Chapter Thirty-Two And Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Two: In Which Flake Sees Some Alarming Things

    Flake woke up.  But he didn’t.

    He was awake.  Conscious.  But he could tell he was in a dream.

    He was strapped to a chair.  Lights were glaring down at him, he couldn’t really see much else.

    Footsteps.  It was coming closer and closer.

    Fear overtook him.  Oh no.  What will happen?  Oh no oh no oh no-

    It was like Rose was talking to him in his mind again, though he could hear not only thoughts, but actually feel the emotions.  And this person was feeling very scared.  Flake wasn’t sure if he wanted to know why.

    “Well.  Aren’t you a nice specimen?  You’ll do quite nicely.  It’ll go perfectly, don’t worry.”  A man came into view.

    Flake let out a small eep of surprise.  But it wasn’t in his voice.  Wait.  That sounded like-

    “Snow, isn’t it?”  The man smiled down, but he didn’t seem very friendly.

    Wait.  So… I’m looking through Snow’s body?  Is this happening right now?  Is this just a bad dream?  Flake hoped it was.  But if it wasn’t… if Snow was in danger right this moment…  Flake didn’t want to think about it.

    The man held up a cup of gray liquid.  “Open up.”  He shoved the cup in Snow’s mouth.  And then Flake got a weird taste in his mouth, sort of like water, but with some sort of powder in it.  Flake wasn’t sure what it tasted like, but he was sure that it wasn’t good.  He tried to spit it out, but that didn’t do anything.

    Then the ground started shaking.  His vision got blurry.  Someone was screaming…

    And then nothing.

    Children fleeing.  Glittering sea.  When the old becomes new.  Look down to history.  One will try, one will die, one is already dead…

    Prophecies.  Everywhere.  Predictions about what was to come, riddles and mysteries intersecting and weaving to create the fabric of the future.  Somehow, it was all supposed to fit together.  Somehow, it was all supposed to make sense.

    Then Flake understood.  He understood.  It was like the mysteries of the world had been solved.

       Then he woke up.

    He was in a hospital.  That was made clear by the sign on the door that said Welcome to Comfort Hospital! with a rainbow on the side.  Not to mention that he was in hospital patient clothing and there was a poster on the wall that informed you about the dangers of the flu.  As for why he was here, that was pretty clear too.  Flake had a headache.  Again.  Why, he wasn’t sure, but that wasn’t important right now.  What was important was what he just realized.  Unfortunately, there was no one in the vicinity that he could share this new information with either.

    “Hello?” Flake called.  His voice echoed back.  Strange.  You would have thought, with all Chief Ripple’s safety measures, that there would be at least one guard standing outside the room.  Or maybe not.

    He looked outside the window.  A tree was pressed up against it, blocking the view.  He looked around the room one last time.  There was a few stuffed animals on the ground, like a teddy bear and a pink bunny.  There was also stickers on the walls, showing flowers and butterflies and birds in a garden.  A typical kid’s hospital.  But where was he?  Still in the Coral Kingdom?

    Wait a second.  Flake looked out the window again.  The tree was still there.  But Coral Kingdom doesn’t have trees, for obvious reasons.  But why would he be aboveground?  He couldn’t think of any plausible reason why.

    The tree didn’t have snow on it.  Probably wasn’t the Snake Kingdom then.  The Fearsome Forest?  Nope.  There wasn’t any modern hospitals in the forest.  Flame Kingdom?  Well, he’d never been there, but based on what he heard, it wasn’t very plant-friendly.  However, it was a possibility.  Breeze Kingdom?  Also a possibility.  It could also be on one of the several small towns not controlled by the kingdoms.  Or it could be somewhere else entirely.  He wasn’t very sure.

    Or maybe… he was exactly where he planned to be.  Maybe the kidnapper got him after all.  Maybe that was what the headaches were meant to do.  Then the only problem was getting out.

Chapter Thirty-Three: In Which We Once Again Take A Look At What Everyone Is Doing

• Flake is in a hospital.  He is puzzling on where, what, why, who, and how of his current baffling situation.
• Rose is in another hotel, a more secure one.  She is thinking about all the things she now knows, the things she didn’t know the last time we took a look at everyone.  However, there is a lot of things she doesn’t know, but she doesn’t know that she doesn’t know those things.  Will she ever know those things?  I don’t know.
• Snow is, well, undergoing an operation against her will that is almost certainly fatal if all goes well.  If all doesn’t go well, it might still kill her anyways, maybe more horribly.  It really depends.
• Jack and Flint are in Flint’s room, which, as you recall, is locked.  Flint is still banging at the door.  Jack has resigned to looking at Flint bang at the wall.  He knows it is hopeless.  He’s been around long enough to know this won’t end well.
• Windy is staring at the television screen, which is showing her lots of things at once, some of which she’s still processing.  She’s smarter and knows more than people give her credit for, and she thinks she can solve what is going on.  But again, much like everyone else, she really doesn’t know everything.
• Chief Phoenix and Chief Oak are not doing anything of importance for the time being.
• Chief Frost is pacing his room (which he does often) and muttering under his breath (which he also does often).  People who know him well enough can tell that he is extremely worried.  Anyone who has been looking at the news lately can guess why.
• Chief Ripple is also very worried, mostly for Frost.  He is currently writing a consolation letter to him.
• Chief Alya is still mad, though considerably less mad than when we last saw her.  She is currently thinking about a) where Windy might be, b) how Windy might be doing, and c) how the other chiefs are useless and aren’t doing anything to help.
• Pebbles in happily in a stable in the Coral Kingdom, chewing hay, if you must know.  He knows more than you think, and has seen more than you think, but it isn’t very important to him.  The only thing important is the hay.