leggings which would easily fit under snow pants.
At this point, she had about half an hour 'til she needed to head out, so she rushed into the bathroom, put on deodorant, brushed her teeth and so on, though decided to wait for a shower 'til after sledding since she'll be all sweaty and a mess. She then once again ran back down the stairs, grabbed her snow gear, and headed into the garage to search for her sleds which she hasn't used in years. The last place she saw the sleds were somewhere in the garage, so she quickly jogged around the edges of the garage where she saw plenty of ancient flower pots and junk which still needs to be organized and thrown out.
After about ten minutes of searching she managed to find a small circular sled, a long plastic sled, and a toboggan. "How am I going to bring this toboggan with me?" Maria worried. She tried picking the sled up, which she was able to do, but realized it wouldn't be convenient carrying it to the park which wasn't that far away, but trying carry two other sleds as well would surely be a workout. The teen decided she'll just bring the the plastic sleds since that would be easiest. She opened the garage and began dragging the sleds down her driveway, taking a right onto the sidewalk.
About one mile later, Maria trudged through the snow-covered field of Gibbous Hill Park. She walked past the frozen swings and playground before reaching the bottom of the hill. Peeking over the top of the hill was Abby, Jake, Will, and all of the others. They were waving and seemed to be calling her but she couldn't quite hear them. She then began trudging up the hill on a well trodden path that was packed flat from all of the other sledders who climbed up the hill previously. As she climbed up the hill a little further, she could hear Will yelling, "Hurry up you slowpoke!"
She grinned and teased in response, "We'll see who the slowpoke is when I race you down the hill!" Maria began trudging up the hill faster, and after finally reaching the top of the hill, she set the sleds down, and paused to pant for a bit.
"Did you walk all the way here?!" Fiona gasped in awe; Fiona is a dark-skinned girl with caramel eyes, and naturally blonde hair. She moved to Bellbridge just before school started, but from what Maria's heard, she is quite the botanist when Spring comes. Her shy, curious nature is most prominent, given her silent fascination in anything nature related.
"Of course she did! She walks everywhere!" Jamie exclaimed; Jamie is a dark-skinned kid with black hair, and green eyes. Who knows how many sports she plays, but whenever there is a chance for competition, she takes it.
"That's very true," Raya confirmed. Raya is Maria's childhood best friend. She has pale skin, vibrant red hair, and foggy lilac eyes. Her biggest hobby is painting.
"Where's Taylor?" Maria asked.
"Taylor didn't respond," Abby answered. Abby is quite the actress and singer. She has blue hair and eyes, and is Jake's cheerful older sister.
"Come on, ladies. Let's quit the chit-chat. Will and I against Maria and Abby," Jake grinned slyly picking up one of Maria's sleds and a similar sled.
"Don't forget me!" Jamie exclaimed, grabbing two-person sleds and placing them in front of pairs.
"Me and Raya, Fiona and Andrew, and Tom and Jack!"
"Sure," Will laughed.
The teens all set themselves up with the heavier person in the front and the lighter in the back. They all positioned their sleds just right in hopes not to run into each other, and then as they off they zoomed down the hill. Tom and Jack took a lead after pushing off early as Fiona and Andrew struggled to get the sled moving. Will and Jake just began to surpass Maria and Abby, but Tom and Jack began taking an uncontrolled turn and crashed into the other boys. Jamie and Raya came up from behind Maria and Abby and zoomed by the two at almost double their speed. As all of the teens reached the bottom, Jamie and Raya came in 1st, Maria and Abby 2nd, Tom and Jack 3rd, Will and Jake 4th, and Fiona and Andrew last.
"Ha! I beat all of you!" Jamie jeered playfully.
"Yeah, but the older sister's beat the younger brothers, and that's what matters!" Abby teased, making a snowball, and throwing it at Jake and missing.
"Oh, you now want a fight, Abby!" Jake smirked maybe a bit too viciously, making a more compact snowball and chucking it square in her face.
"Ow!" she winced, falling backwards into the snow. "That actually hurt!"
Jake showed no sign of apology, but Maria and Will gave him a look of disappointment. He used to be intensely bullied over in America, and so whenever he gets a hint of someone making a slight insult, he retaliates violently. "Sorry, Abby," he sighed guiltily, walking over to her, and helped her up.
After wiping the snow from her glasses, Abby stated, "I don't know how you two can get along with each other so well. This happens almost everyday at my house."
The Taylors shrugged in response, and Raya interrupted the four, offering, "Maybe we should all just take a break and go to Full Moon Cafe for some coffee and hot chocolate."
The Wakefields agreed as well as the Taylors and the five other friends. Will, Abby, Fiona, Jack, and Raya dragged their sleds over to Abby's mini van, as the other half of the pairs climbed back up the hill to retrieve the rest of the sleds.
