Chapter Fifteen: Alleyways and Carriages
Adrenaline still coursed through Bloom as she sat in Granny's cottage, so tense in her chair that she had to force her fingers to stop gripping the arms to accept her cup of tea. She'd regularly glance out the window and strain her neck to get a glimpse of the moon, her mind whirling with numbers and panic. All the while Sky and Granny say opposite her and drank tea while eating biscuits, chatting pleasantly, so calmly that Bloom wanted to throw the tea cup at the wall and start shouting at them. They all sat in Granny's cottage with its nice wallpaper and clean furniture, the fire burned brightly and all the mess that Bloom and Valtor had caused had been cleared away, now they all sat down on comfy chairs. Finally Miss F sighed and gave up trying to engage her in small talk, so instead she leaned forward and placed a gentle hand on Blooms knee "Red is everything all right? You look a little tense"
"Of course I'm tense!" Bloom exploded, slamming her tea down on the table next to her "Every second that we waste sitting here talking about the weather, my future is slipping further and further away, we need to start moving! I have four Happily Ever Afters to complete before morning and judging by how long it's taking me to get my own, I'm never gonna get them all done in time. Granny, please help me! I can't do this alone!"
Miss F looked unconcerned except for the glint of determination in her eyes "You are not alone. And I will help you" Bloom let out the air she'd been holding "But not until you tell me who you are"
Bloom choked on the air, gripping the arms of the chair again and pointing her wide eyes first at Sky, then Miss F "What do you mean? I'm Red Riding Hood"
"No you're not" Sky and Miss F said in unison, Miss F continued "I'm sorry dear but I know my granddaughter pretty well and she is nothing like you. A week ago I came to see her and she was her normal self, hunting bears and skinning rabbits, concerned about the wolf like everyone else and so antisocial that she'd barely leave her home. And now she's gallivanting all over the woods with an axe, trying to hunt the wolf down. She's going to royal parties and flying on broom sticks, making friends with servants and princesses alike. And now she's braver, compassionate, snarky and she even has a boyfriend!"
Bloom choked on the air again, Sky beside her looked to her and then quickly at the wall, trying to pretend he wasn't there. Bloom breathed in a huge sigh before speaking, looking directly at Miss F "I'm sorry, you're right. I'm not Red Riding Hood, my name is Bloom and I was transported into your granddaughter's body because of a spell. A spell I need to break!"
Miss F nodded, a new light in her eyes "The three day rule, that's why you want this done by morning. But what does this have to do with Belle, Cinderella and the Princess?"
Sky looked back at her now, interested "Well they're my friends, they were affected by the spell too only I was aware of the spell from the start, I figured out you needed a bump on the head to return to your normal self"
Miss F nodded, thinking deeply "That's why Cinderella turned into a completely different person over night, why you were so desperate to get her to the ball, why you knew that her and the prince were destined to be but how did you know which men would be the hero's?"
Bloom paused and looked at Sky, she could feel her cheeks burning and started to twists the strings of her red cloak around her fingers nervously "Back in my world we have boyfriends and they are exactly like the guys here, I just figured that it would work if I got them together again"
"Makes sense" Miss F mused quietly.
Next to her Sky looked troubled "You know me in a different land?"
Bloom nodded "I didn't want to tell you because I was afraid of what it would do to the spell if you knew but now you know and everything seems to be okay. Please forgive me!"
Sky looked at her for a long time before smiling warmly "There's nothing to forgive Bloom, you were just doing what you thought was right" Bloom smiled back before a sharp voice interrupted.
"What part of hunting down a wolf is right?!" Miss F yelled, looking outraged. Bloom had been the victim of these little outbursts of anger ever since they set off for the cottage, she guessed Granny was still angry over the whole thing "I mean of all the stupid things to do for love, you go off and get hunted by the wolf, what kind of person are you? Are you insane?! Do you do this sort of thing a lot?"
