Jack removed his glasses and looked at Punzie for clarification.
Punzie shrugged. “Hmm. That’s strange. I was sure he said his name was Grimm when I was shoving his face into the stage. Of course I could be wrong. It was pretty loud in there that night.”
Snow shot Aura a look.
Aura’s eyes widened.
The writer.
29
A Hunting We Will Snow
Jack noticed a look pass between Snow White and Aura Rose at the mention of the man named Grimm. Or Story. Whatever his name was. He thought that was curious, so he made a note of it.
Aura stood abruptly. “I’m a car thief.”
She sat.
Jack set his pen down. “While I appreciate your enthusiasm to participate, Aura, I’m sure the rest of the group wouldn’t mind if you cared to elaborate.”
Aura looked at Bella. “You need more, Bookless?”
Bella was watching a spider weave a web around the water cooler. “I’m good.”
“Hey, Cocktails. What about you?”
Cindy was applying pink lipstick that matched her top. “Nope.”
“Princess?”
It took Snow a minute to realize that Aura was addressing her. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“What about you, Pasties?”
“Bob and I are pretty bored with this whole show,” Punzie said. “The sooner the grand finale, the better.”
“See, Doc? They’re all good.”
Jack knew better than to push a patient into revealing more than she wanted to tell, so he decided not to press Aura. She seemed to be making progress and besides, after his last encounter with her at the diner, he suspected she might still be cross with him.
He readjusted his spectacles and said, “Well, I guess that just leaves you now, Miss White.”
“Call me Snow.”
Snow stood. She looked different than the last time he had seen her. More confident, but also...distant. She had seemed open, vulnerable just a few days before, but now she was even dressed differently. More casual.
What had changed?
Whatever it was, it suited her. She stood taller, her shoulders squared and her eyes determined. An enigma of bitter and sweet.
Jack wanted her all the more now.
He shook off the inappropriate thought and dug his pen into his thigh to remind him that it was highly unethical to think about a patient in such a manner.
But, oh, those red, red lips. What he wouldn’t give to feel them on his own.
She cleared her throat and began. “I’ve had a sort of sixth sense when it comes to animals all my life. I can feel their emotions. Fear, pain, anger, joy, sorrow.”
She reached for the water on the table behind her and took a sip.
“Sometimes they call to me.” She glanced around the room. The other women seemed unusually alert. Intrigued, Jack suspected, to know more about this interesting creature. “They communicate with me through their emotions.” She shook her head, her hair cascading across her shoulders. “I know it sounds crazy, but I can feel it.”
Cindy scoffed, “Not at all, Snow. In fact, just the other day a pigeon told me he was tickled pink that Aura was off the streets because it left him more cars to shit on.”
Punzie laughed and high-fived Cindy.
Aura growled.
Snow pursed her lips in annoyance. “May I finish?”
More confidence indeed, Jack thought.
Cindy put her hands up. “It’s your funeral.”
“Thank you.” Snow took a deep breath. “I lived in a cottage in the woods just on the outskirts of town,” She bit her lip and her face darkened. “One night, a doe visited my house. She had a bullet wound, which I treated and dressed. She drank, fed, and finally rested on a bed I made for her in my yard.”
Aura sat a bit straighter in her seat. Bella too.
“The next morning, when I came out to check on her, she had been decapitated.”
Punzie gasped.
Cindy said, “Ew.”
Snow nodded. “I couldn’t understand it. Whoever did it took only the head. A hunter would take the meat.”
Jack nodded, his stomach queasy.
“Then, several days later, I saw the strangest thing. A hawk was up in a tree. It had just caught a field mouse from the look of the bulge in its neck, but when I got closer, I noticed it was missing its beak. And...” She looked away, gave a gentle shake of her head.
“And what?” Jack asked softly, his voice barely a whisper. He was enraptured by her story.
“And it had the feet of a rabbit.”
Gasps from all around the room.
