Chapter 10

Almost three weeks had passed since I had my encounter with the afterlife, if it weren't for the constant classes and special Dream Dome treatment, I most probably would have forgotten all about it by now, but no, Miss Smallwood and Principal Rose were there, constantly in my ear, I did appreciate their efforts in teaching me to control my ability, but in all honesty, I was no longer even sure that I was an Invoker, it had only happened that one time with Megan, and there had been nothing unusual since then, maybe it had just been a nightmare? I made my way to class alongside Parker, who literally had not left my side since our little slumber party, she was such a worry pot, but I always enjoyed her company so I couldn't complain. As we got into the classroom we were surprised to find it completely empty, Miss Smallwood stood at her desk with a sly grin not saying a word until each student was present before announcing. "Now class, it is tradition toward the end of the school term for the final class to accompany the first class on a field trip. You have not yet been made aware of it, but Whimsy high is only but a fraction of our world down here, we are in fact the centre of an entire village, there are hundreds of people with abilities like ours who chose to stay here in Whimsy and continue their work, and others chose to move back upland and raise their children in a normal environment to continue our kind. Today you will be going into the village, and you will witness first-hand the wonders of our world." Parker and I both exchanged excited glances, almost breaking out in song at the announcement. "We're finally getting out of here!!!" Parker said excitedly, "I know right! This is awesome, I'm super stoked" I replied. About ten minutes after we gathered in the foyer downstairs, we were joined by the final term students; it took only a minute thereafter before Alicia found me. "Mila, how nice to see you again, I thought you had disappeared for a while there." We exchanged a brief hug and she continued to lead me toward the door. "Wait" I said quickly "I mean, do you mind if we wait for Parker, we normally go everywhere together and I would hate to miss this opportunity to go on this field trip with her." Alicia took me by the arm and continued to lead me outside, "Why don't we just get out of this crowd first, we can meet up with Parker once we pass through to Whimsy Village, it will be a lot easier to find her once we are there." It didn't seem like I had much of a choice, she was a lot bigger and stronger than I was, so I just went along with her. We walked for about two miles as far as I could tell, I hadn't really been paying much attention at first, but then I realised that there weren't any other students following us, I looked back every few hundred meters before I advised Alicia that we were alone, "I am well aware of that" she said. "Don't fret little one, it's just a short while further, the others probably just left a few minutes later than we did, we will be there soon." Alicia has always been so kind to me; she has always been there when I needed advice or information regarding our abilities, and the school; she has always been a great mentor so I had no reason to doubt her, "Ok, well will you please tell me about the village?" I asked, and she looked at me with a warm smile, "sure; Whimsy Village is only the most amazing place you will ever see, in your entire life! Try to imagine every fantasy you have ever had, every whacky restaurant, every impossibly fun fair ride, every exotic zoo animal, basically every fantasy that has not been conjured into reality, are all in the village, I can promise you that it will be unlike anything you have ever seen, there is no doubt about that!" I won't lie, that got me super excited, I spent the next mile or so thinking of every fantasy I have ever had, and I was ready to explode with excitement. "Wait a minute," I said, I know this place, Parker and I walked nearby once when we were exploring the grounds, I saw something right here on top of this mountain that Parker couldn't see." Alicia stopped walking right away and turned to me, a look of suspicion on her face, "What exactly did you see?" she asked. "Well, it was nothing really, it was like a gap in the sky, like it had been ripped, but I never saw it again after that, I assume it was just my eyes playing tricks on me." Alicia looked at me for another moment before regaining her posture and continuing to walk. "Were here" She said, and turned to me. "Um, I hate to alarm you Al, but there's nothing here except for mountains and a few trees." I said, raising an eyebrow at her sarcastically. "Funny one, you fancy yourself a comedian do you?" she said, as she walked a few steps further toward an old Oak tree. She gently pushed on a knot in the tree and it immediately began to split itself in half, creaking loudly like an old unoiled door. In the hollow of the trunk stood two poles, leading into the darkness below them, not unlike the poles you would find in a fire department. "All that's left to do is grab hold and slide down." Alicia said, "we will do it together on the count of three, one, two, three!" it was a long way down, possibly two stories, maybe three, before light appeared below us, we landed with a light thump into an elevator that automatically kicked to life and took us down another two flights. A few seconds later the doors opened and so did my jaw. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Imagine Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, combined with Narnia, Jumanji, Jurassic Park, Men in Black, everything you thought was impossible was right there in front of me. It took me a few moments to wake up from my daze, when I did, I could hear Alicia saying, "Welcome to Whimsy Village, are you sure you want to sit here and wait around for Parker or should we get to it, the more time we waste the less time we will have to explore." I did feel bad for what I was about to say, but I knew Parker would understand, I had no way of knowing how far behind us she was, and I really wanted to see as much as I could possibly see of this Village. "Let's do it!" I said eagerly, excitement boiling up inside as we stepped out of the elevator. The first place we went to was one called Striders, as we walked through the door we were warmly welcomed by three little… I guess you could call them elves, they were about 2.5 feet tall, they were an olive green in colour, and they had the cutest little pointy ears on top of their heads, surrounded by a mop of red hair, not too long, but not all that short either, not well groomed, but not necessarily untidy, their feet were larger than I would have expected for such a small body, but all in all, they were adorable and full of smiles, they ushered us in and gave us a seat at a nearby table which were made of giant red and purple polka dot mushrooms. An elderly woman arrived at our table, she was also clearly not human, but definitely not an elf either, she was about as tall as I was, but she was as thin as a twig, with long dangly limbs and a tiny oblong head, which made her eyes look huge in comparison. "A wonderful day to you little ladies," she said in a high pitched voice. "May I offer you our daily special or would you like a menu?" "We will have the daily special thank you," Alicia said, without asking me first, "Trust me Mila," she said, "you can't come to this place and order off of the menu, were supposed to be exploring the wonders of this village aren't we?" First up came a drink, it was referred to as the simulator, it looked a little terrifying I won't lie, almost as though there was something moving inside it. I looked across the table at Alicia with a concerned expression, and she laughed at me. "Take a sip you monkey, it won't bite," she said, now laughing at her own joke. "Funny!" I said eyeing out the moving liquid suspiciously. I closed my eyes and took a big gulp being careful not to hold it in my mouth for too long in case I felt something move, it wouldn't have been a pretty site if that had happened! As it turns out, the drink was delicious! The flavours were mixture of strawberry milkshake and cheese cake, I had two more big gulps, as I was about to take my fourth I suddenly felt something strange happening to me, I began to float away from the table, I looked at Alicia with horror and she pointed, first to her shoulder and then to mine, so I glanced back at mine and there they were, two gorgeous little wings, this is unbelievable! I said to myself. Just then Alicia rose up beside me and grabbed my arm, "Follow me," she said, and we soured up into the sky, a few meters over the canopy of trees below us, it was so magnificent, I had never seen or felt anything of the sort. The wind flowing all around me, I was actually flying! Never in my life could I have imagined that it would be possible to fly.

