Into the World of Twisted Wonderland Pt 2

🐍 Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 9 🐍

A/N: hi everyone. I know what I said on my post was vague but I wanted to let you guys know the situation. Sunday morning, we received news that two of my cousins were victims of a double homicide in my hometown and right now there's a lot of feelings of sadness and anger going through me and my family and I don't want my feelings of hatred incorporated in my writing, so I won't be able to write new chapters or edit released chapters for a while until after I come back from vacation. I still appreciate the likes I get for both stories and don't let my situation distract you from enjoying the story, we're doing fine and just paying our respects for those we lost. Thank you for understanding and I hope you enjoy the story nonetheless (9/13/23)

"Th-the carpet's movin' all on its own! It's been possessed by a ghost!" Grim screams in shock as the carpet only moves around, waving its tassels around as it trying to say hello. Angel just stood there in astonishment as the carpet 'stands', or at least try to mimic standing as it just stands up on one edge while it just waves its free tassels as hands. Kalim smiles at the carpet.

"Ah, there you are!" He exclaims. "Go back over and curl up in your usual spot, would you?" He asks the carpet, and the carpet only floats and 'nods', as if understanding him. The two could only look on in amazement at the fact that the carpet in front of them is both sentient and acts like a human, but then again, the two thought that if they work with sentient brooms, this wasn't that far from the craziest things they'd seen.

"What in the world is this?!" Grim says as the carpet hovers around him in interest.

"This is a legendary treasure from Scalding Sands lore- a magic carpet!" Kalim explains and the carpet stands again, folding itself as if giving a bow to the two, who are still shocked at the sight of it. "The sultan that the Sorcerer of the Sands served used to love his flying carpet. This one's a replica of it. It's been in our family for generations." The carpet only nods, agreeing with Kalim and hovering around the three. Angel was able to touch it, feeling that unlike the silk, the carpet was thicker but at the same time soft as a feather, and the carpet only flattens itself, as if enjoying the touch. It's like a pet.

"You mean that carpet flies around like a broom?" Grim asks as he look at the carpet hovering around the three.

"More or less. That's probably the easiest way to put it," Kalim says. He looks outside, seeing that the sun was almost set and smiles. "It's getting dark, so why don't we all go for an evening ride in style? Come along, all aboard!" The idea only shocks the two even more, looking at the carpet and the carpet 'looks' at them with an excited motion, as if waiting to spread its wings, or in this case, fabric in the sky.

"Really?" Grim asks skeptically. "Are you sure I won't fall off that thing?"

"It's totally safe! Trust me," Kalim says as the carpet heads to the ground, stopping about a foot off the ground, giving time for everyone to get on. Grim hopped on the carpet first with Kalim carefully stepping on it afterwards. He looks to Angel, who just looked at the carpet in worry, trying to figure out if 1) if it can support 2 and a half people, and 2) if it was even 'trained' enough to fly without causing people to fall off. Kalim only smiles at her and holds his hand out, bringing her out of her thoughts and smiles at her. "It's fine! Nothing will happen and it'll handle us no problem! No need to worry!" He says to reassure her. She thinks for a moment and hesitantly give Kalim her hand, helping her on the carpet and the three get situated, with Kalim holding the edges of the carpet. "And away we go!" He exclaims, and the carpet speeds off, making the two flinch as they let the carpet fly them wherever it wanted, twisting and turning to its destination. They close their eyes, trying not to let the movements confirm their worries with its sharp turns and twists but eventually, the feeling went away, and the two slowly opened their eyes, widening at the sight. In front of them was a full moon, in fact, it was noting but the moon with small stars littering the sky, and underneath them to see a never-ending sea of white clouds.

"Aaaaaaah! We're really flyin'!" Grim exclaims and then looks under the carpet, seeing the sea of clouds. "This is crazy high up! Look at how teeny the dorm looks from up here."

Kalim looks at Angel, seeing that she was distracted by the sight in front of her, smiling in awe at the moon, and he could see that the moonlight basically made her glow, making her seem ethereal in the moonlight. The colors of her outfit suited her perfectly, her hair white as snow glowed with the moonlight, but the thing that caught his attention was her eyes. Her eyes looked like glistening jewels in the moonlight, captivating him as he stares at her a little longer, enjoying the sight. He snapped out of his trance as she looks down, leaning down to try and touch the clouds, only to gather a bit of it, to her surprise, only to disappear with the air, looking surprised at the scene, only to giggle at it. He smiles at her. "How do you like the world above the clouds?" He quietly asks her, trying not to surprise her.

"It's like a whole new world!" She excitedly says. "It's an endless diamond sky!"

The statement makes him laugh. "Aha ha! That good, huh?" He happily asks.

"This totally rules!" Grim exclaims.

Kalim looks at the moon. "There's nothing quite like soaring through the sky. It shows you how littler all your troubles really matter in the grand scheme of things. Of course, Jamil always says I don't worry enough about things as it is..." He says solemnly. "It wouldn't hurt him to take life a little easier."

Angel could feel his compassion about Jamil and just carefully grabbed his hand, making him look at her. "Jamil only worries about you because he cares about you. He doesn't want anything to happen to you," she says with a smile. "Just like how you care for him, I'm sure you can change his mind. I could feel that you worry about him as well, so if you guys talked it out, I'm sure he'll listen to you and relax a little." Kalim's eyes widen at her statement, a smile starting to appear as he thought about her idea.

"You know, I think I'll do just that!" Kalim says with a smile. "When we get back, I'm going to talk to Jamil!"

"Mrow! Check out that river over there!" Grim says, making the teens look at the river below them. "I ain't never seen a bird like that before!"

"Ooh, good eye. Let's go take a closer look!" Kalim says as he leads the carpet downward, and the carpet follows, continuing their adventure.