Good Curses Evil

by Stephanie S. Sanders

  I was still holding the crystal ball. Quickly I put it in my pack and began to climb up after the others. I could hear commotion and shouting in the city behind us. Chad must’ve sounded the alarm.

  We reached the highest branches and made our way to the top of the wall, where Jez was already waiting for us. She was hanging upside down in true bat fashion. Show-off.

  “Well, we made it up the wall; now how do we get down?” I asked.

  “Jump,” Jez answered, dropping from her branch and fluttering above the wall.

  “It’s got to be twenty feet high! There’s no way …” But then I saw what she meant.

  On the other side of the wall was a wagon filled with hay. It was still about a fifteen-foot drop, but the hay would break our fall. Cappy jumped first. He held out his arms and flailed them wildly as if trying to fly, landing in the hay with a poof! In a few moments, we had all jumped safely down and were following Jez once more toward the barn where I’d left Cappy earlier. Suddenly, I realized something was missing.

  “Cappy, where’s the baby?” I asked in alarm.

  “She’s safe,” Jez answered for him. I didn’t know much about babies, but I couldn’t imagine it was safe to leave one alone in a barn with only a goat for company.

  “You have a baby?” Ileana asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

  “I’ll explain later,” I said.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Wolf’s Tale

  You did leave it alone!” I accused both Jez and Cappy when we arrived at the barn. “Great, now where am I going to get another baby?”

  There was hay piled around an empty blanket. The goat was tied to an old rotted board in the corner, but the baby was nowhere in sight.

  “Does this belong to you?” a voice asked from overhead. We all looked up to see the baby sitting on a rafter. And beside it, dangling upside down in midair, was—

  “Wolf! You’re back! Wait a second,” I said to Jez. “You knew Wolf was back? Why didn’t you just bring him instead of Cappy?”

  I looked to see if Cappy was hurt by this, but he seemed oblivious as ever.

  “Because I didn’t know if we’d have to deal with Gilles and Erzsebet,” she said. “Cappy’s immune to vampires. Wolf isn’t.”

  The look on Jez’s face seemed to say Duh.

  At the sight of Cappy, the baby clapped her hands together and giggled. The magic that had been holding Wolf up dissolved, and he plummeted twenty feet straight down, landing in the soft hay.

  “If I’d known what babysitting involved, I would’ve charged more,” Wolf said.

  The baby floated down from the rafters and straight into Cappy’s arms.

  “Well, I guess we know for sure it’s magical,” I said.

  In a matter of seconds, General Bowson had drawn his sword, pulling Ileana behind him with his free hand.

  “Look, I don’t know who … or what … you lot are, and I’m grateful for you saving us from Aurelio’s guards, but I’m taking Princess Ileana somewhere safe.”

  “No,” Ileana said, stepping out from behind General Bowson.

  “Princess?” he asked, uncertain. It was obvious the general didn’t want to be in a barn with a bunch of villains, but on the other hand, he was bound to follow the princess’s orders.

  “General, it’s obvious my uncle’s plans run deeper than we even realized. We’re not the only ones affected by them. Rune’s friends have saved us; we owe them a debt. That tradition is very old.”

  I decided not to remind Ileana that she’d already saved me from the tower, so we were technically square.

  “But who exactly is Rune, I want to know! What sort of person travels with vampires and werewolves—”

  “I’m not a werewolf!” said Wolf Junior, standing up and dusting off his fur.

  “—and capcauns!” finished the general. “They’re evil, vicious creatures!” At that moment, Cappy was rocking the baby and singing his lullaby.

  “You were saying?” I asked. The general was speechless.

  “I think we all have a lot to talk about,” said Ileana. She sat down cross-legged on the hay, patting the space beside her as she urged the general to sit down. Finally, he relented.

  “Now, where to begin?” she asked.

  “Let’s start with you, Wolf! I’m so glad you’re not dead!” There was an awkward moment where I was sure a hug was inevitable, but we settled for patting each other on the back.

  “When I got back,” Jez said, “Cappy had him in a choke hold.”

