Twisted Wonderland Book 5: A Beauitful Tyrant

Chapter 75: Deleted Emails

Later in the night, Briar and the others are fast asleep in their dorm. Suddenly, the mirror begins to glow again. Briar slowly wakes up and turns to notice the glowing mirror.

Then she hears Mickey's voice, "...lo? Hellooo? Are you there?"

"Mickey!" Briar says, surprised.

She quickly grabs the ghost camera and rushes to the mirror. When she arrives, Briar is able to see Mickey clearly.

"Hiya! Top of the evening to you! It's been a while. How've you been?" Mickey says.

"Yes. It has. It actually has been a month to be honest," Briar says.

"I wonder how long it's been since we last met," Mickey replies.

"I'm not sure," Birar says.

Then Mickey says, "Then again, maybe 'met' isn't the right word. I only see you in my dreams. I've been trying to get back to this dreamland ever since, you know. I've tried wearing the same pajamas, reading the same book before bed, you name it! But nothing seems to work. So how come I made it here tonight? I didn't do anything special."

"So Mickey's not making this happen?" Briar says in thought. "Then, why are Mickey and I able to connect with each other? I'm awake while Mickey is asleep."

Then Mickey says, "Anyway, we lost touch right when you brought up that strange camera you have. I've been curious about it ever since."

Briar smiles and says, "Thanks for the reminder! Can I take your picture?"

"Sure, absolutely!" Mickey happily says.

Briar presents the ghost camera to Mickey.

"Okay Mickey, smile for the camera!" Briar says.

Then Briar takes the picture of Mickey and it comes out.

"How's it look?" Mickey asks.

Briar looks at it and says, "It came out perfectly!"

Then says, "Now I can show everyone that you're real too." as she shows Mickey the photo."

Mickey laughs, "Ha ha! That really is a nice photo! I wish I could have a copy..."

Then remembers, "Oh, wait. I wouldn't be able to take it back with me from dreamland, would I? Either way, I feel like you and I are closer than before now. I can see and hear you more clearly. It's like the only thing separating us now is a single pane of glass."

Then Mickey walks closer and says, "We're getting to talk longer, too. Maybe one of these days, you and I could watch a movie together! Do they have movies in Twisted Wonderland? I'd love to watch any of your favorites."

"We sure do," Briar says with a nod.

And Mickey says, "I sure wish Donald and Goofy could join us here in this dreamland... If they found out I had a friend here, oh boy, I can just picture the look on their faces!"

"That's actually not a bad idea. How about I introduce you to my friends," Briar says.

Suddenly, Briar hears something and thumping noises.

"Huh?" Briar says confused.

"What's wrong?" Mickey asks.

"I thought I heard something. I'll be back," Briar says.

"Okay," Mickey says.

Briar then opens the door and leaves her room. She soon notices the door that leads to where Grim and the twins are sleeping is open. Curious, Briar walks over and opens the door to see Tanzanite and Jaser sleeping on their beds, but notices Grim isn't there.

"Grim?" Briar questions.

Briar begins to search down stairs into the lounge, the hallway, the entry hall, and the other rooms, the kitchen, and everywhere, but Grim is not in any of the rooms. Briar then returns to her room in deep concern.

"I can't find Grim anywhere... Where could Grim disappear to?" Briar asks herself.

Suddenly, Briar feels a strange headache and something flashes in her mind. There is the carriage that has taken her to the school, and some strange creature.

"Wha-what was that?" Briar asks herself.

Suddenly, Mickey asks, "What's the matter? You're lookin' a little pale there."

"Oh, sorry Mickey, but one of my friends has disappeared," Briar says, worried.

"Oh no!" Mickey says, shocked, "I wonder what happened? I wish I could help, I really do. But I can't cross over to your side. You'd better go find your roommate fast! I'll see you later, Briar!"

"Thank you Mickey. I'll see you later," Briar says,

Soon, the mirror stops glowing and all Briar can see is her reflection in the mirror.

Briar begins to think, "Still, where could Grim have disappeared too? He usually sleeps unless he gets hungry..." Suddenly, Briar realizes, "Hungry... and Vil just..."

Briar soon realizes where Grim has disappeared too. She leaves the dorm, runs down mainstreet and towards the coliseum, and soon reaches the purple stage for the SDC.

Briar calls out, "Griiiim! Where are you?! Griiiiim!"

Suddenly, Briar begins to hear a strange sound, almost like a scratching sound.

Followed by a familiar, yet eerie voice, "There... Theeere it is... Nyeh heh, nyeh heh heh... It got buried when they fixed the stage, huh...?"

Then hears chomping sounds. Briar looks around the purple stage and soon notices Grim at a short distance.

Suddenly, Grim says, "Rrr... That's the good stuff... Rrr... Rrr...

"Grim...?" Briar slowly says as she slowly walks over and reaches her hand out.

Suddenly, Grim turns around with a frightening face, "Who's there?! Grrr... This is MY stone!"

Before Briar can react, Grim begins to throw slashes with his claws as Briar screams. Grim ends up badly scratching Briar's right hand and Briar falls to the ground.

Grim roars, "RAAAWR!"

Then Grim runs off, leaving Briar behind.

Stunned, injured and petrified, Briar softly says, "Grim...?"

Meanwhile, in Idia's room of the Ignihyde Dorm, Idia and his brother, Ortho are at work.

Idia sighs, "Whew... I used up a year's worth of energy today."You did great! The research presentation you put on was incredible."

"My synthesized voice let me give a smooth speech without a single hitch," Idia says, "That was a blind-typing perfect chain combo. Talk about being a pro gaming athlete, right?

"That's definitely worth bragging about to Committee Chair Roseharts," Ortho says.

Then Idia says, "When I put my mind to something, it's easy-peasy, lemon squeezy. Whee hee hee!" and snickers.

He then calmly says, "Of course, the second the Q&A session was over, I retreated to the safety of my room as fast as humanly possible. Too much normie aggro."

"You could have stuck around to see the rest of the festival," Ortho says.

"And sit through research presentations and arts and crafts booths? That's way too low-level to be worth my time," Idia replies, "Besides..."

Suddenly, they hear pinging sounds from the computer.

Ortho then says, "You have unread emails. Looks like some internship invitations from the people who attended your presentation. IT, communications, technomantic engineering research, software development..." Ortho soon becomes surprised and amazed, "Ooh! Amazing! There's even one from THE Olympos Inc.! Would you like me to open it on your monitor, or read it out loud for you?"

But Idia says, "Don't bother. Throw 'em all in the trash folder."

"What? But..." Ortho says, confused.

But Idia says, "It's fine. I'm not going anywhere regardless..."