Chapter 12

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Alex and Conner were lost. 

"We're not lost. I just don't know exactly where we are," Alex told her brother.

 "So, in other words, we're lost," Conner said. 

"All right, Conner, we're lost!" Alex said, and hit him with the map. 

They had left the Red Riding Hood Kingdom in such a hurry, they thought they might have taken a wrong path. Alex kept looking down at the map, trying to see where they had made a wrong turn, and kept walking into bushes and trees. 

"We could be in the Fairy Kingdom, or perhaps we're back in the Charming Kingdom," she said. "But the eastern gate of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom is close to so many borders, we could be in the Sleeping Kingdom, for all I know." 

"How is anyone supposed to find their way around this place? It's all just a bunch of trees and dirt roads with the occasional castle!" Conner said angrily. "We're never going to get home!"

 "It's just a slight set back. We'll be back on track before you know it, "Alex said. 

"And exactly what track are we on?" Conner asked. "I hate to bring this to your attention, but we've only collected three of the eight Wishing Spell items, and we have no idea what two of them are. And, to be frank, we're not even sure if the Wishing Spell will work when and if we do collect everything."

 "Don't be so negative, Conner," Alex said. 

"Alex, I'm just being realistic," Conner said. "We still have so many places to go, and so much more ground to cover. And after seeing that weird jungle woman in Red Riding Hood's castle take a chunk of the basket, we may not be the only ones going after this Wishing Spell thing. What if we don't succeed? Have you thought about what we'll do if we get stuck here?" 

She hadn't thought about it and didn't want to. She was afraid that thinking about it made it much more possible. 

Alex inspected the map further, tracing it with her index finger. 

"All right, I think I figured out what we did wrong," Alex said. 

'' We, huh, you made the mistake'', Connor said

"We? You've been hogging the map since we got it," Conner said. 

"All right, I think I figured out what I did wrong," Alex said, her cheeks reddening. "The path we should have taken is just on the other side of the forest next to us. We'll walk through the forest, get on the correct path, and then be on our way into the Fairy Kingdom."

 "Great," Conner said. 

They walked off the path and into the forest beside them. After walking for a while, they noticed that the forest was very still and eerily quiet—too quiet, especially for Conner. He'd had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach since they'd entered the forest. 

The trees grew taller here, but whenever the twins looked up, there were no birds or bugs or anything to be seen gliding from tree to tree. The whole forest, excluding the trees, seemed lifeless. 

"Hey, Alex?" Conner asked. 

"Yes, Conner?" Alex said. 

"Have you noticed we haven't seen any animals or birds for a while?" he said.

 "No, I haven't; I've been a little preoccupied," Alex said, still looking down at the map. "I'm just saying, don't you think it's kind of strange we're the only—aaaaah!" 

TLOS characters reacts to the Wishing Spell {Day 1}Where stories live. Discover now