Ashes to Ashes

by M. J. Padgett

  Fiona Garamond. Fiona... huh, like fairy... wait...

  “Fairy Godmother!” I blurted, not even trying to conceal my thoughts this time.

  She giggled lightly as did Jemma.

  “Yes, dear, that I am, and we have much to discuss.”

  Chapter Eight

  “You’re a fairy godmother?” Ely asked, a skeptical look on his face.

  “No, I’m not a fairy godmother. I’m the fairy godmother. There’s only one at a time, dear, and for now, that’s me. I’m the official record keeper for the land of Goldene Stadt, and I’m afraid your Grimms have got the stories a bit wrong.”

  Ely blinked several times, his jaw a bit slack. “I-I don’t believe this.”

  Heidi snickered. “This you have trouble believing? After everything you’ve seen, a fairy godmother you find difficult to believe?”

  He grumbled at her, barely audible nonsense then said, “No, Heidi, that your annoying brothers wrote hundreds of tales and we have no way of knowing which are true and which aren’t.”

  “That’s the problem, dear. All the stories are wrong. Not one of them is correct, which does put us in quite the pickle.” Fiona’s words and actions contradicted one another. She was relaxed and exhibited a soothing glow that hypnotized me.

  “A pickle? I’d say we’re in more than a pickle!” Ely had lost his patience with the whole situation, but rather than lash back at him, Fiona took another approach.

  “There is an answer. We can reverse the curses of each tale if we defeat the person at the heart of them, the heart of the darkness, so to speak. Unfortunately, that may take some doing. I have not been able to identify the original source just yet. You are familiar with the Seven Sworn, correct?” she asked, and the others nodded, but I’d only heard the name and nothing more. However, I did not think it was the time to interrupt.

  “Yes, the seven Salien children who freed Schwarzwald from Snow’s curse. I’m very familiar since it was one of the worst nights of my life,” Ely said with a bit more patience, but a lot more fear.

  “Who told you it was the Salien children?” Fiona asked, glancing around the table.

  “Don’t look at me,” Jemma said. “I haven’t told them anything, let alone lies. I saw Sierra and hoped she was here for this but didn’t say a word until Heidi called Mr. Crankasaurus Eliot Salien.”

  “I guess that’s why you were smiling at me,” I said before Ely could issue a smart remark. He did a fine job of scowling at Jemma, but she ignored him.

  “Yeah, sorry. I know we never really spoke in school, but I was excited to see you. I may have gotten a little too excited,” she admitted.

  “It’s fine. It has been a long time, hasn’t it? Maybe we could—”

  “Can we get back to the topic at hand, ladies? Like defeating the evilest evil that ever lived, which sucks because I thought that was my half-sister,” Ely said, his mood growing broodier by the minute.

  I suppose I understood. After all, he’d been through this once already. I wasn’t exactly enjoying it the first time around, so I assumed it was worse the second go around, not to mention the thought of dealing with it a multitude of times until we found the root of the evil.

  “Sorry, you were saying,” I asked Fiona.

  She cleared her throat. “Yes, the issue is, we have no idea who that person or thing may be. We only know it resides where the original curse was enacted. If we can figure out who it was and where it originated, we have a chance at ending the curses for everyone. As I was saying, the Seven Sworn is most definitely not the seven Salien children. Only two of the Salien children are part of that elite club.”

  “Two? Which two? Two isn’t seven. If we need seven and we only have two, where are the other five? What are you talking about woman?” Ely snapped.

  Fiona glanced to me. “Impatient boyfriend you’ve got there.”

  I opened my mouth to object, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to call him if not boyfriend, so I closed my mouth and offered a weak smile instead. She giggled a tinkly little giggle and turned her attention back to Ely and Heidi.

  “Marcellus and Katharine, I presume?” Heidi asked.

  “Yes, the firstborn of the cursed generation in each kingdom,” Fiona confirmed.

