Chapter 9

          I stared down the passage as Gwendolyn stood on a small platform right above a slide like object.

“I-is it safe?” I asked, looking Gwendolyn in the eye.

“Of course! I go down it several times a day, trust me?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Fine,” I sighed, taking her hand and stepping down to the platform with her.

“Ready?” Gwen asked me, letting go of my hand and staring down the dark carved out tunnel.

“I guess so,” I grinned nervously trying not to show my nerves.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Gwendolyn laughed before shoving me down the tunnel, which turned out to be more of a slide.

I was engulfed in a quick blur of darkness before being spit out of the slide and was rapidly whipped and lashed back and forth while Gwendolyn laughed and smiled behind me. 

“This is insane!” I shrieked, desperately trying to grip onto the tunnel’s walls with my fingernails.  I spread out my legs and pressed my feet and hands against the walls, still trying to stop. 

“Keep going slow poke!” Gwen giggled from behind, giving me another shove until I was finally slowing down enough to open my eyes and when I did, it was amazing.

            I saw leaves made of glass and in a variety of color ranging from the darkest blue to the brightest white, however there wasn’t any black.  I looked closer and harder at the inside of the leaves, noticing that they each had a glowing gold sparkly ball in each individual one.  The balls were about the size of a raisin compared to a regular sized human which glistened due to the gold glitter and light spiraling around them. 

“There’s the end!” Gwendolyn yelled to me, wrapping her arms around my waist as we were thrown from the tree slide, landing on another branch. 

“O-oh sweet ground!” I sighed in relief as I hugged the branch and kissed the ground.

“Thank goodness that’s over, I mean what else could have happened?” I added, laughing jokingly under my breath.  Gwen gave me a small smirk before she laughed as she placed her hands on her hips.

“At least the trolls didn’t show up,” she said softly, looking around at the bushes and trees.

“Trolls?” I exclaimed.  Then all went black.