Summer Love | TLOS

Ch.15

14/12/5

The Dungeon and Dragons Club is...fun. I guess. Well, first we talked about school and then the leader of the Dungeons and Dragons Club got up and said a few words. We all clapped. The rest was a blur. Let me tell you, it was BORING. I am not going back. Sorry, Nathan. But at least I still have a date, that's all that matters. Bree met up with me the other day and told me some interesting news. Micah is now single, and heartbroken. HAHA! Okay it's not really funny but I feel proud of myself. Idk why but I just am. 

The teens hurried after Puss for quite a while. They zigzagged between trees, jumped over logs, tumbled past boulders. They ran as fast as they could, afraid that they wouldn't make it to Puss's castle on time before dark. The moon shone above them, making a path leading to Puss's castle. Alex hated running out in the cold, night. It felt unsafe, and Alex didn't like feeling that. She also had the feeling of unknown...

"I'm Alex, by the way," Alex said, trying to make small talk, but it was hard to concentrate on creating small talk when they were running so fastly. "And that's Arthur," 

Puss didn't answer. Instead, he just sped up his pace. 

The cat pushed past vines and moss until he reached a clearing in the field they had just reached. "There it is," he said softly, staring up in awe at his own castle. He sprinted as fast as he could towards it, leading Alex and Arthur towards it. He opened the door and turned on a dozen lights at once, and the castle came to life. 

Alex gasped. The light helped a lot, she hadn't seen lights in a while. She didn't quite know what to expect of the cat's castle, but this was extraordinary. The castle was so big, no painter or artist could even dream of illustrating it. It reminded her of the castle in Beauty and the Beast, with such exquisite work that no man could ever dream of recreating it. To Alex's delight, there were books everywhere. Just like at home, Alex found books by people she knew, and books by people from The Land of Stories. 

"This is amazing," Alex murmured, staring at Puss. "Thank you for letting us stay here. It really means a lot, since we're, from a whole other dimension, and all," 

Puss nodded, still suspicious about how Alex kept talking about being from another dimension. He quickly showed them to the living room and escorted them to the sofa. "I'll be right back," Puss said. "Would you like some milk? Or maybe some fish? You must be starving! I am, fairly."

Alex frowned slightly. She didn't want any, actually, but she decided not to be rude and nodded. That must've been all he had, anyways-he was a cat. "I can have both," she glanced at Arthur, who looked like he was about to throw up. She bit her lip and elbowed him in the ribs. "Arthur'll take the same." 

As Puss left, a groan escaped Arthur's mouth. "I HATE fish!" he grunted. "It's disgusting! I never want to eat it again! How could you?!" 

Alex rolled her eyes. He was being way too overdramatic! "Please," she said sarcastically. "You ate fish at the restaurant you took me out to!" 

"That was because that's all they served!" he refused. "And you picked the restaurant, you didn't even let me show you my favorite steak house!" he pouted. 

Alex sighed. "Whatever," 

They waited patiently for Puss to return. Once he did, he set out napkins and plates and piled steaming piles of fish on plates for the teens. He also set out little tea cups with milk and sugar cubes. 

Puss sat down across from Arthur and Alex, staring at them intently. "Apparently you're from a different dimension?" Puss said. He wasn't exactly surprised. They wore different clothes, had different sacks to put on their backs, and they most definitely didn't talk like most of the children in The Land of Stories. 

Alex glanced at Arthur, who was looking anywhere but at her, and nodded slowly. "Uh, yeah...it's hard to explain." 

Arthur sighed. He still wished he was back home, and he wasn't fully developing everything. He felt like he couldn't trust anyone here but Alex, because he was the only one he was currently comfortable with. 

Puss nodded suspiciously. "Uh-huh...well, since you're 'from a whole different dimension' I'll state the facts. It'll be much easier for you two to remember all this if you write it down." 

"Um..." Alex searched for something to write on. That's when she realized she still had her backpack! Life would be so much easier now that she had her backpack! She hurriedly began to search through her backpack, and found her map. She flipped it over and stared at Puss to continue. 

Puss smiled. "We're in The Sleeping District. Long ago, there used to be only one Sleeping District. It was called The Eastern Kingdom, and then renamed The Sleeping Kingdom, and then the war started. We were forced to split in two, either with Sleeping Beauty or with her husband. I, of course, chose the queen. The king was mentally unstable to run a country on his own, and with no one to guide him, his country soon overthrew him and he now lives on the outskirts of his very own district," Puss began to explain. "It's quite sad, actually. His tale. He never got to start a family with his wife. But besides that, everything has been quite peaceful lately." 

"Why did they have a war?" Alex asked, seriously concerned. "Fairy tales always have happy endings." She couldn't come to term with this. In every story, and in every movie, the princesses always ended up with the princes. Nothing could stop that. There was no such thing as a divorce, and they were happily living in a bubble of bliss. But now? She wasn't so sure that they would make it out. Considering they had starten a war, and all. 

Puss sighed. "Not this one, not yet at least. Sleeping Beauty had always wanted a child, and preferably a little girl. But she wasn't able to have kids, to her devastation. She faked her pregnancy, and said it was a miracle. The kingdom was overjoyed. 

"But when the time came for the child to come, she panicked. So, she made a trade with a woman from the Dwarf Forests to take her child. The woman was too young to bare with the expenses, and Sleeping Beauty knew she could trust this girl. This girl had just moved from The Sleeping Kingdom because her parents kicked her out. 

"When Chase found out that Sleeping Beauty wasn't actually pregnant, he threw a fit and threw her out onto the streets. Her parents were furious, and began talking about it all over the country. Soon, it the rumours had spread to all the kingdoms. Many sided with the queen, and few sided with the king. But when it came time to choose, half-and half was settled. 

"The Sleeping District is now ruled by Sleeping Beauty and only Sleeping Beauty, by some help by her parents. She now has a beautiful little girl, Princess Ash, who just turned seven a few weeks ago." 

Alex took a deep breath. This was a lot to take in. "Who rules the other district now?" she asked, curious to know more. 

Puss gulped. "Well," he thought for a moment. "The Sultan. He has a daughter, Princess Jasmine, they rule over The District of Agrabah." 

Alex gasped softly. That explained the sheet they had seen on the tree earlier. They must've been in Agrabah when they were first dropped from the sky. 

Alex and Arthur took a few minutes to digest this. Was fairytale life not as 'fairy-like' as it was played out to be? 

Alex leaned in close to Puss. "I need to ask you a question, and it's very serious," she whispered. "Is there any way out of here? Out of this world? Back to our home?" 

Puss inspected the two teens carefully. "I believe you're thinking about The Wishing Spell. It has been on the radar for many years. Many have tried, and from all I knew, none had succeeded. Until, I found this journal.Come, now. I can explain how it works." 

A/N Hi guys! Thanks for reading this chapter! It's me, Amanda, again! Sorry for few updates :/ we'll start updating right away! WE PROMISE :) if we can't then we'll be sure to make up with extra long chapters! Anyways, what do you think about the new and not-improved Eastern Kingdom or The Sleeping District and The District of Agrabah?