“I’m sorry I could never be the brother you wanted,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “But one day I’ll make things right between us. One day I’ll be a brother you can be proud of.”
Rumpelstiltskin stepped into the storm and shut the cottage door behind him, knowing it could very well be the last thing he ever said to them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
THE LADY OF THE EAST
The twins followed the ghost for hours and hours across the land. They traveled through a series of forests, over streams, and across grassy hills as they voyaged farther and farther, following the spirit into the East. Occasionally the ghost would look back at the twins to make sure they were still following her and wait for them to catch up before proceeding.
Eventually, they arrived at a large river that marked the Eastern Kingdom’s border. At least, the twins assumed it was the border, since everything on the opposite side was consumed in thornbushes and vines.
“She’s crazy if she thinks we’re going in there,” Conner said.
The Lady of the East floated upstream to a large maple tree. She lingered by its roots until the twins met her there. She pointed to the ground and the twins saw a small circular door hidden in the dirt. Conner pulled it open and discovered a ladder leading down into a narrow tunnel.
“It’s a secret passage!” Alex said.
“Are we supposed to go in there?” Conner asked the ghost.
The Lady of the East slowly nodded her head. She retracted into a small, ghostly orb and flew into the passage. Alex and Conner followed her, cautiously making their way down the ladder. The tunnel was dark and dingy. The orb gave off the only light, and the twins followed it like the North Star as it continued leading them east underground.
The dirt surrounding them became moist and muddy as they traveled below the river.
“She seems to know where she’s going,” Conner said.
“This must be a secret entrance into the Eastern Kingdom,” Alex said. “Something tells me we’re the only ones who have been in here for a very long time.”
There were no footprints or a single insect or rodent in sight. The twins were led through the tunnel for miles and miles. Their feet grew tired and ached a little more with every step.
“Are we there yet?” Conner asked the orb, but he didn’t get an answer.
Finally, the tunnel came to an end at another ladder. Alex and Conner climbed up the ladder and peeked through another circular door above it. They pushed the door open and climbed out of the passage.
The twins found themselves in a square room with hay covering the ground and spacious wooden stalls built around the walls.
“Looks like we’re in a stable,” Conner said.
“Then where are all the horses?” Alex asked.
The orb expanded back into the Lady of the East. She glided across the stable and through a pair of open wooden doors. Alex and Conner followed her again, peering through the doors before walking through them. They found a stone spiral staircase that twisted high above them.
“Conner, I think we’re in Sleeping Beauty’s castle,” Alex said.
The Lady of the East glared at them from the stairs.
“We’re coming, we’re coming,” Conner said.
The twins followed the ghost up the stone steps, climbing higher and higher into the castle. They finally reached one of the highest floors and followed the Lady of the East down a hallway with stained-glass windows. The windows were dark, though—as if something was covering them from the other side.
They passed a window with an unobstructed view and looked out at the rest of the castle and the land surrounding it. Alex shrieked and grabbed her brother’s arm.
“Oh my gosh,” she said and covered her mouth.
“Whoa,” Conner said under his breath.
The castle was so consumed by the Enchantress’s plants it looked like it was one large plant itself. The thornbushes and vines had wrapped around the castle, leaving nothing uncovered. The twins saw soldiers and servants and villagers spread across the land with vines coiled around them like serpents covering their prey. Some were pinned to the ground, while others were suspended hundreds of feet in the air over the castle—like ornaments on a monstrous Christmas tree.
“You don’t see something like that every day,” Conner said softly.
The twins turned to the Lady of the East. She floated farther down the hall and phased through a door. Alex and Conner opened the door and walked into the room, but the ghost had vanished. They looked around at the room they had just entered, and a large luxurious four-poster bed pushed against the wall caught their eye—they were in the king and queen’s chambers.
“Who are you?” a deep voice called out. King Chase was seated by a fireplace, keeping warm. The twins jumped when they saw him.
“So sorry to disturb you!” Alex said. “We didn’t realize we were walking into your private chambers.”
The king studied them curiously. “How did you get into the castle?” he asked.
“We were following someone,” Alex said.
“Who?” King Chase asked.
Neither of the twins had an answer. “Well, we’re not sure who she is exactly,” Alex said.
“A pushy ghost, that’s who,” Conner said under his breath. “She led us through a secret tunnel.”
The twins expected the king to look at them like they were crazy, but he did the opposite. “A ghost?” King Chase said. “Is this ghost by chance the spirit of a woman with a flower in her hair?”
“Yes!” Alex said. “Do you know who she is?”
King Chase nodded. “You must have been following the ghost of Old Queen Beauty. She’s been haunting this castle for years.”
“Queen Beauty?” Conner asked with a confused face. “But we just saw your wife last week—she’s alive.”
King Chase rested his head on the back of his chair and let out a long sigh of relief. “I am glad to hear that,” he said. “I haven’t seen or heard from her since she fled the castle—no one has been able to get in or out since the plants attacked.”
“So there are two Queen Beautys?” Conner asked.
King Chase stood and walked to a portrait on the wall. It was of a beautiful woman—unmistakably the Lady of the East when she had been alive.
