They went through the dark forest, where there were ugly dry crooked trees everywhere.
“This used to be a very beautiful and sunny forest,” Princelda said sadly.
“Don’t worry, we will bring Buttershine back to life again,” Lily said, her hands on her hips.
There were no people, animals or birds in the dead forest. There was silence everywhere.
When they reached the end of the forest, the view of Buttershine streets opened in front of them: the streets were almost empty and dirty, covered in slick green mud; a couple of people were slowly walking along the street.
Jilly noticed that the people here had small butterfly wings on their backs, like Medicol.
“Princelda, can your people fly?”
“No, they can’t. Those wings are just something like decoration, something they were born with.”
“Then why do they keep those useless wings?” Lily said impatiently.
“They are part of their bodies,” Princelda said. “Now, let’s go to the palace,” Princelda said. She was a bit nervous about going to the palace.
They went through a couple of streets and reached a big cave, which used to be the palace. On the upper part of the cave entrance, in big and ugly letters there was written: “HER UGLINESS MRS. ACNEPUS, THE NEW QUEEN OF DARKERSHADOW”
Cobwebs and spiders were everywhere. Lily became very angry when she and Jilly read it. She took some green dirt from the ground and tossed it up towards the letters.
“Now what? Shall we enter?” She asked, wiping her hands off her jeans.
“Wait, Lily,” Jilly said. “We must be careful. Princelda, maybe you should stay here? Hide somewhere here and wait for us. If she sees you, we’ll be defeated.”
“Yes, Princelda, please hide here, otherwise she will get the three of us. One of us has to stay, and that is most probably you.” Lily said.
Princelda agreed. “Girls, please eat this dust, so that your flying ability won’t fade off quickly. Who knows when you will need to fly?” She created the magical cotton candy, and the girls eagerly ate it.
“Also, before you go, I will make a light for you to take with you because it is dark in there.” Princelda emitted sparkles from her wings, which formed a small ball. “This ball will light up when it’s dark.”
Lily took the ball, and Princelda hid inside one of the dry trees that was beside the big cave.
***
The girls entered the cave. It was big, and had passageways and compartments. It was dark and seemed to be empty. The magical ball lit up as soon as they stepped into one of the dark passageways. Getting deeper into the cave, they passed a few passageways and stopped in front of an entrance. Voices were heard from there.
“Your Ugliness Mrs. Acnepus, where should I put this cobweb?” A female voice was heard.
“Fasten it onto the ceiling, girl, I want my palace to look as nice as possible.” Acnepus said. Her voice was edgy, crooked and ugly.
Lily and Jilly looked at each other.
“Her voice is so disgusting,” Jilly whispered.
“She thinks cobwebs are nice,” Lily whispered back and made a face.
“Lily, I think we must enter and pretend to be her slaves.”
“Yes.” Lily agreed. She put the magical ball inside her blouse, and Jilly put the wrapped rainbow crown inside her blouse.
They entered. The cave room was covered in dust and smelled like rotten fish. It was rather big, with a few magical candles hanging in the air. There was a big table and a few chairs. A couple of Buttershine people were working in the room. Acnepus was sitting on a big throne, which was covered in cobwebs. She was a very ugly and skinny woman, with lots of acne on her face, her nose long and crooked, and her eyes red and evil. Her black hair was reaching her shoulders and spiders were crawling in her hair. On her head she had a black crown made of dead snakes. Her eyes fell on Lily and Jilly, and she got up immediately.
“Who are you?!” She shouted with her disgusting voice.
Lily came one step forward: “We want to work for you, Your ugliness Mrs. Acnepus.”
“Why?” Acnepus asked her, coming close and examining them with her red eyes. “Are you from Darkershadow? Where are you from?”
“From Darkershadow,” Lily said confidently.
“And where are your wings?” Acnepus asked, when she noticed that the girls didn’t have the decorative wings that the Buttershine people had.
Lily hesitated. Jilly stepped forward and said: “We have lost them in the battle.”
