Alex couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “But you’re the girls I grew up reading about,” she said. “I used to pretend I was you when I was little. All I ever wanted was to be one of you and escape into my own magical world.…”
“Sounds like you got what you wanted,” Alice said.
Alex lowered her head and looked at the floor. Alice was right, but it was impossible for Alex to be happy about it anymore.
“What’s the matter, dear?” Wendy asked.
Alex sighed. “I used to think of the Land of Stories as a paradise; it was my own personal safe haven,” she told them. “But now an evil enchantress has taken over all the kingdoms.”
“Oh my,” said Lucy. “Sounds like the White Witch!”
“Worse,” Alex said, and put it into terms they could understand. “She’s got the White Witch’s greed, the Wicked Witch of the West’s anger, the Queen of Hearts’ temper, and Captain Hook’s vengeance.”
All the girls shook their heads and showed their sympathy.
“That’s horrible,” Wendy said.
“Greed, and anger, and temper, oh my!” Dorothy said. “Can you melt her?”
“I wish,” Alex said with a laugh.
“Can Aslan prance on her?” Lucy asked.
“No, unfortunately,” Alex said.
“Can you feed her to a crocodile?” Wendy asked.
“I don’t think so,” Alex said.
“But then how are you going to defeat her?” Alice asked.
“My friends and I are building a powerful wand,” Alex said. She excitedly reached for the satchel to show them, but it wasn’t around her shoulder. “Oh no, where’s my wand? I just had it a second ago.”
She moved the lantern around, scanning the ground of the cave looking for a place she may have dropped it. The other girls giggled at her attempts. Alex looked up at them and slowly realized why they found her efforts so amusing.
“Is this a dream or am I dead?” she asked.
“Of course it’s a dream,” Lucy said.
“Why else do you think we’re here?” Alice asked.
“I hope a big cave isn’t what you think heaven looks like,” Dorothy said.
Alex was happy to hear it. “The last thing I remember was being blasted into the sky,” she said. “But how did I survive the fall?”
“Did your wand save you?” Lucy asked.
“Of course!” Alex exclaimed. “The Wand makes whoever is holding it invincible! It was in my hand the entire time! The Enchantress didn’t kill me after all!”
The girls cheered, but then Dorothy went silent.
“Are you going to kill the Enchantress with the Wand now?” Dorothy asked.
Alex hadn’t really thought about that. She had been so concerned with getting the Wand finished, she had never thought about what she would do after the Wand was made. How was she going to go about defeating the Enchantress with the Wand? Was she going to have to kill her with it? Was Alex even capable of killing someone? She always figured Jack or Goldilocks would do it if that was what was needed.
“I suppose I don’t have a choice,” Alex said.
“I’d recommend finding another way if there is one,” Dorothy said with a sad look on her face. “Even though melting the witch was an accident, I’ve felt awful about it ever since.”
What Dorothy said resonated with Alex more than she was letting on. She didn’t want to hurt anyone—but how could she stop Ezmia without killing her? Would Ezmia just find another way to cheat death like she had after Evly poisoned her?
“I don’t have to necessarily kill Ezmia,” Alex said, thinking out loud. “I just have to take away her powers… and her powers come from a place of hate and anger… so if I took away the reasons that validated her right to be angry… she would be powerless!”
Alex excitedly jumped up and down, pleased to have come up with an alternative way. The girls clapped for her.
“Violence is never the answer,” Wendy said. “I always try to tell John and Michael that when they play in the nursery, but they never listen to me.”
“When you figure out how to take away her hate and anger, would you let me know?” Alice asked. “I’d like to know in case I run into the Queen of Hearts again.”
Alex went silent as the wheels in her head were turning. “I think I know how to do it,” she said and her eyes darted back and forth from one side to the other. “And I may not even need the Wand to do it after all…”
“So you just finished a huge journey only to find out what you needed was with you all along?” Dorothy asked. “Been there.”
