I must say, reading y'all's reaction to the cliffhangers of the past 2 chapters are hilarious! It seriously makes my day! Please keep those coming!

This chapter's a little short, but I figured cutting it off here would be much easier than taking longer to write a long chapter. So here's the next chapter!

Chapter 32: Three Gone, One Missing

Amanda walked into the bedroom and saw Finn standing near the crib, sword in hand, and was thoroughly confused.

"Uh…Finn?"

"Amanda?" He turned saw her, noticed he had his sword in his hand and dropped it, the clanking noise waking up their newborn son.

Amanda reached into the crib and picked up their son, trying to get him to go back to sleep.

"What was that all about?" She whispered to him.

"I…uh…nothing." Finn put his sword back where it was supposed to be and sat down on the edge of the bed. He ran his fingers through his hair, like he did when he was nervous or very confused.

"Okay, let me start somewhere else." She moved over and sat by her husband. "Why were you holding your sword near Dillard's crib?"

"I…I heard something…that's all."

Amanda studied him and upon the first glance she knew there was something he wasn't telling her.

"What did you see?"

"I said I heard something, Amanda."

"I know. But you wouldn't have brought your sword out unless you saw it. Whatever it is."

Finn took in a deep breath and laid back in the bed. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Amanda situated herself so that she could look at him and gave him a warm smile. "Try me."

Finn's gaze moved to the ceiling. For a few moments, Amanda figured Finn didn't want to talk about it. She started to get up to put their now sleeping son back in his crib when he spoke.

"Maleficent."

"What?"

"I saw Maleficent."

Amanda let out a laugh. "Sure Finn, and I saw a mermaid in the fountain earlier today."

Finn sat up quickly. "I'm being serious Amanda. She was standing right over the crib. That's why I was over there with my sword."

"Then how come I didn't see her when I came in?"

"She disappeared into a cloud of smoke." Amanda raised her eyebrow. "I'm being serious Amanda!"

"Okay, okay. So you saw Maleficent." Amanda turned away to put Dillard back in his crib. She did this purposely so that she wouldn't have to look Finn in the eyes. "What did she say to you?"

"She said that she had two of our friends…and that Willa was missing, but she didn't take her."

Amanda froze. Jess' dream was becoming a reality. She held back tears.

"Did she say who was gone?"

"No."

Amanda turned to face Finn. "Do you believe her?"

"I don't think she would lie about that."

Amanda walked over and sat near him. "Then what are you going to do Finn?"

"I say we go make sure everyone's okay." His gaze was still locked on the ceiling.

"Okay." Amanda waited for him to move, but when he didn't she laid down next to him on the bed. She figured he'd go when he wanted to. If there was even the smallest possibility that Maleficent was in the castle, she did not want to be going anywhere by herself.

"She said that she wasn't sure where Willa was. What do you think that means?" Finn asked her. For the first time, he sat up and looked at her. She glanced up at him and saw that he had a tear running down his cheek.

"Maybe she was looking for her and she couldn't find her?"

"Maybe." He took a deep breath and sighed. "Or she ran away just in time."

"That's a good thing, though…isn't it?"

Before he could answer, Terry burst through the door.

"Have you two seen Charlene tonight?"

Finn stood up. "No I haven't."

Terry's worried look turned towards her. "Amanda?"

"No…I haven't seen her since this morning."

Finn started pacing. It dawned on Amanda that Charlene was one of the two that Maleficent had taken.

"Oh my gosh." Amanda muttered under her breath. She looked up at Finn and they locked eyes for a second. He was thinking the same thing that she was. "It can't be—"

"But who else would it be?"

"But Finn…you're believing the word of a dead woman!"

"SHE'S NOT DEAD ANYMORE OBVIOUSLY!"

"What the heck is going on?" Terry threw up his hands in frustration.

Amanda and Finn shared a look. Neither of them wanted to be the one to tell him. Amanda tried her best to make it obvious to Finn that she was not going to be the one to tell him.

Luckily, she didn't have to. The baby started to cry. Amanda walked over to him and picked him up.

"Look, captain. I think I have an idea of what happened to Charlene."

"Well? Spit it out!"

"Maleficent has her."

Terry and Finn shared a few moments of intense staring. Amanda thought she was the only one that noticed that Terry was resisting the urge to punch Finn.

The baby's cries softened in sound, but the tension in the room was still very high.

"You can't be serious Shark Fin. Now's not the time for joking."

"You think I would joke about that?" Finn walked up to Terry and got in his face. "I woke up and she was sitting by my son! She sat there and told me that she had two of us and that she was looking for Willa but she couldn't find her! You think I would just make that up?"

Terry studied Finn's face and took a step back. "She's got someone else beside Charlene? Do you know who it is?"

"It's either Philby or Jess."

"It can't be Jess, I just saw her." Amanda interjected.

"I left Charlene alone about an hour ago." Terry retorted.

"Where did you last see her?" Finn asked, preventing a fight between the two.

"The garden. She said she just wanted some time to be alone. I left her there for an hour. I come back—and she's gone."

Terry walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

Amanda walked to the door, opened it and asked the guard to find her sister and bring her back here when she was found.

She walked back into the room, set the now sleeping baby back into his crib and sat down on the bed next to Terry.

"We need to find Philby and Willa."

"They left for their house after dinner." Terry mumbled.

"And if what Maleficent said was right, Willa's gone into hiding. That can only mean that Philby's—" Finn's voice trailed off as he sat down beside Amanda.

A few minutes of silence was interrupted by a guard entering the room. He seemed flustered and nervous. He did a quick bow.

"Your majesty, I have something to…to tell you."

Finn stood up. "What is it?"

"Uh…sir…I think it's more of a…a…private matter."

Finn nodded and ushered the guard outside of the room.

"What do you think that's about?" Terry whispered to Amanda.

"No clue."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'JUST GONE?'" Finn yelled from outside.

Terry and Amanda shared a look.

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

"What do you think Finn's doing out there?" Amanda asked Terry.

"Yelling." Amanda rolled her eyes.

"WELL FIND HER!" Finn stormed into the room and slammed the door shut.

"Finn?" Amanda asked her husband in the sweetest voice she could accomplish.

"Dude, what's going on?" Terry stood up.

Finn looked between the two of them and ran his hands through his hair.

"Jess is gone."

Three people are missing...hmm...what does Maleficent have planned? Hm...I guess we'll have to wait and find out!

Please review! As I said earlier...I lovereading them!