Forest of Imagination

Forest of Palaces

A/N: Hey guys, sorry I haven't been updating a lot, but I've been reading some uncompleted books and I was so worried this would become one of them :( Thanks for the 27 views so far this book got! I actually dedicated it to one of my friends, so I didn't expect any more than 1 or 2 readers...anyway, hope you like this chapter!

I swam up to Mermaid Beach without Dad's permission (hey, I just met him). No one was in sight, which was good. I turned back into a human, grabbed my beach bag (which, luckily, I brought), and took out a towel to wipe me dry. Even though I can change back into a human, I can't dry myself automatically.

I looked at the map Queen Brooke had given me, and sighed, mentally face-palming. Fairy State was so far away from here, and I should've known, based on how long the Cadillac drive here was!

I put in the earbuds of my iPod Touch 5, which I also carried in my new beach bag, and played old iTunes songs that Tara downloaded before "Bad Blood" and everything became cool. "Dear Future Husband" was an all time favorite for the Russell family, so of course I played that. A smile grew on my face.

"Dear future husband,

Here's a few things

You'll need to know if you wanna be

My one and only all my life.

Take me on a date

I deserve it babe

And don't forget the flowers every anniversary

'Cause if you treat me right

I'll be the perfect wife

Buying groceries

Buy-buying what ya need."

That got me into a great mood, and I got out my magical box system. You know how London has the tube and New York City has the subway train? Well, it turns out that Terra Meridian has the box system, which by the way has nothing to do with box offices. Apparently, Jeffrey Nunez, the only human ever allowed on Terra Meridian (TM really appreciates academically intelligent humans) and a great scientist, found out that you could store momentum into a battery and, with a little force, that battery could become a transportation device. So he stored the battery into what he called a box axle, and did tamper with the axle a bit so the amount of inertia would be a little different, and the box flew off.

Long scientific history, okay people? I hardly understood it myself and only understood it when I read the brochure on Dad's drawer for Nunez Lab, the biggest laboratory in TM. But that was how the box system was invented, with a stroke of ingenious (I like that word, ingenious).

I stepped onto the box and sat on the comfy leather sofa inside. Metal flaps drew up immediately.

"Fairy State, Chester Palace, get there triple-time," I said into the speaker, which immediately replied, "Yes, surely."

I had no idea what was going on in the head of a box axle, if they even had heads. Or brains.

Twenty minutes later, I arrived at Chester Palace triple-time. I willed the box axle to shrink back into a regular-sized "toy," picked it up off the cement ground, and stuck it into my bag. Taking a deep breath, I walked as calmly as possible to the French doors of Queen Brooke's palatial, well, palace!

The guards required my ID, which I thought was funny but unzipped my bag and gave to them anyway. I hope they don't mind Earth passports, or more even, that they didn't chew anything up.

"Excused," the guard on the right said, handing back my passport. I thumbed through the pages, just making sure nothing was ripped or anything. Luckily, nothing was, and I proceeded into the castle. It was just like I'd seen before, marble floor and walls with a gold-trimmed carpet, but walking all the way through and not flying in through the open sky-walk felt grander and better.

"--s not quite ready yet, unfortunately," I heard Queen Brooke say as I walked into the throne room. In all this grandeur, I felt like I did at Westward: touching my clothes and worrying they weren't fancy enough.

"Well greetings, Melody, I did not expect to see you here," the queen greeted me, sounding surprised. "Is there something in my kingdom that needs to come to my attention, perhaps?" I sighed and shook my head.

"I actually need to ask you something, Your Majesty," I answered, hoping that was good enough.

"Well ask away, but quickly please. It is not like I--what is it you Earth people say?--have all day," Queen Brooke sighed, waving her hand to go on. I swallowed carefully and then asked.

"Why are fairies, and mermaids, and everything kept a secret from humans?" I asked daringly.

"It's a long story:" Queen promised.

"About nine hundred years ago, fairies were the guiders and peacemakers with humans. They were mostly hidden, but whenever a human desperately needed us, we always appeared. We granted their four wishes--everyone says nowadays it's genies with three, but it's really fairies with four--and lived happily in peace. Then a greedy man named Kirby Little captured one of us, a powerful fairy named Kathy Maroon, who was the star peacemaker of TM and even had a half-fairy with a human man. That half-fairy became a peacemaker and had her own child with a fairy, Xavier Porter, but that's a story for later. Anyway, Xavier finally saved her, but she was very ill after her experience in a blocked cage of a human.

"She died eight months later, having a little baby whom Xavier took care of in grief. That baby was my grandmother, because fairies live three hundred fifty years average. My mom is still alive and I'm one hundred six already, but that's beside the point. The point is, the bond between man and fairy was broken and would never be replaced. Kirby had one last wish for Kathy though, whom he forced to make him rich and get a wife and such. He wished, for the fourth one, that TM would send one half-fairy each century, at least, every year as a peacemaker."

I groaned quietly. Why did almost everyone in Terra Meridian have to tell such long stories?

"Thank you Queen Brooke, but I have one last question for you," I required, "a wish. Send me a dream with hints about my love life, because it's not getting off to a great start." Her Highness nodded, but I couldn't help thinking she though it was an odd request and she wouldn't grant it.

I barely remembered going back to the box axle for home. All I remembered was that when I went to sleep, a pleasant surprise was going to be waiting for me, and I just couldn't wait.

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A/N: Sorry about the short chapter, I had to rush 'cause my mom needed to use Comcast and I couldn't make it too long. I'm getting sushi for dinner too, and since dinnertime is really close, well, bye!!

Friend: UPDATE THIS STORY WITH A LONG CHAPTER PLEASE!!!

Author: I can't do a super-long chapter like the last one, but hopefully I can do it! Also, does anyone know how to make trailers on Wattpad? No, yes, no? Well, please comment, like, and vote up there and down below, bye!!