My mouth dropped open. I stared at the boy--the doll--the nutcracker--the wooden person in utter disbelief.

I held up a finger as if the next sentence was drastically important, not just the stupid statement of the century. "You aren't small anymore."

What a smart thing to say, Clair! Why don't you just keep on stating what is DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF YOU!

Apparently, the nutcracker had the same reaction. "You're worried about how I'm 'not small anymore' while the castle is being attacked?" He moved one of his arms up slightly, then it dropped back down. "You need to sort out your priorities!"

The nutcracker's voice was so high, I winced. The doll looked grown-- if a doll could look that way-- but his voice belonged to a kid. The weirdest thing was that when he talked, his mouth was slightly open, but it didn't move. There was no tongue that I could see, so the question was: how did he speak?

I clenched my teeth, still trying to process everything. "How are you talking?" I cried.

The nutcracker let go of his shoulder and waved his square hand in the air. "Can we not worry about that right now?" he hissed. "Shut up!"

I shut my mouth, unable to decide if I was angry at being told to shut up, surprised at being told to shut up, or terrified at the thought of the black things invading the castle.

I opted for everything at once.

Blood rushed to my head, pumping through it like to beat of a never-ceasing drum. It hit over and over, drowning out my senses.

A low mutter broke through the fog of my mind.

"Hay."

Hay? Horses eat hay, why would my brain be thinking about hay?

"Hey!" Something rough seized my shoulder and jostled me out of my thoughts. I jumped and found myself staring into a set of painted brown eyes.

"Get over it, curly! We need to run!"

I ignored the name. "Where are we going?"

The nutcracker turned his back to me. "Out. We need to stop this."

He started to move toward the door and reached out to grab the handle before I realized what he was doing.

"Wait!" I cried. "You can't go out there--there's an army!"

"So?"

I grabbed the wood and yanked him away from the door. "So we'll die. Painfully."

My eyes flicked up to his shoulder. A long, dark gash was carved into the painted red of his shirt.

I reached out to touch the splintered wood. "You're hurt."

Not a question.

"Hurt? Yes. Dying? No." Nutcracker pushed past me to the door. "We need to go."

I crossed my arms. "You open that door and we die."

It looked like he would have huffed, but instead, he just threw his arms into the air. "Well, princess, what do you suppose we do? Find a trash chute?"

I don't like him.

I flopped down on the floor. Vibrations from the marching outside the door shook the ground lightly.

"Oh my gosh," Nutcracker mumbled. Then louder, "What are you doing?"

Aggravation built up inside me "Thinking," I spat.

"About?"

"Ugh!" I screamed. "Shut up! Thinking requires silence!" I buried my face in my hands. A curtain of golden curls fell around me.

Nothing made sense. The creatures that came out of nowhere, the stone, the bead that was crushed, the small doll that turned into a giant version of itself--

The doll.

I jumped up heart pounding. "How did you get big? How did the--the uh..." I trailed off, not knowing what to call the creatures outside the door.

"They're called muraes," Nutcracker offered, suddenly softer. "And what do you mean?"

I moistened my lips. "Like, how did you grow? You were small when I got you, and now you're my size."

Even though his face didn't move, Nutcracker seemed confused. "Uh, the bead you crushed and hid in my mouth. It was a pill filled with--" He shrugged. "--I don't know, magic I guess."

"Magic," I breathed. Of course it was magic.

That didn't exist.

Couldn't.

Then again, the being in front of me proved otherwise.

I pointed at Nutcracker. "Do you have any more?" Then, before he could answer, I ran to the bed. "Get them," I demanded as I bent down.

I poked my head under the bed, looking for the hole the mouse came out of. I couldn't for the life of me remember where it was. Cobwebs and dead spiders on their backs with their legs curled to their chest greeted me.

Not there.

Something hard tapped my foot. "Got them."

"Great." I pulled herself out from under the bed. What I wanted wasn't there. I scanned the lower half of the wall, trying to find the hole.

