by Ellie Rose
couldn’t just leave Rugsy when he needed her
help!
As Raven began casting her spell, things
around Darling started glowing purple. She was
filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling. It was working!
Suddenly, the world started shaking. A loud
buzzing sound rose to a piercing shriek.
The next moment, Darling was in total
darkness. The air was stuffy and stale. She
started shivering.
“Hello?” she called out.
“Hello?” a deeper, hoarse voice shouted. “Is
somebody there?”
“Where are you?” Darling yelled back. She
followed the voice as she ducked under low stone
ceilings, squeezed through tight passageways,
and balanced across narrow bridges. Finally, the
voice was nearby. This must be it, she thought.
Turning the corner, she expected to find Rugsy.
Only instead it was a knight in white armor,
stuck halfway through the wall.
“Please help,” he called. Without a second
thought, Darling backed up, launched herself
from the wall, and threw her entire bodyweight
into him.
“I’m almost unstuck,” he said with hope.
“Run faster!”
“I can’t run faster. But. . .” She
snapped her fingers. Every
Charming had a special
magic touch. When
she flipped her hair,
everything slowed
down. Everything, that
is, hexcept her.
Backing up against the wall, she flung her hair
back. Time slowed to a crawl. She pushed hard
off the wall. The wind pressed against her face.
She lowered her shoulder, and slammed into the
knight. With that, he fell through to the other
side. And she fell through with him.
And fell. And fell. And fell.
The ground grew closer in a hurry. There was
only one thing she could do. She grabbed the
White Knight, turned against the wind, ducked
her head down, and flipped her hair. The world
slowed down just enough to land safely on the
ground.
They were surrounded by an overgrown forest
like she’d never seen. Trees had rainbow-colored
spiral patterns. Flowers nearly thrust themselves
out of their roots to grab them.
“Where are we?” Darling asked, kicking away
a thorny vine that tried to wrap around her
ankle.
“Wonderland,” the White Knight answered as
he entered the dense woods.
Darling had heard about the madness that
had taken over Wonderland when the Evil
Queen tried to rule it.
With a swing of his sword,
the White Knight cleared a
wall of thorns, revealing a
wooden door. “Ah, here we
are,” he said, pulling a key
from his belt. He unlocked
the door, and it swung
open with a creak.
“Well, come inside. It’s only
my house,” the White Knight
said as Darling eyed the door
curiously.
The exhausted, grizzled White Knight sunk
into his lounge chair, savoring the comfort.
“How did you get stuck, anyway?” Darling
asked as she took a seat across from him.
“After they captured the Evil Queen, I helped
many people escape,” he explained. “I was the
last one through the gate. I thought I’d jumped
just in time, but then it closed on top of me. I
was trapped for ages. Thank you for saving me.”
He smiled gratefully at Darling.
“Would you mind showing me the way back
to Ever After?” Darling asked.
“You’re a true hero,” the White Knight
answered confidently. “You’ll find a way.”
Darling stared at his armor, still shining like
brand-new. Her reflection stared back, and she
knew her destiny. She really was a hero, and now it
was time to fight for her own Once Upon a Time.