“The ghost is the spirit of my wife’s grandmother, Queen Beauty the First, who she was named after,” King Chase explained. “Historically speaking, my wife is Queen Beauty the Second; the world just knows her as Sleeping Beauty.”
“That’s why she looked so familiar,” Conner said. “Sleeping Beauty looks just like her grandmother!”
“The ghost only reveals herself to people she thinks can help in a time of need,” King Chase said and eyed the twins. “I should know—I would have never kissed Sleeping Beauty and broken the sleeping curse if Queen Beauty hadn’t been there to guide me to this castle.”
“Interesting,” Alex said and studied the portrait.
Beside it was another painting of Queen Beauty standing next to a large animal of some kind. It had thick fur, large claws, and a mane like a lion’s.
Wait a second—Beauty ! Alex thought. “Is Old Queen Beauty the Beauty from the story of Beauty and the Beast?”
“Indeed,” said a woman’s voice. The twins and King Chase turned to see the ghost of Old Queen Beauty floating toward them. “I came to live in the castle when I was a very young woman. I was meant to settle my father’s debt with a king cursed to live as hideous beast, but when I fell in love with him the curse was lifted and he became human again.”
The twins froze. “You can talk?” Conner asked. “Might have been nice if you explained some of this the first time you scared the crap out of us!”
“I apologize for my methods getting you here,” Beauty said. “I can only speak when I am in my old home.”
Alex was fascinated by the heritage and silently thought on it, trying to make sense of it all.
“So there were two curses
in this castle broken by an act of love,” Alex said. “What a coincidence.”
“That is not a coincidence at all, I’m afraid,” Beauty said. “The curses were cast by the same person. Ezmia.”
Both the twins shook their head in disbelief. They weren’t expecting this twist in the story.
“Hold on,” Conner said. “Ezmia is who turned your husband into the beast?”
The ghost nodded somberly. “Yes,” she said. “You see, Ezmia fell in love with my husband long before I met him. When he could not reciprocate her love, she cursed him, thinking no one could ever love a beast.”
“And then you broke the spell and years later she cursed your granddaughter,” Alex asked.
“Guess she didn’t like the name Beauty,” Conner said with a shrug.
“The Enchantress has cursed every generation of my family,” Beauty told them. “She bewitched my son into desiring a wife who could spin hay into gold. He eventually found a maiden who claimed to do so, but only because she made a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to do it for her.”
“And Rumpelstiltskin was working for Ezmia at the time,” Conner said, piecing everything together. “He spun the hay into gold in exchange for her firstborn child.”
“Wait, there’s a theme in Ezmia’s attacks on your family,” Alex said. “They all involve a spinning wheel. But why?”
“Before I came to live in the castle with the beast, my sisters and I spun thread in the village nearby,” Beauty said. “Ezmia couldn’t stand the fact that my husband chose to love a spinner rather than a great fairy like herself. She has forced the spinning wheel upon my family since.”
“That takes a lot of effort,” Conner said. “Why would she put so much energy into cursing your family because of something that happened so long ago?”
The twins could almost see a small smile appear on the ghost’s face—the twins were following her story perfectly.
“Because the Enchantress, above all things, values her pride,” Beauty said. “And my family has always been a reminder of Ezmia’s greatest loss and embarrassment.”
The twins felt their hearts skip a beat.
“Her pride!” Alex said. “That’s it! That’s the Enchantress’s most prized possession!”
“That’s why you brought us here, isn’t it?” Conner asked Beauty. “You knew what we needed!”
The ghost of Old Queen Beauty nodded again. King Chase was just as caught up in her story as the twins were—still learning things about the family he married into.
“I have a question,” King Chase said. “Is that why you haunt this castle still? Because you’re protecting your family against the Enchantress?”
The ghost dismally lowered her head. “In her scheme to take over the world, the Enchantress imprisoned my husband’s soul just as she has your grandmother,” Beauty said to the twins. “I’ve walked the earth waiting for his soul to be free so I can be reunited with him on the other side.”
“What’s up with all the souls?” Conner asked. “Can’t she collect stamps or antiques like a normal person?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have the answer to that question,” Beauty said. “But I’ve asked someone who will to join us.”
The ghost of Old Queen Beauty gestured behind them to the fireplace. Another spirit stepped out from the smoke of the tiny flames. It was the ghost of a short woman who wore a hooded cloak and walked hunched over with a cane. Her face was so wrinkled she looked like a log. She had an incredibly small nose with an enormous mole next to it.
The twins knew who she was without any introduction. Their father had described her perfectly in the journal they followed a year ago.
“Hagatha?” Alex asked. “Is that you?”
“Aye,” Hagatha said and slowly made her way closer to them.
“Do you know why the Enchantress is collecting souls?” Conner cautiously asked her.
“Aye,” Hagatha said. “It’s what she needs to create a portal into the Otherworld.”
“What?!” Alex asked breathlessly. “What do you mean, ‘the Otherworld’?”
“The Enchantress never wanted just this world, she always planned on taking over the Otherworld as well,” Hagatha said. “It’s her home—it’s where she was born. It’s where her family was killed.”
