“What’s happening?” Red yelled.
She turned toward the stone entrance tunnel and the whole room turned with her. A gigantic tidal wave was hurtling toward them. “I was right,” Alex whispered to herself. “Ezmia is flooding the kingdom!”
The trolls, goblins, and humans screamed at the oncoming water. There was no time to waste. They had to do something fast or the water was going to crush and drown the entire kingdom.
Alex ran to the troll with the satchel over his shoulder and yanked it off him. She ran toward the rushing wave, digging in the satchel as she ran. She found the wand and brushed all the items off it into the bag until it was just an ice scepter again.
Alex pointed the scepter at the rushing water. An icy blast erupted from the tip of the scepter and shot straight into the water. The tidal wave slowed into a big icy wall yards away from where Alex stood.
The trolls and goblins cheered. “The Squishygirl has saved us all,” Trollbella said quietly with wide eyes.
“You’re a genius!” Conner yelled proudly to his sister. She looked back to him and they shared a smile—but it wasn’t over yet.
The wall of ice began to crack and snap as more water flowed in behind it.
“We need to get out of here!” Alex yelled. “The wall isn’t going to hold the water back forever!”
Rigworm slammed his staff on the ground. “Everyone follow me to the back tunnels!” he yelled and the troblins stampeded behind him out of the room.
The band abandoned their instruments, including the magic harp, and ran with the others.
“Don’t leave me!” the harp said.
Jack and Froggy hoisted the harp over their shoulders and followed the others out of the common room with Red at their tail.
“My apologies, Your Majesty,” Goldilocks said and scooped up Trollbella like a baby doll.
“I love you, Butterboy!” Trollbella called back to Conner as Goldilocks carried her off.
Alex and Conner stayed behind. Alex was blasting the scepter, reinforcing the icy wall as it swelled under the pressure of the water behind it.
“Alex! Conner!” Bob said. “We have to get out of here before it’s too late!”
“They need time to escape!” Alex said. “I have to keep the wall up so they have a chance! Go! Save yourselves!”
Alex was holding the scepter like a flamethrower, freezing the water as it crept closer and closer. She squeezed it harder and an even stronger blast shot out of it. Conner had to grab hold of it, too, so it didn’t knock her over. Every second counted.
Finally, the pressure was too much for the scepter to hold off, and the water rushed toward them. Bob pulled the twins in the direction the others had gone, and the three of them ran for their lives.
They ran up the tunnel the others had escaped into with the water chasing them. Luckily, the Troll and Goblin Territory was like a giant ant colony—the water had other places to go besides after them—but the underground kingdom filled quickly and the water swirled violently toward the twins. They were running as fast as their legs could carry them, but the water caught up with them and they were engulfed.
Bob and the twins shot out of the ground as if they had been stuck in a whale’s blowhole. They landed hard on grassy dirt somewhere outside the territory. They were soaking wet and coughing up water they had swallowed.
The twins and Bob got to their feet and had a look around at wherever they were. They were standing in a field on the edge of a forest. The entire troll and goblin race was spread out across the field with Jack, Goldilocks, Red, Froggy, and the harp sprinkled between them. They moaned and panted and held on to the loved ones they had nearly lost.
It looked like something the twins would have seen on the news after a natural disaster had occurred.
“Where are we?” Alex asked.
“Does it matter?” Conner asked. “We’re alive.”
The twins and their friends gathered together in the center of the field.
“That was a very brave thing you did back there,” Jack said and placed a grateful hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“You saved our lives, Alex,” Goldilocks said.
Trollbella strolled up to Alex. Her headdress had been knocked off and her blonde pigtails were exposed. “You saved me and my troblins, Squishygirl,” she said. “We will forever be grateful.”
