NegaTales || Season 1 ||

TMoS Pt 4

Dewey was very surprised to find the floor covered in paper and scraps when he entered the lobby. He tilted his head curiously at the mess.

"Hey, Dewey," Webby said with a grin from the front desk. Storkules as taking a nap on the chair next to her.

Dewey waved slowly. A small chimera jumped out of the paper piles, startling the blue triplet. The three headed creature skipped to where Webby was and she gave it a pat on the head.

From behind Dewey, Lena entered, a grin plastered on her face. "I just had the most amazing afternoon ever! I met Poseiduck and asked him a bajillion questions! My throat hurts from talking so much!"

"I wasted a bunch of paper and got a bunch of paper cuts, so I would count my afternoon as a success too!" Webby waved her hands with small red scratches all over them. "What'd you do Dewey?"

"I cleaned up after a bunch of tiny people, and it was strangely enjoyable." He blew his hair out of his face only for it to fall back down. He frowned. "We still have't found anything on my mom yet, and we only have an hour..." Stopping his eyes widened. "Oh no."

"What 'Oh no'?" Lena asked.

"How long have we been here?"

"At least an hour and a half..." Lena bit her lip. Realizing, she smacked her palm to her forehead. "Oh, dang it, we only had an hour! Do you think Launchpad left us here?"

Now Webby began panicking. "Quick! Does anyone have a clock! Oh snickerdoodles, we're going to be stuck on this island forever!"

Anxiety sinking in, Dewey ran around in circles screaming. He tripped over some pages and face planted into the floor.

"I had so much more I wanted to do!" Lena wailed dramatically. She melted next to Dewey.

A sigh attracted the kids' attention. Selene had been standing at the door the hold time. She scanned over the kids and gave a deadpan look. "What's going on here? You've been here for literally ten minutes. Chill out."

Dewey shot up. "What!" they said in unison.

Selene nodded. "Yes. And why is there trash all over the floor?"

"It's called art," Webby pointed out, standing on the desk.

Selene didn't look convinced. "Whatever. I think I know what's happening here. You didn't eat that candy, did you?" She gestured to the jar of purple candies. The three nodded. She rubbed the bridge of her beak. "Okay, okay, I guess it's story time. So." She folded her hands together.

"Ithaquack is an abandoned trash hole, if you didn't notice, and the reason why is those candies. You ever heard of lotus?"

Lena's hand shot up. "Oh! Me! I know! They're those flowers that make it feel like no time has passed at all even if days, weeks, or even years actually have! Right?"

Selene waved the girl off. "Yes, yes, you're very smart. Now shut up. The gods had been using lotus flowers to keep people entertained here for centuries. They turned them into candies to make them edible. But then, my father, Zeus, he decided it was messed up to trap people here for so long, even though that's how I run my business." Anger flared in her eyes, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. Walking over to the desk, she picked Webby off it and set her on the floor. Selene wiped Webby's feet marks off the surface.

"So Zeus put a curse on all the lotus plants. He made them go bad, so now we call them notus. Because they do the opposite of a lotus."

"They make a short time feel long," Dewey said.