“What battle, girl?” Acnepus asked Jilly, her red eyes huge with interest.
“We were outside in the streets, when we saw that a couple of people were running away with the crown.”
“What crown, silly girl?” Acnepus shouted.
“The… the real crown. I mean, the rainbow crown.” Jilly said and looked at Lily, who was nodding. Lily continued:
“We thought that they were thieves and ran after them… Then we fought with them and got the crown. We decided to bring it back to you.”
Acnepus’ eyes widened from horror. She started to breathe loudly, and stream started to come out of her nostrils. Jilly stepped back. She didn’t know what Acnepus was going to do. What if she turned them into animals?
“Silly girls, show me the crown!” Acnepus ordered Jilly.
Jilly slowly reached inside her blouse and took the crown out of it. Acnepus looked at the shining rainbow crown. She grabbed it from Jilly’s hands, her eyes fiery with anger.
“This is it! This is the crown! But how did they managed to steal it! I must take it back now and put stronger guards on it.” She was very angry now.
Turning to her slaves inside the room, Acnepus ordered them: “Watch these girls, I have to go somewhere. I want them to be here when I return. Otherwise I will turn you into frogs.” While the slaves came towards Lily and Jilly, Acnepus went out of the cave room.
Chapter 7: Horriworld
To her happiness, Jilly saw that one of the slaves was Medicol. He pretended that he didn’t know the girls at all. Medicol and two other slaves came and took the sisters deeper into the room.
“I will guard them,” Medicol said to the other slaves, who nodded and went away.
When they were alone with Medicol, Jilly whispered: “Medicol, we must go now, in order to follow Acnepus.”
“I know. That’s why I made the other slaves go away,” Medicol whispered. “Now I will set you free, please be careful and do everything in your power to defeat Acnepus. I guess she’s going to turn me and the other slaves into frogs. So you girls are my only hope. I will take care so that the slaves won’t notice that you’re gone. When you get out of this cave, go through the passageway to the right. Somewhere there should be another cave - Acnepus’ dragon stables. Most probably she will ride her dragon to Horriworld. The palace has another exit, which is through the stables, so you’d better go there now so that you don’t lose her track. Good luck, girls.”
“Thanks, Medicol,” Lily and Jilly said and hurriedly left the cave.
***
Getting out of the cave, Lily and Jilly turned to the right and started walking along a narrow passageway. Lily took the light ball out again, and they quickened their pace. The passageway was empty and silent. Soon they heard noise from somewhere near and stopped.
“Listen, Lily,” Jilly whispered.
“What was that?” Lily whispered, too.
“Shh…” Jilly put her finger onto her lips.
The noise was coming from a cave that was right ahead of them.
“I think it’s the dragon.” Jilly whispered.
Without hesitation, Lily hid the light ball inside her jacket again and slowly approached the entrance of the cave.
“Lily, stop!” Jilly whispered, but it was too late – Lily was already inside the cave. Forcing herself, Jilly followed her.
They were in a cave, which looked like horse stables. The cave had big window holes, which we
re on the high ceiling. They hid behind something that resembled a door.
The noise belonged to a green big dragon, who was breathing fire and ashes. Acnepus was there, climbing onto the dragon and mumbling angrily: “I will show them who the real queen is! But at first I must check if the real crown is indeed gone. If it’s not, then the red-haired girls will be very sorry, because they will become red-haired ants!”
Jilly shivered at the thought. But the sisters didn’t have much time to think about ants, as Acnepus took off on her dragon and flew right out of the ceiling window.
“Jilly, let’s fly!” Lily said and flew into the air. Jilly followed her. Getting out of the ceiling window, the sisters flew, following the green dragon.
***
It was already evening, and the dark sky was even darker. After flying for a few minutes, Acnepus and her dragon started to descend into a lake. Lily and Jilly followed them, holding hands and trying to be as invisible as possible.
Landing on the lake, Acnepus shouted: “The gates to Horrifield, open to me!”
Big black metal gates immediately appeared on the black waters of the lake. The gates had a mouth, and a crooked and unpleasant voice screeched: “Password!”
