A Tale of Traitors

Willow: Realm 5

          I awoke to a monotonous voice dragging on and on. Had I even been asleep? I stared in awe at the multi-colored ceiling; it was made of multiple colors of crushed coral, the brilliant pinks, blues, greens, and yellows shoved into a perfectly wonderful collage. Massive pearls hung on strings that rained down from the ceiling, and everything was painted over in gold flakes.
"Aaaaand she's here," Queen rolled her eyes and pulled me to my shaky feet. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
I shook my head, not quite ready to speak.
"I don't think--I don't--" Bob, who was standing across from her, began to talk, but then threw his hands to his mouth, began to crumple, and then tore down the hallway to the trash can and barfed into it.
"Gross," Queen plugged her nose and tried not to gag.
"I'm sorry," he moaned as he came back to us, the stench of vomit quick to follow. "I feel like I just got spun in--like--super fast circles. For a long time."
"Sorry, Bob," I gave him an understanding glance.
"Queen never has a problem with border jumping, and I don't understand it," he groaned.
"I feel like I just ran a marathon," she smirked. "It's almost like a runner's high."
"I hate running," I mumbled.
"That's lame." She rolled her eyes. "Didn't you used to?"
"Where's everyone else?" I asked nervously, not knowing how to answer the question and not wanting to carry on the conversation.
"The professor and Dalia are with the chief," Queen answered. "Adrianna has yet to arrive."
"Should be here any minute, though," Bob pushed his hair out of his eyes.
"How long have you guys been here?" I asked.
"Ten minutes," Queen looked at her wristwatch. "Unless this thing is broken."
"About five," Bob sighed. "I'm glad we all got through."
"What do you mean?" I asked again.
"I mean, it's, like, rare, but sometimes people don't make it over the border, even with the potions."
"They sometimes don't work?!" I said frantically as I thought about Adrianna. "The professor didn't tell us that!"
"He said it was dangerous," Queen turned to me and her eyes widened as she saw my panicked expression. "Geez, chill out. She'll be fine."
I'm not sure how to describe what happened; it was almost as if a massive mirror was folded into two, with the reflective sides facing outward. Adrianna fell through those reflective doors in the wall, and then they bent back into the usual air. I rubbed my eyes for a moment, pushing aside a persistent memory.
"Hey, you alright?" I asked, helping her up.
"Yeah, how about you?" She smiled and began to stretch out her legs.
"Better than Bob. How did it feel for you?"
"Like I was on a plane for eight hours. Look--my ankles are even swollen," she chuckled in amazement and touched her toes. "Where is everyone else?"
"With the chief already, should we go start looking for them--" I began.
"OH!" Adrianna suddenly exclaimed. The three of us leapt in the air, expecting something terrible to pounce upon us.
"What's wrong?" I yelped.
"N-nothing--are we underwater?" She smiled ear to ear, as if this day couldn't possibly get any better. I envied her sense of joy. I wasn't particularly excited about this mission. I mean, I knew we were doing something great, and I was eager to accomplish our task and murder the king. Maybe even figure out a bit of who I used to be. Perhaps when all of it was over, we would live in a peaceful world and things could begin to go back to normal--could I even have kids of my own and raise them in a world where they would not know the terrible things I had seen and done? I ended this thought process as instantly as it flashed into my mind. IF I ever made it home, we could hope for peace. But it was hard to be as genuinely excited about this mission as Adrianna was.
"Oh my... You're right," Queen said, mirroring Adrianna's excitement. "This isn't air. How could I have missed it?"
I examined the space around me. If I stayed exactly still for long enough, I could see the swaying of the water and feel it brush against my hair. The professor once told me that I used to have lone blue and purple hair, and even though I couldn't remember it, I missed its length and vibrancy as I ran my hands through the short black curls that danced gently in the current.
"But, like, why can we freaking breathe, then?" Bob asked, still trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.
"The professor probably put a spell on us or somethin'. This is sick," Queen darted to and fro over the marble floors throughout the massive, empty room. "Guys, you gotta try this. It's kinda like super speed. I'm not this fast on Earth!"
"Yeah, well you look like a child," Bob cracked up and nudged me. "Doesn't she look, like, super silly?"
"Oh, come on, you know you want to try it, too," I broke into a full out sprint, spanning the entire throne room from wall to wall. I leapt and tried to swim in the water. To my delight, I realized that if I jumped high enough from the floor, I would end up floating in the water and running in what appeared to be mid-air. "QUEEN! TRY THIS!" I yelled, completely unaware that I had burst into giggles as I was exploring these new talents. My whole body was weightless, like how I had felt among the cosmos as I was border jumping. This time, I was positive that the feeling would last as long as I was here. The constant closeness of the water reminded me of the nearness of a dear old friend whose name I couldn't remember anymore. But something about being there, feeling so overjoyed and childish and without a care in the world, felt... perfect. It was safe. It was adventurous, exciting, so alien but so familiar. I let a few more giggles escape my lips, as I couldn't stop them at this point, and I was touching the gorgeous coral ceiling, with Queen by my side.
"OHHH YOU GUYS WERE RIGHT," Bob screeched as he ran back and forth under us, releasing his energy in shouts as he ran. Adrianna had finally started to join, too, when she suddenly stopped and sank to her knees in a most elegant manner.
"Yeah, I know that, doofus!" Queen yelled back, a wide grin playing on her lips. "Adri, come up here!"
"Be respectful," Adrianna almost hissed back, waving us down. I glanced at Queen, who shrugged, and then we shot back down to the ground. Then, we saw who she had seen. The chief of Realm 5, the professor, and a stunning mermaid woman were on their way to us. Instantly, Queen and I flung to our knees next to Adrianna and refused to look any of them in the eyes. Syrnaffin had explained to us before we left that the culture of those in Realm 4 is incredibly different than that which we are used to, and that we should not look at or speak to royals, nobles, or anyone else of authority without being addressed first. However, we could acknowledge the presence of someone "more important" than us by bowing and waiting to be spoken to, which is exactly what we had begun to do.

Well...