CHAPTER 2

The next morning at school, she had to pass Aladdin on the way to class. She kept walking, hoping that he wouldn't notice her. But he did.

"Hey, Cinderella, wait up!"

She sighed and turned to him. "What now?"

"Look, we really do need your help," he told her.

"With what?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to answer when the bell rang. And for the first time in years, Cinderella hated that bell.

"Meet me in the park after school," he said as he hurried away. "It's really important."

Cinderella nodded, then rushed to class, just barely making it to her seat in time.

After school, Cinderella went home and thought about what Aladdin had said. "Maybe they really do need me," she thought. Having nothing else to do, and feeling she had to take the chance, she left a note for her parents and headed to the park.

When she arrived at the park, Cinderella found Aladdin there waiting for her, along with those other two strange boys at school. As soon as he saw her, Aladdin waved her over.

"You made it! Good. Now we're all here."

"Would you mind telling me what's going on?" Cinderella asked him.

Aladdin's face darkened. "The termination of a species, that's what's going on."

The boy that had stared at Cinderella in class now stared at Aladdin. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

Aladdin opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. "Where are my manners? None of you know each other!"

"Al," the boy with the rat tail said warningly, but Aladdin waved him off.

"No, really, it will only take a second. Everyone, this is Cinderella, Eric," (the guy who stared a lot) "Jim," (the guy with the rat tail) "and I'm Al. Now, back to the matter at hand. Have any of you been in the forest just beyond this park?"

Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. Eric and Jim had just moved into town within the past few weeks, and Cinderella never went near those woods if she could help it.

"None of you?" Aladdin asked again, but he didn't seem surprised. "Then you have no idea of the fantastical creatures living in that forest. But I do, because I live there. And now someone is trying to take my home and burn it to the ground. And we have no defense against them."

Eric spoke up. "Well, if it's your home, then you should have legal defense."

"Well we don't," Aladdin insisted. "You have to understand, I am not one of them, just as you are not one of them." Everyone looked confused. "Come on, I'll show you what I mean."

Aladdin led them into the forest. "We of the forest have managed to hide many years among humans, undetected, unknown. But all that is about to change. If humans knew of our existence, they would wipe us out. You know this." Here he stopped and looked at the others. "We have seen your gifts. We respect them, and they are beautiful to us. But they are not beautiful to them, and if they found out, then you would be in as much danger as we are. So I'm begging you, please help us, for the sake of all of us, including you."

Eric and Jim looked at each other nervously, but Cinderella was just confused. She didn't understand anything he was talking about, but she didn't wish to hurt him by letting him know that, so she just nodded, not saying anything.

"How can we help?" Eric asked.

But Jim was more cautious. "What gifts are you talking about?"

Aladdin smiled mischievously. "You know your own." Then he disappeared. Cinderella, Eric and Jim looked around, startled.

Then Cinderella felt something crawling up her skirt. Looking down, she saw a mouse. She screamed, and Jim instinctively grabbed it. He was about to throw it when a voice said, "Hey, relax, it's me!" And the mouse turned into a cat in his hand. Jim yelped in surprise and dropped the cat on the ground. It transformed back into Aladdin before their eyes.

All three of them stared in shock as he stood up and walked towards them. "Now you know," Aladdin said simply. "This is what this forest hides. Strange 'freaks of nature', as they call us. And now they want to destroy our land, and so destroy us. Not many of us can walk among man undetected. We are a precious few, and those of us who can must walk among men, to stop this before more damage is done."

"More damage?" Cinderella asked weakly.

"Come," Aladdin said. "I'll show you." He led them to a part of the forest that was nothing but ash. They all stared a moment before Aladdin spoke. "This is what they've done to the land I called home. And this is what they wish to do to my people. Destroy them, wipe them out. We can't let that happen. Not now, not ever. We've got to stop them."

"But how?" Cinderella asked. "What could we do?"

"We must stand together," Aladdin explained. "Form an alliance. Each of us use our own gifts to protect this forest, and let no man enter without our will."

"What gifts are you talking about, Aladdin?" Cinderella finally asked him.

He smiled at her sadly, but Eric spoke up. "What do you mean, 'what gifts'? You have them, don't you?"

"Have what?" Cinderella asked.

Aladdin came to her defense. "She doesn't know. But she will soon enough. Meanwhile, what are your gifts? How can you help us most?"

