Kingdom Keepers: Once Upon a Dream

Chapter 31

 A/N: Hello everyone! Sorry for missing a few weeks of updates. I'm student teaching and things have been a little hectic.That being said, I've so appreciated the love and support I've received during that time! Every like and comment makes my day, more than you can know. Hope you enjoy the chapter!!!  

The Evil Queen was just as cruel-looking as Finn remembered her.

"Did you hear me boy?" she said. "I don't think you're supposed to be here."

"The same could be said for you," Finn replied. He held his head high, trying desperately not to let his fear show.

The Queen cackled shrilly, the laugh Finn had spent his high-school years hearing in his nightmares.

"Is that..." Jess started, out of the side of her mouth.

"Yup," Finn replied, swallowing hard.

"Just give me the pen, and no one will have to get hurt," the Queen said. "You don't know who you're dealing with, and believe me, you don't want to find out."

"I think we do know actually," Amanda sneered, before Finn could say anything else. "And we also know that we've defeated you twice before."

She went to lunge, but quickly found that her legs wouldn't move. Scared, she looked over to Finn and Jess only to see them met with the same result. Her heart started to race. The Queen had the upper hand: they were paralyzed.

The old Overtaker laughed and started to circle them.

"I guess you know the little secret," she teased. "How charming."

She was getting so close that Finn could feel her breath on the back of his neck, and, even though he couldn't turn to see her, he could sense her stare. It made his stomach turn.

"Yes, I know as well. I can tell that you wanted to ask, but of course you can't speak."

Finn's heart raced faster and faster as she continued on. If they didn't get control soon, everything would be lost. She'd get the pen, and they'd be back to square one, and, if his friends were still in the state they'd been in tonight, they might not ever recover from the loss.

"You see, our minds, being who we are, work a little differently than your normal ones," the Queen explained. "We exist across universes and planes, and so our minds do as well. So, when you took up your little plot to stop our existence, we were birthed a precious new opportunity."

Finn's eyes widened, and his nostrils flared.

"Don't look so surprised," the Queen continued. "We didn't plan this. You did that all on your own. But, once we woke up here, we knew we were finally in a place where we could never be stopped. In a world with no Kingdom Keepers, we had our second chance, and we didn't even have to do anything to receive it."

As she continued to explain her plot, Amanda was tuning her out, putting her focus somewhere else. She knew all she needed to do for them to be moving again was to break the Queen's concentration. She remembered that much from their earlier battles: once her concentration was broken, so were her spells, and Amanda knew exactly how to break it. She may not have been able to move or speak, but she had her mind.

It wasn't going to be easy; most of her energy was still gone from her last push. If she hadn't had to lift the case earlier, this would've taken seconds. She looked to the right, just with her eyes, to see Finn devastated and her sister practically ashen. That was all of the drive she needed. She was sick and tired of the Overtakers wreaking havoc on her life. She willed herself to push, and suddenly she heard a yelp.

She looked up and saw the Queen had stumbled back, almost fallen. More importantly, she felt the hold on her release. They could move.

With the small victory, she felt renewed, and before anyone could even respond, she pushed again, knocking the Queen to her feet.