I can't believe I got this up so quickly! Please review! Yea!! According to my wonderful reviewers, Leo is still the hottest!
Chapter 8
The Spell and Maternal Plans
"Wow!" gasped a small boy. "So there really are such things as curses?"
"Oh yes," the storyteller said seriously.
"Wow!" whispered another boy. "What was the curse?"
"Well…"
His sons – his handsome sons – were turtles. Huge turtles able to walk and speak like men. The only characteristics they retained were their voices and their eyes.
He himself had been changed into an enormous rat, and was unable to walk upright without the extensive use of a walking staff.
Their kingdom did not escape the curse either. The great marble city had been replaced by an enormous dark forest and the castle seemed to be shrouded in shadows even at the height of the summer sun. The gardens were the only things on the grounds that had been badly affected; rather, they were kept in a state of perfect beauty.
The palace servants had gone through radical changes as well. Some appeared as living water, others as glittering grains of sand, others tongues of flames, others as invisible gusts of wind, and still others as nothing more than light. They attached themselves to each of the five men: the light to the king, the water to Leonardo, the fire to Raphael, the earth to Donatello, and the wind to Michelangelo.
For a full week, the five could only stagger around their home, each desperately trying to wake themselves from the nightmare that had descended upon them.
On the eighth night, Splinter had a dream.
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He was standing in the middle of his gardens, looking towards the great silver gates.
He was human.
"So…" came a menacing voice.
He spun around, his body more spry than it had been in years, to see Raphael's mother Vittoria standing before him, hands on her slender hips. The gypsy looked ready to strangle something.
"So… I entrust my son – my only son – to you and you get him cursed! Just wonderful!"
"Be fair, 'Toria," scolded Leonardo's Lady mother, abruptly appearing beside the irate woman. "It wasn't his fault. That maniac was going to do something to our boys no matter what he said."
"And let's face it," teased Michelangelo's mother Rachel. "You'd probably have said something much worse to him."
"I would have taken his head off."
"So what are we going to do about this?" Donatello's mother Mary asked practically.
Finally finding his voice, the king spoke up. "Forgive me, ladies, but what exactly can you do? You are… well…"
"Dead?" Vittoria supplied bluntly.
"Well, yes," he said awkwardly.
"Do you really think being dead affects us at all?" the gypsy woman demanded.
There was a pause.
"Don't answer that."
"Very well. Well then, tell me what you will do?"
"Simple," the Lady said. "That Saki-person said that a young woman had to fall in love with each boy, correct? Say she loved him, would marry him, and then seal it with a kiss?"
"Yes…"
"Well, then," she said, extending her arms. "It is really quite simple. We must find four young ladies to marry our sons."
Splinter gaped.
And gaped some more.
It was funny how speaking to the dead mothers of his four adopted sons could so easily rob him of his composure.
"What?!"
"That does seem like the most logical solution," Mary Brass agreed, slowly nodding.
"Okay," Vittoria said. "So where are we going to find these ladies?"
"Why should we look for them?" Rachel asked. "The forest around the palace is enchanted, isn't it? Anyone who enters an enchanted forest is drawn to the center and the palace is in the center! So anyone who comes in will be lead straight here!"
"That's true," Mary muttered, striding over to sit on a conveniently placed stone bench.
"Of course," the Lady said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. "It probably wouldn't hurt if we maybe… lured them into the forest?"
"That would work." Michelangelo's mother cocked her head at the stunned king. "You do know that we can influence people, right? And talk to them in their sleep?"
"I had noticed. And tell me," the man said, voice hoarse with sheer disbelief. "Why exactly will the women stay here? My sons are… not many would be able to look on them calmly."
"Nice way of putting that they're hideous," Vittoria commented, sinking down beneath a tree several feet away from Mary's bench. "But that part's easy. You just don't let them leave."
Splinter thought he was going to be ill. "Hold them captive here?"
The Lady sighed. "If the boys are going to be released from the curse, certain… sacrifices will have to be made."
"Besides!" Rachel Sweet chirped, joining Mary on her bench. "It's not like you're going to be doing anything worse than telling them to stay within the palace walls. Tell them they can go and do whatever they want as long as they don't leave –"
"And introduce them to the boys –" Mary continued.
"And let nature do the rest!" Vittoria finished triumphantly.
The king put a hand to his forehead. "Oh my goodness… How can you even think of doing this?"
Leonardo's mother answered, "Your majesty, we may be dead. We may not have held our sons for very long. We may have given them into your care, but they are still our sons. We are still their mothers. We will do whatever is necessary to keep them safe and happy."
"We'll do whatever it takes to help them," the gypsy said flatly, drawing her knees up.
There was a moment of resolved silence that was abruptly broken in a very Michelangeloesque way by Rachel asking, "What kind of girl do you think Mikey would like?"
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