by Chris Colfer
“Xanthous, the war isn’t over yet,” she said. “There is a chance the Grande Armée has obtained a dragon egg! We still need to rally every last soldier we can and get to the Fairy Kingdom before the Armée does! I bet they’re planning to strike it last!”
“But that’s impossible,” Xanthous said. “Dragons have been extinct for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
“I’m afraid it’s very possible,” Hagetta said. “I’ve never seen one myself but there have been rumors among the witch community for a very long time that one or two were preserved.”
Xanthous sighed and the flames on his head and shoulders went low as he thought about it. “Then let’s not waste another minute,” he said. “Alex, it’s time for the signal. Let’s get back to the Fairy Kingdom—it should only take the kingdoms’ armies a day or two to meet us there.”
“No, that’s not good enough,” Conner said. “We need a way to get all these men to the Fairy Palace now. As soon as the general hears his units have been defeated he’ll want to strike again soon.”
“But you can’t get thousands and thousands of men to the same place at one time,” Xanthous said. “There isn’t a flying ship or a secret path large enough.”
Alex went very quiet and thought to herself. “It’ll have to be a spell—possibly the biggest act of magic ever done in the history of the fairy-tale world,” she said. “The signal has to alert all the soldiers and transport them to the Fairy Kingdom at the same time.”
“But who or what is that powerful?” Conner said. “I don’t think Grandma or the Enchantress could pull off something like that.”
Xanthous and Alex looked at each other but neither of them had an answer or an idea. Alex thought back to her magic lessons with her grandmother—if Alex could just visualize something well enough, she knew she could make it happen. But what could she possibly visualize that would accomplish this?
Hagetta cleared her throat. “If I were you, I would use the night sky as an ally,” she said. “During times of trouble, most people look to the stars for guidance.”
It was exactly what Alex needed to hear. Her eyes grew and she looked up to the cottage ceiling as the idea came to her. She imagined it perfectly, as if she were seeing it projected on the ceiling above her. “I know what the spell has to be!” she said. “I’m going to need help, but I think it’s crazy enough to work!”
“You’ve never let us down before,” Xanthous said.
His words were encouraging and Alex needed encouragement now more than ever. “Xanthous, I want you to collect all the fairies stationed throughout the kingdoms and meet us back in the Fairy Kingdom,” Alex said. “Conner and Lester, you’ll come with me.”
Xanthous bowed to Alex and Conner. “I’ll see you there.” He burst into bright shimmering sparks and disappeared into thin air.
“Where are we going?” Conner asked, but before she could answer, Alex raced out of the cottage and onto the grassy lawn outside. Conner and Lester quickly followed her out and Hagetta watched from the doorway.
Alex climbed onto Lester’s back and took his reins. She gestured for Conner to do the same and this time he sat behind her on the goose.
“Lester, I want you to fly as high into the sky as you possibly can,” she instructed him, and he nodded eagerly.
“So what are you going to do?” Conner asked Alex. “This might be the single most important spell you’ll ever cast in your life—no pressure or anything!”
Alex looked over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s not what I’m going to do, it’s what we’re going to do.”
“Huh? What am I supposed to do?” Conner asked.
“You’ll see,” Alex said with a mischievous grin. “All right, Lester, let’s go!”
Lester spread his enormous wings and lunged forward. The twins waved back to Hagetta as he soared into the sky.
“Thank you for everything, Hagetta!” Conner called behind them.
“Best of luck, children!” she said, and waved them off.
They flew so high into the night sky Hagetta’s cottage disappeared from view. All they could see was a sea of trees that stretched into the distance for miles around. Lester tirelessly flapped his wings until the air became too thin and he couldn’t fly any higher.
“This is good, boy,” Alex said, and raised her wand over her head. “Conner, hold my wand with me—you’re helping me do this.”
“Me? I don’t know how to do magic!”
