Snow White and the Seven Werewolves

*Chapter 14: Running Out of Time

JC looked up at the tallest tower of the palace through the trees. It was cold outside, fall would be coming soon he noted as the nights got cooler, and the only thing he wore was a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Snow would have been furious at him, ranting about getting sick and dragging him inside and making him a cup of tea or hot chocolate with extra marshmallows. She didn't even asked how he liked it the first time she made it for him, it was as if she had this intuition about him that allowed her to just know everything she needed to know about him and his character. He wasn't sure if that frightened him or gave him a small amount of delight.
For now it was just him under the stars as he stood feeling the grass under his feet, thinking how she might be doing, worrying about her almost a month after the kidnapping. But there was something else worrying him tonight besides her as he glared at the tower.

The front door creaked open behind him and someone spoke, "JC come inside now. There's no use just starring at it," Zander warned.
JC didn't move. "Alex hasn't come back yet."
"No, he hasn't. JC, come in, its freezing out here." Zander grabbed two jackets that were next to the door and walked out, closing the door softly behind him so as not to alert the other boys inside the house. He handed one to JC who shrugged it on grudgingly. "Your not out here because of Alex, are you."
It wasn't a question. JC knew that. Zander was one of his closest friends; he could read JC better then almost anyone. "No. No I'm not."
Zander sighed and looked from his best friend to the tower. "Well, we could all get ourselves arrested and put in there with Alex."
"No. We need weapons and they'll strip us. We stay here for a few more days. We hear nothing, we go in," JC turned to Zander, "meanwhile, I want someone in town listening about what's going. Someone has to know and we need to find out and exploit their knowledge. We're not the only people who need Snow back in out lives, so send them in the morning."
Zander nodded and they both took one long, last look at the tower before heading inside.

* M * M * M * M * M* M * M * M* M* M* M * M *

Snow was locked in what used to be her old bedroom, which should have been a small comfort but it wasn't. It was now just a large room with a grand looking bed adorned with thin sheets, almost no furniture but a chair and a plain wooden desk, and the door to her private bathroom.
The plush rugs that she had once danced on for hours were gone, leaving a cold stone floor to walk around on in her bare feet. It wasn't so bad during the day when it was warmer outside, but at night she tried to stay sitting in her bed but it wasn't easy with there being nothing to do. The walls that used to be covered with colorful tapestries of far away places that she had made up stories about, were now just a boring, dull gray. The thick velvet curtains that hung in front of her windows and would block almost all the sun were now gone left with a thin white cloth. Her closet, which used to explode with dresses, shoes, hats, everything Snow needed, was just half-full of plain dresses you might find a girl in the town wearing, which didn't bother her much because they were still comfortable, it was just the memory of what she once had that pained her heart. The only thing that hadn't changed was the beautiful view of the woods and town she had from her window, which is where she spent most of her time, sitting on the windowsill and getting lost in her own thoughts.
Mostly what she thought about was all the strange generosity from Penelope, making her increasingly suspicious but she rolled with the punches anyways, especially when it included an actual bathroom instead of a bucket.

Snow took a very long bath, thankful they hadn't cut off the water, scrubbing herself until her skin was raw and bright red the moment she was locked into her room. A tear slipped down her cheek as she starred at herself in the mirror, and the locket gleamed against her pale skin, a memory of a beautiful but distant time. She slipped on a blue dress and walked to the bedroom, ignoring the growing coldness in her toes. She sat on the bed and looked up; she could still look out the window.

Suddenly, a thought came to her and she leapt from the bed and ran to the window. There were bars over it, but she could still see out clearly. The sun was beginning to set over the forest and the town was settling down for the night. Quickly, she ran to her desk and removed a secret panel and drew out one of four candles she had stashed away in case of an emergency. She lit one quickly and placed it in the window. There, it would burn all night, and the people would be able to see it from their houses all over town; or if they couldn't they would have certainly heard about it by morning. With that single candle, Snow hoped to tell her people that their princess was okay and she was fighting for them, and for her freedom.

But little did she know that another person saw the candle that night. Deep in the woods, a lone wolf paced in a grove of trees, tail swinging back and forth, paws occasionally digging into the ground in frustration. He looked up to the tower for what seemed like the hundredth time and saw that small, flickering light in the window; hope blossoming in his chest every time he saw it.

Hope blossomed in everyone's chest that night, knowing that their little princess was still alive.

* M * M * M * M * M * M * M * M * M * M * M *

Alex knew time was running out. He'd been in this cell for more then a week and he had barely learned anything besides the burning passion these men felt to get out and rescue their Princess. Some of them he found out where guards who had opposed the Queen and were thrown in here until further notice; so at least some of them had proper weapon training should a fight break out.

"Well we need to come up with some kind of a plan! We need weapons." Alex said.
Simmons gave him a curious look. "And where do you propose we get those?"
"Take them from the guards," Alex blurted, not even stopping to think about what he had said.
This started a murmur between prisoners as they began to grasp this idea. Could it actually work? Would they actually be able to do it? Would they, the scum of the castle and town, be the hero's to save dear Princess Snow?
"And again, how do we do that? They don't exactly come close to these doors and won't let us out. How?" Simons pressed, trying to get Alex to think.
Alex blinked, an idea blossoming in his head. Somehting little known and little practiced between these wolves was a sort of mental telepathy. If you could get into the right kind of deep sleep, you could communicate to each other no matter how far the distance. It was this trick he was hoping to take advantage of. "Well, I think I can get someone on the inside..." and he did something that everyone in the cells would never forget as long as they lived. Alex turned into a wolf that took up almost half the cell, laid down on the ground, and fell into a deep sleep.