Tunnel Vision
“And we’re sure this is the way to school?” Maxine asks as we continue along the damp, narrow tunnel. Peaches is walking slightly ahead of us. “Because it feels like we’ve been walking in circles forever.”
“Think about how long it takes to get from the village to school by Pegasi,” Jax says as he leads the way, breaking through another cobweb in our path. “It could take hours for us to arrive at FTRS.”
“If we’re even headed to FTRS,” Jocelyn complains again. “We have no clue if Rose was telling the truth about the yellow path.” She turns around and glares at me, her face bright red in the glow of her fireball. “I can’t believe you trusted her.”
“She’s been a very good customer,” Father pipes up as he readjusts Trixie, who is riding along on his back.
“She didn’t have to show up in the village when she did and get us out of that jam,” I remind Jocelyn. “Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith.”
“Your leaps of faith have cost us in the past,” Jocelyn grumbles.
I’m slightly satisfied when several drops of water drip onto her face at that exact moment. The tunnel is full of condensation and it smells like fish, but we are completely alone and safe. I think.
“We have no idea what’s happening above us, what time it is, or whether Stiltskin has made any more wishes,” Jocelyn adds. “What if he wishes to find the harp pieces? Huh?”
The rest of us are silent. The only sound is the drip, drip, dripping of water and bats or rats squeaking in the (I hope) distance.
Jocelyn has a point. What if Stiltskin wishes to find the harp pieces? He’s already got the lamp. He’s made us enemies of the kingdom. Why hasn’t he wished himself the remaining ingredients for his curse? That’s what I’d do if I were in his shoes. Something about her question is haunting me. I just can’t put my finger on what it is.
“Even if he does, he’d still have to wait for the Fire Moon,” Maxine reminds us. “He can’t do anything till then. We still have time to stop him.” She looks around. “As long as we can find our way out of these tunnels.”
Wilson begins to squeak madly. I think I understand what he’s saying.
“You want to be put down and look for a way out?” I ask. He squeaks some more. “But what if I can’t find you?” Wilson continues to squeak. “You’ll find me? Okay. Be careful and stick to the yellow path,” I say and place him on the tunnel floor. He takes off into the darkness.
“Look at that!” Jocelyn points to the floor. “The yellow line is so faded I can’t tell if we’re supposed to go left or right from here. This is pointless! We’re stuck here. And how are we going to face our end? In a stinky tunnel.”
Father and Jax shed light on the yellow line using my mini wand. It’s true: You can’t tell if we’re meant to go left or right at this point. If we go the wrong way, we could wind up anywhere or be lost down here forever.
“I have no clue which way we go,” Father says and slumps down against the wall.
“Let’s take a break for a minute. I’m exhausted,” Mother says and sits down next to him. Jocelyn and Jax do the same, but Trixie is still staring at the paths.
I put an arm on her small shoulder. “What are you thinking?”
She keeps looking at the floor. “I think we go left. I’m not sure why, but I can feel it, like here, in the back of my neck. It’s like a little voice telling me, ‘Left, left, left!’” She smiles at me, revealing the gap in her front teeth.
In the back of my neck. Is Trixie embracing her fairy traits? I stare at the two paths, just like her, and wait for something to come to me. At first I feel nothing. My mind is full of thoughts of curses and Stiltskin and the end of the kingdom as we know it. Concentrate, I hear Grandma Pearl saying. Focus. So this time I close my eyes, not even looking at the path. I listen to the sound of my breathing, and I think of Fairy Tale Reform School. Suddenly, the tunnels’ paths appear in my mind. The left one starts to glow.
“It is left!” I say, opening my eyes in surprise. “I saw it!”
Trixie nods. “Glowing? Me too! In my head!”
Mother smiles at Father. “Looks like your children are embracing their fairy heritage.”
Father gives me a curious glance. “Mm-hmm.”
“Everyone up!” I say excitedly. “Follow us!”
We head down the path, Peaches waddling beside me. It feels like we are walking forever before I see a small light at the end of the tunnel. “Look!” I run ahead and point out the round steel door at the end of the path. In the center of the door is a wheel that is rusted over and has seen better days. “Hmm. It doesn’t look like this door has been used in ages.”
Jax gives it a twist. “It’s…pretty…tight… I…can’t…turn…it.”
“Put some muscle into it, Prince!” Jocelyn tells him, and I give her a look.
“Let me help you,” Father says, putting Trixie down.
The two of them yank and get nowhere. Jocelyn fires up a fireball.
“Don’t!” I cry. “It will rebound.”
“Well, what do we do now?” Jocelyn says in exasperation. “We have no way of reaching anyone down here! We’ll have to turn back.”
“Nooooo,” Trixie moans. “I can’t walk anymore.”
“And you didn’t even walk the whole way,” Mother points out.
“We could try banging on the door,” I suggest. “If the door is inside FTRS, maybe someone on the other side will hear us.”
