CHAPTER 6

When they reached the beach, a terrible sight met their eyes: the water level had dropped from the wave Eric had taken from it. But the most shocking was the sight of Ariel bent over Shang, a worried look on her face.

"Dad!" Aladdin screamed, running up to Shang, who remained motionless. "Dad! Wake up! Wake up! Eric, what's wrong with him?"

Eric kneeled down beside Shang, although he knew the answer at first glance. "We're too late," he said quietly.

"What?" Aladdin asked, not quite comprehending what his friend was saying.

"Al, he's dying!" Eric blurted.

But Aladdin shook his head, refusing to believe it. "No. No, he can't die! Dad, stay with us! Come back to me! Come back!" He shook his father, to no avail. "Eric, do something!"

"There's nothing I can do," Eric told him sadly.

"Try!" Aladdin insisted, refusing to take no for an answer.

So Eric placed his hand on Shang's forehead, and reached out as far as he could with his mind. But there was something stopping him from saving this man; the more Eric tried, the worse it hurt him. "I can't," he gasped at last. "It's too deep!"

Aladdin yelled in frustration. "All that power, and you're still useless!"

Then a thought crossed Eric's mind. "I can't. But do you suppose Cinderella could?"

The two boys looked at each other a moment. Then Aladdin jumped up and transformed into a cheetah, running as fast as he could toward Cinderella's house.

Cinderella was awakened by someone beating on her window. A bit frightened, she was about to go get her father when she heard Aladdin's voice call her name. Opening her window, Cinderella asked, "Al, what…"

But she didn't even finish her sentence when Aladdin interrupted her. "Cinderella, my dad's dying! You have to help him! Please!"

Cinderella grew pale. She was not a doctor, she wouldn't even know where to begin. "But how…" she tried to ask, but was interrupted again.

"Please, Cinderella!" Aladdin pleaded.

Cinderella sighed inwardly. "All right, I'm coming."

He held out his hand to her. "Come on, I'll take you."

Without taking the time to change out of her nightgown, she took his hand, and he practically drug her out the window. Then he turned and knelt down. "Get on my back," he ordered. Cinderella obeyed, then gasped as he turned into a horse under her. "Get ready to run," he told her.

"What?" she asked, but the word was barely out of her mouth when he broke into a full gallop. She stifled a scream, and focused solely on staying on his back.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the beach. Jim had put Ariel in the water, and they were all just sitting there, waiting nervously.

Aladdin stopped so quickly that Cinderella nearly fell off his back. "How is he?" Aladdin asked breathlessly, changing into himself again.

"I've kept his heart beating," Eric said exhausted. "I can't go much farther."

Aladdin turned to Cinderella, begging, "Cinderella, if you have any power in you at all, please help him."

Cinderella felt very helpless, with all those eyes staring at her, and not a clue what to do. "How?" she asked.

"I don't know!" Aladdin nearly shouted.

Cinderella watches Eric a moment, then attempts to copy him, but fails. "I can't!" she finally admits. "I don't know how! I don't even know where to start!"

"Cinderella," Ariel called from the water, "you can start by believing you can."

Cinderella nodded nervously, then closed her eyes. "I can do this," she told herself. "I can do this." Automatically, without thinking, she cups her hands, and they fill with fairy dust. Aladdin gasps. Startled, Cinderella looks up to see what happened. When she sees the fairy dust in her hands, she gasps as well. "What is this?" she cried out in fear.

"Give it to him," Ariel told her. Cinderella hesitated, not quite understanding. "Cinderella, give it to Shang," Ariel insisted.

"How?" Cinderella asked quietly. But she forced herself to relax, and act on instinct. Gently, she blew the dust onto Shang's body. Shang took a deep breath, and began to stir.

"Dad?" Aladdin asked, hopeful.

"Aladdin," Shang answered weakly.

"Dad!" Aladdin yelled in excitement. "You're back! You're all right!" And he gave his father a big hug.

It was a happy reunion for everyone, except for Eric. He was sitting on the sand, exhausted from his efforts of keeping Shang alive, when he heard a voice ringing in his head. "You failed me, Eric. You failed." Then, without warning, he felt a piercing pain in his head. Crying out, he fell back, and began to scream in agony.

The others heard his cry, and were immediately worried. "Cinderella, do something!" Jim yelled, trying to be heard over Eric's screams.

