Secrets of the Underwater Dome

Chapter 15 - The Smoke and Snowfall

The black smoke dissipated into the air and was replaced by snow, which fell lightly and gracefully over them, whitening their hair and making them look like they aged 50 years. The snow was settling over Icelynn's fallen body and instead of covering her up, like a blanket resting over her, she was fading, fading into opaque and glistening frozen snowflakes arising not from the air. Flynn bounded forward and scooped Icelynn up into a hug, gripping her like never before she disappeared into a flurry of snowflakes, in an icy blue and crystal pearl white haze a last snowflake came to rest in Flynn's hand, and then only then did Flynn let himself cry.

Astounded, Nathalia still stood there, tears flooding down her face like everyone else's, Nate walked towards her, and before he even said she dropped the sword which landed with a thump on the icy ground and she embraced him. She hugged him, and Nate felt warm, warm, and bubbly as butterflies warmed her stomach. When they pulled apart, Nathalia started, "I'm so sorry, she enchanted m-" Nate didn't need to hear it, he didn't want to hear it, he just wanted her. Nate rested his hand on Nathalia's pink cheek and leaned in, Nathalia smiled before she leaned in as well.

It felt as though her body was melting away, it felt as though every worry, every little problem had floated away down a river never to be seen again. Nathalia's bubble gum pink lips kissing Nate's peach ones. Waylan, Flynn, and Annalise stood watching, smiles on their faces. Waylan had a knowing smile, Annalise had a wide grin and Flynn had a soft closed-mouth smile, but nonetheless, it was still a smile. They looked like they wanted to stay there forever, Barry and Barney had jumped down from their tree hide-out to join in the fun.

Flynn got up and walked off into the distance darkly, Annalise who noticed, whilst everyone else was laughing, followed him. He continued to walk on not noticing that Annalise was following and when she caught up she turned him around. His face was red, puffy, and swollen, and tear marks lined his face like ages in a notebook. He looks at her with his leafy green eyes. Annalise Placed her hands around the back of his neck and leaned forward, her lips kissing his. She pulls away and says, "It's okay". Flynn lightly grabs one of her hands which was resting at her side, and holds it in his cupped hands. The blood was now dry, but the cut was still throbbing, "I'm sorry" he whispers, "You don't have to be embarrassed, anyone would have done the same-" "No, no they wouldn't have"" Flynn said moodily, "Do you want to feel worse?" Annalise said, "Look I know it's hard- but" Annalise broke off, her eyes widened, "Oh my gosh" she said, "Oh my gosh" she repeated again, "What?" Flynn said curiously, "we need to get back to the castle" and when Annalise went, she sprinted back through the forest to the clearing where everyone was dancing. "Guys!" she shouted. They all froze, staring at her, "We need to get back to the castle to tell the Queen!"nobody moved until Nate said, "We need to be quick, we have 1 hour!". Everyone panicked and started to run around aimlessly, "Annalise!" Nathalia called through the hustle, Annalise stalked over, clearly she had not forgiven Nathalia for the double act. "Look before I say anything, I just wanted to say sorry" Nathalia said genuinely, "What for?" Annalise replied sarcastically, 'you know what for, I want to explain" Nathalia said, keeping her voice sweet and calm, "We don't have time for that what did you want to tell me" Annalise said urgently, "I got here so quickly because" she paused for a second, "because I'm the Queen's daughter, a princess, and royalty get the power to travel where they want in a matter of seconds.", "and.." Annalise said getting bored, "Look if you don't have anything important to", "I can transport people, we can get to the castle in a minimum of 10 seconds" Nathalia blurted out, Annalise waited for a short second and then said, "Then what are we waiting for?" Annalise tried to yell, but yet she was ignored, but only Waylan, who noticed this feeble attempt, yelled with all his volume "Guys listen up!", "thanks," Annalise said smiling, Waylan didn't smile back, instead he turned away grumpily, Annalise looking hurt and shocked said, "Nathalia is going to redeem herself by transporting all of us to the castle.", everyone started and then Nathalia said, "we have no time to waste".

She pulled out a small silver-weaved, drawstring bag, and pulled it open revealing a fine silver powder that glittered so much it looked like a ray of sunshine was exploding out of the bag. Nathalia pulled a handful of it out and started scattering it lightly on the ground in an oval shape. Everyone stood and watched as she did her magic work and then after the circle ends had been connected she put the bag back in her skirt pocket and retrieved out a small hoop which was a brilliant gold and looked like a bangle. She threw the small hoop into the exact center of the silver-powder circle, and it was so accurate that it looked like it had been magnetized there. The second the golden hoop landed on the ground, a glistening, eye-catching, deep purple portal opened up. It looked endless. And as people moved slightly forward to stare into it, little pink and stars waved back at them. Only Nathalia said something, "Who wants to go first with me?", nobody replied, until Flynn said, "how does that work, why don't I have that?"Nathalia blushed and said, not offensively, "I'm royalty" She said this in a quiet voice, and then to help the awkward silence Nate blurted out, 'I'll go first". Nathalia's face brightened and she said, "Okay!"Nathalia gripped Nate's wrist and said remember to hold your breath, and before anyone could blink Nathalia had jumped into the swirling portal, Nate being dragged along with her.