Charlotte slept for a very long time. Slept like the dead, some would say. No dreams or nightmares, just the silent darkness of her mind as she rested from all the events that had taken place. But she was by no means a heavy sleeper. As deep as her slumber was that night, it wasn't so deep that she couldn't hear the strange rattling, that sounded as if little stones were thrown and rolled about, and every now and then there was a terrible squeaking and squealing.
Charlotte awoke to find her nutcracker no longer in her arms or lying next to her in bed. She sat up and a saw that her door had been opened. She quickly got out of bed, put on her slippers, and followed those strange noises down the stairway. That led her into the drawing room and that's where she spotted a group of mice carrying the nutcracker.
"Hey! Stop! What are you mice doing! Drop my doll!" She demanded. "You get away from him! Shoo! Shoo!"
She stamped and kicked her feet at the mice, causing them to become scared and run away, leaving the nutcracker behind.
"Strange, we've never had mice before."
Charlotte then bent down and picked up the nutcracker.
"Are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"
He had such a sad smile on his face.
"You're alright." She said after checking him for any injury. "But I wonder why you look so sad. You have a permanent smile but something is bothering you."
She knew how ridiculous this looked. Talking to a nutcracker as if it were really alive. If her father had seen her doing this, he would become most angry. Still there was something about his eyes, they seemed to flash with life. Making the wooden doll almost appear human.
"I wonder." She thought. "Could Aunt Rosie's story be true? All her other stories are real. But none of them have ever been so far fetched and extraordinary."
She stared at the nutcracker for another moment, and then decided to go on back to bed. But before she could even take her first step, she heard the sound of the grandfather clock chiming. It chimed louder than she had ever heard it before and she could have sworn that it shook the room. She set the nutcracker down and slowly approached the clock with caution, something was not right.
The clock chimed again and this time sparks came flying from the hands. Sparks that filled the entire room and caused all within it to change. Charlotte couldn't tell if she was shrinking or if everything was growing, but all around her, things were just getting bigger and bigger. The Christmas tree was like a mountain, the furniture like tall buildings, and the fireplace was like a monument. But for her, the oddest change of all had to have been the one that happened to her.
Though she remained small compared to everything else, her height did increase about a foot or two. Her facial structure took a different shape, blond hair grew longer, her figure developed curves, and her chest began to swell.
"What's happening to me?"
She gasped and put her hand over mouth in shock. Her voice had changed too.
She rushed over to the enormous Christmas tree and stood in front of a glass ornament with a reflective surface. Looking back at her was not the thirteen year old girl she had known herself to be seconds ago. It was a beautiful young woman who appeared to be in her early twenties.
"Oh my God!" She cried, almost ready to run out of the room in terror. "Is that really me?"
She looked down at herself, seeing that her body matched the reflection perfectly.
"What happened? I'm all grown up. But I can't be. I mean, I've heard childhood can pass in just the blink of an eye, but this is ridiculous."
Just then more wild squeaking and whimpering broke out on all sides, and then there was a running, trotting and galloping behind the walls, as if a thousand little feet were in motion, and a thousand little lights flashed out of the crevices in the floor. But no, they were not lights. They were little eyes, and Charlotte perceived that mice were all around, peeping out and working their way into the room. She began to tremble with fear when she saw them. They were as big as a bear, and looked just as vicious.
"Where is he?!" Came a dreadful voice. "Where is the nutcracker?! I know he's here! Find him!"
The beating of Charlotte's fearful heart was sent into rapid motion when she beheld the owner of that voice. He was the largest of all the mice and the most ugly, with glassy and crazed eyes,a long, sharp nose, and crooked teeth that were a mix of black and yellow. There was a crown on his head and he was dressed regally, however it did nothing to distract her from his appearance. He was the most hideous creature she had ever seen in her entire life.
"Search everywhere! Leave no stone un-turned!"
The mice scoured across the entire room, looking everywhere for the nutcracker. A little voice in Charlotte's head told her that she should probably leave this room before she was discovered. But that voice came too little, too late, at that very moment one mouse found her. A female mouse who was thinner and more attractive than all the other mice, with black fur and red streaks.
"Oh Vox, look what I found." She said, shoving Charlotte out from under the tree and in front of the other mice.
"What? Is it the nutcracker?" Vox asked.
