The Enchantress Returns

Goldilocks leaned toward Jack. “Well, at least I won’t have to feel guilty about making you live the life of an outlaw anymore,” she said.

  “No more running from soldiers, or close encounters with ogres, or sneaking into shops to steal food, or sleeping under the stars in dangerous forests,” Jack said.

  “It’s… tempting to live a quieter life,” Goldilocks said halfheartedly. “Just imagine us living the rest of our days in your manor, watching the grass grow with Red and Charlie.”

  Jack and Goldilocks smirked at each other, both thinking the same thing. They couldn’t imagine a worse fate.

  Goldilocks whispered something into Jack’s ear, and a big grin appeared on his face. The twins looked to each other, knowing something was up. Goldilocks stood from the table and walked over to Red. She endearingly wrapped her arms around her old nemesis and gave her a big hug.

  “What’s all this about?” Red asked.

  “I just want to thank you,” Goldilocks said. “What you’ve done for us is so generous; we’ll never be able to repay you.”

  Red looked like she was about to cry. “You’re so welcome,” Red said. “And even though we’ve both tried to kill each other—I tricked you into going in a house with three furious bears; you tried to throw me into a bottomless pit—I would like it very much if we put the past aside and let our friendship bloom even more.”

  Goldilocks smiled at her. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Red,” she said. “Now, if you’ll just excuse me, I’m going to step out for a moment.”

  Goldilocks gave Red another hug and excused herself from the dining room. The dessert was finally served, and Conner looked up and down the table to make sure his piece of cake wasn’t any smaller than the rest of theirs.

  “Hey, that’s not fair, Red got two pieces of—” Conner stopped himself mid-complaint. Something was different; he was looking at Red without squinting. “Hey, Red, where’s your necklace?”

  “My necklace?” Red asked. She reached up to her neck and screamed when she discovered her diamond necklace was missing. “That doesn’t make any sense! How could it have possibly vanished—GOLDILOCKS!”

  Both the twins turned to Jack. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, trying to hide a giant grin underneath it.

  Sir Lampton suddenly rushed into the dining room. He had built a reputation of constantly bringing such awful news in the last few days, the entire room went silent to hear what he had to say.

  “Yes, Sir Lampton?” King Chance asked.

  “Pardon my intrusion, Your Majesty,” Lampton said. “With all due respect, did you give Goldilocks permission to take one of the horses from the stable, or has one just been stolen?”

  Everyone’s eyes immediately darted to Jack. “Well, that’s my cue,” he said and stood up from the table. “Alex and Conner, it was wonderful to see you again and I’d like to thank everyone else for a lovely evening and a wonderful dinner. Good night.”

  With that said, Jack ran down the dining hall and jumped out of the closest window. Red leaped up from the table and ran over to the window. Froggy and the twins followed her and peered through it.

  They arrived just in time to see Jack sliding down the slanted roof and landing perfectly on the back of a horse that Goldilocks held the reins of on the ground. They both waved up at Red, Froggy, and the twins—Red’s necklace sparkled in the moonlight on Goldilocks’s neck.

  “That’s my necklace!” Red yelled. “Bring that back to me at once!”

  Goldilocks yanked on the reins and she and Jack rode off into the night—happy outlaws once again.

  Red slammed her hands on the windowsill. “I cannot believe I wasted an ounce of generosity on that woman!” she yelled. “Sir Lampton, I want you to put a team of your finest men together and go after her at once!”

  “But I don’t work for you,” Lampton said.

  “No excuses, Lampton! Find them!” Red demanded.

  Lampton looked to King Chance and Cinderella—they both shrugged. “Right away, Queen Red,” Lampton said with a sigh and left the room.

  Alex, Conner, and Froggy couldn’t help but laugh as they watched their friends ride off into the night. Much as it distressed Red, they were happy to see Jack and Goldilocks return to their own habitat.

