Heir to the Labyrinth

Chapter Seven

I looked to my left and saw Luca in the same position as me. His spinach-green eyes held confusion, as mine probably did as well. "Good thing Popeye isn't here," I mumbled, still looking at Luca, only to get a weird look back.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"I don't know. What did that lady say? Moon Realm?" he questioned.

I stood up and helped Luca stand as well. We looked around at this strange realm, which had only the moon to light our way. There were large, ominous trees. Most were dead with no leaves and hardly any branches. The grass was a deep green, which was surprising for it being so dark. In the distance were a lot of tall, articulately built buildings.

"I'll try and make one of my crystal heart things so we can get out of here. It's giving me the chills," I told him, closing my eyes to conjure the crystal. I waited for a couple of minutes, unable to feel the slight weight that should be there.

"Uh, Emilia? I don't think it's working..." Luca said hesitantly. Oh no. What are we supposed to do if we can't just teleport out? The portal is gone. I can't hear Jareth, either. What the frick frack are we going to do? Everyone at the castle is probably looking for us, and we're in a whole different realm! Oh god, my mom is probably so worried.

Luca and I shared concerned looks, and then focused on our surroundings once more. The trees were blanketing the sky, so there was even less light that shed through them. The moon was very bright and abnormally large. It almost had a green tinge to it as well. There were small bushes that had what looked like berries on them. I had no idea if they were poisonous or not, so eating them wouldn't be a good idea.

"We should probably try to stay in the forest for the day- night? I'm not sure... It seems like it would always be dark here," Luca murmured to me. I nodded my head slightly in agreement.

"That lady 'Belladonna' didn't seem very fond of my family. I don't know how the other people in this place are. They could be just like her," I replied, looking around for somewhere we could sleep.

The only things we could sleep on were the ground and the trees. The ground didn't seem too safe or comfortable for that matter, so-

"We can sleep in the trees like Katniss," I suggested. Luca turned to me with a look of pure happiness.

"We're gonna sleep in the trees like Katniss. Yes! That's awesome! You can be Rue and give me chewed up leaves!"

"I'm not giving you chewed up leaves,"

"Dang it!"

After climbing the closest tree, we tried to get settled on the branches. This is way harder than I thought it would be. Katniss seemed so chill up in her trees, why are we having such a hard time? With our luck, we'll both fall off. Eventually, we were semi-chill on our tree branches.

"Emiliaaaaa..."

"Hm?"

"There are sticks up my butt!"

"Mine too."

I tried to sleep, but after an hour I gave up and decided to see if Luca was awake. "Hey... Luca? Pssst!" I whisper-shouted.

"Yeah? What's up?" He whispered back.

"Nothing really, I just can't sleep. So, I was wondering, what was your life like before all this?" I asked him.

"It was pretty normal, actually. I lived with my parents and three siblings. Two sisters and one brother. The house was always a bit hectic, but you know, it was home. My siblings are all younger than me, so I took care of them a lot. My mom worked long hours every day, and my dad worked from home and stayed in his office most of the time. But, my life was good," Luca spoke softly and affectionately.

"Do you miss them?" I asked, in a similar hushed tone.

"Yeah, and I hope I get back to them. Not that I don't love you and everyone at the castle, but they're my family. Maybe we could pull a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stunt and move them into the castle," Luca smiled as he talked.

Finally feeling tired, I closed my eyes and mumbled, "That could be arranged."

"Night, Emilia."

I woke with a start as a loud yelp rang through the air. I looked around and saw Luca missing from his branch. Peering down, I saw him lying on the forest floor groaning. "You okay, Luca?" I shouted down.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Don't worry about me," He yelled. I started climbing down from my tree and dropped to the ground.

"So, what is today's plan of acti-" Luca was cut off by a shout in the distance.

"Hey! You two! Hey!" A figure emerged from behind the hill. The figure came closer, until we could see them somewhat properly (which is quite hard in this lighting). It looked to be a guy, around Luca's and my age. He came closer, and we got a better look at him.

The guy had shaggy, dark brown hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen. Oh my gosh, he was gorgeous.

"Oh sweet dolphins, he's hella attractive," I heard Luca whisper from beside me. Wait, what?

"Wait a second. Luca, are you gay?" I asked him quickly, to which he replied with a 'yup'. Well, darn. Whatever. Luca better get acquainted with this feller.

The man finally approached us and said, "Hey! I'm Alfie, who are you guys? No one comes around the forest at a time like this, no one who lives around here, anyway. Who are you two?"

"I'm...uh. I'm..." Luca started to say, but was still in shock of the beauty of the man in front of us.

"He's Luca, and I'm Emilia. It's nice to meet you, Alfie!" I smiled broadly at him, hoping to take the embarrassment away from Luca.

"It's a pleasure to meet you two as well!" I noticed as he spoke that his eyes lingered on Luca. Ohhhh snap. Get it, Luca!

"About how we got here... we aren't too sure ourselves. This crazy woman threw us in a portal and bam! We're here," Luca replied, seeming to have gotten over his shyness.

"Really? That's crazy! I assume you're from the Sun Realm, then?" Alfie asked us.

"Yeah, I guess. But, I've never heard those terms before, nor did I know that there was a 'Moon Realm'," I answered Alfie with a shrug.

"I can take you to the king, if you'd like. He might have more insight on the situation than I do," Alfie suggested.

"That'd be great! Thank you!" Luca replied for the both of us.

And so, we set off towards the ominous castle in the distance.

****Author's Note**** Hey!! It's been like a century since I last uploaded... And I'm sorry about that! So, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!