The Wishing Spell

  “No, of course not,” the Evil Queen said in a mocking tone. “You’re just poor little Goldilocks, a girl who was tricked into thinking she was going on a date with the boy she loved, and has been running from the law ever since.”

  Goldilocks stepped away from the mirror. “How do you know that?” she asked with intensity in her eyes.

  “I know more about you than anyone,” the Evil Queen said. “I know that when you were a young girl, you received a handwritten letter from a young boy you loved named Jack. He asked you to meet him at a house a little way out of town and gave instructions on how to get there. You went to the house and waited and waited for hours, but he never showed up.”

  “How do you know all this?” Goldilocks asked.

  “You became sleepy in that house, didn’t you?” the Evil Queen continued. “So you decided to go to sleep in one of the beds and hoped you’d wake to find him. But you didn’t wake to him, did you? You woke to find three bears staring down at you, and they almost killed you. You barely escaped the house alive, but the bears pressed charges against you anyway for breaking into their home and, being young and scared, you ran. You ran and have been running ever since.

  “For years you wondered how Jack could have done that to you. How could he have framed you like that? And then finally one night you snuck into the Red Riding Hood Kingdom and asked him. But Jack told you he’d grown up poor and illiterate; he hadn’t sent you the letter because he never learned to write. Someone else did. Someone else framed you.

  “Jack had been looking for you for years. He was devastated when you disappeared. He even climbed a beanstalk looking for you. You two have been meeting covertly in the shadows for almost a decade now.”

  “Who told you that?” Goldilocks asked.

  “Every driven person comes from a mountain of pain they wish to keep hidden,” the Evil Queen said. “I did my research on you, Goldilocks, and you and I aren’t so different. Except, I know who wrote you that letter.”

  Goldilocks shook her head in disbelief. How could she know something Goldilocks had been trying to discover her entire life?

  “And who might that be?” she asked.

  “Red Riding Hood, of course,” the Evil Queen said.

  “What?” Goldilocks said. She almost stopped breathing.

  “It’s true,” the Evil Queen said. “The young queen has a large mirror in her bedroom and talks in her sleep. You’d be appalled by the things she confesses in her nightmares.”

  Goldilocks had to sit down. She didn’t even feel human anymore; she felt like an entity made of pure anger.

  “Red Riding Hood has always loved Jack, and you were standing in the way,” the Evil Queen said. “She was young when she wrote the letter. She had no idea what the consequences would be. She thought you would leave brokenhearted before the bears got home, and then Jack would be hers.”

  “But she’s had years and years’ worth of opportunities to make things right,” Goldilocks said. Her eyes were staring down at the ground, but she was blind with rage. She stood up, threw off the blue gown, and redressed in her own clothes, sword and all.

  “What will you do now that you know the truth?” the Evil Queen asked.

  “I’m going to take Red on a trip,” Goldilocks said. “And she’s not coming back.”

  “There’s only one place where she can disappear forever…” the Evil Queen said, and her reflection faded from the mirror.

  Goldilocks burst out of the barn and ran into the night, whistling for her horse. She was about to do exactly what the Evil Queen wanted, but, more important, she was about to get her long-overdue revenge.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  THE MERMAID’S MESSAGE

  Conner was positive he was dead. The fall into the ocean must have killed him because, wherever he was, he had never been so relaxed. He felt like he was somewhere in the glorious state between being asleep and being awake, a place he knew very well. His eyes were closed, and he was lying down on the softest surface he had ever laid on in his entire life.

  The air was cool and refreshing. It smelled a little salty, but he was sure he was only imagining that because the last thing he had seen was the ocean. He opened his eyes a tiny bit and saw his sister lying next to him. She must have died, too, but she seemed so peaceful that he didn’t worry about her. He couldn’t have worried about anything if he’d tried. He felt so wonderful that, wherever he was, all he could feel was enjoyment. We must be in heaven, he thought.

