Chapter 17

Aleena waved her hand, freezing both Bartleby and Sleet. "Come now children." She said again, waving her hands.

Sonia shook her head. "No, Mother! I'm not going anywhere!" She said before sleep overtook her and she fell to the ground, followed by her brothers.

The two males could only watch helplessly as she vanished with the three hedgehogs. The spell faded when she was gone. Bartleby stared with dismay at the place where his wife had been. "No… no… no… She took them. She took my dear Sonia. What do we do? What do we do?" He began hyperventilating until his throat closed up. An inhaler appeared under his nose.

"Stop it! Take your medicine and calm down. Hysterics are not going to help. We have to tell his lordship when he wakes." Sleet said.

Bartleby shook his head. "No, that could ruin everything. He could revert. We have to get them back before he wakes up. But how and where did they go? How do we find them?"

Sleet considered the question. "That's simple. We need to trace her IP address. But it could take a while. How can we be sure that he won't wake up in the meantime? He'll wonder what's going on."

"We… we'll just have to hurry and hope that he stays asleep for as long as it takes." Bartleby said. "We have to get them back." He went to his computer and opened up his administrator's account.

Morning dawned in Grevillea's capital city, the sun rising over the ocean and its light cascading into the various windows of the many buildings that lined the harbor street. In her flat, Aleena made breakfast while she waited for her children to wake. She carefully put in the ingredients, the ingredients for her own breakfast carefully separated out.

She looked over at the murphy bed where the three hedgehogs slept. She smiled lovingly. She had her children home now. This was what she should have done, to begin with.

"Mmmm… what?" Sonia's voice moaned as she rolled over, smacking her lips. "Ugh… why do I feel like I was hit by a bus?" She opened her eyes and sat up. "Bartleby? Where are you?" She looked around her. "Where am I? Where are we?"

Aleena waved her hand to expedite breakfast. "Don't worry my dearest daughter. All is well." She brought over a tray of pancakes, fruit, and sausage for each of her children.

"Mother?" Sonia asked as she breathed a small sigh of relief. "What are we doing here? Where is here? Where is Bartleby?"

"Don't worry about him now. You should eat your breakfast." Aleena encouraged her.

Sonia absently began eating, needing something to do. "What do you mean?" She asked as her brothers slowly woke up.

"Mom?" Manic asked. "What… how did we get here?" His eyes darted all around as Sonic sat up beside them.

Aleena gave them each their own plates. "Eat your breakfast and we can talk." She said as she retrieved her own. They each ate trustingly. "Welcome to what I've called home for the last twenty years. It's a modest one-room flat but that will change. I should have just done this before. We could have been so happy here together."

Sonic shrugged. "It's nice Mom. But we want to know what we're doing here? Ma and Pa are back there. I promised that I'd be home this morning."

Aleena pet his spikes tenderly. "Your Ma and Pa will be alright, Sonic. They won't worry too much. The city has chosen Robotnik so we just need to make new lives here together."

"Mother, we don't want new lives here. We want to go home. I want my husband." Sonia said as she pushed back her half-eaten plate. Her head was starting to feel funny. "Mother… what did you do… Guys, stop… stop eating…" She said before she fell back on the pillow unconscious. It was too late however as her brothers passed out with her.

"Don't worry about anything, my dears…" Aleena kissed each forehead while she fished out Sonia's wedding ring. She took it to her jewelry box and locked it uptight. "Mother knows best."

Once he was logged onto his account, Bartleby pulled up the login records from Aneela. "Okay, she was logging in from this IP address." He got up and let Sleet in.

The wolf put a small flash drive into the computer's USB port and pulled up a program. "With the IP address, this will be easy." His fingers went tippy-tappy on the keyboard while Bartleby watched intently. "Crap! They're all the way in Grevillea. That's a three-day journey. We don't have three days." He said before a bright green light illuminated the room. They both closed their eyes against the blinding light.

"Not to worry, Mr. Lobos…" Oracle announced as he appeared in the room. "That's why I have come. I am going to take us to them."

Bartleby felt hope in his chest. "You wouldn't happen to be the Oracle that Sonia told me about? If you can help us get them back, I would appreciate it."

