“Wait, how do you know about the Wand?” Conner asked.
The ghost of Gloria went quiet. “I know you are much closer to finishing it than you think,” she said softly, almost sad to say it. “Now you must hurry—Ezmia is planning to strike very soon.”
“She’s right,” Beauty said. She floated past the twins and headed to the door. “It’s time you headed back to the troll and goblin camp.”
The twins nodded, not wanting to cause Bob and the others to worry any more than they had already.
“Children,” King Chase said before they left his room, “if you see my wife, please tell her I love her.”
“No,” Conner said. “But you can tell her yourself when you see her next.”
He and King Chase shared a hopeful smile.
“Best of luck to you both,” the king said.
The twins followed the ghost of Old Queen Beauty out of the room. She escorted them down the spiral staircase, through the stables, and into the secret passage. The twins ran down through the tunnel as fast as they could, reaching the other ladder in half the time it took them to get there.
They quickly hurried through the trees, over the streams, and across the hills and finally reached the woods alongside the campsite as the sun began to rise. They turned back to the ghost of Old Queen Beauty.
“Thank you,” Alex said. “You helped us so much.”
The ghost silently nodded her head and then disappeared. They could tell she was just as grateful to them as they were to her.
The twins ran through the campsite and found Bob and Froggy sitting at the campfire outside the tent.
“That was the longest walk I’ve ever heard of!” Bob exclaimed when he saw them. “Where have you been?”
“We were worried sick!” Froggy said and leaped to his feet.
“We were in the Eastern Kingdom,” Conner panted. “We have so much to tell you guys!”
Alex looked around. “Where is everyone, anyway?” she asked.
Froggy and Bob looked to each other with sorrowful eyes. The twins instantly knew something bad must have happened while they were gone.
“What’s wrong?” Conner asked.
Froggy didn’t know how to explain. “Come have a look for yourselves,” he said.
He led the twins inside the tent. Inside the twins saw Jack kneeling sadly on the ground; Goldilocks was standing at his side, gently rubbing his back. Red sat next to Jack and cuddled Clawdius tightly in her arms.
“What happened?” Alex asked.
“It’s the harp,” Goldilocks said. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Conner asked.
“She’s part of the Wand now,” Jack said. “We came into the tent and found it like this.”
Jack was clutching the Wand of Wonderment. It had a shiny new golden tint to it now—the exact shade of the harp.
Red used part of Goldilocks’s coat as a handkerchief to blow her nose. “Poor dear,” she said. “I suppose the singer has taken her final bow.”
“I never thought we would lose her completely to it,” Jack said, fighting back the emotion that suddenly rushed through him. “I wish we could have had more time to figure out a better way.”
Alex and Conner looked to each other and knew exactly what the other was thinking.
“Gloria,” Conner whispered to Alex. “The harp’s name was Gloria.”
Alex watched over her sad friends and took a step toward them, deciding now was the best time to tell them what they had learned from the spirits in Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
“The harp’s loss won’t be in vain,” she said. “We finally know what we need to defeat the Enchantress.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
ROCK, ROOT, AND RAGE
The golden arches and pillars of the Fairy Palace could barely contain the anxieties growing inside them. The seven colorful fairies of the Fairy Council paced around the main hall away from their respected podiums, desperately trying to come up with an overdue solution to the crisis at hand.
“A whole territory has been destroyed!” Xanthous said. The flames on his head and shoulders were flickering wildly. “We need to find her!”
“Every corner of every kingdom has been searched twice, and there still is no trace of her,” said Emerelda.
“But what would we do if we found her?” Skylene asked. “We’re no match for the Enchantress.”
“Our magic is useless against hers,” Rosette added. “And she grows more powerful every day.”
“But we must do something—anything!” Xanthous demanded. “The world is counting on us!”
Tangerina had grown tired of his complaining; even her bees were irritated and flew around her beehive with their stingers out. “Then why don’t you think of something to do?” she said. “We’ve all been in here for days trying to come up with a practical solution—it’s not like we’re keeping anything from you.”
“If we can’t come up with a practical solution, then I suggest we come up with an impractical solution,” Xanthous halfheartedly suggested. “Let’s fight her at her own game. Who cares about honoring our fairy values?”
The flames on Xanthous’s shoulders flickered faster as he thought about it.
“The world has always looked to us to handle its troubles with peace and understanding. We cannot abandon those morals now—that’s what the Enchantress wants,” Emerelda said. “You can’t extinguish a fire by adding more flame. You of all people should know that, Xanthous.”
“Then if we can’t use our magic to stop her, let’s gather all the witches and warlocks from the Dwarf Forests and Pinocchio Prison and have them defeat her!” he proposed.
Emerelda massaged her forehead. “You want to set loose the witches and warlocks that we imprisoned?” she asked him.
Xanthous’s flames diminished and he slumped. She didn’t have to elaborate for him to realize how bad an idea this was.
“Any more bright ideas?” Tangerina asked him.
Xanthous turned to respond to her but had nothing to say. They were at a dead end.
