The Mind Behind The Beanie || ✔

Learning The Real Truth

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Conner was 'sick' for the rest of the trip, which meant that the Book Huggers ruled. They were even more bossy than ever, and since Conner was 'sick', Bree was the sole victim of that. Then, finally, the long awaited day of departure arrived. ^Finally.^ Bree would finally be out of the clutches and demands of the awful Book Huggers. Unfortunately she would have to face them at school the next week, but at least she wouldn't have to share a room with two of them any more. ^Whew! That was a relief enough.^
She was packing her stuff into her small suitcase, when she heard Mrs. Peters walk into Conner's room above her. She walked over to her window hoping to catch most of their conversation. She did.
"Are you feeling any better Conner?" Bree heard Mrs. Peters ask Conner.
"Yeah, I think so," Conner said in response, doing an awfully staged fake cough. ^Seriously, who would believe that kind of bad acting? Even the Book Huggers could do better.^
"Oh. Will you be well enough to travel home with us today?" Mrs. Peters asked him, apparently the fake cough sounded normal to her. Considering all the weird noises and actions she did, it probably would.
"Yeah," Conner said in a slightly disappointed tone. Mrs. Peters probably nodded and walked out of the room, as Bree heard the door close gently.
^Huh?^ Bree thought that Conner wanted to go home, and was skipping out of the activities planned for the trip cause he just wanted to get home sooner. But what if he felt closer to his family crisis here in Germany? Bree sure knew that she felt better suited in Germany. It was a much nicer place than the states,especially Berlin. Berlin reminded Bree of a way nicer New York. Or not. It still did have noisy tourists, too small of trash cans, and way to much trash. But, it did oddly feel like home. ^Weird right.^ Maybe it was just because her family was of German decent. ^Possibly.^ Bree knew deep inside that there was another reason, possibly one that she would find out way sooner than expected.

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The group arrived at the airport in good time and made their way over to security. Conner was acting weird and Bree's eyes and ears were more attentive than ever. He seemed as if he knew something bad was going to happen and he had no idea how to stop it. ^Did this have something to do with the warning? Probably not, as they were in an airport in Germany, but it could.^
They got to security and everyone put their suitcase on the checking pad, except Conner. He was acting especially weird about letting his suitcase out of hands. Bree's eyebrow rose so high that it could have hid under her beanie.
Conner looked around at everyone and then let the lady take his suitcase. He also looked at Bree, and when he realized her eyebrow was raised the highest, turned a little bit whiter than he already was, which was pretty white, and looked away.
After they got their luggage back from the security check, Conner held his suitcase with utmost care. He practically treated it as if there were a thousand dollars in it. ^What could be in it that was so important? Could it be that communication device that he used to contact his sister with? Why would that be valuable, come on Bree. Why would he be protecting some communication device? Stupid, right.^
They got on their flight to the London Heathrow Airport, and arrived there safely. They went and sat down by their gate to wait for their connecting flight. After they had been sitting for a couple of minutes, with Conner's tension not decreasing, the flight was called for ten minutes in advance. Directly after it had been called, Conner excused himself to use the bathroom, and took his suitcase with him.
^What in the world? Why would the boy need to take his suitcase to the bathroom with him?^After a few seconds Mrs. Peters asked Bree to go check on him, and tell him to hurry up.
^Why would Mrs. Peters ask her to go check on Conner?^ When Bree looked at Mrs. Peters' face, she looked worried. Maybe this sort had happened before on a trip, and she just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. ^Weird, but, okay.^
Bree walked over to the bathrooms, and was about to knock on the door of the men's bathroom, when she heard a female voice from inside the bathroom. She swore she hadn't seen anyone go in or out of the bathroom for minutes. When she opened the door part way open she heard the excited voice of Conner Bailey say,
"Mother Goose! It's so good to see your face!" It sounded like he was in hysterics. Bree realized that people might start to get suspicious of a girl standing right by an open men's bathroom door, and stepped inside. ^I mean there was already a lady in there, so what was the big deal?^
A soon as she stepped into the bathroom, the lady, who she assumed was Mother Goose, as Conner had called her, spoke again.
