The Protagonists

Chapter Sixteen - Oliver

Joel kept talking to himself-Oliver figured he was going absolutely mad-as the two walked towards the woods; Oliver thought the woods looked intimidating, not welcoming. As they stepped over a small, miniscule puddle, Oliver noticed the time change; instead of the sky being dark and starry like back at home, the sky in Cinderella was a dark blue that faded into a slight orange as the sun came up. It was dawn, whereas back at home in Los Angeles, it was nighttime. Oliver, trying to be kind to the boy he once thought was hallucinating an entirely-new universe, attempted to make conversation with Joel. "The sky is pretty," he remarked, capturing Joel's attention.

"It is very pretty here," Joel agreed, carefully stepping over a fallen tree on the ground. "Oliver," he suddenly stopped and faced the boy, "you do believe me now, right? You don't think I'm hallucinating anymore, do you?"

Oliver shrugged, remaining honest with him. "It's quite difficult to believe," he replied, continuing to walk towards the woods, "but at this point, I guess anything is possible."

"Anything is possible," Joel repeated, moving forward to lead the way. The two remained in an uncomfortable, awkward silence as they entered the forest at last; neither one wanted to speak, equalling an unwanted lull. Joel led the way through the trees, stepping on crackling leaves and snapping, fallen branches; Oliver walked behind him, lost in thought. Is this really it? He asked himself, looking above him at the chirping birds. Am I really in a fairytale? As if to answer his question, Joel spoke, "This is really Cinderella. We really are in a fairytale, Oliver. It's hard to believe me, but trust me when I say that we are in an actual fairytale. This is only my second time travelling-it's the first time on my own-so we're kind of in the same boat. This place isn't where I was taken when I..."

He froze suddenly, causing Oliver to bump into his back. Joel, being quite small and slender, fell forward and scraped his knees on the rocks below them. Oliver huffed in annoyance; he was tired of accidentally hurting the boy. He quickly apologized and helped Joel up, hoisting him up by his wrists. "Why'd you stop abruptly?" Oliver puzzled as Joel brushed off his dirty, scratched-up knees.

"We didn't appear where I did before," Joel answered, continuing to walk forward, although he had a slight, almost-unnoticeable limp, "because before, I read the book to travel. I read Die Märchen when I appeared by Fairy Godmother's hut. This time, we used my ring, and it took us here."

"I'm sorry, Joel," Oliver was tired of apologizing to everyone, "but I'm not actually convinced that this is Cinderella. Sure, we're obviously somewhere, because we were in the library, but now we're not; however, you haven't shown me any proof that we're in Cinderella, of all places."

As Joel opened his mouth to open, a sudden burst of light erupted in front of the two, causing them to fall back. Covering his eyes, Oliver wasn't able to see what exactly happened after that, but when the light dimmed, he did manage to notice the two, familiar people standing in front of them-Stacie and Sam. "Sam!" Oliver yelled, running up to confront his friend.

Before he reached him, Stacie held her hand out, blocking Oliver from meeting Sam. "Wait, Oliver," she gave off a sly, devious look, "I have a deal. I'll take you and Sam home if you give me Joel. It's a fair trade, is it not? Your best friend for mine?"

"Best friends?" Oliver heard Joel mutter under his breath. Ignoring the whisper, Oliver nodded swiftly and grabbed Sam's hand, pulling him close for an embrace. "It's only been like, fifteen minutes," Sam muttered, but he did not try to pull away from the hug.

"Thanks," Stacie grabbed Joel's wrist tightly and pulled him over to her, "but we're going to go home now." Joel, attempting to squirm away from Stacie's grasp, and she suddenly disappeared, like Joel and Oliver had before. The boys, not yet realizing what had happened, let go of their embrace and looked around at their surrounding; it was still dawn, with a peek of the sun coming out from the horizon. The birds continued chirping, keeping the boys' silence still pleasant. "Okay, let's go home," Oliver insisted, tugging on Sam's sweatshirt sleeve.

"We have to wait for Annalise," Sam told him in response. "She's our way out."

"What do you mean, 'Annalise is our way out'?" Oliver yelled, throwing his arms in the air for emphasis. "Can't you get us out, Sam?" Sam shook his head slowly, as if everything were obvious. "Wasn't she with you, though?"

"We were in the library together, if that's what you meant," Sam replied, ignoring his friend's panicky voice. "Flynn and she were going to travel here and we were all going to meet up. They were going to go after us."

"Sam, what if they never come?" Oliver questioned, panicking as well. Sam didn't reply; he remained quiet, thinking about what could happen. The two boys-they could hardly fend for themselves in their own house-were stuck inside a fairytale, Cinderella, with no other instruction and no support; they were stuck in a fairytale with absolutely no help. "T-They promised," Sam stuttered nervously. "They promised that they'd meet us here. They're going to come, Oliver."

The two, dejected boys sat on a tree stump in the center of the woods, waiting. The one on the left was whistling to himself, attempting to keep calm in troubling time; the one on the right ran a finger through his hair, also at an attempt to keep calm. The boy on the right, Oliver, instantly recognized the song the boy on the left, Sam, was whistling; it was "Drawing a Blank", one of the songs written and sung by Rushing Waters. At the moment, Sam was whistling Julia's solo, which was considered-by the fans-the best, most spine-chilling moment of the song. Oliver started to whistle as well, just as an attempt to relax and cool off.

What would keep you warm at night?

What would change your dark to light?

Take what's broken, make it right.

Make me believe it's worth the fight.

Worth the fight.

"I don't think they're coming," Sam finally admitted, shaking his head and leaning back against a tree trunk. "I think I was absolutely correct about Flynn; I think he and Stacie purposely split Annalise and I up. And that deal Stacie made? It was to trick us. And...it worked. They got us. Now we're stuck in a fairytale. Joel and Annalise are our only hopes to get us out of here."

"No..." Oliver shook his head, smiling. "Iris. Iris can help us."

"That is correct." A figure stood in front of the two, clinging to a wooden cane. She had on red cloak, flowing down over her wobbly knees; the cloak stopped right at her ankles, revealing pointy, red boots-the boots perfectly matched the cherry-red cloak. The lady's hair was a silver color, revealing her older age; it was tied back into a bun at the back of her neck as well, keeping the wind from blowing into her face. "Iris can help you," she repeated, smiling wickedly. With that, the two boys-they were both scared out of their wits-were lying on the dirt-sodden ground, only with the snap of a finger.