“What if we can’t come up with an answer?” Coral asked in a tiny voice, cuddling her pet walking fish. “Will all of us perish if we can’t stop her?”
The situation had finally reached a point that forced them to consider the consequences of failing. Emerelda eyed her fellow fairies, angered by their sudden hopelessness.
“Shame on all of you,” Emerelda said and walked around the room. She stared directly into each of their eyes as she passed them. “We are the Fairy Council—if we lose our hope, all hope for the rest of the world is as good as gone. We cannot spend a moment humoring thoughts of failure. As long as someone remains standing with a noble heart there will always be a way for good to triumph over evil.”
The other fairies looked around at one another, inspired by Emerelda’s words. Moments like these were the reason why Emerelda was the head of the Fairy Council.
A small magenta flame abruptly appeared on the floor of the main hall. It came out of thin air and didn’t appear to be burning anything but the air around it. Emerelda gazed down at it and cautiously stepped away. “Brace yourselves,” she said, and her green eyes grew large. “We’re about to have company.”
With a giant blast, the purple flame rapidly grew into a roaring magenta fire that covered the majority of the room. The fairies screamed and shielded themselves from the blaze. A split second later, the flames vanished and the Enchantress appeared.
The fairies froze with fear. Ezmia always knew how to make an entrance.
“It’s good to be home!” Ezmia laughed and looked around the room at all the frightened faces of her old peers. “For people who thought I was dead, you never look happy to see me.”
Emerelda was the only fairy brave enough to address her. “Why have you come here, Ezmia?”
The Enchantress ignored the question. “Oh, look,” Ezmia said happily. She strutted to a forgotten golden chair that had been pu
shed to the side of the room. “It’s my old seat from when I was on the Fairy Council. Remember those days?”
“You’ve certainly shown your true colors since,” Emerelda said.
“You act as if you’re all so faultless,” Ezmia sneered. “I can see right through that pathetic façade of a perfect loving family. I know how spiteful you can be when no one is looking. I sat in this room for hours every day trying to make the world a better place just as much as the rest of you—but why did you target me with your cruelty? Why was I treated so poorly by the people who were supposed to be perfect?”
“Because you became vindictive,” Emerelda said.
“No,” Ezmia said and shook her head. “It was because I became better. I was more powerful, more gifted, and more liked than any of you could ever be. When the Fairy Godmother announced me as her heir, you acted as if I had done something horrible to you. She put me on a pedestal and you all isolated me there.”
“As your ability grew, so did your ego,” Emerelda said. “You thought you were above us—you even renounced your title as a fairy.”
“You’re the ones who renounced me long before I ever did,” Ezmia said and glared at her. “You ignored me, excluded me, and hated me from the minute I arrived. The world may be convinced you had nothing to do with my change of career, but I will always know the truth. You made it impossible for me to be anything but disdained.”
The Enchantress ran a finger on the arm of her old chair, remembering all the painful memories of her time as a fairy.
“The cruelest thing you can do to someone is force them to hurt alone—and you left me hurting on my own many times,” Ezmia said. “Every time I was heartbroken, I would go to the rest of you hoping to receive some compassion, but you let your jealousies get in the way of showing any sympathy. You actually enjoyed watching me suffer, relishing the fact that something was distressing me.”
Emerelda surprised the Enchantress and the other fairies with what she said next—she didn’t deny it.
“I admit that even we were guilty of being less than perfect at times,” Emerelda said. “But as we’ve grown from our mistakes, your mistakes have only grown.”
Ezmia snorted and slowly clapped in Emerelda’s direction. “Touché,” the Enchantress said. “You managed to admit you were wrong and scold me in one breath. You’re good at this leadership thing, Em. No wonder they replaced me with you.”
“I was not a replacement,” Emerelda said. “You were never what this council needed.”
“No, I was never what this council wanted,” Ezmia said sharply. “They chose you, Emerelda, because you were more beautiful, and the world always listens to a pretty face over an average one. And even though I changed my appearance and gained beauty over time, they still chose you over me because you were easier to control. You were the Fairy Godmother’s puppet I could never be.”
Emerelda returned her scornful stare. “I’d rather be a toy than a tyrant, Ezmia,” she said. “But I’m assuming you didn’t come here to reminisce, so what brings you to our kingdom?”
A small grin appeared on the Enchantress’s face. She was delighted to get a rise out of the fairy.
“The truth is, I’ve become rather bored waiting for you and the other rulers to gradually hand their kingdoms over to me,” Ezmia said, taking a seat on her old chair. “I’ve decided to invite them all to the new home I’m building for myself and get it all over with. I’m anxious for this whole thing to conclude as much as you all are.”
“None of us are going anywhere with you,” Xanthous said, and his flames rose.
A cunning smirk grew on the Enchantress’s face. “Oh yes, you are,” Ezmia said. “It’s not an option.”
The Enchantress snapped her fingers and the ground started to rumble with the power of a dozen earthquakes. All the fairies looked to one another, petrified of what was coming their way. Clusters of vines exploded out of the floor and seized the fairies in the room.
