Hey guys! I'm back! It's been too long! Thanks for the great reviews guys! They're great and awesome, as usual!

Here's chapter 35! We're starting to wind down...getting close to the end...but not without a huge climax. Enjoy!

Chapter 35: Dark Horse

July 30, 2015
Magic Kingdom
Cinderella's Castle

11:33 P.M.

"What do you mean, he's been kidnapped?"

Ariel shrugged. "I saw someone take him…at least I thought it was someone…"

Maybeck wanted to wring her neck out, but refrained. He could feel his anger radiate off of himself. "And you didn't do anything about it?"

Ariel threw up her hands in frustration. "I couldn't! I-I-I didn't see who it was…it was just a shadow. I only saw it for a brief second. One second it was there, the next it was gone…and so was Philby."

Maybeck let out a shaky breath. "Okay…so…Philby's gone…what else do we know?"

"That it was by the entrance?"

Maybeck pushed past Ariel and headed toward the entrance. After passing Casey's Corner, he started running—sprinting actually. The entrance to the park seemed to be getting farther away from him with every step…a mind trick he was playing on himself. Prolonging the inevitable.

He jumped over the turnstiles with one giant leap and kept going until he was standing underneath the concrete monorail pathway. Ariel hurried over to him, frantically trying to catch up.

"Was it here?"

Ariel caught up to him and started to catch her breath, nodding to acknowledge his question.

"Okay," Maybeck mumbled to himself. He started searching the scene for any kind of clue to his best friend's disappearance. "Okay…okay…"

He couldn't notice anything immediately out of place, but that wasn't stopping him. Eventually Ariel joined in, but neither of them found anything.

Then Maybeck's phone started blaring.

"What is that?" Ariel asked as he frantically searched his pockets for his phone.

"It is my phone…and…it's a facetime from…Charlene?"

Maybeck stared at the phone. She knew he was out here. She never interrupted him while he was out there—mostly because she was asleep. He glanced over at Ariel, who was nodding her head approvingly, encouraging him to answer the call. His thumb hesitated over the green answer button before clicking it.

Ten Minutes Earlier…

"Maybeck! I'm home!"

Charlene stepped into her apartment, expecting Maybeck to be there. She walked into the small kitchen and noticed a note on the counter.

Out with Philby tonight following a lead. Won't be back 'til late. -Maybeck

Charlene crumbled up the note and threw it in the trash before getting a glass of water. She walked through the living room and into her bedroom. She had set down her glass onto the dresser when the bedroom door slammed shut.

"Well isn't it my lucky day?"

Charlene spun around to see none other than Patrick standing with his back to the closed bedroom door. His brown hair seemed so familiar, but the evil grin and glowing green eyes were not. Something was wrong. Really, really wrong.

"Patrick?" Charlene took a step back. "You…where…where have you been? Jess has been worried sick! She thinks something bad has happened to you!"

"I'll seek Jess out later. Right now, I have orders to follow."

"Orders?" Charlene slowly stepped back again.

"I believe you have a device that can allow you to talk to your beloved…Terrence, I believe?"

"You mean a cellphone?"

"Sure," Patrick took a step up. He looked different but yet so familiar…like someone out of a strange dream. "Charlene, I'm going to ask you to 'facetime' Terrence and deliver a message."

His use of air quotes around facetime almost made her laugh.

"Why can't you just tell him yourself? You two are friends."

"Orders are orders, Charlene. You would know a thing or two about that…right?"

Charlene winced. Before the curse, almost two years ago, the Evil Queen had ordered her to break off the engagement if she wanted to keep Maybeck alive. Suddenly the light bulb clicked on and Charlene knew what was different about Patrick. His glowing green eyes weren't his natural color. They were her eye color.

"You…you're working with…her?" Charlene backed up and continued to until she hit the wall. She immediately felt trapped. "We…we…trusted you!"

Patrick—if that even was his real name—smirked, sending chills down Charlene's spine. "That…my dear…is where you went wrong."

He reached forward and grabbed her wrist, dragging her back into the living room.

"Don't fight me if you know what's good for you. This'll be less harmful for you if you stay still and follow script."

Charlene sat down on the couch, wanting so badly to knee Patrick as he tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties. He found her purse and grabbed her phone. He handed it to her with the simple instructions to "facetime Terry Maybeck."

Charlene felt she had no choice but to do so. With the limited movement the zip ties were allowing, she managed to open the app and click the right name. Patrick pulled out an index card from his back pocket and held it just above the phone.

"Read this and nothing else…or suffer consequences."

While the phone was ringing, Charlene heard a click. She glanced over to Patrick and saw that he had pulled a gun out and was pointing it at her head, just off camera. She gulped and slowly moved her eyes back to the camera, awaiting her fiancé's face to appear on her phone.