Snow took another drink of water. Jack wanted to reach out and draw her to him—tell her she didn’t have to go on, that the rest of the story didn’t matter. She was safe here, with him. Until she had spoken, he hadn’t thought what he had read in the report possible.
But he knew as she stood there, anger in her eyes, a tremble in her lips, that Snow White wasn’t capable of saying anything but the whole truth.
“That afternoon, another deer came—a buck—beckoning me into the woods. Something about his eyes.” She looked straight at Jack. “That’s how it works, I guess. You can read a lot from a creature by looking into its eyes.”
There was a rumble in Jack’s gut that ran straight to his heart and camped there. Almost as if what she was saying was directed not just at him, but at his very soul.
He nodded.
“I followed him into the woods. Deeper and deeper we went until the trees grew so thick I thought I’d never find my way out.”
She ran her slender fingers through her ebony hair. Took a breath.
A hush had fallen over the room. Even Cindy was quiet.
“The buck kept going, moving faster and faster and I was keeping pace behind him until we came upon an opening in the canopy. Just beyond was a field. He nudged me on, and as we looked down into the valley, I saw a warehouse.” She took another sip of water. Paused. “I felt the fear first—felt it through my veins. Then I heard the screams.”
Aura was staring at Snow with wide, unblinking eyes. Bella sat with her mouth hanging open and Cindy was scrunched up into her seat as if trying to disappear.
Snow lowered her head. “I won’t tell you anymore about the experiments or the man behind them. I will tell you that only one of us walked out alive. The judge declared it involuntary manslaughter, although I wasn’t the one who slaughtered him. I was the one, however, who freed the animals that did.” She lifted her eyes. “The fire, I believe, was my only crime.” Brought her gaze to Jack. “But I’m not sorry.”
Jack was stunned. None of those details—about the animals, the experiments—had been included in the report the judge had given him on Snow. Her town, her rules. But these were important details, if he were to treat her properly. So why omit them?
He held Snow’s stare and said, “I wouldn’t be either.”
Punzie cradled her frog. “No way. You’re fucking with us, right?”
Snow just looked at her for a moment. Then she sat down, her face expressionless.
30
Jack the Giant Slayer
The rest of the session included a lot of back-and-forth talk between Jack and the five princesses. He used words like “validation” when they tossed insults at each other, told them they needed to face what made them anxious and not to use the word “fear” because it fed their weaknesses. He played a film about two women on a cross country road trip, pausing the screen every so often to discuss the actions of the characters. Snow hardly saw a scene of it. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from Jack.
She recalled the first time she saw him in Enchantment. They had been facing an ogre problem of epic proportions. As a leader, Snow had always tried to settle disputes with peace and fairness. Under her rule, there had only been one war—the War of the Five Crowns. That treacherous battle had inspired the blood treaty, drafted by Grimm, that would eventually unify the ki
ngdoms. Peace reigned for years after they had all signed it. Until the ogres came.
General Gretel called an emergency session one morning. Ogres had overtaken the south kingdom, Punzie’s domain. Her army could no longer hold them back, and they swept through the land, pillaging, robbing, and beheading her people. Snow, Aura, Bella, and Cindy had sent troops, but they were no match for the ruthless giants. That was when Gretel first told them about Jack the Giant Slayer. Rumors of his reputation as a warrior were whispered in certain circles, and Gretel had called him in to meet the heads of state in the central castle of the kingdoms.
He entered the palace court looking gallant in battle garb, his leg muscles bulging beneath fitted pants, tunic untied at the chest, revealing a trace of dark hair beneath. He was tall—over six feet—with a wave of cocoa-colored hair and eyes the brilliant blue of the sea. His sword was sheathed as he bowed before Snow. She offered her hand and he shook it instead of kissing it—a sign that he respected women in power. They asked about his credentials, and he offered stories of battles waged and won, villages saved, lives spared, all in swift time. Jack explained that his father had handed his skills down to him when he was just a boy. Like Jack, he’d had a gift for destroying monsters.
