Chapter Thirty-Six

(Songs in this chapter are "Come Little Children" from the movie "Hocus Pocus", and "Constant as the Stars Above" from the movie "Barbie as Rapunzel".)

"How pathetic," said Regina, Snow White's stepmother, as she watched Tzekel-Kan's attempt at capturing the girl in her magic mirror.

"Agreed," said Madam Mim standing before a different mirror and changing her form from a short pudgy woman to a tall slender, curvaceous beauty.

Sadira was lounging back on a sofa manipulating sand between her hands and said, "He should have had more magical back-up."

"Of course," said the White Witch using her staff to turn Sadira's sand into icicles. Sadira turned and glared at her before shooting out a tidal wave of sand at her. The White Witch smirked and turned it into snow before blasting it around the room.

"Watch it," growled Narissa turning into a dragon and melting the snow with a breath of fire.

"Enough, ladies," said Eris materializing before them. The goddess of chaos then continued, "And Sadira, here, is right. He should have had more magical back-up. He was just one sorcerer against three humans, and a halfa. Now if all six of us worked together – five witches and a goddess – well, we could capture that darling little girl for the Evil One."

The other five women exchanged evil sneers, seeing the logic in her words. Narissa turned back into a human and said, "We're in."

"Excellent," said Eris forming a bubble in her hands and inside the bubble was an image of children, "And I know a way to lure in the wanted child."

I watched a figure skulk through the night shadows of Nesidy, but I couldn't tell who it was. All I could see was that the figure wore a baggy shirt, pants, and black jacket. The figure also wore a bandana on their head and another covering the lower half of their face. The person's eyes glowed a slight scarlet and it made me shudder. Still sticking to the shadows, the person moved around a building's corner to see a couple having a romantic moonlit stroll. I saw something gleam in the person's creepy eyes as they pulled out a knife. I wanted to scream out to the couple to watch out, but no voice came out from between my lips. The person ran out from the shadows and stabbed the man in the back.

As the man fell over, he shouted out, "Ella! Run!" The woman began screaming and tried making a break for it, but the person grabbed her from behind, and slammed her into a wall. The woman fell over unconscious. "Ella!" the man cried out before the mysterious person continuously stabbed him in the back. I wanted to run out and help the victim, but I couldn't move either. It was like I was stuck where I was, being forced to watch this horrible event. My heart was pounding in my head and I felt absolutely sick to my stomach.

I suddenly heard Morgana's voice speak mockingly into my ear, "You will join the Evil One's side whether you want to or not." And I saw Eric leering at me with Tzekel-Kan off to the side holding the bowl of potion. I was reliving that whole event, the betrayal, the heartbreak.

"You will destroy anyone who gets in your way…."

I sat up with a gasp, breathing heavily. Looking around, I saw I was in my room at the inn, and Melody was fast asleep in her own bed. It was all just a nightmare! I flopped back down and stared up at the ceiling trying not to cry. I wished I had never met Eric. I wished I had never been brought to this world!

Then I heard some eerie, enchanting singing:

"Come little children

I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come little children

The time's come to play

Here in my garden of

Shadows"

With a slight frown, I stood up and tiptoed over to the window. Looking outside, I saw Regina, Madam Mim, Sadira, the White Witch, Narissa, and Eris hovering up above the town singing.

"What?" I muttered, then saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I peered down into the streets to see well over a hundred children walking toward the villains.

"Follow sweet children

I'll show thee the way

Through all the pain and the sorrows

Weep not poor children

For life is this way

Murdering beauty and passions"

I couldn't stand here and watch this! Turning on my heel, I ran out of the room, through the inn, and out into the streets. "Stop!" I said halting before Eilonwy and Irenie to keep them from moving another step, but they went around me in some sort of hypnotic state. I looked around to see every child in town was acting this way.

"Hush now dear children

It must be this way

To weary of life and deceptions

Rest now my children

For soon we'll away

Into the calm and the quiet"

With so many children out and about and heading straight for the witches and goddess, I didn't have time to call out for help or find someone, so I followed them, keeping my head low so that the villains wouldn't see me inside the crowd.

