Fairytale Fate: The Legend Begins

♚ C H A P T E R • T H I R T Y ♚

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"We make our own fairytales." - Blair Waldorf, Gossip Girl
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The forest outside of Caeshire extended for miles until it eventually fed into a vast, luscious mountain range. Each cedar tree was nearly a century old, their branches almost scraping the sky, their trunks seeming endlessly tall. Moss climbed up the bark, providing pillowy cushions under the afternoon sunlight.

Soon the terrain became rockier, the group beginning to gain altitude as the forest moved up the mountains. They followed a trickling stream uphill, the air becoming cooler the farther they traveled towards the mountain's peak.

As the horses continuously made their fatigue known, the five friends stopped at a small cliff in the mountainside to regroup. Jake helped Carolyn pull Robin down from one of the steeds, placing him on a bed of plush moss in the shade.

Carolyn sat with her back against the base of a fir tree, pulling Robin's head onto her lap as Bailey scanned the forest below them for clues about their location.

"So," Carolyn started, growing impatient as Robin's condition worsened. "Where exactly is this chick you were talking about?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Bailey stated. "If only I had my map."

"Your dad makes maps"—Carolyn grimaced at her mention of Lewis, whose vitality was still in question, and softened her tone— "shouldn't you be a human compass or something?"

"At least I have an inkling as to where we are, rather than traipsing through the woods blindly and getting us lost," Bailey snapped, recalling Carolyn's directional challenges in Corona's forest.

"Guys...?" Aura peeped, her eyes growing wide as she looked at the mountain wall behind them. As her sister and friend bickered on, she cleared her throat and raised her voice. "GUYS!" She pointed a finger to the wall, which now had an opening to a candlelit cavern.

"That's new," Jake commented, amazed by the cave's magical appearance and a floating, golden candelabra as it made its way to them.

Its flames flickered slightly before it began its journey back into the cave, beckoning for the five to follow.

Jake assisted Carolyn in guiding Robin's limp body into the cavern as Bailey and Aura tied the horses' reins to a nearby tree.

A cooling mist of rainfall began to pitter-patter against the forest floor, sending a pleasant wash of familiarity of the Massachusetts shore over the twins.

If only life was still just as simple as it was before Fabula—when they spent rainy spring afternoons looking out onto the Massachusetts Bay. When the most troubling things in their lives were the school musical and acing Chemistry. The chemical composition of the sisters' minds was now utterly enervated, the ghost of their prior happiness having long since fled their consciousness. The thoughts occupying their minds were now far less trivial—flitting between the murder of their friend's baby brother and the vacillating health of the elusive Robin Hood.

Carolyn carted the bulky man into the cave, studying his face carefully as he experienced his first moments of consciousness in hours. He had only fallen asleep once they reached the safety of Caeshire's wooded border, as if his insignificant level of alertness could've somehow protected the girl that pulled him from the gallows, had the Crystian army come for her. Robin smiled down at her now, pushing through the pain the scrapes on his face brought him until she returned his grin.

Carolyn's hazel eyes twinkled as she tightened her protective grip on him, the honey flecks in her irises brighter than before as the flames of hundreds of candles danced around them. "You're gonna be okay," she whispered as a reminder, though it was more for herself than Robin. You have to be, Carolyn thought as they wandered down the path.