Kingdom Keepers: Once Upon a Dream

Chapter 3

A/N: It's time to meet two very important people in the Keeper world. Hope you enjoy!

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Later that evening, Casey stood in front of Alcott's, a local restaurant where she knew she'd find the last two Keepers. She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. She'd spent all afternoon searching, alone for most of it, as Erin had gone home a while ago. The Keepers were scattered all over Orlando and, being that she currently only had her learners permit to drive, she'd had to bike everywhere. Getting them all to agree to meet her had been no easy task, much less so than it had been with Finn. She'd been met all day with pushback and confusion, sometimes even anger, and it hadn't taken long for it to become discouraging. This, she had quickly been forced to realize, was going to be a lot harder than she'd hoped.

Still, she knew she needed to push through. If she was going to succeed at this, she couldn't stop trying: not for anything. Looking up at the restaurant's sign, she took a deep breath. Judging by her predictions, this encounter would either be the easiest, or the hardest, of the day, all depending on what had remained constant on this particular timeline, something which she had no way of being sure of. Planting her feet firmly on the ground, she let herself be filled with a renewed sense of confidence: the former of the two options was just going to have to be the one that was true. With that, she soldiered forward, and pushed through the doors.

It was around seven o'clock now, and the restaurant was loud and alive with the dinner crowd. Alternative rock blasted over the speakers, and tables full of friends and families chatted loudly, sharing drinks and plates of burgers and fries. Casey smiled and let out a breath; this was it.

She caught a flash of something by the podium, and she turned to see a waitress with long, wavy, dark hair and freckled, tan skin bringing a tray of dinners to a family seated at a table near the front, and she recognized her immediately: Amanda Lockheart.

Casey covered her mouth to stop herself from squealing: Amanda's character, Olivia Kendall, was her favorite character in the Kingdom Keepers series. To see her in front of her now was like something out of a dream, more so than it had been to meet all the others. She was so lost in her excitement, she didn't hear the voice asking her if she needed help.

"Hello?" it called.

Casey startled and looked up to see Amanda standing in front of her.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you were waiting to be seated," Amanda said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Oh!" Casey stuttered. "No...I uh....ah....actually I was hoping I could talk to you,"

"If you're looking to get a sponsor for your school event, you're out of luck. We've already fulfilled our allotment for the month," Amanda said. She picked up a stack of menus and started to turn to another family.

"No wait!" Casey called. "My name's Casey Jordan. I'm not looking for anything for school. I really was looking to talk to you, specifically you: Amanda Lockheart."

Amanda froze and looked Casey up and down for a moment.

"I don't know you,"

"Yes I know, but I still need to talk to you, and your sister: it's urgent,"

Amanda looked around her to make sure no one was watching, then hastily showed Casey over to a corner where they couldn't be heard or seen.

"What do you know about me and my sister?" she demanded.

"Look, I don't want any trouble," Casey assured her. "It's about these books..."

Casey reached into her bag and pulled out the first Kingdom Keepers book, holding it just high enough for Amanda to see it.