"No it's a little spy." She said.
All rodent eyes were on her.
"Um...Hello. How is everyone?" She said nervously waving her hand at them. "Oh God am I actually talking to mice?"
When the leader of the mice saw her, he became very infatuated with her new, mature appearance.
"What have we here? Such beauty is blinding to eyes such as mine." He said flashing a smile that made Charlotte sick to her stomach. "This vision puts that wench of a princess to shame."
"Princess?" Charlotte guessed.
"So gorgeous, where have you been hiding?" he asked circling her.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" Charlotte said, keeping her distance from the rodent.
"Oh you're not serious, are you?"
"I am."
"In that case, allow me to introduce myself. I am Vox, king of the mice and the charming yet occasionally annoying thing who brought you to me, is my sister Velvette."
"Half sister actually." The female mouse corrected.
"Okay." Charlotte said awkwardly. "Well it was nice meeting you all, and it's very late, so I'm think I'm going to back to bed and hopefully I'll wake up from this very weird dream."
"Not so fast." Vox said. "Don't you want to get to know your future husband?"
"Husband?!"
Unnoticed by all, including Charlotte, another spark flew from the hands of the grandfather clock and they fell upon the nutcracker. In almost no time at all, nutcracker started to blink his eyes, Next he moved his arms, then his legs, and finally he spoke.
"Where am I?" He asked. "Hey, what happened to my voice? It's deeper, and why do I suddenly feel so heavy."
But he didn't take the time to notice his new appearance because soon his attention was caught by the conversation taking place on the floor. He saw a young lady surrounded by mice and a very familiar looking rat. Sensing trouble, he drew his sword and proceeded to climb down.
"You see, fair one." Vox said. "I've wanted a queen for a very long time. A kingdom isn't properly accessorized without one, you know. Sadly I haven't had much luck on the matter, the females in my domain aren't pretty enough for my liking. But you lovely maiden, are perfect. Therefore I have chosen you to be my bride."
"Bride?!" She gasped. "Okay this has gone too far. Listen, thank you very much for the flattering offer but I'm not ready to get married yet. So again, goodbye."
She turned to walk away but the other mice blocked her path.
"Beautiful and funny." Vox chuckled. "You see, my pretty little doll, you don't have a choice in the matter."
"I don't?" She said, getting really scared now.
He reached out grab her.
"Hold it!"
His arm was then cut by a blade, a blade from the sword of the nutcracker who dropped down in front of Charlotte, doing everything he could to shelter her from the mice.
"You!" Vox hissed at him with eyes full of hatred.
"I'm warning you! Leave her alone, or next time I cut it off!"
"Oh I've waited a long time for this nut-boy!" Vox said, drawing his own sword.
He moved to stab the nutcracker but he blocked him.
"Miss, do you think that you can climb up the tree?" He asked Charlotte.
She looked upward and her eyes went wide at the huge height.
"There is no way-" When she looked down, she saw the mice closing in. "Eeek! I'm staying down here!"
She ran back to the tree and started to climb up. The mice chased after her while the nutcracker and the mouse king dueled. But again, these mice were very over-weight and too heavy to climb up, though for extra measure, Charlotte knocked ornaments down on to their heads. Truthfully, she was fairing much better than her nutcracker, who was finding himself over-powered by the mice who outnumbered him.While the nutcracker was distracted by keeping all the rodents away from him, the mouse king tripped him up and had him lying on his back, with a sword to his neck.
"You're not gonna get away from me this time Alastor!" Vox snarled.
However, before he could give the killing blow, Charlotte grasped her left slipper, and threw it with all her strength into the thickest of the mice, straight at their king. In an instant, all seemed scattered and dispersed. Vox dropped to the floor unconscious and the other mice rushed to his aid.
"Save the king! Save the king!"
They grabbed their leader and hurried back down the hole from which they sprang from. The last one down was the mouse king's sister, who looked very uninterested in the recent turn of events.
"Once again, failure is the only option for my idiot brother. Oh well, at least he'll be quiet for awhile."
Eventually all the mice were gone and only Charlotte and the nutcracker remained. She still couldn't believe everything that had just happened. It couldn't be real. It had to be a dream. That's what it was. She had fallen asleep and was now having the strangest dream of her entire life. What else could explain all this? But she was about to find out that this was all very real.