“As if I am an intruder,” Acnepus barked at the gates. “Well, I can’t really blame the gates, can I? I have put passwords all around Horriworld, for better protection, hahaha” she started laughing.
“Wrong password,” the ugly screeching came again from the gates. “You have two more tries left.”
“Silly gates, I wasn’t saying the password, I was just talking! I guess I must change the settings – this is getting on my nerves.”
“Wrong password,” the gates said again, “You have only one try left.”
Acnepus was so angry, that she barely managed to stop talking and shouting, otherwise her access into her own world would be temporarily denied. Making a very angry face, her nostrils flaring with stream, she said: “Red scorpions.”
“Correct,” the gates said and opened. Acnepus flew her dragon into the gates and down underwater. The gates closed.
“Jilly, we must follow her.” Lily whispered.
“I know, but how can we breathe underwater?”
“I don’t know, but we can at least try!” With this, Lily approached the gates and said: “Open to me!”
Nothing happened.
“Lily, you must say it correctly! The gates to Horriworld, open to me!” Jilly said, and the crooked screech was heard again from the gates: “Password!”
Without hesitation, the sisters shouted together: “Red scorpions.”
The gates opened again, and the sisters entered. Taking a deep breath, they descended into the water. To their big surprise, they could easily breathe underwater, as it was magical.
***
Swimming swiftly, the saw the dragon ahead of them, with Acnepus on it. There were spiders and snakes everywhere, the watery place had several water plants and it was rather dark.
Acnepus reached a wall, knocked on it three times and waited. The sisters hid behind a plant and watched. A mouth appeared on the wall and said:
“Riddle, riddle, scary riddle,
Here I will propose a riddle,
If you get the answer right,
I guess you will be all right.”
Acnepus smiled and said to herself: “I am such a genius! I can’t believe how nice the rhymes are. I can’t believe that I created those lines. I am so proud of myself.” Then she said to the wall: “Go ahead.”
The wall said:
“When it flies, it moves its wings,
When it breathes, it makes wild fire,
No, not wild, wait till gets angry,
And that means that it is hungry.”
Acnepus listened and smiled again: “It is dragon!” She said, obviously too proud of herself and her creative abilities.
The wall slid aside, revealing a dark area, which looked like a city. It had narrow streets and cave-like structures. There was no water there. Dry and crooked trees were noticeable here and there. There were no people in the streets, but lots of scary insects and small animals were populating this world. Acnepus rode her dragon, followed by the sisters. Soon they reached a big cave. On it there was written with glowing blue letters: HER UGLINESS MRS ACNEPUS, THE QUEEN OF HORRIWORLD.
***
Acnepus flew in, dismounted the dragon and continued to go on foot, as the ceilings were not high anymore. Lily and Jilly followed her. They didn’t stop flying, as it was noiseless. The dragon didn’t even notice them, as it fell asleep the moment it hit the ground. Obviously it was very tired. Descending several flights of stairs, they reached the dungeons. Trying hard not be seen by Acnepus, Lily and Jilly slowly followed her into a chamber. There was a wooden case on the dirty floor. The sisters hid behind the wall and watched as Acnepus came up to the case and opened it. There was the real rainbow crown, shining brightly.
Seeing the place where the real crown was hidden, the sisters turned and flew back without hesitation. They had to reach Buttershine as fast as possible, otherwise Acnepus would see them. Quickly flying all the way back to the magical wall, the girls saw that it was still open and flew through it. When they reached the gates, they said the password and flew out of the lake. Quickly flying into the sky, they came back to Buttershine and even though it was already night, they were able to find Princelda in the tree, where they left her.
The girls were breathless, and their flying ability was starting to wear off.
They returned to their cozy cave, telling Princelda everything about that day, and after eating their nice supper, Princelda suggested to sleep, so that in the morning they could discuss everything with clear heads and to make their next plan.
Chapter 8: The Rainbow Crown
In the morning the girls woke up rather energized and excited. Princelda was already awake, sitting on the edge of the table.
