The Castle of Dreams

Chapter 24 - Fulfilling the Plan

After explaining their plan to Rebecca, She was all for it. "There's only one problem with that." She said, after a moment.
"What's that?" August asked.
"They'll never let us leave." She answered, referring to her Father, and other adults. August grinned. "Then we'll just have to be rebellious, and sneak out." He said. Abigail crossed her arms. "You sure have this plan very planned out don't, August?" She asked. August nodded. "Yup and it all came easy to me." He said.
"You sneaky little bandit, you" Abigail said, laughing as August bowed. Everyone else laughed as well. "Okay, so when do we leave?" Max asked.
"Once everyone's asleep." August said, "to make sure we're not caught."
"I have to tell someone. Which of them can we trust not to tell?" Sarah asked.
"Why do you have to tell someone?" Hector asked.
"Because I told you, if you want me to do this. The baby is staying here, but I can't leave him alone." She said. Hector nodded. "That makes sense. So, who can we trust?" Hector said.
"Definetly not my Father. He's terrible at keeping secrets." Rebecca said.
"And, not Timothy. I mean, I think it's still too early to assume he's actually changed." Zackary added.
"So, Randel or Holly?"
"Well, both." Casey said simply.
"Why both? I thought we were only telling one?" Max asked.
"We were, but When we first met Randel, he knew Timothy was coming to get us. If he knew that who's to say he doesn't already know our plan? And I'm assuming Sarah would be most comfortable leaving Oliver with Holly. So, why not both?" Casey said. Everyone nodded slowly, agreeing to what she was saying. Just then the doors swung open. None other than Randel and Holly were now walking towards them. "See, told you." Casey said. Randel laughed. "We'll do it, and we won't tell. Pinkie Promise." He said. Sarah handed over Oliver to Holly, after giving him a kiss on his cheek. "Go, quick. Before the boys realise you're gone." Holly said. The teenagers didn't waste another second, they turned and ran outside. Once outside though everyone stopped. "Wait, where are we going?" Abigail asked.
"Through the trees. It's pretty straightforward. I found the castle after storming out of the trees, so the village is on through the trees." Rebecca said. Wiley cracked up. Everyone looked at him confused. "Into the woods, we go." He said, chuckling and then leading the way through the trees. After a while the sun began to set. Soon they were trudging through the trees in the dark. They were all running into trees left and right. But they were determined to keep going. Finally, just as the sun was rising they found the tip of the hill, where they had first found Beckett. Grace stepped through the trees and had a coughing fit. "Oh my gosh. What reeks?" She asked in between coughs.
"The dead sheep." Beckett said. Grace pulled her shirt up over her nose. "Ewwwww" She said. Wiley laughed. "It doesn't smell that bad." He said.
"Actually, it does." Max said swishing his hand under his nose to blow away the rotten smell. Sarah walked over to the pathway that led down the hill. "Come on, let's get away from the smell." She said. No one argued they all followed Sarah down the hill. She was right, down at the bottom of the hill, it smelled much better. "Oh thank goodness! Fresh air!! " Grace said, dropping her shirt and breathing in the fresh air. Instead of rotting sheep the air smelled of fresh baked bread. "Come on you guys, We're almost there." Sarah said rushing towards the baker's shop. She beat them all there, the baker had just set down a tray of samples when he noticed Sarah. "Sarah?" He asked.
"Kip!" Sarah said running over to him and giving him a hug. Kip, the baker hugged her back. "You came back?" He asked. Sarah smiled. "For a little bit, I brought some friends though." She said gesturing to the others. Sarah began introducing everyone. Once they were all introduced, The Baker couldn't stop staring at Hector and Grace. And they him. "Do you guys know each other or something because the staring is starting to creep me out." Wiley asked after a few moments.
"You two look so much like my children. I haven't seen them for fourteen years, but you so very much resemble their mother." he said. Hector and Grace exchanged glances. "F-fourteen years? We've been looking our whole lives for our parents." Grace said.
"I guess we were looking in the wrong places." Hector said. Then the three of them broke into grins. They ran to each other and hugged. "Awww. How sweet. They finally followed the breadcrumbs home." Max said. Everyone laughed. It felt good to laugh. For a moment it finally felt like everything might be normal for the first time in quite some time. But as always, the feeling was to good to be true. Customers had come to the shop and the baker had to get back to work, but he invited everyone to stay as long as they needed. By the time the first few customers had left everything was quiet for awhile, so Kip came back inside. The many teenagers had all sat down chitchatting about what they would do exactly when they fulfilled their plan. Kip, sat down in a kitchen chair and looked around the room. "What are you children planning?"He asked.
