Peekaboo

Patrick Kane followed Ariel out of the tower, down her hair. He was at a loss as to what was going on. He had never used hair as a method of getting out of some building before. Come to think of it, this place had a lot of bizarre things. And one of those weird things, was his silver stick-sword weapon that he had. He clutched it tightly in his hands.

“So where’s the car?”

“Car? What’s that?”

And that was another item of bizarreness. He had sudden moments of settings he had seen in movies, on the screen. He seemed to be in some kind of Disney-type land. But how did they get around?

“It’s a-----nevermind!”

“Come on, Avondale’s main kingdom isn’t far from here!” Ariel spoke.

Patrick just nodded. He was just kind of in for the ride now. He wasn’t sure what was going on or why.

They walked back into the forest and headed down a path. The hockey player watched as the princess skipped happily along. She sang sweetly to the wildlife, as they walked along and it made Patrick curious. He WAS in some kind of Disney fairytale land!

They finally reached the end of the path, which opened up to a yellow brick road, which stretched for about a mile ahead of them. It ended at a bridge that crossed over a river, which emptied to a lake. Beyond the bridge was a beautiful, sheltered kingdom, complete with a giant castle at the far end. The private city or whatever it was appeared to jut out into the lake, which was covered by a thick mist.

He gasped at the sight of the “floating” city surrounded by rocky walls. It was like a smaller peninsula, like Florida. Only this was a city and it was no more than four miles in length.

And it definitely read Disney and fairytale.

Ariel noticed his look and smiled at him. “Welcome to Avondale, Prince Patrick Kane!”

“Uh, I’m not a prince….I’m just a hockey player!”

Ariel touched his nose with her finger and giggled. Then she grabbed his hands and pulled him onto the brick road.

About half-way to the bridge, Patrick turned to Ariel. “If you don’t know about hockey, why do you have Blackhawk symbols with our Indian Head back in the tower, painted all over the walls?”

“It’s the prophecy, Patrick,” she spoke, as if she was shocked at his ignorance. “It’ll all make sense in a little bit!”

“I’m starting to get freaked out here!”

Ariel paused before the bridge and spun around, halting Patrick. She grabbed his head in her hands and held it still, so she could gaze at him, in the eyes. “Don’t be scared, Patrick. We aren’t going to hurt you. Trust me, I’m a princess! Everyone can trust a princess, right?”

“Uh….”

She frowned, adorably and Patrick had to admit to himself that he didn’t think this girl was capable of hurting him.

“Okay, okay, I trust you.”

He gazed down, looking at the refreshing, crystal clear water that slapped against the rocks below, sending spurts of mist and water upward. It was unlike any of the water in America that was for sure. This water was so clear you could to the bottom. All kinds of colorful fish swam in the water below. There were ducks and tons of new species that played around below.

At least he could recognize a few animals, though he wasn’t sure about it completely. Maybe they looked like ducks, but were actually soldiers of the kingdom or something.

Ariel was smiling once more, she released his face, even though he, truthfully, did not want her to let go. Her hands were so smooth and soft to the touch, it was like he was up in the sky, laying on clouds. She trotted across the bridge and he followed her.

They entered the kingdom, walking under a huge stone archway that had the world “Avondale” on it in big black, white, and red letters. These people here sure have a lot of Blackhawk-related themes. It sparked his curiosity once more.

Ariel led him through the main, heart of the city and past a giant fountain that was made of stone. It was made similar to a French-style of architecture. And it was in the shape of….what else….a Hawk. Water gushed out of the statue’s marbled beak. He wasn’t in shock anymore. Something fishy was definitely occurring here and he was positive it wasn’t from the water.

As they passed by it, Patrick saw a bunch of coins thrown in the water, which was probably lake water, as it too was crystal clear. So it was a fountain and a wishing well?

They continued on, heading for a castle that was massive. It took up the width of the “island” city. And it rose into the air. Patrick thought about one of the famous Disney movies he had seen as a kid: Cinderella’s castle. His three sisters watched the movie and were fascinated by the appearance of it. They would often drag Patrick in and make him the prince, while they were the princesses vying for his hand in marriage. And sometimes they dressed Patrick up as the princess, putting lipstick on him. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t blame them, after all he was the only male child of his family.

Ariel skipped up the steps of the palace to the front doors, which were made of oak. Patrick joined her. He raised his hand to knock, politely, but Ariel shook her hand, laughing and pushed both open at once.

Manners! That was rude! Patrick thought.

Inside it looked like the castle from Cinderella, almost like it was indeed a rid off of the classic fairytale palace. Ariel and Patrick stepped into the place and let the doors swing shut behind them with the sound of a royal swish noise.

The red haired Rapunzel lady, princess led Patrick into the main room, which was like a giant living room. On one of the sofas, sat three other princesses. One had short, curly blonde hair with a flowered headband. She wore a long sky blue colored dress that hugged her figure nicely. Next to her was a light brown haired princess with a short pink dress that almost reminded Patrick of a prom-style. And beside her was a gorgeous darker brown haired female with an ankle-length flowing white dress.

