by Cameron Jace
“Don’t worry, you’ll know how to save her if you open your heart and cross the oceans in your mind,” Charmwill said to Loki. “Just wake up with her and you’ll be alright. And Loki,” Charmwill turned his head to face him. “Take care of Pickwick.”
Pickwick fluttered through the air and rested on Loki’s shoulder. Charmwill’s request might have sounded ordinary to the Queen, but Loki understood its many meanings. For one, Pickwick held all the true fairy tales that Charmwill collected and protected all his life. Now, it had become Loki’s responsibility to do so. Two, Loki felt it was an honour; Charmwill handed him the flag to continue his quest with his blessing. Loki decided he’d close his eyes so he’d not see his guardian die.
“I’m afraid you’re going to have to kill me while facing me,” Charmwill told the Queen, raising his head proudly up. “I’m Charmwill Glimmer. If you want to kill me, you should know I only die with honour, head up, and not stabbed in the back.”
Loki heard the glass sword slice through something and Carmilla letting out a sigh of relief. It was as if she’d always wanted to kill him, and Loki wondered about the many secrets he’d unravel within time about this world.
Charmwill’s death came with a hysterical fluttering of crows. When Loki opened his eyes, the Queen was gone. He saw mountains falling in the distance, crumbling to dust. A river flooded nearby and the stars fell like snowflakes from the skies.
He walked back to Snow White, lifted her up with both his hands, and stood in front of the mess. A flood was approaching as he stood still in front of it. He knew whatever it was going to do him, it didn’t matter as long as he had saved the girl he’d come here to kill.
27
Blood Apples
When Loki woke up, Axel was pounding his chest with his fist.
“Get off me,” Loki pushed Axel away and sat up, still feeling a bit dazed. “What the heck is wrong with you?”
“I’m giving you CPR.” Axel said.
“Why? I’m not dead!”
“A second ago he was almost kissing you,” Lucy murmured in the background. She was texting someone, like usual.
“You looked very much dead to me,” Axel explained himself, ignoring Lucy. “I didn’t really mean to kiss you. I meant to breathe in your mouth.”
“Where did you even learn CPR?” Loki said, rubbing his wrist, feeling stripped without his Fleece.
“I took a course,” Axel said proudly.
“God bless me for tolerating you,” Loki rolled his eyes. It had been a rhetorical question.
“It was a course on how to rescue your pet,” Axel felt the need to elaborate.
“Do I look like a pet to you?” Loki stood up, brushing the snow away. The weather was still cold and a bit crazy. “And don’t answer that,” Loki warned him.
“What’s with you waking up so grouchy from the dream?”
“You have no idea what happened down there,” Loki said impatiently. “And didn’t I warn you about stepping into the Dream Temple?”
“I’m sorry,” Axel said. “You looked like you were dying, and I had to save you. Am I in danger now?”
“I don’t think so,” Loki said. “The dream is over anyways,” Loki was still in shock from his encounter with Carmilla. Charmwill’s image flashed before his eyes again, and he tried his best not to cry, at least not in front of his friends. He looked at Snow White sleeping in the glass coffin inside the Dream Temple. She looked alright. He had to bring her back safely into the castle. He’d already lost Charmwill and he was in no way going to lose Snow White. Looking at the Waker, he saw they still had enough time.
“Why are you being nice to Axel?” Lucy said to Loki. “Why can’t you just tell him he’s useless and can’t do anything right?”
Axel’s face reddened. This time, he looked angry. He’d taken his share of humiliation from Lucy already. Loki knew that whatever Axel did, he did it with a good heart because he was a true friend, and he had no time to stand up for him against Lucy now.
Thinking about Axel, reminded Loki of Fable. He wondered why she hadn’t said a word since he woke up. Turning back, he saw Fable staring at him as if she’d seen a ghost. She was definitely worried about Loki, but there was something else in her eyes that worried Loki.
“What?” Loki snapped at her, feeling uncomfortable with her silent stare.
