No, I'm not abandoning this story, yes, I am indeed alive, no, this isn't the end...Just to answer a few questions right off the bat. I apologize a million times over for my extended absence. School has been absolute murder, and I'm pretty sure all of my teachers got together and said, "How about we wait until the last few weeks of school and then pile on projects in every single subject in addition to all the studying for finals? It'll be hilarious!" Hence my loss of free time. But I assure you, I have returned. My updates from here on out might be sporadic, but that's summer for you!
Immense thank yous to the Chapter 12 reviewers: blurb, Hermioneroxx77, Naara, SierraKate390, lizziemagic, Chocolate Tunda, Barbiegirl 22, Sesshy's Mate2012, peaceloveandthedove, Vampiress-Hannah-Tsukiyomi, allenterrill, maramouse, KiNgSxSiStEr4197, HeartsWereNeverMeantToRace, and ! Hopefully I haven't lost too many of you in the time I've been gone.
Tiana looked up after the scream to see a shattered window with curtains billowing from in, whipping against the house and ripping on the jagged glass. The crowd of party-goers was in a frenzy, and the Benoits were doing their best to calm their guests by having the band strike up a rather loud, lively tune. But the music did nothing to stop the panic in the Queen's pounding heart. Normally, she would have thought little of the incident. Sure, it was a bit odd, but it wasn't really her problem. Well, at first it wasn't.
However, the dark silhouette she saw slithering down the bricks of the Benoit mansion was very much entwined with her problems. "Cheese and crackers! That looks like the library window." Charlotte observed. She had not noticed the demon shadow, but based on the sudden grip he had on his wife's hand, Naveen had.
Trying to stay calm, cool, and collected, Tiana asked Charlotte urgently, "Where's the library? Do you know the way?"
"Well, why on earth do you want to -,"
"Lord help me, Lotte, you'd better show me the way before I spill punch all over your designer sequins!" Tiana was done with calm. She'd spent nearly eighteen years being calm, and calm was out the window. Metaphorically and literally.
Charlotte yelped in surprise and dashed toward the house, Tiana and Naveen right on her heels. They were moving quickly, but any speed less than that of light would be too slow for Tiana. Unsurprisingly, Charlotte had absolutely no clue where she was actually going. It wasn't her house after all, and Tiana felt foolish for thinking she'd have the layout memorized. The blonde didn't even know her own address until she was nineteen. They made their way blindly through the hallways, taking random turns and opening nearly every door they passed. None were correct.
"Why are we doin' this anyway, Tia?" Charlotte whined.
"I saw something come out that window."
"Yes, I know! We all saw something come out the window. It landed somewhere on the other side of the patio, I think."
Tiana shook her head as she slammed another door shut. "No, it wasn't that. It was a shadow. Some kind of lizard looking thing."
Charlotte stopped her search for the library and let her plump pink lips form a large 'o.' "Oh my goodness. You're kiddin'!"
"I wish we were." Naveen grumbled, leaning against the wall with a scowl on his face. "The minute we get her back all this happens. I thought she was finally safe."
"But Dr. Facilier hasn't been around in years!" Charlotte exclaimed. "Why did he come back now?" Tiana and Naveen looked at her with their eyebrows raised, and she shut up. The answer to her question was pretty obvious. The King and Queen were back in town. They had stupidly made themselves easy targets one they left the protection of the Royal Guard in Maldonia. They pressed on through the house in silence from then on, a greater sense of urgency added to their mission. They finally gave up when it seemed like they had opened a million doors. They started to make their way back down the stairs, when they heard a shout echo from behind them.
"Ms. La Bouff! Hey!" Tiana didn't recognize the voice, and turned around in agitation. There were more important things to do than socialize. She saw a boy running towards them, wearing patchwork clothing and gripping a bloody scrape on his arm.
"Jiminy Cricket, Daniel! What on Earth happened?" Charlotte rushed to his side, despite knowing the pain he had been causing her goddaughter as of late. He hissed as she prodded the injury, though luckily the wound proved be shallow.
Naveen and Tiana observed from afar, both uncomfortably aware that whatever happened to Daniel had something to do with Facilier and his shadow demons. Their eyes gradually grew to the size of saucers as Daniel tried to recall exactly what had happened to him.
