by Chris Colfer
“That lady is the president,” Bob said. “She only comes on TV when something important is happening.”
“But it’s past midnight on the East Coast,” Charlotte said. “What could be so important?”
“Beats me,” Bob said. “Turn it up, guys.”
The pirates turned up the volume and everyone in the commissary gathered around the television. The characters outside could tell something was going on and came in to see what the big deal was. The Blissworm even peeked out from its cocoon.
“My fellow Americans,” President Walker said to the camera. “By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the situation unfolding in New York City. There are many outlandish reports circulating in the news and social media, so allow me to present the facts and calm the frenzy. Early yesterday morning, a massive gas leak was discovered at the main branch of the New York Public Library. Local authorities were called to the scene and quickly ordered an evacuation of the surrounding area. After carefully assessing the damage throughout the day, that evacuation has now been extended to the entire island of Manhattan. I understand this poses an inconvenience of immeasurable proportions, but nothing, I repeat, nothing, is more important than the safety of the American people. We assure you the situation is being taken care of by highly trained professionals and there is no need to panic….”
Charlotte instantly began to panic.
“She wouldn’t be reassuring the country if there were nothing to worry about,” Charlotte said. “Now I know I wasn’t just being paranoid—something’s definitely happened! The twins are in danger!”
Just then, Charlotte’s cell phone started buzzing in her pocket. She retrieved the phone and saw an incoming call from an unfamiliar number. Charlotte immediately answered the phone, praying she’d hear the voices of her children on the other end.
“Conner, is that you?”
“Mrs. Gordon? Oh, thank God, I’ve finally got you! I’ve been trying to get a signal for hours but there’s a lot of people using their cell phones around here!”
At first Charlotte didn’t recognize the young voice, but she could tell that the caller was standing in a crowded area.
“Who is this?” she asked.
“It’s Mindy—Mindy McClowsky,” Mindy said.
“And Cindy Strutherbergers!” Cindy added.
“And Lindy Lenkins!” Lindy announced.
Wendy performed a quick clap-snap combo to announce her presence.
“Wendy Takahashi is with us, too,” Mindy said. “You’re on speaker with the Book Huggers from Willow Crest High School.”
Charlotte was automatically annoyed. “Girls, I really don’t have time to talk about whether or not Alex and Conner are interning at Area 51—”
“You don’t have to!” Mindy said. “We just saw Conner and he told us all about your family secret! Our mission is complete—we’re totally in the loop now! And boy, do you guys have enough drama to fill a week of talk shows, or what!”
“Wait a second, did you say you just saw Conner?”
“Yes!” Mindy said. “We were just at the library with him and his friends—and by the way, don’t believe a word anyone says about a gas leak. That is totally not what’s going on!”
The news overwhelmed Charlotte and she sat down. The pirates turned off the television so they could eavesdrop on her conversation.
“Where is Conner now? Is he or Alex with you?”
“No, he and his friends went to find Alex, but we’re not sure where they went,” Mindy explained. “Come to think of it, I’m not sure where we are, either. After we crawled out of the abandoned subway tunnel, we got shoved into a bus by police officers and they drove us off the island.”
“I think we’re in Brooklyn,” Lindy said.
“No, this is definitely Queens,” Cindy said.
Wendy pointed to a sign that clearly stated they were in Hoboken, but no one paid attention to her.
“It’s impossible to tell,” Mindy said. “Anyway, this weird bridge-thingy appeared in the library that leads directly to the fairy-tale world. I guess a bunch of witches came out of it earlier and something way worse is coming soon. It’s like a bad episode of Doctor Who over here! Conner asked us to call you and say they need backup—he said you’d know what to do!”
Like a firefighter at the sound of an alarm, Charlotte hopped to her feet and began gathering her purse, Conner’s binder of short stories, the fairy-tale treasury, and the flask of Portal Potion.
“We’ll leave right away!” she said. “Thank you for calling, Mindy!”
