Classics Remixed – 2

Get Classics Remixed – 2

Excerpt from “The Other Shoe Drops”

          Cynthia came to an abrupt halt causing the prince to stumble. The music crashed to a stop, and the Court’s whispers became dully audible. The mounted clock showed the time as 11:55 PM.

“Cast your curse and do it well,” the dryad had warned. “Before Midnight rings its final bell.”

Cynthia reached up and cupped the confused prince’s face in her gloved hand. She smiled apologetically, tilting her head and letting her long hair gracefully fall.

“I must go.” She whispered, giving his face a pat. She turned and found her wrist tightly grasped.

“No.” Edgar insisted. “You can’t leave now. I barely know who you are.”

“I must go.” She repeated. She subtly tugged her arm free.

Edgar reached for her. Cynthia stepped back out of range. Seductively, she reached for her dress, lifting it to momentarily reveal her shapely ankles and the crystal slippers, preparing to run.

“When will I see you again” Edgar called out.

“When you find me.” She playfully answered. She bewitched him with a smile.

Cynthia turned and darted off, carefully maneuvering through the maze of people. She playfully paused when she reached the stairs. She looked back with a coquettish smile encouraging pursuit. He agreed with a grin and started forward. She darted out of the ballroom.

Cynthia’s heart was pounding as she found her way out of the palace, and onto the grounds. She ran around a large fountain to hide, stopping to catch her breath.

“Find that woman!” She heard the Prince’s commands echoing a short distance behind.

“She ran that way.” Someone responded.

“100 gold pieces to the man that finds her!”

A cheer erupted at the declared bounty.

“Bong.”

The clock tower began to sound the last bells of the evening. Cynthia knew the moment had to come to set the final trap. She reached down and removed the crystal slipper from her right foot.

“Bong. Bong.” The third bell bellowed over the shouts from the members of the royal hunt.

Cynthia held the shoe tightly in her hands.

“The only quest left to you is find the foot that fits the shoe.” She whispered the spell. Her hands warmed around the crystal. “No rest nor sleep stops your task at hand, to forever search through-out the land. On this crystal my curse does lie to forever change the slipper’s size. You shall never find the perfect one. And madness take you until time is done.”

            “Bong. Bong.” The tower rang it’s eighth warning.

“Search the grounds!” The prince’s voice hollered. “I want her found.”

Cynthia threw the crystal slipper in front of the fountain. It tumbled twice before perfectly sitting upright in the center of the path. She withdrew behind the fountain, hugging her knees to her chest, burying her face and holding her breath to not be discovered.

“Bong.” The ninth bell.

“Wait!” The prince’s voice rang out from the other side of the fountain. “What’s this?”

The echoed ended and the tenth bell boomed across the grounds.

“It’s her slipper.” Edgar answered his own question.

“Are you sure it’s hers?” Someone asked.

“Of course you dolt!” The prince snapped back. “Once you see slippers like these you don’t forget them.”

The eleventh bell rang. The twelfth bell roared.

“She must be near. Find her!”

“Girl!” Someone yelled at her. “Who are you?”