Aura asked if his father would be joining him in battling the ogres and he said, “Aye. In spirit. He’s away with the angels now, I’m afraid.”
Snow’s heart tugged at this, for he looked so forlorn as he said it.
Bella said, “Brothers, then?”
Jack shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
Punzie and Cindy exchanged a look. Punzie asked, “Is there no one else in your family with these gifts you claim?”
Jack smiled. “Just me mum, but I’m afraid she’s too frail for war these days.”
Snow smiled at Jack. She liked his confidence, his enthusiasm, and the fire in his eyes. He smiled back, scratched the stubble on his chin and folded his arms behind his back, waiting for the next question.
Cindy stood, “Excuse me, Mr...?”
“Just Jack, your majesty. I don’t put on airs.” His voice was like a saxophone, all sultry and melodious.
Cindy said, “Fine. Just Jack it is. Would you excuse us? We need to have a word in private, Just Jack.”
Jack raised his eyebrows and looked around the room. It was yards long, so he opted to scoot all the way back towards the massive gilded double doors.
Cindy said, “Huddle, ladies.”
The five of them formed a circle.
Cindy said, “Am I supposed to believe that this one jacknut is going to kill a whole army of ogres?”
Snow stuck her head out of the circle. She caught a glimpse of Jack’s backside. It was just as delicious as the rest of him. “He appears strong enough. Tall. Muscular,” she said.
Punzie slapped the back of Snow’s head. “Would you turn off the bedroom eyes, Snow? We’re looking for a soldier, not a concubine.”
“You hit me again, Punzie, and I will feed that crown of yours through an orifice not meant for food intake.”
Aura said, “Punzie’s right, Snow, you’re thinking with your hoochie.”
“That’s absurd.” Snow said, smoothing out her gown. “And vulgar.”
Cindy said, “But true. You sat there with your tongue hanging out of your mouth the whole time he was talking. It was embarrassing.”
Bella squeezed the nearest ears she could reach, Punzie’s and Aura’s. “Will you bitches shut up and focus? Gretel recommended him, so I say he must have some skill. He must know what he’s doing.”
“Ahem, your majesties, might I suggest a demonstration?” Jack called.
Snow’s face grew unbearably hot. “I swear, if he heard any of you…” she whispered through gritted teeth.
They all stood and turned to face Jack.
Snow said, “That’s a lovely idea, Jack. Please do.”
Cindy said, “So what, we’re going to call in an ogre?”
Bella glared at her. “Let the man finish.”
Jack bowed. “With permission. I’d like to demonstrate on the chandelier and...” He completed a 360 degree turn and pointed up to the fifty foot ceiling behind them. “And that clock, which, if I may be frank, will be destroyed.”
Punzie shrugged. “Knock yourself out, Just Jack.”
Bella turned to her. “Seriously?”
Punzie slid her eyes to Bella. “What? I always hated that clock. I feel like its staring at me.”
“Do we all agree?” Bella asked and the others nodded.
Jack sprang into action. He unsnapped a compartment on his leather belt, liberated a dagger and stuck the blade between his teeth as he catapulted off the ground, bounced off the far wall like a rubber ball, and leapt onto the chandelier. Gripping the frame with both hands, he pumped his legs, swung himself once, twice, and on the third push darted through the air with a warrior cry. He pulled the knife from his teeth and plunged it into the center of the clock. His feet smacked the wall with such force, that he dove, then rebounded backward, tucking his knees into his chest. He somersaulted through the air and landed on his feet.
The women all stood still and speechless for several moments, which was a rarity.
Then Snow gave Jack a boisterous ovation. “Bravo!” She whistled. “Bravo!”
Bella tugged Snow by the skirt of her gown. “Pull it together, Princess,” she hissed.
To Jack, Bella said, “Explain how that tiny dagger can kill an ogre?”
