by Todd Loyd
Her voice stops him for a second. Does she want me to stay? he wonders. He replays her tone in his head. Nonetheless, Amy had been so cold and unresponsive earlier that not even her words could persuade him now, so he continues.
Victor smiles dismissively and says, “Go ahead and try, but unless the Queen changes the story, none of us can leave through that door.”
In spite of Victor's confident reproach, Jack saunters up to the door and attempts to push the bar and leave.
It's locked.
“I told you, there is no use,” Victor politely reminds Jack.
Undeterred, Jack turns to the others and asks, “Mason, do you still have the hammer?”
The other teens remain standing like mindless lemmings awaiting their leader.
Mason responds, “Braddock, what are you doing?”
“Just tell me, Mason. The hammer, please.”
Jack sees the wary Mason roll his eyes. Then, only to appease Jack, he answers, “Yes, it's here in the work belt, but, Jack, just chill out, okay. You're not going to screw this up for us. The Queen will show us the way out.”
“I'm not waiting for the Queen. Can't you see something is not right here? It's all too easy. ”
Walking back to them, Jack holds his palm out to Mason and says, “Look, you can stay and wait, but I'm trying to get out that door.”
Victor rubs his forehead as if suffering some vicious headache and attempts to reason with Jack, saying, “Come now, the end is so near.”
“What is wrong with you, Jack?” Amy questions.
“Here, Jack,” Mason says, extending the tool. “Take the stupid hammer. We're staying. Right, Scotty?”
Victor slowly walks toward the door.
Scotty replies, “Jack, I don't want you to leave without us.”
“Then come with me—now.”
And with hammer in hand, Jack marches back to the door. He ignores Victor who is standing beside the door and goes to work on the first hinge. Suddenly, he feels a hand firmly press down on his shoulder with the fingers burying themselves deep into his flesh. Then he is spun around away from the door.
Amy yells, “Victor, what are you doing?”
“My dear child, you have to wait for the Queen,” responds Victor. His voice is oozing with kindness in stark contrast to the firmness of his grip.
Jack reaches for the hand and tries to pry it off.
Victor says to Jack, “No matter what you do, the door will not open. Show some manners, boy. You are now an honored guest of the Queen. What will she think if you are over here trying to pry the door apart? No, please, just take a spot next to the others.”
Jack is in pain. In spite of the words, Victor's grip confides no politeness. The man forces Jack back toward the line with the others, and Jack sees Mason give a smug grin.
Should I fight? wonders Jack. He considers his options for doing so. Strike Victor? Slam my foot onto his? Elbow him hard in the ribs? The elbow, that will be my best shot. But then what?
All of a sudden, a commotion erupts from a passage in the wall. Then a vicious snarl bellows out from the space, and a voice says, “The girl is mine!”
As everyone's lock onto the passage, Victor releases his grip, and Jack thinks to run. However, the shock of what he sees freezes him. Now limping into the room is the wolf, who is breathing hard. His coat has been singed from flames, black soot covers his fur, and his top hat is tilted to one side on his head. In between breaths, he growls, and his eyes are fixed on Victor as he slowly steps toward the party while dragging his left leg.
The wolf says, “The girl, you will give me the girl now!”
“Stay back, vile creature!” Victor commands and steps briskly in front of Amy to shield her.
Jack is slightly impressed by the man's courage. However, all signs of bravado are erased as Victor's authoritative voice changes into a cowering snivel when he says, “Please, you must not interfere…the Queen.”
“I told you, I will have the girl. If you value your life, you will leave.”
Closer and closer, the wolf limps toward Amy.
Jack decides he had better act. Still, even though the wolf is clearly hurt, Jack knows he won't be able to overpower him by himself. He considers that Victor might actually be of some use and that Scotty would help as well, although he cannot count on Mason.
Time to act, thinks Jack. Swiftly, he charges at the wolf from behind and jumps on the creature's back. His body clamps upon the surprised foe, and he clings his arms tight around the wolf's neck.