"Come little children

I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come little children

The time's come to play

Here in my garden of

Shadows"

By the time the villains had finished singing, we had ended up inside some underground chamber hidden in the woods. I ducked low behind T.J. Detweiler, Ashley Spinelli, Vince LaSalle, Gus Griswald, Gretchen Grundler, and Mikey Blumberg, so that the villains wouldn't see me.

"Where is she?" demanded Sadira looking through the crowd of hypnotized children. I silently prayed that she wouldn't notice me.

"I thought you said this would work," Narissa growled to Eris, "We lured every child here, except that brat, Aralyne!"

"Just how old is she, anyways? Like twelve?" asked Madam Mim reverting back to the short round form, "This should have worked! This was meant to lure everyone under thirteen!"

"She only looks twelve," Regina snapped, "For all we know she could be twenty!"

I silently fumed. They seriously thought that I was a child?! And they were using a spell for children to capture me?! My hand twitched and I seriously wished I had a sword, or even a knife! Wait, where did that come from? I shook my head and continued to listen to their conversation.

"Well, what do we do with all of these brats?" the White Witch asked waving in our direction.

Eris waved her hand and a glass wall formed around me and the kids. "There, that should hold them until we decide what to do with them."

As the witches began to leave through the underground tunnel, I heard Regina say, "A glass prison? I doubt that will hold them."

"Oh no," said Eris, "The glass is infused with magic so that it won't break or vanish. They won't be able to escape at all unless one of us removes the glass."

Once they were gone I stood up and looked around at everyone. I was now locked up in a room with over a hundred children who were under a spell, and no one knew we were here, and there was no way out. This was bad. Really bad! And that's when the kids began waking up from their hypnotic state.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked a twelve-year-old King Arthur.

"What's the big idea?" demanded Lampwick.

"Where are we?" asked Alice, "This looks nothing like Wonderland."

"I want my mom!" Zephyr cried out.

"I want my dad!" added Morgan (from Enchanted).

Boo, wearing her monster costume began to cry, and a lot of the younger ones followed her example. I cringed at the wailing and wanted to cry myself. I've babysat before in the past, but the most I've watched over was five kids! This was just ridiculous! And me, being the adult here, had to watch over this lot!

"Criminy!" shouted out Helga Pataki placing her hands over her ears. "Someone get those brats to shut up!"

"Helga, they're only babies, and they're scared," said Arnold kneeling down to pet the four kittens, Oliver, Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse.

That gave me an idea! "Hey!" I shouted waving an arm over my head, "Everyone!" They all turned to me, except for the toddlers that were crying. "Listen, I know this looks bad –"

"Bad?" said Gerald folding his arms over his chest, "This is a lot worse than bad, Aralyne."

"Shh! Let her speak," said Phoebe.

"Thank you," I said with a nod and continued, "Okay, look, I'm the only one that knows what's going on. Sadira, Regina, the White Witch, Eris, Madam Mim, and Narissa had used a spell on you children to lure me into their clutches, and now we're somewhere underground."

"You children?" Wendy Darling spoke up glaring at me, "I thought you said you were twelve years old? Or did you lie to Peter?"

I shook my head. "Not now, Wendy."

"You did lie didn't you? You lied to Peter Pan!"

I could feel my face burning and I had to use all of my self-control to not march straight up to her and slap her. "Fine!" I shouted out, "I lied! I'm nineteen! Happy?!"

She smirked at me. "I'll definitely be telling Peter about this!" she crowed.

Shutting my eyes I mentally counted to ten to calm myself down. At that time, I heard Mowgli hiss, "Wendy, shut it! You heard Grandpa! Don't upset her or make her angry!"

"Okay," I said through gritted teeth, "I'm one adult, but I can't do all of this alone. I'm going to need help from everyone that's at least ten and older to watch over some of the younger kids. Am I understood?" I looked around to see the older children nodding. "Good. I promise to get you all out of here and return you to your families as soon as possible."

"Why don't we just break out now?" asked Jimmy Neutron, as he, Lewis Robinson, and Wade Load studied the glass prison.

"That's right," said Phineas Flynn knocking on the glass, "What do you think, Ferb?"

Ferb replied, "It's only glass after all."

Cindy Vortex turned to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup and said, "Hit it girls! Shatter this prison!"