Bloom smiled sheepishly and glanced at the floor "Well not every day but yeah, It happens a lot. Sorry"
Miss F closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose "Bloom darling you are trouble and the sooner I get you out of my granddaughters body the better. So, what exactly is Red's happily ever after?"
Bloom sat up straighter, happy to finally be talking about this "Well the wolf tries to eat her and the huntsman shows up, that's you Sky" Sky gave her a perplexed look with a smile "And he bravely fights and kills the wolf, cutting Red Riding Hood from its stomach and they all live happily ever after!"
Miss F's face had become contorted with disgusts and rage "That's disgusting! Little girls getting eaten, wolves being butchered and Grandmothers being harassed, that is a terrible story! You tell children that?"
Bloom nodded knowingly "I know but it teaches you never to go into the forest alone"
Miss F rolled her eyes "Evidently that lesson was wasted on you" She rose from her chair to pace the length of the small cottage, her eyes far away and thinking "Now that's already happened. So why haven't you gotten your Happily Ever After yet?"
Bloom shot up from her chair in shock "What?! You mean I haven't gotten it? But the huntsman saved me, the wolf was defeated!"
Sky gave her a sympathetic look "You said I had to kill the wolf. Valtor is still alive, if you ever want to get out of here I need to kill the king" He spoke so casually that Bloom gave him a wide eyed look, he'd really consider killing Valtor just for her? Bloom groaned and settled back into the chair, looking into the fire.
"Where would the king be now?" Asked Miss F, turning to face Sky.
"At the castle, he was injured and he wouldn't go hunting for more food" Sky shrugged a shoulder.
Bloom shot up from her chair again, arm raised in the air "Then that's where we need to go! Plus Cinderella and the princess are there, we can get their happily Ever Afters' aswell, three birds one stone!" Bloom started to march toward the door with a smile until it slammed shut abruptly; startled she turned questioningly back to Miss F who stood with her hand raised at the door, a bored expression on her face.
"Just one thing before you go"
Bloom shrugged her shoulders and bounced from one foot to the other, anxious to be on her way "Sure"
Miss F crossed her arms and gave Bloom a serious look "I can see you're a nice person and I know that this...spell...that sent you here wasn't your fault but I have to tell you, if you fail to get back to your own time...how are you ever going to deal with living in this new world? To say goodbye to everyone you ever knew and start again? Are you prepared for that?"
Bloom paused as a familiar feeling of dread weighed down on her, she leaned back against the door with a frown "Honestly...no. I have no idea how to live in this land; even though the world I used to live in wasn't the one I grew up in I've still come to love it very much. I love my friends, my school and everyone on it and I'm not ready to say goodbye"
"So what are you going to do?" Sky asked quietly, still seated in his chair.
Bloom closed her eyes and thought of what her life would be like if she lived in fairy tale land, the picture didn't make sense to her, even if she did imagine herself living in her cottage back home the vision was blurry and distorted. Sigh she opened her eyes sadly "I guess failure isn't an option, I have to get home"
Miss F smiled and walked slowly toward Bloom and put a reassuring hand in hers, squeezing her hand tightly "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Bloom chuckled "Make this night last a few more hours, give Musa a sense of romance, find the glass slipper, turn Stella back to a young girl again, convince Helia he's Flora's true love and help Sky kill the king?"
Miss F paused and laughed nervously "Well I'm sorry but I can't help you with those but I can wish you luck"
Bloom nodded and smiled. Sky rose from his chair and picked up the crossbow he'd placed at the door "We'd better get going if we're going to make it out of the forest in good time"
Bloom moved from the door and stepped back to let Sky walk out first, she watched him go and turned to Miss F "Thank you granny, I hope everything works out. But mostly I wish I had my powers so I could fight off my enemies"
Miss F smiled brightly "Don't we all"
Bloom looked at Miss F strangely, something about that smile clicked something in Bloom's brain but she wasn't sure what. Shrugging she walked out the door after Sky, crossing her fingers they didn't run into too much trouble.
...
"I have to ask again" Bloom stated suddenly, crossing her arms over her chest.