Although injured, the wolf is still too powerful and rocks Jack's body from side to side. Soon, Jack's arm lock is broken by the monster's massive paws. Then, the wolf bites Jack's hand.
Jack immediately drops to the floor, holding his injured hand. He sees blood pouring from the wound. Then, looking up, he watches as Scotty, with scissors in hand held out before him, charges at the wolf. However, the boy is easily swept aside. His sister also decides to attack and Amy steps around Victor to take a wild swing at the wolf with her stick. It seems, though, that the wolf was somehow prepared for the strike. The blow to his ribs doesn't seem to faze him, and the wolf simply clamps his arm down over the weapon.
Jack begins to stand back up in preparation for a second attack, and as he does so, he notices that Mason is just standing and watching the spectacle.
At this point, Victor grabs Amy and jerks her behind him. In a nervous voice, he tells the wolf, “You…you…must stay, sir, stay…back.”
Jack has determined a new plan of attack. He intends to plow forward aiming a shoulder at the beast's bad leg.
All of sudden, though, the skirmish is stopped by the sound of another voice.
“What is happening? Please, my friends, quarreling is so childish!” admonishes the Queen.
Chapter 130
All eyes turn to the authoritative voice, and Jack is once again stunned at the appearance of the radiant Queen, thinking, Could she possibly be even more beautiful? She seems to almost be glowing as she stands at the door of the house. His gaze is broken, though, by the pain in his hand, and as he looks down at it, he notices that blood is dripping onto the floor beneath him.
“What has happened here?” the Queen asks. Her attention turns to Jack, who is pressing hard on his bleeding hand. She moves, seeming to float across the room toward him, and says, “Oh, my poor child, let me see.”
Her voice is just as sweet as it had been before, and she adds, “I beg you, there needs to be no quarrel among us.”
The Queen takes Jack's back pack and sets it down on the ground. Then taking Jack's injured hand in her soft hands, she can see that four fang marks had punctured the soft spot between his index finger and thumb on both sides.
The Queen gives the wolf a stare, admonishing the creature like a scolding teacher and says, “My dear wolf, this is not proper behavior. It will not be tolerated. You will back away. Back away from the girl.”
The wolf is apparently compelled to obey and moves back and stands still. However, his mannerism does not suggest that he is as enamored with the Queen as the others are.
“Thank you,” says the Queen. Then she looks down at the wound again and begins to whisper something. They are words that Jack cannot discern, but instantly the pain in his hand subsides. Then, to his amazement, the fang marks dissolve into clear pink skin. She drops Jack's hand, turns to Victor, and says, “Now, Victor, I am not sure what has happened, but I am sure there is no need for any hasty action.”
Victor bows yet again and says, “Sorry, milady.”
“We shall put the whole nasty scene behind us,” declares the Queen. She shoots the wolf another disdaining look and adds, “All of us.”
Then, looking back at Victor, she continues, “The fire is prepared I see, but I must say, it is lacking a little.”
The Queen then turns to the small fire and begins to mutter more of the unintelligible words under her breath. Suddenly, the small little fire grows. The once red flickering flames lengt
hen several feet, and a green light appears around the fire.
The Queen's sudden mastery of the wolf, the healing spell, and whatever she had just done to the fire is enough proof for Jack to believe that she truly is as powerful as she is radiant.
“Now, brave travelers, I have made final arrangements. I have what you need,” informs the Queen, who holds aloft a stack of papers for all to see. Triumphantly, she beams and says, “I have the missing pages of your story!”
This is a bombshell for Jack. He feels vindicated that the narrator had been right, that the missing pages were the key, and that they had to finish the story. Now, in addition to being relieved, Jack is downright excited.
Mason asks, “So what do we do?”
“Well, I shall read them, of course. Once the story is finished, we can all live happily ever after. Should I begin now?”