  Conner opened his eyes wider. His vision was a little blurry, but he could see so many colorful objects moving in all different directions above him. They looked human the more his eyes adjusted. They must be angels, he told himself, and went back to sleep.

  Just as he drifted off, a thought occurred to him: Do you sleep when you’re dead? Do you feel and smell the air around you? He must have been alive after all to be experiencing all these things. But where was he? He opened his eyes as wide as possible, so they would adjust faster.

  He and his sister were lying in a large clamshell at the bottom of the ocean. They were in an underwater cave of sorts, but they were able to breathe in a large air bubble that surrounded them. There were coral pillars in the cave with dark, rocky walls behind them. A sandy floor was underneath them, and they were facing an endless blue ocean.

  Swimming around the top of the bubble was a gathering of mermaids. They were gorgeous and colorful. All of them were pale but had long hair that matched their tails in vibrant sea colors; there were blues and greens, purples and pinks. They were friendly and waved at Conner as soon as they noticed he was awake.

  Conner looked down at his wounded arm and saw a seaweed bandage covering his scratch. One of them must have wrapped it.

  “Alex!” Conner said. “Alex, wake up!” He tapped her on the shoulder, and she stirred to life.

  “Hmm?” asked Alex, who was in an extremely relaxed state of her own.

  “Mermaids!” Conner said. “There are mermaids swimming around us!”

  This caught Alex’s attention, and her eyes fluttered open. It took her a few moments to realize where she was and that it was actually happening.

  She sat straight up on the clam. “Conner, why are we at the bottom of the ocean?”

  “Beats me,” he said. “Check out this bubble around us!” He noticed that the longer they stayed in it, the smaller it became as they breathed in the air.

  “The last thing I remember is being chased by wolves and then you—you jerk!” she said, remembering being pushed off the cliff. She hit him repeatedly with open hands.

  “Hey hey hey, stop it! It was either that or be attacked by wolves! Pick your poison!” Conner said.

  “If we survived the fall, how did we get down here?” Alex asked.

  “We brought you here,” said a mermaid swimming above them. She had long, soft, turquoise hair that matched the shimmering scales on her tail. “The Sea Foam Spirit wants to speak with you.”

  “The Sea Foam Spirit?” Conner asked.

  “She’s on her way!” said another mermaid with pink hair and a pink tail.

  “I don’t think these mermaids get out much,” Conner whispered to Alex.

  “Here she comes now!” said a mermaid of purple coloring.

  Sure enough, a cluster of sea foam drifted through the ocean toward Conner and Alex. It came into their bubble and swirled around before hovering in front of them. It slowly morphed to the shape of a mermaid.

  “Hello, children,” said an airy voice from inside the sea foam.

  “Hello,” Alex said, tilting her head like a puppy looking at something peculiar.

  “Howdy,” said Conner, tensing every muscle in his forehead.

  “I hope you are well,” the sea foam spirit said. She was frothy, and her foam was constantly rejuvenating itself. “I instructed my mermaids to take very good care of you. You poor things nearly drowned when you fell into the ocean.”

  Alex gave her brother a really dirty lo
ok. “Did we?” she said. “Are you the Sea Foam Spirit?”

  “Yes,” the spirit said. “But you and your brother may know me best as the Little Mermaid.”

  Alex’s face lit up. This was one person she hadn’t thought she would meet in the Land of Stories.

  “You’re the Little Mermaid?” she asked, completely enthralled.

  “Good lord, what happened to you?” Conner asked.

  “I thought you died,” Alex said.

  “Not exactly,” the spirit said. “When I was turned into a human by the Sea Witch all those years ago, I had to marry the prince in order for the spell to last. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, the prince married someone else, and my body turned into sea foam. I’m no longer of physical form, but my spirit lives on.”

  “That’s weird,” Conner said.

  “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Alex said. “I was always so sad after reading your story. Not many people know your real story; they always assume you had a happily-ever-after.”

  “There are many who don’t,” the spirit said. “I believe you two are looking for something that once belonged to me.”

