Storybook Island

Battle of the Labyrinth

*Abigail*

"You were just with Uncle Charlie," my mom said, "Why do you want to go again?"

"Because it'll be fun. Please?" 

She sighed. "You're getting too old for Storybook Island. You know that, right? It's weird." 

I groaned. I'd been begging my mom to let me go spend the night at Uncle Charlie's for a week now, and she still hadn't said yes. Meghan and I were anxious to get back to the portal ever since our trip into the Harry Potter books. 

"I'll mow the yard!" I volunteered.

"Fine. But only one night, got it?" 

"Got it!" 

I dashed out of the kitchen, through the foyer, and up the stairs to my room. T-Shirts, socks, pants, and pajamas flew into my backpack as I tossed them in one by one. Soon, my bag was packed and I was in the car on the way to the dock for Storybook Island. 

Meghan and I had texted earlier. She was ecstatic that my mom finally gave in, so we were both meeting with high hopes for another adventure. After all, South Dakota didn't offer much in the way of fun. 

We arrived first, so my mom dropped me off and left. Meghan ran a tad bit late due to the rushed plans but showed up pretty quickly. 

"Hey! Ready to go?" 

"You bet." I pulled out my Princess Pass and used it to get onto the ferry and across the water. Using our passes, we skipped ahead of the security line and got some ice cream on our way to ride some rides like the Wolf, Dragon's Breath, and Mother Goose's Boat Ride. Don't judge. 

By the time that the sun was setting, we'd stuffed our stomachs with funnel cake and were ready to head toward the castle. The security guard let us into the elevator that we rode up to Uncle Charlie's suite. 

He was delighted that we had come back and we watched the Friday Fireworks show from his balcony before turning in for the night. I set an alarm on my phone to wake me up at 2 am so that Meghan and I could sneak out and fell asleep. If there was one thing I was good at, it was sleeping. 

The sound of Maroon 5 rang out at 2 am sharp, waking me up. I wiped some drool from the side of my mouth and turned it off. Waking up so wasn't worth it. 

I rolled out of bed unceremoniously and changed into some cute but easy to move in clothes before heading over to Meghan's room. She was buried under like 17 blankets that I pulled off of her. 

"Rise and shine."

She groaned. 

"Come on, portal time!" 

That got her up. She changed, too, and we made our way out of the castle. It was dark in the park, but we knew our way around perfectly and soon passed Merlin's Magic- a wand shop for kids- to get to the sword wedged in the stone. 

I bent down and slid my hand along the back bottom of the stone until I found the tiny switch under a ledge and flipped it. Meghan twisted the sword. It clicked and the stone sunk into the entrance. Like last time, the stairs slipped into their slots on the walls so that we could climb down them. 

She went first and I slipped in after just before the rock returned to its original position. The walk down felt like it took forever. Maybe that was just because we were going down a tight spiral staircase with no handrail. 

We reached the base and crossed the streams to reach the chests. 

"What story do you want this time?" I asked.