Chapter 20: Sweet Dreams

Dillard and Charlene snuck along the west wall of the temple. Their goal was to get the attention of Maleficent and run like crazy for the ship. They inched across the wall and every once in a while stuck their heads above the five feet wall. If someone didn't spot them soon, they would be in serious trouble.

"We need to make our distraction more obvious." Dillard whispered to Charlene.

"We need to stick to the plan Dillard."

"They're not spotting us. We've gone back and forth on this wall twice already."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

"I've got an idea, but it's risky."

"What is it?"

Dillard stopped dead in his tracks and gave Charlene crooked smile.

"I'm going to get their attention."

Philby and the captain were crouched along the east wall. Jess was being held about twelve feet in front of them. Their part of the plan was to grab Jess. It sounded simple, but in reality, it wasn't.

"Okay, I've got an idea." The captain whispered to Philby. "We wait for the distraction and then we go knock out the two bozos with our swords, grab her and run."

"That's exactly what I said five minutes ago." Philby said with an annoyed tone. "Except I didn't call the guards bozos."

"It sounds a lot better when you call them that."

The two boys stared at the scene unfolding before them. They could only hear some of the words being said, but none of them were comforting.

"—hurry it up! We can't wait much longer!" Maleficent's voice yelled out.

"It's not time…sunset…" The foreign woman Philby did not know mumbled while staring at the journal. She was speaking so quiet that Philby barely heard her.

"We need her dead by then!"

"She will…do not worry."

Maleficent stormed off toward the entrance of the cave in a rage. Philby and the captain exchanged a look. The distraction was taking too long. It was time to take matters into their own hands.

Both of them slowly climbed over the five-foot wall, trying not to make a sound. The two men that were holding Jess seemed to not be paying attention to anything particular.

Even though they were in the open, no one seemed to notice the two sneaking up on the guards holding Jess. Once they were two feet away, both of them stabbed a guard with their sword in the back, causing Jess to fall to the ground.

The captain grabbed the unconscious Jess and threw her over his shoulder. He nodded to Philby and took off, but just as he turned around the Lady Grimhilde was there.

The captain screamed out of fright, but luckily didn't let go of Jess. Philby spun around, swinging his sword, which connected with the her thigh.

For some reason, the wound didn't seem to faze her.

"I wouldn't have done that if I were you." Her gaze flickered past Philby and the captain. Philby turned around and saw Maleficent with a flaming ball of fire in her hand.

"I'd get that poison ready. The boys are going to need it." Maleficent let out a maniacal laugh. She threw the fireball straight at the captain, causing him to fall flat on his back. Jess fell down, hitting her head on the stone floor with an disturbing CRACK!

Before Philby could do anything, another fireball hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

Philby could have sworn he had heard a scream coming from the other end of the temple. The lady the villagers back home had called the "Evil Queen" reached into her jacket and pulled out two small flasks.

She removed the corks from both and forced one into the captain's mouth and the other into Philby's. She leaned in close to Philby's ear and whispered "sweet dreams."

For a second, nothing happened. His vision became blurry, his body erupted in pain. And then everything went black.

Finn and Willa stared at the scene that unfolded before them in shock. Philby and Maybeck had just made a run for Jess, but it only resulted in all three of them being knocked out.

Without thinking, Willa let out a scream when she saw Philby get hit by the fireball. Finn clamped his hand over her mouth and the two crouched down with their backs against the south wall opposite of the cave. Unlike the other temple walls, this one was only two and a half feet, making it harder for them to stay hidden.

When they thought it was safe, Finn removed his hand and peeked back over the wall. He saw Tia Dalma set down the journal on the giant stone table in the center of the temple.

He sat back down and faced Willa. "Willa, you can read the journal right?"

Her eyes grew wide. "Not really. It's in that ancient language, remember?"

"But you know the gist of it?"

"What do you mean the gist of it?"

"I mean, if you got the journal, you could stop Maleficent and that lady from unleashing that evil spirit?"

"I…I could…I guess."

"I think you've got to try."

"Finn…this is dangerous! What if I do it the wrong way? What if I end up unleashing it?"

Finn peeked over the wall again. "I don't think we have a choice Willa." She gave him a look that screamed fear. "You can do it Willa. I know you can."

She studied him then slowly nodded.

"On three?" She nodded again.

"One." He gripped his sword and got into position to get over the wall.

"Two." She readied an arrow in her bow.

"Three." They hurled themselves over the wall and both pairs of eyes went wide.

In the time between Finn's last look at the temple and the two of them hurling themselves over the wall, chaos had broken out.

Amanda sat up in her bed. She had a horrible feeling that she wasn't going to see Finn again and it made her sick. She wished she could have been there. She wished that she wouldn't have made such a stupid mistake. She wished she could help him.

But no. She had to be pregnant and sick. She could barely stand up. There was no way she would be able to help him like this. She felt useless.

She reached blindly for the glass of water on the table next to the bed, but ended up grabbing a journal instead.

She picked it up and looked at it. She immediately recognized the journal as the one Jess drew her dreams in. Curiosity won her over and she began flipping through it.

She saw the picture that Jess had shown her a week ago of her being pregnant and quickly flipped to the next page. There was one of Finn and Willa standing with a middle-aged man. She had never seen him before but he looked like an older version of Finn, except he had blue eyes—the same shade of Willa's, to be exact.

His father maybe? Amanda immediately dismissed that thought when she remembered that Finn's father had died a long time ago. Who could that be?

When she decided to figure out who that was later, she moved on to the next picture. This one had Philby and Terry lying in the back of a cart. Neither looked to be conscious. Both of their chests looked burned. They're not dead…surely this can't be right. Jess has been wrong before...

The last thing Amanda wanted to think was that some of the group wouldn't be making it back alive. She flipped to the next one and stared in shock.

The picture showed Charlene struggling to carry Jess. Jess didn't look like she was conscious. There was a large gash that extended from her left eyebrow down the side of her face to her chin. Charlene's eyes were looking at something that was obviously scaring her, but whatever it was wasn't drawn in the picture. That meant that Jess hadn't seen it. It didn't mean that it wasn't important.

The background of almost all of these drawings had been blurry. But not this one.

Amanda had to squint, but in the background she saw someone holding the journal. Out of the journal came a large black cloud of smoke. At the top of the page, the cloud of smoke turned into some kind of bat-shaped demon spirit. Or at least that's what came to mind when Amanda saw it. The spirit's eyes were glowing red.

Amanda brought the journal closer in order to see who was unleashing the spirit. The person had brown hair pulled back into a braid and bright blue eyes. This person had a bow wrapped over her shoulders. Both eyes were wide. Her face screaming uncertainty, confusion and regret.

It was Willa. And she had unleashed the evil spirit, whether she wanted to or not.

And the plot thickens...again! This one's a little short but very action packed! Gosh I love action more than anything. I hope y'all enjoyed this one!

And here comes the boring, broken-record announcement at the end of every single chapter: Please review! I love reading them! I'll do my best to get the next one up as soon as I can! I hope y'all enjoyed this one :)