Our eyes fell upon a house with walls made of bread; when we looked up, we saw that the roof was made of cake. I walked over to the window made of candied sugar to have a peek inside and discovered the house was empty—there wasn't a soul about.
Robin's hand opened the door made of chocolate, and he stepped slowly inside, having a good look round. "You lot go on ahead; Felix and I will keep watch out here," the female police officer said. I was surprised yet chuffed that the woman had finally agreed to play along—and even come up with a plan of her own.
When the five of us stepped inside, a sweet, overpowering smell filled our noses; just setting foot in this house was torture enough for me, while the girl with ruby-red eyes was grinning like the Cheshire cat. "July, you've had enough sweets for one day—you'll go and get chubby!" Her boyfriend tugged at the back of her shirt to stop her bolting off and scoffing the whole candy house.
"Oi! Just so you know, I won't get chubby no matter how much I scoff!" Juliet protested as I glanced over at her, trying to wriggle free of her boyfriend's tight grip. But no matter how hard he tried to hold her back, Juliet managed to break loose and gobble a bit of candy floss that was sat there as decoration on the table.
Robin let out a long, bewildered sigh, plonked himself down on the sofa made of jelly sweets, and leaned back. "The only normal one here is Snow—" but no sooner had he said it than reality gave him a right slap in the face, seeing a painting made of carved chocolate bars being munched away at by the very girl he'd just called normal. "—or maybe not…"
"Oi, I'm still here, you know."
"All right, all right, Alice is the most normal one, then."
"You sound proper miffed about it."
Curious Robin decided to cut into the sofa and eat it; his eyes widened as he realised the gummy texture had him hooked straight away, prompting him to take another piece. I, who was inspecting the house, was taken aback when I saw them all actually eating the furniture in the house, including Romeo, who had been forced to eat it by his girlfriend.
"Blimey, they've been had—" before I could do anything to stop them, my wrist was gripped tightly by Juliet, who was holding a cupcake in her hand. "Hey! Back off, back off!" The cupcake went straight into my mouth and I began to nibble on the vanilla cupcake—the taste was an absolute treat for my taste buds.
Juliet laughed with amusement at the look of surprise on my face as I savoured the flavour. "Don't be so stiff, just think of it as a bit of a break," she said, patting me on the shoulder before turning away. "There's plenty more over there."
My legs moved of their own accord and reached for the cupcake on the table before I even realised I'd eaten it. "Just one won't hurt," I said, though without realising it, my hands were already full of cupcakes in various flavours—I wanted to stop myself, but it was all in vain because my body felt as though it were being moved by invisible strings.
Everyone in the house had lost all hope because we'd all been ensnared by the sweet delight that tickled our taste buds. Outside, the two guards were keeping watch—scanning their surroundings for any potential danger.
"They're taking an awfully long time, aren't they?" Felix broke the silence, but Ciel didn't respond at all. The man's green eyes glanced towards the woman, who seemed completely focused; without realising it, the tip of his tail wagged quite rapidly just from seeing her face. "I reckon this world isn't nearly as sweet as you are."
That sudden remark made Ciel jump in surprise and her face instantly turned as red as a tomato. "W-Why did you say that out of the blue?!" she shouted, her voice stammering, but Felix just chuckled softly and walked towards her.
"You've been ignoring me, but the moment I said that, you reacted straight away," he chuckled before stopping right in front of Ciel, who was panicking at what Felix was trying to do.
Felix's finger lifted the woman's chin, their noses almost touching. "Hey, look at the situation…" he whispered, though his tone didn't sound like a refusal; his blue eyes met Felix's milky-green ones once more. "You… If anyone finds out, I'll accuse you of sexual harassment."
"Arrest me, Miss Police Officer," he teased, but just as their lips were about to touch, the voice of a teenager boomed from the sky, causing them both to freeze in shock.
"Just so you know, we can see perfectly well what's going on in our world," said a familiar voice—the girl we'd been looking for all this time: Gretel. Her tone was one of disgust and annoyance. "We've seen you two getting cosy, and we've tried to put up with it, but eventually we just couldn't stand watching it any longer!"
The two of them immediately jumped back and tried to act as if nothing had happened, while Ciel pointed at the sky with an angry expression, even though her cheeks were flushed crimson. "HEY! YOU BLOODY BRAT! WHERE ARE YOU?!" shouted the woman with navy-blue hair, demanding an answer.
