The Wrong Side of Magic (23 page)

“You can still go back,” Charlotte told him. “I'll understand.”

“I'm not going back without you.”

She walked to the bed and let herself collapse onto it. Dust poofed upward, and something underneath the bed squeaked in protest.

Charlotte stopped crying. She looked first at Hudson and then back at the bed. “Did you hear that?”

Hudson stepped closer to the bed and mouthed, “Something is under there.” He hoped it was the princess, although he couldn't imagine what she would be doing hiding under a bed in a dusty room. It was probably something else. The squeak hadn't sounded human.

Charlotte slipped off the bed and lifted the dust ruffle. “Who's under here?”

The sound of muffled whispers came from under the bed, then something said, “No one. Nothing's here at all.”

Another voice whispered, “You can't go saying, ‘No one.' 'Cause no ones don't answer.”

“We're not
people
,” the first voice whispered back. “So technically I'm not even lying.”

Charlotte took the hope jar and held it under the bed, trying to see what hid below. “What are you if you're not people?”

“Shhh,” the second voice said. “I'll bet she has a broom.”

Hudson bent down, peering under the bed, too. He couldn't spot what had made the noise. “Come out of there so we can see you.”

Charlotte moved her hope jar farther under the edge of the bed, and something scuttled back against the wall, away from the light.

“Do you know what happened to the princess?” Hudson demanded. “Did you make her disappear?”

This question caused one of the things to snicker. “Did ya hear that? He thinks we can make people disappear.”

There was a little rumble of laughter. One of the things deepened his voice. “Yes, we made the princess disappear, and you'll meet the same fate if you don't leave right quick!”

More laughter came from underneath the bed. Charlotte glared at the dark space. With one fast motion, she reached under the bed and swept her hand along the floor.

Two shrieks sounded, and the things scuffled out of reach.

“She tried to kill me!” one of the things squealed.

“Come out from under the bed right now,” Hudson said, “or I'll send my penguin in after you.”

A moment of silence followed, then one of the things replied, “How do we know you've really got a penguin? You might be bluffing.”

He pulled Pokey out of his bag and set him on the floor. Charlotte turned him into his normal size. The penguin blinked around sleepily and stretched his wings.

Hudson pointed to the bed. “Pokey, go under the bed and drag out whatever is there.”

Pokey took a waddling step backward and looked at the darkness with alarm. “Bonnie says monsters live under beds.”

“No, they don't,” Hudson said. “Monsters aren't real.”

One of the things under the bed deepened its voice. “Yes, they are. We're monsters and we eat penguins.”

Pokey let out a squawk and nearly fell over in his attempt to hide behind Hudson. Hudson grabbed hold of one of Pokey's wings and pushed him forward. “Dude, can't you tell they're lying? Go in there and get them.”

“I'm afraid of the dark,” Pokey squeaked.

“They're not monsters.”

“What if they're sea lions?” Pokey's webbed feet kept moving backward. “Sea lions have sharp teeth!”

Hudson pushed the penguin forward again. “Have you ever heard of sea lions living under someone's bed? No, you haven't. That's just a ridiculous idea.”

By this time, Charlotte had pulled her squirrel out of her pack and zapped him to his normal size. “Meko, flush out whatever is hiding under the bed.”

The squirrel nodded and sped underneath the bed.

The things shrieked, “Squirrel! Squirrel!” and moments later scampered out into the light. Two little rabbitlike creatures huddled together in fear, ears trembling. Instead of proper fur, they looked as if they'd been made out of brown cotton candy. The squirrel followed them out and stood guard at the edge of the bed, teeth bared.

Hudson cocked his head at the two rabbits. “What are you?”

Charlotte sighed. “They're only dust bunnies.”

“You don't have to clean us up,” the smaller one said. Her ears drooped, and her whiskers twitched. “Please don't get a broom.”

The bigger bunny wiggled his nose, then turned to the other bunny. “Don't worry. They're children. Children never clean up.”

Pokey waddled up to the bunnies, chest puffed up. “I knew you weren't sea lions.” He turned back to Hudson. “Do you want me to peck them?”

