What an adventure

Chapter five: Connecting and neglecting

Nick sat up from his pillow when he heard a knock at his door. He stood up from the bed, walked over to the door, and opened it to see Althea standing in the hall. She looked in Nick's direction when she heard the door open.

"Uh...What's up?"

Althea motioned for Nick to follow her as she tip-toed down the hall. Nick shrugged and followed behind her. They walked outside of the cottage, it was already dark out. They turned to the side of the house, Althea opened the back gate and began walking on the stones to get to the other side of the small river, Nick tried his best to keep up with her.

He spotted a greenhouse not too far down the trail.

"Althea, where are we going?"

Althea kneeled and put her hand on a mushroom that was on the floor, it began glowing. The other mushrooms down the path began glowing as well. "We're going somewhere to discover more of your past that you lost, come on." she continued walking down the path, Nick gave her a confused look but just continued to follow her.

They finally made it to the end of the trail.

There was a huge greenhouse, though, there was no light around so it seemed abandoned. Althea pulled a wooden key out of her pocket and put it against the door, the glass door creaked open. Nick squinted his eyes into the greenhouse but saw nothing but darkness.

Althea put her hand on a rose and it began glowing, the rest of the roses began glowing as well. Nick watched as each one lit up. In the middle of the greenhouse was a male, only a few inches shorter than Nick and the same height as Althea. He looked just like that boy from the picture but a bit older.

"Is that..."

"Yea, Nick, meet Alvaro. My twin brother."

Nick slowly walked closer to him, stepping over the thorned rose vines. Nick stopped when he had realized that he wasn't moving, let alone breathing.

"What happened to him?" He looked over to Althea only to see her examining the rose vines. He thought she hadn't heard her till she finally responded. "He went after Finn the night that Finn disappeared, but he never returned. That morning, Iris and Argus went to look for Alvaro and Finn but found Alvaro in the forest beside the cottage while Finn was nowhere to be seen. He was found like that, his normally xanadu eyes turned completely grey. He was frozen in place."

Nick's eyes widened slightly. "Oh...why did Finn disappear in the first place?"

"Uh...well...he kinda just ran off to...findawaytogetyouback."

"What was that?"

"Finn went to find a way to get you back...but he failed and ended up getting captured by the other side."

"Other side?"

"I'll let Beatrice tell you that one, I think it's getting pretty late now. Just close the door when you are gonna head back. You know the way back, right?" Althea smiled. Nick nodded his head.

"Well then, goodnight."

"Night."

Althea smiled and walked out of the greenhouse. Nick watched as she walked back down the path. He turned to Alvaro and sighed.

"Hey, dude...I'm sorry for uh for leaving you guys behind."

After talking to Alvaro for only a few minutes, Nick realized that it was practically useless because he wouldn't be getting a response. He scratched the back of his head nervously and turned to walk out of the greenhouse. He stopped when he felt something stab the back of his hand. He looked down to see a rose vine beginning to wrap around his arm. He panicked and quickly ran out of the greenhouse, slamming the door behind him.

The next morning, Nick woke up to a bell ringing. He looked around and realized that none of this was a dream. He sighed and got out of bed.

He walked out of the room and into the kitchen to see Ophelia making some tea. She hadn't known of his presence till she heard him bump into the table. She looked over at him and her soft smile turned into a scowl. She set down her teacup and walked past Nick. He sighed and sat at the table.

Althea walked into the kitchen and jumped a bit when she saw Nick.

"Holy mushroom, you scared the freckles off of me."

Nick looked over at her and smiled apologetically at her. "Sorry, hope you slept well."

"I did, thank you. You on the other hand look like you slept like a sea pickle in the sun."

"...thank you?"

Just then, Beatrice walked into the kitchen and smiled at the two. "Good morning you two. Nicholas,"

"Just Nick."

"I've made some new clothes for you, they are in the restroom right across from your room. I've got something to talk to you about, meet me in the garden after you're changed?"

Nick nodded his head and walked out of the kitchen.

~~

Finn paced the floor, the sound of his shoes on the stone echoing off the walls of the palace hall. He would glance at the doors leading to the dungeon now and then with a nervous expression.

After pacing for a few more minutes, his unsteady hand reached for the cold, metal handle, he slowly creaked the door open and walked inside, jumping from the loud bang it made when it closed. He stared down the hall of the dungeon, it was illuminated from torches on the walls. He took a deep breath and began walking down the hall. At the end of the hall were two ginormous, steel doors. Finn grabbed the handlebars and opened the doors. He entered the room, in the middle of the empty room was a cage. He slowly walked over to the cage and spoke with a weary voice.

"Hey, Iris...Argus." He quaked.

Iris's marigold eyes looked at Finn in sheer disgust. Finn smiled slightly, "How are you holding up here?"

The older woman turned her back to him, clearly being hostile.

"Iris-"

"Finn. Leave me alone."

Finn looked at the ground, "I'm sorry, I am. You know I didn't want any of this to happen-" Iris interrupted him.

"Well, it did! You knew what would happen if you went with Darian! You couldn't wait any longer?! Always have to do things at your pace!"

Finn flinched at Iris's harsh tone, Iris realized that she had been a bit too harsh. She sighed and slowly sunk to the floor. "I'm sorry but...till you realize your mistake, I don't want to speak with you."

"Of course. I do hope you realized why I did this." Finn turned on his heel and walked back down the hall, leaving the damp dungeon.