So apparently it's possible to ruin a moment perfectly? I didn't know that was even possible, but I'm going to take that as a compliment (thanks her-eyes-fiery-pinpricks!)
Here we go, chapter 24!
Chapter 24: Haunting Us Beyond the Grave
Terry and Charlene scrambled to get to their feet. By the time they both realized they were both okay, a second cannonball went straight through another window, this time over in the corner.
Charlene and Terry turned just in time to see the giant Greek column wobble before falling down. The column came crashing down right on top of one of the two thrones lining the wall opposite of the windows, effectively blocking the only entrance to the room.
They were trapped.
"Charlene! Let's go!" Terry grabbed her by her forearm and ran toward the windows.
Through all the chaos in the room, the captain heard someone yell "Terry!" behind him. He turned to see Willa struggling to keep Philby standing up straight. Her dress had a few tears in it, but she was covered in dirt and splattered in blood. Philby, on the other hand, had a piece of the window stuck in his left leg.
"What's going on?" Jess ran up to the two couples. "Philby! You're leg! Amanda! Where's Amanda and Finn?" She turned to search the room, but Terry caught her before she went anywhere.
"You can't go back there! If another one comes, that's where it'll hit!"
"What if Amanda and Finn are hurt?"
"I'll go look! You stay here!" Terry pushed past Jess but was stopped when someone grabbed his arm.
"I'm coming with you!" Charlene yelled at him.
There was another blast in the distance. "ON THE FLOOR!" Philby yelled out and all five dove on the floor.
A third cannonball went straight through the windows again, but this time hitting the far wall, causing tons of stones to fall down. There was now a giant hole where the cannonball had hit.
Terry scrambled up and turned toward Jess.
"Where did you last see them?"
"What?" Jess cupped a hand by her ear. "What did you say?"
"WHERE DID YOU LAST SEE AMANDA AND FINN?" The captain didn't think he could get any louder.
"Over by the thrones!" Jess yelled back. Charlene took off before Terry could protest her coming. The two pushed through people and dodged fallen stones and broken glass.
It took them longer than it should have to get across the ballroom, but when they got there Terry's heart dropped.
One throne was smashed by the Greek column. The other had a few stones from the wall behind it denting it. Lying near the throne was someone lying facedown with everything below their waist crushed underneath one large stone. Next to that person was a very tan girl with dark hair. Amanda.
"AMANDA!" Terry ran over to her and helped her up.
"Finn won't wake up! I can't get the stone off of him! He can't be dead! He can't be!" She was in hysterics. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't stop shaking. Charlene grabbed her and tried to calm her down—but it wasn't any use. Unless they could get some proof that Finn was alive, she wasn't going to stop.
Terry ran over to the stone on Finn's legs and pushed as hard as he could. It didn't budge. He turned around and pushed with his back. It didn't budge. He turned to Charlene and Amanda.
"I need help!"
Both girls ran over and the three of them pushed as hard as they could. It took them a while, but the stone finally slid off of Finn and landed on the ground with a loud THUD!
"Finn!" Amanda flipped him over and tried to wake him up. "Come on! Wake up!"
Charlene put her head on his chest. "He's breathing!"
"That's good enough for me!" Terry reached down and threw Finn over his shoulders. "Let's get back!"
Charlene headed toward the windows, dragging Amanda with her. Terry followed quickly behind them.
When they were about half way, a fourth cannonball went through the windows and flew straight over their heads, landing only a few feet behind Terry and Finn.
"They seriously need to stop doing that!" Terry muttered under his breath. "I mean, come on!"
By the time they got back to the windows, they were all back to standing positions. Philby was leaning very heavily on Willa. The glass was not sticking out of his leg anymore. In its place was a part of his sleeve wrapped around his leg.
"What happened to Finn?" Jess yelled out. Her face was screaming horror and fear, but her eyes were filled with concern. That's exactly how she looked the night of the raid three years ago, the captain remembered. He quickly pushed that horrific memory away.
"No time to talk! We need to get out of here!"
"We can't! The exits are blocked!" Willa yelled. Philby tried to take a step forward, but fell—and he almost brought Willa down with him.
"The ballroom isn't too far off the street. We can climb down!" Charlene headed toward a broken window. "It's like maybe ten feet!"
"How is Philby going to get down there?" Jess asked Charlene.
"I can do it. Don't worry about me." Philby yelled back. Why the room was still so loud confused Terry.
"What about Finn?" Amanda asked, glancing back at him.
"I'll have to go down with him on my back." Terry replied.
One by one they all made their way out of the window and down the short stone wall. Charlene had gone last, after informing as many people as she could inside the ballroom of their escape route.
Upon reaching the cobblestone street below, they saw who was firing at them. There was a ship, similar to the captain's, in the harbor.
But it wasn't just any ship. It was one of Maleficent's.
"Admiral! Shall we fire a fifth cannonball?" A sailor from behind asked in a shaky voice.
"No! Orders are four cannonballs at the castle. And four only!" The admiral turned around and walked to the steering wheel. "We've done our work here boys, let's head home!"