  “He kept saying ‘Runey’s doggy!’ over and over,” Wolf said, grimacing as he relived the moment. “But I’m kind of exhausted. Can someone else start?”

  It took us the rest of the night to finish everyone’s stories. General Bowson told us all about the Resistance and how he’d secretly raised an army devoted to fighting the princess’s uncle Aurelio. Ileana told us the story of how a witch had come to the palace over a month ago and cast spells on her mother and father, taking them away in the night. Uncle Aurelio had taken Ileana up to the tower, where she’d been imprisoned ever since. Then he’d claimed the crown for himself.

  Jezebel and I took turns telling Wolf and the others about our misadventures with Tibix the sprite chief, and how we’d rescued Cappy. We also told them how the beautiful Zâne ladies had rescued us and charged us with “caring” for an abandoned baby. I decided to downplay the part about us being evil villains.

  Finally, it was Wolf’s turn. His was the story I was most anxious to hear.

  “So what happened after you left us on the road?” I asked him.

  “I followed Chad, Erzsebet, and Gilles through the woods. It took nearly a day before we arrived at Muma Padurii’s cottage. I found a spot underneath an open window where I could eavesdrop.”

  Wolf explained that Muma Padurii talked to Chad and his Conspirators about King Aurelio and her deal to help him.

  “Then she took them into her cellar to show them something. Shortly afterward, Chad and the Morgana kids left.”

  “Tell me you didn’t follow them,” I said, my excitement growing.

  “I didn’t follow them,” Wolf said, smiling. “I decided whatever Muma Padurii had in her cellar was probably worth knowing, so I waited until she left.”

  Wolf told us how he’d waited the rest of the day for his chance. Finally, just after dusk, Muma Padurii had gone out to look for herbs in the forest. When he was sure she had gone, Wolf crept into the house and found the door to the cellar under a braided rug. He climbed down the steps to investigate.

  “It wasn’t dark like I’d expected. Someone had left a candle burning. When I reached the bottom of the stairs I found a man and a woman. They were tied up.”

  “My parents!” said Ileana.

  “Then what, Wolf?” Jez asked impatiently. She still wasn’t a fan of the princess.

  “The woman saw me and seemed afraid. I tried to calm her down. I took off her gag, and she told me she was a queen, that the witch had kidnapped her and her husband and was tormenting them.”

  Both Ileana and General Bowson winced.

  “I’ll have that witch’s head!” The general pounded his fist into the hay.

  “Did you untie Father?” Ileana asked.

  Wolf hesitated. I could tell there was more, but he was reluctant to say.

  “Well,” he began, “the king didn’t seem to need to be untied. He wasn’t even gagged. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t really awake. The queen said that he had been put under a spell by the witch. I didn’t have time to find out more. The woman pleaded with me to free her, but …”

  Wolf looked at me for help, but it was Ileana who spoke.

  “But you couldn’t, or else the witch would know someone was there,” she said. She looked stricken.

  “You left Her Majesty Queen Catalina and His Highness King Vasile Nicolescu tied up in a witch’s cellar!” said General Bowson. His dark bushy eyebrows plummeted down over his enraged eyes. He lunged at Wolf, both hands hel
d out like claws, ready to strangle.

  I decided it was time to live up to my reputation as the son of a prominent warlock—even if I was only a halfsie. I worked a spell:

  “Out of the pan,

  into the fire … uh,

  shield the wolf.

  Our need is dire!”

  I was trying to protect Wolf, but I ended up setting the general’s pants on fire instead. My Spelling was a little rusty, okay? Anyway, it worked. The general momentarily forgot his rage in a frantic effort to put out his pants.

  “Look,” I said as the smoke cleared, “I think I have a plan that will help us all if you’ll stop trying to skin my friend long enough to listen.”

  The general was obviously a little reluctant to listen to someone who had set his pants on fire, but Ileana convinced him.

  “We want to overthrow King Aurelio and put your parents back on the throne,” I said to Ileana.