“Yes you do,” Alex assured him. “You’re just as capable as me—you just have to believe it! No matter how much you deny it, there is just as much magic in your blood as there is in mine. Grandma taught me that the key to magic is having confidence—and with your help, I know we can make this spell work.”
Conner was hesitant. “Okay, but if this doesn’t work, it’s not my fault.”
“I know it will!” Alex said. “Just believe you can do this! And hold on, we’re about to go very fast!”
Conner reluctantly grabbed the end of his sister’s wand and they raised it together.
The world appeared to go in slow motion as they raised the wand above their heads. The twins could feel magic rush through their bodies and into the wand in their hands. Not only did they feel it surging from inside of them, but they also felt it traveling through the air around them. It was as if they were summoning all the magic in the world to help them cast this spell.
The twins pointed the wand into the sky directly ahead of them and a gigantic blast of white light erupted from the tip and surrounded them. Like a cannonball, they shot through the air and headed toward the Fairy Kingdom. Alex and Conner had turned themselves and Lester into a shooting star that bolted across the sky faster than anything had ever traveled before.
It was so bright everyone and everything in all the kingdoms below stared up at it in bewilderment. Upon seeing it, every soldier of the Happily Ever After Assembly armies, on duty or in hiding, turned into his or her own sphere of light and instantly shot through the sky to join the twins. The more kingdoms they traveled across, the more soldiers were attached, and the larger the star became. It was as if thousands and thousands of shooting stars had been launched from the ground and then came together to form a massive comet.
With one flick of a wand, Alex and Conner had performed the greatest act of magic ever achieved. They united all the armies in the world so they could finish off the Armée who had threatened their home. Together they flew across the night sky, heading to the Fairy Palace with enough light to re-start the sun.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THE BATTLE FOR THE FAIRY KINGDOM
Emerelda and Mother Goose paced on the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace. One by one, the other fairies of the Fairy Council appeared beside them. Xanthous was the last fairy to arrive after retrieving the others and immediately ran to the railing and searched the gardens below.
“Have Alex and Conner arrived with the other armies yet?” he asked the others.
“What do you mean ‘with the other armies’?” Emerelda asked.
“Xanny, calm down for a second and tell us what’s going on,” Mother Goose said.
Xanthous turned back to the other fairies and his flames flickered as he grew anxious. “Alex and Conner were going to collect the armies of the other kingdoms and bring them here before the Grande Armée arrived.”
“But it would take days for all those soldiers to travel here,” Violetta said.
“Alex was going to cast a spell so they would all arrive at the same time,” Xanthous explained.
“What kind of spell could do that?” Skylene asked.
“That would take more magic than all our powers put together,” Tangerina added.
Xanthous was frustrated by their lack of faith and his flames rose. “Ladies, we’ve trusted her since the beginning; we can’t start doubting her now.”
Mother Goose went to the railing and became fixated on something moving in the trees beyond the gardens. “W
ell, I sure hope whatever spell she tried works, because the Grande Armée is here!” she said.
The fairies joined her at the railing and looked into the distance. Two thousand of the remaining Grande Armée soldiers appeared through the trees. They came from all directions and completely surrounded the gardens and the Fairy Palace. Soldiers positioned themselves in rows and raised their rifles. They wheeled cannons and directed them toward the palace.
At the edge of the gardens, a dozen or so soldiers planted seven tall poles into the ground and stacked piles of hay and dried twigs around the base of the poles.
“What on earth are they doing?” Rosette asked.
Three carriages appeared and were steered to the poles. Only the first carriage had horses while the other two followed behind it magically. The fairies on the balcony screamed and covered their mouths as soon as they realized they were the same carriages that had been sent on the secret path. They could see the kings, queens, and others trapped inside them.
The kings and queens were yanked out of the carriages and taken to the poles. Princess Hope and Princess Ash were forced out of their mothers’ arms and thrown into a carriage with Emmerich and Bree.
