The rushing dark waters of the river was roaring in Melody's ears as she made her way across
the river in a small rickety boat. She had hired an old man from a small town by the river to row her across. She
swept hot tears from her cheeks as she turned away from the old man so he wouldn't see the tears falling down her
face. She was so upset. Whenever she thought about anything, she would begin to cry.
She had disappointed herself and her mother. She wanted so badly to get her revenge but nothing
worked. And to top it all off, she realized she couldn't really even kill Virginia when it came down to it. She
was secretly thankful that none of her spells or tricks had worked. Virginia had been kind to her. Wolf had been
caring. Patrick had been so protective. She never had people treat her like that. She never had friends before.
And when she realized that she actually considered Virginia, Wolf and Patrick to be her friends, she broke down
crying again. She had completely and totally betrayed them. They probably all hated her now. Even Patrick, who
she was really missing at the moment. She never felt so horrible in her life other than when she found out her
mother was dead. But that seemed like ages ago instead of just a year and a half.
The small dinghy lurched in the river and she grabbed tightly to the helm to keep steady. The
old man looked at her with a thick eyebrow raised. He then smiled a crooked smile and patted her gently on the
hand.
"What ever it may be troubling you, you be sure that you tell it to your friends. Friends
always make your troubles go away. Never be alone, my dear. Loneliness is a dreadful thing." The old man said
in a croaky low voice.
Melody felt even more horrible after that and cried even harder. She had no friends. She was
alone. And she was absolutely dreadful. She just wanted to go home now. She just wanted to get back to her tiny
cottage in the woods and just forget about everything that has happened. Even if it means that she will be alone
for the rest of her life.
She thought back to when Virginia had slipped on those damn magic shoes. When they finally found
out that it was she who was behind all the sabotaging. She had seen the horrid faces of her companions and their
disappointment too. Those shoes had told the truth. Whatever it had said, something about blood being shared and
power. What in the world did all that mean? Melody ceased her crying and tried to concentrate. Those shoes spoke
in rhyme but they also told the absolute truth. She mouthed the rhyme to herself over and over again. Fitting words
to phrases. Fitting phrases to words.
All of a sudden, she straightened in her seat and her eyes widened.
"Oh dear god almighty!" She cried out. The old man gave her a weird look but ignored
her and kept on rowing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The sun was setting. The sky was a pinkish gray with tinges of blue and purple. The lighting
was getting dim and Bon was having a hard time seeing anything. He hated this time of day. His eyes could never
adjust to it. He made his way into the trees of the Red Riding Hood forest and promptly sat down on a stump.
That damn Wolf had done it again. He had beaten him for the umpteenth time. Bon raised his head
and gave a frustrated growl mixed with a howl. Tazzies had mostly wolf blood but the cunning agility and brains
of a regular wolf were missing. No one really knew where they originated from. They just came into being and were
always known as the Tazmanian Wolves. But they were also always considered outsiders. Not wolf, but not human either.
Bon's anger grew as he sat in silence and contemplated his next move. He had been so close. He
had been enjoying himself immensely thinking that Wolf had been drowned. He should have throttled Wolf when he
had the chance. Bon growled to himself. Damn that half-breed. Just because he looks more human, the humans have
accepted him. And since that whole saving of the 4th Kingdom, Wolf was considered a hero. Bon wanted to tear his
brains out! The nerve of that ingrate!
"Bon, did you get it accomplished?"
Bon looked up at the voice. He recognized it immediately as belonging to the Sire. His nerves
immediately became annoyed. What did the old bastard want now?
"Greetings, Sire." He snarled sarcastically. The Sire paid no attention to his rudeness.
"Well? Is that Wolf dead?"
"I regret to say, Sire. Wolf is still alive. I was so close. But he escaped."
"You fool! You can never do anything right! If my son, Tad was still around, he would've
completed this task in quick haste. Aye, Bon, you disappoint me. I thought for sure the Bing Bug spell would've
have worked. Didn't you ring that brass thing you had with you?"
"Sire, it did work. Wolf was just too sly. He tricked me. And yes, if Tad were still around,
he would've had Wolf whimpering in his hands. I miss him too, Sire." Bon lied through his gnarled teeth.
"No matter now. We will try again. Where are they?" Sire asked.
"I don't know, Sire."
The Sire gave a loud sigh and put his large paw of a hand on Bon's shoulder.
"Bon, perhaps you shall need some assistance?"
Bon raised his head and gave Sire a blank look. Sire ignored it and began pacing.
"We will track their scent, Bon. I will participate in this sweet revenge. We will have
our chance again."
Bon hated interference but he couldn't let the Sire know that. He rolled his eyes and agreed
that assistance may be needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Udo, you can let us down now. They've figured out how to break the spell." Tony cried
out in excitement. He couldn't wait to set his feet down on solid ground and be able to hear again. He was getting
so sick of only hearing and speaking up in the air where the air pressure was thin and Udo's hand constantly quivered.
Udo complied and set the three humans down onto the ground. Pip had flown up to them not 2 minutes
ago and explained that Wolf and Patrick had everything figured out. The parchment was a map that a potion had spilled
on. All they had to do was tear the map apart. It was all a matter of waiting now.
Princess Wendy held onto Tony's hand and Virginia held the other. They waited. Udo became agitated
and stomped the ground several times, causing the ground to shake beneath their small feet.