  “Why do you even care?” asked General Bowson. “What’s your stake in this?”

  “A witch named Morgana has enlisted Chad and his Conspirators to help establish Aurelio on the throne,” I said. “Once the Resistance is defeated, Aurelio has promised Morgana that he’ll attack my dad’s school. I can’t let that happen.”

  Again, I didn’t bother mentioning our Plot. Call it a hunch, but I was pretty sure the general wouldn’t approve of kidnapping, baby theft, and evil henchmen.

  “I see,” he said. “What do you propose?”

  “Wolf will show me and Jez the way to Muma Padurii’s house. We’ll rescue Ileana’s mom and dad. In the meantime, you gather your army and attack Aurelio’s guards. If we coordinate this, you could have Aurelio captured by the time we return with the king and queen.”

  And I could complete my Plot in the nick of time, I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud. It hadn’t escaped my attention that I only had four days left, and it would take an entire day to get to Muma Padurii’s house and another to get back to Dimineata.

  “What do I do?” Ileana asked.

  “You should probably stay here with Cappy,” I said. I didn’t want to lose track of my henchman, my stolen baby, and my “kidnapped” princess. Better to keep them all together.

  “No way!” she said. “I want to go too!”

  This time, the general was on my side. “It’s too dangerous. Rune is right. You should remain here, Highness.”

  “If things go sour, Cappy can lead you to the Zâne,” I added.

  “Pretty flying girlies,” he said, still rocking the baby in his arms.

  Ileana wasn’t happy with the idea of staying behind, but she finally let the matter drop.

  “I have to go at once,” said General Bowson. “I’ll need to warn the Resistance army that their camp is no longer secret. If that Chad kid leads Aurelio’s guards straight to the camp, we might be able to circle around and attack their flank.”

  I had no idea what the general was talking about; warfare wasn’t really my thing. However, I smiled and nodded in all the right places. Then General Bowson hugged the princess, threw a warning glance at me, and left.

  Just then, Cappy had finished feeding the baby. He patted its back until it bellowed a burp that would’ve blown the roof off the barn if it wasn’t already half-burned.

  “Can I hold her?” Ileana asked Cappy, reaching out her arms for the baby.

  “No!” Jez said. “She doesn’t like strangers.”

  Cappy actually looked at me for approval (as if I cared). I nodded—earning a scowl from Jez, who stormed off to the other side of the barn. Ileana took the baby carefully in her arms.

  It was almost dawn. The birds had begun their morning twittering. One of them flew down from the remaining rafters and landed on Ileana’s shoulder. It was a dove. It cooed to her, and she cooed back, reminding me of all those fairy tales where little birds help storybook princesses get dressed. I wanted to gag.

  “Well, aren’t you pretty?” Ileana said to the baby. “Yes, you are! Yes, you are! You’re a pretty little cricket.”

  “Would you stop? I think I’m getting a cavity,” I said. Ileana just glared at me.

  “What on earth were the Zâne thinking, giving you a baby?” Ileana asked.

  “They didn’t give it to me,” I said. “I stole it.”

  “If you say so,” she said. “Is Cricket ticklish? Is she?” Ileana ran her fingers over the baby’s stomach and toes. The baby giggled.

  “You’ve given it a pet name already?” I asked.

  “Pet name?” Ileana asked. She was way too absorbed in the baby. She didn’t even look at me. What is it with girls and babies?

  “Cricket?” I said. “Why do you keep calling it Cricket?”

  “I call her Cricket because that’s her name.”

  “Why do you get to name her?” Jezebel piped up. I could tell she was still threatened by the princess.

  “I didn’t name her, silly. That’s just her name.”

  Jez looked incensed. I thought I’d better intervene before they started throwing middle names all over the place again.

  “How do you know that’s its name?” I asked.

  “Her name, Rune. Her name!” said the princess.

  “Fine. Her name,” I said.

  “A little birdie told me,” Ileana answered.

  “Funny.”

  “No, seriously. A bird told me. I can talk to most flying animals.”

  “Really?”