"Nothing." They all said together. Then they all looked down at the ground. Saying 'nothing' at the same time obviously showed they were up to something so they just decided not to say anything. "Uh-huh. Okay, good to know you've all been good and not getting into trouble." Kip said.
"I have a question." Casey asked. Kip gestured outwards with his hands. "By all means, ask it." He said.
"Sarah told us that you were passing information to Timothy, before he was well good. Anyways, why was that?" Casey asked, stretching her legs out and leaning on her hands to prop herself up. Kip sighed. "We both wanted the same thing, our children. He promised me he would help me find them if I helped him. I should've known better than to trust him, once I found his true intentions for you, but by then it was too late, and I'm very sorry. Wait a second. Did you say before he was good?" He asked. Casey nodded. "Do explain." Kip continued.
"He followed us everywhere. When really he only wanted Rebecca, because he thought his daughter being gone was her fault, which was ridiculous. It was not her fault at all. Anyways, he finally captured her and Beckett and lots of things happened and he realized his mistakes, and now we're helping him find his daughter." Wiley explained before anyone else had the chance.
"How nice of you." A new voice said. Everyone jumped at the new voice, except for Sarah. "Hello, my sweet." Rumplestiltskin said appearing out of thin air right next to Sarah.
"Don't call me that." Sarah said. Rumple laughed. "Or what? Your doggy friend over there will attack me?" He cackled. Wiley growled. Sarah glared at the little man. "He has a name. And no, if I had to I could beat you up." She said.
"HA! Sure you could. Come along. You're coming with me." Rumple said grabbing her arm. Sarah tried to pull her arm away, but he was to quick for them all. He disappeared taking Sarah with him. "NO!" The teenagers yelled.
"He tricked us!" Hector exclaimed stomping his foot. August bent over and picked something up. "But he left us a clue, probably not on purpose of course but he did. Look." August showed them what he picked up, it was a small pine tree piece that must've fallen off of his clothing. "Maybe we can find out where this is from, and find the bandit hideaway place we need to find the others." August said.
"Hey Bay-" Beckett started. He cut himself off when he remembered Baylee wasn't there. Baylee could find out where the sprig was from in no time. But alas she was gone. So was Peyton, and Tessa and now Sarah. They had to get them back. No matter what.
"Maybe, we should go back to the castle and see if there is a book or something that could help us. That's what Baylee would do, Look in a book." Rebecca said after the teenagers shared a moment of sadness. No one had a better idea. And so they said goodbye to the baker. Hector and Grace giving him a hug before they left promising to come back as soon as they could. And then they were off back to the castle. Again.
Once they reached the castle, Sean and Timothy were seated on the steps waiting for them, Randel, Holly and Oliver sitting and playing together on a blanket in the lawn. "What in the world were you thinking?" Sean roared as soon as the Teenagers broke through the trees. He ran over and inspected them making sure no one was hurt. "Wait, where's Sarah?" He asked. No one answered. "Don't make me ask again." He warned. Still no answer just ten heads hung low to the ground. "Where is Sarah?" He asked once more.
"She's gone." Wiley said quietly. Holly looked up from playing with the baby. "What do you mean, gone?" She asked. Wiley looked up at them. "I mean, Rumplestiltskin captured her and now she's trapped in his clutches all because of our stupid plan!!" He yelled, kicking a tree stump so hard it cracked down the middle. Everyone stared at him. Wiley took a deep breath and then sat down on the tree stump. "It's not fair. We shouldn't have even asked her to do that. Who knows what the insane little man will do to her. I can't...I can't even bear to think about it." He said putting his face in his hands. Beckett went over and patted his shoulder. "It's alright, Wiley. She'll be fine. I don't think Sarah was kidding when she said she could kick his butt. She'll be able to handle herself until we can find her." Beckett said. Wiley looked up at Beckett. "You're right man. Thanks for the encouragement." Wiley said, getting back to his feet. Beckett shrugged his shoulders.
"So, what happened exactly?" Timothy asked. The teenagers exchanged glances. Assuming Randel and Holly, told them where they had gone, since they had been waiting for their return there wasn't much to explain except for the sprig of pine. August held it up. "We found this. We're not sure where it's from but it fell from Rumplestiltskin when he disappeared with Sarah." August explained.
"Let me see." Timothy said, walking over. August handed him the sprig and Timothy inspected it for a moment. "This is from Neverland. No need to look in the books. It's obvious." He said.