Alex thought about it. The Wand might not have been the solution, but it was still useful; it still had saved her life. It had also given them hope, and without that they would have been lost for sure.
She looked up at the girls and around the cave. “Now I understand the meaning of this dream,” she said. “Deep down I knew I could never kill the Enchantress, so I was searching for another way. The cave represents my questioning and you represent the answer—because ever since I was a little girl I’ve always thought about you when I had a problem.”
“Why is that?” Alice asked her.
“I suppose I’ve learned so much from you,” Alex said. “I always wanted to be as loving as Wendy, or as curious as Alice, or as brave as Lucy, or as adventurous as Dorothy—I always saw a little bit of myself when I read about each of you.”
All the girls smiled at her. “We’re happy we could help,” Lucy said.
“And we’ll always be here if you need us,” Wendy said.
Alex nodded thankfully to them.
“Is there anything else on your mind we could help you with?” Dorothy asked. “Since we happen to be lingering in your subconscious?”
“Actually, now that you mention it, there is something I’ve always wanted to ask you if I ever got the chance,” Alex said. She didn’t know what had caused her to believe she would ever have the chance to ask literary characters a question, but she asked them nonetheless. “After seeing amazing magical places like Neverland, Oz, Narnia, and Wonderland, why did you ever want to leave?”
The girls looked to one another; they had never been asked the question before, at least in Alex’s mind.
“Because no matter where you go or what you see, you’ll always want to be where you belong,” Lucy said.
“Your home is where you feel most comfortable and loved,” Wendy said.
“It’s a part of you,” Alice added. “It’s where your family is.”
“There’s no place like home,” Dorothy said, as if it was the first time she’d ever said those words.
Alex appreciated what they had to say, but wasn’t sure if she entirely agreed. “I wonder, though, if home sometimes isn’t where you’re from,” she said.
The girls looked at her as if she had already answered her own question. Alex wondered if that had been the real question lingering in her mind all along.
“Alex? Alex?” said a familiar voice. Alex looked all around the cave but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
“What’s happening?” Alex asked the girls, but they had disappeared.
“Alex! Are you hurt? Please wake up!” the voice pleaded, and the more it did, the more the cave around her disappeared.
Alex awoke on the ground; this time she was outside. She saw the sky and the tops of trees above her, as well as the face of a concerned and balding man looking down at her.
“Bob?” Alex asked and sat up.
“You’re alive!” Bob said with teary eyes and hugged her. “It’s a miracle! I just saw you fall from the sky! You might be in shock—let me check your heart!”
Bob grabbed hold of Alex’s wrist and checked her pulse. “I wonder if there’s an intensive care unit somewhere in this kingdom,” he said.
“Bob, I’m fine—look,” Alex said. Her hand was still clutching the Wand. “It’s the Wand of Wonderment! I was holding on to it and it saved me!”
&nb
sp; Bob looked at her like she was speaking a different language. “Is it wrong that I’m still surprised by all of this?”
Alex jumped to her feet. She could see the Enchantress’s pillar in the distance. The sky above it was filling more and more with the black smoke from the fire.
“I’ve got to get back there,” Alex said.
“Back there?” Bob asked in amazement. “Wait—are you telling me that’s where you fell from?”
“Yes, and now I have to get back,” Alex said. “I just don’t have time to go by foot.”
“Then how are you supposed to get there?” Bob said.
Alex looked down at the Wand and then back to him. “I think I have an idea,” she said, and a sly smile appeared on her face.
Bob backed away from her. “I don’t like the turn this conversation has suddenly taken,” he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE GREATEST MAGIC OF ALL
The Enchantress frantically paced back and forth in front of her throne. Her hair anxiously swayed above her. “Say it again!” she demanded.
“But I’ve already said it ten times,” Red said, still kneeling before the fire.
“You will say it one hundred times if that’s what I ask of you!” Ezmia yelled.
Red did what she was told. “I, Queen Red of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom, give my kingdom to you,” she said.