  Charlotte and Bob’s wedding was just two days later. The entire palace was decorated in flowers and giant banners. Bells rang through the entire kingdom. In Charming tradition, the twins’ grandmother transformed their mother’s nursing scrubs into a beautiful white gown and veil.

  Alex and Conner had never seen her look so beautiful, and both grew a little misty-eyed because of it. They were so happy to see their mom get the wedding she deserved.

  The ceremony was held in the ballroom, and it was so crowded the twins thought the entire Charming Kingdom might have shown up. The Fairy Godmother conducted the ceremony herself. Princess Hope was led down the aisle by her mother and acted as a flower girl. Conner was Bob’s best man and Alex was her mother’s maid of honor.

  “Do you, Charlotte, take this man to be your husband?” the Fairy Godmother asked.

  “I do,” Charlotte said.

  “And do you, Robert, take this woman to be your wife?”

  “I do,” Bob said.

  The vows were only interrupted once as Red loudly blew her nose from the seats—overcome by the ceremony and still upset at losing her favorite necklace.

  “By the power invested in me by the Happily Ever After Assembly, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the Fairy Godmother happily called out. “You may now kiss the bride.”

  The twins both turned their heads the other way and the crowd cheered. Bob, Charlotte, and the twins then got into a carriage in the shape of a pumpkin and rode through the Charming Kingdom streets, waving to all the well-wishers who had gathered there.

  “I think this family is off to a good start,” Conner said.

  That evening, as soon as all the festivities were over, the Fairy Council met the Fairy Godmother at the Charming Palace. They were there on official council business and called together a meeting so exclusive no one but the fairies was allowed to be a part of it. The Fairy Godmother waved her wand and made a door appear that led into the Otherworld, and she and the other fairies waited for Mother Goose to arrive so the meeting could start.

  Mother Goose eventually emerged through the door, dragging her basket of a suitcase and a very defiant and reluctant Lester with her.

  “Come on, Lester,” she said. “I know you love the slot machines, but we can’t stay in Vegas forever.”

  If her appearance was any indication, Mother Goose had done a lot of traveling in the last week. She wore a large sombrero that said TIJUANA across it, a colorful Hawaiian lei around her neck, a large I LOVE NY T-shirt, and wooden Dutch shoes. A foam finger from a football game was still over her hand.

  “Looks like you were busy, O.M.G.,” Conner said.

  “Hey, C-Dog, just because you and your sister saved the world doesn’t mean you get to be sassy,” Mother Goose snapped at him. “I was afraid the Enchantress was going to cross into the Otherworld, so I went to all my favorite places before she could destroy them.”

  Alex looked over her worldly outfit. “I see you went to Mexico, New York, Hawaii, and a football game—but where are the shoes from?” she asked.

  “Amsterdam,” Mother Goose said. “They love me over there.”

  “I didn’t know nursery rhymes were popular in Amsterdam,” Conner said.

  “They’re not,” Mother Goose said. “They don’t know me as Mother Goose; they have their own nickname for me when I visit.”

  “What’s that?” Alex asked.

  “Mother Mayhem,” she said.

  The twins just nodded, not wanting to know any details.

  “All right, let’s get this hen in the oven!” Mother Goose said and clapped her hands. She followed the Fairy Council into a private drawing room.

  “It’s about time you showed up,” Tangerina said.


  “Mind your beeswax, Tangy,” Mother Goose said. “No, I’m serious—your bees are getting that crap all over the floor.”

  The fairies shut the door tightly behind them. Naturally, the twins placed their ears up to the door and tried eavesdropping as much as possible.

  “The world is still in shambles,” the twins heard Emerelda’s voice fade in and out. “We’re slowly clearing the Eastern Kingdom of all the thornbushes and vines.… The Northern Kingdom has finally rid itself of all the poisoned food.… Ezmia’s pillar of rock and dirt still needs to be removed… and there’s one thing that we haven’t discussed yet that involved you, Fairy Godmother.”

  The twins looked to each other; their curiosity consumed them whole.

