The Enchantress Returns (35 page)

“That’s great,” Alex said. “I hope you get to use them—”

Alex said it without thinking. Conner stopped writing and took a deep breath.

“Alex, we’re gonna save Mom,” he said firmly.

Alex didn’t know what to say. “I hope so—”

“No, I need to hear you say it. We won’t be able to do it unless we both believe it.”

Alex found the confidence in her brother’s eyes contagious. “We’re going to save Mom,” Alex said, this time fully believing it.

Conner smiled. “Good,” he said. “Thanks for that.”

“What keeps you so positive? Usually I’m the one giving the pep talks, but you’ve been boosting my morale since we got here.”

“What are our options? If I have the choice of being doubtful or being hopeful, I’m going to choose hopeful. It takes less work to be positive.”

Alex smiled at him. “That’s a nice way to see things.”

“And,” Conner added, “you know once we save Mom’s life there’s no way she’ll ever be able to say no to us again!”

Alex laughed and covered her mouth, forgetting the rest of the ship was asleep. “Okay,
now
you’re getting your hopes up way too much!”

The twins savored the thought. Conner was right; it was much easier than letting their minds fill with doubt.

A cool breeze suddenly blew past the ship and shivers went down their spines.

“Do you feel that?” Alex asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

Alex looked over her shoulder and gasped.
“Conner, look!”
She turned her brother in the direction she was facing.

Slowly gliding toward them was the ghost Conner had seen in Red’s castle. There was something so majestic, so regal, and yet so frightening about her all at the same time.

“It’s the ghost!” Conner whispered. “That’s the one I was telling you about!”

The ghost’s gaze grew more serious as she approached them.

“Say something to it!”
Alex elbowed her brother.

“What am I supposed to say? I don’t speak ghost!”

The spirit stopped and hovered a few feet in front of them. She never blinked or looked away from the twins. Whoever she was, she was a very serious spirit.

“Who are you?”
Alex peeped.

The ghost remained silent and still as ever.

“What do you want from us?”
Conner squeaked.

The ghost raised her hand and simply pointed into the distance. And as the
Granny
passed through a weak cloud and a veil of mist brushed past them, the ghost vanished.

The twins’ hearts were racing. “Who was that?” Alex asked.

“I wish I knew,” Conner said. “Why is she following me?”

Alex thought about it. The spirit had looked so familiar to her, but she couldn’t put her finger on why. “She’s trying to tell us something.”

The
Granny
settled into the countryside of the Charming Kingdom just before sunup. Luckily, only a few grazing cows witnessed the large ship descending from the sky, and they weren’t the least bit interested in it.

The twins kept the second ghost sighting to themselves, not wanting to cause any further worry.

“So what’s our plan?” Conner asked the others. “How are we going to discover and steal the stepmother’s most prized possession?”

Goldilocks and Jack looked to each other and both shrugged. Froggy stepped forward and cleared his throat with a small croak.

“If I may, I believe I’ll be quite useful at organizing this scheme—I
am
from the Charming Kingdom, after all,” he said.

“By all means,” Alex said and gestured for the frog to take the floor.

“The stepmother,” Froggy declared with a finger raised, as if he were giving them a history lesson, “has always been obsessed with titles and social status—remember how desperately she wanted her daughters to marry my brother? If we want to get into her home and discover what her most prized possession is, we’ll have to do it in a very formal manner—and I think I know just how to do it.”

Froggy turned to Red. “Me?” she asked. “What do I have to do with anything?”

“You’re a queen, my dear,” Froggy said. “The stepmother would never resist the chance at having a royal in her home.”

Red rolled her eyes and folded her arms. “Oh,
now
I’m a queen?
Now
you’re all respecting my rank?” she said.

“Precisely,” Froggy said. “You’ll go to her home and request a sitting with her. Have a look around and pocket whatever you see she values the most.”

“Request a sitting for what?” Red asked. “What could I possibly need to talk to her about?”

Conner was quick to come up with an answer. “Tell her you’re designing a country home and Cinderella told you to look at her old house for inspiration,” he said.

Alex patted him on the shoulder. “Good one,” she said.

Red looked from side to side. They could tell the idea was marinating in her head. “Yes, that is a rather good idea… a splendid idea, in fact! I’ve always wanted a country home, actually. This may not be such a lie after all,” she said and happily clapped her hands. “Am I going alone?”

Froggy looked around at the others. “I’m afraid everyone here would look a bit suspicious if any of us were to go with you,” he said.

“We can go with you, Red,” Alex said. “We’ll pretend to be your cousins.”

Red looked the twins up and down and her face scrunched up disapprovingly. “Can we be second cousins? Our bone structures are just so different I’m not sure anyone would believe it.”

A dagger flew through the air and stabbed into the wall a few inches away from Red’s head. She screamed and fell to the floor. Everyone turned to Goldilocks—her hand was still extended from the throw.

“Sorry, it slipped,” Goldilocks said with a shrug.

Once Red recovered from Goldilocks’s “accident” she dressed herself for the day’s mission. She wore a red fascinator and an exceptionally fluffy red dress. Apparently Red had been saving this outfit for a special occasion on their trip and figured this was the best place to show it off.

Jack and Goldilocks stayed to keep an eye on the ship. Froggy escorted Red and the twins through the Charming countryside. He wore one of Red’s scarves around his head to
conceal his amphibian skin. Red complained about her shoes the entire time as they walked, but the twins had grown so accustomed to her complaining it didn’t bother them.

Large storybook estates began popping up on the sides of the path as they walked farther into the kingdom. Some were made of brick; others were covered in ivy; and many had pointed straw roofs, just like the twins’ grandmother’s cottage. Farther off in the distance they could make out the tops of Cinderella’s palace towers. It was the nicest neighborhood the twins had ever walked through in the fairy-tale world.

