Book One - A Fairy Tale? (A Fairy Tale Series)

Chapter Fourteen - A Tragic Death

"Jeanette, wake up."

Jeanette opened her eyes and saw a furry face looking down at her. She opened her mouth to scream only to stop, realizing it was Griffin, again.

"Can you stop doing that?" Jeanette snapped.

"Wake up the others," he told her urgently, "we need to get out of here."

"Why?"

"Why don't you look outside."

Jeanette got up from her bed and rushed towards the window, expecting to see another fire burning the forest down. Instead she saw five men in black, hooded cloaks, talking to a villager.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Jeanette asked him, annoyed.

"Can't you see those five men in black cloaks?" Griffin exclaimed.

"Uh, yes I can."

"They mean trouble," Griffin explained as quickly as he can, "they're here to look for Conor."

"How do you know?" she asked, unconvinced.

"I have a bad feeling about them," he said in a hush voice, "I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen today. So we need to get out of here."

Jeanette sighed, "You're just over-reacting."

Just then, Conor burst into their room with Max following behind him.

"Guys, we need to get out of here," Conor exclaimed.

"What? Why?" Jeanette asked, confused.

"There are five men in hooded cloaks looking for us," Conor explained as quickly as he can, "John says that he knows those men. They are assassins, hired to kill very wealthy, important people, especially kings."

Jeanette looked back out the window just in time to see one of them men turn. Their eyes locked as they stared for a while. Then the hooded stranger turned to his companions, pointing towards them.

"Uh guys," Jeanette announced, "they might have spotted me from the window."

Suddenly, John appeared outside the doorway.

"Quick, follow me," he ordered and ran through the hallways, the others following behind.

They stopped in front of a door and John tried to open the door.

"It's jammed," John said, "this is supposed to lead us up to the roof."

As John and Conor tried to open the door, Jeanette heard voices coming from below them.

"Everyone, stand back," Max barked, backing up.

"I don't think that's a good idea-" Griffin started but Max was already running towards the door at full speed.

He hit the door hard, landing on his side with a loud thump.

"And they say dogs are smart," Griffin muttered.

John quickly pulled some sort of pin from his cloak and started picking the lock.

"Um, can you please hurry up," Griffin said, nervously.

Jeanette can hear footsteps coming closer and closer.

"Almost there," John replied.

Just when the assassins came into view, John had opened the door revealing a staircase going up. Conor was already dashing up the stairs, the others quickly following him. After they reached the next level, another door stood in front of them. Conor ran towards the door, not bothering to slow down, and jumped up, doing a flying kick, opening the door. He landed heavily on his back but quickly got up. John and Conor put there backs behind the door just as the assassins reached them. Jeanette spotted a heavy looking crate and she pushed it towards the door, blocking it. It kept the door close, for now.