  I knew several villains who could talk to animals or read animal thoughts. In fact, the Dread Master himself could communicate with his cat-a-bat, Tabs. That’s why he always sent her to spy on people.

  “How long have you been able to do that?” I asked. It seemed strange that an ordinary human would have such a power.

  “Who cares, Rune!” Jezebel said. “It’s just one birdbrain talking to another.”

  The princess glared at Jez.

  It was around that time I decided we could all use a little sleep. We’d been up all night and had a big day ahead. Cappy took the baby from Ileana. In a few minutes, he’d laid the baby gently on a blanket and was snoring peacefully next to it.

  Wolf curled up in a corner, wrapping his tail around himself and yawning, his pink tongue curling between his sharp teeth. Ileana found another spot in the hay. I lent her my blanket, which annoyed Jez so much she opted to sleep as a bat, retreating to a nice, cozy rafter in the darkest part of the barn.

  We decided someone should keep watch in case Chad had people out looking for us, so I took the first shift. I curled up in my cloak on the hay just as the sun crested the horizon and watched the morning of the fourth day of my Plot slip away from me. I kept an eye on the gate and the road. Once, I saw the city gates open and a troop of Aurelio’s soldiers marching out. They turned west. I hoped General Bowson was ready.

  Finally, around midmorning, I awoke Wolf to take over the watch so I could get some sleep. Then, at about two in the afternoon, Wolf shook me awake. I could see the others were still sleeping.

  “What is it?” I asked, groggy.

  “Listen.”

  Wolf’s ears were cocked up and he held out one of his front paws like a hunting dog pointing. He was looking west. At first I couldn’t hear anything, but then, far away, I could just make out the sound of armor and swords clinking and men shouting.

  “Nap time’s over,” I said. “We need to get Ileana’s parents and get back here as quick as we can.”

  I whispered Jez’s name up into the rafters, but she wasn’t waking up. Finally, I found a rock and tossed it up at her. I missed, but it scared a couple pigeons. They fluttered around, knocking Jez off her rafter. She woke up midfall, transformed into a girl halfway to the ground, and landed on her rear end in the hay with a muffled thump.

  “Stupid pigeons!” she hissed. I didn’t bother mentioning the rock I’d thrown. She didn’t really need to know.

  Ileana, Cappy, and baby Cricket were still asleep. I left them a quick note on parchment, a little food from J
ez’s pack, and the goat. I felt kind of bad leaving Ileana there with only Cappy for company. I mean, I was only concerned with protecting my investment. It’s not as though I liked her or anything.

  In the end, amid protests from Wolf and Jezebel, I decided to leave my dad’s crystal ball behind too. If they had to be trapped in a barn, at least Ileana and Cappy could know what was happening. And if anything went wrong, they’d have a way to locate the Zâne.

  “You’re going soft, Drexler,” Wolf said.

  “Shut it,” I answered.

  We gathered our packs and checked our supplies. Then we were off to face Muma Padurii.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Ginger-Dread

  This time, we were even stealthier than before, staying well away from the main road in case Chad had guards out looking for us. We made better time since there were no stops for diaper changes and feedings. By the time darkness had settled, we were standing just on the edge of the Forgotten Forest.

  After Jez’s bat-popping episodes and Wolf’s seeming disappearance in the woods, I’d had my doubts about choosing them as my Conspirators, but as we navigated the murky gloom of the forest, I was thankful. Wolf’s nose was like gold. He followed the scent of his own trail straight back to Muma Padurii’s gingerbread house. We didn’t have to worry about running into another dragon or any other creatures, because Jez flew ahead as our lookout. She was in a much better mood after leaving Princess Ileana back at the barn.

  It was after midnight when we came to a clearing. In the middle, illuminated by the moonlight, was Muma Padurii’s house. It was like any gingerbread cottage you might see at Christmas—only life-size. The door and windows were trimmed in frosting. It looked good enough to eat, and I found myself wanting to do just that. We all inhaled appreciatively.

  “Mmm … smells so good,” Jez said, taking an involuntary step forward.