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When we finally got up to the TSA officer, we presented our I.D.s with no problem. He read our boarding passes and scowled as he glanced at our I.D.s and then back to us.

"Are you two together?" he asked with a gruff voice.

Before I had the chance to respond, Conner's shocked voice sliced the silent air that had been between us.

"What?" he asked in shock. "No, we're just friends- well, at least, I think. We haven't had a chance to figure it out."

"Sir, I'm asking if you're traveling together," the officer said and scowled even harder. "The airline doesn't care as to your relationship status."

I was facing the TSA officer, so I couldn't see Conner's face, but the heat that seeped into the air was enough to tell me that he was blushing very hard. If I hadn't been so anxious, I would've started laughing so hard, but nerves got a hold of me.

"Yes, we're traveling together," I said, my voice surprisingly calm.

The TSA officer looked us up and down one more time and gave us our tickets and I.D.s back.

"Go ahead," he said. "Next!"

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~~~~~ (*****^-^*****) ~~~~~

___

While waiting for Jack, Goldilocks, and Red to get through the line, I had some time to think. Specifically, about what had just happened. Did Conner want us to remain friends? He kind of made it sound that way. Or did he just that because we were around other people?

Unfortunately, Jack got out of line along with Goldilocks too soon for me to come to a proper, and logical, answer. It took a long time for Red to come, as she had been farther back in the line. Nearing the time when she was at the front, we were shuffled to the front of the metal detector scanning section, and we could not hear what was going on.

I saw Red go up to the counter and the officer look at her boarding pass and I. D. with no problem and stamped them, no question. Things were finally going according to plan! Or not. I saw Red stamp her foot and point her finger at the officer.

"HOW DARE YOU, SIR!" she yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. "THAT IS THE BIGGEST INSULT I'VE EVER RECEIVED IN MY LIFE!"

The officer's normal scowl shifted to a look of terror. Red stormed past him and the other remaining TSA officers that were stationed at the end of the line. She stormed right over to us and huffed.

"What the heck just happened?" Conner asked. "What did he say to you?"

Red held up the fake I.D. of her that bore the image of Amanda Campbell. "He said this was a good picture of me!" she exclaimed.

I looked at our friends as we queued up for the metal detector. I could see Goldilocks smirk, but when I caught her eye, she tried, without result, to get rid of it.

I tried hard to be empathetic to my friends, but no empathy came. Conner had to promise Jack that he would get his boots back when putting them in the scanning bins. I had to keep Goldilocks from putting Hero in a bin. I then tried to convince Red to put her jewelry in one of the bins but to no avail. She had to be scanned by hand because she refused to part with any of it. Once we were finally through, I breathed out a sigh of relief. I spotted the shops in front of us and knew, we had officially snuck into the airport.

"I can't believe we just pulled that off," Conner said, voicing my thoughts to a 'T'. "I don't think I've breathed since we joined the security line."

"I wasn't worried for a second," Jack said, not giving me any encouragement. "But then again, I have a lot more faith in you."

As we rounded the corner to the shops, my friends' eyes widened as they took in the sight of the little plaza of stores.

"Oh my, it's like a little kingdom!" Red exclaimed.

"What's that heavenly aroma?" Goldilocks asked.

"That's called coffee," I said. "It's a really big deal in the Otherworld."

"What's that place with all the moving pictures of men on grassy fields?" Jack asked.

"That's called the sports bar," Conner explained. "It's where people go to watch other people play games."

"What about that shiny room with all the small bottles and portraits of bored but beautiful women?" Red asked.

"That's a perfume store," I informed.

"They let commoners wear perfume in this world? Oh, this I have to see!"

Red dashed towards the store faster than I could grab her, so I dashed right behind her. She entered the store with an excited look on her face, which I knew meant she was ready for some shopping. Unfortunately, that fell on my credit card.

Red scurried to the nearest display of Guess perfume and picked up the display bottle. I caught up with her as she was spurted some on her wrist.

"Careful," I said as I saw her fingers slip on the bottle. I caught it before it hit the ground and gently placed it back on the shelf. As I came up to lecture Red of the price of different things, she was already gone. I whirled around and saw her already with an armload of perfume bottles.

She headed for the door and I ran to stop her.

"Wait, Red!"

She swiveled and faced me. "Yes, Bree?" she asked. "Oh, how kind of you to accompany me!"

"Yes, accompany," I said, knowing that she couldn't walk out of the store with the unpaid-for goods, and she would never get over not having them. "Um, since I'm accompanying you, may I hold your things for you?"

"Of course!" she said and piled her many perfume bottles into my arms. "What a good friend!" she sauntered off into another store and I rushed to the counter to pay. The cashier was alarmed at how much I was buying but rang me up anyway. The total was unspeakable.