Ezmia looked at the fire and waited for a change, but it remained the same—just as high and just as strong. The Enchantress slammed her hands on the arms of her chair.
“What’s wrong, Ezmia?” Rumpelstiltskin asked.
“It’s not working!” she screamed. “I don’t understand. I’ve been working on this for centuries! I had everything I needed.”
Charlotte was sobbing hysterically in the birdcage. “You horrible… horrible… horrible creature,” she cried. “How could you do that to a girl?”
“I told you to shut up, woman!” Ezmia yelled at her. She could barely think.
Charlotte continued her sobs, mourning louder in spite of Ezmia’s screaming. As far as Charlotte knew, her daughter was dead and she was never coming back. Conner had been in shock since it had happened. But as he watched the Enchantress struggle, his spirits started to rise.
Ezmia needed all seven of the deadly sins and the heir of magic to activate the portal. Maybe his sister had successfully taken her pride—maybe she had finished the Wand and was alive!
“That dreadful witch Hagatha must have lied to me!” Ezmia yelled. “The fire should have grown into a portal into the Otherworld as soon as I conquered the past, present, and future, and mastered the seven deadly sins—lust, envy, sloth, greed, gluttony, wrath… and pride.”
A strange look came to the Enchantress’s face as she thought on the spell’s ingredients. She looked to the spot where Alex had been standing when she was blasted into the sky. To everyone’s surprise, a giant smile suddenly appeared on Conner’s face.
“What’s the matter, Ezmia?” Conner said. “Did a little girl take away your pride?”
The Enchantress jerked her head toward him like a hawk finding its prey. “What did you just say?” Ezmia said sharply.
“Conner, what are you doing?” Froggy whispered to him.
“Don’t make her angrier!” Jack said.
Conner ignored them. “I said, a little girl took away Ezmia the Enchantress’s pride!” he called out so everyone in the coliseum could hear him. “That’s why you can’t complete your spell!”
A whispered murmur spread through the coliseum between the kings and queens. Was Conner just taunting her or was there truth to what he said?
“Silence!” Ezmia ordered them. “If you think my pride could be taken from me you’re all insulting your own intelligence! Bring the boy to me!”
The vines lifted Red back against the wall and placed Conner in front of the fire.
“No!” Charlotte yelled. “Don’t you dare hurt him!”
“Butterboy!” Trollbella yelled.
Conner wasn’t afraid. “Are you going to kill me, too?” he asked.
“As a matter of fact, I am,” the Enchantress said.
“Oh, good one!” Conner said spitefully. “Way to make yourself feel better, Ezmia! Killing another innocent child really shows how prideful you are! What are you going to do next—club a couple baby seals?”
The Enchantress had had enough of him. “Any final words?” she said.
Conner had to think about it, wanting to make whatever he said count. “You’re ugly and you smell bad,” he said. “And where I come from, everyone thinks you’re green with horns!”
Ezmia raised her hand in his direction. Conner braced himself.
“Ezmia! Look!” Rumpelstiltskin yelled and pointed to the sky.
Flying toward the coliseum was a large white horse with massive wings. As it flew closer everyone in the coliseum gasped when they saw who was steering it.
“Alex!” Conner screamed.
“You’re alive!” Charlotte screamed from the cage.
The horse landed in the center of the coliseum and Alex jumped off its back. She commandingly raised the Wand of Wonderment and pointed it at the Enchantress.
“Miss me?” Alex said.
The Enchantress couldn’t believe what she was seeing—as if her day could get any worse. She waved her hands and the vines dragged Conner back against the wall.
“Alex, don’t waste any time!” Conner yelled as he was dragged off. “Just zap her! Strike her dead—” Ezmia waved her hand again and the vines covered Conner’s mouth.
The Enchantress glanced sideways at Charlotte in the cage and it all suddenly dawned on her—she wasn’t the Fairy Godmother’s granddaughter after all. Ezmia slowly strode over to Alex, looking her up and down like she was an interesting piece of art.