"Gee, it's so obvious. How is it obvious? It just looks like a piece of tree to me." Abigail said, crossing her arms. Timothy glanced at her over his glasses. "See the way it works the longer you're in this world, the more things you start to notice. Take the sprig for example. The ridges on it, the color of the needles, the size of the stem. It practically screams Neverland. Now this," Timothy reached over and snatched Max's top hat. "This, is so very obviously from Wonderland. Do you see now?" He asked. Abigail nodded slowly, only half understanding. Timothy threw Max's hat like a frisbee and it landed perfectly on his head. "Whoa, that was cool! How did you do that? Magic?" Hector asked. Max shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno man, this thing is like a boomerang, watch." Max took off his hat and threw it as far as he could. Within moments the hat was back in sight, it did a somersault midair dropping a bouquet of flowers out of it into Max's hands and landed back on his head. Max handed the flowers to Grace, while everyone else clapped. "I told you." He said.
"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen." Hector said.
"Okay, back to reality. What do we do now? Our friends have to be in neverland so how do we get to Neverland?" Zackary asked.
"You fly, of course." Rebecca replied, smiling at the thought of Peyton saying that all the time when they were younger.
"No way, Really? There's only one problem now, None of us know how to fly!!" Zack exclaimed. Randel clapped his hands. Everyone looked over at him. "You can take the carpets!" He exclaimed, getting to his feet. "Follow me." He said leading the teenagers inside to a supply closet on the second floor. "You have to promise me you'll be extremely careful, carpet travel is the most dangerous." He said, turning the knob and grabbing a carpet for each of them. One carpet seemed more awake than the others. It flew around in circles above their heads and soon as Randel opened the door. Then it came down and bowed in front of August. August shook the tassels, like he was shaking a person's hand. "Magic Carpet. Cool." He said. The carpet flew around him in circles.
"I think he likes you." Randel said, he clapped his hands in a strange pattern and the other carpets woke up. "Take the children to Neverland, and be ever so careful, especially you," Randel said pointing at Wiley's carpet, "These people are not Timothy and Sean, they have never ridden carpets before, so be on your best behavior. Understood?" Randel asked.
"They're carpets they aren't going to answ-...you" Abigail began to say, when every single carpet saluted Randel. Randel smirked and winked at Abigail, then gestured for everyone to go back outside. Outside, They were given a brief lesson on how to control the carpets, although they were all mostly people trained. "They will take you to and from Neverland, hopefully with the others in tow on your return. Good Luck, and be careful." Randel said, meeting each of their eyes. Sean hugged Rebecca. "Promise me you'll be careful." He said. Rebecca nodded. "I promise." She replied. Sean still wasn't convinced he turned to Beckett and Zack. "Make sure she's safe." He said. Zack nodded. Beckett glanced at Rebecca and then back at Sean. "I've given my life for her once, sir, I'd gladly do it again if needed." Beckett said. Sean patted Beckett on the shoulder. "Good boy." Sean said before turning away and walking over to his mother, who was still playing with little Oliver. "Everybody ready?!?" Randel called. When everyone nodded or replied with a yes they sat down on their carpets and got ready to fly. August was in the lead. Everyone had agreed if anyone could figure out how to fly a carpet before the others it would be him. They were all arranged in a V shape, so that they looked like a ginormous flock of geese. "Okay, here we goooo." August called, as the carpets took of into the sky.
Flying on a carpet was something one wouldn't think would be hard, but it was. At the speed they were going, the wind whipping them around like turbulence. The girl's and Beckett's hair flying in their faces causing them to have trouble seeing. But once they got past that, flying was the bestest feeling they had ever had in their lives. The cool breeze, the extremely comfortable seating. Everything about it amazed them all. "This is so fun!" Grace yelled over the whipping of the wind.
"WHAT?" Everyone called back. Grace laughed out loud. "WOOOO!" She exclaimed. The others taking her lead moments later. The trip was shorter than they had all hoped it would be, but as soon as they saw land they knew their friends were close. "Where do you think they are?" Casey called to the others. Everyone looked around. The carpets responded to their thoughts and floated in midair. As they looked around, they saw the classic Neverland landmarks, it wasn't until they saw the ship that they realized that was it. The ship was their destination. It sparkled in the sunlight. "Why is it sparkling?" Rebecca asked after a moment of staring at the ship. The answer was so painfully obvious, that they didn't even realize it. It was almost like how Rebecca had been oblivious to Beckett's crush for so long, The truth was right in front of them they just couldn't see it. "Good Question, Red. Maybe we should get a little closer and see if we can see anything else." Wiley said.
