Chapter 136


    3rd Person


    “It can’t be locked!” Riley insisted. “We just got ins!”


    “Maybe it locked aut-auto… you knows, on its own.”


    Paisley guessed, unable to navigate her tongue around the big word.


    “Maybe,” Riley agreed. “But eithers way, we’re definitely moving” The trunk was rocking back and forth,


    and they could hear footsteps outside.


    1 thinks we’re being carried?” Paisley whispered nervously.


    “Do you thinks the boys are moving too?” Riley wondered.


    “I dunno.” Paisley frowned, distracted when the trunk stilled with a sudden jolt, and a strange rumbling


    filled the air. “Wha’s that noise?”


    Riley leaned up to the keyhole in the wooden siding, trying to peer through.”l sees the other trunk!” She


    shared excited?y. “But we’re not in the street anymore.”


    Even as she spoke, they jerked forward again, banging their slight shoulders into the walls of their


    wooden enclosures. “Where are we then?” Paisley whimpered.


    “You’re not going to like it.” Riley told her, gazing around the dimly lit space outside.


    “Why nots?” Paisley questioned with trepidation.


    “Cuz I think we’re in the back of a truck… or van.” She guessed. “lt looks kinda like the van Anita had


    us in, only there’s much nicer things” Indeed, the back of the strange vehicle was full of clothing racks


    and painted set pieces, not that the child recognized these items. All she saw was sparkly fabric and


    what looked like painted tapestries.


    “But Mommy and Daddy are back in the cloud city!”


    Paisley all but wailed, “we can’t be going somece else!”


    Riley wrapped her arms around her sister, leaning her small head against Paisley’s. “I don’t think we


    have a choice.”


    She confessed. “l think we’re going somece new, whether we likes it or not.”


    In the other trunk, Ryder and Parker were having much the same conversation. They’d noticed they


    were moving just as quickly, and also tried to escape their confines. For a moment they’d been afraid


    they were back on a boat, the way they were rocking about, but thankfully that ceased before either


    could be sick. Instead they found themselves lurching to a stop before the engine began and the van


    set off.


    Parker was doing the exact same thing Riley was, peering out the trunk’s keyhole and trying to get a


    bearing on his surroundings When he was certain there were no people around, he raised his voice to


    a low hiss. “Riley? Paisley? Can you hears us?”


    “We hear you!” A whispered shout came back. “We can’t get outs, what do we do?”


    “We could shout for help?” Ryder suggested.


    “If we shout for help it will only get us caught by whoever’s driving.” Parker reasoned. “Who knows who


    it is.


    “But if they stop, maybe they’ll takes us back to Mommy and Daddy!” Paisley added hopefully.


    Thest time we trusted someone they tried to hold us pris’ner, and even the nice peoples just wanna


    go to the police. We can’t risk it!” Parker insisted. “I say we wait until we get wherevers we’re going,


    then make a break for it when no one’s looking.”


    “Okay.” Riley and Paisley said in unison. “Let’s just hope they aren’ going very far.”


    “They’re probably not.” Ryder imed, but it was simply his hope rather than a fact. “At least, I hopes


    their not.”


    The girls exchanged worried nces through the gloom.


    “We hope so too.”


    After stashing the quadruplets Sophie dashed around the corner, intent on finding Jane and Ethan


    again, only to m headfirst into Fabian. “What – oh!”


    “Sophie!” Fabian caught her by the shoulders, “Have you seen the new pups? They escaped.”


    The little girl had never been more thankful she had the foresight to hide the pups rather than taking


    them through the city with her and Bailey.”No! How did they escape?” She asked, adopting a shocked


    expression.


    “They must have worked together somehow – I don’t know’ Fabian growled. “But we can’t let them get


    away.


    They’re cute enough that they can make us a fortune begging tourists alone”


    I’ll help you look.” Sophie offered, “They can’t have gotten far.”


    “Alright, you take the East quarter, I’ll take the West.”


    Fabian suggested.


    “No!” Sophie chirped nervously, she’d left Ethan and Jane in the Western part of town, far to near the


    secret entrance to the tunnels. “1 doubt they’d go to those parts of the city, they know that’s where the


    tunnels start and let out.


