"Hold on, a boy turned into a nutcracker, talking mice, and a sugar plum fairy?" Octavia said to Mrs. Gracey in a very skeptical tone. "Is this a real story or are you just making this up?"

"It's the God's honest truth, I swear."

"Sounds a little impossible to me."

"I know. I could hardly believe it myself. But it's a true story. Every word of it."

Octavia still wasn't entirely convinced. Now she knew her teacher to be an honest woman but this story sounded like a fantasy and nothing more. However she'd still listen to the tale and see where it would go, because true or false, this story was interesting.

"Alright, so where did they go?" Octavia asked.

"Well their first stop was the Kingdom of Sweets, they were just reaching the end of the tunnel and it was at that moment, Charlotte and Alastor realized they had something in common."

The tunnel was dark but not so dark that the two couldn't see where they were going. Charlotte was still trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened. It all seemed so illogical and impossible. But she couldn't deny that this all wasn't happening for real. Had things like this always been real? Had magic always been real? Did that mean her godfather could really use magic and that it wasn't all just an illusion? Her godfather, Uncle Husk. Uncle.

That's when she remembered that earlier, Alastor had mentioned that Husk was his uncle. Strange, in all the years she had known Husk and Rosie, they had never mentioned having a nephew. Then again, if Husk really was the magician from the story Rosie had told, that would explain why the matter would never be brought up. After all, who would believe that a boy had been turned into a nutcracker by a mouse with magical powers? Certainly not her parents.

"So." Charlotte said, breaking the long silence that had been between them. "Husk is your uncle?"

"Yes." Alastor said. "And he's your godfather?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean Rosie is your godmother?"

"Yes. She and my mother attended the same boarding school together. They were best friends. Actually, Aunt Rosie was the only true friend my mother had. You see my mother came from a very rich and elite family, so a lot of her peers would try to befriend her to get in with the wealthy and high class. But Aunt Rosie liked Mother for her character. They both bonded over their love of fashion, etiquette, theater, opera, and ballet. They're also both very independent and spirited. Only difference between them is that Mother isn't as eccentric."

"I figured. Auntie is one of kind." Alastor chuckled. "Rosie and my mother were sisters. They were both born in Martinique, but moved to Paris when Mother was three and Auntie was just a baby. My grandparents were often too busy to be the nurturing type, so they relied on each other for comfort, warmth, and affection. I was about maybe six or seven when I lost Mother and Father to the Scarlet Fever and I was placed in my aunt and uncle's care. They're pretty much the only family I have left in the entire world. Which reminds me, do you know what happened to them after I...Um...Changed?"

"I suppose they just kept you until you would change back. From what I saw, they seem to be doing alright."

"You know it's awfully strange, it was like I was asleep for all that time. It was dark, I saw nothing, I heard nothing, and I couldn't move. Yet there were times where I could suddenly see images that would just randomly flash. I could see my uncle working at his desk and looking so angry and frustrated. Muttering like a mad man, saying 'This'll work. It has to work. Oh please let it work' and other times I would see my aunt sobbing and I could feel her holding me as she wept. I thought they were all just dreams. But I suppose I was actually seeing how much my situation had effected them."

"I'm so terribly sorry." She said to him kindly. "It must be so terrible. To spend so many years in the dark, only getting glimpses of the outside world and what you did see, is just so sad."

Her fingers lightly grazed his arm, the one that had been broken, which stirred another repressed memory from when he was in his dormant state.

"I remember that." He said.

"Remember what?" She asked.

"I remember a flash where I saw you. You were holding me and fixing my arm. You spoke to me. I can't remember what you said but your tone was very gentle." He sounded a little bashful. "Thank you for that."

"You're welcome. I hate to see anything or anyone be mistreated." She said.

"Even an ugly doll like me?" Alastor teased.

"You're not-"

But she stopped mid-sentence when she picked up the unmistakable scents of peppermint and gingerbread. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and they followed it. At last the exited the tunnel and found themselves standing in a place that they had both expected to look very appealing, but it was not. While the sky was a most brilliant shade of blue and the sun was shinning wonderfully bright, the rest of the kingdom looked very sad. The meadow had been chewed and picked barren, all the peppermint trees had been chopped down, all the blossoms and sugar plums had been squashed or devoured, all the gingerbread houses destroyed, and the once magnificent castle had been ransacked. This once thriving kingdom and become nothing more than a place of ruin.

"What happened here?" Charlotte asked.

"If I had to guess, Vox and the other mice ate up and destroyed everything." Alastor said.

"How appalling, they didn't leave anything."

"Well that's Vox for you, he may act like a regal and sophisticated king but that's just a mask to hide a greedy and self-entitled bully. According to the research Uncle and I did on him, he has a very unstable Napoleon complex."

"But he's huge."