A low growl exudes from the wolf, “No.”
“What was that, my dear friend? Is there a reason you are interrupting? Oh, I see, you want the girl. Of course, you are upset now that you see she shall escape?”
The wolf responds, “No.” Something about the Queen has humbled him.
“Well brave ones, shall I begin?”
Jack looks at Amy, who is still on the floor and grasping her shoulder. Then he asks, “Uh, could we have a moment, your majesty?”
“Of course, my child.”
“Guys, can we talk about this first?” Jack begs.
Amy and Scotty begin to walk toward him, but Mason, for his part, glowers at Jack.
Then he makes an exaggerated disgusted step toward the meeting and says, “I've had about enough of this, Braddock. Why do we need a pow-wow now? The woman just healed your hand, and you're still going on with this suspicious routine? Let's get this over with and go home.”
Scotty adds, “I have to agree with Mason, Jack. We're so close now.”
Jack responds, “I don't know. I just don't want to rush into this. There is something not right here.”
Mason declares, “The only thing not right here is you, Jack.”
“Let him speak his mind,” Amy retorts.
Jack sighs for a moment, realizing she had actually defended him.
“But this better be good,” Amy continues.
The warning from Amy stings, but he starts to make his case by saying, “Look, I know you guys want to go through with this. I'm just saying that it does not feel right. I know she's nice and all, but why won't they let us out the door? Why do we need to have our stories read?”
Amy replies, “But isn't this what the narrator told us to do—finish the story? Isn't that right, Jack? It's what you've been wanting all night.”
Her face looks five years older, more mature and prettier than Jack remembered.
“Yes, that's right,” Jack says. “But he was trying to lead us somewhere else. We didn't really do what he wanted.”
“Jack, we are going to finish the story. We are doing what is right. The Queen, she's going to reward us,” explains Amy with an expression so pleasant that it puts Jack at ease. If Mason had offered the very same point, Jack would surely have countered it, but coming from Amy, Jack gives consideration to the reasoning.
He thinks, The narrator told us to go another way, but the Queen has been so kind. She healed my hand and staved off the wolf. I want to finish, but still…it seems…too easy.Soon enough, though, Jack succumbs to the collective will of the others. He tells them, “I guess you're right. But I'm just saying—”
“Enough with the buts, Jack,” offers Mason. “It's time we got out of here—all of us! We all know what we need to do.”
Then he looks at the wolf and continues in a softer tone, “We could try and walk out, but who's to say that wolf's not going to follow? He's pretty determined to kill Amy.”
Jack admits to himself that this is a good point.
Before the huddle breaks and before Jack can object, Mason announces to the Queen, “Okay, we're ready!”
The Queen gently nods and gracefully lifts the papers. Then she says, “Young apprentice, I shall read yours first.”
Chapter 131
Jack thinks, This is it, the moment of truth. It is the moment we have labored all night for. In spite of his uneasiness about the situation, Jack is looking forward to hearing what the Queen will read.
“Please step forward, noble one,” she says.
Jack watches as Scotty takes a deep breath and steps toward the Queen. He is grinning happily, awaiting whatever the story has in store.
Everyone in the room is smiling, with two exceptions: Jack, who is obviously still a little concerned, and the wolf, who is now looking totally flustered, which Jack dismisses as the look of a sore loser.
The Queen clears her throat with an exaggerated cough and begins.
“The apprentice presented the key he had taken,
A gift for the Queen long since forsaken.
The boy had lived with little will of his own.
He left it up to the tailor which way to be shown.
Until one day when the tailor left him alone in spite of his pleas.
Abandoned in the wood, the apprentice fell to his knees
Lost in the dark forest with no one to lead,
For he could not live for himself in his hour of need.
Resigned to his fate, lonely and cold,
His vision left him as he grew old,
A blind lonely beggar, hopeless in the deep dark wood,
A sightless follower with no leader, his fate far from good.”