  “Well, that’s a problem. The first born was Snow, and she’s a bit dead at the moment,” Ely said, trying to control his irritation. Fear did strange things to people, and I had a good feeling his fear made him lash out and snap at people. It wasn’t attractive, but no one seemed overly offended by it either.

  “My apologies, the first born of a magical mother. Snow was magical. Therefore, her mother could not have been a witch. King Marcellus and Princess Katharine are the chosen two which means...”

  She turned her gaze back to me, and my little heart fluttered nearly as fast as hers. “M-me?”

  “Yep. Your mom was married to the king which means you’re the eldest heir,” Jemma said.

  I closed my eyes to process the new information. Two days was not nearly enough time to learn and accept the things I’d been told. A large part of me wanted to shake it off and pretend it was all a joke Ely and his friends were playing on me, but there was that one person who had me convinced it was all real—Ella.

  I took a deep breath, then said, “So, let me make sure I understand the uber-specific membership rules for the elite Seven Sworn club. First, be the firstborn of royal blood and first in line for the throne. Second, be born of a witch. Third, be born in the cursed generation, correct?”

  “Yes, dear,” Fiona said.

  “Well... check, check, check. I’m screwed.” I dropped my head to the table with a groan.

  “No. I won’t allow it. No chance,” Ely said, shaking his head no.

  Heidi placed her hand gently on his forearm. “Eliot, this is more than you. It’s more than any of us. You know that.”

  His demeanor calmed significantly, then he said, “I know, but... but I just got her back, Heidi. This was supposed to be over, and now... well, now we may all die at the hands of darkness we can’t even identify!”

  “I get it! I spent fifteen centuries chasing you and your siblings! I’ve lost more friends than I care to remember, but still, I trudge on because it’s our duty. Not everyone gets a fair life, I’m afraid. Some of us are cursed to carry a burden we never asked for, but we do because we’re strong enough to protect the weak.”

  A heavy silence fell over the room then. Ely and Heidi had a staring contest during which they seemed to share an intense amount of pain and understanding. Fiona gazed at them with sad eyes, likely having lived the same way Heidi and her brothers had. How long had Fiona chased after the Vogel children? Jemma shot a quick glance in my direction but said nothing. Ely nodded his head once, then got back in the game.

  “You said seven, but there are only five ancient kingdoms in the Black Forest, that we remember, anyway. That’s six first born unless there’s another set of twins. What do we know of the others?” he asked, a sudden take charge personality overriding his fear.

  “Unfortunately, I only know of the two Salien chosen and Sierra.” She motioned around the room. “I’ve spent decades pouring over these volumes, but I’ve found nothing more on the matter. Still, there are easily a thousand I haven’t read yet. If I had my enchanted books, this would be easier.” She sighed heavily, distraught that the work was tedious and slow, and yielded very little information.

  “Your enchanted books? Of course, you have enchanted books. Where are they?” Ely asked.

  “Well, that’s the problem. The books and my wand are under lock and key at two separate museums. I have tried to purchase them, but the curators simply won’t budge. It’s frustrating, really. They are mine after all.”

  Ely raised an eyebrow, half-delight, half-skepticism on his face. “A wand? Isn’t that... handy?”

  “Indeed,” Heidi said, pure delight oozing from her sparkly smile. “I suppose we’ll have to borrow them then, won’t we?”


  “Borrow?” Jemma asked, giving me a sideways glance as if to say, where did you get these two? It was so surreal to look at her knowing she was my cousin. Now that I paid attention, we had a lot of the same mannerisms and features.

  Heidi blushed. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I had to borrow items from a museum. All in a day’s work I’d say.”

  Fiona stood, prepared to address us once more, but I got a message. The ding of my phone echoed in the large room, startling me. I was overly jumpy, but all things considered, I was glad to hold myself together at all. I pulled my phone from my pocket to find a video message.

  I pressed play and watched—to my horror.

  “No... no, no, no!” I yelled, standing abruptly and knocking my chair backward.

  “What is this?” Ely asked as he took my phone. He and Heidi watched the video with wide eyes. “Snow did this to Calla, but it was just photos of her friends and family moving about town. She never... how did she get him?”