"I was in the library," he explained wearily, "trying to figure out what to do about Angel - Evangeline, I mean. We had another fight earlier." Naveen tensed. What this young man was saying made him sound a lot like Evangeline's boyfriend, and the King had been planning to give said boyfriend a mouthful as soon as he met him. He opened his mouth to say something, but Tiana shushed him and let Daniel continue.
"And this thing attacked me. I dunno what it was…but somehow I was floating in the air. I tried to fight back but whatever it was wasn't really…," he gesticulated wildly, unsure of how to get his point across, "well, it wasn't actually there, you know? And then it hit me against a bookcase, which fell and broke a window, and the thing left. Then I looked out the window and…God! Have you seen Evangeline?"
"Not since she went off to find Mary, I'm afraid."
"Dammit." Daniel cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair in obvious frustration. Pacing from one side of the hallway of the other, he started breathing heavy and finally gave Charlotte a pained glance. "Someone took her. I - I don't know who but I saw some guy taking her out into the woods. I gotta find her." He started to sprint off down the stairs, but Naveen blocked him and held him firm in his place.
"What did he look like?" Naveen growled, his eyes dark and stern, a determined glint in them that Tiana hadn't seen in the years since Facilier had disappeared. Daniel simply stared, wide-eyed and resembling a fish out of water. "I said what did he look like?"
"Uh, um," The younger boy stammered, "He was tall-ish, uh, kinda skinny, too. He was wearing a hat…I think -,"
"It's him." Naveen released Daniel and turned to his wife who hugged him close to herself for comfort.
Tilting her head up against his chest, Tiana whispered, "Are you sure?"
"I dedicated years to searching for him. I'd know a description of him anywhere." None of them wanted to face the truth, but it couldn't be denied that they had fallen right into one of Facilier's traps. Naveen moved quickly and strongly, taking on the persona of a seasoned general, thanks to his experience working with the Maldonian military. He paced the hallways much like Daniel had, contemplating all of the places the voodoo man was likely to be.
Since there was little more they could do, the others watched Naveen hopefully. Daniel, still unaware of who these two people were, bent his head down to Charlotte and questioned lowly, "Um, Ms. La Bouff? What is he talking about?"
Suddenly realizing that the young man was still in the dark about the whole thing, Charlotte took him aside and gently informed him of the King and Queen's identities. "They're Evangeline's birth parents, you see." She finished in a whisper, and took quick note of how Daniel's forehead crinkled in concentration, like the news bothered him.
"Wait…the same parents that Evangeline says abandoned her to run a country in peace?" All four adult heads snapped up and Daniel's question, and four pairs of angry eyes bore into him like fire. He held up his hands to proclaim innocence, particularly frightened by Naveen's muscular form.
"She thinks we abandoned her?" Naveen snarled. "Charlotte, what have you been telling her?"
Charlotte gasped, offended, and put a hand to her heart. "Absolutely nothing! I would never tell her something like that!"
"Well, she got the idea from somewhere!"
"She got it from some fortune teller, Dr. Fortier or something. I told her not to trust him!" Time seemed to stop the moment the last word was out of Daniel's mouth. The tension in the air was so thick, so cold, that it could be cut with the dullest of knives. Nobody moved, and they hardly dared to breath. In the few moments that the earth stilled, Daniel's blood ran cold and he realized just how misleading the witch doctor was.
"Oh my Lord!" Tiana cried and she crumpled into a sorry heap on the floor. Charlotte flew two her side and wrapped comforting arms around her friends. The Queen had finally let her emotions get the best of her, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably as she buried her face in her hands. "It can't be! Not after all this time!"
"Shhh, calm down. Be strong for little Eva. You've got to be strong or we'll never find her." Charlotte did her best to soothe Tiana's pain, but they all knew the only way to fully relieve her worries was to solve the problem.
And that was no easy task.
Seconds after Tiana hit the floor, Naveen seized Daniel by his shirt and backed him up against a wall. "What do you know! Where has he taken her!" He yelled. Years before, he may have reacted a bit more sanely to such a crisis, but even the most wild playboys can be changed. King Naveen wasn't at all the easy-going prince he once was.
