Chapter 11: The Search Starts and the Fox Fails

In the morning, Martha walks through the castle, looking for Grant. She happily grins knowing her plan worked, Elise was gone! "Sure a few people are glum about it but they'll get over it." continuing her search for the prince. Turning a corner she saw a few maids whispering to each other. Not caring what they seem so distressed about she interrupt them. "Uh, Excuse me! Can any of you tell me where Grant is?"

One of the maids looks to the princess while the other glances to her. "He's outside in the stables."

Martha smiles and turns her back on them, missing their glares.

Outside Grant straps a saddle on his horse. Adam helps him out. He then looks at his brother. "Are you sure you want to do this alone?"

Grant looks up from the saddle to his twin. "Yes. I don't want to become what King Alex is now."He sighs and closes his eyes. "I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm too worried about her to do anything else."

Adam stairs to his brother with understanding. "Alright. If you need help you know who to come to."

Grant smiles gratefully. "Thanks Adam."

Adam nods and walks back inside the castle.

Grant puts a few supplies into the saddle bags after he made sure he has everything. He was so busy, he didn't notice Martha wonder beside him.

She watches what he was doing then looks up to him. "Hello, Grant!"

She watched as he jumped a little. He glances over his shoulder and looks to her. "Oh Hello, Martha. I thought you would have gone home by now."

Martha smiles. "Nope I'm staying here for a while!" She then glances to the Saddle bag. "So what are you doing?"

Grant goes back what he was doing. "I going to look for Elise. She was kidnapped yesterday."

Martha's eyebrow twitched at them as she angrily pouts. She then folds her arms. "Well if she was kidnapped yesterday then she would be miles away from here, or worst." The thought of that happening to Elise made the smiles inside which made her miss Grants glare.

He looks over his shoulder to her. "I'm not going to even thing about her like that. I will find her and bring her home." He grabs the horses reigns and starts to walk away from the castle.

The Princess grips her fist tight. "You're never going to find her!"

The Prince ignores her and starts his search for his fiancée. He then chuckles. "I'll never meet my future in-laws and they're still teaching me things. I'm too stubborn to think I wont find her."

Elise woke up in her fox form, curled in a red furry ball. Standing on all four paws she stretched then looks for the others. They were sitting a circle talking among each other and trying to wake up. This was a chance Elise got to see the others animal forms. Listening to their voices she learns that Vivien's a doe, Remy's a tiny mouse, Demi's a frog, Fleur is a Lynx kitten and Miles is a crane. When Elise looks at Mine's her ears falls back in confusion. "Is Miles a Crane?"

Sylvia looks over to the fox. "You're awake, Good Morning Elise. And Yes he is. I know Cranes aren't seen anywhere in France."

Elise sits down. "So what exactly do you guys do during the day?"

Vivien lays down. "We look after each other in-case an intruders come about."

Foy stands up on his hind legs. "And with that said I'm going." Elise watches as he leans down and borrows out of the group.

Miles stands up and spreads his wings. "I should be doing the same." He then flies away.

Looks at Sylvia, Elise speaks up. "You guys can't possibly enjoy living like this!"

Lewis glances to the fox. "Of course we don't enjoy it."

Nole scratch the back of his ear with one of his back paw. "But what other choice do we have? We don't know how to break the spell."

Vivien nods. "And the only one who does is Methis. Unless one of us manages to sneak into the mansion."

Elise then stand on all four legs in a defense position. "Then I'll do it!"

They all look at her. Sylvia leans over to Elise. "Are you crazy?! Not one of us is able to get inside. How will you do it?!"

The fox sits down again. "I'm not exactly sure yet. But I'll try!"

Grant pulls the reigns when he saw something on the ground. He hops off his horse and picks it up. It was a bag. Looking inside he saw a broken canvas. "This must have been the painting Elise was going to deliver." He thought are interrupted when he heard a horse whinny in the distance. Looking up, he listen to see if he could hear it again. Surely enough he did hear the horse's cry again. He grabbed the reigns of his own horse and found the sound of the cry. Gently pushing back a bush that's in front of him, he found Charm fighting off a wild wolf. He looks around and found a huge rock. He picks it up and chucks it at the wolf, nailing it in the head. The wolf yipped and ran off.

Charm continues to whinny in fright as she stands on her hind legs, rearing. Grant tries to calm the horse down. "Shh Charm it's just me!. Nothing's going to hurt you any more." Charm stopped rearing but she was still frightened as she backed away from Grant. He things then goes back to his own horse and starts to dig through the Saddle back, pulling out a carrot. He then walks back over to the Percheron, clicking his tongue to get the horse's Attention. "Here, girl. I've got a treat for you." Charm's ear twitched with interest as she slowly walks over to the prince. Sniffing the carrot, she took it in her mouth.

Grant smiles and pets her Muzzle. "That's a girl." Grabbing her mane. "I guess you lost your reigns some where, huh?" Charm shakes her head and looks at Grant. He pets her neck. "I should get you back to the Castle before anything else happens to you." He grabs his own horse, he leads them both back home.

Elise circle the mansion to see if she can find a way in. She then walks into a tree. "Ow!" She then fell over and looked up at it. Her eyes followed the branches. One particular led to an opened window. Elise tail starts to wag. Getting off the ground and standing on her hind leg, she puts her font paws on the tree. Look up to the branch her ears fall. "How do I get up there. I don't think I can climb a tree." She then hops the trunk of the tree only to fall on her back and land with a loud "Oof! Ow!"

Lewis and Nole sits and watches Elise do this half the day. The boar glances at the Hare. "How long do you think she'll keep this up?"

Nole shrugs. "Who knows? But she is determined." He then looks to Lewis. "Do you think She'll find a way to break the spell?"

The boar shrugs.

Sylvia sighs and walks past the two. "You two have nothing better to do?"

They both mutters a "No" as she makes her way to the Fox, who one again fell to the ground. "Elise, dear. You're going to get hurt if you keep this up."

Elise sighs and lays to the grounds. "This is impossible. How did Grant make climbing walls look so easy!?"

Sylvia looks confused. "Grant use to climb walls?"

The fox looks up to the wolf. "When the Castle was cursed."

Sylvia helps Elise up. "Well. Lets just go see how the kids are doing, before you break a bone."

Elise sighs in defeat. "Alright but I will still try to get inside."

Three days had passed had no luck for either side of the once happy couple. Grant sits in the dark inside the castle's Parlor, holding a Stargazer Fleur De Lis in his hand, thinking. Sitting back in a chair, in front of the fireplace he didn't hear the door open. "Grant?" Upon of hearing his name, he looks over to the door to see his sister-in-law holding his niece.

He stands up and looks at her. "Hello, Belle."

She walks over to him. "What are you doing sitting alone in the dark?"

Grant rubs the back of his neck. "I don't know. I just don't feel like doing anything else tonight."

Belle looks at him, worried. "Grant, you need to get some rest."

He then gives a short low groan.

Belle lays a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We all miss her, Grant."

He looks at her. "I never seen the castle looks so depressed since the spell."

She gives him a sad smile. "You'll find her wont you?" Her smiles becomes a happy one when she saw him nod. She gives him a short hug then leaves him to his thoughts.

Grant sits back down in the chair thinking, until he felt a small weight on his knee. Looking down he saw Sultan's head resting on his leg and whining. He smirk and scratches the dog behind his ear. "Hey boy." Sultan nuzzles his hand. Grant then remember what Elise said about the dog the day Martha showed up. He then stared at the dog. "Well It'll be worth a try!"

I hope this makes up for the last chapter.
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