Chapter Thirty-Seven
Marie was curled up asleep with her brothers and Oliver when her ears began to twitch. The kitten's head lifted off her paws and she turned towards the glass wall. She heard footsteps heading their way. Six pairs by the sound of it. She leapt to her feet and ran through the throng of children straight for Aralyne.
Koda felt the kitten run by and woke up with a yawn. "What's your rush, Marie?"
"The witches!" she cried waking up everyone else from their deep slumber, "They're coming!" The children got up right away ready to face the villains. Marie landed on top of Aralyne's chest making sure not to hit any of the babies. "Aralyne!" she said batting at the woman's face, "Aralyne, wake up!"
"What is it?" I groaned blinking down at Marie.
"The witches are coming!" she meowed at me.
"What?!" I cried.
"We have to hide Aralyne," said Shanti. Jane Darling took Dil from my arms and motioned for the other babies to get off of me.
"Stay down," hissed Eilonwy as she and the other older children stood before me blocking me from view. I peeked out from between their legs to see the witches and Eris standing on the other side of the glass staring at their prisoners.
"Oh look, the brats are awake," said Madam Mim, "Good, now you'll know exactly what we plan to do with you lot." The children glared at them defiantly.
"Such adorable children," said Eris leering down at my charges, "All with their lives ahead of them." She laughed maniacally. "Kill them."
Ella woke up the next morning out in the street, her head pounding. She sat up trying to remember how she got there, and when she turned, she saw Sinbad lying motionless in a pool of blood, a knife sticking out of his back. She screamed, her hands over her mouth and tears pouring from her eyes. Ella crawled over to him and pulled the knife from his body dropping it beside her.
"S-Sinbad?" He didn't reply and when she touched his body it was as cold as ice. "Sinbad!" she screeched.
At that moment, Mufasa and Sarabi came bounding around the corner. "What?" he said skidding to a halt and staring at Sinbad's dead body, "What happened?" Ella was too hysterical to speak. Mufasa had managed to lift Sinbad's body onto his back and Sarabi had convinced Ella to get on her back.
"As if we don't have enough to worry about," said Sarabi, as they ran towards the center of town, "All the children go missing, and now a death."
"Do you think Aralyne is feeling any better?" asked Linguini, "I mean she seemed pretty dead yesterday."
"Well, what do you expect?" asked Colette sharpening a pair of knives, "She had her heart broken by some insensitive, backstabbing, traitorous man!" She pointed one of the knives at Linguini, and added, "If any man did that to me, I'd get my revenge." The man gave her a nervous smile and backed up until he was well away from the dangerous weapons.
"I'll go check up on her," said Tiana wiping her hands on her apron before leaving the kitchen. She entered the dining room to see Sarah Hawkins serving people breakfast and sitting at a table eating were Melody, Ariel, and Jim. "Melody," she addressed the younger mermaid, "I was wondering if Aralyne was feeling well enough to work?"
Melody paused with a spoonful of cereal on its way to her mouth. "I thought she was already down in the kitchens. She was gone when I got out of bed this morning."
At that moment, they heard a commotion outside. Everyone in the inn exchanged confused glances before running outside. About half the town was in hysterics.
"I can't find Lilo," Nani shouted out to Grandpa who stood in the center of the crowd.
"And my kittens," said Duchess, "They've gone missing, too."
"Oh, no," said Melody as she and her friends listened to the statements of concerned parents that had missing children, "You don't think this has anything to do with Aralyne, too?"
"This is Aralyne we're talking about," said Jim, "She's always in some sort of trouble."
At that moment, Sarabi and Mufasa burst through the crowd with Ella and a dead body on their backs.
"Lao Shi," said Mufasa to Grandpa, "We found Ella beside a dead body. She's too hysterical to speak." Everyone got quiet, and Snow White ran up to Ella to coax her off the lioness's back.
Grandpa's face became grim as he asked, "Whose body?"
"Sinbad," Mufasa replied as several men came to relieve him of his burden.
Melody felt her heart sink as she looked over at Jim and Mrs. Hawkins. Disbelief was etched upon their faces even though they saw his corpse right before them. Sarah suddenly wailed and ran to her son's body falling on top of it. Jim sank to his knees and tears flowed freely from his eyes. "Jim," she said kneeling beside him and giving him a hug, "I'm so sorry." He buried his face in her shoulder and sobbed.
