The Protagonists

Chapter Twenty-Six - Joel

Joel entered the ballroom, not expecting to see what he saw. First off, he did not expect most of the room to be entirely made of glass-he figured it would have a few windows, but not the entire front side to be glass. "What a nice view," Joel noted, admiring the entire room.

Maya nodded, standing beside him. "It's definitely beautiful," she said. "I see that they've done some renovations to it since the last time I was here. That entire wall wasn't glass when I was here last."

"When were you here last?" Nana asked, standing at the center of the room.

"A year ago at least," Maya replied, joining her at the center. "I was here with Merten and Iris-we came in here for my birthday. My parents are really cheap and they never throw good parties, so we all came here to celebrate. I remember seeing Iris in a dress for the first time that day." She laughed halfheartedly. "That all was before she became evil though. That was back when Iris was, I don't know, normal."

"It's hard to believe that she was ever normal," Oliver admitted, smiling like he told a fantastic joke. "I guess that it's quite easy for you though, since you guys are cousins and all."

"Yeah," Maya nodded, "I miss the old Iris. We used to be best friends."

Everyone remained silent, not knowing what to say. Joel stepped over to the left of the ballroom, where a small, wooden door-Joel could hardly fit in it himself-was placed on the wall. He felt the others step up beside him curiously; Oliver stood to his right, Nana stood to his left, and Maya stood beside Nana. "This must lead to Merten," Maya suggested hopefully.

"Must?" Joel asked, facing her. "I thought you knew?"

Maya shrugged sheepishly. "I don't know everything," she admitted. With that, she led the three others through the wooden door-Joel made sure to close the door behind them, slightly paranoid that Iris would come back to them, despite being a sloth locked inside the fairy godmothers' hut in Sleeping Beauty.

Inside the door was a staircase leading far down into the ground of the castle. Joel, Nana, Oliver, and Maya all walked down the staircase slowly and silently, frightened of what could possibly be at the bottom of the stairs. Joel was the first one down the stone staircase, despite being the most scared and paranoid, with Oliver following quickly behind him; Maya and Nana walked together in the back, whispering things to each other suspiciously. Joel was met with another room-the walls and flooring were made of cobblestone-as he reached the final step. He gasped at the sight-at the center of the room, a simple, wooden chair lay. "Merten?" Maya called from behind him, looking around rapidly.

Moments passed of complete silence-Oliver, Nana, and Joel started to become dejected, believing that Merten Keifer, the creator of Die Märchen, was not in the room. Nana bowed her head disappointedly, the thought of her gaining back the memories of her true self leaving her mind completely. "Merten?" Maya repeated, looking around as if Merten was actually in the room. "Merten Keifer? It's me, Maya!"

Abruptly, a sudden popping noise echoed throughout the room, scaring them. Joel turned to the side to see the same, wooden chair sitting there like it was before; the only difference was that rather than being empty like before, someone was then sitting on it. The person was an elderly lady-her hair was grey and her violet glasses rested on the bridge of her nose, staying put with a beaded chain hanging around her neck. She also had on bright, red lipstick and intense, pink eyeshadow. "Merten!" Maya wailed, running up to the lady and giving her a large, intense hug.

"Maya!" The lady, Merten, wailed back, kissing Maya's cheek. At that moment, Joel realized how Merten was not at all how he expected her to be-he thought she, being a necromancer, would be very intimidating and frightening; however, Merten was nothing like that. To Joel, she was just like a jolly, loving grandmother to Maya, giving off wet kisses and tight hugs. "It's been so long, Maya!" Merten cried, finally letting go of her. "Where have you been for the past year?"

"Iris locked me up in Fairy Godmother's hut," Maya replied, crossing her arms. Before Merten could respond, Oliver awkwardly cleared his throat, wanting Maya to introduce everyone so they could carry on with the "plan". "Oh!" She motioned for Nana, Oliver, and Joel to walk over. "Merten, I would like you to meet my newest Intellectuals. You're looking at Joel Potter, Oliver Davis, and Nana Dakota. Joel, Oliver, and Nana," she faced them and pointed to Merten, "I would like you to meet Merten Keifer, the creator of this beautiful world."

Before anyone could reply, Merten grabbed each person and gave them each a warm, welcoming hug. "Hello!" She cried after hugging Nana, the last one. "Oh, you all are such wonderful-looking children! You picked some goods ones, Maya."

"There's another boy too," Oliver brought up.

"Right!" Maya nodded quickly, recalling Sam. "There's another boy named Sam Lowe," she told Merten. "He got quite nervous and overwhelmed beforehand, so he's waiting outside while we come in here." Merten nodded understandingly.

"There's also Annalise," Joel said softly, capturing Maya's attention.

"Right, right!" She yelled. "We came here for a multiple number of reasons, Merten. One of them is to see if you can help us find a missing Intellectual. Well, she's not quite an Intellectual, but she can travel, so..."

"Well, if she's not an Intellectual, I cannot help you," Merten admitted solemnly. "What else do you need help with?" She carefully stood up from her chair and stretched, cracking her aching back.

"You can reverse spells, right?" Maya asked. Nana and Oliver perked up immediately, knowing that Maya was bringing up their lost memories. Merten nodded slowly, not comprehending what she was meaning. "Well, Nana and Oliver have both suffered from a Memory-Loss Spell and I was wondering if you could-"

"Of course I can help!" Merten cheerfully yelled, clapping her hands together. "In fact, I've been working lately on making stronger potions for that. You two are in luck, for I have exactly two of them! Congratulations! Give yourselves a pat on the back!"

Oliver and Nana awkwardly patted their own backs, avoiding eye contact with anyone else. "Don't look so sad!" She laughed and grabbed their wrists, pulling them in for yet another hug. "Let's go get your memories back!"

Joel watched as Merten, Oliver, and Nana walked over to the shelf behind Maya and him, humming to herself. She searched through the shelf of glass bottles-each one was filled with a different-colored liquid-until her palms rested on two glass bottles filled with bubbling, scarlet liquid. "Drink these." She handed a bottle to Oliver and a bottle, equivalent in size and shape, to Nana.

Nana sent an overwhelmed, anxious look to Maya, whereas Oliver did the same to Joel. "What else did you need, Maya?" Merten turned around to face Maya and Joel as the two drank their potions.

"Rings," Maya replied quietly-it was as if she didn't want someone else to hear.

"Ah, yes!" Merten cheered. "I have plenty of those..." Her voice trailed off and she sighed dramatically. "I have plenty of color-assorted rings in my chamber...my chamber in Alice in Wonderland."

"Do you have a chamber in every tale?" Joel asked curiously. Merten nodded and was about to reply when a sudden shriek interrupted her-they all spun around to see Nana sprinting towards Joel. She engulfed him in a massive hug, still shrieking. "Um, hello?" He laughed awkwardly.

"I'm so stupid!" Nana giggled, finally letting go of the hug. Everyone watched in awe as Nana ripped out her red, flame-colored hair-it was evidently a wig-and gently took out her blue contacts. Joel smiled widely once he realized who Nana really was. "Annalise!" He yelled, wrapping her up in another hug. "It was you the entire time! How did we not notice?"

Tears brewed in both his and Annalise's eyes as they shared a moment. Sure, they had only met a day before, but Joel felt like he had known Annalise for a long while. "So the potion worked?" Maya asked hopefully. She immediately received her answer as Oliver stared at her, his mouth ajar. "M-Maya?"