  “No, Brody!” Heidi yelled, then pulled her phone from her pocket. “No messages. I’ll call him.”

  While she tried to reach her husband, I watched the video again praying it wasn’t real, that it was a trick of the light and some other poor boy was tied to a chair, half-beaten. It wasn’t. Jack’s face was bloodied and bruised, his shirt covered with blood. Ella stood beside him with a wicked grin on her face.

  “You didn’t seem to take me seriously this morning, so I decided I’d show you just how cruel I can be. Send the Grimm and the Salien boy home, or Jack will be delivered to you in pieces.” She kicked the chair out from under him, and he fell to the ground, smashing his face painfully onto the floor.

  He managed to lift his head to look directly into the camera. “Don’t! It’s a trick, Sierra! Don’t!”

  She kicked him in the gut, and he spat blood all over the floor. His head dropped and rolled forward, and I prayed he’d only passed out.

  “Sundown, Saskia. Have them on a plane and out of your life by sundown and do tell your sister Auntie Ella says hello. I can’t wait for her to join me.” With that, the screen went blank.

  Heidi paced the floor waiting for her husband to answer his phone. He was watching Jack, but what had happened? What went wrong?

  “Finally!” I heard her yell. “Where are you?” She was quiet for some time, still pacing and white as a sheet. “Yes, okay. We’ll meet you at the Monroes’ apartment.”

  She hung up the phone and joined us. “It was a sneak attack. Someone hit Brody over the head, and he was out cold for hours. Ella must have taken him between classes, but there’s no way to know where she took him, I’m afraid.”

  “If we can get my wand, I can find him,” Fiona said.

  “You can locate?” Heidi asked, surprised.

  “With the wand, yes, absolutely. Is Princess Corrina safe?”

  I felt she was. I couldn’t say how, but I felt my sister was safe.

  Heidi confirmed. “Yes, Felix is with her at the apartment. I trust him, Sierra. He’s strong and... well, Brody is strong, but... Okay, I’ll just say it, Felix was made for battle and Brody was not, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t—”

  “Heidi,” I said, taking her hands tightly. “It’s fine. I’m sure he tried, but anyone would fall if hit in the head. The good thing is, Cecily is safe. Let’s find this wand and get my best friend back so we can kill this stupid woman.”

  “There’s my princess,” Ely said, smiling for the first time since... well, the entire day. I returned the smile but was anxious to find my best friend. Best friend... you have TWO, dummy!

  “Oh no! Dannie! What if she has Dannie, too?”

  “If she does we’ll find them both, I promise you,” Fiona said.

  Jemma retrieved a map from a nearby table and spread it across the long table. “These are the schematics for the Art Museum. I have a friend who...”

  Jemma’s words were lost to me. I was far too distracted by the video replaying in my mind. It was all my fault Jack was in danger. It was my fault he was beaten and nearly dead. I pulled my phone out again hoping there was something in the video that would indicate where she was holding him. I wandered down the aisles of books as I forced myself to watch it repeatedly, taking in the background and the items in the frame. Nothing. Not one single clue as to where she was holding Jack. As I held the phone, another message came through.

  Unknown: I can see you’re panicked. I’ll sweeten the deal. Care to hear my offer?

  My heart plummeted. Ella was watching from somewhere, but where? There were no windows in the secret library... maybe it was a trick? I glanced around to be sure, terrified for Jack. My mind told me playing into her hand was a mistake, that no good could come from making a deal with the devil, but my heart—the place where Jack had taken up residence long, long ago—it said make the deal and save your friend, your brother.

  I typed a hasty reply which was soon met with a more detailed message.

  Unknown: Wise choice. Meet me in one hour, and I will not only release your beloved Jack, but I will also alleviate you of your wolf curse. If you’re extra nice, I may handle that pesky fire issue as well.

  I sent another message confirming my willingness to do as she instructed.

  Unknown: I’ll send you the address. Meet me in one hour. Come alone. If you bring anyone, I will kill you both.

