Enchanted in Time (Enchanted After Thirty #1)

Chapter 11

11

M y God. And all this happened a long, long time ago at Lichtenberg Castle?” Hannah looked over at the castle, with its spires towering high above the rose bushes. “It almost sounds like a fairy tale... except that it’s been forgotten.” She shook her head in disbelief.

Frieda nodded. “It would have fit nicely with the Brothers Grimm collection. But whether it’s lost for all time remains to be seen.”

“What happened to this Mirabelle? Did she put the curse on the prince?” Hannah asked through the water in the fountain while looking at her elderly neighbor’s reflection.

“That’s what you need to find out, dear Hannah, so the prince can be saved!”

“But what has all this got to do with me? Why should I be the one to help him? Besides, I doubt that I can be of any assistance. And on top of that, he roared at me, and I ran away from him!”

Emi and Leon were giggling as if this were just another fairy tale movie and not their mother’s life. “That’s so exciting, Mommy—you have to help the prince! He can’t walk around as a bear for the rest of his life!”

“Marco,” Hannah said, calling into the fountain. “Take your two siblings to the children’s room and read to them.”

“No, Mommy, we want to listen?—”

“No, Emi! Marco, please! Now!”

“Fine, but nothing with princesses.”

Hannah watched the three of them disappear from the reflection in the water. “Are my children out of hearing range?”

“Yes, Hannah, they are.”

“Then let me tell you something, Frieda: this bear is a threat to my life. He roared at me, he’s huge, and he could kill me with one swipe of his paw. I’m really very sorry for what happened to him, but I’m all my children have left. Someone else will have to help the prince—his friends, his siblings, or his parents.”

“The prince is an only child, and his parents are both dead. His father just died. You were there yourself,” Frieda reminded her.

Hannah slammed her fist on the side of the fountain and didn’t even feel the stone scraping her skin. “Of course, I was there—thanks to you! Well, then his friends will have to help him. I can’t do it. Frieda, call me a cab right now! I need to get back to my kids!”

Frieda was silent for a moment as she stared at Hannah with her grayish eyes. “I’m afraid that won’t work, Hannah.”

“What do you mean it won’t work? What’s that supposed to mean? You pick up the phone right now, call the number, and send a cab to the old Lichtenberg ruin. Or Lichtenberg Castle, I guess—it’s not a ruin anymore. And you do it on the double, or you’ll find out what I’m really made of!”

Frieda had a slight look of remorse on her face as she shook her head. “I can’t send you anyone. The gateway is shut.”

Hannah wanted to pound the water with her fist. It took a bit of effort, but she managed to restrain herself for fear she might lose the connection. “What gateway? What are you talking about? What is this?”

“The events you’re taking part in, dear Hannah, are happening in another time.”

Hannah could feel her knees giving way. If she hadn’t been sitting on the edge of the fountain, she would have dropped to the ground. She clung to the ancient stones for support. “What are you saying? That you sent me back in time?”

Frieda nodded silently.

“You sent me back in time? I’m in the past?”

“Yes, Hannah.”

“So that’s why the castle isn’t a a ruin anymore.” She looked up, speechless. “How could you do that? You need to get me back right now! You’re supposed to be an enchantress. Just conjure me back, preferably right to the apartment!”

“I can’t.”

The knuckles on Hannah’s fists were turning white. “What do you mean you can’t? You’ve suddenly lost your powers? I’m sure this is just some ruse you’ve cooked up to get me to help your godchild!”

“No, dear Hannah, it isn’t. My magic is not limitless. It takes enormous magical power to send someone through time. And?—”

“Then recharge your power!”

“It’s not that simple. Listen to me, Hannah. Even I can’t send just anyone through time at will. It requires a sophisticated spell, enormous powers, and specific items from the time period you want to send the person to, and?—”

“Things from the time period?” Hannah looked down at her fancy red dress and fine shoes. “Are these things...”

Frieda nodded. “You’re wearing a dress that dates from the prince’s time and that I adjusted for you.”

“And the shoes...”

“... and the shoes Mirabelle wore that evening.”