The trio girl looked up, as Ariel and Patrick came into view. They all smile kindly.

“Is that him?” the pink dressed girl asked.

“I believe so, Chelsea,” Ariel spoke.

The one known as Chelsea nodded.

“There’s only one problem girls, he seems to think that his name is Patrick Kane!” the redhead frowned.

“Because I am Patrick Kane!”

“No, no, that can’t be right! The prophecy said that a hockey player would come and save the kingdom, but that’s not Jonathan!”

Jonathan? Patrick raised an eyebrow at the familiar name. Could it be that these girls knew Jonathan Toews? How could they though? Unless his best friend and captain was withholding a secret?

“Jonathan?” Patrick questioned, directing all of the females’ attentions to him. “Jonathan Toews?”

The blue dressed blonde stood up at once. “You know him? You know our Johnny?”

Whoa, okay, Jonathan had some explaining to do, when Patrick got back to America and Chicago!

“I do. He’s my teammate. He is the Chicago Blackhawks’ captain!” Patrick instinctively raised his head up proudly, as he talked about his great friend.

“Chicago Blackhawks?” Chelsea inquired, raising an eyebrow and wrinkling her nose up in distaste.

Patrick nodded. He thought about maybe showing the princesses what hockey was. Maybe the sport was known as something else here. If they knew Jonathan, they might know what it was if he showed them. “Do you princesses know what ice skating is?”

“Oh yes, here in Avondale it gets extremely cold and we have a rink on the left side of the kingdom! We often go there to skate and take a load off, but lately…” the prom dress girl trailed off.

“What?” Patrick urged.

“Should we tell him, Ariel?”

“I trust him. Go ahead and tell him Lauren.”

Prom dress girl or Lauren cleared her throat. “Avondale is being threatened. We needed help, so we were trying to get Jonathan. But you must have came here by accident!”

“There are no accidents, Lauren!” the blue dress one stated. She stepped forward and rounded Patrick, gazing at him up and down. “I don’t believe he is here on accident.”

“Amy don’t scare him! He already is puzzled enough!”

“I think he’s cute!” Chelsea squealed.

She bounced forward and joined Amy. They played around with Patrick, who actually didn’t mind the attention. He was already used to being the lead Chicago player who picked up girls on the road. Now he was leading in picking up princesses!

“Chels, you’re going to hurt him! Don’t pull his hair!”

“Amy, you’re touching his waist!”

Patrick blushed deeply. They started shoving each other back and forth. Ariel and Lauren finally pulled them back and broke them apart.

“Stop fighting ladies! Let’s show him the prophecy and figure out how we can fix this issue! We need Jonathan!”

“What is this prophecy?” Patrick asked. He was genuinely interested. And why did they want Jonathan? What was going on?

The four girls saw his bewildered expression and sighed in unison. The Blackhawk raised his head up proudly and flashed the woman a smoldering look. Chelsea and Amy shared a look and giggled like fangirls.

“Okay, okay, follow us, we will show you the prophecy room!”

There was a room just for a prophecy? Wow. But come to think of it, this was a fictional world and the castle was rather massive, he figured that it wasn’t too awkward.

They led Patrick into a wing and walked to the end of the hallway, which opened up to a circular observatory style room. In the center was a single pedestal with a large book opened up on it. The hockey player was curious about there being a room in the castle just for this, a book.

Ariel shoved him forward. “Go on, Patrick. Read the prophecy.”

The blonde man gradually made his way forward, up to the book. He placed both of his hands on it and suddenly sparkles surrounded his hands and he stepped back in shock. A bizarre wind gust blew through the room and turned the pages. Patrick yelped.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s okay. Continue. The book is just getting the prophecy that you want.”

Oh great so a book was reading his mind! Fantastic and creepy.

The Blackhawk stepped back up and gazed down at the page that was opened to him. He read the prophecy to himself. “He comes from a far away land, known as America, with fair skin. A hockey player from Chicago will save the kingdom from it’s treacherous destruction.”

Lauren stepped forward, her brown eyes shimmered in the dim light of the room. “Avondale is under attack, Patrick. Lord Nemo is threatening to take over the kingdom. We have been able to hold him off so far, we are only princesses and can only do so much.”

“But what does this have to do with Johnny?” Patrick asked. He was still holding his weapon at his side.

“A few moons ago, he came here. He was as confused as are now, but he learned and became a good friend of ours. When this prophecy showed up, we immediately thought it was him,” Amy explained.

“But now, as I think about, I’m thinking that you are the savior, Patrick Kane of Chicago, America!” Ariel added on.

“It’s actually Chicago, Illinois!”

“You are Avondale’s savior and you must defeat the evil Lord Nemo before he becomes king and destroys this kingdom!” Chelsea exclaimed.

Patrick blinked. A single ray of sunlight hit him, illuminating him. He held his stick-sword in his hands and looked it over. It glistened in the light. He was only a hockey player, not a knight or prince, how could he possibly defeat this Lord Nemo?