  It made no sense to me. Ella offered me Jack. She offered to remove the wretched curse and my new flaming hands issue, but she made no mention of what she wanted in return besides sending Ely and the others home. It’s a trap.

  Jack said it was. I knew it was, but I didn’t care. Perhaps it was a hasty decision, but I would do just about anything to protect Jack and Cecily, including putting my own life in danger. While the others were elbow-deep in plotting not one, but two heists, I snuck out the magical door and through the maze of halls to find my friend. I got lost once and had to backtrack, but soon saw the door we’d come through shortly after we arrived. I opened it carefully and slowly closed it behind me so I wouldn’t alert anyone that I was sneaking out of a secret lair.

  I checked my phone, and sure enough, Ella had sent me the coordinates to where she was holding Jack. Why didn’t she just send an address? I had to keep reminding myself that I was dealing with ancients. You are, too, Sierra. I rolled my eyes at my own thought and entered the coordinates into my phone. Once the GPS had locked on the location, my heart seized. Why, oh, why did it have to be that house? You know why.

  I ran back to the little yellow house with the sagging gutters and rusted old fence, now certain the house was good for nothing but evil. I’d never run so fast in my life, but the miles seemed like feet as I raced along. Finally, I reached the little house and looked around. A bright orange sign hung on the front door—condemned. The word didn’t seem strong enough for what that house held.

  I pushed open the rusty fence door and let the chill course through me. Odd, how a sound or a smell can not only bring back memories long-since suppressed but also the actual, physical pain endured. The scars on my back burned nearly as terribly as they did that day, the day my foster father beat me so severely with a leather belt I couldn’t put a shirt on without help for weeks. Cecily cried every day, but I’d have suffered his wrath a thousand times more if it meant he never touched her.

  The gate sagged under the pressure and gave way at the top hinge. It made an awful clatter when it fell, but I suspected Ella already knew I was there. I climbed the three stairs to the porch, dodging the broken boards. I paused at the door. Do I knock or just go in?

  I chose the latter and turned the door handle. It creaked and squealed, but the door soon popped open, and a dank air oozed over me. I coughed several times as I tried to orient myself in the old house. Wherever she filmed the video of Jack, it was not there. I’d have recognized the inside of the house anywhere, but that didn’t mean she did not accomplish her mission. Ella wanted to prove a point, that she knew me better than I thought she did
, she could reach me anytime she wanted, and that nothing was off-limits.

  A light flickered down the hall spreading eerie shadows along the wall. It was my old bedroom, the one I shared with my sister and two other girls, right next door to where the three boys slept. The boys... They got the worst beatings. They always tried to protect the girls, but it was useless. I couldn’t even remember their names after years of pushing the memories away, but their faces were clear. I shook my head and cleared my mind.

  “Darling, I wasn’t sure you’d come. Please do, come in and stay a while.” Ella’s airy voice slipped into my mind and angered me, but I bit my tongue for Jack’s sake and followed the flickering lights down the hall.

  Each step felt like a death march, but I controlled the urge to run back out of the house. There was nothing the police could do, so there was no point in dragging innocent people into the fight. My feet felt like concrete as I shuffled along the uneven wood floor. The flickering light did little to illuminate the way, so I struggled to avoid the warped boards. I remembered a loose one that I often tripped on when I was younger and took a step to the right to get around it. My foot brushed against something solid. I glanced down, but it was too dark to see what it was. It didn’t matter, my target was down the hall.

  I took another step and stumbled over something blocking the way. I fell on my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. Whatever it was, it was malleable, not as solid as I had thought. I reached to right myself, and my hand settled on a cold, fleshy object. I jerked my own hand back and turned around.

  “Oh dear, I guess you found my surprise. Such a shame really. Poor Dannie had a bright future, but she chose her friends poorly.”

  “Wh-what?” I gasped and reached for the body. I pushed it over, and the candlelight flickered on the face, illuminating it enough for me to make out the features. “Dannie!” I screamed.