“Did you lose your Fleece, Loki?” Fable asked as if she was his mother taunting him for losing something precious. He had a gut feeling that losing the Fleece wasn’t good at all, and he knew Fable felt the same way.
“Don’t worry, I don’t think it’s that dangerous,” he lied again to her so she wouldn’t panic.
“What happened in the Dreamory, Loki?” Fable was curious. “We were so worried about you two.”
Loki took a deep breath, glad to be alive. “You won’t believe it when I tell you, Fable,” he dropped his head as Pickwick landed on his shoulder.
“And why is Pickwick here?” Fable squinted. “Where is Charmwill?”
“I will explain everything later,” Loki wasn’t going to tell her that Charmwill died right now. If he did, she’d get emotional and then he’d probably burst into tears as well. “We need to get Snow White back to the castle and we need to hurry.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Lucy blew on her fingernails then pointed behind Loki.
Axel was already pushing Snow White’s coffin across the thin ice toward the castle.
“Axel,” Loki hurried after him, and Fable followed, “what are you doing?”
Axel wasn’t responding. He was pushing the coffin with all his might, running as fast as he could before the ice broke underneath him. Cracks spread behind him as if chasing him, but he was surprisingly faster.
Lucy didn’t bother risking her way back to the castle over the ice. Loki and Fable tiptoed on the ice carefully and slowly after Axel. They held hands and chose different routes than the one taken by Axel because it was unsafe. When they arrived, Axel had already pushed the coffin into the castle. The Schloss was calm and showed no anger.
“I. AM. NOT. USELESS,” Axel shouted back at Lucy across the ice.
Fable let out a laugh. She actually liked how he stood up for himself for once and actually did something heroic by crossing the treacherous ice. It was the way he said that he wasn’t useless that sounded funny to her.
“You definitely aren’t useless,” Fable kissed him on the cheek.
Loki had never seen Axel smile so much. Fable’s kiss made him feel like he was her hero, which might have been all he wanted to prove from the beginning.
After Axel succeeded in pushing the coffin to the castle, they pulled the coffin back up to Snow White’s room. Before pulling the stake out, Loki told them about Carmilla’s curse and how she forced Snow White to take a bite of the apple. He explained that Snow White might be under its influence, and that none of them might be safe with her. They decided to postpone pulling the stake out, and that Loki would do it by himself. Besides, they were tired and needed to go home to clean before their foster mom arrived tomorrow.
Sitting outside the castle, Loki told them all that happened. Even Lucy couldn’t resist. She sat next to them listening to Loki tell about his adventure in the Dreamworld.
“I knew I was right,” Axel said. “Didn’t I tell you about the liver theory, and the heart, and that the Queen wanted to eat them? And didn’t I tell you about the Huntsman? I also remember reading the part about the Brothers Grimm changing Snow White’s mother into being a stepmother in the later versions. I just didn’t tell you because I thought it was irrelevant.”
Fable didn’t comment that Axel didn’t discover any of this by himself and that he had read it in the diary entitled J.G. he’d found in the secret library. She decided she’d keep treating her brother as an un-useless hero for the night.
“I know you’ve been right about many things,” Loki laced his hands together. “But what does all of this mean, Axel? There are so many miss
ing pieces.”
“Loki is right,” Lucy commented. “Knowing Snow White’s story doesn’t fully explain what is going on. It seems like there’s something much bigger about this fairy tale world—and I totally sympathize with Carmilla by the way.”
“And we’re going to find out,” Axel said enthusiastically. “We’re a team now, and this is our adventure. We’ve just started it.”
“Don’t think too much about it, Loki,” Fable patted him. “What all of this means is that you didn’t kill Snow White and that’s what matters,” Fable hugged him. Axel scratched his back, a little uncomfortable with her touching Loki. “Didn’t I tell you from the beginning that she needs your help, Loki?” she said.
“You did,” Loki nodded. He wondered if he should have listened to Fable from the start, but he knew that he had to take this journey to find out what he really wanted.