“You’re welcome!” Mindy said. “Oh! And Mrs. Gordon? One last thing. My fellow Book Huggers and I will absolutely accept your apology for lying to us over the years whenever you feel it’s an appropriate—”
Charlotte hung up the phone before Mindy could finish her sentence. She turned back to the others and saw they were gathered right behind her—desperate to know the details of her call.
“Well?” the Tin Woodman asked.
“Conner needs us,” Charlotte announced. “I’m not sure how, but the witches have crossed into the Otherworld and the Literary Army isn’t far behind. We’ve got to get to New York and stop them before they destroy the city!”
The commissary erupted in celebration—not at the news of the approaching army, but because they were finally leaving the hospital.
“How are we going to get there?” Bob asked. “I’ve got some frequent flyer miles left, but not enough for all of us.”
“We don’t have to worry about transportation, silly!” Bolt said. “The Ziblings have a jet!”
“Aunt Emgee and I have a blimp!” Beau Rogers said.
“The Cyborgs have an intergalactic spacecraft,” Commander Newters said.
“And we have the Dolly Llama—the fastest pirate ship in the Caribbean Sea!” Auburn Sally proclaimed.
The characters scratched their heads at the odd idea of taking a pirate ship across the country.
“Sally, New York City is three thousand miles away,” Charlotte explained. “You can’t get there by boat.”
“Oh yes you can!” Peter Pan declared. “We’ll make the ship fly with fairy dust. I have just enough left to make it soar! And once we sail the skies to New York City, we’ll rescue Tinker Bell from the miserable Captain Hook!”
“We’ll defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and free the Winkies and the flying monkeys from her magic spell!” Blubo said.
“We’ll dethrone the Queen of Hearts, and perhaps earn a heart of our own!” the Tin Woodman said.
“WE’LL BURN THE UGLY WITCHES AT THE STAKE—BUT KEEP THE ATTRACTIVE ONES!” Robin Hood said.
“We’ll save Butterboy from the clutches of the Breemonster!” Trollbella said. “Sorry, I meant from the bad guys!”
Charlotte appreciated the characters’ spirit, but she knew they were wasting time.
“All right, enough declarations,” she said. “Let’s go save the world! But before we go, someone needs to grab the Blissworm.”
Morina was standing in the Dwarf Forests a few yards away from the bridge between worlds. Earlier, she had sent a crow to the Northern Kingdom with a message informing the Literary Emperors that the first phase of their plan was complete. She instructed them to meet her in the woods with their armies at sunrise, and their invasion of the Otherworld would begin.
Strangely, the witch had not received a response confirming that they had gotten the message. Morina grew more impatient the longer she waited to hear back. Finally, a few hours after sending word, she got a reply—but it wasn’t the response she was expecting.
The ground began to rumble and the trees started to sway as something enormous moved through the forest. Soon the sound of marching feet echoed through the woods, moving closer and closer to the witch.
Soon the Wicked Witch of the West, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook appeared in the distance with their entire army following behind. Thousands of Winkies and card soldiers stood in two very neat ro
ws behind their emperors; the Jolly Roger and its rambunctious crew drifted in the air above them like a giant balloon; and the sky surrounding the floating pirate ship was filled with swarms of flying monkeys.
The emperors led their army through the woods until they stood face-to-face with the witch.
“Hello, emperors,” Morina said. “What a surprise to see you arrive so soon. I wasn’t expecting you until sunrise. I hope you received the message with my instructions.”
The Wicked Witch, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook exchanged a sly smile.
“Your message was received, but we thought it would be best to respond in person,” the Wicked Witch said.
“Oh?” Morina asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Not at all,” Captain Hook said. “We were very pleased to hear that the witches have successfully crossed into the Otherworld. However, there’s been a change of plans. Instead of waiting for the witches to weaken the Otherworld’s defenses, we’ve decided to enter the Otherworld now and take it by surprise.”
Morina was infuriated that they had altered the agenda without consulting her first. She was so enraged, her eyes turned red and her veins visibly blackened. Still, the witch tried to stay as calm as possible, knowing the emperors wouldn’t respond to anger.