Queen Cinderella and King Chance were tied to the first pole, Queen Sleeping Beauty and King Chase were tied to the second, Queen Snow White and King Chandler were tied to the third, Queen Rapunzel and Sir William were tied to the fourth, and Queen Little Bo was tied to the fifth. Jack and Goldilocks were even included, and were tied to the sixth pole. Froggy and Red were tied to the seventh.
“If you would just listen to me for one second, I could explain I’m not the queen anymore,” Red tried telling one of the Armée soldiers. “She’s the queen now—she won the election and therefore being publicly executed is one of her responsibilities, not mine!”
She rapidly jerked her head in Little Bo’s direction, but the soldier wasn’t listening to a word she said.
A handful of the Armée soldiers began drumming while others lit torches and stood near the royals. The Fairy Council was about to witness a horrible execution. General Marquis stood on top of the center carriage and made an announcement to all the fairies in the gardens and at the palace before him.
“Fairies! This is your one and only opportunity to surrender to the Grande Armée!” he declared. “Take this opportunity and I will spare the leaders of your world. Fail to surrender and you will watch them die horrible deaths!”
“Choose the first option!” Red cried up at the Fairy Council.
The fairies living in the gardens peeked out from the plants and trees. They were horrified by what they saw, but there were too many soldiers for them to do anything.
“You have until the count of three,” the general shouted. “One…”
The fairies in the gardens looked up to the Fairy Council members on the balcony. They silently pleaded with them to do something.
“Two…”
The Fairy Council whispered among themselves but no one had a solution.
“Three!” the general shouted with a dissatisfied frown. He had been expecting the fairies to surrender but to his surprise, they stayed on the balcony and did nothing. “Your time is up! Les graver sur!”
The soldiers threw torches onto the piles of dried hay and sticks around the poles and the executions began. Many of the queens screamed, and the kings yelled for help. The flames climbed higher and higher. They were seconds away from being burned at the stake unless the fairies helped them.
“Mother Goose, stay here and watch over the palace,” Emerelda said. “The rest of you, follow me. We will not surrender but we must stop this before someone gets killed.”
“Please hurry, Alex,” Xanthous whispered to himself.
Several flashing lights appeared at the edge of the gardens and Emerelda, Xanthous, Tangerina, Skylene, Rosette, Violetta, and Coral appeared in front of the soldiers. All the cannons and rifles were raised at them, waiting for orders to fire. Emerelda lowered her hands and the fires at the base of the poles faded.
“Stop putting out those flames unless you want my men to open fire!” the general yelled.
There were too many guns and cannons pointed at them for the fairies to properly shield themselves in time. If the general ordered his men to fire, there was no way the fairies would survive.
“You are an evil man, General Marquis,” Emerelda called back to him. “And unfortunately for you, you’ve attempted to dominate a world that does not tolerate the wicked. We may not be able to stop your Armée from taking our kingdom today, but you will be stopped. You will not win this war—this world will not let you! This world doesn’t want you here! Untie these men and women at once and admit your failure with dignity, or suffer the consequences when the other armies arrive.”
The Grande Armée soldiers looked around the fairy gardens nervously, but the general’s attitude was not affected in the slightest. Emerelda’s warning only made him angrier. He had been given so many ultimatums he couldn’t tolerate one more.
“Fire at will!” he roared at his men.
The Armée loaded their cannons and cocked their rifles. The gardens buzzed with panic as the observing fairies feared the Fairy Council were about to be murdered in front of their eyes.
Suddenly, a bright light filled the sky as a shooting star appeared. It caught everyone’s attention, especially that of the general and the Grande Armée soldiers. They had never seen anything like it in their world—but neither had anyone in the fairy-tale world. It was too bright to be an average star and it grew bigger and bigger as it traveled closer and closer to the Fairy Kingdom.