  “I don’t think so,” Conner said.

  “Wait, do you mean the ‘saber from the deepest sea’?” Alex asked anxiously. “Do you know what it is?”

  “How do you know we’re looking for it?” Conner asked suspiciously.

  “I know many things the average entity doesn’t,” the spirit said. “Especially things said or felt near water.”

  “Swan Lake!” Alex said. “We were talking about the Wishing Spell items we had left to collect while we were traveling across Swan Lake.”

  “So, Ms.-Foam-Lady-formerly-known-as-the-Little-Mermaid,” Conner said. “What is the ‘saber from the deepest sea’? We’ve been trying to figure it out since we got here.”

  “As you recall, I traded my ability to speak to the Sea Witch for a pair of legs so I could be with the prince onshore,” the spirit said. “After he fell in love with the other woman, my sisters traded their hair for a knife from the Sea Witch. She said that if I killed the prince with it, I could return to the sea as a mermaid, but ultimately I couldn’t go through with it and became what I am today.”

  “The knife!” Alex said eagerly. “The ‘saber from the deepest sea’ is the knife the Sea Witch gave you! Of course! I was expecting it to be much bigger!”

  “Yes,” the spirit said.

  “Hold up,” Conner said. “You went through all that trouble for a guy? Were there not any available mermen?”

  “Perhaps that is the lesson of my story,” the spirit said.

  “And where is the knife now?” Alex asked.

  “I gave it to a man, not too long ago, who needed it for the same reason you do now,” the spirit said. “I gave it to him on one condition: that he destroy it after he finished with it.”

  “Oh no,” Conner said, putting his hands on his head and pulling his hair.

  “So, it’s gone?” Alex asked, about to cry.

  “It is gone, but it isn’t destroyed,” the spirit said. “The man failed to fulfill his agreement, fearing that he might need it again someday.”

  “So where did he put it?” Conner asked.

  “It’s in a place where people put things they never want to see again,” the spirit said.

  “He flushed it?” Conner asked.

  “No, remember that place the Traveling Tradesman was telling us about?” Alex said. “He must have dropped it in the Thornbush Pit!”

  “Oh, great!” Conner said sarcastically. “Why did he have to drop it into a cursed pit? Why couldn’t he have just dropped it in a gopher hole?”

  “We’re never going to get it,” Alex said. “If we even get close to that place the vines and thornbush will drag us to the bottom of the pit forever.”

  “Unless you have these,” the foam spirit said. She extended both of her hands, and two necklaces, each with a golden shell, appeared in them. “Wear these while you retrieve the knife from the bottom of the Thornbush Pit, and the cursed plants will not harm you.”

  “Thank you,” Alex said.

  The twins leaned forward to take the shells out of her foamy hands, but the spirit pulled them away. “I will only give you these if you promise to destroy the knife as soon as you’re done with it,” the spirit said.

  The twins looked at each other and nodded.

  “Of course,” Alex said.

  “No problem,” Conner said.

  “Very well,” the spirit said, and handed them over to the twins. “Be careful, though. The shells are twins, too. If one breaks, the other shell will as well. Remember that.”

  “Why are you doing this for us?” Alex asked.

  “Why do you always ask what someone’s motives are when they help you?” the spirit asked.

  The question took Alex off guard. “Because people don’t really help each other where we come from,” Alex said. “They do occasionally, but it’s rarely without reason. Good people are hard to find.”

  “It can’t be too difficult. I’m looking at two now,” the spirit said. “Which is why I was inclined to help you, and which is why I am also inclined to tell you this: You are not the only ones after the Wishing Spell.”

  “We know,” Conner said. “The Evil Queen is, too.”

  “She’s the one who sent the wolves after us,” Alex said, “isn’t she?”

  “Yes,” the spirit said. “She is as determined to find the knife as you are. That is why you must hurry if you are going to beat her to it. Unfortunately, the Wishing Spell can only be used once more.”