“My lords, I understand you’re eager to invade, but I beg you to follow the plan I’ve created,” she said. “If we cross into the Otherworld before the witches are exterminated, you’ll be battling the witches and the Otherworld’s armies.”
“I think we can handle a gaggle of witches,” the Wicked Witch cackled.
“Certainly,” Morina said. “But as I first explained, it’ll be much easier to secure domination if we wait for the witches to perish in—”
“NO MORE WAITING!” the Queen of Hearts roared. “We want to conquer the Otherworld and we want to conquer it NOW! Step aside or you’ll be the first casualty of the night!”
Morina knew it was useless to reason with them. The emperors were like toddlers waiting to play with a new toy. As much as she wanted to stop them, she wasn’t powerful enough to take on the Literary Army by herself.
She reluctantly stepped out of the way and allowed the Wicked Witch, the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, and their army to march toward the bridge.
The emperors were making a catastrophic mistake by entering the Otherworld early. However, Morina knew her plan wasn’t doomed to fail just yet. There was still someone in the equation who was powerful enough to take on an army—several armies, if they were directed properly.
So the witch remained quiet as a new strategy unfolded: If she could just get to Alex before the witches were slain, there was still a chance Morina could succeed….
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE TEARS OF MEDUSA
Froggy hopped around the abandoned dwarf mine and poured Medusa’s tears into the eyes of all the statues. He was surprised to see there were just as many stone animals in the mine as there were men, women, and children. The statues were pale, solid as rocks, and frozen with such terrified expressions that Froggy didn’t recognize any of the faces. He prayed the teardrops would reverse the magic and the Bailey twins would appear among them.
Once he finished pouring Medusa’s teardrops into each pair of stone eyes, Froggy took a step back and waited with bated breath. Like chicks hatching from their eggs, the statues slowly started to wiggle and crack. Arms and legs began moving, heads began turning, and the stone chipped away like it was nothing but a thin shell. The men, women, children, and animals brushed themselves off and cleared dust from the back of their throats.
Froggy was relieved to see so many familiar faces appear around him. He saw his brothers, Chance, Chase, and Chandler; their wives, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White; and his nieces, Hope and Ash. Froggy also recognized Empress Elvina, Queen Rapunzel and Sir William, Hagetta, the Traveling Tradesman, Red’s granny, the Little Old Woman from the Shoe Inn, Rook and Farmer Robins, Sir Lampton, Sir Grant, and soldiers from the Charming and Northern Kingdoms. He even saw Cornelius, Porridge, Buckle, and Oats once they uncovered themselves.
The people and animals looked around the abandoned mine in a daze. The last thing they remembered was the bright eyes of a horrifying monster, and now they were brushing layers of stone off their bodies.
“What happened to us?” Snow White asked.
“You were turned into stone by a creature named Medusa,” Froggy explained. “I poured her tears into your eyes and it reversed the spell!”
Everyone’s confusion doubled when they realized Froggy was standing beside them.
“Charlie, is that you?” Chance asked in disbelief.
“Hello, brother!” Froggy said. “Words can’t describe how wonderful it is to see all of you!”
Froggy gave his brothers and their wives enormous hugs and kissed his nieces on the cheek.
“You’re out of the mirror!” Cinderella said. “But how did you escape it? Red told us it was impossible to free you!”
“That’s what I thought, but I’ve happily been proved wrong,” Froggy said. “Getting here was an awfully big journey, and I promise to tell the story one day, but right now it’s urgent I find Alex and Conner.”
Froggy looked around for the Bailey twins, but they weren’t inside the crowded mine.
“Wait a second, where are the twins?” he asked.
“They aren’t here,” Chandler said. “They went into the Otherworld.”
“And what about Red? And Jack and Goldilocks?” Froggy asked.
“They’re with the twins,” Chandler said. “Don’t worry, they’re safe as far as we know.”
