I continue swimming in the tunnels, while Candy is holding onto my long rabbit ears and sitting on my shoulders. I don’t mind if she holds on a bit tighter, just as long as she doesn’t cut off my circulation, or numb my rabbit ears. I have been swimming for at least a minute or two. I am getting very tired, but do not want to give up. I pant as I am swimming. Candy hears me panting.

“Are you okay, Jake?” asks Candy.

I am too busy swimming to answer her. I turn my head around and to the back of the tunnel. It is dark from behind. We cannot go back now. We wouldn’t survive the waterfalls. They only flow in one direction. I turn back and look ahead of the tunnel. There is darkness on the other side as well. I continue swimming and walking in the shallow water and towards the other side. The Golden Egg is still lighting the way. It lights up the tunnel.

I feel very tired of swimming and walking. I cannot feel the bottom of the river anymore. I look around to see if there is anything to grab. There is nothing. Just smooth rocks and crystals. I try grabbing a crystal or a rock, but they are very slippery. Grunting with all my might, I am swimming faster than ever. My legs feel so sore and so are my arms. I want to stop swimming, but I can’t. My head is almost underwater. The water rises over Candy’s legs.

She whimpers and I begin to sink. “Jake.” she whimpers.

Candy and I are about to go underwater. I feel the bottom of the river. I pant and swim to go further into the shallow part of the river. Well, at least I hope this is a shallow part. The shallow part of the river is getting too deep again. The water lowers to my chest. It is still too deep for Candy to swim in. She is still on my head and holding onto my rabbit ears. My legs still feel very sore and tired. The light of the Golden Egg begins to dim like a dying candle. It is getting dark in the river tunnel. I shake the Golden Egg and hit it on the wall.

“Come on, light up!” I shout.

Candy begins to whimper again. “Are we going to get lost in this dark tunnel?” she shutters.

I try to calm her. “Don’t worry Candy, we’ll find a way out. There just has to be a way out,” I answer.

Even though I am worried, I do not show it. The light of the Golden Egg dims to black. It is pitch black in the cave. We cannot see a thing in front of our faces. I stop walking in the shallow river.

Candy is whimpering louder.

“Turn the light back on.” Whispers Candy.

“I can’t. I don’t know what’s wrong with it,” I say.

Now we both feel scared and don’t know where to go. I feel guilty for bringing Candy on a wild goose chase.

“I’m sorry I let you come with me. I just wanted to find my home and my real parents. Now that I am back in my original form, which is my Rabaca form, I know that we will find what I’ve been lookin’ for,” I say.

Then a bright light begins to rise like a sunrise. It is beautiful and yellow. I swim up to the light as fast as I can. Candy holds on for dear life. The water is lowering down to my chest, to my waist, to my knees, and then to my feet.

We finally make it to the end of the tunnel. The light is so bright. Candy and I shield our eyes with our hands. The bright light is covered by some clouds. I lower my hands back down. I stare with my eyes widening and my mouth dropping. Candy is still holding onto my long rabbit ears and sitting on my shoulders. I set her down next to me. She gasps and drops her jaw.

“Wow, pretty,” she says.

I smile and chuckle with tears.

“I don’t believe it. We found it.” my voice breaks with emotion. “This is The Rabbit Realm!” I shout.

The Rabbit Realm is large and wide. It looks like another world. It is as far as the eye can see. There are large purple Mountains surrounding the Realm. Some have purple trees and forests. There is some wide green with long green grass. There is a large light blue lake in the middle of the valley. Lots of enormous trees are in the valleys. Some are light yellow, light blue, light green, light purple, and light red. Most of the mountains look like eggs. The trees are just as big as normal trees. There is a ceiling in the Rabbit Realm. It is so very high that I can barely see it because of the white clouds that are covering the very high ceiling.

It is such a beautiful sight. I sniff and drop to my knees in the river. The water is over Candy’s feet and my legs. We are on a cliff that has a waterfall. The river in the tunnel leads to the waterfall. Candy gently pats my back.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asks.

I wipe a tear off of my face and smile at Candy.

“I am now. It all makes sense now. I am from this Realm. I am a tall rabbit. Well, I am a Rabaca to be exact. I didn’t like the food that I was eatin’ aftah' my eighteenth birthday. It made me throw up,” I say.

Candy wiggles her head. “Okay, gross,” she says.

“Sorry. Anyway, I enjoy carrots. I could hear well, my scenes are just like a rabbit. Witch I am right now. But this Rabaca form is my true form. And this Realm is my home!” I raise my arms.