They desperately tried to free themselves—struggling against the plants with all their might and all their magic, but it was no use. The plants were too strong to escape. Ezmia roared with laughter as she watched the vines coil around each Fairy Council member and drag them into the ground.
Emerelda sank her hands into the ground to prevent the vines from dragging her away. “You won’t win, Ezmia,” she said.
“Oh, but I will,” the Enchantress said, looking down at her with a smile in her eyes. “You see, I’m finally building my own pedestal. But this time, rather than admiration, I’m building it from rock, root, and rage.”
Things were gloomy as ever at the Charming Palace. All the other rulers had gone home after the Happily Ever After Assembly meeting except for Sleeping Beauty, who had no choice but to stay. She sat with Cinderella in her chambers, quietly comforting the distraught mother.
“It’s been almost two weeks since that horrible woman took my daughter away from me,” Cinderella said. “I never thought I could feel like this inside. I never thought I could be so miserable.”
Sleeping Beauty dabbed the tears spilling from her friend’s tired eyes.
“You have to stay strong, Cinderella,” Sleeping Beauty said. “We have to be brave for our people.”
Cinderella blew her nose into a handkerchief. “But who is supposed to be brave for us at a time like this?” she asked. “When the rest of the world is looking to us for strength and guidance, who do we look up to for reassurance?”
Sleeping Beauty gently took Cinderella’s hand in her own. “We have to inspire each other,” she said.
Cinderella patted her friend’s hand and placed her head on Sleeping Beauty’s shoulder. There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Cinderella said.
Sir Lampton stepped into the queen’s chambers. His face was so long the queens knew he wasn’t bearing good news.
“What is it, Sir Lampton?” Cinderella asked, bracing herself for whatever it was.
“More bad news, I’m afraid, Your Majesty,” he said. “I just received a letter from Sir Grant in the Northern Kingdom. Apparently the Enchantress attacked the Northern Kingdom last night after attacking Troll and Goblin Territory. They woke up this morning to discover all their crops have been poisoned.”
“Dear God,” Sleeping Beauty said and placed a hand on her chest. “Does the Enchantress have no soul?”
“Queen Snow White has asked that we send what we can,” Lampton added.
“Yes, of course,” Cinderella said. “Gather as much food as the kingdom can spare—”
The ground under the palace began to shake. Cinderella’s chambers rattled as something moved through the palace toward her chambers.
“What on earth?” Lampton said, staring down at the floor as it began to crack under his feet. He retrieved his sword, although it was useless against what was coming.
Vines burst through the floor and slithered up to Queen Cinderella and Queen Sleeping Beauty. They wrapped around them and dragged them back from where they had come from. Sir Lampton tried rescuing the queens but it had all happened too quickly to prevent.
He looked through the cracks in the floor; he could see the vines dragging the screaming queens several floors through the palace and into the ground where they disappeared out of sight.
The ground began to rumble again, this time not from something directly below the palace but from something much farther in the distance. Lampton ran over the cracks to a window to see what was causing all the commotion.
Miles away, in the northern part of the Charming Kingdom, a gargantuan pillar made of rock, roots, and dirt emerged from the ground and rocketed into the air. The land cracked and elevated unevenly for miles and miles around it. The pillar grew higher and higher, only stopping once it had reached the clouds.
A massive coliseum was on the top of the pillar, constructed of enormous jagged stones shaped like arrowheads. Vines and thornbushes grew up the sides of the pillar, taking with them all the rulers they
had seized from around the world.
The Enchantress sat in the center of the coliseum on her old Fairy Council chair like it was a throne. The plants arrived with her guests and pinned them around to the walls at various heights and angles around her. The abducted kings, queens, and fairies were now prisoners in Ezmia’s vengeful, earthy web.
True to her word, the Enchantress had built herself a pedestal made of the deepest parts of the earth, powered by the deepest anger of her soul.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
THE ENCHANTRESS’S MOST PRIZED POSSESSION
The ground began to tremble and quake under the campsite.
“What’s happening?!” Conner yelled.
“It’s the Enchantress!” Alex screamed. “She’s starting her final attack!”
As if tiny explosions were being set off around the camp, bouquets of devilish vines burst through the ground and slithered through the site. They knocked over tents and people as they moved—as if they were searching for something.
Jack and Goldilocks immediately drew their weapons and began slicing the demonic plants, but there were too many of them to fight off.
“Help!” The twins heard a high-pitched scream behind them. They turned around and saw the vines tangle around Red and attempt to drag her back into the ground with them. “Someone help me!”
Jack and Froggy both ran to her, throwing themselves on the ground and reaching a hand toward her. Red was almost all the way underground.… Only one of her hands was free. She looked to Jack and then to Froggy. If these were the last moments of her life, she had to decide right then and there who she wanted to spend them with.…
Red grabbed hold of Froggy’s hand. He was shocked to see her hand land in his.
“You chose me…” Froggy said, looking into her eyes. Both of them recognized the significance of this moment.