“No more thinking about going back home?” Axel wondered.
“Don’t worry,” Loki said. “I’ll stay here for a while.”
“You see it’s not so bad here,” Axel looked around. “I understand the town’s name is creepy—who wants to live in Sorrow? And I understand that the town is a part of a place called Hell. But what the hell? Who cares about names and labels? If you stay here with us, we could make this Heaven. Our Heaven. We’ll make the rules, and keep saving lives. You don’t need to be immortal or a half-angel to be cool, right.”
“Right,” Loki nodded, pleased with Axel’s spirit.
Loki heard Carmen’s radio buzzing faintly in the distance. The Pumpkin Warriors were back. They were singing:
You don’t have to be an angel to be my friend.
You don’t need to be immortal to rock my world.
Fable giggled.
“I think we should go now,” Axel said. “We have a lot of cleaning to do before our foster mom arrives.”
“You’re right,” Fable said. “The house is a mess. We should also leave Loki with the princess,” Fable winked at Axel.
“Yeah,” Axel said. “Just don’t kiss on the first night—ah; I forgot you don’t believe in a true love’s kiss.”
“Don’t blame me if she eats you alive,” Lucy stood up, pulling out her car keys. “And you Crumblewoods, today is your lucky day because I’m going to give you a ride home. Only you have to sit in the backseat. I only allow boyfriends in the passenger seat.”
They all waved goodbye to Loki who watched them walk away. Fable was reminding Axel that she’d clean the house but not the places where he ate, and Axel started whining about stopping at the Belly and the Beast to get a bite.
“Lucy,” Loki summoned her, and she turned around. “Aren’t you mad that I didn’t kill the vampire princess?”
“Me?” she said over her shoulder. “I don’t really care. But I think my dad will be mad. You’ll have to deal with him later. By the way, you should know something, too.”
“What is it?”
“I know this will upset all of you but I am entitled to my own opinion,” Lucy said. “From what you’ve just told us, I totally sympathize with the Queen of Sorrow.”
“I can understand why,” Loki said. “But you just said that a minute ago.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Lucy gazed at the castle. “I don’t believe Snow White’s story,” she said and walked away.
After they left, Loki walked back into the castle and entered Snow White’s room. He knelt down beside her and didn’t hesitate to pull the stake.
It took her a moment to adjust to her surroundings before she snarled with her black eyes at him. Loki kept still and didn’t move. He was counting on her remembering him and appreciating what they’d been through together.
Although her monstrous nature didn’t change, she recognized him. Her love for him inside surpassed any curse caused by Carmilla’s apple. She lay back in the coffin and placed her hands on her chest.
“You should go,” she said. “I won’t be able to stop myself from hurting you forever.”
“If I had a dollar for every time you asked me to leave you, I’d have around three dollars in my pocket,” Loki said.
Sadly, she didn’t laugh. Snow White felt weary and tired. Loki knew she wasn’t going to hurt him, but what if anyone else entered the castle? It was best that he stayed with her until the morning. Then he’d start a new journey to find a cure for her curse.
“Scooch over,” Loki said playfully.
Snow White’s face knotted.
“I said scooch over,” Loki said, squeezing himself next to her in the coffin. “There’s room for both of us.”
“You really want to sleep with me in a coffin?” she said.
“Wow,” he waved his hand. “Sleep with you, no. That’s too soon to talk about in our relationship. I’ve only known you for a couple of hours…and in a dream. But sleep in a coffin next to you, yes. It’s not like I have ever slept in a bed before.”
Snow White laughed. Her blue eyes struggled shining from behind the blackness. Loki didn’t mind. Her laughter was enough.
“You’ve never slept in a bed?” she wondered as he embraced her from behind, his arms caressing her, his knees bending to fit in the coffin.
“It’s on my bucket list,” Loki said.
“What’s a bucket list?” she wrapped her hands around his.