A second sailor ran up to the admiral right as he got to the wheel. "Admiral, sir, there's another ship in the harbor. We believe it belongs to Captain Maybeck, the notoriously ruthless pirate, sir."
The admiral thought about it for a second. He had been losing his ships to the pirate for years now. This is the perfect chance for revenge. But it seemed too easy to take the ship now. He wanted a challenge.
"Leave it! Orders are just to attack the castle! We sail out immediately!" He waved the sailor off and his second-in-command came up next to him.
"Sir, I believe leaving this opportunity untouched would be a horrible mistake."
"Oh we're going to get revenge on Captain Maybeck. Word has it he's been helping the prince get his throne back from Maleficent. So sooner or later, they'll head back to California. And we'll be waiting for them."
As the sailors prepared the ship to depart the harbor, the admiral pulled aside one of them and started whispering. "I want you to stay here in Florida and make sure that the captain comes back with his ship. I've been hearing rumors that he might stay due to his little infatuation with the queen." He pulled the sailor closer to him by his shirt. "Make sure he's on that ship when I send it to Davy Jones' locker."
"Yes sir!" The admiral let go of the sailor and he hurried to get off of the boat. The admiral walked back up to the steering wheel and sighed with relief. He would finally get revenge on Captain Maybeck—and possibly get rid of the threat of Prince Finnegan at the same time.
Maleficent is going to love me for this!
Instead of dealing with the ship immediately, the group decided to go back into the castle—obviously not the same way they left. They made their way to the queen's bedroom and Terry laid Finn down on the bed. Amanda pulled in a chair from the adjacent sitting room and sat down beside him.
Willa sat down on the couch in the sitting room and Philby laid down, placing his head in her lap. Jess, Charlene and the captain had all plopped down in chairs all around the room.
They all sat in silence for what seemed like eons to Philby. The captain sat forward in his chair.
"Is anybody going to mention the elephant in the room here?" The captain asked the group.
"And what is that?" Jess asked sarcastically. She rested her elbow on the arm of the chair, extending her hand so that her head could rest there.
"The fact that we have no idea what's going on and Shark Fin is knocked out!"
"What I don't understand is why Maleficent's ships are attacking my castle! She's dead!" Charlene blurted out. It might have just been Philby, but it seemed like she had been crying during their moments of silence earlier.
"She must have gave an order to attack on a certain day—with or without her." Willa said as she placed one of her hands on top of Philby's.
"How are we going to get back to California if they're sitting in the harbor?" Jess pointed with her free arm toward the harbor.
"My ship?" The captain's tone of voice suggested that he thought Jess had just asked the dumbest question.
"Assuming it's still there." Philby said as he shifted to a sitting position. He pulled a table nearby closer to the couch and propped his feet up on it. He draped an arm over Willa's shoulders.
"It better be there! If they sank my ship I'll blow them all up!"
"Sure you will." Charlene rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm going to go check on the damage in the ballroom and make sure everybody got out. Does anybody want to come with?"
"I'll go," said Terry very unenthusiastically. He got up and followed her out of the room.
Jess glanced toward Philby and Willa and raised an eyebrow. "I'll…uh…go with them." She got up and hurried out of the room.
"What was that about?" Willa asked Philby.
"Who cares? You and I are alone now, which hasn't happened a lot lately. I'm not complaining." He kissed her on the top of her head.
She stifled a laugh. "How's your leg doing?"
"It's fine."
She turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"
"Yes sweetheart. Don't you worry about me."
"You always say that, but it doesn't make me feel any better."
"As long as I'm around, you should never have to worry about anything." He leaned in and kissed her on the lips. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was still perfection.
"You're very convincing, Dell Philby." Her smile melted away all doubts, fears and worries Philby ever had.
Amanda sat there holding Finn's hand. It had been at least an hour and he hadn't woken up yet. Every second that passed added to her worry. She kept replaying the scene in the ballroom over and over in her head.
Amanda and Finn were dancing to the music, just as every other couple was. Every few minutes, some Floridian noble would ask Finn why he wasn't marrying Queen Charlene, but he handled their questions with grace. Amanda couldn't help but think how wonderful he was going to be as king. All they had to do was get back to California. They were so close.
After yet another Floridian noble had finally left Finn alone, Finn returned to dancing with Amanda.
"So Amanda, I probably should have said this earlier, but you look absolutely stunning tonight." He smiled at her with one of his signature smiles.
"You already said that to me…four times." She smiled back.
"And I'll keep saying it until you believe it!" She let out a small laugh and Finn twirled her around.
"There's been something I've been meaning to ask you Amanda. But I haven't had the time to until now."
"What is that?"
"When we get back to California and I take back the throne, I'll have to find myself a queen."
"Yes?"
"And I was thinking I should probably have my queen all ready to go, so that we can get married before the coronation. And if you do that, the king and queen will get crowned together, making it a much easier for everyone."
"So you're saying you want to get married first, then take the throne back?"
"Exactly, I'm glad you understand. So that brings me to my question."
"Yes?" Amanda's stomach was filled with butterflies. She knew where this was going and was having a hard time containing her excitement. She could have sworn she heard a loud blast in the distance, but her focus moved back to Finn as he got down on one knee.
