Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 9

9

S ilence prevailed in the hall. Here and there, a cautious footstep or rustling dress was heard, but nobody uttered a word. Everyone stared, wide-eyed and horrified with their mouths agape, at the frighteningly large creature that the prince had become.

The brown bear lay motionless on the gleaming ballroom floor. Was he dead? His paws twitched, and there was the sound of a quiet, deep growl. The guests froze. But seconds later, they screamed in horror and panicked. Shoving each other aside, they rushed out through the doors. Some even jumped out the windows to flee the dangerous beast of prey as quickly as possible. A short while later, the thunderous noise of horses’ hooves and carriage wheels drifted in through the wide-open windows.

Hannah was cowering a few steps away from the brown bear. Paralyzed with fear, she was the only one left in the hall. Her heart beat wildly as she gradually regained control of her body. She slowly stood up. Quietly, very quietly, she took a step back. The bear must not detect her. For all she knew, he might tear her to shreds!

Growling and swaying a little, the brown bear got down on all fours. He was standing with his side to Hannah, and his giant head was facing the king, who lay dead on the floor. Slowly, Hannah took another step back, then another and another. As she cast a furtive backwards glance, she barely missed a small table that was loaded with crystal glasses. But she hadn’t properly gauged the fullness of her dress. Her skirt brushed against one of the tall vessels, which immediately began to sway and then toppled over. Wide-eyed, she watched the glass fall as if in slow motion. With a bright clinking sound, it crashed onto the stone floor and shattered into a hundred pieces.

The bear turned around. Hannah froze as the wild creature spotted her. For a moment, they stared at each other, and she found herself ensnared by the deep sea-green of his eyes—the prince’s eyes.

The bear lumbered toward her on his heavy paws, staggering as if he hadn’t yet fully mastered his limbs and muscles. Hannah’s heart was pounding faster and faster, but she couldn’t move. Inwardly, she was screaming “Run, Hannah, run!” But her legs refused to obey. Frozen with fear, she held her hands and arms in front of her chest and face—as if her bare arms could protect her from the bear’s enormous paws.

“You must help me!” he roared. His deep, rough voice terrified her at least as much as the fact that he could speak.

“How can this be? How is it you can speak? What has happened?”

“The same thing that has happened every day for nearly a hundred years!”

“The same thing that has happened every day for nearly a hundred years? What does that mean?”

The bear rose up to his full height. His broad head reached almost as high as the chandelier, where the red candles were smoking. He began to speak but then lurched to the side and fell back down on all fours.

Hannah was struggling to keep her composure. What had happened? Where had she landed? Was she dreaming? When had she fallen asleep?

“WHO ARE YOU?” roared the bear.

Hannah jumped, and now she could feel her limbs again. She didn’t wait a single second but turned around and fled by the quickest route she could find. She hurried through the next open door into an endless corridor, past the suits of armor, and across the thick carpets until she rounded the corner into a brighter hallway, where she barely noticed the woodland paintings. Where was the corridor leading to the castle courtyard? There was a window back there. Puffing and panting, she ran over and was relieved to see the castle courtyard. She was about to open the window and jump out when she realized what she was seeing. The courtyard was empty. Not a single coach was left in the spacious square. No one had waited for her.

Where was her coachman? Who had convinced him to drive off without her? It was no use. She needed another way to escape this strange castle.

A loud roar made her jump.

“STAY HERE!”

Tables crashed to the floor, and vases and glasses shattered into a thousand pieces. A door burst open. Was he coming after her? She raced down the corridor, away from the ballroom and the wild brown bear. The corridor seemed as if it would never end until Hannah rounded a corner and finally spied a door. She hurried over and jiggled the knob. It flew open. Relieved, she rushed out of the castle and looked around.

She found herself in a vast garden, probably the castle garden that she and the prince had looked down upon earlier that evening. She craned her neck and spotted the large balcony. How long had it been since the two of them had stood there talking? Ten minutes? Twenty? He had acted so strangely. Had he known what was going to happen?