"We're on it," said Blossom as she and her sisters flew into the air and soared straight to the glass. They tried smashing through it, but the glass didn't give. They even began punching it, and didn't leave so much as a scratch.

"Don't," I said trying to stop them, but they didn't listen. They eventually tired themselves out.

Jim and Tim Possible then said at the same time, "Haley, you try it now." A little Chinese girl transformed into a pink dragon and blew fire at the wall until the flames died out.

"Stop," I tried again, but still no one listened! I was becoming irritated and wanted to strangle the lot of them. Calm down, girl, calm down! They're only children! But if they weren't going to listen, I decided to just stand back and watch with my arms folded over my torso.

Rini then stepped forward and transformed into Sailor Mini Moon. Holding out her wand, she shouted, "Pink Sugar Heart Attack!" A ton of hearts shot out of her wand and struck the glass wall, but as before nothing happened.

"We're gonna be stuck here forever!" Carl wailed. The younger kids began to scream again and I cringed at their shrill voices.

"You're scaring them," Coraline Jones scolded picking up four mice: Olivia Flaversham, and Fievel, Tanya, and Yasha Mousekewitz.

"We have to stop and think," said Sheen looking around at everyone, "What would Ultralord do?" I rolled my eyes at him.

"Okay, Sheen," said Libby placing a hand on his shoulder, "Ultralord isn't here, so we're kind of on our own."

"I can just turn us intangible," said Dani pushing her way through to the wall. She turned into her Phantom form and tried walking through the wall but slammed right into it. "What?!" she cried pressing her hand against the glass. "I can't get through."

"Wait," said Timmy Turner with a baby purple fairy floating beside him, "We've still got Poof. Okay, Poof, I wish the glass wall was gone!"

"Poof! Poof!" said Poof waving his rattle, but the glass remained where it was with not a single scratch, dent, crack, or even burnt mark.

"Are you through?" I inquired the children, and they all turned their attention back to me. "What I was trying to tell you before you started your attacks, is that the glass is enchanted so that we're stuck here until the witches or Eris removes it."

Angelica Pickles started crying causing the others to cry again. "I'm scared! I want my mommy!"

"I want my mommy, too!" screamed Susie Carmichael.

I stared down at the babies at my feet and sat down amongst the weeping toddlers. I held Dil Pickles in my arms and watched as Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Angelica, Susie, and Kimi curl up beside me, all in tears. "Hey," I said quietly wiping the tears from Dil's eyes, "Why don't I sing you a lullaby? Would you like that?"

"Oh, yes, please," said Anne-Marie taking a seat as well. All of the children had managed to get comfortable in some sort of form on the floor with the older kids comforting the younger ones.

"Constant as the stars above

Always know that you are loved

And my love shining in you

Will help you make your dreams come true

Will help your dreams come true"

Jane, John, Michael, and Wendy had clumped together in one corner next to Pinocchio and Jenny (from Oliver and Company).

"The lamb lies down and rests its head

On its mother's downy bed

Dolphin plays in the moonlight's glow

And butterfly dreams of a violet rose

Dreams of a violet rose"

Mowgli, Shanti, and Ranjan were with Lilo, Dash, and Jack-Jack. One by one I watched them all fall asleep: Harris, Hubert, Hamish, Dumbo, Fang, and Penny (from The Rescuers).

"I'll cradle you in my arms tonight

As sun embraces the moonlight

The clouds will carry us off tonight

Our dreams will run deep like the sea

Our dreams will run deep like the sea"

More of them began to pass out, drifting off into a deep sleep: Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, Wilbur Robinson, Fern (from Charlotte's Web), Andy, Cody, and Curdie.

"Constant as the stars above

Always know that you are loved

And my love shining in you

Will help you make your dreams come true

Will help your dreams come true"

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, Eliza and Donnie Thornberry, David (from All Dogs Go to Heaven 2), Koda, Angel, Scamp, a chipped cup named Chip, and ninety-nine Dalmatian puppies were the last ones to go to sleep. Once all of the children were out, I looked at them all and gave a tired sigh, buried underneath a ton of babies. Thankfully I was leaning against a section of the dirt wall and tilted my head back so that I could fall asleep.