~Chapter Seven~

Melissa and Marbles sat silently on the grass, each thinking of some way to leave the Forever Forest and find safety elsewhere.

"Melissa?" Marbles asked after a while.

"Yes Marbles?" Melissa answered.

"Do you still have your Skwak Pad? I dropped mine somewhere while we were running away."

"The Skwak Pad! Of course!" Melissa thought to herself.

Suddenly it was clear why their parents had given them Skwak Pads, as well as why the number for Control Central was saved in it. Their father knew that this day would come and that the children would NEED Sir Dalhart to send a rescue party out for them.

Melissa reached into her nightgown pocket. It was still there.

"Melissa Benson to Control Central," she said into the Skwak Pad after typing a few buttons, "Is anybody there?"

But only static answered. There was no signal where they were.

"Nothing!" Melissa complained and tossed the device to the ground, "Should've known!"

"Wait a minute Melissa!" Marbles said as her remembered something, "We can use it to scan a map of the forest."

The boy grabbed the Skwak Pad and scrolled to the mapping feature. The screen then displayed a full map of the Forever Forest, with landmarks and an X to show where the children were.

"Look Melissa!" Marbles said pointing at a landmark and scrolling to enlarge the image, "There's a cave not far from where we are!"

"I see," Melissa answered looking over her brothers shoulder, "But we don't know what's in that cave. It's not safe."

"At least we'll have somewhere to hide from them," Marbles pointed out.

Melissa contemplated this for a moment. Yes, surely the soldiers wouldn't think of looking in a cave for them. But at the same time, should they risk getting attacked by a bear, or anything else that could be living within it? Then again, the Skwak does have a laser pointer feature that would be able to emit a light and allow them to see if any creatures lived there. It was a risk, but it was a risk worth taking.

"You're right," Melissa decided as she got up to stand, "Let's look for this cave."

The two siblings walked in the direction of the cave, their Skwak indicating how much closer they were getting. By the time the sun was fully in the sky, they could see the cave just ahead of them.

"Look!" Marbles shouted whilst pointing to the cave.

"Sshhh..." Melissa shushed him for fear of the cyborgs being nearby, "I see it. Let's go!"

They ran up the small hill to where the cave stood, tiptoeing to avoid waking any animal that may live inside it. Once Melissa and Marbles reached the entrance, Melissa realized they weren't going to need the laser pointer after all. The cave was already emitting a pink glow from within, piles upon piles of some sort of glittering pink dust being responsible for it.

"Oh my word!" Melissa said as she slowly walked into the cave.

"What is it?" Marbles asked following her.

"I have no idea," his sister answered as she ran her fingers through a pile half her height, "It looks almost like fairy dust."

"Maybe fairies live here?" Marbles suggested, also running his fingers through the dust.

"Maybe," the little girl said, her innocent blue eyes filling with hope.

"Well if there is, don't expect them to find you here when they come back!" said a voice from behind them.

The children turned around and gasped. It was General Biff with his arm in a sling and all his men, minus Kevin, behind him. Their masks had been removed. There was no point in having them on in broad daylight.

"Did you two really think you could escape us?!" said one cyborg mockingly.

"I will do the talking thank you very much!" the General said harshly, causing the cyborg to cower in fear.

General Biff then turned his gaze back to the children.

"I must congratulate you two for having tried this hard to escape fate. However, now its truly the end for both of you! Both your parents are dead and cannot protect you anymore and, in case you haven't noticed, there's nowhere to run this time."

In a state of panic, Melissa took the Skwak Pad from Marbles hands and desperately started typing the number for Control Central.

"Don't bother!" General Biff shouted as he took out his magnetite gun, "Even if you get a signal on the piece of junk they can't get to you in time!"

With that he opened fire in Melissa's and Marbles' direction. Melissa pushed her brother to the side as the magnetite hit her shoulder. Screaming in agonizing pain Melissa dropped her Skwak Pad and it fell into a pile of the sparkling dust. As it fell, the button to activate the laser pointer was pressed against by a rock.

"Melissa! Are you alright?!" Marbles asked, not noticing the fact that the pile of pink dust was glowing more and forming a swirling circle.

But Abaddon's men certainly noticed it.

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed one of them.

"Its a portal!" shouted another.

"Maybe they were right about there being fairies here," said a third.

"Well if so they sure aren't happy with us," shouted their General, "MOVE OUT!"

The group of cyborgs ran off, leaving Melissa and Marbles staring in awe at the portal. Melissa got up slowly, clutching her injured shoulder.

"Marbles," she said trying to ignore the pain, "We've found our way out of here."

"You mean?..."

"Yes Marbles. We use the portal."

"But..."

"There's no time to hesitate," Melissa interrupted, "They could be back any moment!"

With that Melissa used her good arm and grabbed Marbles by the hand and they both jumped in just as the portal was about to close. The children vanished from sight along with the portal and the dust from which it came.

All that was left was one Skwak Pad, still in laser mode, with the last call history being Control Central...