by Chris Colfer
“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?”
Charlotte placed a hand on her s
on’s shoulder. “One day when you have kids, Conner, you’ll discover that your biggest fear is not always making good decisions for your children—and while I know I’ll always regret the decision to let her stay, I’ll always know it was the right decision,” she said. “You know as much as I do that your sister belongs here.”
Conner felt like he had been ambushed. He looked to his grandmother, but there was no sign of an alternative answer in her eyes.
“Alex, what about school?” Conner said. “What about graduation? What about college? What about starting families of our own someday? Are you just going to throw all of those things away?”
Alex wiped the tears from her face, even though they were quickly replaced with fresh streams.
“There’s nothing you’re going to say now or in a year that I wouldn’t have thought about a hundred times,” Alex said. “This isn’t easy for me, Conner, but I know it’s what I have to do.”
“You mean you’ve been planning this?” Conner said. He was so angry she had even considered something so drastic without telling him.
“I’ve thought about it every day since we got back the first time,” Alex said. “I never thought the conditions would be so severe—but it was even in the Snow Queen’s prophecy; we just didn’t recognize it. ‘Of the four travelers, one will not return’—she was talking about you, me, Mom, and Bob. We were the four travelers, not the ones aboard the Granny.”
“You’re going to regret this,” Conner said. “One day you’re going to look back and wish you hadn’t left me and Mom—”
“No, I won’t,” Alex said. “Because I couldn’t live without this world now that I know how much it offers me.”
Conner felt like he was in a nightmare.
“Alex, I’ve never been anywhere without you in my entire life,” Conner said. “We can’t live worlds apart!”
“Don’t you get it, Conner?” Alex said. “We were always meant to live worlds apart. Magic chose us to be the bridge between the two worlds—it’s the reason there are two of us. I was always meant to stay here and succeed Grandma in magic, and you were meant to go to the Otherworld and continue her storytelling. Do you think it’s just a coincidence that you turned out to be such a good writer?”
Every fiber of his being wanted to argue with her; every inch of him wanted to reject what she was telling him—but something about seeing his sister among the fairies made him feel like everything was right in the world, even though his was crashing around him.
Alex stepped toward him and gave him the biggest hug she had ever given him. “We’ll always be together, Conner,” Alex said. “In our hearts and in your stories—every time you pen another story about our adventures in the Land of Stories, I’ll be right there with you. And when that isn’t enough, we can always see each other in the mirrors.”
Emerelda was the only one eyeing the portal. “The gateway is closing,” she said. “You have to leave soon before you’re all trapped in this world.”
For every tear that rolled down Conner’s face there were a dozen he fought back. He knew there was no going back now—Alex had made up her mind. There were so many things to say and not enough time to say it. Conner made sure to make his final moments with his sister count and said the only thing that mattered.
“I love you, Alex,” he said and hugged her.
“I love you, too, Conner,” she said and hugged him back. They could both feel each other’s tears on the back of their necks.
One by one, Lady Iris, Rosemary, Petunia, and Bob stepped through the seam between worlds and disappeared. Charlotte gave Alex one last hug before stepping through it, and Conner followed her. He watched his sister through the seam as it slowly closed and the fairy-tale world vanished before his eyes—they were now dimensions apart, yet both the twins were finally home.
Alex was right—Conner could still feel her in his heart. However, underneath the pain of saying good-bye was a lingering certainty that their good-bye wouldn’t last forever. Despite what the fairies told him, Conner knew in his heart that his and Alex’s story was far from over.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank Rob Weisbach, Glenn Rigberg, Alla Plotkin, Erica Tarin, Meredith Fine, Lorrie Bartlett, Derek Kroeger, Liz Uhl, Tom Robb, and Heather Manzutto for their contributions to the CC Army. Thanks to Alvina Ling, Melanie Chang, Bethany Strout, Megan Tingley, Andrew Smith, and everyone at Little, Brown.
I’d like to give a special thank-you to all my friends and family who sometimes get neglected in the juggling act I call a life: my parents, my grandmother, Will Sherrod, Ashley Fink, Pam Jackson, Jamie Greenberg, Megan Doyle, Barbara Brown, Roberto Aguirre, and my enormous and growing extended family.
Seeing as this is my third novel published in just one month shy of a calendar year, I would like to thank the people who taught me how to read and write, as it was not an easy task: my elementary school teachers, Mrs. Shehorn, Mrs. Keller, Mrs. Karl, Mrs. Lubisich, Mr. Schultz, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Denton, and Mrs. Ulrich.
Since he sat on my lap while I wrote the majority of this novel and acted as inspiration, I would like to thank my cat, Brian, who couldn’t care less about this recognition. Also Polly Bergen, for being the real Mother Goose.
Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
EPIGRAPH
PROLOGUE: THE RISE AND THE RETURN
CHAPTER ONE: A TRAIN OF THOUGHTS
CHAPTER TWO: IT STARTED WITH A DOG
CHAPTER THREE: LUNCH IN THE LIBRARY
CHAPTER FOUR: THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE
CHAPTER FIVE: THE PROPOSAL
CHAPTER SIX: POSITIONING THE GNOMES
CHAPTER SEVEN: LOOSEY GOOSEY
CHAPTER EIGHT: THE COTTAGE
CHAPTER NINE: THE GATHERING IN THE WOODS
CHAPTER TEN: RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S DEBT
CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE QUEEN AND THE FROG
CHAPTER TWELVE: A NOT-SO-CHARMING EVENING
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: JARS OF SOULS
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE WAND OF WONDERMENT
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: BEAN THERE, DONE THAT
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: FLIGHT OF THE GRANNY
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE SNOW QUEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE WICKED STEPMOTHER
CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE CASTLE IN THE SKY
CHAPTER TWENTY: THE REFLECTION
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE SEA WITCH
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: TROLLBELLA, QUEEN OF THE TROBLINS
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE EIGHTH DWARF
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE LADY OF THE EAST
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: ROCK, ROOT, AND RAGE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE ENCHANTRESS’S MOST PRIZED POSSESSION
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: THE DREAM
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: THE GREATEST MAGIC OF ALL
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: FOR BETTER, OR FOR WORSE
CHAPTER THIRTY: THE GOOD-BYE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Christopher Colfer
Jacket and interior art Copyright © 2013 by Brandon Dorman
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: August 2013
ISBN 978-0-316-25237-9