I feel very happy. Candy notices something missing.

“Jake if this is called the Rabbit Realm, then where are the rabbits, or the Rabacas?” she asks.

I look down and do not see anyone anywhere in the wide land. There are no Rabaca’s anywhere.

“Where the bloody heck are they?” I ask.

I look down at the river under me that leads to a waterfall ahead. The waterfall is at least a hundred feet high and it falls into a lake. It looks way too far to jump. I gulp and turn to Candy.

“Umm Candy. There is only one way to entah’ this Realm,” I say.

I point at the waterfall that we are standing in front of. Candy does not look scared. I am surprised that she isn’t.

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“I thought you said that you couldn’t swim?” I ask Candy.

Candy hugs my arm.

“As long as you’re with me, I’ll be fine,” she says.

I take a step forward and up to the waterfall. I gulp with fear knots in my stomach and see how high the waterfall is. The lake at the bottom of the waterfall looks like a pond up here. I take one more step away from the waterfall. I can’t go near the waterfall anymore. I feel scared, because of how far the fall is.

I gulp and step away from the edge of the waterfall cliff. My heart is pounding fast. I pant and shake my head.

Candy turns to me. “What’s wrong?” she asks.

“I can’t jump down there,” I answer.

“Why not?” asks Candy.

“Because I nevah’ knew how far the jump was,” I answer.

Candy looks down and sees how far the lake is from up here. Candy takes a deep breath and was about to jump. I gasp and pull her away from the edge.

“What the bloody heck are you doin’?!” I snap.

Candy pats my paw.

“Jake, you took a plane, a cab, a car, some water slides, and a lake. You wanted to prove that your home Realm exists and that Linda’s story was true. And you have proved it, no matter the consequences or the trials,” says Candy.

I hate it when little kids speak wiser words than older people. I think about how perilous the journey was to get here and how I never gave up on finding my true home and my true self. I nod and smile.

“All right Candy. If you think this trip was worth it, then we’ll jump into the lake,” I say.

Candy claps her hands and quietly giggles. She seems excited to explore. I am excited too. But I just want to find my true parents and the Easter Bunny, so I can tell them that winter is still in the Human Realm.

I take a deep breath and walk to the edge. Candy jumps onto my back. I hold her legs and she holds onto my rabbit ears. I shut my eyes and bend my knees. I leap off of the edge and begin to fall down the waterfall. Candy and I are screaming as we are falling. I feel very terrified. Candy however is laughing. We feel the wind on our faces. I feel it in my rabbit ears. I can hear the loud wind gusting while my rabbit ears are flapping. We land and I hear a quiet splash. I pant with relief.

I turn around and see how far the cliff is from down here. It wasn’t that far. It is at least fifty feet high. It wasn’t very high as I thought it was. And the small lake that I saw while we were on the cliff was not a lake at all. It was a pond. I laugh and feel embarrassed. Candy does not know why I am laughing.

“What’s so funny?” asks Candy.

I stop laughing. “When we were on the cliff, I thought that this pond looked like a lake. How ridiculous was that?” I ask myself.

Candy chuckles. “Awkward.” She laughs.

I hear something. It sounds like a loud eagle. I look up and see spot a hummingbird far up in the air. The hummingbird is flying around under the clouds. Candy chuckles and whistles to get the hummingbird's attention. The hummingbird is flying down towards us. I slowly open my mouth wide.

“Um, is it me or is that hummin’ bird getting’ biggah’?” I ask myself.

Candy hides behind. The hummingbird is not getting bigger. It is already big! It lands right in front of us. It spreads out its wings and screeches like an eagle. It is big as a car. Its wings have all of the colors of the rainbow. They sparkle and shine. Even its tail has all the colors of the rainbow. Its eyes are black like beads. Its beak is long, pointy, and yellow. Its body is covered in feathers. The head is light brown and his chest/belly is light gray. The bug hummingbird smiles and stops screeching. It looks down at us. I pant and step away from the giant hummingbird. It is coming closer to us. Candy gasps. I slowly walk to the hummingbird and pet its beak. The hummingbird quietly tweets. It bird flies away as it flaps its wings. The wings make a gust of wind. I lose my balance and fall on my behind.

Candy and I watch in awe as the big hummingbird flies away. Candy seems so confused and so am I.

“I thought this place was called the Rabbit Realm,” I say.

