Twisted Wonderland Book 5: A Beauitful Tyrant

Chapter 49: Sinister Steeping

Like the past few dreams, Briar is now finding herself in the dark abyss of her imagination.

"What am I dreaming this time?" Briar asks herself.

Suddenly, she finds herself in some strange room with the walls that appear to be made of stone.

"What is this place? What a musty room..." Briar says to herself.

Suddenly, Briar looks to see the queen that has turned herself into a witch is doing something. She has the apple on a string that seems to be covered in some strange liquid.

The witch says, "Dip the apple in the brew. Let the Sleeping Death seep through. Now, turn red to temp Snow White."

And then, the liquid makes some kind of frightening looking face, frightening Briar. She also becomes concerned when the witch says, 'tempt Snow White.'

"Make her hungry for a bite," The witch adds as the apple turns to red.

Seeing the apple red, the witch holds it out to a black crow as she says, "Have a bite!"

The crow becomes frightened that it hides inside one of the jars shaped like a skull.

The witch laughs, "Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Suddenly, the witch begins to look in a book, "But wait! There may be an antidote. Nothing must be overlooked."

She searches through her book and finds that there is an antidote in order to break the spell.

She reads, "Love's First Kiss? Bah!" and slams the book shut.

Then the witch says, "No fear of that. The dwarfs will think she's dead. She'll be buried alive! Buried alive! Haaa ha ha ha ha ha..."

Later, the witch enters some underground canal and rows away, taking the poisonous red apple with them. Then begins to row away in the boat.

Culture Fair Day

The next day, Briar wakes up from her sleep, and remembers that today is the Cultural fair. However, Briar looks very uneasy, especially about the dream she had last night. Sereia and Trinket are waking up from their sleep as well.

In her thoughts, Briar says to herself, "The queen who has turned herself into an old woman, was trying to kill Snow White, who is the princess. But why?"

Just then, Briar hears a knock on the door.

Entering the room is Epel, "Good morning, Briar. Sereia. Trinket. Are you up?"

Oh, um, good morning Epel. I just woke up," Briar says.

"Yeah. So did we," Sereia says.

Trinket nods.

Soon, Grim enters the room, "Hey, Epel! Hey, girls! Today's the big day! It's the Song & Dance Championship!" Then turns to Epel, "You'd better take home the gold, okay?! My tuna bonanza is ridin' on it!"

"Absolutely! I'm ready to win this thing," Epel says.

But then says, "But...it's kinda sad to think that this will be the last day of our training camp. Thank you for accommodating us this long. Heh heh."

"It's no trouble," Briar says.

A little time later, Briar and the girls are dressed in their uniforms and walk down the stairs with the boys: Grim, Epel, Tanzanite, and Jasper.

Briar says, "Morning everyone."

"Morning, Briar! Epel! Grim! Sereia! Tanzanite! Jasper! Trinket! Did you sleep well?

I didn't. I was too excited. Jamil even yelled at me to go to sleep! Aha ha!" Kalim laughs with a smile.

"Seriously. You're not a child on a field trip," Jamil says with a frown.

Then Rook walks over, "Bonjour! Good morning to you all! I hope the day finds you well. Vil has some words for everyone before the show. Would you mind coming to the lounge?"

Soon enough, everyone is at the lounge with the others.

"I see everyone's here," Vil says.

Everyone is in the lounge. Ace, Deuce, Kalim, Jamil, Rook, Epel, Briar, Grim, Jasper, Tanzanite, Sereia, and Trinket.

Vil continues, "The time will be 3 p.m. The place will be the Purple Stage set up in the coliseum. Then and there, the Song & Dance Championship will finally kick off. The competition will be streamed live worldwide. This is our moment to reap the beauteous seeds we've sown and take the entire world by storm! I trust all of you are ready?

The boys participating in the contest answer, "Yes, sir!"

"Rehearsals start at noon. I expect each of you to be ready to take the stage before then," Vil says.

Grim grows excited, "Oooh... It's killin' me that all we can do is watch."

"I know. I can't wait to see you guys perform on stage," Tanzanite says.

Then Sereia turns to Briar, "And I really can't wait for Briar to go on stage as well."

"Correct—you and the assistant manager will be of no use simply lurking around and twiddling your thumbs. Your fidgeting will only distract us. Go see the sights at the festival instead. I'll give you a staff pass. Wear it when you go in. But I expect you to be present for rehearsal in the coliseum at noon. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Jasper says.

"What about me?" Briar asks.

"You'll need to be at the stage when rehearsal starts because they'll be rehearsing the opening as well. You get to explore the fair with the others, but I expect you back in an earlier time, so we'll have time for your costume change and to do a last session before the rehersal," Vil says.

"Right. I'll come by before the rehearsal starts," Briar says with a nod.

Ace complains, "Aw, maaan. I wanna check out the festival!"

"Me, too!" Kalim complains

"Out of the question for you!" Vil says, "Have you been listening to a word I've said? The festival lasts for two days, so you'll have your chance to cavort on day two. Today, you will focus strictly on the SDC show. Now, let's start our final checks!"