After packing all of the sleds back into Abby's car, Tom, Jack, Andrew, and Fiona were picked up by their parents leaving the two boys and four girls together, walking down to the cafe. A couple blocks later, the kids arrived at the cafe, stomping the excess snow off their boots. As they entered the restaurant, they were overcome with the aroma of coffee and cookies.
"Wow, I don't know why I don't come here often," Maria thought with a smile.
At the counter, a pink-haired girl scurried around trying to give her customers their orders, but when Raya entered, she exclaimed, "Raya, I need some help here! Lila and Reneé are supposed to be here, but they are apparently travelling for the holiday and left me here to do everything! There's an extra uniform in the back!"
"Of course, Claris," Raya agreed, dashing to the back room, looking back at Maria apologetically.
The rest of the group lined up behind all of the other customers, and gazed up at the menu. Their day menu was gladly in English, unlike their menus in the evening which were proudly in French. As Raya dashed back out in a work uniform, the rest of the party lined up to order.
"I'd like a medium hot cocoa," Maria told Claris.
"And same for me," Will added.
"Are you paying separately or together?" the woman asked.
"Together," Will replied.
"I'll have a caramel chai tea latte," Abby ordered.
"And I'll have a medium roasted coffee," Jake added.
"Together as well?" Claris asked, and they nodded in response.
After everyone, excluding Raya, ordered and paid, they took a seat at a long booth. As they sat down, Jake started talking about hockey and other winter sports with Will and Jamie, so Maria and Abby began talking about music, until they received texts from their parents asking each of them to return home for dinner.
Maria and Will were picked up by their dad as he came back from work. Before they left, they all agreed to have pizza for dinner, so they picked up pizza from a local pizzeria, and then they drove home.
"So, how was sledding?" Mr. Taylor asked.
"It was good," Maria replied. "But Abby and Jake bickered again," she sighed.
"Well, that's a shame," her father sighed in return.
"Yeah," Will sighed as well.
They finally returned home, and enjoyed their cheese pizza before doing their own things. Mr. Taylor cleaned up dinner as Maria went up to her room to nap.
"Well, today felt really long," thought to herself before dozing off.
Slowly, the familiar setting of the plaza returned, still blindingly bright, and still full of energy. As her eyes got used the white marble buildings and white cobblestone with specks of other bright crystals, she noticed a figure gliding slowly through the plaza near the end where something seemed to have been broken off.
Maria cautiously began approaching the figure, noticing it looked a lot like the red and black nightmaren she saw yesterday, but it was more feminine, its horns were striped with bright and light purples. As she got closer, the nightmaren perk up, seeming to notice her, so she froze. They then suddenly turned around paused in what looked like awe, and then sped straight at her, causing her to fall backwards as it stopped right in front of her feet.
"Oh, sorry! I get quite excited when I see new Visitors!" the nightmaren playful cringed, holding a hand out to the dreamer. Maria took the creature's hand, and got up.
"My name's NiGHTS. What's yours?" the purple jester greeted abruptly.
"I'm Maria. It's nice to meet you too NiGHTS," Maria replied back. "This is the nightmaren that the black and red nightmaren argued with yesterday," the girl thought to herself.
"So, is this your first time adventuring in the World of Dreams?" NiGHTS grinned in anticipation.
"No, I have adventured here twice before, and I looked around that castle," the teen explained, pointed the castle down the plaza.
The dream creature's expression drooped into a more serious expression as it stared off in an intent gaze.
"NiGHTS?" Maria furrowed her brow, lightly tapping the top of his hand, which startled the nightmaren.
"Oh, sorry again," NiGHTS cringed apologetically. "Just be careful in there. It can be quite dangerous, and who knows what lurks in there now."
"What do you mean by now?" Maria questioned the dream creature's vagueness.
"Oh, don't listen to me!" the jester shook the serious mood away, bringing back a peppy mood with a smirk.
"So Maria, would you like me to show you to Nightopia?" NiGHTS smirked playfully
"Nightopia?" the writer inquired. "Finally. Someone who could explain to her what exactly this place is."
"A paradise-like world which is unique to you. Just grab my hand, and I'll fly us over to the Dream Gate!" he cheered.
"Okay?..." Maria replied nervously. As she went to grab NiGHTS' hand, a bright flash of white light enveloped her, and the next thing she saw was her feet, wait, no, NiGHTS' feet hovering above the cobblestone. "What?!" the girl exclaimed confusedly, looking at NiGHTS' hands in front of her.
"Don't worry Maria. This is called dualizing. Both of us can control my body right now, so I can fly us over to the Dream Gate where we can explore your Nightopia," the nightmaren reassured.
"Okay," the dreamer cringed in anxious agreement.
NiGHTS began dashing over the edge of the plaza, heading into what seemed like the middle of nowhere. But only a few moments passed before Maria was able to see another floating island that was plaza-like, decorated with rocks and tree. NiGHTS finally skidded to a stop in the air right over a colorful cobblestone cul de sac, and Maria plummet a few feet down onto the ground, landing on all fours.