Jack approached the stage where the thrones were situated. “It can’t actually. You see the beanoppus of the ogre—that’s the part of his brain that causes his violent tendencies—lies directly behind his right eye. If he’s injured there, it destroys that part of him that is compelled to maim and destroy.”
“And?” Aura said.
“And then he can be rehabilitated into a productive member of society.” Jack smiled.
Cindy blew out a sigh and stepped forward. “Okay, Just Jack. Thank you for your time, but I think we’ll seek assistance elsewhere.”
“Wait—” Jack said.
Punzie said, “I agree with Cindy. The only good ogre is a dead ogre.” She took her place at her throne.
Snow moved to stand behind her own throne. She thought her blood oath sisters were being too hasty, but they did have a point. She had seen what the ogres were capable of, and it was the stuff of nightmares. “What if you must kill one? Surely, they cannot all be changed. Blood begets blood, does it not?”
“Aye,” Jack said. “Not all can be saved. In that case, the only way to kill one...” He sprinted to the other side of the room, leapt to the top of a white balcony and sprang toward the chandelier. He unsheathed his sword and with one mighty swoop, sliced the chain clean through. It crashed to the ground in a spray of glass beads and glass fragments as he jackknifed through the air, landing near the thrones. “...is to cut the head off.”
He pulled a tiny green bag from his pocket and tossed it onto the smashed fixture. A web of thick, gnarled vines grew from it and roped the broken pieces of crystal together, crushing them into itself and dissolving every last piece. Then the entire clumpy mess melted into the floor.
The five women stared in awe at the empty space where the chandelier had met its demise.
Bella said, “First, you’re going to pay for that. Second,” she looked at the others and they all nodded vigorously. “You’re hired.”
It wasn’t long after that day that Jack earned a permanent position in the royal army. And a permanent place in Snow’s bed.
Now, as she watched him flip the lights on and gather his notes and clipboard, she was heartbroken that he didn’t even recognize her.
How cruel life could be, she thought.
31
This Magic Moment
Bella stopped to use the restroom and Cindy rushed out of the building to have a cigarette. Punzie followed her. Aura pulled Snow aside and said, “How you doing?”
“Fine.”
Snow shrugged. “There’s nothing I can do about it, so let’s just figure out this mess we’re in, form a plan, and get out of this forsaken town.”
Aura said, “We have to tell them, you know.”
Snow looked at Aura. “Tell them what?”
“About Granny,” Aura snapped.
“Oh, yes, right. So we tell them, then we find Granny, then we get answers. Are we going to the café?”
“That’s usually the plan.”
“Okay.” Snow squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked toward the doors. “Let’s do this.”
Snow wished Bella had found her story element before Cindy had. Snow wanted Bella back so very badly because Bella was the voice of reason and respected here in Everafter. The captain of this ship of fools. If anyone could convince Punzie and Cindy who they really were and what needed to be done to get home, it was Bella.
The crystal shoes were tucked away for now, but eventually Cindy would go looking for them. Snow was going to have to convince her to touch them with both hands before slipping them on her feet. No easy task, to be sure, because Cindy loved shoes like Bella loved books. But if Cindy stepped into the famous slippers, that would be her downfall, the same as if Snow had bitten the apple, or if Aura had pricked her finger on the spinning wheel. All of them were vulnerable to the objects that had harmed them in their original stories.
As Snow and Aura waited outside the restroom for Bella, Snow thought about the insurance policy she had stashed away in case the others never discovered their artifacts. She felt magic when she had touched that apple, and certainly it had been infused with it somehow, because how else would it have transported her so completely back to her true self? She thought that maybe, if they didn’t find all the pieces they needed to remind the princesses of who they really were, then the apples could help retrieve the other lost memories. That’s why she had asked Aura to pick exactly five and hide them away for safe keeping.
1 The Bitches of Everafter Page 14