“No,” Hudson said, still disappointed. “You don't have to rough up the dust bunnies.”

“Unless,” Charlotte added, crossing her arms, “they don't immediately tell us everything they know about Princess Nomira.”

The dust bunnies shrank together, eyeing Pokey suspiciously. “You used to be nicer,” the smaller bunny said.

“What?” Charlotte asked.

The bigger bunny gave the smaller one a quieting nudge. “Don't mind us. In the Land of Backwords, you get a lot of backhanded compliments.” He perked an ear in Charlotte's direction. “So no matter what everyone else says about you, I think you're very brave.” The bunny turned to Hudson next. “And you're actually a lot smarter than you look.”

“Stop that,” Charlotte snapped. “Tell us about Princess Nomira.”

The bigger bunny sniffed and looked oppressed. “That's the problem with living in the Land of Backwords. People always want backstory.”

The smaller bunny took a cautious hop forward. “The wizard brought Princess Nomira here about a year ago, king's orders. He locked her in the tower and stayed to guard her and take care of her. She was miserable—always sighing and crying.”

“Or moping and sniffling,” the bigger bunny added, hopping at each
ing
word.

“Or sulking and weeping,” the smaller put in and hopped even higher.

Which started the two of them hopping around like popcorn popping. “Or languishing and sobbing.”

“And that was only the first week.”

“On the second week, she was pining and mourning.”

“Or brooding and pouting.”

Hudson put his hands up to stop them from continuing. “We get the idea. She hated it here.”

The bunnies settled down. “The wizard tried to cheer her up,” the smaller one said. “He magicked her room to look like the one in the castle. He brought her books, made her favorite food, and told her stories of his travels.”

Now Charlotte held up her hands to stop the story. “Wait, King Vaygran's wizard tried to cheer her up?”

The smaller bunny nodded. “Every day.”

Charlotte cocked her head in disbelief. “Why?”

The bigger bunny wiggled his nose. “He wasn't the bad sort of wizard, the kind that yells and hurts people and cleans under the bed. He liked the princess and wanted to protect her from the king.”

The smaller bunny nodded. “He realized that what King Vaygran was doing to Logos was wrong. He and Princess Nomira talked about it sometimes.”

Charlotte narrowed her eyes in disbelief. “If he wasn't the bad sort of wizard, why did he work for King Vaygran in the first place?”

The bigger bunny took a hop forward. “I don't know. Maybe King Vaygran didn't start out as the bad sort. Maybe it built up on him gradually—like snow and dust and piles of unmatched socks.”

Charlotte ran her hand across her forehead, taking in this information. “If the wizard realized King Vaygran was wrong, why didn't he let the princess go?”

The bigger bunny's ears straightened in alarm. “King Vaygran would have killed him if he'd done that. And besides, he had to take care of her until she was ready to rule. She didn't have the confidence.”

“Or courage,” the smaller bunny added with a hop.

“Or the know-how,” the bigger bunny said, hopping even higher.

Which set them both off bouncing again. “She was stuck in the Land of Backwords without the backbone for payback.”

Hudson held his hands up to settle the dust bunnies down. Honestly, for creatures who hadn't wanted to talk, they certainly did a lot of it. “So what happened after that?”

“The wizard brought in more things to entertain her,” the bigger bunny said. “Once, he turned the whole bottom of the tower into a pool so she could swim with mermaids. Another time, he made it snow in the dining room.”

The smaller bunny nudged the bigger bunny. “Don't forget Talent Show Fridays. We always did tap dancing.” At this mention, the bunny did a hopping tap move.

“And?” Hudson prodded.

“For a few months, she was almost happy, but…” The bigger bunny twitched his whiskers. “The sadness always came back. She was sick with it. She knew King Vaygran would never let her out of the tower.”

“She didn't appreciate the beauty of a lovely, dark corner,” the smaller bunny said with evident dismay. “She wanted to walk around, be with people, and have friends. The sadder she became, the more angry the wizard got at King Vaygran for ordering her to be locked up in the first place.” The bunny dropped his voice to a secretive whisper. “A few months back, the wizard took her away. Just up and left with her.”

