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Chapter Ten
Family and Friends

We heard a click and the door swung open, revealing our way out. "Thanks, Cheria." Tara handed the hairpin back to her and peeked into the hallway. "No guards. Isn't that a bit strange, you think?" Tara whispered, and stepped out with us all following.

"No. I've been trying to get out of here for months, maybe years, and no avail," Jyouzu whispered. "They probably thought you couldn't either. I lost track of how much time passed while I was in there."

"They knew that if there was a way to esacpe that they conveniently overlooked, we'd find it," I whispered as we moved silently down the hall, looking for guards and the cubs. No guards and no cubs either.

"What are you looking for?" Jyouzu asked.

"The little werewolf cubs. There are fourteen of them. Wait, there are eighteen, plus a shape shifter I think they caught. I only saw them catch six, but Rid heard the others coming and he said that they already had Jerith, so he knew the other werewolves would follow and be captured as well. Besides, we aren't leaving Loreena or Rachel behind either." We all knew the urgency in my words.

Then we heard footsteps coming toward us. We all ran back to the room we had been locked in and shut the door again. "Why are we back in here?" Jyouzu of course had to say something. "There were rooms everywhere around us to hide in."

"Two words. Stupid running," I said simply.

"What?" He was confused.

"We could have easily run into another enemy. So we came back here." Tara explained our reasoning.

"We need to find the kids," I groaned. "First though, we need a plan."

"Well, we have to wait for help," Dazara said. "I know we all hate waiting, but it's the only thing we can do." She was right and we all knew it too.

Harmony groaned on the bottom of the pile. Standing on top of her back, the others were trying to get the keys. "Hurry up, Spring." She called to the top.

"Got them." She called down, dropping the keys to the cell they were supposed to be locked in. They had wiggled free, slipping between the bars, since they were the smallest. It would have been easier in their human forms to get the keys, but they didn't care. They could hide easier as werewolves because they were smaller. They got to the cage where Honor and Darkness, Jerith and Chiriki were. They couldn't slip out like the other cubs. They quickly got the door unlocked and began to sneak around. The first thing they found was Loreena in a drugged sleep. They marked the door so they could find it again, then they continued their scouting mission. Then Jerith saw something that surprised him. A small door on the bottom of another door. A dog door. He pushed it, but it was locked. Then he heard a voice inside the room.

"Mom doesn't know yet, you know!" It sounded like it was Melody.

"It looks like we have more friends in here," Jerith said. "Seri's cubs and Esa was hidden with them." Together, they finally got the door open. Inside, it looked like it was empty, but Jerith knew the cubs were probably hiding. "Heart, Autumn, Freedom, Joy, Beauty, Promise, Courage, Star, Love, Patience, Wildflower, Melody!" He called to them softly.

One second the room is empty, the next second, twelve little bundles of fur appeared out of nowhere from where they were hiding. "Uncle Jerith!" One of them, Freedom, yelled, running over and starting to lick him, happy to see him. The others soon ran over, too happy to see their friends and cousins.

"Esa," Darkness called. "It's okay, it's Uncle Jerith." Esa was Tara's little cub. When his mother and father died, Tara took him in. She loved him as if he was her own child. He appeared also happy to see his friends and cousins. Now all the cubs were together and at least for the moment, they were safe.

"Why are you here?" Darkness asked.

"Well, Seri, Tara, Dazara and Cheria were captured. We tried to rescue them, but were captured instead," Jerith said.

"Now we've got to find our moms and aunts," Darkness said, leading the way. "Before our birth father finds out we are missing again." They started to sneak around again and continued to check all the rooms for us. It wasn't long before they found us in the room. We were all asleep because we were so bored of waiting for something to happen. My cubs ran to me. They started to lick my face to wake me up and see them. Esa did the same to Tara. The others waited patiently for the cubs, who were licking their moms awake.

I sat up, wiping my face with my sleeve, and then saw my cubs. "Kids!" I said as they all started to jump on me, overjoyed to see their mom again.

"Esa!" Tara had also awoken with a wet face.

The others woke to our voices and the cubs were very enthusiastic to see us all. We were happy they were safe, but I was worried. How had they gotten my cubs? If they had my cubs, they must have Forest as well. "Kids, do you know what happened to your daddy Forest?" They told me he had been captured at the same time they had been. I had to save him as well.

Forest was my guardian. He replaced another guardian that I had dismissed. His name was Krane. The second born fairy prince. He was my betrothed until we found out he had gone and gotten a new girlfriend when I died, unlike all the others that remained faithful and loyal to us the whole time. Then, while protecting me, he had been cheating on me behind my back. He sometimes would sneak away and go see Spring, his new girlfriend. I didn't hold her responsible. I let her have him and I dismissed him. That was when Ollin had gone to get Forest, who cared about me in secret for years. He made his feelings for me known and he was sworn in as a guardian. I loved him more than I had ever loved Krane. His love was true and unchangeable like it had been when I didn't know who he was and just a face in the crowd. He still had cared for me in more ways than one and Ollin had known that because Forest and he had been close friends for years. He always had cared and loved me in secret, but now he was my guardian.