Her and Sky stood in a dark alley that led in the general direction of the castle, the lights illuminating from its tall windows sent golden light spiralling everywhere. They had been standing there for a good ten minutes and Bloom had started to get impatient at their lack of movement, after running for an hour to get all the way from Granny's house to the castle had been exhausting but at least they were moving! Bloom bounced on her feet as she watched Sky, who was crouched watching the castle, sighing heavily, groaning he spoke in a tired voice "Bloom please..."
"I'm sorry I need to ask!"
"Why...why do you need too?" Sky turned to look at her "You've already asked me the same question eight times already!"
"Why can't we just walking into the castle?!" Bloom exploded, the question forcing its way out of her again.
"Nine times!" Sky replied, turning back to the shinning castle "We need to be careful, the king did see us trying to kill him. He knows I'm Brandon's squire and he knows that I live in the castle, what if he's sent guards out looking for me to arrest all of us? We're in danger and we need to take our time getting in"
Bloom moaned and leaned her head back against the wall of the alley "But its past midnight and time's running out! In a few hours it's going to be sunrise and I'll be stuck here!"
Sky paused and turned to look at her again, a slightly sad look on his face "What's so wrong with living here?"
"Aw Sky" Bloom crouched down next to him and took his hand "It's great, really. But I have a home; I have a life, back in my old world. I can't just abandon it without a fight. Even though we'll be separated I know that you'll be okay, you're Sky. Of course you'll be alright, you can do anything"
Sky smiled and stood up from his crouch "Glad to know the Sky in your world has made such a lasting impression of us on you"
"Oh he's the best" Bloom said enthusiastically "And SO handsome!" Bloom elbowed Sky in the side, smiling at him.
A sudden sound of a carriage pulling up next to them sent both of them staggering back into the alley, Sky reaching for his crossbow while Bloom cursed herself for leaving the axe at Granny's house. The carriage had stopped at the mouth of the alley, the door swung open to reveal Brandon peering out with an amused expression "Are you guys done with your moment? I mean I can come back in ten minutes if you need more time?"
"That won't be necessary" Bloom replied grudgingly, walking swiftly over to the carriage with Sky behind her "How did you know we were here?"
Brandon scooted back on his seat to make room for them; he shrugged as he went "Granny called"
Bloom slipped while getting into the carriage and almost face planted on the floor of the carriage, looking up with wide eyes she exclaimed "You know Granny?!"
"Everyone knows Granny" Brandon and Sky replied in unison.
Bloom and Sky sat down in the plush leather seats while the carriage hitched forward and began speeding its way toward the castle. Bloom knew she should be getting down to business but the part in the back of her brain was too excited at being in an old fashioned carriage for the first time, even people in Magix didn't have one of these except at weddings!
"So umm" Sky began hesitantly "Did you find the slipper?"
Bloom gasped and gripped Sky's shoulder, her eyes directed at Brandon "The slipper! Did you find it?!"
"Ugh" Brandon groaned "Yes and no"
Bloom felt her eye twitch "Explain"
"Well you see, I asked around in the servant's hall and they said that they hadn't found any glass slipper, I searched all around the stairs in case it was still there and then I ran into the guards from that night. Nobody's seen it"
Bloom screeched in rage "What do you mean-"
"I'm not done!" Brandon exclaimed quickly, looking slightly afraid "I was out of ideas so I went back to my room when the queen asked me to her chamber, I went there and like always she was creepy and sinister but guess what I happened to see on her dressing table?"
"My sense of humour in case you're joking?" Bloom asked in a deadpan voice.
"The glass slipper! It's seriously right there in her room, she must have grabbed it when nobody was looking"
Bloom leaned back in her seat and watched as they stopped inside the stables, the small door opening, Bloom was out of her seat and jumping from the wooden carriage, she turned to face the two men who were still getting out "Did you take it?"
"What do you take me for, a thief?" Brandon looked annoyed, crossing his arms.
