When Your Novel Strikes Back

by Heather Lawson

  Chapter the Seventh – Gingerbread and Clay

  “Back off!” Dan’s shouts woke everyone the next morning.

  “What’s going on?” Ayesha asked, rubbing her eyes and stretching.

  “This thing was trying to eat us while we were sleeping,” Dan said, pointing his stick at something large and round.

  “Fluffy!” Ayesha shouted, running towards it.

  Fluffy turned its attention to Ayesha, snarling and opening wide to eat her. Dan pushed her out of the way and shoved his stick into Fluffy’s mouth instead.

  “It’s dangerous!” he said, turning to Ayesha, who was nursing her elbow from where she’d fallen on it.

  Ally emerged from her little shelter and found herself face to face with Fluffy, who was looking at her and seemingly trying to make up its mind about whether to eat her or not.

  “Fluffy!” Ally shouted, hugging the beast before it knew what was happening. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “Look out!” Dan shouted.

  He threw a large stone at Fluffy, which ripped right through his pizza body, tomato sauce started spilling out of the wound.

  “No!” Ally screamed.

  Dan threw more rocks until Fluffy was little more than a crust. Ally fell to her knees beside her fallen pet. Tears brimming in her eyes, she turned to face Dan.

  “How dare you!” she shouted, getting right up in Dan’s face.

  He glanced about wildly for some help but Ayesha and Heather were standing on either side of Ally, arms crossed and frowns on their faces.

  “Sorry?” Dan said.

  “You killed my Fluffykins,” Ally said. “You will pay.”

  She poked Dan hard in the chest and then turned her attention to the shelter she had slept in the night before, screaming with fury, she kicked it until it was little more than twigs and leaves again. Ayesha sat on the ground and opened the laptop up again.

  “I’m getting us out of here,” she said. “As the maidens mourned the loss of Fluffy, the sound of hooves nearby could be heard. The maidens glanced around and spotted four unicorns running into the clearing.”

  They glanced around and noticed four brilliant white stallions running into the clearing, horns atop their heads. Ally and Heather gazed at them with massive grins on their faces.

  “Unicorns!” they shouted, running towards them.

  “The maidens… and Dan, mounted the unicorns and asked them politely to take them to Wax’s stronghold so that they may get their friend Crast back,” Ayesha continued from atop her unicorn.

  “Hey, why is my unicorn fat?” Dan asked, looking at the girls unicorns and then his own.

  “He’s not fat, he’s just cuddly,” Ayesha said. “Be nice.”

  “Whatever you say,” Dan said, pulling at face as he looked down at his unicorn.

  They set off at a reasonable trot through the trees, Dan’s unicorn seemed to like jumping into all the branches so that Dan kept getting hit in the face.

  “Hey! Stop it!”

  The girls all laughed at Dan’s predicament, riding along gracefully with their own unicorns avoiding anything that might hurt them.

  “Isn’t unicorn riding amazing?” Ayesha asked the others.

  “It’s wonderful!” Ally said.

  “Definitely better than horse riding,” Heather agreed.

  “Yeah, it’s just peachy,” Dan added, spitting leaves from his mouth as another branch hit him in the face.

  It didn’t take the unicorns long to break free of the trees and before they knew it, the four of them were stood at the top of a hill looking down on a large castle like structure made entirely from what looked like gingerbread.

  “Is that Wax’s stronghold?” Heather asked.

  Her unicorn nodded in response. They thanked the creatures and dismounted.

  “Now what do we do?” Dan asked, watching his unicorn disappeared.

  “We are going to get Crast back,” Ally said. “You can do what you want.”

  They left Dan standing alone at the top of the hill as they made their way down towards Wax’s stronghold. Heather spotted the metallic vehicle parked next to it, nudging Ally and Ayesha to point it out to them.

  “He’s home.”

  “Wait for me!” Dan shouted, running to catch up with them. “I want to help you out.”

  “Whatever,” Ally said, not bothering to look at Dan.

  They didn’t say anything to each other as they found their way to the outer wall of Wax’s castle. The girls turned to look at each other as they looked around for a way in.

  “What are we going to do?” Heather asked.

  Ayesha was sniffing at the wall, her eyes closed, inhaling the scent deeply.

  “Smells so good,” she commented.

  “Why don’t we eat our way in?” Ally suggested.

  Heather nodded and took a bit out of the corner closest to her.

  “Mmmm, it’s yummy,” she said.

  Ally and Ayesha joined her, Dan stood back from them and watched them like they were crazy.

  “You don’t really expect to break through anytime soon, do you?” he said.

  “It’d be a lot quicker if you helped,” Heather said. “Instead of just standing there.”

  “Fine.”

  It took them a good hour or so to finally make a hole big enough for them to climb through. Ayesha broke through first, poking her head through the hole she had made and looking around. The others waited for her to tell them what she could see. It was a few moments later that she brought her head back.

  “It’s a hallway but I could hear people talking close by,” Ayesha told them.

  “Alright, let’s go then,” Heather said, breaking larger pieces of the wall away with her hands.

  Once the hole was big enough, they climbed through one by one and stood in the hallway that Ayesha had told them about.

  “This way,” Ayesha said, leading the way.

  The group listened for the voices that Ayesha had heard and it wasn’t until they turned a corner that they began to hear them.

  “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…”

  They turned to each other in confusion.

  “Is that a… wedding?” Ally asked.

  They quickened their pace and found themselves standing in front of a set of double doors. Ayesha pushed them open and the groups faces set themselves to shock… again.

  “What’s going on here?!” Ayesha shouted.

  They were standing on the threshold of a large room, row upon row of chairs were filled with what looked like Wax’s minions. The group made their way up the isle in the centre of the room, heading towards the platform where a minister was standing with a couple.

  “What are you doing here?!” Wax shouted. “You are not supposed to be here!”

  “Well we are!” Ayesha shouted back. “Where’s Crast?!”

  “I’m right here,” Crast said.

  Ayesha nearly fainted when she noticed the bride on the platform was Crast. Ally and Heather had to grab hold of her arms to stop her from falling.

  “Who are you to interrupt my wedding?!” the groom turned and asked the group.

  “And who are you?” Ayesha shouted back.

  “I am Clay.”

  “You’re made of Clay?”

  “Seriously? Didn’t you already go through this with my brother’s name?”

  “Yeah, but I knew it would annoy you!”

  “Whatever, leave me and my wife alone.”

  “She’s my character, she’s coming with me!”

  “Actually I’m not,” Crast said, surprising everyone.

  “What? Why not?” Ayesha asked.

  “Because I like Clay,” Crast replied.

  “But he’s the villain’s brother!”

  “Yes but he’s nothing like his brother.”

  “Of course he is! He’s just saying that to trick you!”

  “No, really, he’s not evil. He’s just a bag inspector.”

&nb
sp; The rest of the group was standing dumbfounded by the argument that was happening.

  “Are we meant to be doing something?” Heather whispered to Ally.

  “I have no idea,” Ally replied.

  “If everything is fine here, then maybe we should just leave?” Dan said.

  “No!” Ayesha shouted at them. “I’m not leaving here without Crast!”

  Crast rolled her eyes.

  “Well you’ll be waiting a very long time.”

  “But...”

  Ayesha’s bottom lip quivered.

  “I tell you what,” Wax said. “I’ll allow Clay and Crast to go with you instead of staying here.”

  “Really?” Ayesha said.

  “If,” Wax continued. “Dan goes on a date with me.”