Chapter 10

At the end of the aisle, there were 2 doors that had to lead to the strange noise.

"Should we take the left or the right door?" Alex wondered.

"Hmm…probably the right door?" I decided.

"Ok," Alex nodded, as he walked to the right door.

He opened the door, and soon enough, we were in a dark room, with the only source of light in the distance.

"That could be the intruder," I whispered to Alex, pointing to the light.

My heart was beating from excitement yet nervousness, as we continued further down the room.

I heard a familiar voice, and I also heard James' voice.

"James was right there all along," I realized.

We peeked into one of the shelves, and to my shock, Queen Mendoza was standing there, along with the vocal teacher, and a few other criminals.

What the hell! How did Queen Mendoza escape this prison? I thought she was gone forever.

"Didn't the vocal teacher hate Queen Mendoza?" Alex pondered.

"Well she could've learned the bad ways from the queen," I supplied.

"Yeah, that's true, seeing she has been her assistant since 2001, a year before your born," Alex agreed.

I inched forward to get a closer look of James, and Oh.My,God! He was covered in ropes and bruises, as the criminals kept torturing James.

"Where is Penelope!" Queen Mendoza demanded.

"I-i don't know," James nervously stumbled.

What does this sick queen want from me! I thought she hated me, and only used me for money. Now she wants me back!

"You know what, i'm going to distract them, because I need to save James from this horrible queen," I whispered, planning my move.

I picked up an old and dusty book, and threw it across the room, so the criminals think I'm that way.

"Quick!" I commanded, rushing to the chair.

Me and Alex untied James, while I heard the criminals coming back. As we were starting to run back, the criminals arrived, and they saw us.

"Get them!" Queen Mendoza ordered.

I already saw them chasing us, as we were running for our lives.

"Oh no, they're catching up to us," Alex panicked, already tired.

"Let's find a hiding spot," I suggested.

We made a sharp turn into one of the aisles, as I was examining which spot is best for hiding.

"Over there," James pointed to a medium space, surrounded with old food, and packets of spices.

We hid inside the shelf, as the criminals were tirelessly looking for us.

"Ugh where are they?" Queen Mendoza complained.

"They can never find us here," I grinned.

"We can't hide here forever," Alex shook his head, "Sooner or later we have to fight them, and claim that this is our palace."

"Yeah, I think so," I nodded agreeingly, "We can get out of this hiding spot only if it's safe."

"But we might need some sort of weapon for self defense," James suggested.

"There's a few bow and arrows on the other side," Alex pointed out.

"Guess we're going the traditional way," I chuckled.

"These things haven't been touched since 1995," Alex informed.

"Sheesh, that's even older than Phoebe," James joked.

"Guys, we have to make our move fast before they find us," I warned, disrupting the conversation.

We descended from the hiding spot, as Alex was giving out the bow and arrows to us.

"Ok, so when they arrive at our target, we shoot them," I instructed, "We have to hide though so it is a surprise attack."

"Sounds like a great idea," James remarked.