"Ah." I smiled and waddled over on my knees, sitting down at a hole in the wall smaller than the size of my hand. "Here's our way out!"

"I doubt we can fit through there, Curly."

I sighed, exasperated. "First--" I started, holding up a finger, "--my name is Clair, not 'curly.' Second--" I held up another finger and stood. "--we can fit if we shrink, smarta--"

My insult was cut off by a thud to the door. My breath caught in my throat.

"What was that?" I whispered.

The thud came again, louder than before. Nutcracker ran across to his sword against the wall and seized it.

His back toward me, he cried out, "Okay, so we shrink and go through the hole, right?"

I was by his side quickly. "Yes."

Wham!

A small, black fist had punched through the door.

"Shrinky-stuff. Now."

Nutcracker wasted no time. He thrust the bead into my hand and shoved the other into the place between the two pieces of wood that made up his mouth.

"Push the lever on my back down, then pull it up again," he instructed.

I stared at him curiously, but only for a second. The loud bang of the door coming fairly close to falling down convinced me to just not ask and go with it.

The lever was surprisingly smooth. I quickly pushed it down, only to find that it was heavy. My fingers slipped against the surface of the wood and I attempted to yank it away from Nutcracker's back.

After a few panicked seconds of the lever not budging, it moved up slightly.

It was good enough for Nutcracker. "Come on," he said, waving his arms.

I gulped and stared at the mouse hole. It seemed like I had read a book before about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and shrank, but I couldn't place it. I twirled the bead in my fingers, and before I had time to doubt myself, popped it into my mouth and swallowed.

One. Two. Three.

Nothing happened.

Really? Aren't I supposed to shrink or something?

I turned to ask Nutcracker why I hadn't moved, but found no one.

Now he's gone, too. Everything just keeps getting better and better.

A crash of splintered wood was all the muraes needed to enter. My heart jumped into my throat as the dark shape made its way towards me.

I was about to die.

There was nowhere I could go. The mouse hole hadn't grown to my size, nor had I shrunk down to meet its height. The door was blocked by the oncoming wave of muraes that kept filing in, waving black tendrils of smoke around like arms.

I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see my own death.

"Quit sleeping and c'mon, curly!"

My eyes flew open. Not dead. I wasn't dead. I was still breathing.

And tiny.

My first thought was that the bed had somehow grown. It towered over me--so high up that it would've taken at least three people my size to reach the top.

It slowly dawned on me that nothing grew. I had shrunk.

I whipped my head to the side, staring at the mouse hole. The murae that lunged at me shuffled around the floor, trying to find the vanishing girl. Since I'd rather not have been stepped on, I bolted past Nutcracker and through the small, dark space.

I smiled, staring at the wooden boy. "Don't know who you're waiting on."

He just sighed and jogged in front of me. "I'm beginning to think the reality of this situation has driven you to insanity," he mumbled.

"No. I was already like this."

Rough wood encircled my hand, scratching against my skin. Nutcracker started walking while holding on to my wrist, succeeding in dragging me across the hall.

"Wait!" I cried. I snatched my arm away from the boy. I moistened my lips. "Where are you going?"

"Out. Away from here. This palace has already fallen."

Fallen. The word resonated with me, tangling my nerves into a ball. The castle had been attacked. Faint screams broke through the wood and stone surrounding the two.

My family.

They were still inside.

My heart leaped to my throat. "You're running?"

Nutcracker stopped. "Yes. You can't stop these things. They attack, they kill, they win."

He grabbed my wrist again. "You need to leave."

Running. The only thing I was good for.

And the only thing I couldn't do.

I focused on the floor. Small scratches sounded from behind us, slowly getting louder and faster. I knew he was right. We needed to leave.

It doesn't mean I listened.

I took a shaky breath, steeling myself for the response I knew was coming. "No. I need to find my family."

"Are you crazy?"

"Apparently!" I threw my arms into the air, aggravated at everything. "I'm not leaving until I have my family. You can go and have fun. Leave."