"If I had a gold coin for every time someone said that, I would be in debt," Mother Goose said. Bree was astounded. Whenever she thought of the fictional character Mother Goose, she always imagined that voice. Was this the actual Mother Goose? ^Well, it probably was since Conner's sister and grandmother lived in a fairytale world. Okay, now he was even higher up on the coolness scale, he knew Mother Goose! Calm down Bree, it's not like that cool, okay it's super cool.^
"Listen I have to talk to you about something very important." Mother Goose continued, breaking Bree's train of thought.
"No! I have something I need to tell you that's more important," Conner said, butting in. "Something major has happened and I need to tell someone in the fairytale world about it!" He exclaimed very loudly. This was definitely about the warning.
"Kid, are you in a bathroom? Because if so, I think you should maybe talk to a doctor about this and not me-" Mother Goose said, probably looking at him strangely.
"I'm in bathroom because I'm trying to hide!" Conner said, interrupting her again. "I'm in Europe on a class trip! This was the only place I could get privacy!" Conner said, practically begging her to understand his fragile situation.
"Europe?" Mother Goose asked. "Okay, kid, calm down and slowly tell me what's going on before you have an accident."Conner took a death a deep breath, probably annoyed, and started to explain.
"I was in Germany for this thing with my principal and a couple of other kids. The University of Berlin found three brand-new fairy tales in a time capsule left by the Brothers Grimm. They included careful instructions not to publicize or publish the stories until two hundred years later. We and a bunch of other people went to the cemetery where the Brothers Grimm are buried, and there was a special reading of the stories. The first two weren't important but I think the third one was a warning in disguise." Conner rushed out of his mouth.
"A warning?" Mother Goose asked. "A warning about what?" She asked, the concern evident in her voice.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out," Conner said. "The story was too similar to real life not to have a bigger purpose."
^Seriously. Uh, not to burst your 'real life' bubble, but my version of real life has nothing to do with something invading a fairytale world. I didn't even know that this fairytale world existed until a couple days ago. So how's that for real life now seriously.^
"Tell me what the story was about," Mother Goose asked. Conner cleared his throat like he always did before he was going to make a presentation in class and began the story.
"It was about a pair of brothers who told stories just like the Brothers Grimm. They got their stories from a fairy who lived in a secret castle, just like the Brothers Grimm got their stories from you, and grandma and the other fairies. One day a greedy king forced the brothers to provide him with a map to the secret castle so he could conquer it. A magical bird that also lived in the secret castle, who I'm assuming is supposed to be you, gave the brothers an enchanted map to give to the king, so that it would take him two hundred years to get to the castle, leaving the people and magical creatures lots of time to preppier a defense. The brothers in the story were afraid the magical bird would forget to warn the others in the secret castle about the approaching king so they wrote a story about it, hoping the story would reach the secret before the king's army of thousands did." Conner said, quoting the story almost perfectly.
"Wait can you say that last part again?" Mother Goose interrupted.
"I said, they hoped their story would reach the secret castle before the king's army of thousands did, in case the magical bird had forgotten to warn the others," Conner repeated.
There was silence for a minute before Mother Goose spoke with fear. "But it's impossible" she said so softly, so soft that Bree almost didn't catch it.
"What's impossible? Does this story me a something to you? Because it sounds like something bad started two hundred years ago and the Brothers Grimm are warning everyone about it now." Conner asked.
There was another moment of silence, and Bree thought that she heard someone shaking their head, probably Mother Goose.
"Mother Goose, is this story is real, then I'm afraid something horrible is about to the Land of Stories and we need to stop it," he said.
"I'm afraid their story is based on something that happened that is very real," she told Conner in a very stricken tone.Bree could practically hear Conner drop down in stature.
"What happened?" He asked softly.
Mother Goose sighed and told him. "Two hundred years ago in the Otherworld time, there was a man named Jacques Marquis, a general in the French Empire's Grande Army. General Marquis was a smart man; he knew the Brothers Grimm stories about mythical creatures and kingdoms were more than just fiction. He had them followed and discovered the truth about where their stories came from. He wanted to conquer the magnificent lands he read about, in the name of the French Empire. So, he kidnapped the Brothers Grimm and demanded that they provide his army with a portal into the fairytale world or he would kill their families."
"And did they give him one?" Conner asked, intrigued by the story.
"That's where I come into the story. I never gave them a map like the bird in the story, but I told the Brothers Grimm of a portal they could lead General Marquis and his army of five thousand men to. But I bewitched the portal before the army arrived so that it would take them two hundred Otherworld years to cross through it and into the fairytale world."