“Oh, I forgot you’re immortal. You don’t need a bucket list. It’s a list mortals like me—now that I’m officially a Minikin—have of the things they want to do before they die.”
“What else do you have on your bucket list?”
“Saving a princess,” Loki teased her.
“And sleeping in a coffin with her?” she joked.
“If she’ll let me grow old with her, then it doesn’t matter where I sleep next to her—of course, I know you’ll never grow old.”
“Even if she’s a monster,” Snow White sounded as if in pain. She was resisting hurting him and submitting to the darkness inside her. It made Loki remember when Carmilla looked at him in the dream, provoking the same unexplainable darkness inside him. “They say that all monsters have to die, you know,” she continued.
“Except the beautiful ones,” Loki held her tighter and closed his eyes. He knew that he’d sleep well tonight. As eerie as it seemed sleeping in the coffin, he didn’t care. He was next to her, and her cold body gave him the warmest feeling he’d ever experienced.
As he slept he saw the two black sheep he’d been dreaming about. This time it was clear to him. One was Snow White and the other was him. They were the two outcasts who were going to make it through this world as long as they were together.
***
Hours later, Loki woke up to a screaming in the castle. He let out a sigh, wondering when he’d be able to wake up peacefully like ordinary people do. He wiped his eyes and noticed Snow White wasn’t in the coffin anymore.
The screaming got louder downstairs.
“She’s mad,” Loki heard someone tell him. It was Nine, the cat. “Really mad,” Nine bit his nails, his tail standing upright.
“What are you doing here?” Loki snapped.
“We like to follow you, in case you need our help,” the squirrel said, standing behind the cat. It was looking with wide eyes toward the door leading downstairs where the screams came from. “She’s really mad, and she’s going to kill everyone downstairs.”
“Who is mad?”
“Snow White,” Nine said, trying to get the squirrel off his back.
“Move away,” Loki was worried he’d step on them and ran to the door.
He stopped midway when the Schloss started shaking heavily all of a sudden. It wasn’t the Schloss’s anger this time, but the whale’s. It was shaking the whole island. Loki looked back at Nine and Mr. Squirrel for an explanation. They’d always seemed to know more than him.
“Part of the curse of eating a piece of the apple is that the whale will keep shaking the island madly until she feeds her darkness,” Nine said.
“It�
��s Carmilla’s way of making sure Snow White stays cursed,” Mr. Squirrel explained.
Loki didn’t care much about the island or the curse. He was only worried about Snow White, knowing the kind of pain she was suffering.
“Loki,” Nine and squirrel said in one breath as Loki rushed down the stairs. “Only you can save her. Do you understand? Only you can save her!” Mr. Squirrel stood up on Nine’s shoulder in case Loki couldn’t hear him.
Loki dashed downstairs, skipping steps as everything in the Schloss shook violently. Lamps flickered here and there as he caught a glimpse of the forest outside falling apart slowly through the vibrating windows.
As Loki came down the stairs he noticed someone fall from the second floor and land on the couch. It was a young teenager. He was bleeding, but wasn’t dead.
“What’s going on?” Loki quickly reached the teenager and shook him by the sleeves.
“It’s her, the vampire princess. She’s got my girlfriend,” the boy shrieked. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. We were only curious and wanted to visit the Schloss after we learned the details on how to reach it from a forum. Please, I don’t want to die.”
“A forum?” Loki squinted. “So you’re a trespasser like all the other stupid teens?”
“I didn’t believe the vampire princess existed. I’m a fool,” the boy said. “My girlfriend came up with the idea after she met with Genius Goblin in the forum.”
“You’re stupid, you know that?” Loki shook the boy harder, listening to his girlfriend’s screams upstairs. He let go of the boy, wondering how he was going to stop Snow White from hurting her. “I swear I’m going to kick the Genius Goblin’s ass one day.”
The boy’s girlfriend fell from the second floor onto the couch as well.
“She’s mad,” the girl screamed hysterically. “We have to get out of here,” she punched her boyfriend in her panic.