I waved before I turned my back. "Bye-bye."

My shoes clicked down the hall, the sound seeming like it echoed around everything. The opposite direction--whether it was the right direction or not--felt like it was darker than before. I could already tell that the halls were slimmer. After a few minutes, they had gotten down to the size where I could stick my arm out a few inches from my sides and drag my fingers along the wooden wall.

"Olof fwen sh nunuk."

I froze. My blood ran cold. The voice...it wasn't human.

It had to be a murae.

I clapped my hand over my mouth to keep from screeching. How are there muraes in the mouse hole? How did they shrink?

Approaching footsteps alerted me to the fact that I was standing in the middle of the hallway for everyone to see. Quickly, I darted to the side and ducked behind a piece of wood.

"Enshrif. Comeg hosh muahs."

It was a different voice. There had to be at least two of the muraes in the mouse hole.

I bit my lip. Quickly, I poked my head around the corner to see how many there were.

No muraes. Just two gray mice sitting at the edge of the hole.

Wait a minute. Mice showed up just before the muraes attacked. There was one in the room with me and Dad.

My heart leaped as I came to the realization. The mice turned into muraes, and vice versa.

As if to prove it to myself, I stuck my head out from the corner again. One of the mice crawled out of the hole, closely followed by the other.

I ran over to the hole they had gone out of. Sure enough, two of the creatures stood at the wall, guarding it.

"Ofriech?"

Shoot.

Not really what I thought.

I didn't move, praying that the murae might be stupid enough to believe I was a statue. My heart pounded wildly, punching its way through my chest.

It's just a mouse right now. You could kill it.

My gaze darted over to the wall. There had to be something I could use as a sword or dagger. Anything would work.

My eyes landed on a small, metal pipe resting against a piece of wood. The end narrowed into a point that looked like it had to be sharp.

In one swift movement, I grabbed the pipe and spun around. I lifted my arm as I spun.

Squeak!

A soft, fleshy sound met my ears. I averted my gaze so I wouldn't see what I had done, but it was too late.

The body of the murae lay sprawled on the floor. The head of the murae was about three feet away from its owner.

I sucked in my breath. It was dead. I killed it.

And I didn't have time to think about what I had done.

Still grasping the bloodied pipe, I ran out from the mouse hole. The two muraes that had been standing guard had left-- I guess to go join their leader.

I looked around. Everything was so big.

Where's Mom and Dad?

"Raoul, duck!"

I jumped at the shout. Found them.

I took off running down the hall, staying close to the wall so I wouldn't be stepped on.

Growing would be a really nice thing to do right about now.

My shoes clipped faintly against the tan tile as I ran. It took forever to get down the hall. I rounded the corner, my breaths coming out in gasps.

"Da--"

Whoa.

Everything was red.

Broken bodies of soldiers and muraes lay on the ground. Scarlet pooled around their heads and chests from where they had fallen. I could see deep gashes that cut through muscle and bone on a few of the guards, and on the muraes, stab wounds from a sword or knife.

I scanned the bodies on the floor frantically, hoping that none of them were anyone I knew. I recognized a few who had stood by the castle gates and had walked around the halls, but none were the king or my family.

I let myself breathe a sigh of relief. Guilt washed over me. I was relieved that it wasn't my family on the ground, but what about the guards? They had families. Friends.

Ones they could never go back to.

It wasn't right for me to be so relieved when there were so many dead.

A quiet cough from the corner made my heart sink.

"Clair?"

I whirled around, staring up at the person who spoke.

Emerald green eyes met mine. The boy held his side where crimson blood trailed down his stomach. Purple and blue splotches ran across his arms--bruises from what looked to be a hand. His dark brown hair stuck to his forehead, wet with sweat.

I bit my lip. "Raoul."

_______________________________________

Surprise! I finished it! You got a chapter!

...that was supposed to be longer, but it would've hit 4/5k words.

But who cares! It's a chapter! Yay!

I am so relieved I managed to squeeze it out, can't ya tell? 😂