All Alex could do was nod, overwhelmed by the gratitude she was receiving. She dumped out the satchel and all their belongings the troll had briefly stolen from them fell on the ground. Jack took his axe and Goldilocks took her sword. Alex watched as the Wand of Wonderment reconfigured itself as the pieces of mirror, the scepter, the stepmother’s ring, and the Sea Witch’s pearls were reunited.
“A whole kingdom has been ruined but it looks like something can be salvaged,” Alex said. She picked up her mother’s silver engagement ring off the ground and handed it to Bob.
It gave them hope that everything hadn’t been lost.
Jack led a group of troll and goblin men into the woods and returned with firewood. They set up a series of campfires for the night. Bob walked around and inspected anyone that had been injured in the escape, although he was a little confused by troll and goblin anatomy—some four-toed feet weren’t actually missing any toes.
Everyone slept on the ground that night. The next day, the Granny’s crash site was discovered not too far away from the trolls’ and goblins’ camp. The ship’s damage was irreparable, so they stripped it apart and used the pieces of woven wood and stitched fabric to create tents for the campers.
While Jack was helping the trolls and goblins tear the ship apart, he found Clawdius hiding in the destruction. Jack brought him back to the camp and he was reunited with Red.
“Oh, Clawdius! There you are!” Red said happily. “I was worried sick! I was afraid you had been gobbled up by a… a… well, a relative or something!”
They configured a tent for their group of eight (nine, including Clawdius) to sleep under. Trollbella insisted on putting her tent as close as possible to the one Conner slept in. She talked openly about their future wedding, although he had never given her an answer to her proposal.
“Trollbella, you and all the troblins just lost a kingdom,” he said. “I think you have bigger things to worry about.”
“You are so wise, Butterboy,” Trollbella said. “And someday you will make a wonderful Butterking.”
Trollbella was homeless, but still not hopeless.
Jack, Goldilocks, Red, Froggy, Bob, and the twins sat around a campfire that evening. They were feeling pretty dismal after witnessing the Enchantress’s attempt to kill an entire kingdom.
“Where do we go now?” Goldilocks asked. “We’ve collected everything except what we need from the Enchantress.”
“And no one has any clue where she is?” Bob asked.
“No,” Jack said. “But as soon as we do, it’ll be our next stop.”
Conner grew tired of hearing the same pointless questions being asked.
“I’m going for a walk,” he said. “I need to clear my head.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alex said. “Some air will do us some good.”
The twins walked into the trees beside the campground. It was nice to have time away from the others and vent to each other.
“She’s such a monster,” Alex said under her breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever hated someone as much as I hate the Enchantress.”
“I never thought one person was capable of so much damage,” Conner said. “When are we going to have the answers we need to get rid of this wench? I’m so sick of asking questions!”
Something began moving between the trees in the distance. The twins looked up and saw a familiar ghostly woman floating toward them.
“It’s the Lady of the East!” Alex said.
The ghost hovered in front of them. Conner took an angry step toward her. He wasn’t afraid of the spirit anymore but had grown very frustrated by her appearance.
“What do you want from us?” he yelled.
The ghost didn’t respond. She just stared at the twins silently, as she always did.
“Habla inglés?” Conner tried with a horrible accent.
“Conner, I don’t think she speaks Spanish,” Alex reprimanded.
“WHAT. DO. YOU. WANT?” Conner shouted.
The ghost raised her hand and pointed to the east.
“Yes, we get it, you’re from the East!” Conner said. “Listen, Ghost Lady, we’ve got a lot on our plate right now. Unless you can help us, please go haunt someone else.”
The ghost looked back and forth between the twins and nodded. She turned around and floated off into the trees but stopped to look back at them. It was the most the twins had ever seen her move.
“I think she wants us to follow her,” Alex said. “I think she wants to help.”
The ghost nodded again and then floated off into the distance.
“Why are ghosts so passive-aggressive?” Conner asked.
“Let’s follow her,” Alex said with a shrug. “What do we have to lose?”
Conner eyed the ghost nervously. “You better not be taking us on a wild ghost chase!”
