Cinderella: Ninja Warrior (35 page)
Read Cinderella: Ninja Warrior Online
Authors: Maureen McGowan
Tags: #Fairy Tales & Folklore, #Juvenile Fiction, #Adaptations, #Interactive Adventures
“Give it to me!” He took the key, unlocked the shackles, and gently ran his fingers over the welts that had risen on Cinderella’s ankles. “Forgive me for being forward, Miss, but these must hurt.”
She smiled, hoping to show him she didn’t mind his touch at all. It sent the most marvelous shivers through her.
He rose and stood so close, Cinderella could feel the magnetic pull of his body, but still he showed no indication he recognized her.
“Did you want to show me that?” He bent to look at the locket.
Filled with love for Ty, she opened the locket with ease, and watched his eyes open wide. He lifted his gaze to her eyes, looking more confused than anything else, but then reached into the leather pouch tied to his belt and pulled out the small metal heart.
He slipped it inside the locket. “What is your name?” His voice was soft and breathy, as if he couldn’t quite get his lungs to function properly.
Cinderella shook her head, knowing she still couldn’t talk.
He looked deeply into her eyes and she tried to convey all she felt in her heart. She recalled her father telling her that love was the greatest magic of all, and Max saying that two wizards joined by love became stronger. If that were true, then surely love could break her stepmother’s spell and let Ty remember.
“Cinderella,” he whispered, and she nodded, joy rushing through her.
He pulled her into his arms, and she felt as if all the magic in the world had hit both of them at once. If it didn’t feel so wonderful, she might have thought her stepmother had cast another spell.
Ty moved his lips close to her ear. “It’s you, my love.”
At his words, Cinderella felt her tongue untie. “Ty, you remember me.” His mention of love had broken the spell on her tongue. Love
was
strong magic.
was
strong magic.
He pressed a soft kiss into her forehead and then turned to her stepmother. “You knew this was the girl I sought, yet you intentionally hid her from me.” He turned to Cinderella. “Let’s get you out of here.”
Holding hands, they ran to the front of the house, where a groom was holding the reins of two horses. They’d been fast on foot, but her stepmother had flown around the other side and was already on the front steps of the house when the couple arrived on the lawn beside the path. Agatha tentatively stepped out of the house holding a large ring of keys, and Gwendolyn, who had followed Cinderella and Ty, moved toward her mother and sister.
Her stepmother pulled out her black wand and a fierce color rose in her pale cheeks. “This . . . this . . .” her stepmother sputtered and screamed, “. . . this is unacceptable!”
She raised the wand and shot a bolt of lightning that exploded into the ground in front of Cinderella and Ty.
Will Cinderella and Ty escape her stepmother’s black magic?
To find out, turn to section 9: And So It Ends (page 279).
Section 9
AND SO IT ENDS
9
S
truggling against an unseen force, Cinderella and Ty clung to each other as acrid smoke rose from the ground.
truggling against an unseen force, Cinderella and Ty clung to each other as acrid smoke rose from the ground.
“Mother!” Gwendolyn yelled, “Kill Cinderella, but not Prince Tiberius! Think of what you’re doing!”
Her stepmother shot a bolt of energy toward Gwendolyn and knocked her back a few feet. “Silence, you stupid girl! If you’d done your job and charmed him, this wouldn’t be necessary.”
Gwendolyn fell onto the stone steps of the house, her eyes wide, her body trembling, and Agatha ran down to help her. Cinderella wished she could feel sorry for her stepsisters. But she couldn’t. Not even Agatha.
“Madam.” Ty’s voice was bold and strong. “Stop this right now.” He tried to move toward her, but couldn’t. He looked down.
Ty’s legs were buried in the lawn up to his ankles. Cinderella bent down to try to dig him out.
“You stupid, worthless boy.” Her stepmother spat at Ty. “You think you’re fit to rule this kingdom one day? Ha! You’re weak. Your parents are weak. That bumbling idiot your father installed as royal wizard is weak.” Anger leaped from her face.“It should have been me. If I’d had the right wand, it would have been me.”
Unable to release Ty’s feet, Cinderella looked up.“Stepmother, please. Let him go and I won’t disobey you again.” She didn’t mean it. Not in the least. But she had to keep her stepmother from hurting Ty.
“Shut up.” She stalked forward.“Your idiot parents share blame in this, too. That wand. Your mother’s powers. They should have been mine.”
The evil wizard raised her arms, a dark cloud appeared, and a storm pelted Cinderella and Ty with freezing rain and sleet.
Cinderella leaned into the strong wind and rain. “Stepmother!” she shouted, but her words were blown back by the wind. “Let the prince go—do what you will to me, but let him go!”
Behind her stepmother, Cinderella spotted Max—again a human, not a cat—entering the grounds and holding her mother’s wand. Sparks flew from the magic wand and struck her stepmother, knocking her clear off her feet.