"As if we're going to tell you."
"Yes! Tell them, big brother!"
"You tell them the rest, then."
"HEY! I've been doing all the talking this whole time – let's take turns!"
"Girls do like to talk, don't they?"
Whilst the siblings were arguing, Felix seized the opportunity to rush straight into the sweet shop, realising that something strange was happening. And sure enough, he was absolutely shocked to see the five people who were supposed to be carrying out the inspection actually eating all the sweets until their bellies were bulging.
"Alice! Robin! Everyone!" He shouted, but unfortunately we were already beyond consciousness; he walked out and could still hear the brother and sister still bickering. "Ciel! Help me, they're all acting as if they've been hypnotised!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ciel followed her inside and was shocked by what he saw; he ran towards me and immediately gripped my shoulders—my eyes looked vacant and my face was covered in traces of chocolate. "Hey! Snap out of it! Is this all the smartest Fables can manage to survive on?" But I gave no answer; I simply carried on eating the chocolate that had spilled out onto the chair.
"Ciel~ Have a bite of this." My hand was about to slip a piece of chocolate into her mouth, but she immediately blocked it, and without a word—SLAP—a hard slap landed on my cheek, snapping me back to my senses. "What... What on earth?"
"I've finally managed to slap you, haven't I?" Ciel smiled. My blue eyes glanced down at my stomach and I realised it had swollen from eating too much—a hand landed right on my mouth; my stomach was overfilled and I immediately rushed outside to throw it all up. "Felix! Tampar mereka semua!"
The Beastkin man did as he was told and began slapping Robin and Romeo, whilst it was Ciel's job to slap the girls. One by one, they began to regain consciousness; Snow lay there, limp, clutching her stomach. Robin and Romeo tried to stop themselves from vomiting, whilst Juliet showed no signs of weakness at all.
"July, are you all right?"
"Hm? I could actually eat a bit more, actually..."
"Don't touch anything."
Robin let out a long sigh and seemed to deeply regret what she had done. "Curiosity doesn't always lead to good things…" she moaned, and Snow couldn't say a word—she just stared at the ceiling, feeling as though the world was swaying. "Alice, are you all right?"
I walked back into the house, "Ugh… No… I feel awful; I didn't think I'd throw up that much again after getting off that boat," I muttered. Ciel and Felix, who were watching all this, looked worried and also puzzled as to how we'd ended up like this. "Thank you, both of you—you saved us"
Ciel turned his face away slightly before replying. "Hold on a moment—thank you for…" She didn't get to finish her sentence because Hansel and Gretel's voices had already reached our ears.
"Ugh! You've defiled this world with your vomit! You must pay for this!"
"Gretel, shall we finish them off?"
"Yes! Then we'll sort out our own problems, big brother."
We were still feeling dizzy and bewildered by what they were talking about when, just then, the ground shook violently. "Everyone out of this house!" I shouted. Robin, seeing that Snow couldn't move, rushed to help her and, together, we fled from this candy house.
Whilst we were outside, we watched as the house crumbled so easily. "Gretty! Shouldn't we settle this calmly?" Juliet shouted towards the sky, but at that very moment the ground cracked and split open, creating a huge chasm before us.
"A traitor would do better to keep quiet! And don't call me that!"
"Doesn't that name sound cute?"
"Don't interfere, big brother."
Colourful lights appeared, forming all the Everafters belonging to the Fables in our group, ready to face whatever might happen. A slender finger emerged, and our pupils contracted instantly as we saw the head of an old woman with a large nose and skin the colour of moss.
We weren't even as big as her eyeball; she climbed up and revealed half her body, and that was enough to make our legs tremble—we had to crane our necks skywards just to catch a glimpse of her head, which was high above us.
The old woman wore a black cloak, and her green hands could flatten us with a single slap; this was the first time I'd seen a monster that big since the Beanstalk incident. This creature was also far more terrifying than that giant; its body was gaunt, its hair was greying, and its face was a sight best avoided. Its smile alone sent shivers down my spine; it grinned widely, revealing its toothless mouth—and with a voice so loud it could have deafened us, the creature asked.
"Are you still hungry?"