The words of the Queen were joyous and spoken with a great amount of celebration. But the script is far from what any of them expected, and Scotty stands with an expression of disbelief.
Before any of them can speak, Scotty, as if in a trance, pulls the scissors from his pocket, waltzes woozily to the Queen, and hands her the key.
He then saunters back over to the side of the others and says, “What was that? I don't want to go blind!” as tears begin to stream down his face.
“Wait a minute, what is going on here?” cries Jack.
“Isn't it obvious? This is his story. Are you disappointed?” the Queen smirks.
“Is this some kind of a joke?” Amy declares. “That is not a happy ending.”
“Oh, but it is, pretty girl. A happy ending for me, and that is all that matters. Let us be clear about this. You have agreed to have the stories read. Now, I will read them one by one. It is your reward for bringing me the book, and, equally important, you will each give me your key!”
The Queen turns the scissors over in her hands while eyeing them and says, “A simple pair of scissors? This is a key? Here in plain view the whole time. How plain.”
Jack turns his head to Mason, who is staring in disbelief. Then he tells the Queen, “But that's not a reward, that's terrible. We helped you.” His voice trails off and then rises again, saying, “You are supposed to let us go!”
“Of course you helped me! And now, I will help myself—to your keys.”
The Queen cackles in laughter.
Jack is defeated. The hope he had once had, the hope they had all had, is now gone. He has been betrayed. Now, as Jack observes the Queen, he notices a bizarre change that has come over her. The Queen, once radiant with kindness, looks sinister, dark, and ominous. She still smiles, but it is a terrible smirk. Had she grown taller? Jack wonders.
Instead of appearing welcoming, the Queen looks imposing, and her entire body is glowing with some sort of green light, the same green light that surrounds the fire.
“That cannot be the story. Change it now!” Amy challenges.
“Silence!” commands the Queen. Then she gives an exaggerated wave of a hand, and, suddenly, none of them can move. Jack's arms and legs are frozen in place. His muscles strain to move, but they can't.
The reality of what has happened hits Jack square between the eyes. This queen, this once glamorous beauty, is nothing more than a witch! Of course, thinks Jack. The witch in the
fairytale. He realizes they are at her mercy and that the whole ordeal was a setup in order for her to acquire the book and the keys.
In spite of his frozen limbs, Jack can still turn his head, and he sees Victor standing triumphantly to his left with his arms folded in front of him in self-satisfaction. The man says, “A great day, my Queen!”
“Victor, yes, we have finally won, but this is not just our victory. This is a great day for all who are trapped in the woods. That selfish narrator, who has imprisoned us, will no longer be able to keep us from making this world a better place!”
The chilling words send Scotty into a gush of panic. He looks at Jack and then at his sister.
Trying to speak between sobs, he mutters, “No, I want to go home. Please, someone, help me!”
Suddenly Scotty's expression turns dull. Tears still gush from his eyes, but they turn void of any light.
The Queen shoots an evil eye at Scotty and barks, “I said enough!” Then she clears her throat and waves her arm, making each of their mouths slam shut.
“And now, young tailor, learn your fate.”
We've made a terrible mistake, Jack thinks.
Chapter 132
Mason awaits the Queen's words, praying that somehow, someway his story will turn out better than Scotty's.
The Queen turns to face him and says, “Come forward, tailor.”
Her hand shoots out in front of her, and a long finger points to Mason, whose legs begin to move in an awkward motion toward the Queen. No amount of effort can prevent his legs from moving closer to the evil woman.
“Shall we continue?” the Queen muses. Then she looks down and, with a twisted grin, reads.
“The tailor extends the key to the Queen,
The item that until now she had been unable to glean.
His pride and vanity had led him astray.
His own arrogance, for that he would pay.
Selfish and vain he cared little for his friends,
His life in his old world he could never mend.
So the Queen offered life to the miserable boy:
Serving her was the only way he could obtain such joy.
A tailor he would be in her fitting room now.