The Enchantress Returns (37 page)
“Well?” Red said.
“Shhhh!”
Goldilocks silenced her.
The ring started to quiver. The scepter began to move as well. Suddenly, the ring magically attached itself to the tip of the scepter as if it had been magnetically pulled.
The room cheered. Alex and Conner hugged each other. Clawdius barked up at them happily, although he wasn’t sure what the celebration was about. It was a small occurrence, but it was the most meaningful part of their journey so far. All their efforts hadn’t been a waste—
they were building the Wand!
Jack emerged down the steps to the lower deck a second later. He had just returned from his trip into town and carried a bag full of vegetables and bread.
“Jack! The wand is working!” Conner said. “Wait—what’s wrong?”
They had been so immersed in celebration they hadn’t noticed Jack’s long face.
“Jack, what’s happened?” Goldilocks asked him.
“While I was in town I heard some troubling news,” he said. The room grew very quiet.
“What is it?” Froggy asked.
“The Enchantress has attacked the Corner Kingdom,” Jack said. “She’s knocked down Rapunzel’s tower.”
Alex and Red gasped. Froggy’s large mouth fell open. Conner was still listening, expecting to hear more.
“So?” Conner asked. “It’s just a tower—what’s the big deal?”
He glanced over to his sister and saw tears running down her face.
“Am I missing something?” Conner asked. “It could have been so much worse. Thankfully, no one is dead.”
Froggy cleared his throat, emotion building up inside of him. “Much like the Hoodians’ wall, the tower is very sacred to the people of the Corner Kingdom,” he explained. “It represents their queen and the beginning of their country. It symbolizes their history and their spirit.”
Alex dried her tears and thought to herself: Of all the awful things to do, why was Ezmia picking off things that were
symbolically
valuable to the kingdoms? Why was she attacking people’s spirit, of all things?
“I just realized something,” Alex said. “Everything Ezmia has done—the tower, the wall, the plants, the kidnappings—it’s all been an attack on people’s spirits. It’s not casualties the Enchantress wants, it’s
souls
.”
The
Granny
sailed across the night sky over the Charming Kingdom, determined to beat the sun into the Red Riding Hood Kingdom. The news of Rapunzel’s tower had left everyone in a somber mood, but the fact that they were successfully building the Wand of Wonderment kept them moving.
Jack and Froggy rolled a barrel of oil across the deck and loaded it under the ship’s flame. Goldilocks was manning the steering wheel and carefully piloting the
Granny
between the clouds. Red was avoiding Clawdius as much as possible.
The twins were at the front of the ship watching the ground move below them. They wondered if they had flown over the place their mother was being kept.
“It’s amazing how different the world looks from up here,” Jack said cheerfully, walking up behind the twins. “I remember thinking that when I climbed the beanstalk. Very few people get a chance to see the world from a different point of view.”
Red was eavesdropping and snuck into the conversation. “I know exactly what you mean,” she said. “Once you start looking down on people it’s hard to look at them any other way again.”
The twins and Jack rolled their eyes. Red had shown great potential for rejoining the real world over the course of their trip, but she still had a long way to go.
“No, Red,” Jack said. “I meant it really puts the world into perspective. Your whole life may exist between two streets, but then you realize those streets are just tiny veins in the body of the world. It makes you feel very small.”
Red’s head bobbed up and down as she followed along with what he was saying. For a second the twins thought she had understood what Jack meant.
“Oh dear,” Red said and shook her head. “I don’t believe anything could ever make me feel like
that
.”
Jack and the twins weren’t shy about their exasperation with the young queen and slowly walked away. Red leaned on the rail and let out a sigh, not understanding why it was so challenging to identify with them.
Froggy joined Red at the front of the ship, not wanting her
to feel completely isolated after the exchange. While the others were constantly annoyed by Red’s vain statements and lack of empathy, it just made Froggy love her even more. He had lived in hiding for years because he was afraid of how the world would treat a prince-turned-frog, but Red was the kind of person who would never lose confidence no matter what anyone or anything said to her. It was the trait he admired most about her.
“Are you all right, my love?” Froggy asked her.
“Yes, thank you,” Red said and wearily looked down at the land beneath them.
Although he knew better, Froggy took her remoteness personally. “Are
we
all right, darling?” he asked. “I know having Jack and Goldilocks around is distressing for you, but if there was ever anything besides their company bothering you, you would tell me, right?”
Red still hadn’t figured out what exactly was bothering her yet. It had been a thorn in her side since they left.
“Yes, of course, darling,” Red said simply, although neither of them believed it.
Froggy’s mouth smiled but his eyes remained blank. “Very well,” he said and let her be.
Although she had insisted she could handle the situation, Froggy knew having Jack around would weigh heavily on her. Red wasn’t hard to read—and the long stares at Jack from across the ship, her lengthy sighs when no one was looking, the way she ignored Froggy more and more as they traveled didn’t go unnoticed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what Red was so conflicted about.
Unfortunately for Froggy, his human-turned-amphibian heart
belonged wholly to Red, and he hoped hers still belonged to him underneath all her uneasiness. Until she told him otherwise, he would remain true to his affections for her.