"Who are you?" She mumbled. "You're not Patrick."

"Didn't recognize me Charlene, I'm ashamed." Patrick winked. He leaned in closer, still out of the camera's view, and whispered: "If only there was someone out there who loved you."

Charlene's eyes went wide. She had heard that exact line come from a Disney villain in one of her new favorite Disney movies: Frozen.

"Hans…"

The screen flickered on and Maybeck was looking at her.

"Charlene?" He asked. "What's wrong?"

"Maybeck…" She glanced up at the index card. "You cannot return home. Your friends are going to start disappearing if you do not stop….stop looking for your friend…F-F-Finn."

"Charlene? What's going on? Where are you right now? I'm coming to get you."

Charlene took a deep breath and looked toward Hans. He motioned toward the index card with his eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued.

"Charlene…" He seemed frantic, almost at the break of tears himself.

"You…" She read a little ahead and couldn't stop the tear from falling down her cheek. "You…you won't see me for a long, long time. You will…you will…stay the night in the apartment in Cinderella's Castle and await further instructions."

"Charlie…"

Hans pushed the gun up to her forehead, revealing the tense situation to Maybeck for the first time. Hans nodded, encouraging her to read the last line.

"If…if you want to see me…or your friends again…you will do as we say and…" Charlene took a deep breath and instead of finishing the scripted sentence, she spat out something that could surely get her killed. "It's Patrick, but he's really Hans, and he's working with Maleficent. Tell Jess—"

Hans took the phone from Charlene's tied hands and threw it against the wall. He pushed the gun closer to her head, causing her to flinch.

"You're coming with me," he mumbled. "Get up." He pulled her to her feet. "Follow my orders and you won't get hurt…again."

Charlene's eyes went wide as he pulled out a bandana from his jacket pocket and wrapped it around her mouth, affectively gagging her.

"You remember last time, don't you? At that little gym you used to work at before Maleficent ruined your life?"

His finger traced the edge of her jaw. She glared daggers at him. Unfortunately none of them stabbed him, like she wanted to so badly at this moment. The day the curse had been enacted, she had been attacked upon leaving the gym for a lunch break. She never got a good look at her attacker, but now that she really looked at Hans, she realized why he had looked so familiar when he had showed up at Wayne's apartment.

It was because he had tried to kill her the first time they had met.

A wily grin grew on Hans' face when he noticed recognition in Charlene's eyes.

"Oh, so you do remember me. That's what I thought." Hans turned her around and started pushing her toward the front door.

While he was opening the front door with his free hand, he leaned in and whispered into her ear. "I believe Thomas would love to see you." She winced at the mention of his name. She hadn't heard that name spoken in years. "Maybe we can take a little field trip to go see him if you're a good girl."

July 31, 2015
Whitman Residence
Master Bedroom

6:21 A.M.

Amanda woke from her dream with a start. If she had one more weird memory dream about Finn she was going to explode. The baby kicked, causing Amanda to curse underneath her breath.

"Two more days," she reminded herself. "Two more days."

She glanced at the clock and groaned. She didn't have to be at work until ten today and was hoping to get a little bit more sleep. This baby was already causing her to lose sleep and it wasn't even here yet.

Amanda walked out of the bedroom, glancing at a picture of her and Finn hanging on the wall. She held back tears and pushed past it, not wanting to think of her still missing husband.

She waltzed into the kitchen, ready to get a cup of coffee brewing, when she noticed Willa and Jess sitting on the couch. Willa had her phone to her ear. Jess was staring at the television, barely focusing on whatever was on the screen.

"Not that I don't want you both here, but what are you doing in my house?"

Willa and Jess turned Amanda's way and looked shocked, as if they hadn't expected Amanda to notice their presence. Willa put the phone down onto the coffee table and Jess turned off the television. Amanda came into the living room and slowly sat down into the chair. Being nine months pregnant was really taking a toll on her lower back.

"Well…see…Philby never came back last night…" Willa began. "And…he won't answer his phone—"

"And neither will Charlene or Maybeck!" Jess added.

Willa rolled her eyes. "Maybeck replied to a text a few hours ago, Jess. He said he's at the castle apartment but he had no idea where Philby was."

"He never came home last night?" Amanda asked. Willa shook her head. "What do you think happened to him?"

"Maybeck won't tell me anything, but I think he was taken."

Jess picked up a piece of paper that Amanda hadn't noticed off of the coffee table and handed it to Amanda. "I drove by Charlene's apartment on the way over. Each time I called, her voicemail said the phone number did not exist. So I drove over there, used the spare key and found this taped to the back of the front door."

Amanda took the piece of paper from her sister and read it.

"Good luck finding your friends without Finn Whitman. He's your only hope."