"Rescue Aid Society, and Rescue Rangers," called out Grandpa, and twelve mice, two chipmunks, a rat, and a green fly scurried through the crowd right up to him. He then said to the rodents and fly, "I need all of you to go out and find the missing children. Everyone else here will look for Sinbad's murderer."
"Yes, sir!" cried out Chip and Dale saluting Grandpa. Then the rescue team ran off to do their job.
"Hey, I think I found something," said Timothy Brisby as they were searching the town for clues. He was standing at the edge of the village and found a black ribbon lying on the ground. Basil of Baker Street ran to Tim and took the ribbon. Basil then examined every inch of it, muttering to himself.
"This ribbon," said Basil, "belonged to Alice. The children must have been through here."
"Those poor children," said Bianca shaking her head and holding onto Bernard's arm, "I hope we find them soon."
"Looky! Looky! Over here!" cried out Jaq jumping up and down as he pointed to something on the ground outside of the village.
"Feet prints!" said Gus crouching down beside Jaq.
"Golly," said Gadget studying the prints, "There's hundreds of them!"
"And they're headed straight for the woods," said Reepicheep. He pulled out his sword and pointed it towards the forest. "Onwards my friends!"
The animals followed the footprints deep into the woods.
All of the kids began talking at once and I felt my own heart stop for a moment. Eris removed the glass wall and several of the children started screaming.
"Why don't we have a little fun with them, first?" said Madam Mim grabbing Lampwick.
"What's the big idea, old bat?" he said squirming in her grip, "Let me go!"
Madam Mim laughed and turned him into a donkey. "My, aren't you a little ass?" She laughed again.
"Just get rid of him," said the White Witch, "and if you don't, I will." She pointed her staff at the children. They all screamed and huddled against each other.
"NO!" I shouted out crawling out between the older children's legs and jumping to my feet. "You've got me just like you wanted! Leave the kids alone!" The villains stared at me in surprise while the Recess gang tried pulling me back, but I shrugged off their hands.
"So the spell did work then?" said Regina a wicked smile forming on her fair face, "We lured you right into our clutches."
Sadira conjured up some sand to wrap around me and drag me towards her and the other women. I didn't even bother struggling to escape but glared at each of them. "It didn't work as you planned," I snapped, "I'm not a child! I followed the children here to protect them! Now that you've got me, let them go!"
"No," said Narissa sneering at me, "Because when we turn you to our side, they will be the first ones you kill." I felt myself pale as the children once again began to scream and cry.
The Rescue Aid Society and Rescue Rangers followed the footprints into an underground tunnel and arrived in the chamber to see Madam Mim turn Lampwick into a donkey.
"Martin," said Monty keeping his voice low so that the villains wouldn't hear him, "Run back to Nesidy and tell Grandpa what we found. Zipper, you go, too."
The green fly and Martin Brisby dashed back through the tunnel as fast as they could. In a matter of minutes, Martin and Zipper had gotten to Nesidy and skidding to a stop before Grandpa, Martin panted, "We – We found the – the children!"
There was a collection of gasps, cries of delight, and muttering.
"Where?" inquired Grandpa, "Never mind. Danny, Tulio, Flynn, Phillip, Mr. Incredible, and Peter Pevensie, go with Martin and Zipper. They'll lead you to the children."
Danny transformed into his Phantom form and scooped up the mouse and fly. "Where to?"
"That way!" buzzed Zipper pointing in the right direction. Danny zoomed off with the other five males following him at a sprint.
Eris glided towards me pointing a finger at my chest over my heart. "Ready to join the dark side?" she inquired with a malicious smile. I stared straight into her cold dark eyes refusing to show how terrified I really was. Her finger was cold as she pressed it against my torso. Before she could do anything, however, she screamed and flung her arm away from me. I caught a quick glimpse of a female mouse wearing pink clinging to the goddess's wrist with her teeth before she went flying and landed amongst the ninety-nine puppies.
Sadira also screamed and losing concentration on her magic, the sand fell to the ground releasing me. I saw a couple of chipmunks scurrying all over her. Other rodents were attacking the remaining witches and I took advantage of this distraction.