Hannah froze. Was this some bad joke? How sick could you get? “You gave me the shoes of the girl who had to go through such a horrific evening here? That can’t be, can it?”

Frieda shrugged. “Without the shoes and the dress, my spell would not have worked.”

Hannah wanted to kick the red slippers off her feet and throw them on her neighbor’s reflection, but Frieda cried out: “No, Hannah! You must keep the shoes on your feet at all costs! Otherwise, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to conjure you back!”

Hannah shook her head in bewilderment and kept the slippers on her feet. She had no idea what part was true and what part her quirky neighbor was making up. Just to be safe, she would keep the shoes on.

Furious, she stared at the water. “We’ll discuss this later, Frieda. But look, I’m wearing jewelry from my own... from our time. And my underwear was also made in our time, although maybe not in our country. So I don’t see why there should be any problem bringing me back.”

“The journey through time is not just any tunnel that you can open and close at will. The journey must be justified, and the traveler must fulfill a mission to be able to return.”

“Fulfill a mission? I have to fulfill a mission before I can come back to my kids? What have you done to me?”

“Now calm down. It’s really not that bad. You can do this?—”

“Not that bad? You’ve conjured me away from my children. They need me! They’re little, and they don’t have a father anymore. I’m all they have left! How could you do this?”

“I promise you, dear Hannah, I shall take care of your little angels. Just as you shall take care of my godchild. Do we have a deal?”

“A DEAL?” Hannah jumped up. “That’s blackmail!”

Frieda chuckled. “No need to be so dramatic now. All you have to do is to save the prince—and poof, you’ll be back here with us!”

“But...”

But there was no time to object. Frieda’s reflection was growing more and more faint and blurred, and Hannah’s neighbor was becoming increasingly less distinct until even the glint of her half-moon glasses could no longer be seen. The enchantress had cut the connection!

Hannah’s shoulders sagged. A tear welled up in one eye, then another and another until they were spilling out and rolling down her cheeks. How had all this happened? How could she have been so gullible? Her neighbor was an enchantress who had shamelessly used her for her own purposes, regardless of how her children would fare in the process!

More tears came streaming down her face—then more and more until she could no longer restrain herself. With her back against the side of the fountain, she let out a loud sob as she slid down onto the grass and wept. She cried all the tears she had been holding back since the day her husband died. There were thousands of them. She wept for him, wept for her children, wept for herself. Until finally all the sorrow was out and not a tear was left. She wiped her cheeks and raised her head. It was no use. She would have to be strong. She had always been strong. She’d had no shoulder to lean on, and she was used to picking herself up and carrying on without any outside help.

First, she needed a plan. What did she know so far? The prince had turned into a bear because of a curse. The same curse had once been put on his father and apparently passed on to him. The cause was a young woman who had been ridiculed and made a laughingstock at a ball that took place in this castle a long, long time ago. The young woman had then run off. Where had she gone? What had she done? When had she uttered the curse? What exactly was it?

Hannah would need all this information to be able to help the bear prince. Once she had saved him, she would travel back... no, forward in time, and back... or no, to her kids. The thought of her little sweet peas weighed heavily on her chest. Was Frieda really treating them well?

Frieda... She hadn’t told her the truth! Hannah pondered a while. Maybe Frieda also hadn’t told her the truth just now. Hannah had supposedly traveled back in time? Bah! What nonsense! She took a deep breath and made up her mind. She wouldn’t need a cab to get back to her kids. She would walk! Her shoes were comfortable, even if they had been part of a frightful story.

Now firmly resolved, she stood up and looked around. How would she get out of this garden without going through the castle again? Back there was a gate. She would have to run past the balcony. If she ran fast enough, the bear prince would never detect her!

She closed her eyes for a moment to compose herself. Immediately, thoughts of her children flooded her mind. How were they doing? Was Frieda really not harming them? The three of them had been cheerful. She would have to trust that while it was true that this woman was using her to save her godson, she wasn’t hurting her children. Definitely not. And if she did, then—magic powers or no—Frieda would be in for a nasty surprise. But that damn enchantress had it coming to her anyway!