The twins followed the spirit through the trees and into the East. They had no idea where she was taking them or how long they would be gone, but the twins hoped wherever they were going, they would find the answers they needed.
It was a few hours past sunset and the magic harp had the tent all to herself. The twins had gone for a walk and the others were gathered around the campfire just outside, quietly talking among themselves.
The harp gazed through a tear in the tent at the trolls and goblins camping around her. Even though they had kidnapped her and forced her to play music, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for them. No creature deserved to have its home destroyed in such a merciless manner. She wished there was a way she could help the twins stop the Enchantress—except for the obvious one.
The Wand of Wonderment was resting on a tree stump on the ground in front of the harp. She had been keeping as much distance from the Wand as possible. Every time she saw it, a strange, alluring sensation swept through her, as if she was being magnetically drawn to it. The harp knew she was meant to be a part of the Wand—she just worried what her incorporation would cost her.
“So tragic,” said an airy voice in the tent. “I gave the Troll Queen a proper warning, so she only has herself to blame.”
The harp turned to see who had snuck into the tent behind her and she saw a face she hadn’t seen in more than a hundred years.
“Ezmia,” the harp said.
“Hello, Gloria,” the Enchantress said. “It’s been ages since the last time I saw you. You look wonderful—haven’t aged a day! Then again, I suppose that’s one of the perks of being made of gold.”
The harp was neither timid nor scared. Unbeknownst to the others, the harp and the Enchantress had a history together.
“You should know,” the harp said crossly. “Or has your memory spoiled as much as your soul? You’re the one who transformed me into this instrument.”
“Was that me?” Ezmia said and playfully gestured to herself.
“The Musician fell in love with me and left you. You turned me into an object and captured his soul so I would be forced to live forever and spend eternity without him.”
“How cruel,” Ezmia said. “Sounds like something I would do, though.”
If the harp had had tear ducts, Ezmia would have caused tears to roll down her golden face. “Why are you here, Ezmia?” the harp said. “Are you tallying all the lives you’ve ruined?”
The Enchantress smiled malevolently. “No, I came to see that expression on your face. I’ve waited over a hundred years to see those eyes fill with the bleakness of seeing your whole world crumble around you,” she said. “Because you were responsible for putting that same look into my eyes once.”
“You still blame me for the Musician’s mistake?” the harp said.
“Oh, please, the fault was shared,” Ezmia said. “You let him pursue you even though you knew it was breaking my heart. You didn’t think hurting me would have a consequence, because, like the rest of the world, you thought I was powerful in ability but weak in spirit.”
“And now are you satisfied?” the harp asked. “Now that you’ve shown the world the evil you’re capable of, have you found your peace?”
“I may not be fully satisfied yet, but I will be soon,” Ezmia said. “I have big plans for this world.”
The harp shook her head, almost pitying the Enchantress. “No, Ezmia, you’ll never be satisfied,” she said. “You think by robbing other people of their bliss you’ll find your own, but it doesn’t work that way. You’ll be searching for happiness your entire life but will never find it because you wouldn’t know what happiness was even if it scratched you in the face.”
The Enchantress’s eyes grew wide with anger. Her hair was rapidly flowing above her like an aggressive flame. The harp might have infuriated her, but she was delighted by the feeling. Ezmia smiled as her spirit absorbed the emotion and her body became stronger.
“Thank you,” Ezmia said. “I have a big day tomorrow and needed that extra boost. But one thing before I go—if I do search for bliss forever, I’m so glad you’ll be around to see it.”
The Enchantress vanished from the tent without a trace. The remark was like a knife in the heart to the harp. She couldn’t bear the thought of watching Ezmia’s wrath evolve for all time.
She looked down at the Wand of Wonderment and reached toward it. She was ready to sacrifice whatever she had to so Ezmia didn’t win.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE EIGHTH DWARF
Ahorrible storm moved through the Dwarf Forests. Rain poured down in massive amounts, trees bent in the violent wind, and thunder roared across the land. It was as if Mother Nature was mourning.
