The Land of Stories: Gleeful Days Are Here Again

Bad Romance

12. Bad Romance

In which life's a drag...

Froggy must have been getting better at landing the flying ship, because there was no sudden jolt to awaken Chris the next morning. Instead, he woke to the feeling of being watched. Opening his eyes, he found Darren staring down at him.

"You're beautiful when you're sleeping."

"Creepy much, Dare?"

"Hey, no. I'm serious. I love looking at you," Darren said, brushing a stray lock of hair from Chris's forehead. He leaned down, but Chris rolled quickly away from him.

"Please don't tempt me to kiss you."

Darren let out a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. Let's go see where we are."

They climbed up to the deck, where they found Froggy and Rachel tossing a pinecone back and forth between them while an exited Roary raced from one to the other, trying to catch it. Rachel appeared to have completely gotten over her fear of the wolf cub.

"Good morning," Froggy called out.

"Good morning," Darren replied, taking advantage of Rachel's momentary distraction to snatch the pinecone out of the air before she could catch it. "Looks like we're playing Puppy in the Middle, huh?"

Darren tossed the pinecone to Chris, who burst out laughing at the sight of the wolf cub tripping over his own too-big paws as he tried to change course. Soon all four of them were laughing uproariously at the puppy's antics as he tried in vain to catch the pinecone.

Eventually, a sleepy looking Kurt and Blaine appeared on deck, grumbling about the noise.

"Sorry," Chris said. "I didn't realize you two were still asleep."

"We were up late," Blaine explained.

"Trying not to kiss, if you know what I mean," Kurt added with a wink.

Rachel shot him a dirty look. "Yes, well, we're all in the same boat here. Literally. So let's keep ourselves focused on the mission, and avoid over-sharing — if you know what I mean!"

"Sorry, Red," Blaine said placatingly. "We didn't mean to offend you."

"Oh, I know you didn't," Rachel said, batting her eyelashes at him. "You're always a perfect gentleman."

Chris could see Kurt stiffen at her words, and decided it was time to jump in. "Speaking of the mission, I thought we were going to try the giant's castle next, but this doesn't look like your kingdom, Queen Red. Where are we?"

"We're in the Charming Kingdom. Since you managed to get the Snow Queen's scepter so quickly, Blaine thought his beanstalk wouldn't have grown tall enough to reach the giant's castle yet. So we're going to visit Quinderella's Wicked Stepmother first."

"Sounds good," said Darren. "What's our plan?"

"I'm going to stay here with Roary," Froggy said. "I could use some sleep, after staying up all night piloting the ship again. Plus, I'm not exactly inconspicuous in my current form. The Wicked Stepmother is extremely status-conscious. She'd never allow me through her front door. But she'll jump at the chance to entertain royalty, so Red will have no problem gaining admittance to her home."

"What about the rest of us?" Blaine asked. "Surely we can't send Red all by herself. I'd be glad to go along, but Kurt and I are fugitives, and if the Wicked Stepmother has seen any of the wanted posters tacked up all over the land, she's bound to recognize us."