    “l don’t think they’re that bright” Fabian frowned.


    They were smart enough to get out of their bindings.”


    Sophie reminded him pointedly.


    Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    “You’re right, okay I’ll take North, you take South.”


    Fabian amended, charging off without another word.


    Breathing a sigh of relief, Sophie quickly retraced her steps back to Ethan, Jane, Mary, Thomas and


    Linda. They all whipped around in surprise when she appeared behind them, Bailey hiding behind her


    back. “Sophie, where are the pups? Jane asked.


    “Come this way, but be careful,” Sophie cautioned, ” Fabian knows they’ve escaped.”


    The adults dutifully followed the young pair, their pulses racing with excitement. Jane was trying very


    hard not to get ahead of herself. She wouldn’t rx until her babies were safe in her arms, but she


    could feel how close they were. It was nearly impossible not to let her hope run rampant.


    “Where did you leave them?” Ethan pressed, no less patient than his mate.


    “Fabian was chasing us, so l helped them hide in some big trunks” She shared, more than a little proud


    of herself. “


    It’s a good thing too cuz I ran into Fabian a minuteter”


    “Very smart thinking” Thomas praised.


    However just as they rounded the corner where Sophie and Bailey had left the pups, they found the


    entire space empty.”They’re right over….What? No!” Sophie ran forward, spinning around on the spot.


    She’d just been there, she’d just seen them a few minutes ago.


    “They were just here, you have to believe me!” Sophie eximed, her eyes filling with tears. “Bailey tell


    them!”


    Bailey nodded in agreement, “They were rights here.”


    Jane and Ethan surged forward, studying the surrounding space. There wererge dry rectangles


    littering the soaked cobblestones. Clearly trunks and crates had been sitting there very recently, but


    they were gone now. “It’s okay.


    Sophie.” Ethan assured her.”We believe you.”


    Though he spoke to the young girl, he wasn’t looking at her. In that moment he only had eyes for Jane.


    It wasn’t an umon urrence, but at the moment it had nothing to do with her charm of beauty.


    She was standing in the middle of the street, looking so lost and helpless his heart ached.


    Her lower l!p was quivering violently, and Ethan quickly closed the distance between them and pulled


    her into his arms before she could start sobbing.


    In the meantime Linda darted into the nearest shop, and Sophie looked piteously up at Mary and


    Thomas. “Does this mean you won’t take us home with you now?”


    “I told you that you would have a ce with us whether you helped or not, and I meant it.” Mary told her


    simply.


    Sophie’s cheeks split into a tearful smile, “really?”


    “Really.” Thomas nodded, wrapping an arm around his wife as he watched the suffering parents in front


    of them.


    Ethan was petting Jane and whispering promises against her hair. “lt’s okay, we’ll find them. We know


    they’re alright now, we know they’re out of the jungle and we know how they’re thinking. This is just a


    roadblock.


    “But we were so close!” Jane cried despondently. I don’t want to wait, I want them back now!”


    “I know, little wolf.” Ethan crooned, rocking her from side to side and mping his own eyes shut in


    unmistakable pain. “I do too.”


    Jane looked about ready to copse, and though the shepherd and his wife hadn’t trusted these


    strange characters initially, there was no denying now that they clearly loved their pups more than


    anything in the world.


    Jane’s mournful cries carried through the air as Ethan tried tofort her, to no avail.


    A few momentster Linda returned from the shop, offering her friend a sympathetic look. “Apparently


    the trunks belonged to a traveling theater troupe. They just finished a stint here and packed up to travel


    to their next gig.


    If I had to guess l’d say they didn’t realize the pups had climbed inside and just loaded everything into


    their caravan.”


    “Really?” Jane pulled away from Ethan, sniffling but heartened by this news. “Maybe we can catch up


    with them!”


    “We will catch up with them.” Ethan decided firmly. “Do we know where they’re headed?”


    Linda took a deep breath, clearly not eager to deliver the rest of the information she’d learned. The bud


    of hope which had bloomed in Ethan and Jane’s chests dampened before she could say a word, it was


    obvious from the look on her face that she didn’t have good news to share. “They’re going to the


    capital.” She shared gravely, “to perform for the king.”


    Next Chapter