Cinderella and The Shape Shifting Mice

Chapter Six

The Mice

I stuck my small pink nose out of the hole in the wall, and not sensing anyone, scurried out and looked around. I blinked and the next thing I knew I was sitting on the floor in a pair of tattered shorts and a red shirt. Ella had made all the mice little article of clothing that seemed to stretch with us when we transformed.
I knocked on the wall and Gus Gus and a few other mice emerged from the hole and transformed as well.
"Oh my god I miss stretching my legs. Running from that damned cat and those idiotic girls is tiring." Marcie, one of the youngest female's said. She was wearing a light purple dress and a yellow apron with bare feet.
"We can't give ourselves up. We made a promise."

She rolled her eyes. "I know, I'm just saying."

I looked around the room at the mess and sighed. "Someone stay in here and tidy up a little. The rest of you come with me." I opened the door and proceeded down the stairs. I sent people out to do little tasks that Ella would have found herself forgetting that the stepmother surely would have noticed. Two people cleaned the chicken coup again, another tidied up everything in the kitchen such as the cleaning supplies under the sink, the dishware. The rest of the mice and I had done a considerable amount of small things, such as locking the cat in a bathroom and laughing at his scratches, before Ella got home. We heard the car pull up in the driveway and we put everything away, changed into mice, and ran upstairs. I stayed in my human form thoguh as I ran up the strairs to her room and locked the door, just as she had left it. I changed just as I heard to footsteps on the stairs.

The door flew open and Ella walked in, a funny smile on her filthy face. I came out and starred at her, waiting to hear about her day. It was right after she moved into this room that she started telling us every evening what she did everyday, exciting or not. And tell us she did.
"And then I met this guy, Georgie." My ears perked up. Georgie? That name sounded strangely familiar. "He seemed very nice, and he said I would see him at the ball." She looked down at me, slight concern on her face. "Do you think I'll be able to go?"

I squeaked in confirmation and she gave a small smile. "Thank you friend." She grabbed her pajamas and bathrobe and left to go take a shower. I went back into my hole and scurried down the wooden shafts and through holes in the stone to the basement where we held base. It was almsot mice city down there. Scraps of clothing making a giant bed in the corner, a few tiny buckets and random things from a toy set holding our food and other belongings we had managed to shrink and bring with us. We even stole some broken doll furniture, repaired it, and used it. It was a strange set up, but it was home to us.

A few of us had grown up here. Well, we had come with the orginal owner of the house, who was Ella's father's, father, father. We came to help him watch and protect the house. I had been a dog once, a horse, even a bird which was the most fun. But once Ella's father took over the house, mice seemed to be the easiest without arousing suspicion about why the family dog had lived for twenty years.
Ella's mother and father had made us promise to never tell Ella who we were unless under extremley dire circumstances. It's been quite difficult, and we even disguised ourselves sometimes as workers or party guests occasionally, but she never knew who watched over her every day since she was born.
And for now, as I watched her climb into bed and turn out the light, we were going to keep it that way.

The Prince

Two more days.
Two more days until the party.
And the palace was a nuthouse.
I wandered outside were I spotted Johnathen and walked over to him. He was practicing his archery on a bag of flour leaning against a tree. I remeber when I was his age learning how to do this, father leaning against the tree correcting me until I was hitting the mark every single time. It's one of my fondest memories with him, and now I would be the one teaching my brother, not our dad.
"Hey J, try raising your elbow an inch, see how the works." I said, leaning against the same tree. It was taller now, more sturdy.
He did as I told him and the shot improved remarkably from the ones before it.
"There you go!" I gave him a couple more tips and his improvment was incredible. "Wow Johnathen, you did much better than when I was doing archery at your age."

He turned and beamed at me, setting the bow down. "Thanks Georgie!" I took my hand from out behind my back and help up a baseball and two gloves.
"Do you want to play?" I asked.
He gave me a skeptical look as he slowly unstrapped his equipment. "Don't you have things to be doing for your big party on Friday?"

I shook my head. "Have you seen the amount of people in there? They don't need me. Besides, I'd rather play catch with my brother then pick out what color frosting I want on what flavor cake."
Johnathen beamed and took the glove from my hand. "But cake is really good."
I ruffled his hair and handed him the ball. "Then we can go taste some later."

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The next day I was woken up before the sun had risen. Sam was frowing.
"Sam what time is it?" I mumbled rubbing my eyes and flopping back down on the bed.
"Five sir. You need to get up, your father... We think he just had a small heart attack." Suddenly wide awake, I jolted out of bed and went running barefoot down the hallway to my fathers bedroom.

I flung open the oak doors and saw two doctors and a lot of nurses crowded around his bed. He was hooked up to a machine monitoring his heart rate.
"Doctor Zoltg what happened? Was it really a heart attack?" The same man who had helped deliver me and Johnathen into the world put down a clipboard and straightened his glasses. He was the resident doctor in the palace.

"Weren't not entirely sure, but it could have been. He'll be fine by your party Your Highness, as long as he stays resting and doesn't have any unhealthy foods. I'm guessing it was a semi-clogged artiery."
I nodded, flopping down into a chair. I glanced at my fathers face. Even when he was sleeping, he still looked powerful. His jaw was set, chin titled slightly up, edges of his mouth turned slightly down. The only difference was the wrinkles in his face seemed to have smoothed out a little, to were he looked semi-peaceful. Peaceful and powerful.
"You're sure he's going to be alright?" I asked skeptically.
Doctor Zoltg nodded. "Yes. We'll do some more tests to find out, but I'm sure he'll be fine."
I stood up and rubbed my eyes. "Thats what they said about my mom too Doc."
I walked out with Sam trailing behind me to my room. "I'm not sure that was necessary sir." Sam said softly, pulling a suit out of my closet. I raised my hand and he put it back, taking out a polo and slacks.
"I don't care. I lost my mom, and Johnathen never got to know her. I can't lose my dad and have Johnathen not knowing him either." Sam went silent as he helped me dress.

I walked into my fathers office and glanced at all the papers on his desk of things that needed to be signed and filled out. I glanced next at the big red leather chair seated behind the desk. Normally a crown or some kind of animal, or maybe even a phrase is the symbol of a royal family. To me however, it was this chair. Not once have I ever sat in this chair without direct permission and supervision from my father. I walked around the side of the desk and placed my hand on top of the chair.
I starred at Sam who starred back at me, and gave a small nod. I pulled the chair back and sat down, the leather giving a small squeak.
"Alright, lets get to work." I pulled a file towards me and looked up at Sam. "And if you wouldn't mind, I'd love some coffee."