"Who sent this?" Amanda asked Jess as she handed the paper back to her.

"No idea," Jess shrugged.

"We've never had an Overtaker write us a note before," Willa added. "We have nothing to compare it to."

"What does it mean, Finn's our only hope?" Amanda asked, fighting back tears at the mere mention of her missing husband. "He's gone. We…we can't lose them too."

"They must believe Finn's coming back, or they wouldn't say that." Willa took a sip of coffee, reminding Amanda of her morning craving she had left her bedroom to find. "They're scared of him and his possible return. That's good, Amanda. That means he's close."

Amanda's hand went to her enlarged stomach. "I don't want to get my hopes up," she muttered. "Not with our child coming in two days."

"That's why we wanted to get organized and leave before you woke up." Jess said in a somewhat harsh tone. "We didn't want to worry you. That pregnancy book I read—for you, I might add—said that stress is the worst thing for you at this stage in your pregnancy. We'll handle it, Amanda. You just go to work…and relax…and then come back home and tomorrow you'll have all day off…and then the day after that—"

"I'm going to have Finn's child…without him."

Amanda struggled to a standing position. Jess tried to help her, but she swatted her sister's hand away. Amanda walked into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea instead of the coffee she was craving just minutes before.

A few minutes later, Amanda had her cup of tea. As she was about to head back into the living room, Willa and Jess walked in.

"I'm going to go talk to Maybeck," Willa said. "Jess is going to stay with you until you have to go to work and then come join me. Okay?"

Amanda nodded, not looking at either of them. The cup of tea was more pleasing to the eye at the moment.

"There's probably some lame excuse for all of this," Willa said in attempt to cheer Amanda up. "Philby's phone probably died and he and Maybeck probably fell asleep on watch…or something…in the apartment and Charlene's phone probably broke."

"She does drop it all the time," Jess added.

"That's true," Amanda mumbled. "Good luck Willa."

"Thanks," Willa said as she left the room. Jess walked over to the cabinets and started opening them, searching for something.

"What are you doing Jess?"

Jess turned around and gave her sister a confused look. "Breakfast?"

July 31, 2015
On the Side of an Unknown Highway

3:02 A.M.

Finn could barely feel his legs. His stomach wouldn't stop reminding him how hungry he was. His mind was swirling with all kinds of questions that had yet to be answered.

Charlene had told him that she didn't go to work the day the curse was enacted, yet she was spotted by the gym's parking lot security cameras. They hadn't been captured by terrorists, yet that was what the press was saying. He knew Orlando like the back of his hand, yet he had no sense of his location.

He saw headlights for the first time in hours and his heart skipped a beat. He could hitch a ride somewhere. He could go home. Home…

The car got closer and Finn thought it was going too fast to see him, so he did the only rational thing he could think of: he walked out into the middle of the road.

He waved his arms and the car—no, truck—slowed to a stop a few feet in front of him. Finn made his way around the front of the car to the driver's window, knocking on it a couple of times. The tinted windows and blinding headlights made it impossible for him to see who was driving.

The window slowly rolled down, revealing the driver. Finn took a step back in surprise.

"Storey?"

"Well isn't this just fine and dandy," Storey smirked as she let her arm fall over the edge of the door. "We were looking for you."

"You knew where I was?"

"Some guy from a gas station called the police saying he had spotted Finn Whitman buying a candy bar and that he didn't look so good. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Finn's gaze lingered back the way he had come. The three police cars that went flying past him just before the sun set made way more sense now.

"Hop in, Whitman," Storey said with a smile. She turned back into the car. "Scoot over guys."

Finn walked around the hood of the old truck and opened the other door, revealing Hugo and Mattie. They both scooted over to give Finn just enough room to sit with them.

"Welcome back to the real world Finn," Mattie said with a smile as she reached over to pat his knee. "We've missed you."

"Where is Amanda and my friends? Oh gosh…what about my parents?" Finn had more questions than answers.

Storey started up the truck and pulled a wild u-turn, heading back to Orlando.

"Time to save the world!" Storey shouted as she slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

"What's wrong with it?" Finn asked, immediately realizing the ignorance of his question. He knew better than that.

"Charlene and Philby have gone missing, Maybeck's stuck in the castle apartment and the others...well...we haven't heard from them in a while."

"We need you to come save them, Finn," Mattie added quietly. "They won't see you coming. You're our dark horse."

So Finn's back in the game...and coming to save the day!

In the last few chapters, all of your questions will be answered. If you have any questions you're just dying to know the answer to, put them in a review and I will personally make sure they're going to get placed in the ending chapters! Even if you don't have any questions, go ahead and review anyway, because you're a nice human being!

Have a great day! I'll update as soon as I can! :)