"And that was two hundred years ago!" Conner exclaimed. "So why haven't they crossed into the fairytale world yet?"
"Because after the Enchantress was defeated, your grandmother closed the portal between worlds, and just in the nick of time," Mother Goose said. "Thank God she did, because it meant that I never had to tell her about the approaching army. I loved the Otherworld so much but I coagulant object to closing the portal since I knew that it would prevent that awful man and his soldiers form entering our world."
"Didn't anyone wonder where a group of five thousand soldiers disappeared to?" Conner asked.
"No, because shortly after, in the winter of 1812, Napoleon and the Grande Army also invaded Russia," Mother Goose explained. "The French soldiers couldn't stand the cold and reiterating Russian soldiers hadn't left them any crops or livestock to survive on. The death toll was catastrophic and everyone assumed that General Marquis and his men were among those that perished."
Conner sighed a deep breath of relief. "That's wonderful news. That means the army is till stuck in the portal and will never reach the Land of Stories, right?"
There was a moment of silence before Conner asked another question. "The portal is closed permanently, isn't it?" Conner asked, concerned.
"It was," Mother Goose said. "But there is a chance the portal between the worlds may be....re-opened."
"How?" Conner asked, eagerly, obviously wanting to get the answer out of her now.
"I can't tell you why or even that it will for certain, all I can tell you is that there is a chance," she repeated. "And the only way we'll know for sure is if we check whether or not the portal is working. If it can be opened from the Otherworld side, that me as that it can be opened on the Land of Stories side as well, and the Grande Army my cross into the fairytale world after all this time."
"Then tell me where it is! I'll check it myself," Conner pleaded. So I guess that means that he is the type of guy who would save the world. Nice to know. Bree thought to herself.
"Absolutely not," Mother Goose said firmly. "I still haven't forgiven myself for telling Alex about the Enchantress- I couldn't live with myself if I sent you off on a dangerous chase as well." There was a moment of silence were Bree guessed that Conner was just fuming during.
"But I may know someone else who can tell you," she said mischievously.
"Who?l Conner asked. Someone in this world?"
"Yes." She said. "Where exactly in Europe are you?"
"I'm at an airport in London," he said.
"Terrific, I have a friend in London-"
"It's not the queen I hope," Conner said. "She'd be difficult to get to."
"No, the queen and I haven't spoken in years." Mother Goose said. "This friend of mine is very old but has been a confidant of mine for a very long time."
"Who is he?"
"He's more of a what than a who," Mother Goose explained. "Find the lion from the Red Lion Brewery. Tell him I sent you, and he'll tell you everything you need to know."
"The statue from the Red Lion Brewery?" Conner repeated as if trying to remember crucial information. "Is he a real lion?"
"He's a statue," Mother Goose said. "He was the mascot of the brewery I spent most of the 1800's at- I met a lot of my closet drinking buddies there. Now I really need to go before your sister catches me in her room. We shouldn't tell anyone else about this unless we know for certain the portal has been re-opened. I don't want to dampen anyone's spirits around here if there's nothing to worry about."
" And what if it's open?" Conner said.
Mother Goose gulped. "Then were in big trouble," she said "Good luck kid- oh and one more thing, do you still have that poker chip I gave you."
"Yes I take it everywhere with me," Conner said.
"Good- you'll need it," Mother Goose said, and then the room grew quiet.
Bree took a moment to digest everything she had just heard. Conner was friends with Mother Goose, and his sister and grandmother lived were living in a fairytale world. He had heard the warning written by the Brothers Grimm as a warning and had been trying to contact his sister about it for the past couple of days. He just now got hold of someone from the Land of Stories, as he had called it, and told them about it. Then he was informed that an army from the 1800's was on its way to destroy the Land of Stories, and he had to see if the portal to the Land of Stories was open or not. All of that and the questions she still had for Conner were just enough to break her normal front that she put up, and she let a bewildered expression creep it's way onto her face.
Just then Conner stepped out of the stall he was in, and when he looked up his eyes met Bree's.
"Bree?" Conner asked in horror.

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THANKS FOR READING!!!
BYE BOOK-HUGGERS!!!
TLOSGEEK2-OUT!!!