During their delicious breakfast, Princelda said:
“Today is a big day, girls. I have made up a plan in my head. We’ll rescue my mother today and defeat Acnepus!”
“Yes!” Lily and Jilly shouted happily.
“So, here’s my plan: the three of us will go to Horriworld today, as you already know the way, right?” Princelda asked.
Lily and Jilly nodded.
“So, we shall get the crown quickly and go to find my mother. I think she’s also hidden somewhere in the palace.”
“Yes, I’m sure she is,” Lily said confidently.
“And when shall we go?” Jilly asked.
“After we finish our breakfast” Princelda said smiling. She was happy and excited, too.
When the girls finished eating, Princelda created magical pink cotton candy in the air, and the girls ate it, recovering their flying ability. The three of them got out of the cave and took off.
“We must be very careful,” Jilly said. “Most probably Acnepus has noticed that we’re gone and has turned poor Medicol and the other slaves into frogs.”
“We’ll defeat her and turn them back into people,” Lily said.
“Girls, if we’re going to the lake, we must take this direction,” Princelda said, and the girls followed her.
They reached the lake and looked around. There was nobody there.
“The gates to Horriworld, open to me!” Jilly said, and the black gates appeared. The unpleasant voice screeched: “Password!”
“Red Scorpions!” the three of them said together.
The gates opened, and they flew through them and down into the lake.
Swimming there, they reached the wall. Lily knocked on it three times, and the mouth appeared on the wall, saying:
“Riddle, riddle, scary riddle,
Here I will propose a riddle,
If you get the answer right,
I guess you will be all right.”
“Go ahead”, Jilly said.
“Beautiful is Ugly,
Happiness is Hell,
Scary is Fantastic,
This is where we dwell”.
Lily and Jilly looked at each other.
“But… but this is a different riddle,” Lily whispered, so that the wall wouldn’t consider it as the answer.
“Yes, it is different,” Jilly whispered.
“I guess Acnepus has made it so that it changes the riddle every time… otherwise the entrance to Horriworld would be easy.” Princelda concluded.
“Oh, what shall we do now?” Lily started to panic.
“Don’t worry, Lily, Princelda, we shall solve this riddle.” Jilly said, and closed her eyes, thinking hard.
“Jilly, the wall said beautiful is ugly… I think it’s about Acnepus.” Lily whispered.
“No, no, Lily, the wall also said something about dwelling somewhere.” Jilly said. “I think it’s about Horriworld.”
“I think you’re right, Jilly, let’s give it a try.” Princelda said.
“But we don’t know if the wall will give us a second chance or not…” Jilly hesitated.
“That’s the most correct answer, Jilly,” Lily said. “We won’t be able to find a better answer.”
Walking up to the wall, before Jilly could say anything, Lily said loudly: “It’s Horriworld!”
To their utmost happiness, the wall slid aside, revealing Horriworld in all its darkness.
Lily, Jilly and Princelda flew into Horriworld.
“Jilly, do you remember the way to the palace?” Lily asked, looking around.
“I guess so,” Jilly said. She flew forward, while Lily and Princelda followed her.
***
Soon they reached the big cave with the big glowing blue letters on it.
“Here it is,” Princelda said, and looked around. There were no people there, only snakes and spiders.
“Let’s enter,” Lily suggested and entered. Jilly and Princelda followed her. Inside the cave it was very dark. Lily got out her light ball. They reached the flights of the stairs and descended swiftly. The chamber was in front of them. But the door was locked.
“Oh, no,” Jilly said. “What shall we do now?”
“Princelda, can you magically open it?” Lily asked.
“I will try,” Princelda said and shook her wings. Magical dust covered the door. After it dissolved, the door was still locked. “It doesn’t work here.” Princelda said sadly. “This door is locked magically.”
Lily went up to the door and knocked on it.
“Stop, Lily, what are you doing? Are you expecting someone to just open the door and say you’re welcome?” Jilly said, but at that moment a mouth appeared on the door.