CHAPTER FOUR

A SUBCONSCIOUS SURPRISE

Arthur was having the most interesting dream. He started it as a small ant crawling on the ground. Blades of grass towered over him like trees, and patches of dirt stretched into the horizon like enormous canyons. It was a very unique perspective, but Arthur figured he wouldn’t get very far at an ant’s pace. So the future king of England grew long legs and began hopping across the lawn as a grasshopper.

He landed on the roots of an evergreen tree and marveled at all the branches stretching into the air. Arthur wanted to climb to the branches, but he knew it was an ambitious journey to make as a grasshopper. So he grew four claws and a furry tail and scurried up the tree as a squirrel. Once he reached the very top of the tree, Arthur stared in awe at all the fluffy clouds in the sky. He desperately wanted to fly through the clouds above, so his tiny arms grew into a pair of magnificent wings, and he soared into the sky as an eagle.

Without a doubt, Arthur’s dream had been inspired by Merlin’s theatrical teaching methods. Recently, the wizard had been transforming the young squire into a variety of creatures to teach him lessons about greatness and gratitude.

“Oppression is a sport for the small-minded. Empathy is the path to true power,” Merlin lectured. “A great leader respects all walks of life; otherwise, life will walk all over them.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Mother Goose agreed. “It’s just like I told my friends during the Boston Tea Party: Tyranny is a revolution’s welcome mat.”

Arthur was reminded of his elders’ wise words as he flew above the land they were training him to rule one day. The flight made him very thirsty, and he descended toward a small lake. As soon as his claws touched the ground, they transformed into hooves, and Arthur galloped the rest of the way to the water as a horse.

When he arrived at the lake, Arthur found a young woman standing alone on the shore. She wore a white dress and had long strawberry-blonde hair, and stood with her back facing him. Arthur transformed back into his human self upon seeing the young woman. At first, he worried she might be one of the Mists of Avalon that Merlin was always warning him about, but there was something very familiar about her. Eventually, the young woman heard him approaching and turned around.

“Alex,” Arthur said with a big smile. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Arthur?” she said. “Is that you?”

Alex was much more surprised to see him than he was to see her. In fact, Arthur wasn’t rattled in the slightest; Alex made regular appearances in his dreams.

“Of course it’s me,” Arthur said. “Who else would it be?”

Alex looked around the lake, completely disoriented; she seemed to be afraid of her surroundings.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in my dream,” Arthur said. “I know it’s a dream because it’s the only place I get to see you. And now that I know I’m dreaming, I imagine I’ll be waking up soon.”

Whenever Arthur realized he was dreaming, he immediately returned to consciousness. He could feel his mind’s clarity returning by the second, but oddly, this time he didn’t wake up.

“I must be more tired than I thought,” he said. “I’m grateful for every extra second I get to spend with you, even if it isn’t the real you.”

For the first time, Arthur noticed that Alex looked very different than she normally did when he dreamed about her. Her face was much paler, her eyes were red like she had been crying, and she blinked frantically like something deeply troubling was on her mind.

“This is so strange,” she said. “I thought this was my dream, but maybe I’ve stumbled into yours.”

“So I’m dreaming of you dreaming of me?” Arthur asked. “Well, I’m afraid to look up what this means in Merlin’s dream dictionary—”

“No, I mean we’re both asleep,” Alex said. “Just a minute ago, I was dreaming of my hometown, and then I suddenly found myself at this lake. I think we’re communicating in our sleep.”

“So it’s really you?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s really me.”

Arthur didn’t know which possibility was more overwhelming: that he and Alex were connecting subconsciously, or that he was standing in front of the real Alex and not a figment of his imagination.

“But how is this possible?”

“I don’t know,” Alex said, and struggled to think of an explanation. “When my brother and I were little kids, we used to see each other in our dreams all the time. We would wake up the next day and recite everything we had done and everything we’d said. No one believed us, so we stopped mentioning it—we figured it was just a twin thing other people didn’t understand. I was hoping it still worked and tried contacting him now. But it looks like my dreams led me to yours.”

The two shared a small but very telling smile.

“If this is real, it’s no mystery why it’s happening,” Arthur said. “We probably spend so much time thinking about each other, our subconscious minds are trying to tell us something.”

“Arthur, please don’t start this again; it was hard enough the first time,” Alex said. “We both agreed that living separate lives was the responsible thing to do. You have a destiny to fulfill, and you can’t jeopardize it by running off with the first girl you met in the woods.”

“I’m not jeopardizing anything,” he said with a playful grin. “I plan on fulfilling everything on my destiny to-do list. I’m going to pull the sword from the stone, I’m going to start Camelot, I’m going to form the Knights of the Round Table, and I’m even going to find the Holy Grail. Once I’m done, I’m going to find you, and you won’t have any more excuses to keep us apart.”

“Arthur, I may not be around by the time you do it all,” she said quietly.

“Of course you’ll be around,” Arthur said with a laugh. “I’ve been training twice as hard with Merlin and Mother Goose so I can finish much faster than the legend predicts. It may have taken another King Arthur a few decades to complete his legacy, but I know it’ll only take me a couple of years because I’ve got you to inspire me.”

Arthur’s devotion brought tears to Alex’s eyes, but not in a good way.

“No,” she said, and shook her head. “Even if you finish it earlier than expected, you have to stay in Camelot. You’ll throw your life away if you do it all for me.”

“You can’t throw a life away if it’s already fulfilled!”

“You’re not listening! I’m trying to tell you it’ll be a complete waste! If you rush through your legacy you might get hurt!”

