A Grimm Warning

  “Good heavens, no,” Mother Goose said. “I’m trying to tell you you’re saving her. You’re giving your grandmother the freedom to pass on, and that’s a right every living creature deserves when it’s their time to go.”

  It was a very hard thing for Alex to hear. Had she known that with every lesson or test she passed she was getting closer to losing her grandmother, Alex would have given it all up in a heartbeat. But she also knew that was the last thing her grandmother would have wanted.

  “How much time do we have left with her?” Alex asked. “Will she wake up before she goes?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Emerelda said. “There’s always a chance. She could very well pull through this and live for another hundred years—it all depends on how much magic she has left in her. But given the information she shared with Mother Goose, we think it’s very unlikely.”

  “And that’s why Froggy turned into a frog again,” Alex said, starting to make sense of it all. “As she dies some of her magic starts to die with her, so her most recent spells and enchantments will slowly start to fade and wear off.”

  “Correct,” Emerelda said. “And it’s our job to make sure the work she put into this world never fades away completely.”

  Alex gently touched the side of her grandmother’s face. She was such an extraordinary woman; she wouldn’t be surprised if there was still a bit of magic in her somewhere.

  “Froggy, I’d be more than happy to change you back into a man,” Alex said. “It may take me a couple tries but I think I can do it.”

  Froggy was touched by the gesture, especially given the situation, but he surprised the whole room with his answer. “No, that’s all right,” he said. “Red, my darling, I hope you can understand this but I’ve thought it over and decided to stay a frog.”

  They all were shocked to hear this, especially Red.

  “What are you saying?” Red asked. “What would make you come to that conclusion?”

  “Because no matter how many times I become a man I always change back into a frog,” he explained. “I think the universe is trying to tell me something. And although I put on a good show, each transformation is more exhausting than the last. Constantly having to re-train yourself to walk and to eat and to function takes a heavy toll. I’d much rather just choose one form and stick with it, and it appears being a frog is what’s meant to be.”

  Red tried her absolute best to take this news well, but after so recently losing her throne she couldn’t put on a brave face.

  “Forgive me,” Red said, blinking back tears. “I don’t mean to look as disappointed as I do. Charlie, you stood by me even as I lost my kingdom—I know I can support you through something as trivial as this—it’s just going to take some getting used to, I suppose. Please excuse me; I’m going to get some fresh air.”

  Red left the Fairy Godmother’s chambers intact but once she was out the door they heard her burst into tears. Alex gently placed her grandmother’s hand on the bed and rose to leave.

  “I need some air, too,” Alex said.

  “I’ll walk out with you,” Mother Goose said.

  “I’ll stay with the Fairy Godmother,” Emerelda said.

  “Me too,” Froggy said, and took Alex’s seat.

  As Alex walked with Mother Goose through the halls of the Fairy Palace she could tell the news about her grandmother had spread. Every fairy who passed looked at her somberly, expressing sympathy and respect as she walked by.

  “This is going to be so hard to get through without my brother,” Alex said. “I would give anything to have him here with me.”

  Mother Goose’s eyes darted up and down the hall. When they reached a vacant part of the hall, she quickly pulled Alex behind a pillar and out of sight.

  “Alex, I need to tell you something,” Mother Goose said. “It’s about your brother.”

  “What is it?” Alex asked.

  “When your grandmother first told me how she was feeling, I immediately contacted Conner,” she explained. “I didn’t tell him she was sick, but I sent him on a little errand for me—to check on something.”

  “To check on what?” Alex asked.

  “Froggy’s spell isn’t the only bit of your grandmother’s magic that might wear off,” she said. “The spell she cast to shut the portal between the worlds may fade away as well. And I asked Conner to check it out.”

  A roller coaster of emotions ran through Alex’s body. Was it possible a bit of good news could come with this tragedy? After all, if the portal could be opened, she might see her brother again.

  “How long until we know?” she asked.

  “I’m still waiting to hear from him,” Mother Goose said. “Your grandmother’s magic may be fading, but as long as there’s the smallest bit left in her, there’s no way of telling which of her spells will stick. It could take weeks, months, or even years before we know about the portal.”

  Red suddenly stormed down the hallway but stopped when she saw Alex and Mother Goose talking behind the pillar.

  “Red, what’s wrong?” Mother Goose asked her. “Are you just sad about Charlie being pro-frog or has Clawdius swallowed one of the pixies again?”

  “I was on the balcony feeling sorry for myself when I spotted something,” Red said with bright eyes. “I may be hallucinating from all the misfortune, but I could swear I just saw Conner running toward the palace!”

  Mother Goose jerked her head back to Alex. “Or perhaps the portal’s open and we’ll know in a matter of minutes,” she said, finishing her previous thought. “Let’s get to the balcony!”

  The three of them ran down the hall and emerged onto the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace. They scanned the gardens below until they saw a familiar young man running toward them.

  “Conner!” Alex screamed down at him. Seeing her brother running through the gardens put her in a state of complete shock, as if she were seeing a ghost. Was she really seeing him or had the misfortune of the day caused her to hallucinate, too?

