Sadie, Enchanted

Chapter Nineteen

"No!" Ella cried, bursting into the room. "My prince, Noah, do not just stand there, run!" She cried, pushing through the crowd to the men for whom she cared so dearly. Grabbing the prince's arm, she tugged him, trying to pull him towards the door, all the while aware that the giant green monster was now staring down at her.

"Ella, wait, it's okay," Noah said quickly, shaking off his surprise at watching a perfectly normal man shape-shift into a giant creature. He grabbed Ella's shoulders and turned her back toward the creature. The thing began losing its green color and was already shrinking. Within a few seconds, he was back to normal.

"Wh-wha?" Ella stammered in shock.

"Dozens of magical beings have been locked up in this castle," Noah began. Ella frowned at the prince, who shrugged. "We let them out of their cells, and this guy was showing me what he could do." He explained quickly. Ella raised an eyebrow and glanced around the room. Everyone seemed like normal people, except for a couple ogres that stood slouched in the corner, their heads touching the ceiling. She wondered which ones remained people.

Letting out a breath, Ella released the prince from her grip, and Noah dropped his hands. "Oh, alright." She muttered.

Noah glanced back towards the door. "Where's Sadie? Is she waiting upstairs?" He asked. He turned back around in time to see Ella's eyes fill with tears. Frowning, he took a step closer. "What happened?" He asked, his voice low.

"Oh, Noah, it was terrible!" Ella wailed. "Two of Entropy's henchmen--they found us--tried to take us back to Entropy--Sadie saved me--told me to run--they took her!!" She cried, gasping the words as she sobbed. She glanced up at Noah through thick tears, who had stiffened and clenched his fists. He remained silent, his mouth pressed in a tight line. "N-Noah?" Ella whispered.

Noah blinked suddenly, seeming to remember where he was. He turned quickly toward the crowd of magical beings. "We don't have any more time. We have to leave. Now."

***

The journey back to Ella's house took longer than expected. The magical beings were all so happy to be out of jail that they took twice as long, wanting to stretch their wings (if they had them) and practice using their powers once more. The only reason they went along with Noah's request to help fight was because he had one, explained to them the severity of the situation and that they would lose their powers permanently should Entropy win and two, the prince threatened to lock them up again if they did not. However, they still enjoyed their first taste of freedom, much to Noah's chagrin.

Noah stomped through the forest quickly, his mind on only one thing: Sadie. If he had been denying his feelings for her before, there was no way he could make excuses for the panic he felt at the thought of never seeing Sadie again. His heart was beating twice the normal speed, and it wasn't because he was hurrying through the woods. The urgency that Noah felt to save Sadie was everything he needed to know. He would save her, and he would tell her how he was feeling. There was no way he could hide it. Not after this.

The journey seemed to take forever. After realizing the extent of the trip, Noah was able to match enough non-flying creatures with flying ones, so they could all have a ride back towards Cinderella's house. He didn't know that that's where Sadie would be, but that was the last place he saw Entropy, and that was good enough. After 20 minutes of flying, Noah had everyone land, still about half a mile from Entropy, so that the evil queen would not see the creatures coming. They would only stand a chance if they caught her by surprise.

Ella fell into step beside Noah, ignoring her prince who was limping towards the back. When he glanced over at her, his mind occupied on Sadie, she gave him a grim smile. He smiled sadly back, before looking down at her hands.