The basement below the garage had been ordered to be built by Prince Renauld more than a decade earlier, when his daughters were children. At the time, Queen Catarina was not happy about it.
He furnished it with chemistry tables, books, art supplies, even a time machine, having envisioned it as a 'special place' for his daughters to 'hang out.'
Alexandra, fresh off her college degree, was now spending long hours in this basement chamber attempting to extract the secret ingredient from the local spring water to place in the time machine.
"This is ridiculous, Alex, you think you can use the spring water to resurrect Dad?" Anastasia wondered.
"Why not?" Alexandra asked. "I challenge you, Ana, to think outside the box for once. People came here for years and years, from all around. You know why? They came to seek the healing powers of the spring. They wonder about the secret ingredients in our medicine and in our food."
"I understand that, but --"
"Ana, don't you want Daddy to give you away at your wedding? Real Daddy, not the ghost."
Seemingly convinced by Alexandra's argument about the wedding, Anastasia went to her computer and began looking up "medicinal spring water" and "fountain of youth."
Anastasia, however, was also wrapped up in her own personal project, and that was designing her wedding dress. She spent her nights up at her drafting table and with her sketch pad looking through designs to see if she could come up with something.
Later that evening Alexandra reported the progress on her experiment to her major professor, Dr. Wade Anthony. "So far I've been able to split the spring water into its component elements, but I can't seem to isolate the actual compound which makes up the healing agent."
"You will," Dr. Anthony told her, "you will. I believe you will."
"You're so sure this is going to work."
"It has to," Alexandra resolved, "it has to. It's the secret of the spring. It has to."
Prince Renauld entered the time machine as Alexandra adjusted the lever.
"And now, we wait."
Oh boy! :p
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