“This is making me so excited to plan my country house!” Red said.

The twins rolled their eyes. At least Red didn’t have a cover to blow.

“What’s that over there?” Conner asked and pointed ahead of them.

A large display was gated off to the side of the path. They walked to the edge of the gate and looked inside. A very old and large decaying pumpkin was on the ground—it was like a jack-o’-lantern that had been left outside for far too long after Halloween.

“Read this!” Alex said, and pointed to the plaque placed in the ground.

THE ROYAL PUMPKIN REMAINS

THESE ARE THE REMAINS

OF THE CARRIAGE THAT

ESCORTED QUEEN CINDERELLA

TO THE RENOWNED BALL

ON THE NIGHT SHE MET

KING CHARMING.

THE PUMPKIN WAS MAGICALLY

TRANSFORMED INTO A CARRIAGE BY

THE FAIRY GODMOTHER,

BUT AT MIDNIGHT

THE SPELL WAS BROKEN

AND THE PUMPKIN TURNED

BACK INTO ITS ORIGINAL FORM.

IT HAS RESTED HERE EVER SINCE

CINDERELLA’S LEGENDARY DASH.

“Our grandma
would
be behind the most famous curfew in history, wouldn’t she?” Conner said to his sister.

Red squinted at the rotten pumpkin. “She swept floors, rode in a pumpkin, and was friends with mice… and somehow Cinderella sets the bar for all the other queens,” she said to herself. “I’ll never understand that.”

“This means we’re very close,” Froggy said. “The stepmother’s estate should only be a little ways farther down the path. I don’t want her to recognize me so I’ll wait for you here. Best of luck!”

Red air-kissed him and she and the twins continued down the path. After a few minutes they reached the stepmother’s estate—and it was not what they had been expecting.

Had the twins not known any better they would have
thought the estate was abandoned. The house sat on the top of a tall hill and was in desperate need of repair. It was very dark, with tall windows, a steeple, and pointed gables. All the windows needed to be washed and most of them were broken. Half of the steps leading to the front door had caved in.

Everything on the property was either dead or overgrown. The entire estate was surrounded by a tall iron fence. Two suited guards patrolled the only entrance at the front.

“Whoa,” Conner said. “This may be trickier than we thought.”

The trio walked up to the guards in a very friendly, non-thief-like manner.

“Excuse me,” Alex said to one of the guards. “Is this where Cinderella’s stepmother lives?”

The guard glanced over to the other guard with an irritated look on his face. “This is the residence of
Lady Iris
and her daughters,” the guard said. “And yes, she is the queen’s stepmother.”

“Why is it so protected?” Conner asked.

The other guard made a face at him. “You’re not from around here, are you?” he said. “Lady Iris is not liked around these parts. The fence is for her protection from people who vandalize her home. Lady Iris doesn’t even bother fixing things anymore—there’s no point.”

Alex looked up at the house with a heavy heart. Even with knowing how poorly the stepmother had treated Cinderella, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. One of the higher windows was open and she saw white drapes flicker inside—someone was watching them from the house.

“Can we meet her?” Alex asked.

“What did you say?
Meet Lady Iris?
” the guard asked with a rude laugh. “No, I’m afraid not. Lady Iris never takes any visitors.”

“Run along now back to wherever you came from,” the other guard said.

Conner nudged Red—this was her cue. She cleared her throat and looked up at them with large, bright eyes.

“Gentlemen, I know it’s hard to recognize me without a proper hood over my shoulders, but I’ll give you another chance before I grow weary,” Red said with a haughty smile.

The guards said nothing. They didn’t recognize her at all. Red became frustrated and her cheeks turned pink.

“I’m Queen Red Riding Hood of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom,” she said.

A guard raised an eyebrow and looked at her sideways. “If you’re Red Riding Hood, where’s your staff and sheep?” he said, half laughing as he spoke.

“That’s Little Bo Peep!”
Red yelled and stomped her foot. The twins were growing frustrated, too. They hadn’t planned on this setback.

“Let them in,”
said a frail voice from the high window at the house.

The guards were surprised by the command. Clearly this had never happened before.

“All right, the lady says you can go inside,” the guard said. He opened the screechy gate behind him and Red and the twins went through it. They carefully walked up the front steps and Conner knocked on the door with enormous spade-shaped
knockers. They heard frantic whispering and hurried footsteps inside. It took a moment for anyone to answer the door.

The large door swung open and two awkward women cautiously peered from behind it.

“Hello?” Alex said. “May we come inside?”

The two women decided Red and the twins were safe and stepped out from behind the door. They were both very plain and plump (although one was shorter and heavier than the other). Each had curly brown hair and thin lips. They were the kind of women who had the potential to be pretty but had let themselves go over the years.

They fidgeted with their lacy dresses—as if they had gotten ready in a hurry. Alex nudged Conner; they both knew without a doubt they were facing Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters.

“Please come in,” the taller of the two said with an over-dramatic gesture.

The twins and Red took a step inside to the house’s entrance hall. A large staircase curved up and above them. The entire house was an absolute mess. The floors were dirty, the windows were dusty, and a foul odor lingered in the air. The twins wondered if Cinderella had been the last person to clean the house.

“Forgive the mess,” the shorter of the two said. “We weren’t expecting company.”

“Shocking,” Red said under her breath.

“No worries,” Alex said. “It’s just very—
lived in.”

A loud creak came from above them. “Girls, girls, don’t be rude,” said a voice. “Introduce yourselves.”

Red and the twins looked up to see the infamous wicked stepmother herself standing at the top of the stairs. She was very thin and her hair was graying and done up in an impressively high bun. Her makeup was splotchy and smeared as if she had freshened herself in a rush. She held a cane as she wobbled down the stairs.