A Journey To The Clouds, A Fantastical Prophecy - Book One - ✓

Chapter Forty-one

Ally!" Connor calls, running after me. Coco scrambles after him, and I can feel Peanut and Chip violently moving around in my pockets.

"Ally!" Connor yells again. I reach the welcome mat as soon as he makes his third effort to catch my attention which i don't hear very clearly.

"Where are you going?" Chip yowls in my pocket. I look around in shock. Chip starts to crawl out of my pocket. "What?" He gasps.

Everything has changed. The daffodils that lined the perimeter have all wilted. The stones leading up to the front door have all scrambled, and upon noticing, there is no front door. There is no cottage!

I look around again in despair and find that in its place is a note. I walk over to pick it up. I gasp in shock as I make an attempt to digest the words.

Dear Ally,

I don't have time to write very much but I hope that I can finish before the Crew of Doom catches me. They don't want to come anywhere near me because I'm a witch. (Which is why they hired me in the first place.)

Do you remember the clue the Crew of Doom gave you? In case you forgot, it is eye. Now what this means is that your mom and Connor's mom are somewhere that has an eye watching over you. It can't be alive so it has to be a statue. I saw something that clicked with this when I heard the clue. They originally took me down to the dungeons but they realized I could escape, so now I'm in the room where they held all their meetings so they are able to keep an eye on me. (it's abandoned, mainly because they don't hold meetings anymore.)

I'm next to the mermaids and the fairies. I am facing the iron doors on the left. Guards are on all sides. You need to not let the frightening situation take hold of you. Do whatever you can, before it's too late.

Hazel and Lily

P.S. there are footprints.

I read the note many more times over. I then start to feel air on my shoulder. I turn around to see Connor looking at the letter over my shoulder. After I'm sure he finished reading it, I put it in my backpack next to the other clues and poems.

"Eye? Footprints?" Connor wonders. I can tell he didn't mean to say it out-loud, as he looks at me, embarrassed.

"I don't know, Connor. I only know that eye is some type of statue, and that we need to get to the castle, and quickly." I tell him. He nods.

"I know that part, we've been saying that for days!" He says.

"We've been saying it for days for a reason!" I tell him. I start to look closely at the grass. Maybe the footprints could be actual footprints? Hey, It's a start.

"Maybe when Hazel said footprints, she means on the ground-" I abruptly stand up straight, and I feel my eyes widen.

"One of the visions I had, I-I was at her cottage, and the giant snatched her and put her in the place where she is now. . . Could these be an implant of the footprints as they were in the vision?" I wonder.

"Maybe. Let's follow them and see. You know what, that's a possibility." he replies matter of factly. I turn and scurry around the forest.

"Even the forest looks the same." I comment. Connor bounds ahead and I see Coco get a weird glint in her eyes. I stare at her a second longer and catch a glimpse of me and Connor in a cage with Coco being given the crown of the mermaids.

"Guys, lets go." I tell them. Connor and Coco are back in their original states and come up to me. Then I remember when Connor mentioned about Coco being a spy. . . was the vision a hint?

We start to walk in silence with Coco flying above me and Connor, Chip and Peanut sitting in my hoodie pockets, and Connor walking next to me. One moment he comes close enough for me to feel his breath on my neck.

"You saw that too, right?" He asks in a whisper. I nod. He saw it as well?

All of a sudden, it seems as though the castle isn't the castle. The structure is somehow leaning, and the construction seems unsafe. Then I noticed a wing, then a beak, then many wings and beaks. It can't be! Birds!