“Max, you did it! When did you become human again?”
“Just now,” he said. “It was trickier this time.”
The pelting wind and rain stopped, and Cinderella clung to Ty. But her stepmother wasn’t down for long. Soon she and Max were engaged in battle.
Cinderella and Ty struggled to dig his feet out of the dirt, but it seemed the more they dug, the deeper his feet sank into the ground.
“Stop!” Ty grasped her hands. “It’s no use digging. It’s a spell.”
She nodded and looked up. Her stepmother flew through the air, spinning so quickly, all Cinderella could see was a dark brown blur. “Go, Max!” she shouted, but the blur shot a terrifying bolt of red energy at him.
Max tumbled back, end over end across the garden, until he was almost in the forest.
Her stepmother shot a bolt of lightning from her wand, and the tree behind Max cracked in half and fell on top of him, burying him in branches and leaves.
Cinderella gasped.
Max shot out from the fallen tree’s branches and flew into the air. He mounted a counterattack and shot an enormous ball of red, orange, and blue fire at her stepmother.
But his spell was stopped midway by another spell. The mixture of sparks and fire and energy shot up toward the sky, twisting and spinning, as if the spells themselves were at war.
Her stepmother’s spell won, and the mass headed back to Max, lifted him into the air, and left him spinning.
“We have to help him,” Cinderella said to Ty.
Her stepmother dropped her arm and Max slammed into the ground near the house in a lifeless heap. Cinderella lurched forward, but Ty held her back.“It’s important we work together, and believe in ourselves.” Ty’s body felt warm and strong against hers, and in spite of everything, he didn’t look scared. “I believe in you,” he said.
“I believe in you, too.” The strength in Ty’s posture fueled enough courage inside Cinderella to combat her terror.
A powerful force ripped Cinderella away, spun her in the air, and slammed her onto the ground. When she opened her eyes, she discovered she was about twenty feet from Max, who still lay motionless.
A sob rose in her chest, but her determination rose faster. Adrenaline raced through her and she scrambled along the gravel toward her godfather. Max was still breathing, but unconscious, and still had the wand. Her stepmother must not have recognized it yet. Cinderella retrieved the wand from Max’s limp hand and turned back toward Ty.
Her stepmother had encircled the prince in black sparks.
“Gwendolyn is the one you love,” she said to Ty in a calm, convincing voice.“Cinderella practices black magic and must be reported and put to death.” She repeated the words over and over, chanting.
“No.” Cinderella ran forward, aiming her mother’s wand at her stepmother. Silver sparks flowed from the wand, struck the evil wizard, and sent her tumbling to the ground, away from Ty.
Ty looked dazed as Cinderella ran toward him. Had her stepmother made him forget her again? Not from the look in his eyes. The royal wizard’s protective spell against more mind control had held, even against her stepmother’s black magic. Just before she reached Ty, she ran into an invisible wall and bounced back.
Her stepmother landed in front of her. “You horrible, lying child. You’ve had the wand all along.”
Cinderella scrambled back, trying to regain her breath after the slam to her face and chest.
“That wand is mine, you little troll! Give it to me!”
“No!” Cinderella hid it behind her back. “It’s not yours. It was my mother’s and now it’s mine.”
Her stepmother seemed to grow in height. “After everything I did to get that wand, don’t think I’ll let a tiny obstacle like you keep it from me. You’re weak. You’re pathetic. You can’t do anything to keep it out of my hands.”
Cinderella fought against the power of her stepmother’s words, remembering what Ty had said. She needed to believe in herself. She gripped the wand, feeling its energy connect with hers. Concentrating, she shot a bolt of energy toward her stepmother, who staggered back a few steps.
“Impressive,” her stepmother sneered. “Now hand it over.”
“Never.” Gathering all her focus, Cinderella used the wand to shoot a flame at her stepmother. It struck her arm, and she dropped her wand, but after looking startled for an instant, she recovered quickly and the wand flew back into her hand.
“Look here, you ungrateful brat.” She strode forward, her face filled with hatred.“The only reason I married your father was to get my hands on that wand. It’s not my fault he was too stubborn to hand it over, even on the threat of death.”
Cinderella fought to control her emotions. “What do you mean?”
Her stepmother’s smile turned even uglier than usual. “Your father wouldn’t hand over the wand, so I tossed him off the roof, you idiot.”
Cinderella felt her throat close in grief. Her father’s fall had been no accident. Of course it hadn’t. The evil wizard had killed her husband just days after their marriage.
Rage burst through her grief.“Murderer!” she cried as she shot white sparks from the wand, but this time her stepmother was ready and deflected them. The sparks struck Ty instead and Cinderella ran toward him, but a force pulled her away and flipped her over onto her back on the ground.
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