Finding Alex | TLOS

Ch.10

Bree found the King Arthur book, and placed it on the floor of Alex's room. She twisted the cap on the bottle of potion, and it slipped nicely onto the page. It took a few seconds for the book to react, but soon it was magically uplifted and Bree went to enter the book. 

Morina had already gone before her, but this time, however, she had not tripped, which was good. 

"Bree?!" cried a shocked voice from the other side of the room. 

Bree turned to see Conner and Red. Her eyes went wide, and she grabbed the edge of Alex's bed. She had forgot that Conner and the rest of the monarchs were still in the palace. How had she been so stupid, so careless? She inwardly groaned. 

"I need to go," she muttered, and stepped towards the book. Her stomach did a double flip, was she going to find Alex? 

"What book are you going into, Bree?" Conner asked, jumping towards him and capturing her hand in his. He kept rambling on questions, none that Bree could register. 

Bree didn't say anything. She tried to shake off his hand, but he wouldn't let go. "Conner, let go," she snapped, and he finally did, startled. 

"Bree, if you're going to find Alex, I have to come with you!" Conner barked, angry that she even thought about going without him. 

Bree spun around, tears in her eyes. She didn't want Conner here, it would be much harder to explain that she couldn't go with him! She had to stay with Morina and Brandon, or Brandon will kill him! 

"What's wrong?" Conner huffed. He was concerned, but he didn't show it. He was still fuming, inside and out. 

"Nothing," Bree wept, and jerked her hand away from Conner. She grabbed her backpack and jumped into the book before Conner could realize what she was doing. 

"BREE!"  Conner screamed, pain clear in his voice. 

Bree vanished from the Fairy Kingdom. Without thinking, Conner jumped into the book after his girlfriend, followed shortly after by Red, who couldn't let Conner have all the fun. 

****

Bree fell to the ground, sobbing in pain. Her leg was on fire, the pain stinging so hard that the tears stopped completely. But the sudden tears that had come when in the book had taken its toll and she sobbed and sobbed. She couldn't believe that Conner saw her. She couldn't believe she left him!

That's when Conner and Red fell from the sky, falling on the ground by Bree. Scrambling to her feet, ignoring the pain that screamed, Bree hid behind a bush. She decided to wait there for Morina and Brandon to come. She thought that they must be hiding as well. Conner and Red couldn't know they were working on finding The Lady of the Lake. 

Red groaned. "My leg hurts," she said, rubbing her left leg.

Conner helped Red up, and walked towards the nearest tree. "I'll climb one of these trees and see where we are. Bree didn't tell us what book she was entering, and I don't see her anywhere."

"Okay," Red said reluctantly. She definitely didn't want to be the one climbing the trees. Queens didn't climb trees. 

Conner climbed up the tree, and Bree looked through the leaves of the bush. He was getting higher and higher, close to the top. 

"Hey! I see a town over there-maybe they can tell us where we are!" Conner called from above.

Red jumped up and down, but instantly stopped when her leg crippled from underneath her. "Conner, help me, I can't walk with this injury!" she said, missing Froggy by each waking moment. 

"Okay," Conner said, jumping down from the half side of the tree. He swung an arm around Red's shoulder, and helped her start to walk. "The town should be over the hill and a little farther. It seems to be tucked in between two mountains. And if Bree's smart, she'll end up there as well." 

Bree sighed in relief. Knowing Morina and Brandon, they weren't going to follow Conner and Red. They were going to search for Alex. It was such a little sound, that Conner nor Red had heard. 

Once Conner and Red were out of sight, Bree walked back into the grassy clearing and sat down on one of the rocks. It might take a while for them to find her, they could've sprinted off. She decided decided to stay and wait, she didn't want to get even more lost! 

Morina and Brandon emerged from behind the tree. Bree jumped, startled. She laughed, the nervousness fizzing through her. 

"I thought you had run off," Bree said truthfully. 

"No, why would we?" Morina asked. "Anyways, was that Conner and Red who followed you through the book?" 

"They followed you through?" Brandon clucked, fire in his eyes. "How could you let them?!" 

"Sorry," Bree shrugged. "I hid before they saw me, and they're heading towards the village. They'll never find us, if we're careful." 

"Alright, whatever," Brandon sighed. "We need to find Alex, now," 

"Where is she?" Morina asked, glancing around the Camelot forest. The trees were thicker than usual, even thicker than the ones in The Land of Stories. 

"I don't know," Brandon snapped. "But by any chance, we might bump into someone who could've heard of her. Those chances are slim to none, but we'll have to try, at least." 

Bree, Brandon and Morina walked for hours and hours through the forest with no such luck. When they arrived at a little stream, Bree noticed that there were footprints by the sand on the edge of the water.

 "Maybe we can follow these footprints, it could be Alex's!" Bree cried. She didn't care that it was a long shot, she was just excited to see if she could find her friend. They looked about Alex's size, so why not? 

Morina and Brandon shrugged; they didn't have a better idea. They followed the footprints for a few more hours until they found a small cottage. 

Bree let a swivel of hope get to her. What if Alex was here?  Bree knocked on the door, waiting for an answer.

The door opened, and out came a rugged looking King Arthur. That was him, for sure. The sandy blonde hair, the muscular bones in the face. 

But the girl beside him, was definitely not Alex. And Bree thought, maybe, just maybe, Alex had waited too long. And King Arthur, had already found his queen.