The Mind Behind The Beanie || ✔

Alex Goes Berzerk

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We stayed in the cage for minutes. Then minutes turned to hours.  Then hours turned to what felt like days.  Whether they were actually days or not, we couldn't know. Once the battery on my phone died, we had no way of telling time. We sat there, watching the scouts bake and army. 

The escapees that we met under the Bethesda Terrace sat in their cages and never spoke a word. We were never fed or given water.  We just sat and watched. 

Conner looked the most tired of all of us.  He had major bags under his eyes and when he leaned his head against the side of the candy-cane bars, he was out quick.

He slept fine for an hour or two, not like I was keeping tabs on him until he started going full Exorcist on us.  He started thrashing around, ripping up invisible things in his hands.  He was shaking and sweating when Jack woke him up.

"Conner, wake up!" Jack shouted in his face.

"Sorry!" He gasped and sat up. "How long was I out?"

"An hour or two," I said. "Then you started going full Exorcist on us."

"I was having a nightmare, but it wasn't just a nightmare," Conner said, his face scrunched up. "Alex has been trying to communicate with me in our dreams.  She covered our childhood home in letters asking me to kill her!  She thinks the only way we can save the Otherworld is by taking her life!"

That didn't sound good at all.  First of all, how morbid.  Second, why would Alex even suggest that?  Or was Conner wrong, and she was too far gone?

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We watched as the gingerbread soldiers approached the children. At first, I hadn't understood why one of the witches who looked like a spider had sprayed the ground, and then it dawned on me. They were going to feed the children to the gingerbread soldiers.

"They're going to feed the Scouts to the gingerbread soldiers!" Conner shouted most unhelpfully.

"That's horrible!" Red said.

"Obscene!" Goldilocks added.

I didn't think my friends understood how much these kids needed help. How much they were in danger.

"We have to do something!" I said.

The gang finally seemed to understand how bad the situation was.  We jumped to our feet and tried to push against the bars.  We pushed and shoved and kicked, but no matter what we did, it didn't help.

I looked at the boy standing next to me. I could barely recognize Conner. The look of determination in his eyes made me realized what type of effect this was putting on him.  This was probably the worst day of his life.

"Alex, you've got to help those kids!" Conner yelled at his sister. "The sister I know and love would never stand by as innocent children were devoured- no matter what kind of curse she was under!  Come on, you've got to fight it! You've got to save them!"

for a brief moment of hope, Alex let down the shield and looked at Conner.  It was hard to read her face because just a second later the witches had put her back into keeping the shield up.  There went that thought.

Was it just the fatigue of tiredness, or were Mother Goose and some older guy riding in on Lester? And the Fairy Council? They were!  And then there were to people on a horse- no a unicorn! And an army?!? What was going on?

As the people got closer I could see Froggy and someone who kind of looked familiar, but I couldn't remember from where. Wait- was that the Rook boy from three years ago? the one who betrayed the fairy-tale world and led the army to the secret path?  I thought so.

After seeing no one but the gang and very silent joggers and workers in cells for days, I was ecstatic to see someone else.  Someone on the good side.  Someone to help this thought lost cause.

(Divider)

The Fairy Council charged at the witches and engaged them in battle while Mother Goose let the Scouts go.  The army started going to war like a true army. The scouts came over and started letting everyone in the cells go.

"Hey, I know you!" One of the little boys said. "You guys were on my flight!" I vaguely remembered him sitting next to Conner on the flight, but the flight seemed like a blur now.

"Oliver, you've got to get all these people out of here," Conner said, somehow remaining calm.  Very un-Connerish. "Take everyone to the southwest corner of the park.  You'll find and opening to an abandoned subway tunnel at the base of a hill. Crawl into the tunnel and follow it as far away as you can get!"

"But what about your friends?" Oliver asked.

"We'll be okay," Conner said. 'Believe it or not, we're actually kind of used to this kind of stuff.  Now hurry- before the witches see you!"

Oliver nodded and saluted Conner.  Oliver led all the Scouts and troop leaders to the southwest part of the park.

"What should we do now?" I asked, my calm voice not surprising me.  I had been in enough life-or-death situations I was used to it now. "Get Alex?"

Conner glanced up at Alex and shook his head.

"She'll be fine for the time being," he said. "But those dudes fighting the gingerbread soldiers look like they could use our help!"

I didn't need to be asked twice to help in the fight. I dashed over to the candy weapon arsenal. I picked up a licorice whip and felt it in my hands.  It was sturdy, surprisingly, and pretty well-balanced.  Thank God I knew what to do.  Well, I knew how they did it in movies, so that counted.

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Okay, maybe movie watching isn't experience.  But it sure was fun to use one of these things.

Even though I hadn't slept for days, I was exhilarated.  The thought of being in a fight exhilarated me, but actually being in the midst of one- now that was fun.  I giggled as I swung the whip around myself, keeping the soldiers at bay.  The licorice whip was light enough to not be too heavy, but heavy enough to give the proper resistance.  It was fun.

As I was having my fun, I heard Conner shriek the word 'Boyfriend?'.  I looked over to him and saw him fighting alongside what looked to be the general of the army. Well, they were more like knights, actually, much more lie knights, but it's the best comparison I could think of.  I laughed internally. Alex was going to having a talk with Conner later, I knew that for sure.

A moment later, I decided to experiment with the whip.  I snapped it with such gusto that it scared the gingerbread soldiers around me a few meters back. I even noticed Conner keeping his distance.

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