The little boy reached behind her. She could feel he spell coming right up behind them. He was screaming now and she didn’t know why. Maybe it was all the fear of the adults that were running away from the castle that had finally caught up with him. The hair on the back of her neck was standing on end. She could feel the massive spell behind her. Maybe that’s why he was screaming, maybe he could feel it too.
She swerved around the crowd of people that were standing around yelling to each other. Where had the little boy’s mother gone? She kept losing people in this crowd, first Bruce, then Margaret and Lavina… It was too much to try to piece together right now.
She ran on until she tripped and fell to her knees. Rocks dug into them and she knew they would be bleeding. She hissed in a breath and held the little boy close, knowing that the spell would engulf them both.
She waited, but nothing happened. The spell had finally stopped growing. She wanted to collapse. She felt like she had been running for days. Her arms felt weak and she put the small boy down before she dropped him, still kneeling on bloodied knees. All around her, the crowd went silent, as if something amazing had just happened. Her ears rang from the sudden silence, but she didn’t want to think about what had caused it.
Standing was painful. Her knees did not want to straighten. She kept a careful watch on the boy, but he was finally still. She took his hand but he he did not grip her back. Instead, he screamed again, his voice piercing the hush of the crowd. Was there something wrong with his hand? She looked down at him. He seemed to be cradling that hand. She hadn’t fallen on hm and his mother had protected him when she fell. Hailey didn’t have time to think about it. She didn’t know if she could pick the boy up now, even if she wanted to. She took his other hand, and he held hers tightly in his sticky little one. “We need to find your mama,” she told him.
He nodded gravely. He was a beautiful child with tan skin and dark eyes. She did not see the boy’s mother, did not even know her name. If she had been trapped in the spell, what would Hailey do? She didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a small boy like this one. How would Hailey find her if she made it out. She took the boy’s other hand in hers and asked him, “What’s your mama’s name?”
He just looked back at her with beautiful, dark eyes. “Mama,” he said, as if his mother could not possibly have another name. She began to push through the crowd, not sure what to cry out. Surely the boy’s mother would still be here somewhere if she made it out of the spell.
“Aaron? Aaron, where are you?” Someone was shouting in the crowd.
“Is your name Aaron?” She asked him.
For answer he tugged her forward. “Mama! He began shouting.”
It did not take long to find the boy’s mother. Hailey hadn’t noticed how pretty she was in the dash away from the castle. Even sweaty and bedraggled, her coppery skin and dark eyes were so much like her son’s. Hailey hurried to her and she swept her son up into an embrace. “My baby!” She said, holding him close.
The boy pushed away from her. “I’m not a baby,” he scolded her.
She laughed, tears streaming down her face. “I’m sorry. You’re a big boy.”
Hailey felt awkward watching them. She turned to go. She had her own people to look for. She still worried that Esmerelda hadn’t made it out. She turned to go, but was caught in an embrace.
“Thank you so much!”
Hailey felt a little guilty when she said, “I’m sorry. Something happened to his hand when we were running out of the castle. He can’t seem to move it properly.”
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The woman just shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.” She clutched Hailey’s hand. “You saved his life and probably mine too. If we can do anything for you, anything at all…”
Hailey shook her head. “It’s ok. I’m glad you made it. I need to go look for my friends now.” It sounded lame, even to her own ears, but it was true. Who else would be looking for Margaret or Esmerelda?
----------------------------------------
Hailey was inside a crowd of people but she felt so alone. As people began to trickle away, she began to panic. She didn’t see anyone she knew, not in the crowd and not inside the spell around the castle. She could see it now, stretching like a giant dome over the entire castle. It looked the same, a shimmering soap bubble with just a hint of the dark aura. Did that mean that all these people were dead? A field of green was dotted with so many sleeping forms. Each one of them had struggled to get out of the castle. Was there anyone still inside who hadn’t even known? How many servants had been completely ignored?
Those thoughts were distractions, though. She needed to find her friends, the only family she had ever known. Surely Lavina and Margaret had made it out. They were ahead of her, but Hailey didn’t see them. She was shouting then, “Lavina! Margaret!” But others were shouting too, everyone was looking for someone. She thought she saw Ingrede for a moment, but when she tugged on her sleeve a frowning woman turned on her. She apologized and moved on.
Bruce would be easy to spot in a crowd, but she was pretty sure Bruce didn’t make it out. “Ingrede?” She tried to think of everyone she knew. Surely she would know someone in this crowd. She backed up. If she stood on the hill and looked around, she would be able to see better. As she got closer, she saw the bodies of the mages. There were three near where she stood. A large older woman stared with sightless eyes up at the sky. Several paces from her was an old man with a long beard. His head was turned away from her, but neither one of them seemed to be breathing. These were the most powerful people in the kingdom.
“Get back!” a soldier yelled at her. She glanced up to see him running at her. She stepped back, away from the spell and the mages and the soldier slowed. She glanced back at him and finally saw someone she recognized. Esmerelda lay sprawled in an awkward position on the grass. Could she just leave her there all alone? Wherever Margaret and Lavina were, they were together. Someone shoved at her. “Move, girl!”
Hailey thought over her options. The spell put people to sleep. She had seen what it did to the princess. She didn’t want to live on the streets. She didn’t know anyone who knew where the king and queen had gone. They might not even need kitchen maids now that the castle was uninhabitable. It suddenly occurred to her that she didn’t have a home anymore. Her home had been taken over by a sleeping spell and she would end up on the street begging for food.
Her other option was to return to the castle and sleep with the others. Besides, as angry as she was with Esmerelda this morning, she used to be one of her best friends. She didn’t want her to wake up alone, not knowing where anyone was. She ran through the spell, feeling that tingle on her skin. She sank down on her knees next to Esmerelda, but she didn’t sleep. What was wrong with her? Why wasn’t she sleeping? Everyone else in this entire spell was sleeping. She just sat there, looking at Esmerelda.
Then people on the other side of the spell began to notice. At first it was the gasp of one old woman. She looked at Hailey, her eyes widened and then she pointed. T“She’s still awake! That girl is still awake.”
The entire crowd seemed to turn as a whole then and look at her. “Bring me back my Rachel!” An old man shouted at her. Even from a distance, Hailey could see his red rimmed eyes. “Bring her back!”
Hailey stared at him. How was she supposed to know who this man’s wife was? How could she get her back? Then, without a warning the man ran forward. His wrinkled face frowned in determination. He ran straight for the spell, as if a running start was what was needed to get through. The crowd watched him with baited breath. They were probably hoping to try the same thing if he succeeded. He collapsed on the ground. Skidding to a painful stop on his shoulder.
The crowd was all staring at her again, wondering why she hadn’t fallen like the man. She was wondering the same thing. “Bring them out, bring them out.” It started as a single voice in the crowd, begging her help but soon they were all shouting it, a whole group of people. Hailey made herself invisible. She didn’t know why she remained standing when others did not.
“Where did she go?” Hailey hoped they didn’t follow her. There must be a reason why she wasn’t sleeping like the others, but she didn’t know what it was. She left the crowd there and made her way into the castle. What was she going to do now?