  “Alex!” Conner yelled up at her. He was wheezing and sweaty, like he had been running for hours. “I have to tell you something—” His voice faded away, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and Conner fainted on the spot.

  Without missing a beat, Alex ran off the balcony, through the palace, and into the gardens to her brother’s side. She kneeled on the ground next to him and placed his head in her lap. Mother Goose and Red arrived right after her.

  “Is he dead?” Red asked, hiding behind Mother Goose.

  “Conner, can you hear me?” Alex said to her unconscious brother. “Can you hear me?”

  Mother Goose removed her flask from her hat and splashed his face with the liquid inside. Conner stirred to life and quickly sat up.

  “Ahh! That burns!” he said, wiping the liquid out of his eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Sorry, but that usually does the trick,” Mother Goose said.

  Alex instantly broke into tears upon seeing that he was all right. She had spent months convinced she would never see him in person again—and now here he was, sitting on the ground in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his ribs and cried into his chest.

  “Conner! You’re here! You’re actually here!” she sobbed. “I’ve never been so happy to see someone in my entire life!”

  He was panting but still found the strength to hug her back. “It’s good to see you, too, Alex,” he huffed.

  Mother Goose interrupted their reunion. “Kid, if you’re here I’m assuming that means—”

  “The portal’s open!” Conner said breathlessly. “And the army—they’re here, too!”

  Mother Goose suddenly went pale as a ghost. She tipped her head back and drank whatever was left in her flask. Alex didn’t understand what they were talking about.

  “Conner, what army?” she asked. “And what have you been running from?”

  “It’s a long story,” Conner said. “But first, I have two friends with me from the Otherworld who helpe
d me find the portal. They’re in the woods somewhere behind me; they couldn’t run anymore so I left them behind—we have to find them and send them home as soon as possible.”

  “I’m on it,” Mother Goose said, and whistled for Lester. A couple moments later the giant goose swooped down from the towers of the palace and landed on the ground next to them. Lester was just as surprised to see Conner as the rest of them.

  “Squaaaw?” Lester squawked.

  “Hi, buddy, long time no see,” Conner said, and rubbed Lester’s long neck.

  Mother Goose hopped aboard the gander and they took off into the night sky to find Conner’s friends. Conner got to his feet; he was still having a hard time catching his breath.

  Froggy appeared at the top of the palace’s front steps and looked across the gardens. He was amazed by what he saw. “Conner?” he gasped. “Is that really you?”

  “Yes, Conner’s back!” Red called to him. “The porthole has been re-opened or something.”

  Froggy leaped across the gardens and gave his friend a giant hug. He didn’t care how Conner had managed to return; he was just happy something good could come out of this day.

  “Hi, Froggy,” Conner said. “It’s so good to see you all again!”

  “You look flustered, old chap,” Froggy said. “What’s the matter?”

  “Please tell us what’s wrong,” Alex pleaded. “You’re starting to scare me.”

  Conner took a few extra-deep breaths to calm his racing heart and then told them what was happening. He started with his trip to Germany and the warning the Brothers Grimm had left in their last story. He explained how he had tried to get ahold of Alex but eventually contacted Mother Goose. He filled them in on how the Brothers Grimm had tricked the Grande Armée into an enchanted portal. Conner told them about his trip across Europe to find the portal and to see if it was open—with Bree and Emmerich’s help. And then, to their absolute horror, he told them that the army of thousands of men had finally arrived in the Land of Stories after two hundred years.

  They were all at a loss for words. None of them wanted to believe their horrible week was gravely worse than they’d thought.

  “Oh my gosh,” Alex said. “This is unbelievable.”

  “Tell me about it,” Conner said. “It’s been a rough couple days.”

  Hearing this confused Alex. “A couple days?” she clarified. “Wait, you say you tried contacting me during the ball?”

  “Yeah,” Conner said, and rolled his eyes remembering his attempts. “It must have been a pretty busy ball since you couldn’t speak to me for three days.”

  “I’m sorry about that, I was occupied with a lot of things,” Alex said, not wanting to get into them. “But the ball was almost a month ago. Conner, you’ve been in that portal for weeks!”

  Just when Conner’s heart had calmed down it started racing again. Emmerich’s suspicion was right—the soldiers weren’t the only ones who had lost all track of time while they were in the portal. No wonder they had been so discombobulated when they arrived.

  “Oh no,” Conner said. “That means Bree and Emmerich have been away from their families for a month.”

  “Once Mother Goose brings them back, we’ll take them to my chambers and send them home using our old Land of Stories book,” Alex decided. “It should be working again since the portal has been re-opened.”

  A question suddenly came to Conner’s mind. “But Mother Goose never explained to me why the portal has been re-opened,” he said. “Do any of you know why this is happening now?”

  Alex looked gloomily to Froggy and Red and they went silent. Conner could tell they knew something he didn’t—something important.

  “What is it?” Conner said. “Has something else happened that I don’t know about?”

  Alex took a deep breath before breaking the news to him. “Conner, the portal is open for the same reason Froggy is a frog again,” she said. “Grandma’s magic is fading because… Grandma’s dying.”