Turning to the children I shouted, "RUN!" The older children picked up many of the toddlers and infants and booked it. The animals made it out, too. In all the confusion, I saw that Boo was left behind. She either couldn't keep up or no one was able to take her. To be honest, I couldn't blame the older children for losing track of a single toddler; there were nearly two hundred kids here! I scooped up the screaming girl, and started running down the tunnel behind Koda.
I heard Narissa yell out, "Aralyne's getting away!"
When we had gotten outside in the morning light, the children were running by a startled, Danny, Tulio, Flynn, Phillip, Mr. Incredible, and Peter Pevensie.
"Aralyne, wha–?" began Tulio as I headed towards the men, but I cut him off.
"Run!" Then I felt something strike me in the back, and I crumpled to the ground, careful not to crush Boo beneath me.
"Aralyne!" Danny and Tulio shouted out at the same time.
Making sure Boo was safe from harm, I turned on my backside to see the witches and Eris heading for me.
"You're not going anywhere, sweetie," snarled Sadira sending another swarm of sand my way. That's when the men rushed forward to attack the villains. With Sadira distracted once again, I leapt back to my feet and carried Boo into a hallow tree. Glancing around, I saw that the rest of the children had disappeared. I hoped they were okay. Turning my attention back to the battle I saw everyone was paired up: Danny against Eris, Tulio against Regina, Flynn against Madam Mim, Phillip against Sadira, Mr. Incredible against Narissa, and Peter Pevensie against the White Witch. I wanted to go and help, but I didn't know what to do, and I couldn't leave Boo alone, who was still crying, I realized and could attract unwanted attention.
"Hey, Boo," I said quietly, "Shh. Quiet down, okay? Can you do that for me?" She sniffled and her wailing subsided, but she was still crying. An idea struck me and I hoped it would work! "Boo, do you want to play a game?" She finally stopped crying and looked up at me. Wiping the last of her tears away with the sleeve of my nightgown, I continued, "Let's play hide-and-seek, okay? We have to hide and be super quiet so that the bad people don't find us." She nodded her head and pressed her face into my collar bone, being silent.
"Psst!" I heard someone say and I looked around but didn't see anyone. "Down here!" I lowered my gaze to see fifteen rodents and a green fly. I crouched down beside them and recognized the female mouse wearing pink.
"You saved me and the children," I whispered to them shifting Boo in my arms to keep her from slipping, "Thank you."
"It was Jenny's idea to distract the villains," said Dawson lightly punching the mouse in pink on the arm.
"The children," I said, "Where are they?"
"Don't worry, Miss Aralyne," said Justin, the rat, "I saw them entering the village."
"Everyone, look," said Bernard staring at the fight. We all turned our attention to the battle to see Madam Mim, Sadira, and the White Witch lying on the ground dead. Regina, Narissa, and Eris retreated, cursing the men.
The animals jumped into my nightgown's pocket and I straightened up, leaving my hiding place. With Boo still in my embrace, I ran awkwardly to the heroes. "You did it!" I cried out. I gave each of them a one-armed hug and we walked back to Nesidy promising to tell the whole tale later.
Upon arriving back at the village, I saw families reunited, and I released Boo so that she could find her parents. I ran straight up to Grandpa and told him and everyone in the town exactly what happed and they all thanked me for watching over their children. The animals in my pocket then jumped out onto the ground and gave them their tale before the men told them about their battles.
While this was going on, I said, "I'll be at the inn." Before I could leave, however, Danny held me back.
"Wait," he said holding my arm and a frown forming on his face, "There's something you should know. This morning, Sinbad was found dead. He –" Danny swallowed before continuing, "He was stabbed to death."
"What?" I said quietly feeling sick to my stomach. The nightmare I had before I had followed the children out of Nesidy flashed before my mind. A figure skulked through the night shadows of Nesidy…. 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….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. Pulling out of Danny's grasp, I ran straight for the Benbow Inn. I burst into the building to find all of Sinbad's friends and family surrounding his corpse which was laid out on a table. "Oh!" I gasped placing a hand over my mouth as I began to cry. I ran over to Mrs. Hawkins and embraced the distraught mother. "I'm sorry," I whispered.
As she wept into my shoulder, all I could think was, It was a dream! Wasn't it? But another voice surfaced in my mind, Was it really? You saw him die, and you didn't save him….
This was my fault! Entirely my fault!
(For the record, these last two chapters actually made me cry. Please don't hate me. Hope you enjoyed.)