"Not about his size. About his species. His mother had two husbands, one was a mouse and one was a rat, his father was the rat but he'll deny it to his grave, and it infuriates him to no end when he's reminded of his paternal heritage."

"Why?"

"Well around these parts, rats are considered the lowest of the low. Filthy and uncouth vermin who spread disease, even the mice look down on them. I can only imagine the mockery he faced being the product of the grand mouse queen and a rat from the sewers. Some called him a disgrace to the royal rodent family. That's why calling him a rat is a huge trigger for him, as Mimzy and myself learned a long time ago. But truth be told, he looks more like a rat than a mouse."

"I don't suppose we could try reasoning with him."

"Reason? He had his mother turn a girl into an ugly creature because she wouldn't marry him. You think someone like that is open to reason?"

"Good point."

"Anyway, both he and his mother always envied the luxurious lifestyle of human royalty and never missed an opportunity to take it for themselves. That's why they've terrorized this place for so long. But to tell you the truth, even if he were to become the king of England, he'll always be a stenchus rodentus, or in it's more common term, a sewer rat."

"You know it almost sounds like you enjoy provoking him."

"Well maybe a little." He grinned.

"Are all the mice like him?"

"Not exactly. All mice are sneaky and wouldn't hesitate to take someone else's food, but they're normally very meek and cowardly creatures who keep to themselves if they can. Without a strong leader, they're a nuisance at worst."

"Do you think they'll try to come after us?"

"I wouldn't put it past them. So we better hurry up and get to the Sheltered City."

"I can't wait to meet Princess Mimzy." Charlotte said with a childlike gleam in her eye. "I've always wanted to meet a real live princess. What was she like? Do you remember?"

"We didn't know each other long but she was very beautiful and very charming. I can understand why Vox and so many of those suitors tried to win her hand."

"And just think, you're the one who actually gets to marry her."

Alastor said nothing but there was nervous shade in his eyes. One that Charlotte could recognize, she would have asked him about it but didn't think it very polite. So she kept quiet and the two continued on with their journey, unaware that someone had been hiding around in corners, listening to every word. That someone was none of other than Vox's sister Velvette, who also served as his spy. This being because she was the most quiet and discreet mouse in the entire kingdom. No one would ever be able to hear her take a single step and hear the woosh of her figure sliding.

With the new information she had obtained, she crept past the destroyed castle of the former king of this land, and went into the new but darker and colder looking castle that had been built in honor of her brother. As expected, she found him moping in his throne room and whining about the bump he had sustained on his head.

"Look at this!" He said pointing to the swollen and bruised area while lashing out at his troops. "Look what's happened because you fools failed to protect me! You're my bodyguards aren't you? Well why weren't you guarding my body?!"

The mice only shrugged fearfully.

"Oh stop being such a wimp." Velvette scoffed as she entered the throne room. "It was only a slipper that hit you."

"A very hard slipper. I mean look! Look at this!"

She rolled her eyes.

"I swear, It's getting harder and harder for me to admit that I'm related to you."

"Silence!" He snapped. "I am not in the mood to listen to your insolent tongue."

"As you wish brother dear, but now I can't tell you the juicy gossip I just overheard."

"What?" He said getting interested. "What did you hear?"

"Oh? I thought you wanted me to be silent?"

"Enough games Velvette! What did you hear?"

"Well for starters the nutcracker managed to find his way back here."

"He did?! How?!"

"I don't know, but I know I saw him and he had that girl with him too, and from what I hear they're looking for that princess who turned you down."

"Why are they looking for her?"

"They didn't give exact details but apparently she and the nutcracker are to be wed. Hope that doesn't rub you the wrong way."

"Bah! He can have her! I have chosen a new bride, one a thousand-times more beautiful than that loathsome princess."

"Oh yes, that girl. But if I recall correctly, she not only rejected you but she's the one who threw that slipper at you."

"I love it when a woman plays hard to get."

"Or she could just not like you."

He glared at her.

"But that aside, if I were you I'd be a bit more concerned about the nutcracker reuniting with the princess."

"And why is that?"

"Now don't tell me you forgot to read Mother's spell book about the one thing more powerful than her magic?"

"I may have skipped that chapter. I was a little overexcited about conquering the world."

"Well you would have been wise to keep reading, because love happens to be your greatest weakness. In other words, if Princess Mimzy's love for the nutcracker is true, he'll turn into a man and you'll lose everything."

For a moment, Vox looked greatly panicked, but then he became very angry and determined.

"That will never occur because I intend to destroy that wooden stump with legs."

"And you think you'll be able to catch him?"

"He won't get very far. That whole state of being alive is only temporary. Sooner or later, he'll revert back to a lifeless chunk of wood and I'll throw him into the fire."

"Provided of course, he reverts back before he gets to the princess. You may want to have a back up plan."

With that in mind, Vox immediately gave the order for his troops to find Alastor and Charlotte, and bring them to him.