Daniel sputtered out a weak response, "Who, sir?"
"Dr. Facilier, the Shadow Man! What do you know of him?"
"Um, well," Daniel continued to stutter, still unsure of what he'd been dragged into.
"Oh, let the poor boy go, Naveen, don't scare him any more than he already is." Charlotte scolded Naveen, who reluctantly released Daniel's shirt and let the boy get some air in his lungs.
As he gasped, Daniel collected his thoughts and told the little information he had to the Maldonian rulers. "As far as I know, Evangeline had met with this guy twice, once with me and once around New Years, with her friends. They got their fortunes told and he said something about her birth parents. When she was on a small date with me -," Naveen winced, "she dragged me over to this old warehouse near the shops in town and insisted she talk to this guy. He put her in some sort of weird trance and she was absolutely fuming for the rest of the night. Kept saying she would never forgive her parents for not wanting her."
"And you let her go find this demon?" Naveen accused.
Daniel made stern eye contact with the king, disregarding all rules regarding royal etiquette. "Well, pardon me, your majesty, but have you met your daughter? She's stubborn as a mule."
"Wonder where she got that." Charlotte quipped under her breath, and Tiana and Naveen both shot her glares.
Choosing to stay out of the 'family feud,' Daniel hurried the conversation along, hoping to find Evangeline before it's too late. "Our car's right out front. I bet I could find the warehouse Dr. - what was it? Facilier - lives in." And as fast as they could, the search party marched back to the front of the house where the Benoit's chauffer pulled up the limousine.
The Fates, however, didn't seem to have speed in mind. Though the Mardi Gras parade had already wound down, the streets were still clogged with jazz bands and celebrating partiers (not without numerous bottles of beer). After ten minutes of trying to maneuver through the masses, the operation was deemed impossible and the vehicle abandoned.
Daniel ran ahead of the others, only stopping to make sure they were still in sight and earshot. Of course, with all the noise and music, earshot wasn't very far. He did all he could to keep his senses as he dove around one person than another. The whole city looked like it had been painted rainbow, and half of his mind was busy figuring out where the confetti and streamers could possibly still be falling from.
He checked over his shoulder for the group again as he came up to yet another loud jazz band, a bunch of guys dressed up as ferocious animals. It was a usual occurrence to see people in every crazy costume imaginable, and he didn't look twice at the flashy display. He waited for a moment while Naveen, Tiana, and Charlotte caught up to him. They were still no where near the warehouse, and it was no time for them to lose track of each other.
"Which way from here?" Tiana demanded when she reached Daniel, a new vigor coursing through her as she was surrounded in the life of the city that raised her. Daniel turned his head, ready to point in a sure direction, but what he thought was one street had suddenly changed to another. He was sure that street sign had said something else before. Checking every which way he could, heart pounding, he realized they had gone far off course. It would take them forever to get back on track.
Exasperated, Daniel wiped a thin film of sweat from his forehead and shrugged. For all he knew, Facilier and Evangeline could be anywhere in the city, not necessarily the warehouse. Tiana and Naveen held each other close, using the moment to rest and think. Charlotte had predictably been the one of them to succumb to the tempting rhythms of the jazz band, and turned her attention to the faux animals armed with trombones and drums. They certainly looked outlandish. There was a lion, an elephant, a monkey, each more authentic than the next. The most convincing costume, though, was undoubtedly the alligator, who even sported long jaws lined with sharp teeth that still managed to blow his trumpet better than anyone Charlotte had ever seen.
Well, almost, Charlotte reminded herself. She could never forget the real trumpet playing gator that once headlined at Tiana's Palace, before business went bad and the restaurant couldn't afford to book The Firefly Five Plus Lou anymore. Come to think of it, that alligator suit looked almost too convincing…
"Well, bless my eyes! Louis, is that you?" Charlotte gasped as the alligator swiveled his large green head towards her, and the long rows of teeth were exposed in a menacing smile. No doubt about it, the one and only jazz loving alligator was back in town.
So...I sort of really don't like this chapter. At all. It may be my least favorite so far. I had the absolute hardest time writing it - I unfortunately seem to be suffering from a serious case of writer's block, another reason for the horridly long update.
However, reviews really help get my brain moving:)