CH13
"Let go of me! I have to go after her."
"James we don't know what's down there!" James and Sam were rolling on the ground. Sam was trying to keep James from diving into the hole.
"Why don't we call the police?" They all looked at Tiffany.
"Oh, yeah 'Hello police officer sorry but can you come help us get our friend back that was dragged down a hole by a troll thing?' " Crystal threw up her arms "Everything fine and dandy now!"
"Nothing will happen! Trust me we just need to go down there!" James pleaded.
The girls started to argue, Sam and James were still fighting and Brandon was investigating the hole. He trusted James so without even bothering the others, he jumped in.
"Brandon!" His friends yelled and dove in after him. They screamed as they fell down to the unknown. They landed with a hard thud in the middle of a room.
"Great, now what?" Sam huffed.
James looked around and saw a tiny door, too small for them to get through, but just big enough for a mouse. He eyed the room all around and found a table. On that table was a bottle.
"I think we drink this." He moved over to the table and picked up the bottle.
"Cool, now we are going to drink strange things in a strange place. Excuse me for my lack of enthusiasm, but don't you think that could be poison." Crystal sarcastically announced.
"Well we can't let Lily be alone. She needs us and we need to save her." Tiffany moved over to James followed by Brandon. Crystal and Sam shared a glance and joined them. They Drank the potion and where now very tiny like a mouse.
Sam sighed "Great, now we are short."
Tiffany pointed at the door "Look, now we can get through that door."
They moved over to the door and hesitated for a moment. James opened the door and his eyes almost fell out of his head. He felt his friends come around with the same expression. They were spellbound.
The creature
The creature dragged the unconscious Lily down the path to the Red Queen's Castle. It stopped and was breathing deep. It hadn't realized that its claws were digging into her leg.
"She had to hit her head and put up a fight." It hissed with a sigh. It sat down for a moment, rubbing its scaly arms. Then it heard rustling in the bushes. The creature peered around. Nothing. It sat back down and before it had a chance to react, an animal jumped him. The creature jumped up snarling and growling only to shutter in fright at a very large white wolf.
The wolf jumped and with one giant paw, stabbed the creature's chest. It fell in agony and turned to dust. The wolf came over and sniffed Lily. Not dead, but unconscious. It tucked its head under her and lifted her up onto its back. The wolf howled and began to run towards the White Queens Castle.
The White Queens Castle
The blood hound lifted its ears to hear a howl. The dog's ears fell and he ran. He ran through the garden to find the Queen. Through the bushes and past the ladies who always followed her around.
"Why hello Bayard." One of ladies greeted.
"Hello, where is the queen?" Bayard panted. He followed the ladies fingers to Lily's cherry tree. He walked over to see the queen picking some cherries.
"Hello, Bayard, how are you?" They queen elegantly waved. "The cherries are rather sweet today." She smiled as she continued to pick the cherries.
"Your majesty, Lily has been found." Mirana turned to her loyal friend. Bayard was always true to his word. She fell to her knees and petted the dog.
"Where is she?" Her smile fell and concern crept over her face.
The Wolf
The wolf was running as fast as it could while trying to keep the still unconscious Lily on its back. The wolf stopped and heard some rather familiar voices.
"Don't spill the tea Thackery!" A small but confident feminine voice squeaked. The wolf followed the voices and peered from behind a tree. It was Mallymkun. The wolf stepped forward into the opening where a table sat with tea and food surrounded by friends.
"Ah, there you are!" The man with the high top hat announced. They all looked at the wolf to see a person on its back.
"Hello Hatter." A female voice came from the wolf. "I brought you someone."
The Hatters face dropped and he climbed onto the long table and walked over to the wolf. He went around to the side the persons head was leaning on. "Lily."
"Lily's back! Little Lily, Lily!?" The mouse exclaimed placing her sword back in its holder.
"Yes Mally, be quiet before something hears you." He looked around an in the sky. "Right, well get her in." He lead the wolf to his cottage and took the girl to his bed. He walked back outside to the wolf. "Did you tell Bayard?" The wolf nodded and grabbed some tea and a moist towel for the girl's forehead.
The Friends
"How are we supposed to find her in this place!?" Tiffany exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.
"I will find a way." James began to walk towards a smoke trail while the rest followed.
"James, why are we following the smoke?" Sam grabbed his arm. James turned around with a sly smile.
"Because, that is where we need to go." He turned back to the smoke and lead them to the source of it all.
James coughed "Hello Absolem." He greeted. The caterpillar let out a puff of smoke.
"How do you know my name?" The caterpillar took in more smoke and puffed it out again.
James waved his hand to try and avoid breathing in more smoke. "This girl I met on my way to the orphanage use to talk about a place like this. She would only talk to me and I never told anyone. Her family let me stay with them." he grinned and coughed at another puff of smoke.
"Who was this other, there was only one girl who came and that was.." He paused and sucked in more smoke.
"Alice Kingsleigh, we would hang around a tree together all the time before I found Lily there the night Alice moved away." He pointed up as to talk about the Aboveland.
"Wait you knew about this place?" His friends came around him. "So you knew nothing was going to happen when we fell down that hole?" They watched James shrug and laugh at their bewildered expressions. Then they turned their attention back to the caterpillar.
"So the White Princess has returned. Come on out boys." The caterpillar announced. The group of friends watched as two short and rounded boys came out of the bushes. Tiffany was the first to react.
"Aww they are so cute!" She ran over and hugged them. Jams and Sam watched Brandon's face turned red.
"This is.." Absolem took another suck of smoke.
"I'm Tweedle Dee" One announced and looked at the other.
"I'm Twedle Dum." The one on the right came to James. "You knew Alice and Lily?" Their mouths dropped and James nodding his head. Tweedle Dee came forward.
"You must get out there a lot."
Crystal turned to Absolem "So are you going to help us get to our friend or not?" The two fat boys nodded their heads and ushered them to follow.