The Seven Dwarfs were nestled warmly in their cottage. They played a game of cards and enjoyed some hot cocoa at their table while they waited out the storm. It was almost midnight when an unexpected knock came from their door.
The dwarfs were very curious as to who would be visiting them so late in the night during such a harsh storm. In fact, the last person to knock on their door had been Queen Snow White herself when she was just a young princess trying to hide from the Evil Queen.
The Oldest Dwarf stood from the table and opened the door. He was taken aback by who their guest turned out to be. Standing on their doorstep, soaked to the bone in a dark cloak, was the Seven Dwarfs’ youngest brother.
“Hello,” Rumpelstiltskin said.
“Well, I’ll be an elf ’s mistress,” the Oldest Dwarf said. It had been one hundred and twenty-seven years since the dwarfs had seen their youngest brother.
“Rumpelstiltskin, is that you?” said the Shortest Dwarf, and he stood from the table.
“It’s me, brother,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “May I come in?”
The Oldest hesitated at first, but because the weather was so horrid he decided it would be cruel of him not to let his brother in. Rumpelstiltskin took a step inside his old home and the Oldest shut the door behind him.
“It’s a beast out there,” he said with a shiver. All seven of his brothers scowled at him, not welcoming his return home. “Playing with the old deck, I see. I always loved it when we played cards through a storm.”
His brothers stared at the floor or at their hand of cards, although none of them were playing anymore.
“I saw the smoke from your chimney,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “It guided me here through the storm. Thank goodness it did, otherwise I would still be out there trotting through the rain.”
“Why are you here?” the Largest Dwarf asked him.
Rumpelstiltskin looked at his hands while he formed the words. “I snuck away while the Enchantress was out. I’m sure you’ve heard, but she is taking over the world,” he said.
The Oldest Dwarf hooted under his breath
in disgust and had a seat at the table. Rumpelstiltskin knew it was aimed at him.
“She isn’t very clear about her plans for the Dwarf Forests, as it has no ruler to conquer, but I think she is planning on obliterating them completely,” he said. “I’m fairly close to her, as close as anyone could be, and was hoping with your permission I could ask her to spare you when she takes over.”
“And why would you do that?” asked the Thinnest Dwarf.
Rumpelstiltskin was hurt he had to be asked. “Because we’re family,” he said.
The Oldest angrily threw his cards on the table. “We were family,” he said. “You abandoned this family a long time ago when you decided we weren’t good enough for you. And what did you leave us for? To kidnap children for evil fairies? To spend a lifetime in prison? How dare you call yourself a dwarf or say the word family under this roof! Mother and Father would be ashamed of you if they were still alive.”
Rumpelstiltskin lowered his head. “I was so unhappy,” he said. “I didn’t know what I wanted; I just knew it wasn’t the life of a miner.”
“So, have you found it, then?” the Shortest Dwarf asked. “Is running around doing the evil Enchantress’s grunt work been everything you were hoping for?”
Rumpelstiltskin closed his eyes; he was hoping the conversation wouldn’t get to this.
“I’m sorry for the embarrassment I brought to this family,” he said. “And believe me, not a day goes by that I don’t wish to erase the past. I would love nothing more than to get rid of my affiliation with her, but I’m afraid I can’t, all because of one mistake I made years ago.”
The Oldest Dwarf shuffled his cards. “Well, it was your mistake and not ours,” he said. “We’ll have nothing to do with it. You can tell the Enchantress that we would rather die than live in a world ruled by her.”
Rumpelstiltskin looked to his other brothers but the answer seemed to be unanimous.
“I see,” he said. “Well, at least I tried.”
He headed to the door and pulled it open. The strong winds from outside instantly filled the cottage. Rumpelstiltskin turned back to his brothers before he left; he had one final thing to say.