Greenhouse Candies

"Please come with us and let's search for grandmama together."

Archer froze where he stood. His heart skipped a beat and totally melted with Red's words. She was feisty and a bit mean sometimes, her temper was something else entirely too.

But she always had this effect on him that any burden he feels, she can lift it up merely with her weirdly contrasted but encouraging words.

Archer stared back at Red and reached out to cup her face in his right hand. He knew she meant well, and by the way his stomach felt weird flutters, he knew he lost the battle with her.

Red flinched with his sudden touch and he sighed and let go of her face.

"Fine…" He said as he reached out to grab the grimoire Red still clutched and waved it at them. "I will come with you, but on one condition."

Red's face lit up with his sudden agreement but she quickly caught up to his last sentence.

"What condition is that?" she pouted at him. He had a sinister look in his eyes. He knew his condition would not be to everyone's liking but then again, they didn't have much of a choice.

"We will enter the Faey Kingdom through the abandoned greenhouse." Archer grinned. It was a dark and cunning smile that sent shivers up and down Red's spine.

She had a hunch she will definitely not like this idea of his.

==========

"This is so wrong and weird whatever it is." Red remarked. "We should not have agreed to your condition."

"I thought you aren't a coward anymore, my queen of sass?" Archer snickered. He clearly enjoyed Red's uneasiness as they treaded the overgrowth of the abandoned greenhouse.

The floor was damp with rotten leaves and mulch. The plants that used to be kept in a beautiful arrangement now in disarray. Some plants broke the pots they were planted at and creeped all the way to the top.

"Why are we even here in the first place Archie? How can we enter the kingdom through this?" Ari said as he swatted on a mosquito that flew too close for comfort to his ear.

"You don't have like a portal here or something do you?" Red clung unto Ari's shirt as they followed Archer's steps. She made little progress, one foot at a time, careful not to hit anything suspiciously slimy or weird.

The abandoned greenhouse had long been… well, abandoned. Nobody has ever entered here as far as Red knew. When Archer opened the moldy glass entrance, fog actually escaped to the dark hallway and Red's hair stood on its ends.

What the hell was inside this creepy greenhouse anyway?

"Well look at what we have here." Archer said as they stopped on their tracks in the middle of the foliage. He heaved and pulled out a trunk that was hidden beneath mountains of mulch. It was covered in moss and little bits of fungi adorned the body here and there.

It looked like something really ancient.

The trunk was heavy and it made a huge clank as Archer set it aside. The moss had covered most of its parts but the design was still visible enough.

There were waves of a swirling motif, like expanding clouds or the swish of winds perhaps. Bits and pieces of embossed designs looked like a collection of feathers at the edges of the trunk as if angel wings lifted it up. The handles were mostly golden, as for the rest of the body.

"What is that?" Red asked as she pointed at the keyhole. It was of a peculiar shape. One look at it Red knew it couldn't be opened by any ordinary key. The hole was too irregular for any key size she knew existed.

"What is it for?" she asked again.

Ari who was beside her crossed his arms and leaned on his right leg. He tried to rack his brain how this thing was so familiar, like it was something of real importance. The younger brother knelt down and turned his attention to Ari.

"You don't remember this bruh?" Archer asked his older brother. He procured a small 'key' from his pocket that was made of gnarled dead wood. The tips of it didn't have ridges and when Red pushed her face closer to inspect, tiny 'branches' spread out like wings from the wooden key.

"Eeek!" she shrieked in shock and fell down on her bottom. She felt the mushy wet ground seep into the fabric of her tight jeans and she threw in a kick towards Archer in annoyance.

"Hey! What the-" the mischievous faey tumbled down as he lost his balance from the kick that connected to his body. Red smirked as she saw him get dirty too from the wet ground.

Archer looked at her incredulously and she stuck out her tongue in response.

'Girl, you really a feisty little thing.' Leah said in Red's head.

'Aren't we surrounded by the two guys you are attracted to? Shouldn't you try to be more.. uh.. appealing?' Rhea chimed in.

'Shut up you two!' she silently screamed in her own mind.

'Bitch.' Leah spat.

Red disregarded the voices in her head and proceeded to push herself up. She stood up and felt something slimy stuck in her hand. She brought her hand to view and saw that it was an elongated rubber material that looked like a deflated balloon of some sorts.

It took her about five seconds before she realized what it was.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" she shrieked and frantically flicked the thing away. "EEEWWW!!! YUCK!!"

"I'm guessing that is one of the reasons of the unearthly sounds people hear in this building for years now." Ari commented. "Isn't that what they call a cun… com… candy?"

"It's a condom, Ari!" Red pointed at the rubber and chanted, "Enbrazea!"

"Oh, I heard it had flavors too. I guess I mixed up the words." the faey warrior said innocently.

Archer laughed then proceeded to unlock the trunk with the key in his hand. The latch clicked and Archer carefully opened the heavy lid.

After Red had burned instantaneously every single molecule that held the rubber material together, she turned to see Archer had already taken out something from the trunk.

He held it for them to see.

"A snow globe?"

"Not just any snow globe, future queen. It's a portal to the other world. Shake and break and we transport ourselves to the Faey Kingdom." Archer explained with a big grin on his face.

"How did you come by this magical item, Archie?" Ari asked him, amazed but confused and doubtful of the item's authenticity. "Only the most skillful tinkers, the pixies, are able to make things like these."

"Why, is it hard to come by?" Red asked her faey warrior.

"It is. Pixies are known to be really cunning and opportunistic faeys. To get these, you either beat them in their own sinister games or pay a hefty amount of gold." Ari explained to Red.

"So how did you get by one of these?" Red turned her question to Archer who stood proud of his little prized collection.

"Ahh… that story is for another time, future queen." He said as he grinned from ear to ear.

"This is authentic, right?" Ari asked his younger brother for assurance.

"Inspect it for yourself. I think you can say if it's authentic or not. Which, I say it is. But do go ahead." Archer held out his hand and passed the ball on to Ari.

Red went closer to study the glowing crystal ball. Upon closer scrutiny, the globe it seems had a tiny patch of green grassland. The scenery was something that Red had seen somewhere.

White flowers swayed in the tiny patch of land, and the skies were painted a beautiful peachy pink.

"This scenery… I've seen it before." She said, wide-eyed. "It's the one I saw in my dreams before I awoke."