“So, you’re the Fairy Godmother’s real granddaughter, I take it?” Ezmia said, and began circling her. Alex never lowered the Wand; she was ready to strike if Ezmia showed any sign of doing the same.
“It’s interesting that we have so much in common,” Ezmia said. “We’re both from the same place, we both have magic in our blood, and we both possess extraordinary ability.…”
“We’re nothing alike,” Alex snapped. “I could never do all the horrible things you’ve done.”
A smile appeared on Ezmia’s face. “That’s where you’re wrong,” she said. “You see, I came into this world just like I’m assuming you did—full of excitement and promise. I wanted to do so much good work, help so many people, and give as much as I could to those who needed me. But then I learned a very harsh lesson—the world doesn’t always give back.
“I am not a tragic case of the world; I am the world—cruel, unfair, and not a fairy tale. People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them. And one day when your bright-eyed and bushy-tailed view of life gets its first taste of reality, when bitterness and anger first run through your veins, you’ll discover that you are just like me—and it’ll scare you to death.”
Alex shook her head and gripped the Wand even tighter. “No, Ezmia, I’ll never be like you,” she said. “Because I would rather have nothing and a big heart than everything and no heart at all.”
Everything went quiet in the coliseum. Ezmia’s hair was flowing above her, out of control.
“Oh, snap!” Conner yelled. “You need some ointment for that burn, Ezmia?”
Ezmia waved her hand and the vines covered Conner’s mouth again.
“You’re brave with that Wand in your hand,” Ezmia said to Alex. “But I’d like to see you cross me with it out of reach.”
Alex knew this was her moment—if she wanted to defeat the Enchantress for good, this might be her only chance.
“Fine,” Alex said, and tossed the Wand to the ground. “I don’t need it.”
The entire coliseum gasped.
“Alex, are you crazy?!” Conner yelled through the vines covering his mouth. “Pick it back up! Pi
ck it back up!”
The Enchantress roared with laughter at Alex’s carelessness. “You stupid girl!” she said. “You must have a death wish!”
“I don’t need a wand to defeat you, Ezmia,” Alex said. “Whether I have magic in my blood or not, I’ll always have the most powerful magic of all inside me—compassion. And I have enough inside of me even for you.”
“What?” the Enchantress said, amused by her foolishness.
Alex took a deep breath, praying what she was about to say would strip Ezmia of her powers forever.
“Ezmia, on behalf of everyone in this room, I apologize for what the world put you through, and I forgive you for all the havoc you caused trying to heal,” Alex said. “I’m sorry your family was killed when you were a little girl. I’m sorry no one was there to comfort you when you had your heart broken over and over again. I’m sorry the fairies never showed you the kindness they showed everyone else. And I’m sorry you felt revenge was the only way you could piece yourself together again.”
Everyone was looking back and forth between Alex and Ezmia like they were at a tennis match. Conner covered his eyes, afraid he was about to watch his sister be killed for real this time.
The Enchantress was taken aback by what Alex had to say—it had been the last thing she expected to come out of the girl’s mouth. Ezmia didn’t know what to do but laugh. She threw her head back a number of times and let a malicious laugh erupt and grow from inside of her.
“Apology not accepted,” Ezmia said. She pointed her finger at Alex to blast her into the heavens again—but nothing happened. She pointed her finger again—still, nothing was happening. Ezmia tried with her other hand but only got the same result.
Ezmia’s hair gradually lost its magenta color and faded to gray, falling in her face one strand at a time. The fire in the crater diminished more and more by the second, until there was nothing left but skulls. The vines around the coliseum squirmed like dying snakes, loosening their grip and releasing the people they held against the wall.
“No!” Ezmia screamed. “No—this is impossible!”
The room watched in astonishment as magic slowly left the Enchantress’s body and Ezmia faded into an elderly and decrepit woman, too weak to stand on her own feet. The Enchantress had lost her power.