“Take cover!” the general ordered his men, and dove off the carriage. All the Grande Armée soldiers fell to the ground and covered their heads. The Fairy Council and the fairies in the gardens stayed still as they stared up at the star in amazement—they knew this was an act of magic. Alex and Conner had arrived.
The star hit the center of the fairy gardens with such a strong impact it caused a massive breeze to sweep through the plants and extinguish the flames growing around the poles. Once the breeze faded and the dust lifted, the Fairy Council could see Alex and Conner aboard Lester in the center of the gardens and they were surrounded by the armies of the Charming Kingdom, the Bo Peep Republic, the Eastern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom, the Corner Kingdom, and the Great Troblin Lake. The twins’ spell had worked.
It was one of the most spectacular things anyone in the Fairy Kingdom had ever witnessed. Everyone looked around in astonishment—especially the incoming soldiers. Only seconds before this they had been in their own kingdoms.
“That was one heck of a spell, Alex!” Conner said. He was a little dizzy from the journey himself.
Alex looked around their new surroundings and a big smile came to her face. “We did it, Conner! We brought the armies here!” she said, and gave her brother a giant hug.
“It looks like the Grande Armée beat us, though.” He pointed ahead of them.
All the pride in their accomplishment drained away when they saw the Fairy Council standing in front of the Grande Armée at the edge of the gardens. To their absolute horror, they saw the Armée had captured the kings and queens and their friends, too, and they felt sick to their stomachs.
“They have everyone from the secret path!” Conner shrieked.
“How is that possible?” Alex gasped. “Someone must have betrayed us! The only people who could have found them were the people who saw them embark on the secret path!”
The Armée soldiers quickly got to their feet and aimed their rifles and cannons, not just at the Fairy Council, but at everyone they surrounded in the gardens.
“I think that’s a mystery we’ll have to save for later,” Conner said.
“You two come up with a plan and take cover! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!” Emerelda yelled at the twins over her shoulder.
“Fire!” General Marquis demanded as he got to his feet. “Kill them! Kill them all!”
> Emerelda raised her hands and the gardens and palace were surrounded with a thick sheet of emerald light. The sheet acted as a temporary force field against the firing cannons and rifles. It took every last bit of Emerelda’s strength to conjure it.
“Hurry!” Emerelda grunted. “I can’t hold it for very long!”
Alex couldn’t think—she was in a state of shock knowing one of their own had told the Grande Armée about the secret path. Conner didn’t wait to consult with his sister; he jumped off Lester’s back and began instructing the soldiers and the fairies around them. They had to strategize as quickly as possible.
“All right, men, I know I’m half your age and size but listen to me!” he shouted. “I want all of you to line the edge of the gardens and don’t let the Grande Armée through. The soldiers from the Northern Kingdom will guard the north side with Skylene. The Charming Kingdom army will protect the south side with Xanthous. The Eastern Kingdom army will protect the east side with Tangerina. The Corner Kingdom army will take the west side with the soldiers from the Bo Peep Republic. We cannot let them get to the Fairy Palace.”
The armies were hesitant to take orders from a fourteen-year-old boy.
“What? Did I stutter?” Conner asked.
“You heard the boy!” Sir Lampton said, coming to Conner’s rescue. “Let’s surround the gardens!”
The armies followed Lampton’s lead and separated into the directions Conner had instructed. Conner felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around and saw Queen Trollbella standing behind him.
“What about us, Butterboy?” she asked, and batted her eyelashes. “What do you want the Troblin Army to do?”
“Trollbella? Who invited you to this war?” Conner asked hysterically.
“I couldn’t stay home while my troblins came and had all the fun, so I joined my own army,” she said, and then pulled him down closer to whisper in his ear. “I also couldn’t let my Gator go to war by himself—he would miss me too much.”
Trollbella blew a kiss to Gator, who stood a few feet away, and he gulped—the relationship he had never agreed to had gotten way out of hand. Conner eyed the anxious Troblin Army around him and thought of the perfect assignment.