I turn around and see purple trees shifting and moving. Something big is moving in those trees and towards us. I feel the ground shaking under me. Rocks shake on the ground. Candy begins to feel scared again. She holds onto my arm.

“Is it another earthquake?” she asks.

I try to use my rabbit hearing ability to hear the purple forest. It sounds like something is moving around. Like a bull dossier but it doesn’t sound as large as bull dossiers. It sounds like an army of many legs moving fast. I hold onto Candy’s waist and jump into a purple tree. Candy holds onto my arm.

“What is it?” asks Candy.

“It ain't an earthquake,” I answer.

Caterpillars pop out of the trees. Only they don’t look like small caterpillars. They are big but not huge. They are just as big as buses and they look like rainbow caterpillars. They have all kinds of colors all over them. Their eyes are black and so are their legs. Their antennas are brown. There are at least twenty of them. They crawl as the ground shakes. I hold onto a branch as Candy and I are sitting on it. The big caterpillars crawl around the purple tree and away from us. The ground stops shaking.

“Okay.” I sigh. “I think that it’s safe to get down now,” I say.

I jump and land on my feet. I help Candy get down from the branch. Candy lets my arm go and watches the big caterpillars crawl away. She is more confused than ever.

“Are we shrunk?” asks Candy.

“I don’t think so. I mean the trees might be colorful, but their leaves are not big. I just need to find someone in charge,” I answer.

Candy nods and agrees with me. I get out the Golden Egg from my backpack and it glows. The golden beam points the way.

“The Golden Egg is pointin’ east,” I say.

We walk away from the pond and the purple forest.

We have been walking for hours. The giant rainbow hummingbirds are flying in the air and the big caterpillars are eating some leaves on the colorful trees.

“I don’t remembah’ seein’ any of these giant creatah’s,” I say.

“How come you think this is your true home?” asks Candy.

“Well, for one thing, I’ve changed into my tall Rabaca form. And anothah’ thing, I’m like a rabbit creature. I like carrots, I can sense anythin’ with my nose, and I can hear very well with these long rabbit ears,” I answer.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean do you think that Minnesota isn’t your home anymore?” asks Candy.

I stop walking and look down at Candy. She seems very worried about me answering her question. I sigh and kneel in front of her. I place my paw on her shoulder.

“Look, even though this is my real home, Linda, Bryan, all of the four boys, and you are my home as well. I will nevah’ evah’ think that I don’t belong in Minnesota. Linda and Bryan are my adopted parents. The Fostah' Care is a place for kids to find homes and be a family with othah’ kids too. I promise that I will nevah’ forget my real home, which is Minnesota.” I smile.

Candy smiles back and hugs me. We release the hug and continue walking. The Golden Egg stops shining and the golden beams stop pointing the way. I shake the Golden Egg and hit it.

“Come on, you bloody thing! I mean piece of crud!” I shout.

Candy looks at the sun. She gasps with horror and pulls onto my rabbit tail. I let out a loud owe.

“What?!” I turn to her.

Candy points at the yellow sun and looks up at it. It looks like the sun is changing into a dark purple crystal. The light from the yellow sun begins to fade away. I look up and the big hummingbirds are flying away from the shadow of the dark purple crystal. They are flying into the forests. The giant caterpillars are crawling into the caves that are in the mountains. It slowly starts to get dark all over the Rabbit Realm. My heart is pounding fast. Candy holds onto my arm and whimpers quietly. I pant and hold onto her tightly. Then I think about why it is getting dark.

“Candy, I think it’s nighttime,” I say.

Candy looks up at me. “How do you know?” she asks.

“Even this Realm has got to have nighttime like the Human Realm. I think that the sun is a giant crystal that changes into anothah’ crystal,” I answer.

It isn’t dark at all. The same shining crystals that we saw in the caves are also on the very high ceiling in this Realm. They sparkle like stars. Some are blue, green, yellow, white, and red. It looks like a Christmas tree. It is very beautiful.

Candy and I feel tired of walking. We sit on the light green grass. It feels so soft and comfortable, like a bed, but even better. Candy yawns and lies on the grass. I am still awake and staring at the crystal stars on the very high ceiling. I sigh and look down at Candy. She is moving around trying to get comfortable. She shivers as the chilly night wind gently blows. I smile at her and take off my hooded jacket. I place it on Candy to keep her warm and she stops moving around and shivering.

I quietly chuckle and lie on my back. I sigh and close my eyes. It feels so nice to feel the cool night air.

“This is my real home,” I whisper.