The bigger bunny nudged the smaller. “We promised not to tell anyone that.”

The smaller bunny twitched her tail. “Well, this doesn't count. They're threatening us with a squirrel.”

Impatient, Charlotte said, “Where did they go?”

The smaller dust bunny made a shrugging motion. “The wizard told her he would take her someplace safe from King Vaygran so she could live a normal life.”

Charlotte blinked in confusion. “What do you mean live a normal life? Why isn't she fighting for her kingdom?”

The bunnies both shrugged. “We don't know. We've been living under the bed.”

“Maybe she can't fight,” Hudson said.

Charlotte didn't seem to hear him. Her breathing got faster as her indignation grew. “King Vaygran is punishing anyone who speaks out against him, and Princess Nomira is off somewhere living a safe, normal life? She's supposed to stand up to him!” Charlotte said the last words so loud the dust bunnies scurried back under the bed to avoid being hit by irate, falling words.

Hudson wiped the dust from his hands. “Well, wherever the princess went, she must not be too happy about it. Her tree is wilted.”

Charlotte's mouth pressed into a hard, angry line. “She probably just feels guilty because she's safe while everyone else has to deal with King Vaygran.” She pointed the compactulator first at Pokey, then at Meko, shrinking them.

Hudson put Pokey back into his bag. “I'm definitely not going back to the Cliff of Faces and giving a year of my life for this. Okay, they got the location right—well, sort of right—but they were wrong about us being able to rescue her. At most, we should only have to give them two months—and no weekends.”

Charlotte picked up the squirrel and put him in her bag, her anger evident in every motion. She stomped off down the stairs. “Everyone is waiting for the princess's return, and she's off hiding like a coward.”

Hudson followed after her. “Sometimes people let you down, even when they're royalty.”

Charlotte stopped going down the stairs. For several moments, she stared at the steps in front of her. “We don't have to be that sort of people.”

“Royalty?”

She didn't smile. She didn't even seem to be listening. “Maybe we went about this the wrong way. We wanted to rescue the princess so she could get rid of King Vaygran. That isn't going to happen. Apparently, we've got to get rid of King Vaygran so the princess will come back.”

 

14

AS THEY HIKED
back through the white forest toward the Land of Desolation, Charlotte told Hudson her plan. It was risky, could go wrong in a lot of ways, and would most likely get them both killed. He knew he ought to shake Charlotte's hand, wish her the best of luck, and find the nearest exit back to his world. He could be crawling through his cupboards by the end of the day. After all, the whole reason he came to Logos was to get rid of the troll curse—so he could be with his family and friends again. What was the point of throwing his life away in a fruitless attempt to depose a tyrant king? Logos wasn't his home, and this wasn't his battle.

Granted, if Hudson returned home, he would have to live the life of a recluse, but at least it would be a long, safe life.

He didn't veto Charlotte's plan, though. If Princess Nomira couldn't live happily as a recluse, what chance did he have? After all, she'd had a wizard and mermaids to entertain her.

Besides, he wanted to help Charlotte. This was her battle, and she was his friend. He couldn't leave and let her down.

“The king addresses people at the end of each week,” Charlotte said as they walked. “That's tomorrow. We'll sneak into Grammaria, wait in the crowd, and when the king comes out on his balcony, you'll throw the bag of revealing powder at him. Any spells and charms he has that make people think he's a good leader will disappear, and everyone will see him for what he really is: a tyrant and a bully—someone who has tricked them. He's broken the law in so many ways his entire face will be covered in accusations. The people will be outraged. They'll overthrow him.”

“Won't they still be afraid of him?”

“Individually, yes, but crowds have power. Trust me, you don't want to cross a group of angry Grammarians.”

A few book-birds flew overhead, flapping their pages in a hurried rustle. Charlotte had put her own birds back in her pack so she wouldn't lose them when they went across the Land of Desolation.

“The king is looking for us,” Hudson reminded Charlotte. He still held the king's sword, although Charlotte had shrunk it to dagger size to make it easier to carry. “Do you really think it's a good idea to go to his city and get close enough to him that we can throw a bag of revealing powder? Won't he have guards around the city with bloodhounds who know our scent?”