Hooked

Chapter Thirty Two

... Cinderella ...

I woke up in the middle of the night, suddenly aware of an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I looked to my left to see Henry - my Prince Charming, wrapped comfortably in the blankets.

"Henry?"

He smiled in his sleep for a second, his left dimple showing, only to start lightly snoring again.

"Henry."

His eyes opened, heavy and drooping, only to be closed again.

I huffed, giving up, and wondered why I had awoken with such a strong feeling of unease, while he was comfortably sleeping in a wonderful, warm cocoon.

I checked the clock, seeing that it wasn't even 2:30 yet.

Maybe I just needed a drink of water.

I started to make my way from the bedroom to the kitchen, which was all the way downstairs. The feeling in my stomach only grew, though, as I got myself a glass of water.

'Check on the children,' a voice in my head chimed.

And as soon as I put the glass in the sink, I did just that. I ran up the stairs and opened the door to the children's bedroom.

Piper was softly snoring, his mouth open, face pressed against his soft pillow. Jordan was peacefully asleep, no sound coming out of him. I walked as quietly as I could over to Madeline's bed to check on her.

She was also fast asleep, her hair spread on her pillow. I still had an awful feeling, though. Something pressed against my mind. An old memory from my past that I shouldn't have remembered.

A boy with red hair and narrowed green eyes. A feather in his cap, and a wide smirk on his face.

Where did that come from?

I waved it off. Perhaps it was from an old childhood story. Still, the confused, wrong feeling was the same.

I grabbed the phone and called the guards, hoping to find answers. Perhaps a thief came in the middle of the night.

They told me nothing had happened, and that I should get some rest.

I went back into the children's rooms to check on them again. They were all happily asleep. But I knew something was wrong.

When I checked on Madeline, a deep scowl was on her face, and I noticed something I hadn't before.

She had looked... wiser. And she had red scars on her wrist.

I would talk to her about it in the morning.

... Madeline ...

When I finally got to the forest, I could sense something was off. Paranoia arose, and I found myself looking behind me after every tenth step.

Every crunch of a leaf... every swaying tree... I just wanted to get to the other side. To the (mostly) calm shore.

I tried to not make any noise, silently pleading during each step that I don't end up snapping a twig. I didn't know what could have been lurking in the shadows. Behind every tree. Readying itself. If I made one wrong move, I could be dead, for all that I knew.

I suddenly stopped. Why was I doing this? I could've stayed one more night in Agrabah. Tonight was the worst possible night to blindly walk through the forest. I didn't even know if I was heading in the right direction.

But when I turned to get out of the forest, I realized I couldn't go back. I had said goodbye to Aladdin. For all I knew, he was still stealing things from innocents for his own use. Plus I could get lost if I do so. Or I could run into trouble on the way.