Here's chapter 38! Finn's plan's finally put into action!

Chapter 38: An Unexpected Outcome

Finn walked down the hallway, covering his face with his hat. The last thing he would want is for someone to recognize him. He couldn't fail his friends now. This plan had to work. Finn was going to make it work.

Amanda had left to go find Jess while Charlene was sitting in the empty room waiting on Finn to return with the captain. Finn's plan was going to require a ton of acting on her part. He just hoped she was able to do so. For their plan to work, he needed the captain to believe everything that was happening.

He walked down the hall toward the captain's cell and pulled out the key. Without looking up from the lock, he worked on unlocking the door as quietly as he could.

The captain didn't get the memo of being quiet.

"What did you do with Charlene? Where is she? If she's dead I swear I'm going to kill you!"

Finn rolled his eyes. If he only knew.

Once he unlocked the door, he opened it and walked in.

"Get up," Finn said in a deep voice. He didn't want to give himself away. "We're going somewhere."

"You won't take me anywhere! Not without some answers."

Finn rolled his eyes again. Is he always like this?

"We're going to see your precious Charlene." Finn reached down, grabbed the captain's arm and pulled him to his feet. "You don't have to be so annoying about it. I really don't want to have to hurt you." He grabbed the rope hanging over his shoulder and started tying his hands together.

"Yeah, whatever."

Finn reached into his back pocket and pulled out a gag. "Look, I don't want to have to do this, but I think it's necessary."

Instead of replying, the captain glared at him.

Finn walked behind the captain and tied the gag around his mouth loosely—just loose enough for Finn to be able to rip it off without difficulty later.

Finn led the captain down the hall, still keeping his identity a secret. If the captain was to know that he was involved, the plan wasn't going to work. The captain was just too unpredictable to even risk telling him who he was.

The two walked in silence as Finn led the captain down the halls to the room where he had left Charlene.

He opened the door to find Charlene on her knees, shaking with fear—just like they had rehearsed.

Finn threw the captain to the floor and drew his sword. Finn noticed two shadows in the back of the room—and he nodded in their direction.

Let the show begin.

Jess stared on at the scene before her. Amanda had come out of nowhere and pulled in here, promising that after this they can go find Willa and Philby. Something was going to happen in this room—something important.

Charlene was on her knees, crying.

Something about this seems familiar…

A guard brought Terry in and threw him to the ground. He then drew his sword and pointed it at Charlene.

"Now your majesty, Queen Charlene, I offer you a choice. Your life," he moved his sword to point at Terry, "or his."

Terry looked over at Charlene and shook his head. Jess saw the gag over his mouth—disabling him from speaking.

Where have I seen this before? Jess asked herself.

Then it hit her. She had seen this happen before in a dream.

Somebody was going to die. Charlene was going to choose.

Jess felt her heart sink her chest. She grabbed onto Amanda's arm tight.

Charlene had tears streaming down her face. Terry was still shaking his head, in attempt to convince her not to sacrifice herself. He wanted to be the one to die. He couldn't watch her die.

But Jess couldn't watch it happen to either of them.

"And your answer is?" The deep-voiced guard asked. Something about his voice seemed fake to Jess.

Charlene looked up at the guard and wiped a few tears from her face.

"Take…his life…not mine." She hung her head and let a few more tears run off of her face and hit the stone cold ground.

Terry yelled something, but the gag muffled it. Jess figured it was something along the lines of "I love you," but she would never be sure.

The guard turned to Terry. "You've made your choice."

The guard walked behind Terry and raised his sword.

"STOP!" Jess yelled. She would have yelled more, but Amanda placed her hand over her mouth.

The guard lowered his sword down and hit Terry on the top of his head with the handle of the sword. Terry's body went limp and he fell to the floor.

Charlene stood up almost immediately and Amanda went over to the guard.

Jess stood there in disbelief. She was more confused now than she had been when she had seen Charlene making her decision in her dream. This was the last thing she was expecting when it came to the outcome.

The guard started talking, this time his voice was different, this time sounding more familiar. "Okay, will you two get him? I'll go get Willa. Jess, can you get Philby?"

"What's going on?" Jess took a step back. How did he know her name? How did he know Amanda? What was going on?