Bloom moaned "Oh I forgot that all princes have that pride thing" She sighed and started to walk toward the door leading into the castle "Okay here's what we do...me and Sky will go and get the slipper and you Brandon will go and find Helia. We'll all meet back at the entrance to Stell-Cinderella's tower"
Brandon looked confused and Bloom was afraid he was going to ask about the Stella thing "Why do we need Helia?"
Bloom paused and looked at Sky who shrugged "Umm because he might be Princess Aurora's true love"
Brandon stepped back and held up a hand, a sour look on his face "Helia?"
Bloom nodded.
"Really?"
Bloom nodded again, faster this time.
"How do you know?"
Bloom groaned again and stamped her foot "Oh I just do!"
Sky leaned in to speak to Brandon "You better go find him now"
...
Bloom and Sky sneaked hand in hand along the dark corridor, trying not to creak any floor boards as they crept along to the door that led in Queen Icy's chamber. Bloom had almost run ahead of Sky in her effort to get there quickly and he'd had to hold onto her hand so she didn't run into any guards or servants. Know they had reached the door; Bloom crouched down in front of it and placed her ear to the door. She could faintly hear voices on the other side "Crap, she in the room"
"What do we do?" Sky whispered, looking down the hallway to look out for any other people.
Bloom thought for a moment "Okay I'll wait here and you go in and distract her while I get the shoe"
"How am I supposed to distract her?" Sky asked quickly, before she could open the door.
"I-I don't know! Flirt with her or something!" Bloom tried to open the door and Sky gripped her arm.
"Flirt with her?!"
"Yeah come on, it's not that hard" Bloom gave him an encouraging smile.
Sky looked unconvinced "Bloom I'm not flirting with the queen. The king's already tried to kill me once today I really don't want to go for round two right this minute"
Something occurred to Bloom "Jeez they're husband and wife...do they love each other?"
Sky leaned back a bit and gave her a funny look "Of course not"
Bloom shrugged "Hmm I just thought...well...he always was a little charming"
"What?"
"Nothing!" Bloom wedged the door open and with all her might she shoved Sky through the door and slammed it shut; gripping the handle she listened intently. She couldn't quite make out the voices, possible the high voice of Icy but she couldn't be sure, she wondered who was in there with her. After a moment Bloom looked through the keyhole to see into the large chamber, Sky had moved across the room and stood against the wall so that Icy would have to angle herself away from the door to listen to him, she looked tired and grumpy. With careful movements Bloom was able to open the door enough for her to crawl on all fours into the room, once in she spotted a small changing area that was cut off by a blind, she quickly hid behind it.
She paused and waited to see if anyone noticed, the voices had gotten clearer but she didn't wait to listen, Bloom moved with her heart hammering in her chest over to the edge and peeked out. She scanned the room quickly and saw to her surprise that the glass slipper was only a few metres away on a tall table that held various bottles of perfume and make up, a tall mirror on the wall behind it. Bloom spared one last glance over to the people talking and noticed quickly that Countess bloody Cassandra was present in the room. Probably planning another attack on us, the witches!
Bloom took one last deep intake of breath before she slowly started to creep across the small distance, from the corner of her eye Bloom saw that Sky looked ready to bolt but she kept on crawling. It's going to be a miracle if we get out of this without being seen! As soon as Bloom reached the table she got to her knees and snatched the glass slipper and started to crawl back. Unfortunately when you're crawling on all fours it's hard to keep hold of a glass slipper but she managed. Bloom couldn't believe that she was going to make it so she quickly got to her feet and ran to the door and threw herself out of it, backing herself against the wall Bloom whipped her head from side to side to see if she'd been followed.
To her utter surprise nobody had seen her. Releasing the breath she'd been holding Bloom sagged against the wall, a smile coming to her lips as she held the glass slipper in her hands tightly. It wasn't long before Sky came barrelling out of the chamber with a sour expression, he walked silently past her while grabbing her by the arm to drag her along. They headed toward the tower, going through various rooms to get there, Bloom wondered at his silence and finally asked "So...what did you say to her?"