"C'mon Mila, we had better get back down, these wings won't work forever you know. We made our way back down to Striders where our stick like waitress was already waiting for us at our table, "May I offer you our next special or would you like to wait a while?" she asked in her high pitched tone, "That will be all for us right now thank you, we would like to go around and see as much of the village as possible, thank you ever so much for your hospitality." We walked a few hundred feet further to the north of the village before we came across what I could only assume was a huge concealed park, my suspicions were soon confirmed when we entered through the high entrance walls as there was a large sign floating in mid-air that read "Whimsy Village Bird Park" "Brace yourself" Alicia said as we walked toward the ticket counter. "Why?" I asked, "You will see." She said with that evil little grin blatantly visible on her face again. We took two tickets and entered the park, there wasn't much of a line, but it was enough to obstruct my line of sight, as we slowly edged closer to the end of the line I saw it, I wasn't sure at first, but one or two steps closer I had a fairly good idea of what was going to happen next. "Two please" Mila said, and instantly in front of us appeared a magnificent, gigantic, winged creature, it almost looked as though it were one third bird, one third fish and one third mammoth. It was furry, not feathered, it had no legs, but the head of an eagle, and of course there were the wings. I was starting to worry for the person who had dreamed it up. "Climb aboard," the gentleman at the entrance said, and we did, we had reins to hold onto but that was pretty much it, and almost as soon as we had grabbed hold, the beast took flight, I was expecting it to be a bumpy ride, but it was nothing like it, completely smooth sailing. The views were breath taking, we were flying above the trees, and then dipping through the trees all the while, being joined by other winged creatures, most of which I couldn't even begin to describe, there were waterfalls and open fields, I was in complete awe of this place. The ride lasted around thirty minutes before we found ourselves back at the exit; it took me a few steps on solid ground before I got my footing back. "That was beyond epic!" I almost shouted to Alicia, "It's something else out here isn't it," let's go, there's something I would like to show you" She said before turning and walking east along a small cobble stone path. "Where are we going?" I asked, "It doesn't look as though there is much to see up this way, seems a bit barren if you ask me, can't we go further north, I saw a few places there that seemed interesting… "No" Alicia said quickly, cutting me off, "I mean, I have been here many times before Mila, you have to trust me, I'll take you to all the places worth seeing, we've had fun so far haven't we?" I guess she was right, I have had an amazing time so far, "ok that's fine," I said, "I'm sorry, of course you know what you're doing and where you're going." We walked a few hundred feet further, truth be told, my legs were starting to ache, but I edged on anyway, Alicia seemed to have become a bit uptight, so I didn't really want to say anything that might upset her. "Were here," She said. Hmmm, I can't see anything? I thought to myself, but just said "great, were to now?" instead. "Just over there on the hill," she pointed about 100 feet to her left, "walk a little further forward, and you will see a small door on the hill, that's where we are heading," "what's in the hill?" I asked, trying to imagine what could be stored in there; it wasn't a very large hill, so maybe it went further underground, or maybe it was an illumination, what appears to be small on the outside was massive on the inside. "Just get to the door!" Alicia said suddenly, with an agitated tone. "What's your problem? Why are you acting so annoyed and weird all of a sudden," I snapped back at her, after which she immediately changed her posture and expression to one a bit softer and more considerate, "I'm so sorry Mila, it's just been a really long day for me, I think all of this excitement has worn me out a bit, what do you say we get this last one over and done with considering we're already here and then we can head back to the entrance, maybe we will find Parker there and you can go along with her for the rest of the day while I make my way back to Whimsy High? Does that sound ok?" "Ok, I suppose it has been a long day, sure, let's do this last one together and then we can go find Parker," I said with a smile, and almost felt a little bad for snapping back at my senior that way. "Go ahead," she said, "open the door; I will be right behind you." I stepped toward the door, it was shorter than me in height, although it was a little wider than a normal door, it was solid black with a brass sign that read "Interitum" I had absolutely no clue what that meant, but went ahead and pulled on the handle anyway, the door slowly cracked open, I started to walk inside when suddenly I was ice cold, the air around me thinning, nothing but darkness becoming my line of sight, I could feel the air leaving my lungs, "Alicia! Alicia, I don't like it here, what is this place? Alicia please help me, grab my hand! Please I can't get out; I don't want to be here! Alicia, Please!" She started walking toward me and I held out my hand, she came closer and finally reached the door, "Thank you" I said, and then she smiled and shut the door in my face and I watched it disappear.