Either way, Hannah needed to get out of there. As quickly as possible. Before the bear could catch her. Or the prince. The prince-bear. He could talk, but a real bear’s roar had nothing on his. She couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t hurt her. Her presence had thrown him off—that much was clear. Better not run into him again. She clutched her bag, which luckily held her cell phone. Now she just needed to find a hidden spot so she could call home. Frieda would send a cab right away, and then she could escape this enchanted castle.

She glanced at the balcony one last time to make sure the bear wasn’t standing there and watching where she went. Seeing no one, she hurried along the little winding path and deeper into the castle garden. There had to be a decent hiding place somewhere around there! She ran around a large rose bush, darted behind an angel-shaped hedge, and made her way through the tall vegetation until the balcony was no longer in sight. Only the castle spires and turrets still towered above the hedges and shrubs.

She listened for the bear, but except for a couple of birds twittering in the light of the evening sun, she heard nothing. Slowly, she kept walking and looking around. If she crawled into one of the hedges, she was bound to have no reception. She noticed a round fountain. An angel statue stood enthroned in the middle, and the water it poured from a chalice was splashing into the circular basin. Panting, Hannah held her hand to her chest and sat down on the stone border as she looked around. There was no one in sight. She undid the drawstring of her pouch, took out her cell phone, and looked at the screen. It was only a moment before she grasped what she was seeing there: no signal.

She leapt up and held her cell phone in the air, but it was no use. She climbed up onto the edge of the fountain and held it higher. Nothing. Not one bar appeared on the screen—there was no cell phone signal in this damned forest, let alone an Internet connection. Damn! What should she do now? There was no choice. She would have to trek through the forest on foot. She had to get away from there and back to her children.

“Mommy?”

Hannah jumped. What was that? Had someone called her name? Emi?

“Mommy, Mommy!”

That was Leon’s high little voice. For heaven’s sake, had they followed her in a car? Hannah frantically searched among the rose bushes.

“Emi? Leon?” It was more of a whisper than a shout. For all she knew, the bear could be anywhere.

“Here, Mama, down here!”

“Where are you?”

Hannah looked under the bushes and shrubs, circled the fountain, and searched through the grass, but she couldn’t see her children anywhere. Was she dreaming?

“Here! In the fountain!”

“What?” Hannah hurried back to the fountain. Had her children gone swimming in it? “What are you doing here? Why...”

The rest of the sentence didn’t reach her lips. She stared in astonishment at the water. She saw Emi and Leon smiling happily, and also Marco’s profile. It was as if her children were sitting beside her on the fountain’s edge, with their faces reflected in the water. Hannah looked up frantically. No one was sitting next to her. Another glance was all it took to confirm that the children weren’t lurking somewhere behind her or anywhere else around the fountain.

“What... what...”

“Yoo-hoo!” Frieda’s voice came warbling across from the water. “How is your evening going? Have you had a nice time? Did you dance with the prince? Has he transformed yet?”

Hannah was about to answer Frieda and tell her about the unbelievable thing that had happened at the ball, when her final question began to sink in: Has he transformed yet? She stared at Frieda’s reflection, her eyes as round as saucers. “How do you know that, Mrs.—”

“Hannah, you’re supposed to call me Frieda!” her elderly neighbor admonished, pursing her lips.

“How do you know what happened here?” Hannah replied, furious. Ignoring Frieda’s objection, she continued: “Why did you push me to come here if you knew what was going to happen at the ball? What’s really going on here?”

“Mommy, Mommy,” Emi happily cried, “you’ll never believe it! We’re looking in a magic mirror right now!” Emi nudged her older brother, who was still barely responding. “Marco, look, the magic mirror really works. There’s Mommy!”

Marco grumbled and glanced at Hannah out of the corner of his eye, only to have his eyes pop out of his head the next moment. “Mom?”

“Are you all okay, Marco? Are you doing well?”

“Yeah, sure, Mom. Why are you in the mirror? Is that some kind of cell phone? Can you Skype with that thing, or what?”