"So, this is Nightopia?" the dreamer raised her eyebrow unimpressed.
"No, of course not!" NiGHTS laughed. "It's through this door." The nightmaren waved his arms at an empty door frame, and the writer was even more unimpressed.
"There's no door there," the teen stated, looking between the doorframe and NiGHTS.
"Not yet. Just walk over here," NiGHTS instructed.
Maria slowly walked over to the doorless frame, and with a burst of colorful light, a door appear with a stained glass picture of a rainforest. She stepped up onto the platform, and slowly opened the door. Behind the door was a rainforest just like the one she and Twylight had been in last night, in fact, it was the same forest that she and Twylight had been in last night. Maria looked back at NiGHTS with a less "unimpressed" look, but still didn't look impressed.
"Come on. Doesn't this place look like so much fun?" The nightmaren twirled in the air, and looked back at Maria who was still not gasping in amazement.
"Well, I tried," NiGHTS mumbled, hovering back to the ground.
This was a different area of the forest, so it still had Maria's attention. Maria was quietly entertained as she observed her surroundings, but was stopped as she heard the sound of children singing.
"NiGHTS, what's that noise," the girl asked.
NiGHTS was already ahead of her, and had flown around the corner. The dreamer jogged through the ferns and around the corner to see NiGHTS flying over to a group of little baby-like fairies who were singing. Maria then walked over to the group hoping that she wouldn't frighten them.
"They're called Nightopians," NiGHTS explained as Maria approached. "They reside here in Nightopia."
One Nightopian flew slowly over Maria's leg and gave a hug, looking back up at Maria with a smile.
"Aw, it seem that one likes you!" NiGHTS smiled and the Nightopian's sweet gesture. "These Nightopians are lucky. They can live here freely with no job they need to fulfill or master they need to obey. They just need the presence of an ideya, and they have that."
Maria looked back up at NiGHTS who had a big happy smile on his face, looking down at the Nightopians.
"What's an ideya?" Maria asked, hoping she didn't ruin the moment. She remembers hearing both Twylight and that red and black nightmaren saying something about stealing them.
"An ideya is mystical energy that brings about the presence of Nightopia. They are elements of the human spirit which foster these dream worlds here in the Night Dimension that Nightopians and dreamers can thrive in together."
"And what about nightmarens?" NiGHTS froze, and Maria instantly felt regret for that question. "I'm sorry. I didn't know I shouldn't ask."
"No, it's not that. I just didn't expect that you knew about nightmarens," NiGHTS replied awkwardly. "Nightmarens are dark creatures that feed off of fear. Their main goal is to steal ideya from dreamers and use them to help their master whose plan is to destroy Nightopia and all other worlds."
Maria pondered for a moment before asking another question. "Then why aren't you trying to steal my ideya?"
NiGHTS was paralyzed once again, but more seriously. "Why am I not…"
"Why aren't you trying to steal my ideya? You are a nightmaren, aren't you?"
Before Maria or NiGHTS could continue, the Nightopians made a short scream before slowly flying away.
"Reala, showing your face here again, are you?!" NiGHTS glared at the other nightmaren.
"Of course! You know I can't ignore crashing a party," the red and black nightmaren chuckled dark. "I'm just here to quickly retrieve this Visitor's ideya, and then I'm off."
"I won't allow you!" NiGHTS yelled, but as the purple jester began to charge at the red jester, two birds swooped in from above, and dragged NiGHTS away.
"NiGHTS!" the teenager called desperately.
"Well Visitor, I guess I can now formally introduce myself. My name is Reala," the nightmaren bowed. "And if you come here, I'll just quickly-"
"No Maria! Don't let him touch you!" NiGHTS screamed from a distance.
The writer began slowly backing away from the malevolent creature. She then turned around and began to sprint, jumping over Nightopians and bushes, Reala trailing closely behind her.
"How can I get him off my tail?" Maria thought to herself. She looked around, and spotted exactly what she needed: a vine. As she neared another corner, she jumped and grabbed a vine from a nearby tree, swinging around corner out of Reala's sight. Before Reala could find her, she had quietly snuck out behind him, and ran in the opposite direction. Gladly, Reala hadn't noticed her little trick, and kept searching the area where she disappeared.
Maria had found her way back to where she last saw NiGHTS, but was shocked to see the purple jester locked up in a golden cage surrounded by a magical field. Maria sprinted over to the cage, and looked up at NiGHTS.
"Maria, are you okay?" NiGHTS gasped, seeing the visitor stop to pant a little.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but what about you? How did you get locked up in this cage?"
"These stupid old goodles got me again. If I don't get out of here soon, I may be taken back to Wizeman."
"What can I do, if there is anything I can do?"
"First, you have to climb this chain, and get up here. I'll explain the rest later."
"Alright." Maria grabbed hold of the chain, and began climbing. I wasn't too hard climb, but it was definitely tedious.
After Maria had climbed into the cell itself, NiGHTS began to explain all of the steps they must take.