"Sound's good to me!" Abigail called. The carpets took them closer to the ship. So much closer to where they could see what was actually happening on the boat, but not close enough for them to be noticed. From what they could see down on the boat, chaos was happening.
Rumplestiltskin appeared with Sarah, and two others the teenagers depicted and Peyton and Baylee. All three of them looked miserable. Then they noticed Tessa. She was chained by the ankles to the front end of the ship. If they thought the others looked miserable, they were wrong. Tessa looked downright dreadful. Her wings laid limp against her back, every once in awhile twitching then going still again. Her blonde head bent down and sorrow. Her hands held so tightly to each other her fingernails were digging into them and drawing blood. "It's pixie dust!" Casey exclaimed finally seeing the truth about the sparkling on the ship. "They're using her to get to the ship to fly!" Casey continued. The intake of gasps from around her, showed her she was most likely right. "We have to get them out of there." Abigail said.
"But how, the only way to get them out would be to distract the bandits. And there's way too many of them. We would be outnumbered in seconds." Beckett said.
"What do these bandits even want with us anyways? What have we ever done to them?" Rebecca asked.
"That's just it, Rebecca. We haven't done anything. The only reason they could possibly be targeting us would be to get to someone close to us....would be because..Quick, get Zack and Rebecca out of here." August said.
"What? Why?" Zackary and Rebecca asked at the same time. August met their eyes. "They're after the crown. The Castle of Dreams is the castle that sees all other places in the entire fairytale world, They want to steal it. In order to get you guys here they took our friends, in order to get Sean, Timothy, Randel and Holly here they will take you. And they're not going to be nice hosts. You need to get somewhere safe, we'll save the others." He said. Both, Rebecca and Zack shook their heads vigorously.
"No, we're going to help. Like it or not those are our friends too." Zack said. Rebecca nodded. "And besides, we've gotten through some pretty tough situations since we've been here, what's one more?" She added.
August and the others exchanged glances. August could very easily be right. The Bandit's, Captain Hook and Rumplestiltskin could be after the Crown to take over the Castle of Dreams, but if they got their hands on Zack and Rebecca, it would be over. It had started when they took Jaqueline fourteen years ago. If they had only realized earlier what was going on all of this could have been avoided. But before of the circumstances, They needed Zack and Rebecca's help if they were going to save their friends. Rebecca pulled up her red hood and nodded at August. "Fine. We'll all go in together." August said. He took a deep breath and he led the group of teenagers and magic carpets down the the ship's deck. As soon as their feet touched the deck bandits began to swarm them. "STOP!" A deep gruff yelled. The bandits backed up. A man with a hood covering all of his face except his mouth stepped forward. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" He asked walking around the newcomers in circles sizing them up.
"Let our friends go. It's us you really want." Rebecca said.
"And why on earth would I want you?" The hooded man asked. Zackary glanced at his newlyfound sibling. 'What are you doing?' He asked with his eyes. Rebecca just winked at him symbol for, 'just go with it.' Rebecca turned back to the man. "Because, you know, We're valuable." Rebecca said, silently praying her voice didn't didn't sound as shaky as she felt.
"How valuable?" The hooded man asked. Rebecca smirked. She had got his attention. She pushed back her hood and smiled flirtatiously at him. "Royally valuable." She said. The hooded man's mouth tightened. "You are the lost princess." He said.
"Lost Princess?" Rebecca asked. "Um..I guess that could be me."
The hooded man ignored her. "You look just like her." He said. Rebecca took a step backwards away from him. "I look like who?" She asked.
"Your mother, My late sister." He said. Rebecca's mouth fell open. "Oh great, another one?" She whispered to herself. A moment later she looked back up. "Who are you?" She asked.
The hooded man looked up, and pushed his hood back so the teenagers could see his face. "I am Robin Hood. Sister to Reanna, I've dedicated my life to taking over the castle that kidnapped my sister and took her life. Join me, niece. Avenge your mother." Robin Hood said holding out his hand to Rebecca. Rebecca shook her head. "No. My mother wasn't kidnapped. She lived there happily. I will not join you." Rebecca yelled, jumping back on her magic carpet which flew away the moment she was on it. While she had everyone distracted the others had freed their friends and Rebecca had bought them time. As she flew away, Robin Hood yelled, "YOU'LL REGRET THAT CHOICE LITTLE RED!!"
Rebecca hid her face in her hood so that no one would see the tears that fell silently from her eyes.