"You already know," Jim said bitterly.

"I know, but the others don't," Aladdin pushed gently. Eric and Jim hesitated. "Come on, we're all one team here. We should trust one another." Still they remained silent. "Am I the only one here willing to take a risk? Fine, I'll start. I'm a shape shifter. I can change into any animal I want. Jim?"

Jim sighed, then spoke. "I'm a werewolf. When the moon is out, I can transform into a beast. But I don't do any harm to humans. I just hunt."

Aladdin nodded. "Good. Eric?"

Eric took a deep breath. "I'm telechenetic. I can move things with my mind. But it's not natural," he insisted.

Aladdin shrugged. "Natural is a point of view. And it'sd time we put your gift to good use."

"Wait," Jim spoke up. "What about her?"

Aladdin turned to Cinderella. "Do you know your gift yet?" he asked her gently.

She shook her head. "No," she admitted, "I didn't know I had one."

"You do," Aladdin insisted, "and you'll learn it soon enough."

"How do you know?" Jim challenged him. "How do you know she has a gift?"

"I see it," Aladdin answered simply.

"Then what is it?" Jim asked.

"I won't say," Aladdin told him stubbornly.

"you're the one who said we have to trust each other," Jim reminded him.

"She deserves to learn it for herself," Aladdin insisted. "If we show it to her now, she may look for it so hard that she misses it completely. But if we let her find it on her own, then she will learn to use it properly, and be a greater help to us in the long run."

"Yeah," Jim admitted reluctantly, "I guess you're right. I just wish we knew what she is."

"Trust me, so do I," Cinderella told him.

Eric asked curiously, "how long do you think it will take to find out?"

"Not long," Aladdin answered, "I hope. But for right now, we've got to work with what we got. So let's meet the rest of the team, shall we?"

And he led them deeper into the forest, where they saw a short man with the legs of a goat talking to a beautiful young Native American woman.

"That," Aladdin said, pointing to the goat man, "is my brother, Phil. He's a faun. He's fast, strong, loyal – his only weakness is drink. So long as the enemy doesn't offer him a glass of wine, he's on our side."

Jim looked at Aladdin sharply, but Aladdin just continued quickly, "And that girl he's flirting with is Pocahontas. She's a driad. Lives in that tree over there."

"She's beautiful," Eric said quietly.

Aladdin turned to him with a grin. "You think she's pretty? Come on, I want to show you something." He led them to a nearby stream where a girl was wading. "That's Kida, a naiad. She lives here, going up and down the stream all day. Now that's a sight for sore eyes, isn't it?"

Cinderella looked at Aladdin. Why did she feel a twinge of jealousy all of a sudden?

But Aladdin didn't notice. He just turned back to them, saying, "Come on, we're not done yet."

He led them to a beach, where a man that was half horse was talking to a woman in the water. "That guy over there," Aladdin said, pointing to the horse man, "is my father, Shang. He's a centaur. And the lady he's talking to is Ariel, a mermaid."

"Woah," Jim muttered.

Aladdin grinned at him. "Don't be getting any ideas. She's over twice your age."

"Are you serious?" Jim asked in shock.

"Of course I'm serious."

Jim objected, "well, she doesn't look it."

"I know," Aladdin told him casualy, "but you know those two girls I just showed you? They're her daughters."

Jim couldn't think of anything to answer, he was so shocked. Aladdin laughed. "Come on. They're the ones we have to talk to."

Aladdin led them over. "Hi, Dad," he called.

Shang looked over. "I see you brought them," he stated.

"Yep," Aladdin answered. "All three of them"

"That's all?" Ariel asked, disappointed. I was hoping there would be more than that."

"It will be enough," Shang assured her. Then, looking at Aladdin, he asked, "What are their gifts?"

"Werewolf, telechenetic, and… I brought her as well," Aladdin answered.

"You mean she doesn't know yet?" Ariel asked. Aladdin shook his head. Ariel looked at Cinderella with a new look in her eyes. "My child," she said gently, "you have much to learn. Are you ready to hear what must be said?"

"I think so," Cinderella answered hesitantly.

Ariel shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "Don't think, believe. What you will hear will sound impossible, but it is true. And you must believe it to understand it."

"All right," Cinderella said nervously, "I'm ready."