Just as I finished my hurried check-out, I caught Red almost walking out of another store full-handed. I rushed over to her and spoke briefly with the security guard who understood. Well, he understood that I was Red's sister and Red had a mental illness. That's what he understood. Though, I don't know how he believed I was Red's sister.

I made the purchase for Red in that store and we stopped in three other stores before going to our gate to meet up with the others. Red had to carry some of her bags because I didn't have enough arms. I had no idea how we were going to get all of the stuff onto the plane.

As we walked over, I could see Conner's eyes widen at the amount of stuff we were carrying. When we got to the seats the gang was saving for us, I dropped my, excuse me, Red's, heavy packages into her seat where she promptly showed them off to everyone. When she was done, Conner's eyes were wider than before.

"How did you pay for all this?" he asked incredulously.

"Pay?" Red asked.

"She didn't- I did," I said. "She would have gotten arrested for shoplifted if I hadn't had my emergency credit card on me. It's maxed out, so the next emergency is on someone else."

"Don't worry," Red launched into more show-and-tell about all the things she got for everyone else. We then learned that Goldilocks and caffeine do not mix well and she gets very hyper.

The call came to board the plane, and off we were. We got our tickets scanned, and boarded the plane. While finding our seats, we had a little snafu where Red was very frustrated that she had to sit in the back of the plane. But, overall, we were on the plane and in the air. After Red had freaked out about being in the air, that is.

Conner soon fell asleep, and when I tried, nothing. As the flight wore on, Conner started to twitch and make small noises. He was restless.

Maybe he didn't like sleeping on planes? Maybe he was having a bad dream? All I knew was that he hadn't gotten any sleep for the past almost two days, so I let him sleep.

"Alex!" Conner cried and woke up with a jolt, scaring the crap out of me.

"Are you okay?" I asked him after he had a moment to breathe.

"Sorry, bad dream. How long was I out?"

"For about an hour. You've been twitching since takeoff but I didn't have the heart to wake you up. I can't imagine how exhausted you are."

"I suppose shaky sleep is better than no sleep at all," he said with a yawn. "You've been up as long as I have. Did you manage to nap at all?"

"I tried but no Bueno," I said. "There's just too much on my mind."

Conner nodded. "I hear you," he said. "Gosh, I would give anything to think about something besides my sister. I'm even starting to worry about her in my dreams. I just had a nightmare where she tried to warn me about something, but I couldn't understand her. I'm sure that's just the stress talking, though."

He looked to me for reassurance, but my mind was already in a different place. I knew that with every passing day, it would get harder and harder to bring up that topic with Conner. But he had to know, so now would be the best time as any.

"Conner, there's something I need to tell you," I said, fighting everything in me that told me not to goo there. "I was trying to be considerate and didn't want to overwhelm you, but I can't keep it to myself anymore."

I felt Conner's body stiffen beside me. He knew this was serious.

"You can tell me," he said. "I doubt there's much that'll be more than I already am troubled."

"All right," I said and took a deep breath. "I wasn't completely honest about my trip to Connecticut. I was visiting family, that part is true, but I lied about the reason I went."

Conner gulped and then the least anticipated question came out of his mouth. "Was it another guy?"

This almost ruined what I was going to say. 'Was it another guy?' Did that mean that he wanted me? I mean, that sounds weird, but, did he want me to be his girlfriend? I decided to ponder that later and focus on the task at hand.

"No, it's nothing like that," I said. "When Emmerich and I came back from the fairy-tale world after the Grande Armee was defeated, I kept thinking about the portal in Neuschwanstein Castle. The more I thought about its history, the less sense it made."

Conner went over the history of the castle and the army again.

" Exactly," I said. "So, what I couldn't stop asking myself about was how Emmerich and I got through the portal without being trapped."

The answer and realization dawned on Conner at the same time. "You have magic in your blood!" he exclaimed. "Emmerich's my cousin, so that's where his magic came from, but what about yours?"

Conner's face went slack as a thought hit him. "Oh no- we aren't related, too, are we?" he asked.

The way he asked was enough for me to know he did not want us to be related. Which could mean...? No, don't go there right now!

"Um......no," I said. "You're forgetting about the grossest part of the story. In order for the Grimm Brothers to activate the portal, Mother Goose transferred some of her blood into theirs so they could use the panpipe to trap the army. And that magic was passed down from generation to generation of the Grimm family."

"Holy DNA test," Conner said. "You're a descendant of the Brothers Grimm!"

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THANKS FOR READING!!!
BYE BOOK-HUGGERS!!!
TLOSGEEK2-OUT!!!