Heroes of Disney #1: Rise of the Firebird

Ch. 33: Breaking Free

I ran all the way back to where Kate, Spring and Perry were waiting.

"Hey, Jamie." Said Kate. "Where's-"

"They're coming." I harshly interrupted. And sure enough, Tiana and my father jogged into sight.

"Jamie-" my dad began.

"I don't want to talk about this right now." I muttered. "Let's just get out of here. The sooner we're out of here the better."

My other three companions looked in between my dad, Tiana and I, obviously confused, but wisely chose not to ask questions.

"Alright then." Kate said clapping her hands together. "Shall we go?"

I nodded and handed her the phone and keys.

"Yeah. Let's go."

I opened up the porthole a crack and peeked out.

"All clear." I stated as I looked around the dusty corner hidden by a curtain. Of course, if Disney Villains happened to be waiting on the OUTSIDE of the curtain, we would be in trouble.

I climbed out, followed by Kate, Perry, Tiana, Spring and Dad taking up the rear. It felt weird calling Jim Hawkins "Dad." I mean, c'mon! The boy was one year older than me! Tell me that's not a little bit strange.

Slowly, as a group, the six of us crept to the curtain with Perry and Kate in the lead, because they were the only ones in our little group that had anything useful to help save our lives. With Perry's fighting skills and Kate's prism.

Kate peeked through the curtain and pulled back, whispering an almost silent, "All clear!"

Even so, our group stayed on its toes. We hiked through the opening in the curtain and found ourselves inside the great hall.

Before we got any further, I remembered my pack. "Kate, what about our belongings?"

She nodded and pointed toward the staircase, the one where Belle and The Beast made their way down before their memorable dance.

"It's the door on the left." She indicated the said door. "Make it quick. I'll be down here, waiting."

The other five of us made our way to the staircase, and hiked up the stairs and into the slightly ajar door.

Strange. I thought. But I didn't think much of it.

When I opened the door, a light flicked on. It was a sort large dressing room. Complete with a bathtub, a toilet and a giant mirror.

And sure enough, on the dresser in front of the mirror, sat my backpack, Tiana's backpack, and what I guessed was Dad's backpack. All untouched, all unopened.

We strolled to the backpacks and examined them. It didn't look like they were bugged in any way. No miniature cameras or alarms.

"This is almost too easy." I stated as we slipped our packs on.

I talked too soon.

"Well why don't we just up the difficulty then?" sneered the all too familiar voice of Pinky the Flamingo.

We whirled around to face Pinky, all by his lonesome.

"Get out of our way, Pinky." I growled. "Or we'll force you out of the way."

"You may be able to get past me, Earthling, but what about the friends I brought with me?"

"You're flamingo friends?" I said in a disinterested tone.

Pinky shook his head. "Nope. Even better."

And as soon as he said that I heard a blood-curdling scream.