Frieda’s high-pitched laughter echoed across the fountain. “Why, no, Marco!”

“Who are you? What have you gotten us into?” Hannah shouted into the water.

“Please calm down, dear Hannah, there’s nothing to get upset about.”

“Nothing to get upset about? The king just died, and the prince was transformed into a brown bear—right before my eyes!”

“Wow, exciting!” Leon squealed.

“Did you dance with the prince, Mommy?”

“Who are you?” Hannah ignored her daughter’s question. “If you harm so much as one hair on my children’s heads, I swear you’ll regret it!”

“As if I could harm your little angels!” Frieda threw Hannah an indignant look through the water and gently caressed Emi’s and Leon’s heads. “Or have I done something to hurt you?”

“We made pizza! And popcorn!”

“And we watched Cinderella!”

“Marco, is everything really all right?”

“Yeah, Mom, we’re cool here. What’s up with you, though?”

Nervous, Hannah glanced over her shoulder and listened. She had spoken too loudly and forgotten all about the bear prince. But the garden remained quiet and deserted. No tromping or roaring, no rustling or cracking twigs. Other than the splashing water and the twittering birds, all was quiet. He must have still been in the castle.

“The prince just turned into a bear, right before my eyes. Frieda, tell me finally who you are and what happened here! And if you don’t answer me this instant, I’ll call the police and have you arrested for child abduction!” Through the water, Hannah looked her neighbor in the eye with as much anger and resolve as she could muster—after all, Frieda had no idea that she had no signal out there.

“That’s really not necessary, Hannah. You see, I am already a little older than you can imagine, and this prince is my godson. This dreadful curse that has turned him into a bear was inherited from his father. And you do know how it is with children. Whether they’re our godchildren or our natural children, we’re sworn to protect them.”

Hannah shook her head in disbelief. What sort of strange things was her neighbor telling her? How old was she? And how did she come to be the godmother of a prince?

“I can already see the questions firing off in your mind, dear Hannah, but rest assured that it’s not as bad as all that.”

“How is it that you’re the godmother of a prince?”

Frieda smiled. “Can’t you come up with any ideas?”

Hannah’s brain was working overtime. “The dress you finished so quickly... the coach that was shaped like a pumpkin—which, by the way, has now disappeared along with the coachman! The magic mirror...”

Frieda smiled broadly as she watched Hannah over her half-moon glasses, which sparkled gold in the water. She nodded encouragingly, as if she were nudging her to draw the right conclusion.

“Are you a...”

“Yes?” Frieda beamed.

“Yes, Mommy, that’s right! Frieda is an enchantress!”

Hannah’s heart was beating faster and faster. An enchantress? There was no such thing! Except in fairy tales. Of course, her kids had been quick to figure out the answer to the riddle—they still believed in such children’s tales. But she had both feet firmly on the ground. She had problems, and as a single mother, she lived solely to work and to know that her kids were provided for. For someone like her, fairy tales no longer existed!

Or did they?

Hannah inhaled deeply, then exhaled. And then she breathed in and out once more. She lifted her head and saw, rising up over the rose and hydrangea bushes, the towering spires of the castle that until recently had been nothing but a ruin. And inside this castle, a bear was running loose, and the fur of that bear was hiding a prince beneath it.

Other than the glass she’d downed after choking on the canapé at the ball, Hannah hadn’t had anything to drink that evening. Could those few sips have made her tipsy? No, she felt totally clear and wasn’t swaying at all. She couldn’t be hallucinating or drunk. What was it then? She sorted through her thoughts and questions to decide what to ask Frieda first. “What kind of curse has the prince been struck by?”

“I’m so glad you finally believe me, dear Hannah, and that you’re asking the right question. And now I’ll tell you and the children what happened back then so you can understand why this curse was pronounced on the royal family.”

“But hurry! I don’t want the bear to catch me.”

Frieda laughed. “Oh, he won’t hurt you.”

Hannah wasn’t so sure about that. “So why was this curse pronounced?”