Not knowing what else to do, she repeated the process she had used with Shang, but a sudden wind blew the fairy dust away from Eric, so that not a bit of it hit him. It quickly dissolved. Without thinking, she lunges toward Eric, placing one hand on his head, and the other on his chest. She then let the fairy dust flow from her hands into him. He gives a gasp as the pain goes away. He began to look around at all the worried faces staring at him.

"What happened?" Cinderella asked him.

"I don't know," he said, stunned himself. "I failed."

Cinderella, thinking he meant that he failed to revive Shang, tried to comfort him. "You did the best you could. You kept him alive until I could get here."

Eric shook his head. "No," he insisted. "You don't understand. I failed!"

But because no one had heard the voice except Eric, they all still thought he was talking about Shang. "You can't do everything for everyone, Eric," Aladdin told him comfortingly. "You did enough. I'd be wore out after all that power, too."

But Eric refused to be comforted. "I'm sorry, you guys."

Cinderella lifted his chin, so that they were eye to eye. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You did the best you could, and that's all we could ever ask of you."

"Dad is alive, Eric," Aladdin reminded him, "and so is everyone else, thanks to you. Don't worry about it. You did well."

Eric opened his mouth to answer, but by then he was unsure what to say. The others, seeing how confused he was, were very kind to him the rest of the evening. They thought his confusion came from using so much power at once. Aladdin even offered to walk him home. When they reached his house, Aladdin bid him a cheerful good night, and left.

When Eric climbed back in his window, however, he found his little sister, Kayley, sitting on his bed, waiting for him. "Where were you?" she asked. "You've been gone for two hours! I heard a wolf, and came to check on you, and you weren't here! Do you know what Father would do to you if he found out that you snuck out?"

When she stopped to catch her breath, he broke in, "I had to meet a friend in trouble. You're not gonna turn me in to Father, are you?"

He looked at her with pleading in his eyes. She sighed. "No," she said quietly. "Just don't do it again. And we need to think up a story together to tell Father, just in case he asks."

"I was sleepwalking," Eric said, thinking quickly. "Somehow I managed to climb out the widow and walk around outside. When I woke up, I climbed back into the window in order to not disturb him."

"Believable enough, I guess. Well, goodnight. Sleep well. Without walking away again." Shaking her head, Kayley headed back to her room to catch a few more hours sleep.

But no matter how hard he tried, Eric couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in his bed for an hour at least. There was something there, hidden in the back of his mind, haunting him. "What's wrong with me?" he kept asking himself. "What's going on?" But though he struggled hard to remember, he never could. The more he tried, the more it hurt. It was as if someone didn't want him to remember. But who? Why?

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Cinderella tried to sneak into her room without being noticed, but she was caught as well. "Cinderella!" Sarah cried, hugging her daughter tightly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Where did you go? We were so worried about you! There was a banging on the window, and when your father and I came to check on you, you were gone!"

"We nearly called the police!" Maurice told her. "What happened? Why did you worry us like that?"

"I'm so sorry," Cinderella told her parents. "My friend had an emergency at home. He needed me."

"He?" Maurice asked sharply.

"It's not what you think," Cinderella insisted. "His father was… very sick. My friend was afraid that his dad was dying. He needed someone to lean on."

"And how is his father?" Sarah asked.

"Much better, thank goodness. But he was in pretty bad shape. We worked hard to bring him back."

"Well, I'm glad you were able to help him," Maurice said, "but next time let us know, before you go running off and leaving your mother and I to think you were kidnapped."

Cinderella realized what she must have put her parents through, and she suddenly felt horrible. "I'm really, really sorry," she said, tears filling her eyes. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"Oh, Cinderella," Sarah sobbed, hugging her daughter close. "We love you so much, you know?"

"I know," Cinderella cried. "I love you, too. Both of you."

When the tears finally dried, Maurice asked his daughter, "So, when do we get to meet this friend of yours?"

"Soon," Cinderella said. "I promise."

"What's his name?" Sarah asked. "What's he like?"

"His name's Aladdin," Cinderella answered happily. "He's got dark hair, he's mischievous, and he's really sweet. You'll like him."

"I'm sure we will," Sarah answered with a smile. "Well, since it's our day off, we're going to catch up on a few hours sleep. You should, too."

Cinderella smiled. "Ok, Mom. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, sweetie," Sarah answered, kissing her daughter's forehead. "I love you."

"So do I," Maurice said, kissing her goodnight as well.

"I love you both," Cinderella answered. Then they all three went to bed for some much needed sleep.