“Look ahead!” Red called out to the others. “It’s my kingdom! Oh my, how adorable it looks from up here! It’s unfortunate the weather is so gloomy.”
“I don’t think that’s just gloomy weather,” Goldilocks said from the steering wheel. Thick clouds were circling the kingdom like a whirlpool. As they sailed closer, they could make out a tall beanstalk penetrating the cloud’s vortex.
No one had ever seen such a thing… except for Jack.
“What’s all that about?” Froggy asked.
“It means the beanstalk is ready,” Jack said with an eager smile.
Conner placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder.
So were they.
The crew began to descend the
Granny
toward the beanstalk. The sun started to rise and both of Jack’s old houses came into view. Only one thing was wrong—
the
Granny
was going way too fast.
“Steady… steady…” Jack told Goldilocks. “Charlie, shut all the sails! Everyone else, brace yourselves! This is going to be a bumpy landing!”
Froggy yanked the ship’s ropes and securely shut the sails. Alex and Conner held on to Clawdius and the banister, Jack and Goldilocks held on to the steering wheel, and Red held on to Froggy.
“Everyone bend your knees!” Jack said, and they all followed his advice. The
Granny
glided down, headed straight for Jack’s manor. The front windows of the manor opened and
the twins saw the magic harp blissfully welcoming the new day, unaware of the flying ship headed straight toward her.
“Oh the day is here and so am I,
To wistfully dream of birds that fly,
Soon I will be moved far far away,
And Queen Red Riding Hood’s castle is where I shall—AAAAAAH!”
The
Granny
crashed into the ground and bumped across the grassy earth. Chunks of dirt flew into the air, and the ship left a large furrow in the land as it came to an overdue stop
feet away from the manor
.
The harp’s mouth and eyes were wide open, and although she was made of solid gold, the twins could have sworn she went pale.
“Good morning, Harper!” Jack called down with an apologetic laugh.
The harp was so stunned one of the strings on her back snapped. The twins couldn’t blame her. After years of looking outside at nothing, she had just witnessed a flying ship crash in her front yard.
“
What in the name of Mother Goose is going on?”
the harp yelled.
“We’ve been traveling, just like I told you,” Jack said and climbed down from the
Granny
. “Did I mention we were traveling by
flying ship
?”
“You left out that minor detail,” the harp said, starting to recover feeling in her golden body.
“Thank you for keeping an eye on the beanstalk. It looks terrific!” Jack said.
“You’re very welcome,” the harp said. “You’ll be pleased to know I have thought it over and will accept your offer to be moved to Red’s castle. Although I hope you give me a few days for my strings to recover from the fright you just gave me. I don’t want my first ballad in the castle to be pitchy.”
“What? What did you say?” Red asked from the ship. “Did I hear you say something about being moved to my castle?”
Alex and Conner looked to each other—this was going to be awkward.
“Yes. Jack promised I would be moved in exchange for watching the beanstalk,” the harp said.
“Did he?!”
Red said through her teeth. “This trip keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?”
“Oh yes, I’ve been practicing for days! It’s been so long since I had a proper audience to perform for!” the harp said. “After spending more than a century with that awful giant, it’ll be such a treat to sing songs that aren’t about eating sheep and stepping on villages.”
The others climbed down from the ship and joined Jack at the front of the manor.
“Hey, Harper,” Conner said. “When you were up there, did you ever notice if the giant had a favorite item?”
“Not that I can recall,” the harp said. “I have no idea why you’d want to go back to that awful place.”
Jack inspected the beanstalk. He circled around the base and scanned it from top to bottom, kicking it in different places as he went.
“It’s ready!” he called to the others. “I’m going to climb it and return as quickly as I can.”
“Pardon?” Goldilocks asked with raised eyebrows. “Do you actually think you’re going without me?”
“He’s got to be kidding himself if he thinks we’re not going along, too,” Conner said to Alex.
Jack hadn’t meant to offend anyone. “Forgive me, I wasn’t sure anyone else would be up for it,” he said.
“It’s not every day one gets to see a castle in the clouds,” Froggy said. “Count me in as well.”
“Fine, then,” Jack said. “I’ll take the lead. However, it’s important that you climb exactly as I climb and step exactly where I step. It’s harder than it looks.”
Goldilocks retrieved a long rope and tied it around Jack’s waist, then around her own, Froggy’s, and the twins. She went to tie it around Red’s, but the queen nervously blocked her from doing so.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Red asked.
“It’s just for safety,” Goldilocks said. “In case one of us falls.”
“Falls? From up there?” Red said and pointed to the endless stalk. “Is that likely?”
“As likely as climbing anything else, I imagine,” Goldilocks said. “This will also discourage me from throwing you off of it.”
Red looked up and down the beanstalk with large, fearful eyes. “You know what, I think I’m going to sit this one out,” she said. “I’m exhausted after my sitting with the stepmother and want to conserve my strength for our next stop,” she said.
“Suit yourself,” Goldilocks said and promptly cut the rope after securely tying it around Alex.
“Are you sure, Red? The giant died a long time ago,” Jack said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“What about what the Tradesman said?” Alex said. “He said there would be other dangers waiting for us up there.”
