"So are you going to show us those maps or what?" Aurelia wondered, referring to the rolled up pieces of parchment laying on Serenity's bed. They had just finished practicing dancing. It had taken little time to injure with both of their sets of feet stepping in the wrong places- Aurelia more so.

Luke's face lit up as he remembered their actual quest. Yes it was great to be back on track! It was important to get what you needed done. That was one of his philosophies anyway.

"Yes, actually having an experienced guide would really help- you'll see once I show you what lies ahead of our destination." Lucas unrolled the maps, spreading them out across Serenity's bed. He kneeled on the floor with Aurelia right besides him and Serenity looking at the map upside down as she sat upon satin, sapphire sheets. "Orion Hollow is where he should be but to get there we have to go through Twisted Thicket, which is said to hold mysterious cryptids- not that I believe that sort of hogwash."

"Hogwash like what?" Aurelia wondered, being the more open minded of the two.

"Oh you know," Lucas waved a hand dismissively. "Fairies and elves and trolls and other things of the sort. It's all made up. Explorers who come back from areas like that make up the lies for attention and use undiscovered herbs to cover up their lies. Fae dust? Pfft it's just powdered mushroom. I read a book about it. Science can't possibly explain how these creatures exist, so logically they can't." Lucas shrugged.

"She just asked a simple question, Lucas." Serenity rolled her eyes.

"Well fictional creatures or not we best be careful of the area. I've heard stories about thickets being full of all sorts of odd things. Hallucinogenic berries and wild animals that'll make you question your sanity and such. There is possibility in ~being poisoned~." Aurelia huffed, folding her arms. That was not an experience she was willing to repeat. "Or mauled." She added as an afterthought.

Lucas nodded. "Well done thinking ahead. We should prepare for events such as that."

"So... Uh don't eat any funny looking berries and beware of wild animals?" Serenity wondered.

"Well we can do you one better. We can use books that have detailed information on what is safe in the forest and what is not. Knowledge triumphs over nature." Aurelia smirked. Lucas agreed.

"I'm not quite sure you realize what you are getting yourself into." Serenity gave the two a worried look.

"We'll be fine. I'm too busy with life to die now." Aurelia joked. Lucas gave a half hearted chuckle. It was an interesting statement because of course Aurelia would say that but he still didn't like how lightly she discussed herself dying.

"Funny, Lia." Lucas laughed, but it wasn't his usual chuckle. There was something so obviously cardboard in the sound but no one pointed it out. "There is something we need to consider before we do anything." Lucas stated, remembering something that was bugging him.

"What's that?" Aurelia wondered, her head cocked and her green eyes were big with curiosity in such an innocent way.

"Mr. Gold is a little suspicious, don't you think?" Lucas wondered, rolling up the maps for the final time that day.

"I... Suppose. But that doesn't mean that we can't trust him to make a deal with us. He gets something beneficial out it too." Aurelia placed her hands on her hips.

"We don't know what he wants in return." Lucas stated. "He could want something completely ludicrous like all the silver in Atharia or a billion tons of straw or-"

"-a child." Serenity suggested. Lucas and Aurelia stared at her in bewilderment at the befuddling and certainly ludicrous suggestion. She frowned. "What? You said ludicrous."

"But where did that come from?"

"Why would he want a child?"

"What kind of sicko-"

"Where would we even find a kid?"

Aurelia and Lucas fired every question they could think of our of their mouth causing Serenity to roll her eyes.

"Guys, calm down. I only said that because of all the stories of creatures stealing children from their parents. Haven't you ever heard the Changeling stories?" Serenity wondered.

Lucas stated at her some more. "You read far too many fairytales."

Serenity shrugged. "I guess." 

"Anyway Mr. Gold could demand something impossible or too important like the kingdom or something. We must be careful not to allow him to trick us." Lucas said quite seriously.

"You really think he would try to take the kingdom for himself?" Aurelia wondered. "It's not even ours to give away."

"It don't know. I've never even met the guy. I just heard his voice. But I've dealt with plenty of power hungry royals. I'm just saying that we mustn't let our guards down." Lucas stated.

Aurelia played with the pendent on her necklace. "I know. Listen, Luke, we'll be fine. I'm being careful. You're being careful. We'll be fine." She only said it so to ease his attitude, but he didn't need to know that.

"Fine I won't worry right now, but when we finally met Mr. Gold I'm going to have a seriously long discussion with him about what exactly he wants." Lucas huffed.

"That's fair." Aurelia stated.

"Well while you're in the Twisted Thicket beware of frogs, cottages, apples, and spinning wheels because one of these days my bedtime stories might be right." Serenity jested, beaming. "Third time's the charm."

Aurelia shivered at Serenity's joke. Spinning wheels... Yes those were something to be wary of. Spinning wheels were one of the reasons she was in this mess in the first place.

Oh how much more complicated her life had become in two weeks.

Okay so I have a new update schedule. I'll be updating this story Tuesdays and Fridays. I hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! What'll happen next?