"Bloom?" Sky asked as he continued to drag her quickly.
"Yeah?"
"We're not ever going to talk about this again"
...
Bloom and Sky leaned against the wall next to the door that led to Stella's tower, Bloom no longer felt anxious, although she was dying to run up the stairs to comfort her old granny friend. They didn't have to wait long until Brandon and Helia came walking quickly up the stairs, Bloom bounced off the wall and started to clap her hands "Whoo! You actually did it!"
"Did you doubt me?" Brandon asked as he came to stand next to Sky with a smile.
Bloom laughed with a giddy feeling in her belly "Nah, I just totally thought that everything would go wrong tonight" She turned to Helia "Now you, just give me five minutes while I sort out this thing first and then we can scoot over to the other tower"
Helia looked confused but didn't say a thing; Bloom had a feeling he wasn't really used to the whole 'work together to save the day' thing. Bloom stepped toward the door and ripped it open with a huge smile, she held out the glass slipper to Brandon "Up you go"
Brandon eyed the glass slipper as he took it, glancing hesitantly up the stairs of the tower; a dark gloom seemed to come from that room upstairs that chilled even Bloom who had adrenaline running through her veins. Brandon started to make his way up the stairs and even though she knew she shouldn't Bloom followed him. She couldn't help it! She needed to see the whole happily ever after thing for herself. Once Brandon reached the top he peered inside, Bloom suddenly gasped and grabbed him by the shoulder "Hey umm, bad moment but ah, her name is Stella"
Brandon looked back at her "What?"
"Don't worry just call her Stella" Brandon paused for a moment in confusion and slowly opened the steel gate that creaked as it opened; they walked inside and came to a stop at the centre of the room. When Bloom spotted Stella she felt her heart break inside her chest, she felt a stinging in her eyes as she gazed on the small frail woman who still sat at the spindle, like she hadn't moved an inch since they last left.
Stella raised her head and when her eyes found Brandon they widened, going from glazed over to sparks in the darkness. Her hand stilled on the wheel and her mouth opened a fraction but no sound escaped, the long white hair spilled over her shoulder as she sat up. Brandon watched her for a long time with an unreadable expression before he walked toward her and crouched down beside her, falling to his knees. He smiled a small smile up at her as he took her veined hand in his strong one "I know it's not a fan fair or music and trumpets like you wanted...but I promise if this works...you'll never have to see another spin wheel in your life"
Stella smiled and placed her free hand on his cheek, the glowing eyes making her look ten years younger, she nodded with a smile. Brandon breathed a sigh of nerves before pulled the glass slipper from his pocket; it gleamed in the little sunlight that was cats into the room. Stella made a squeaking sound of happiness and squeezed his hand tighter, a giddy look on her face.
Brandon looked up at her and smiled "Just know...that no matter what happens I will always take care of you, I'll cherish you and I'll be with you through all the bad times that may come our way" he reached down and gently lifted her right foot that was bare and dirty. Looking up into her eyes he smiled and said as he slipped the glass slipper onto her foot.
"I love you...Stella"
Stella gasped as a tear slid down her cheek, her smile lighting up her whole face. In the moment that the slipper was son her foot a sudden light erupted from its glass, sending spirals of light shooting up Stella's leg and over her body and for a whole moment Stella was nothing but light. When it cleared the beautiful princess with her golden eyes and golden hair smiled back at Brandon, launching herself at him with a happy squeal. Brandon lifted her until she was pressed against his body and her feet dangled in the air, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
"Awww" Bloom exclaimed from the door way. Sky who was next to her shot her a funny look and smiled "I'm not crying" She sniffled "I swear I'm not. But look how happy they are!"
Bloom and Sky watched the scene until the kiss became more passionate and Bloom quickly whirled for the exit with Sky at her heels "Oh okay, they need some privacy"
Just wanted to say to the person who is sick in bed, I hope you feel better. I also hope you enjoyed the chapter, once I read your review I was like "Nah, I gotta do it now!" Bye!