  “I’ll be right back,” Conner said. A few moments later he returned with empty glasses from the palace kitchen. He handed one to Alex and they placed them over the door and up to their ears. They could hear what the fairies were saying much more clearly now.

  “You understand how difficult that will be for my family, don’t you?” they heard their grandmother say.

  “We’re not proposing it to be cruel; we’re proposing it to be preventative,” Skylene said.

  “If we don’t do something, it’ll only be a matter of time before someone else follows in the Enchantress’s footsteps,” Xanthous said.

  “In the end, it’s your decision,” Emerelda said. “It’s your gift—you were chosen to be the gatekeeper. We can only tell you what we think is best for both worlds.”

  Alex and Conner looked at each other.

  “I understand,” their grandmother said. “And if it’s what the rest of you think is the right thing to do, I cannot ignore that. I just don’t know how I’m going to break the news to my grandchildren.”

  “You can take as much time as you need,” Emerelda said.

  The twins heard them start to come toward the door and ran down the hall so they wouldn’t be caught listening.

  Their curiosity ate them alive for the rest of the day. What was the news their grandmother was going to have difficulty telling them? Why did it affect them and her ability to move between the worlds? The twins’ imaginations didn’t do them any favors as they thought on what the possibilities could be.

  Luckily, they weren’t forced to suffer too long. That night after dinner the Fairy Council called everyone into the ballroom to fill them in on what they had discussed.

  “It’s going to take some time before the world can fully recover from the damage the Enchantress caused,” Emerelda said. “Ezmia may be gone, but the fact is, what she tried to accomplish still remains a possibility as long as the two worlds are joined.”

  “So what are you saying?” Conner said.

  The Fairy Godmother closed her eyes, not wanting to see her grandchildren’s faces when they heard it.

  “For the greater good of both worlds, we have decided to close the gateway between them,” Emerelda said.

  Alex felt like she was being told her father was dead or her mother had been kidnapped all over again. Her stomach tightened and her heart beat at a rapid pace. She felt her palms go clammy and the rest of her body go numb.

  “What?” she asked breathlessly.

  “How is that even possible?” Conner asked. He also was having an incredibly hard time processing the news.

  “It’s possible if we use our magic together,” their grandmother regretfully told them.

  “So what does that mean?” Conner asked. “Does that mean we’ll never be able to see you again?”

  Their grandmother shook her head, happy to report one small consolation. “I was able to convince the other fairies to supply us with a way to see each other,” she said. She waved her wand, and two long, square mirrors with golden frames appeared. “We’ll be able to see each other using these mirrors whenever we want; we just won’t be able to—”

  “Travel between worlds?” Conner asked.

  Their grandmother closed her eyes and nodded her head. It was clearly almost as painful for her to tell them as it was for them to hear it. Alex was shaking her head profusely and tears began running down her face.

  “No, Grandma,” Alex pleaded. “Tell me it isn’t true.”

  “I’m afraid so, honey,” Grandma said.

  Alex lost it completely and buried her head in her mother’s side. She cried so hard she was practically silent except for her deep gasps for air. Charlotte tried to remain strong for her kids but she was having a hard time keeping it together herself—she knew what the news meant for them.

  “And you’re okay with this?” Conner yelled. Tears spilled down from his own eyes.

  “I hate it as much as you do,” their grandma said. “But to secure the safety of both worlds we don’t have another option.”

  Conner could only get one word of his next question out. “When?” he said, and his voice cracked as he fought back emotion.

  “Tomorrow at dusk,” his grandmother said, waging her own emotional battle inside.

  Alex couldn’t stand to hear any more of it. She ran from the ballroom and headed up the stairs to her chambers, her hands covering her face as she went.

  “Alex?” Charlotte called out, but it was no use.

  Alex shut the door to her chambers behind her and collapsed on the floor. She cried and cried for hours and hours. She had lived through the fear of losing the fairy-tale world so many times, and now it was real; it was actually being taken away from her.

