I ran as fast as I could until I came to a
dead end. Broken, I placed a hand on the wall
and began to cry. I lifted my head and turned to
leave when the light from my necklace showed a
hole in the ground. I stared down it for only a
moment before quickly jumping in.
As I fell through the hole, the many
adventures I had experienced passed through
my mind.
I remembered how the Queen spied on
and captured me, making me her Knave. I
remembered how the Hare and the Hatter
befriended me.
I remembered how I helped rescue that
bear cub from the Queen?s anger. (Oh, sorry,
that?s a story for another time.)
Most of all, I remembered how I had
longed to be with my family again.
As that final memory went through my
mind, I fell up onto the ground. What just
happened? Did I just fall up from a hole? I
thought as I sat up and looked at the patch of
grass behind me. Surely enough, there was the
hole I had just come out of.
I sat there a moment longer until I heard
a voice that sounded strangely like my mother?s.
I looked over my shoulder and saw a lady
shouting my name and running toward me. I
instantly recognized her, jumped up, and ran
toward my mother.
We met each other with an embrace. As
my head rested against her shoulder and I took
in the familiar scent of her bakery, I began to cry.
?Where have you been?? my mother
cried. ?Jack! Jack! I found her, I found our
daughter! Get over here!?
After my father finished speaking with the
Captain of the Guard, he folded me into another
hug. I felt the necklace my parents gave me
press against my chest. Remembering how it
had helped me when I was alone in the Cave of
Between, I leaned back to look my father in the
eyes.
?Father, did you know that my necklace
can glow?? I looked questioningly up at him, his
arms still wrapped around me.
He smiled, I knew that it would be for the
best to ask your Uncle Smith to add that! Your
mother thought it was overkill, but I won out in
the end."
?I wouldn?t have thought it was overkill if I
knew she was going to get lost in a cave,? my
mother said as she smiled at my father and
placed a gentle hand on my head.
?I guess I?ll have to write Uncle Smith a
thank you note now, won?t I?? I joked, with an
exaggerated sigh.
I took in the sight of my father and mother
smiling at me, knowing that forever the words on
my necklace would be cherished in my heart. It
was true, no matter how far apart we are, Family
Sticks Close.