In My Dreams || ✔

Life, Give Me My Boyfriend Back!

Life takes things away from us to teach us lessons.

°°°·.°·..·°¯°·._.· ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ·._.·°¯°·.·° .·°°°

Alex stood in front of her shocked-face mother.

"You mean you've been dreaming about this boy?"

"Um, no, well, with him, actually,"

"That's worse!" Charlotte said, throwing her hands up in the air.

"Mom, you met him! He's a great boy!"

"There, you said it, he's a boy! Not a man! Who gave him the authority to date you? And dream with you!" Charlotte gasped. "You didn't-?"

"No mom!" Alex said, honestly a little shocked she would ask. Her mother had taught her better. "You taught me better than that!"

"I thought I had taught you better than to dream with someone!"

Pause.

"I don't think that ever came up in conversation,"

"Don't you get snitty with me! I am your mother!"

Alex sighed. She had just told her mother about dreaming with Arthur and her reaction was killing Alex. She wanted her mom to be happy for her for finding the love of her life, but no, she was hung up over the fact that they had dreamt together. But now that Alex said it aloud, she didn't how weird that sounded.

"Mom," she said after a moment. "I'm in love with this boy."

"I know that-wait." Charlotte paused and whispered. "In love?"

"Yes, mom. So please be nice when you talk about Arthur. He means a lot to me."

Alex had gotten over the initial shock of Arthur disappearing, but having experience with the disappearing act herself, she knew she should tell everyone. The more people involved, the more that could help.

"Honey," Charlotte's tone had softened. "This is amazing news to hear that you fell in love, but I wasn't ever notified. Please tell me everything before we go any farther."

Alex didn't want to take the time to tell her mother the whole story but knew that if she didn't she would never hear the end of it. So, she told her mother the whole thing. Alex had felt pretty good getting everything off her chest by talking to Conner, but telling it to her mother was another thing entirely. Her mother was a better listener in all regards and Alex could include the parts Conner wouldn't have been a good audience for. Her mother listened with interest and by the end of the story, her opinion of Arthur had changed drastically.

"I see why you would like him," she said, inside she was beaming with pride for her daughter. She had chosen a fictional boy, just like Charlotte, and Charlotte thought they were the best. It's not that she didn't like Bree, but she definitely more on board with Alex being with Arthur than Conner with Bree. She just found Arthur a little better example.

"That's good, 'cause we have a lot of work to do to find him."

-

Alex had decided to go to The Land of Stories to start to look for Arthur. She would use the copy of King Arthur to go into Camelot and start searching. She had brought her copy as back-up, just in case.

Alex went to her bed chambers and removed the book from her shelf. She dusted the cover and looked at the picture on the front. Like her copy, it looked nothing like the actual Arthur, but just seeing it reminded her of him. She opened the book to the beginning expecting to see the familiar warm hue of blue shimmering on the thing pages.

She was disappointed. The pages were normal paper pages with no unusual glow being emitted from them. Alex flipped through the whole book but still saw no sign of the Portal Potion. No trace of it ever being there, either.

Alex went to one of her glass cabinets and pulled out a bottle of the Portal Potion. She reached for the book and poured a drop of the Portal Potion over the pages. Expecting the potion to seep silently into the pages, Alex was surprised when the potion hit the page, sizzled, and burned a small hole in the page near the binding.

Alex was confused. Maybe the book had already been used before and that was the problem? She didn't know. Good thing she had brought a back-up.

She opened her copy of King Arthur and poured a drop of the potion of its pages. It was met with the unsettling sound of sizzling and the smell of burnt paper.

"That's not good," came a startling voice from the door

Conner stood leaning against the doorframe watching the whole thing.

"No, it's not!" Alex said, frustratedly poured another drop on the book with the same result. "I don't understand why this is happening!"

"Maybe it's the potion?"

"No, it's not! I made it to a 'T'!"

"Maybe the book?"

"No, I tried both copies!"

"Try a different book,"

Alex reached up and pulled her copy of Alice in Wonderland of the shelf. When she opened it she was met with the familiar glow of the Portal Potion.

"But this one was done after King Arthur!"

"Try putting your potion on a different book,"

Alex pulled a book of spells off the shelf and poured a drop on the page. She was again met with the inviting glow of the Portal Potion seeping onto the pages, the sensation of magic hot on her hands. She put the book back on her shelf and sighed a frustrated sigh.

"I don't understand," Conner said as he inspected both of the King Arthur copies. "The other books work fine,"

"Someone might not want you to go into Camelot," Bree said from the door, startling both Bailey twins.

"Bree," Conner said. "I told you to stay in the Otherworld."

"You think I could miss this adventure? Heck, no." Bree said and assessed the situation with her detective-trained mind. "All variables point to it having to do with the story, not the potion. So someone must not want you to travel to Camelot."

"But why?" Alex asked, already dreading the answer to that question.

"Maybe the person who took Arthur doesn't want you to," Bree said.

"But why kidnap him then?" Conner asked.

"To kill him," Alex said quietly.

"No, no, no!" Conner said. "We are not going there! We are going to get Arthur back safe and sound, I promise."

"I guess we'll just have to look for him then," Bree said confidently, trying to help Alex feel better.

"Where do we even start?" Alex asked deflatedly.

"Right here," Conner said. "We'll scour The Land of Stories first and then go from there."

-

~ edited 25/6/2022