The twins couldn’t believe what they were hearing. As if the stakes weren’t high enough already, learning that the Enchantress wanted to take over their world, too, made them sick to their stomachs. Their quest suddenly became a mission to save two worlds.
The mayhem she could cause in the Otherworld would be catastrophic compared to the havoc she had committed here.
“But our grandmother is the only person who can travel between worlds,” Alex said.
Hagatha and Beauty exchanged a remorseful look. “There is another way,” Hagatha said. “It’s something I learned when I was a young witch. It was such an extreme spell I never thought anyone would be crazy enough to attempt it—until I met Ezmia.”
“And you gave it to her?” Alex asked.
“I met her when she was still a fairy in good standing,” Hagatha said in her own defense. “She had been heartbroken a number of times and asked me if I knew how to create a portal so she could go home to the Otherworld. And, not thinking much of it, I made the biggest mistake of my life—I told her.”
“What was it?” Conner asked.
Hagatha let out a long sigh. “To travel into the Otherworld you must first master the seven deadly sins of this world and conquer its past, present, and future,” she said.
It was the most intense collecting spell the twins had ever heard of. “She has to master the seven deadly sins?” Alex asked.
“And conquer this world’s past, present, and future?” Conner said. “How does someone do that?”
“Ezmia has spent a long time figuring it out, and unfortunately she’s very close to completing it,” Hagatha said.
“What are the seven deadly sins again?” Conner asked his sister.
Alex had to think about it. “Lust, envy, pride, greed, gluttony, sloth, and wrath, I believe,” she said.
Conner gulped. “Sounds like the Enchantress, all right,” he said. “And you said she’s close to accomplishing all of that, Hagatha?”
The ghost of the old witch nodded. “Ezmia has imprisoned the souls of her former loves to signify her lust. She strips others of their happiness to signify her envy. Having Rumpelstiltskin under her command connotes her sloth. And as she slowly takes over this world with greed and gluttony, the world is exposed to the Enchantress’s wrath, satisfying her pride,” Hagatha said.
“But how is she conquering this world’s past, present, and future?” Alex asked.
“By destroying the kingdom’s historical landmarks the Enchantress conquers the past,” Hagatha explained. “By forcing the rulers to hand over their thrones willingly, Ezmia undeniably holds the power over the present. And by kidnapping the heir to a throne of man and the heir to a throne of magic, she encompasses the future.”
The twins bobbed their heads up and down as they followed along. They looked to King Chase but he was having an even harder time comprehending it all. Every move Ezmia had made from the very beginning had been carefully calculated.
“Princess Hope is the heir to a throne of man,” Conner said. “That’s why Ezmia kidnapped her and tried kidnapping Sleeping Beauty as a baby!”
“But who is the heir to the throne of magic?” Alex asked.
“That is where the Enchantress has made her greatest mistake,” Hagatha said, happy to tell them about one advantage they had over the Enchantress. “She has taken the wrong person.”
The twins didn’t understand what she was telling them at first. Conner looked to his sister as it slowly dawned on him. Alex realized everyone in the room was looking at her.
“Me?” Alex asked and pointed to herself. “That’s why the Enchantress wanted to kidnap me? She thinks I’m some sort of heir to magic?”
“
Technically, you are the Fairy Godmother’s only heir,” Conner said.
“You’re her grandchild, too,” Alex reminded him. “Shouldn’t you qualify as much as me?”
Conner shook his head. “Come on, Alex,” he said. “You know I’ve never wanted to be a fairy. This has always been your thing.”
Alex shook her head and looked to the floor, not wanting to believe it. “No, there has to be some sort of mistake,” she said. “I want to be a fairy as much as the next girl—but I can’t be the next Fairy Godmother.”
“Didn’t the unicorns bow to you when you came to this world?” Beauty asked.
“Well, yes, but what does that have to do with anything?” Alex asked.
“The unicorns only bow to those that magic is strong with,” Hagatha said. “Ezmia knew that if anyone could stop her, it would be another woman of both worlds with magic in her blood.”
“Which is why Grandma made such a big deal about protecting us,” Conner said. “She knew Ezmia would be coming after you! I bet she’s known you were going to fill her shoes since you activated her Land of Stories book.”
Alex kept trying to deny it to herself, but what they were saying was making sense. It was such a huge reality to face, but an even bigger burden to bear. Had the situation been different, it would have been the most wonderful news she had ever heard in her life, but they were talking as if she was now single-handedly responsible for defeating the Enchantress.
“You have to get back to the others,” said another voice in the room. They all turned to see a third ghost appear. She was young and pretty, but shy and kept her distance. There was something about her presence and her voice that was so familiar to the twins, but they had so many things to think about, they couldn’t think exactly who she reminded them of.
“This room is getting more crowded by the minute,” Conner said. “Who are you?”
The new ghost took a moment to answer, as if she wanted to remain anonymous. “They called me Gloria when I was alive,” she said, but quickly changed the subject. “You’ve been gone for hours and your friends have started to worry. The Enchantress is planning another attack soon—you must return to them and finish building the Wand.”