Darling’s Signature Diary - Chapter 6
We were surrounded by an overgrown forest like I've never seen. Trees had rainbow-colored spiral patterns. Flowers nearly thrust themselves out of their roots to grab us.
"Where the hex are we?" I asked, kicking away a thorny vine that tried to wrap around my ankle.
"Wonderland," the White Knight said as he entered the dense woods. "Though it's changed so much I almost didn't recognize it."
"This is Wonderland? Oh my Grimm!" Everyone's heard the rumors about what happened here. "So this is the Evil Queen's curse from when she tried to take over?"
"Is that what they're saying?" he asked as we pushed forward through the thickening brush. "It all started with her, but the madness got out of hand when the others from Ever After showed up. All that normalness threw Wonderland out of balance." With a swing of his sword, he cleared a wall of thorns, revealing a wooden door. "Ah, here we are," he said, pulling a key from his belt. He unlocked the door, and it swung open with a CREAK. "Well, come inside. It's only my house."
After excusing himself to change from his armor to regular clothes, the exhausted, grizzled White Knight sunk into his lounge chair, savoring the comfort. "Almost forgot what a good sit feels like."
"How did you get stuck, anyway?" I took a seat across from him.
"After they captured the Evil Queen, I helped many people escape." He stared at the embers in the fire. "I was the last one through the gate. Jumped through just in time, I thought. But then it closed on top of me. I was trapped for ages." He closed his eyes. "Finally, I can rest."
"Um, before you do, can you show me the way back to Ever After?" I asked.
He opened one eye. "You're a true hero, you'll find a way."
I stared at his armor, still shining like brand new, strewn across the floor. My reflection stared back, and I knew my destiny. It was time to fight for my own Once Upon a Time.