"Jess, I need you to go find Philby. I'll get Willa and we'll meet back here, okay?"

"Finn?"

"Yeah? Who else?" Finn took off his hat for a few seconds so that she could see his face before putting it back on his head. He walked over to a corner in the room and returned with a sword and a set of keys.

"Here's a sword and the biggest key is the one that unlocks all of the cell doors." Finn thrust both items into her hand. "Now go, I've got to get Willa before Maleficent does something horrible."

Finn ran out of the room without a second thought. Amanda and Charlene hurried to prop Terry up against a wall.

Amanda glanced over her shoulder and saw Jess still standing there.

"Jess? Go!"

Before Jess could hear Amanda yell at her again, Jess left the room. She had no clue where Philby was, but she needed to find him as soon as possible.

The sound of a guard unlocking the cell door woke Willa and Philby up.

"Get up, Isabel." The guard said in a harsh tone.

"What's the meaning of this?" Philby asked, standing up as fast as he could.

"The Lady Maleficent has requested an audience with Isabel."

The guard walked over and put a hand on Willa's shoulder, causing her to jump.

"Don't you lay your filthy hands on her!" Philby struggled against the chains.

The guard promptly ignored him and pushed Willa to a standing position. He grabbed her arm and shoved her toward the cell door.

"Isabel!" Philby yelled, his wrists almost bleeding from the strain the chains had put on them.

Before the guard had pushed her all the way out of the cell, Willa turned back to Philby with tears in her eyes.

"I love you, Dell!"

Before Philby could answer, the guard pushed Willa out of the cell and down the hall, slamming the cell door shut behind him.

Philby hesitated for a few, brief seconds before sitting back down.

"I love you, too, Isabel," he whispered.

Willa had never felt so useless in her life. Maleficent had ordered her to sit in a chair and be quiet, and due to her curse she had brought upon herself, Willa obeyed. Despite the fact that Willa couldn't move out of the chair, even if she wanted to, Maleficent still had each of her feet tied to a leg of the chair and her hands tied behind its back.

Maleficent had excused herself from the room, telling Willa to wait until she returned. Willa knew it had something to do with the many potions on the table.

All she could do is wait, wait for the inevitable to happen.

Maleficent was going to use her for something horrible. Because of the curse, Willa would obey with no questions asked. And then she would feel horrible about it for the rest of her life.

What if she makes me kill Dell or one of my other friends? I...I couldn't live with that.

The sound of a rock skipping across the stone floor brought Willa out of her thoughts.

She searched the room for any sign of movement, but found none. She would have talked, but she was too afraid.

It was a few painful minutes of paranoia before Willa took a deep sigh of relief. She was just hearing things.

"Willa?"

Willa jumped in her chair. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Finn."

Willa relaxed, the tears of joy were overwhelming. "Finn?"

Before she knew it, the ropes binding her hands were cut. A few seconds later, Finn appeared in front of her, kneeling in front of her chair. He drew his sword and cut the ropes binding her legs to the chair.

He helped her stand up and pulled her in for a hug. His hand rubbed up and down her back as the tears spilled down her face, staining his shirt. Willa honestly never thought she was going to see her brother again.

He let go of her and held her at arm's length.

"How did you get here?" Willa asked her brother.

"A long story," Finn looked past Willa for a brief second. "But now, we've got to get you out of here."

"What about Dell?"

"Jess is getting him. Don't worry about him, Willa. He's going to make it out." He took a deep sigh of relief. "We all are."

He gave her a smile and she couldn't help but trust him. That was one thing about her brother: he was a natural leader.

Willa wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him another hug. "Thanks for not giving up on us, Finn," she whispered into his ear.

"You don't give up on family, Willa."

He let go of her.

"We've got to go now Willa, before Maleficent comes back."

Willa nodded and grabbed his hand. "We're doing this together."

Finn raised his eyebrow. "Why would we do it any other way?"

Sorry about the shortness, but this was a good stopping point. The epic finale is fast approaching guys! And it won't disappoint ;)

Any ideas on how Finn's planning on getting them all out? What about defeating Maleficent?

Please review! I want to know what y'all are thinking about the story so far, especially now that we're so far into it. Have a great weekend! :)