  Conner felt like he had been punched in the stomach. He fell to his knees and his eyes darted around the gardens surrounding him. This couldn’t be happening. He had risked so much in the Otherworld trying to save his loved ones only to find out he couldn’t save his grandmother after all. It was like he was trapped in a nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from.

  “Grandma can’t die,” Conner said, and tears formed in his eyes. “She’s a Fairy Godmother… fairies don’t die.…”

  Telling him was almost harder than hearing it herself. “Apparently they do,” Alex said through her own tears.

  “How long does she have?” he whimpered.

  “There’s no way of knowing,” Alex said. “Emerelda said as long as there’s still magic left inside her there’s always a chance she could pull through, but it looks unlikely since all her spells are fading.”

  A sudden gust of air blew by them as Mother Goose and Lester returned. They had found Bree and Emmerich and safely brought them to the Fairy Kingdom. The two were beside themselves as they looked around at the majestic gardens and stunning palace—they had never seen such a beautiful place.

  “Wow, you don’t see this every day,” Emmerich said.

  “Now this is what I was expecting!” Bree said happily.

  Mother Goose hopped down from Lester and helped them off the large bird. They joined the others around Conner.

  “That’s a big frog,” Emmerich said when he saw Froggy standing there. He stepped behind Bree and hid from him.

  “Hi, Alex!” Bree said sheepishly; she almost hadn’t recognized her. “I don’t know if you remember me but we were in Social Studies together in the seventh grade. You look great, nice palace!”

  “Hi, Bree,” Alex said, vaguely remembering her. “Thanks for helping my brother find the portal.”

  “No worries,” Bree said. “My schedule was pretty open.”

  Conner tearfully looked up at Mother Goose. “You didn’t tell me the portal was opening because Grandma was sick,” he said.

  Mother Goose let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, C-Dog, I didn’t think I should be the one to tell you,” she said.

  Conner looked away from her. “No, you never want to take responsibility for anything,” he said coldly.

  Mother Goose went quiet and shamefully looked to the ground; he was right. Bree and Emmerich fell silent, too; they weren’t sure what kind of drama they had walked into.

  “Would it make you feel better if you saw her?” Alex asked her brother. “She’s resting in her room.”

  Conner shook his head; he wanted to take care of his guilt before he moved on to his grief. “No, I want to get Bree and Emmerich home first,” he said. “I don’t want to expose them to more than I already have.”

  Alex led them into the palace and up the stairs to her chambers. She retrieved their old Land of Stories book with its emerald cover and gold writing from its special spot on her bookshelf. She placed the large book in the center of her bed. She tapped it three times with the tip of her crystal wand but nothing happened. She tried it twice more but got the same result.

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “If the portal is open, why isn’t the book working?”

  Mother Goose picked up the book and inspected every inch of it. Her eyes lit up as she came to a sudden realization. “Because the portal is still halfway closed,” she explained. “Your grandmother’s magic has faded enough for the portal to open on the Otherworld side, but not enough for it to open on this side. It’s like a doorway that’s only been unlocked on one side.”

  “So you’re saying Bree and Emmerich are stuck here?” Conner asked. The situation just grew more terrible by the hour.

  “For the time being,” Mother Goose said.

  “Wait a second,” Alex said, and looked up to all the guests in her room. Her eyes widened and a smile slowly appeared. “This is good news.”

  “How could this be good news?” Conner asked.

  “Because if the portal is closed
on our side, it means there’s still a little bit of magic left in Grandma,” she said happily.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  THE MASKED MAN OF PINOCCHIO PRISON

  Pinocchio Prison had just been restored following the Enchantress’s vicious attack when it was faced with yet another threat. Like a swift bolt of lightning, the Grande Armée charged toward the fortress in the early hours of the morning and unleashed the full power of its nineteenth-century artilleries.

  The heavy, spiked front doors of the prison were blasted into smithereens by the army’s cannons. Only two hundred enchanted wooden soldiers guarded the prisoners inside and they were no match for the thousands of Frenchmen invading the prison. The Grande Armée forced its way inside and the wooden soldiers were blown into pieces by volleys of rifle fire.

  After the wooden soldiers were completely obliterated and the smoke began to clear, General Marquis stepped inside the prison and had a look at his newest conquest. Pinocchio Prison was thirty stories high and open on the inside like a cylinder; from the center of the ground floor the general could see floor after floor of various creatures locked in their cells above him.

  The prisoners were a rowdy bunch, consisting of ogres, witches, trolls, goblins, elves, animals, men, and women alike. Some welcomed the French soldiers who had destroyed the wooden guards by banging their chains against the bars of their cells. Others cowered in fear, afraid they would be targeted next.

  Nothing was known about these intruders. They spoke and dressed differently from anyone the prisoners had ever seen. Judging by their weapons, the prisoners could only assume these men were soldiers of very dark magic.

  The remains of the wooden soldiers were piled in the center of the prison. Many pieces, such as the legs and hands, still twitched. The general poured lamp oil over the pile of the fallen and lit it on fire so the prisoners above could watch the guards who had held them captive burn.

  General Marquis circled the flames and a hush fell over the prison.