We walk over to the door and brush aside more of the cobwebs, scaring the spiders away from their webs. Then we all start pounding.
“Help!” Maxine shouts, her hand so heavy the door actually vibrates when she makes contact. “We’re locked out!”
We stop knocking and listen. Silence.
Jax sinks down on the wall. “Well, we might as well wait here and take a nap or work and try knocking again in a little while.” He pulls a piece of parchment out of his jacket. “Does anyone have a quill?”
“Do not tell me you’re doing homework right now,” I say.
“I do!” Trixie pulls one out of her pocket and hands it to him.
“Why not?” Jax puts the quill to paper. “It’s not like we have anything better to do.” He scribbles furiously. “How do you spell ‘exemplary’?”
Mother spells it for him, then looks at me. “Did you do your assignment yet?”
“Not exactly,” I say, and she and Father look at me. “But the assignment from Professor Sebastian isn’t due till the end of the term.”
“But term ends soon,” Father reminds me. “And you haven’t started yet?”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been kind of busy—trying to save Enchantasia and all.”
“That doesn’t mean you neglect your studies,” Father says. “If the professor feels you have time to do a paper, then you should have time to do a paper.”
“Dad,” I huff. “You don’t understand!”
Jocelyn pops up between us. “I already handed mine in, Mr. Cobbler. So did Maxine. I bet Ollie is back at school right now working on his too. You should really start yours, Gilly.” She smiles sweetly.
Now she’s just trying to get me in trouble. “Maybe we should focus on getting out of here and worry about our papers later.” I start banging again. “Help! Can anyone hear us? We’re stuck down here! Help!”
But no one comes.
We wait so long that I finally fall asleep. I wake up with my head on Jax’s shoulder and find everyone else asleep as well. There’s no telling if it’s night or day in this tunnel. I’m honestly at a loss as to what to do. Do we go back to the village to find more help? Or is another angry mob waiting?
Suddenly I hear a clicking sound. I look up. The door is glowing bright orange.
“Everyone, wake up!” I nudge Jax and my parents. Jocelyn stretches her arms and yawns. “Look at the door! Someone is coming!”
“Everyone back. That door could blow,” Father tells us.
We run into the tunnels just in time. The door blows open, and the tunnel fills with smoke, making everyone cough. When it clears, we can see through the opening to a brick wall on the other side. It’s covered in pink roses. No one is there to greet us.
“Hello?” Maxine calls, her voice echoing off the walls.
There’s no answer.
“What are you all waiting for?” Jocelyn asks. “This is our chance to get out of here.” She runs for the opening.
As Jocelyn crosses the threshold, several flowers fly off the walls and head right toward her. I realize too late that the stems are darts.
“Jocelyn, look out!” I shout, but she’s already realized what’s happening and ducked. The flower darts go flying over her head, heading toward the tunnel. “Drop!” I cry, and we fall to the ground as the darts whisk past us.
More darts come flying in our direction, followed by the sound of rumbling as the brick wall on the other side of the opening begins to come apart. I hear a loud whistle and watch in horror as the bricks begin flying toward us.
“We need to get out of here!” Jax shouts. “Forward!” He crawls on his elbows toward the opening and Jocelyn. “We’ll face whatever is on the other side.”
“Trixie, stay behind us,” says Mother as more flower darts fly past our heads.
A brick smashes into the wall next to us, and the wall begins to crumble.
Trixie is crying again. Part of me wonders if we should tell her to head back into the tunnel for safety, but what if the doorway closes up and she’s trapped? She has to come too. I follow Jax and the others into the opening and climb through to the other side. For a moment, the darts and bricks stop coming.
I look around. The sight of several cells with bars makes me think we’re in the FTRS dungeon, but we could be in any dungeon for all I know. Just as I turn to look for some sort of landmark, more bricks shoot out of the wall. I roll to the right, and Jocelyn and Jax roll to the left. The bricks somehow follow us. I hear voices.
“Fire! Fire! Fire! We’ve been breached!” someone shouts.
“Get them! Show no mercy!”
“Defend our home at all costs!”
I hear cheers and hollering. Someone throws another smoke bomb and it explodes, shrouding the dungeon in darkness.
“Got one! Got two! Got three!”
I hear Trixie scream.
My family! What if it’s the Stiltskin Squad? I reach for the mini wand in my pocket and realize I must have lost it. Arrows and bricks continue to fly as I look around for a weapon. I spy a whip hanging from the wall and grab it just as a dart hits me in the shoulder, piercing the skin.
“Ouch!” I shout and rip it out, but it’s too late.
Immediately, I feel woozy. The room around me spins and goes out of focus as I struggle to hold on to the whip. I give it a crack, sending arrows straight to the ground. I crack it again and blast a brick to smithereens. My strength is leaving me. I start to tumble. Someone is coming right at me.
“It’s Gilly!” I hear them say right before the world goes dark.