“I don’t understand,” Froggy said. “Why would they all be in the Otherworld?”
The Charming brothers looked at one another with very concerned expressions. They wanted to fill Froggy in but didn’t know where to begin.
“Oh, Charlie, so many terrible things have happened since you’ve been gone,” Chase said. “The Masked Man stole a potion from the late Fairy Godmother’s chambers and used it to travel into the books from your library. He recruited a terrible army that attacked our world and imprisoned the citizens from every kingdom. He almost executed all the royal families, but thankfully Jack and Goldilocks saved us and brought us to the abandoned mine. After we escaped, the Masked Man’s army turned on him, and now three horrible emperors are in power!”
“Unfortunately, I’m quite familiar with the emperors,” Froggy said. “I saw the Wicked Witch, the Queen of Hearts, and Captain Hook through a mirror in the Northern Palace. I overheard them making plans to invade and conquer the Otherworld next—that’s why I need to find the twins immediately! I need to warn them the emperors’ army is coming!”
“The twins went into the Otherworld to recruit their own army,” Sleeping Beauty explained. “Jack, Goldilocks, Red, and Trollbella went to help them assemble it. They’ve already enlisted people from the worlds of literature, like the Tin Woodman from Oz, the Lost Boys from Neverland, and the Merry Men from the Sherwood Forest.”
Froggy thought his ears were deceiving him. “Did you say Oz? Neverland? The Sherwood Forest?” he repeated. “Well, they’ve certainly had quite an adventure without me. What sort of army are they assembling?”
“The twins are recruiting characters from Conner’s writing,” Rapunzel said.
Froggy’s mouth dropped open. “That’s remarkable,” he said. “But why go to such extremes? Aren’t there enough people in this world to fight the Literary Army? Surely, the Fairy Council could do something to help—”
“The Fairy Council was turned into stone long before us,” Sir Lampton said. “The Literary Army attacked the Fairy Kingdom first before ambushing the others. They came so quickly in the middle of the night, there was nothing we could do to prepare ourselves.”
Froggy had known things were bad, but he had no idea they were this bad. He sat on a boulder as the magnitude of the situation sank in.
“Just for the reco
rd, I’d like to remind everyone that I predicted all of this,” the Traveling Tradesman said. “Remember when I was using the Lost Boys’ marbles to foresee the future? I specifically said worlds would collide, and now look what’s happening—worlds have collided, all right!”
Hagetta rolled her eyes at the silly man. “Oh, shut up, you old geezer,” she said. “If you’re such a gifted psychic, then where was the warning about the Literary Army? Or the monster who turned us all into statues for a week?”
Regardless of the challenging times, Froggy still needed to warn the twins about the Literary Army’s next conquest. He leaped to his feet, more determined to find them than before.
“I need a way into the Otherworld,” he said. “How do the twins manage to get back and forth?”
Hagetta looked around the mine and retrieved the emerald-green Land of Stories treasury from the ground.
“They’ve been using this,” she said, and handed Froggy the book. “It’s been splashed with the Portal Potion. When the book is opened, a powerful beam of light projects from its pages. Step through the beam and you’ll enter the Otherworld.”
“Thank you,” Froggy said. “I just hope I’m not too late.”
“Do you want us to come with you?” Sir Grant asked.
“No, this world needs you more than I do,” Froggy said. “Once the Literary Army has crossed into the Otherworld, the rest of you should use their absence to liberate your people from the Northern Kingdom. There’s also a cottage just a few miles east of here by the river. You’ll find the missing children from the Corner Kingdom and Charming Kingdom in the basement. Take them with you and reunite them with their families.”
The royal families and the soldiers nodded—eager to finally be of service to their people again.
Rook stepped forward. “I want to come with you,” he said. “If Alex is even remotely in danger, I’m willing to do whatever I can to help her.”
“That’s out of the question,” Farmer Robins said. “An enormous army is headed for her world, Rook! It’s too dangerous! I won’t let you put yourself in harm’s way!”