“On the contrary, I’ll be even more careful knowing you’re at the finish line—”

“Arthur, I’m trying to tell you I won’t be alive much longer!”

Once this heavy confession was made, Alex covered her face and began to sob. Her words made Arthur freeze where he stood. He prayed she was being sarcastic or overreacting, but if the tears streaming down her face were any indication, Alex was telling the truth.

“Alex, please tell me that’s a joke,” he said.

“I wish it were!” she cried. “I would love to live happily ever after with you, Arthur, but it’s not meant to be.”

“But why? Are you sick?”

“I’ve been cursed by a very powerful witch. She has me under a spell that controls my every waking moment. So far, she’s made me do a lot of terrible things to innocent people. I don’t know what she has planned next, but I know something horrible is coming—thousands of people are going to get hurt! The witch puts me to sleep when she isn’t using me. That’s why I was trying to contact my brother in my dreams. He’s got to find a way to stop me—no matter what it takes!”

“Alex, don’t be ridiculous,” Arthur said. “There’s got to be another way to free you from the witch’s curse besides killing you.”

“I’m afraid there isn’t,” she said. “This curse is unlike any dark magic I’ve seen or heard of. It fills me with so much anger, it blinds me—I’m barely aware of the damage I’m causing! I get trapped inside my head with feelings of self-doubt, self-hatred, and regret. All I can think about are my mistakes, my flaws, and how undeserving I am of love and happiness! The more my misery grows, the more powerful I become—and the more powerful I become, the stronger the curse gets. The voices in my head have to be stopped, and there’s only one way to put a creature out of its misery!”

Arthur couldn’t believe he was hearing such things. Their shared dream had quickly escalated into a nightmare.

“I refuse to believe that,” he said. “There must be something Merlin and Mother Goose can do to help you—there must be something I can do to save you!”

A thick layer of mist suddenly rose off the lake and blew toward them. The mist formed the shape of a large hand, wrapped its fingers around Alex’s body, and started pulling her toward the lake.

“What’s happening?” Arthur shouted.

“The witch must be waking me up!” Alex said.

Arthur grabbed Alex’s arm, but he was no match for the giant misty hand.

“Alex, you need to listen to me!” he said. “We’re going to save you from this! We’re going to find you and free you from this curse, I promise! You just have to stay strong—don’t give up yet!”

Alex stared up at Arthur with eyes full of tears and fears, but very little hope.

“Good-bye, Arthur.”

Alex was pulled from Arthur’s grip and dragged underwater, and she disappeared from sight.

“AAALLLEEEXXX!”

Arthur rapidly awoke from the nightmare. He was sweating profusely, and his eyes darted all around his room as he remembered where he was. His heart was beating so hard, he could hear it over the sound of Merlin and Mother Goose snoring in the next room. Arthur had never been so affected by a dream in his life, so he knew it hadn’t been a normal dream. Alex was in trouble and she needed help.

The squire leaped out of bed and stormed into Merlin and Mother Goose’s room. His elders awoke in a terrible fright and sat straight up like they had been electrocuted.

“Arthur? What is it, my boy?” Merlin asked, and reached for his glasses.

“Where’s the fire?” Mother Goose said, and reached for her flask.

“Forgive the intrusion, but something terrible has happened!” Arthur announced.

“Have the Saxons invaded?” Merlin asked.

“Are parachute pants back in style?” Mother Goose asked.

“No, it’s Alex,” Arthur said. “She’s been cursed by a terrible witch! We need to go to the Otherworld immediately and rescue her!”

“How do you know all this?” the wizard asked.

“Alex and I were communicating with each other in our sleep! She was trying to contact her brother but found me instead. She told me she’s been cursed and is being forced to do terrible things! Then a hand made of mist rose out of a lake and dragged her under the surface!”

Arthur explained himself so quickly, he had to catch his breath afterward. Merlin and Mother Goose looked at each other with sleepy, uneasy eyes—but they weren’t concerned about Alex.

“Artie, have you been drinking my bubbly?” Mother Goose asked.

“You have to listen to me!” he pleaded. “Alex is in trouble, and she thinks the only way to stop the curse is if someone kills her! We’ve got to do something before she gets hurt!”

“It sounds like you just had a terrible nightmare,” Merlin said.

“It wasn’t just a nightmare. It was the real Alex!” Arthur said. “I swear I’m not overreacting!”

His elders still weren’t convinced.

“It’s not uncommon for dreams to feel very realistic when they’re about the people we love,” the wizard said. “Why don’t you fetch my dream dictionary, and we can get to the bottom of what Alex actually represented in the dream.”

Arthur grunted loudly and paced in a circle. No matter what he said, Merlin and Mother Goose only saw him as a love-struck teenager. Arthur desperately needed their trust, but they would never take him seriously unless he proved himself trustworthy. A transformation was needed to gain their respect, and luckily, Arthur knew just the thing to do it.

The squire raced out of Merlin’s cottage and ran into the woods. It was raining and still dark outside, but Arthur persisted. He wasn’t wearing any shoes and was barely clothed, but he was numb to everything except his fiery determination. Finally, he arrived at his destination and entered the clearing where the great sword lay in the stone.

Arthur was destined to remove the sword once his training was complete and he was ready to be crowned King of England—but given the circumstances, he hoped his desire to save Alex would somehow expedite his destiny. Arthur might not have been in any danger, but if Alex was in trouble, then his whole world was at stake.

So the young squire wrapped his hands around the sword’s handle and pulled on it with all his might. His fingernails bled and blisters covered his palms, but Arthur kept pulling, as if his life depended on it….