Patty Liu - Silent Reflections

Tony felt himself being shaken slightly. His head ached and something felt funny but he couldn't place it. He opened one eye and peered up and saw the princess above him. It was she that was shaking him.

"All right, all right, I'm up already," he said. But wait, he didn't hear himself say anything! "Hello? Hello?" he said again. Nothing. He had gone deaf!

He looked at the princess with a worried look and the princess looked just as distressed. She held up a slate of chalkboard and quickly squibbled something. She turned it towards Antony so he could read it.

ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?

"Yes," Tony said but he didn't hear anything. He nodded and took the slate from the princess.

WHAT IS GOING ON? AM I DEAF? he wrote.

NO, NOT DEAF. THERE IS NO SOUND. NONE OF US CAN HEAR ANYTHING, the princess wrote back. At the word US, Tony began to look around him. He saw many people all standing around with chalkboard slates in their hands and scribbling away furiously. He saw the two guards standing nearby looking confused and worried. Tony stood up and looked back around him.

YOU HIT YOUR HEAD. YOU WERE OUT FOR A MINUTE, MAYBE, the princess wrote and shoved the slate into Tony's face. Tony felt his forehead and felt a slight bump already forming above his left eye. He groaned to himself but heard nothing. WE ARE TRAPPED HERE IN THE SIXTH KINGDOM, the princess wrote again.

WHAT? HOW CAN WE BE TRAPPED? Tony squibbled back. One of the guards handed Tony a slate of his own so he didn't have to keep sharing Princess Wendy's.

WE JUST ARE, ANTONY. FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER IN THE SECOND KINGDOM, WE COULDN'T EVEN SEE ALL THESE VILLAGERS STANDING HERE.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

YOU HAVE VERY BAD HANDWRITING ANTONY! Wendy frowned at Tony's slate and squinted. I MEAN, FROM THIS SIDE, THE PEOPLE COULD SEE US HEADING INTO HERE. BUT FROM THE OTHER SIDE, WE COULDN'T SEE THEM. WE ARE IN THE SIXTH KINGDOM.

WHY CAN'T WE HEAR ANYTHING? Tony scrawled out as best as he could.

I DON'T KNOW. WE JUST CAN'T. NO ONE CAN. AND WE ARE ALL TRAPPED. WE CAN'T GET WORD OUT TO THE OTHER KINGDOMS EITHER.

WHAT? WHY NOT?

THERE IS A FORCE LINING THE BORDER THAT WE CANNOT GO THROUGH. I HAVE TRIED. WE CAN GET IN, BUT NOT BACK OUT.

A FORCE? BUT THERE MUST BE A WAY!

PERHAPS, BUT WE NEED TO START LOOKING SOON, Wendy wrote quickly and motioned for her guards. One of the guards held up his slate to show Tony and Wendy. It showed a drawing of a very large dog. Tony frowned and shrugged his shoulders. He shook his head.

A DOG? he wrote on his slate. The other guard stepped up and showed his slate.

BERT CAN'T REED OR RITE. I THINK HE MEENS HORSE.

Tony struggled with the other guard's spelling. Obviously the guards of the House of White did not have much schooling in their lifetimes. When he realized they were talking about a horse, he turned left and right looking for his. Both guards pointed towards the direction they had been coming from. Tony squinted and could barely make out a small horse off in the far distance making his way through the shallow end of the giant's footprint lake.

PERHAPS HE WILL GET HELP! wrote the princess, who showed everyone.

YES, HE WOOD GO BACK TO THE PALISE WITH NO RIDER. THEY WILL NO WE ARE MISSING, the guard wrote.

HE MEANS PALACE, BY THE WAY, the princess wrote to Tony. He nodded to show he understood. WHAT DO WE DO, TONY?

Tony looked around at the other villagers who were all gathered around looking at them. He was beginning to get an earache even though he couldn't hear anything at all. The silence was probably making his ears all confused. Had they just all gone deaf? Or was there just no sound at all?

WELL, WE MUST FIND A WAY TO GET THROUGH THE FORCE-FIELD, Tony wrote down quickly after some silent thinking. The princess nodded and one of the guards nodded. Bert the guard just stood and looked confused. The princess quickly mouthed out it’s okay as best as she could so he could understand her. He nodded and tried to smile.

The ground beneath them began to shake suddenly. Everyone began looking around. The shaking would come, stop, then start again like someone was jumping on the ground very, very, very hard.

EARTHQUAKE? Tony wrote quickly. The princess shrugged and they all looked around at the other villagers. Many villagers looked confused and frightened. But a couple of older, wiser-looking men held up their slates. And they all read...

INVISIBLE GIANT!