  “What?” Conner said. Both the twins felt like someone had kicked them in the stomach. This definitely complicated matters. “You mean, if she gets to the knife first, that’s it, game over?”

  “Unfortunately so,” the spirit said.

  The bubble around the twins was almost gone. It barely covered the clam they sat in. Their time underwater was running out.

  “We can’t let that happen,” Alex said, shaking her head. “We have to get there first! We have to go right now!”

  “I’ll have my mermaids escort you there as fast as they can, but once you are on land, you must travel the rest of the way on your own,” the spirit said. “Stay safe, children.”

  The Sea Foam Spirit fizzled out and disappeared. The mermaids swam down to the twins and each grabbed hold of the clamshell Alex and Conner sat in. Together they moved the twins through the ocean, on to their next adventure.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  THE THORNBUSH PIT

  The mermaids escorted the twins through the ocean and up a river into the northern part of the Sleeping Kingdom. Alex and Conner were only a few miles away from the Thornbush Pit and began their walk to the place where they would find the last Wishing Spell item.

  “How do we get the Wishing Spell to work once we find the knife?” Conner asked.

  “I think we just put all the items together and let them do the rest,” Alex said.

  “I suppose,” Conner said.

  The land was dead and dry around them. The roads were bumpy and covered in stone. It was by far the least attractive area they had been to in all of the Land of Stories.

  “I don’t know about you, but I am so looking forward to getting out of this place,” Conner said.

  “I know what you mean,” Alex said halfheartedly. “I miss Mom so much.”

  “I can’t wait to get back to air conditioning and television,” Conner said. “Boy, have I missed those things. And food—don’t get me started about food!”

  “I bet we have so much homework to catch up on, too,” Alex said happily.

  Conner grunted. “I didn’t think about that.” He also wondered if he would have to serve all those detentions when he got home as well. Would being trapped in the fairy-tale world for a week or two get him out of it?

  Alex completely sympathized with her brother. She had been so excited to discover the Land of Stories, but they had had so many treac
herous experiences that even she was anxious to get home. But now, looking around at the land, even as ugly as this part of the kingdom was, she couldn’t help but think how much she was going to miss it.

  “We have seen some amazing things,” Alex said.

  “Very true,” Conner said.

  “And we have met some extraordinary people,” she said.

  “Can’t deny that,” Conner said, shaking his head.

  “It’s a shame that we can’t come and go to this place as we please,” Alex said. “You don’t think you’ll miss it just a tiny bit?”

  Conner immediately shook his head, and his mouth positioned into the shape to say, “No,” but when he thought about it more, he hesitated. “We’ve had our moments,” Conner said. “We’re definitely leaving with memories no one else will have. Think about all the stories we’ll be able to tell our kids someday.”

  “Right,” Alex said, but this only made her think about their father.

  Without realizing it, being in the Land of Stories had filled the emptiness they were left with when their dad died. Discovering that their dad was from the fairy-tale world had been the most meaningful part of the adventure.

  “Mom and Grandma are going to have so much explaining to do,” Conner said.

  “For sure,” Alex agreed. “I wonder where Dad lived.”

  “We’ll find out,” Conner said, and smiled. “I wonder if he knew any of the people that we’ve met or seen? I wonder if we have family here!”

  Alex stopped walking. Her eyes grew almost as big as her open mouth.

  “What if we’re related to the Charming or White Dynasties?” Alex proclaimed excitedly.

  “Or maybe we’re one-sixtieth ogre or elf or something cool!” Conner said.

  The idea gave them a new boost in their step.

  They finally reached the Thornbush Pit and stopped dead in their tracks—it was a frightening sight. It was extremely wide and incredibly deep and filled to the top with plants, some dead and some alive. The vines and thornbush moved around like thousands of snakes; the pit was alive and hungry. Ruins of an old castle sat on the edge of the pit, consisting of nothing but a few walls and a stony staircase that led to nowhere.