"Amanda, will you—" BOOM!
The first cannonball blasted through the windows, landing right in the middle of the ballroom.
"Over here!" Finn got up and pulled Amanda toward the back wall. A few seconds later a second cannonball slammed into one of the Greek columns, causing it to fall in front of the main entrance to the room and smashing into the throne not only five feet away from them.
"Finn! That was our only entrance!"
He grabbed her head with both of his hands. "I'm going to find a way out, I promise!" He kissed her passionately.
Upon letting go, he helped her move across crushed throne, in the direction of the second when a third cannonball slammed into the back wall, creating a huge hole and causing tons of stones to fall.
Amanda felt someone push her forward with a great amount of force. She turned around to see Finn lying facedown with a giant stone covering his legs.
"Finn!" She ran to him but saw that he was already unconscious—maybe even dead. "No, no, no, no, no!"
Amanda was brought out of her thoughts by Finn's stirring in the bed. She looked up at him just in time for him to open his eyes.
"Amanda?" His weak voice scared her a little.
"I'm right here Finn." She gripped his hand tighter. "How are you feeling?"
"My legs hurt, but otherwise I'm fine. Is everyone else okay?"
"Philby got some glass caught in his leg, but otherwise we're all fine. You gave me quite the scare there."
"Sorry about that." He smiled and squeezed her hand. "Are you okay?
"Just fine. You pushed me out of the way. It was supposed to be me that got crushed." A tear fell down her cheek. Finn reached up with his other hand and used his thumb to wipe it off.
"I'd do it for you all over again if I had to." He tried to sit up, but the pain got to him and he gave up. "Do you know who was attacking?" Amanda could tell he was trying so hard not to cry from the pain.
"I think Terry said it was Maleficent's ships."
"Oh great." He rolled his eyes. "She's still haunting us beyond the grave."
"But you have the throne now. I thought I saw Terry's boat still in the harbor, so we still have a way home. All we have to do is get you to your throne and it's yours forever."
"Ours." He croaked out as he tried to sit up again.
"What?" Amanda helped him to a sitting position.
"Our throne, Amanda."
"What do you mean? I'm not the queen!"
"I didn't ask you, did I? Crap, I just ruined that moment." He scolded himself.
"You were about to ask me. The cannonballs cut you off."
"Talk about horrible timing." He shook his head. "I was going to ask you to marry me Amanda. I couldn't think of anyone better to be my queen."
She studied him. Earlier that night she was so ready to say yes, but now that he had actually asked her, she was nervous. It's not that she didn't love Finn—because she did—she was just scared for the future. She was pregnant, and if she married Finn, their child would be the next in line to the throne. Talk about a lot of pressure to raise a child the right way.
"So…what do you say?" He asked her in a quiet but caring voice.
She knew what the right answer was. Her face slowly turned into a smile. "Yes."
Despite Finn being in a lot of pain, he managed to lean forward far enough to give her a hug and a quick kiss on the lips.
"So I hear there's a royal wedding and a coronation coming soon?" Jess' voice came from behind her. Amanda turned around to see her sister standing in the doorway. "It's about time you ask her, you idiot!"
"I'm going to forget you just called the king of California an idiot." Finn said with a smile.
"You shouldn't forget! Somebody needs to keep the king's ego in check!" Jess crossed the room and stood behind Amanda. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for both of you. But Amanda, if I'm not the maid of honor, I'll have some issues with the new royal couple."
"Was there ever a doubt you'd be the maid of honor?" Amanda said as she hugged Jess.
"There better not have been!" Jess leaned over and gave Finn a hug. "If you hurt her, I promise I'll hurt you."
When she let go of him, he stared at her with shock. Amanda laughed at the two. Jess had always been a little overprotective of her older sister.
"Oh good you're awake!" The captain walked into the room with Charlene not far behind. "Good news! My ship's in great condition so you five can sail out in the morning!"
"Wait? You're not coming? It's your ship!" Jess protested.
"I've got plans to stay in Florida for a while." He wrapped his arms around Charlene's waist from behind.
"Sounds like fun, captain." Finn winked at the captain. "We're going to miss you two in California. Thanks for all the help. If you ever need anything—and I mean anything—please let me know. I'd be more than happy to help."
"I'll be sure to take you up on that Finn." Charlene added. "I hear there's a royal wedding and a coronation coming soon? We better be the one of the first invitations!"
"Of course!" Amanda said with a smile.
"Great! Now, Finn, if you don't mind sweetie…you're uh…lying in my bed."
"Oh! Here, let me get up." Amanda rushed to his side and helped him up.
"There's a guest bedroom right across the hall that's fit for a king." Charlene said with a wink.
"Thanks Charlene, really. I don't think I could ever repay you for what you've done. You too, captain."
"Don't mention it Shark Fin. We'll see you in the morning for your send off."
Amanda helped Finn into the bed in the guest bedroom across the hall. He fell asleep almost immediately. Jess and Amanda made their own beds with the many chairs in the adjacent sitting room.
Tomorrow they would be headed home. For the first time in a long time, Amanda was having trouble keeping a smile off of her face.
Alright! Y'all know what's coming: please review! I love reading them!