A three-fingered palm covered his head kindly. "Yes, Lord Montclair. I want you to know that you have my full support. We will go together." He waved his hand and they appeared just outside the flat. "You two hide down in the stairwell until she opens the door." He whispered. He cleared his throat and knocked. "Aleena, dear, it's me."

The door opened slowly. "Oracle?" She opened the door a little more, looking around. "You're alone? Did you see what Robotnik tried to do? It was all a trap…" She began leading him inside until Sleet and Bartleby came up the stairs. "Oracle, did you bring them? You traitor! Get out!" She tried to go inside and close the door but the door was stuck and wouldn't move.

"Aleena, yes, I brought them. I'm sorry, dear, but kidnapping the children wasn't the answer," he told her. "I brought Lord Montclair and Mr. Lobos to make their cases and take them home."

Bartleby held out his hand to Aleena. "Please, Aleena, listen to me. I love Sonia. She is my entire world. I thought you believed me, that you believed I could protect her."

"I believe you to be a stupid little boy who hangs on the lies of your hero." Aleena glared while she heard a moan. She smiled. "But… I'll make you a deal. You ask my daughter if she will return with you. If she agrees, you may take her. Bounty Hunter, I make you the same deal with my son."

Sleet cocked his eyebrow. "Well, that seems remarkably easy. Why do I get the feeling that you've stacked the deck?"

Bartleby glowered. "You think you've done or said something that will stop Sonia from returning home with me. But you're wrong and I'll prove it!" He pushed past Oracle and into the apartment.

Aleena smiled and let them in. "They should be waking up." She indicated the three hedgehogs.

The mink ran over to his slumbering wife. "Sonia, oh Sonia." He picked up her hands as he heard her moan.

"Uhhh… what?" The young princess looked up at the mink. He pulled her into his arms, carrying her lovingly. She didn't respond the way he expected, however. Instead, she pushed away. "Wait, who are you?"

Bartleby gaped. "What? Sonia, don't you know me?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, I don't know you." She said to their shock.

Sleet's eyes narrowed as he went to Manic who was waking up. "And I'm guessing that you don't know who I am?" He asked as yellow eyes looked up at him in confusion. "What did you do?" He demanded of Aleena.

Aleena smiled. "Whatever do you mean? My children simply do not know who either of you is. And I must say that neither do I. Now, you both had better leave. Oracle, you are no longer welcome here. Your loyalties leave much to be desired." She took advantage of his shock and cast a spell.

The next thing they knew, all three were standing on the street in front of the building. Bartleby's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "What… what's going on? Why doesn't my wife know me?"

Oracle sighed. "She's used a memory spell of some sort. But try not to worry. It just means this will take longer than I thought. Mr. Lobos, this could be to your benefit. Manic no longer remembers your history so you have the pleasure so starting over with a clean slate while we work to break her spell." He looked to the hyperventilating Bartleby. "Stop, now…. It won't help to go into hysterics and give yourself an asthma attack."

Bartleby shook his head. "But if we don't get them back soon, Uncle will wake up and he'll be worried. If he finds out that Aleena kidnapped them and erased their memories… it could ruin everything. We could end up right back where we started."

"Try not to fear, Lord Montclair. You're assuming that your uncle is going to wake up anytime soon. Forcing our way in will only get the watch called on us." He led them down the street, looking for something as he continued, "Aleena can be most stubborn. But we can still get them back. You just have to unlock the memories that she's blocked from them." He finally found a building that had a vacancy sign on it. "Lord Montclair, you and Mr. Lobos go and request to rent the apartment here. I will be back as soon as I inform Mr. and Mrs. Canis of their son's whereabouts." He vanished, leaving the two men to their task.

Bartleby shook his head slowly. He was so confused. "How could she just erase her memory of me? Why? Sonia, oh Sonia…" He looked at the locket around his neck.

Sleet sighed. "Oracle has given us a plan to get them back. Don't start getting into another panic. It doesn't help anything." He calmly led the way into the building and to the leasing office. "He's right. She thinks she's won. But all she's done is given me a clean slate. It'll be easy to woo him back. And you're just going to start from the beginning with Princess Sonia. She will lose this fight. I promise you that."

AN: Will Sleet be able to keep his promise? Will Aleena's spell be broken or will Bartleby and Sleet end up giving up and returning to Robotropolis after all? Well, you'll have to watch for the sequel to find out.