  And of all times, her greatest fear had been realized right after she’d learned how much potential she had to offer this world. Right after she’d discovered she had a chance at being the future Fairy Godmother someday. Right after her uncertain future had nearly been set—it was all being taken from her.

  It felt like the Land of Stories had always been dangled in front of her and her brother like a taunting cat toy. Every time they thought they had finally grabbed hold of it, it slipped out of their grip. She cried until her tear ducts dried up and she couldn’t cry anymore. She lay on the bed and prayed there would be some way around this nightmare.

  A soft knock came at the door. “Alex, can I come in?” Charlotte asked from the other side.

  “Sure,” Alex said.

  Charlotte walked into the room and took a seat on the bed next to her devastated daughter.

  “It’s so unfair, Mom,” Alex said. “After everything we’ve been through… after everything we’ve seen… why does this have to be taken from us, too?”

  Charlotte rubbed her hand gently on Alex’s knee. Alex sat up and looked at her mom; she was crying almost more than Alex had been.

  “Why are you crying so much, Mom?” Alex asked. “You’re not losing anything.”

  Charlotte smiled. “Oh, but I am, honey,” she said. “A year ago when you and your brother first came back from this place, I knew then I had lost my little girl forever. I watched her grow sadder and sadder the more time she spent away from this place, and I knew there was nothing I could ever do to help her—because her heart belonged somewhere else.”

  “Mom, what are you talking about?” Alex asked.

  Charlotte put a hand on Alex’s face and looked at her daughter through the tears in her eyes. “I’m saying I’m not going to let you leave the place where you belong,” she said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  THE GOOD-BYE

  Conner woke up the next morning with a mission. Before anyone else had woken, he ran down to the stables and arranged for a carriage to take him into the countryside. He kept his activities a complete secret from anyone else, fearing someone would stop him if he made his plans known. He didn’t return until that evening just before dusk—and he didn’t return alone. The carriage door swung open, and three additional passengers emerged from it.

  Conner had brought Lady Iris, Petunia, and Rosemary back with him. After they’d spent nearly a decade suffering through constant public persecution, Conner had offered them the only chance at refuge they had ever rece
ived—and after hearing hours of Conner’s descriptions, the sequestered family of women finally jumped at the chance.

  They were carrying as many of their belongings as they could. Lady Iris held on to the painting of her late husband; Rosemary held her favorite cooking bowl; and Petunia grasped a stack of rolled-up animal portraits under her arm.

  “There’s this thing called culinary school that you’re going to love, Rosemary,” Conner was saying, further listing the perks of his dimension. “And just wait until I introduce you to Animal Planet, Petunia.”

  Sir Lampton emerged down the front steps of the palace toward the carriage. “What’s going on here?” he asked Conner.

  Conner pulled him aside so the women couldn’t hear him. “I’m taking them back to the Otherworld with us,” he said.

  “You’re what?!” Lampton said.

  “I explained everything to them; it took them a while to understand, but they want to leave,” Conner said. “Lampton, they’re miserable here—they don’t gain anything by staying. If they come with us they’ll at least have a chance at starting a better life.”

  “Why would you help them?” Lampton asked.

  Conner sighed and looked to the ground. “Because I’ll never be able to help my sister,” he said. “Alex isn’t like me—she’s going to be miserable the rest of her life without this place. At least if I bring Lady Iris with us there’ll be something worth looking forward to.”

  Lampton had his reservations but admired the boy’s generosity nonetheless. “You’re a good man, Conner Bailey,” he said. “Everyone is gathering in the gardens for the final good-bye. Please escort your guests down there.”

  Conner nodded and led the women around the side of the castle to the beautiful gardens. The Charming garden was home to an exquisite display of yellow roses, pear trees, and a hedge labyrinth. It was a beautiful place to say a distressing good-bye.

  Froggy, Red, King Chance, Cinderella, and Mother Goose had already gathered in the gardens. Cinderella had to do a double take as Conner approached—she hadn’t been expecting to see her stepmother and stepsisters walking behind him.