They could clearly see Patrick and Wolf on the other side. They were looking at a map in Wolf's hands and speaking
to one another. Virginia wanted so badly to get to the other side and just give Wolf the biggest hug. The last
time she had touched him was when she was drowning him with an iron grip on his throat. She wanted to touch him
so bad. To touch his hair.
Smooth it down beneath her hand. She wanted to kiss that little wrinkle between his brows. She
wanted to feel the prickly stubble that was constantly shading his jaw line. She wanted to hold his hand in hers
to feel the hard but yet warm skin in her own hand. To watch the contrast of his tanned skin next to her own porcelain
pale complexion. She still couldn't get over the realization that she hadn't killed him. She wanted to touch him
just to prove it to herself. She waited.
Tony's hands were getting clammy as he held onto Princess Wendy's and Virginia's. He looked up
to watch Pip flying back and forth in front of the invisible wall. Testing to see if it was still there. And it
seemed to be still holding. Tony wanted out of the 6th Kingdom. He swore to himself that he will never ever set
foot in this kingdom again even if they paid him a million bucks. He also swore to himself that he was going to
go back home to New York City as soon as he was out of this damn mess. He missed sitting in that old reclining
chair of his. He missed television and beer. Then he remembered that Virginia and Wolf had moved into a new apartment
and had gotten rid of his old recliner. Damn. And Tony waited.
A princess should never have gotten into such a terrible disaster such as this one. Princess
Wendy said to herself. I'm royalty! Well, she was pretty close to royalty at least. She was actually only the niece
of Queen Scarlett who had adopted her many many years ago and declared her heir to the throne. For Scarlett was
unable to have children of her own and she desperately wanted an heir to pass her kingdom down to. Princess Wendy
had lived such a sheltered life in a completely different castle away from the palace of Queen Scarlett. She didn't
understand how she was supposed to learn to take over the throne if she was so sheltered all her life. But she
could remember that one particular day when Queen Scarlett had announced that she was actually able to have children
after all. And the position for Queen was snatched away from Princess Wendy in a flash. Wendy was quite thankful
actually. She didn't want the position. She just wanted a peaceful life. But peace wasn't actually what she had
gotten so far. It was far from it. She had gladly accepted the proposal to marry King Wendell and the next thing
she knew she was trapped in a god-forsaken kingdom with absolutely no sound.
She liked what she could remember of King Wendell. Prince Wendell, actually, when she knew him
as a child. He had always been a great royal pain to everyone else but he had always been nice to her. Considerate
and thoughtful. They had become such good friends.
She squeezed Antony's hand and gave him a weak smile. And she waited.
They all watched as Wolf ripped the map apart into two equal pieces. They waited for sound to
slowly return. But nothing happened. They still couldn't hear anything. There was no change. It didn't work.
The oblivious Pip flew into the invisible wall and bounced right back giving him a horrible headache.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nothing had changed. There was no Virginia running towards him to give him a big wolf hug. There
was no beaming Tony to congratulate him for breaking the spell. There was nothing. Everything was still the same.
Wolf threw his head back and howled at the rising moon that was slowly brightening from the fallen darkness.
Patrick covered his ears. They didn't break the spell. It didn't work. Virginia and her father
were still trapped. What in the world were they going to do now? Weren't the shoes supposed to be telling the truth?
It was then that he noticed the two Tazzies that were lying on the ground was beginning to come
to. He and Wolf had tied them up earlier and now they were tugging at their restraints. They were two average sized
Tazzies that didn't speak an utter word of comprehension. Patrick gagged them and tightened their restraints. He
turned to find Wolf still staring at the place where Virginia had disappeared.
"Huff, puff. If Virginia is going to be trapped in there for the rest of her life, I should
be in there with her!" Wolf cried out. "Why didn't it work?" He threw the two pieces of the map
down and kicked dirt onto them.
"Wolf, you can't go in there." Patrick leaned down to pick up the map. He studied the
lines and the letterings on it that pointed out the different towns and kingdoms. He saw the Mother Goose village
where he was from. He saw the river that divided the Kingdoms. And he saw the dark purple stain that covered the
entire 6th Kingdom. "We must be doing something wrong. Maybe we didn't do it right."
Wolf grabbed the pieces out of Patrick's hands and stared at them. He wanted his Virginia. He
wanted her at his side. He began crumbling the map pieces in his hands. He couldn't help himself as he started
to slowly take steps towards the boarder line that divided to two kingdoms up.
"Wolf? Don't!" Patrick called out.
Wolf just shook his head and gave him a pleading look. "I have to. I can't stand this. I
can't see her. I can't hear her. I want to be with her." He crumpled the map up into a ball and began tearing
it into pieces again.
Patrick made a grab for Wolf but it was too late. Wolf's foot had stepped backwards pass the
invisible barrier and he could feel himself being sucked in.
"I'm sorry Patrick. But I have to do this. Go and tell King Wendell what has gone on."
Wolf fought the pulling force of the wall for a few more moments and tore the map up into tiny shredded pieces.
He tossed them into the air and watched as the pieces fluttered to the ground. Half his body had already disappeared.
Patrick didn't even make a grab for Wolf as he watched half of Wolf's body still hovering in mid air. Then he saw
Wolf's eyes grow huge in shock.
"CRIIIIIIIPES!" Wolf gave a high piercing howl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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