The Enchantress Returns (56 page)
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.
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 received—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.
“Stepmother?” Cinderella called out. “Rosemary? Petunia?”
Even though they knew they were headed to the palace, Lady Iris and her daughters had almost hoped they wouldn’t run into her.
“Hello, Cinderella,” Lady Iris said.
“What are you doing here?” Cinderella asked. She looked over all the belongings they carried and answered her own question.
Lady Iris thought for a moment about what to tell her. “We’ve decided it would be best to leave the Charming Kingdom,” she said.
“I see,” Cinderella said. She didn’t argue with her stepmother,
knowing her reasons better than anyone. “Where are you headed?”
Lady Iris hesitated to say. “The
Otherworld
, as fate would have it,” she said. “I think a fresh start would do the girls and me some good. We’ll be able to live in a place where people won’t judge us as harshly, or throw rocks at the house, or boo us when we leave it.”
All Cinderella could do was nod. She might have built a gate around their property, but she could never take away all the oppression they faced on a daily basis.
“What are you going to do there?” Cinderella asked.
“The boy was telling me of a place called
Florida
that I might be interested in,” Lady Iris said.
“I’m going to be a chef,” Rosemary said.
“I’m going to do something with animals,” Petunia said. “They have so many more animals in the Otherworld than we have. There’s apparently this creature called the
honey badger
that I hear is fascinating.”
Cinderella was pleased for them, but couldn’t deny she was sorry to be losing the only family she had outside the king and princess.
“I’m so happy for you,” she said, although they knew better.
“We’re doing this for you, too, Cinderella,” Lady Iris said. “You won’t have any black sheep to worry about lingering around now. You can raise Princess Hope without ever having to tell her about us, if you’d like.”
Cinderella nodded. “But I plan on telling Hope everything about you,” she said. “Especially the part about her
grandmother helping a small band of courageous sailors defeat the evil enchantress who took her from us.”
Lady Iris hadn’t expected them to remember her request. “Did they tell you I assisted?” she asked.
“No, they didn’t have to,” Cinderella said. She pulled a ring off her finger she wore next to her wedding ring—it was her
stepmother’s
wedding ring. “The Wand it was a part of was destroyed, but I recognized the ring—any girl would recognize her own mother’s wedding ring. I figured you would want it back.”
Lady Iris stared down at the ring. “I don’t know what to say,” she said, touched by the gesture. The girl she had been so cruel to was still showing her kindness even now. “Thank you, Cinderella. You continue to grow into a much better woman than I could ever be.”
Cinderella smiled. She hugged her stepmother and her stepsisters for the first and final time. Red and Froggy took their lead to start their own good-byes.
“I’m going to miss you, old chap,” Froggy said to Conner and gave him a giant hug.
“I’m going to miss you, too,” Conner said. “And just to let you know, whenever I think about you, I’m always going to remember a giant frog.”
Froggy chuckled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.
Red kissed Conner on the cheek. “You are the sweetest boy I know,” she said. “Then again, I rarely socialize with anyone of a lower age or social class.”
“Hey, kid,” Mother Goose said and pulled Conner aside. She slipped a blue poker chip into his hand. “If you’re ever in Monte Carlo, go to the roulette table in the northwest corner of the Lumière des Etoiles casino and bet this on black.” She winked at him and patted him firmly on the back.
“Thanks?” Conner said.
The Fairy Council arrived promptly a few moments later. They took their positions in a big half-circle around the gardens to begin sealing the gateway between the worlds.
“We’re just waiting for the Fairy Godmother and the others,” Emerelda said. “If those of you leaving this world would please just take a step forward.”
Conner, Lady Iris, Rosemary, and Petunia all edged forward on the grass, stepping into the center of the crescent shape the council formed.
“Here they come now,” Skylene said.
Conner turned to see his grandmother, Charlotte, Bob, and his sister walking down from the palace. Bob was carrying one of the golden mirrors his grandmother had convinced the Fairy Council of approving securely under his arm. Conner avoided looking at his sister, knowing whatever devastated expression was on her face would make him more heartbroken than he already was.
As soon as his grandmother reached the gardens, she threw her arms around Conner and said a tearful good-bye.
“You take good care of yourself, do you understand?” she said to him.
“I love you, Grandma,” Conner said.
“And I love you, my darling boy,” she said and wiped the tears off of her face. “I’m going to talk to you every Sunday evening through the mirror—I don’t care how busy you are, there is no excuse to miss it!” She playfully pointed her finger at him.
“I’ll be there.” He laughed.
The sun began to set and the sky darkened. All the fairies in the half-circle nodded to one another.
“It’s time,” Emerelda said. “Fairy Godmother, if you will please create a portal for our travelers—for the last time.”
The Fairy Godmother reluctantly nodded. She stood in front of the council and they joined hands behind her. The wind began to pick up and circled around them as their spell began, blowing the petals of the pear blossoms around like a blizzard.
The Fairy Godmother waved her crystal wand and cracked it like a whip. A large tear appeared in the air, as if the worlds had been ripped at the seam. Everyone stared at it in awe. Conner could see the living room of their rental house on the other side of it.
“It’s done,” the Fairy Godmother said and turned back to the other fairies. “As soon as the portal closes, the gateway will be closed forever.”
The top and the bottom of the portal began retracting inward, and the seam between the worlds started closing for good. Charlotte and Bob joined Conner and the women in the center, but Alex stayed behind by the fairies.
“Alex, come on, let’s go,” Conner called to his sister.
Alex didn’t move. For the first time Conner noticed she wasn’t wearing her normal clothes. Instead, she wore a bright blue robe that sparkled like a night sky—just like their grandmother’s. A headband made of the same white flowers their grandmother wore was in Alex’s hair and she held a long crystal wand—also just like their grandmother’s.
“Alex, why are you dressed like that?” Conner asked.
Alex’s eyes welled up instantly. She looked from her mother to her grandmother for support and took a deep breath before breaking the news to him. “Because I’m staying,” Alex said.
Conner felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. “You’re
what
?!!” he said.
Alex had known this would be one of the most difficult moments of her life, but she never could have imagined it was going to be
this
hard.
“I’m staying here with Grandma,” Alex said. “I was going to tell you this morning, but you were gone by the time I woke up.”
Conner couldn’t believe what he was hearing—he didn’t want to believe it. He turned to his mother, hoping she would talk sense into his sister.
“Mom, tell Alex she’s crazy if she thinks she’s staying here,” he said. But his mother didn’t immediately reprimand her like he had expected; she just gazed at Alex with large watery eyes.
“She’s telling the truth, Conner,” Charlotte said.
Conner looked back and forth between them, shaking his head. “No, this can’t be real,” he said to himself. “Why would you let her do something like that?”
