“No!” On instinct, I tried to extend my claws—then remembered I didn’t have them anymore. I suddenly felt very defenseless, not to mention short. I was six feet in human form, but after having been eight feet for so long, this was like becoming a dwarf.
“Keep back, Nick,” said Lara. “Unless you want your niece to be the third one to die.”
“No one’s going to die.” Crispin’s eyes were filled with sorrow as he looked at Alice. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I wish there was another way. Please, try to remember me—and try not to hate me for what I’ve done.”
Tears welled in Alice’s eyes. “Dad, you’re scaring me. I don’t understand.”
Crispin turned to me and Cordelia. “Once you get back to Basile, work quickly. Use the clock to make time go faster, like you did before. Otherwise they’ll have a chance to find you and stop you.” He threw his arms around me. “I love you,” he whispered.
Oh, that’s not good, I thought. Crispin never told me he loved me—not in so many words, at least. “What’s going on?”
He embraced Cordelia next. “You’re the best magic teacher anyone could have—and the best friend. Take good care of my idiot brother.”
Cordelia seemed as worried as I was. “Crispin, what—”
“This is all very touching,” Lara interrupted, “but could you postpone the hugging for a bit? I want you to be watching as I kill your last chance of altering history. The lesson will carry more weight that way.” Once she was certain all our eyes were on her, she motioned to the selkies holding Ella and Matteo. “Go ahead, boys.”
The soldiers began to press their knives into their captives’ flesh.
Then bolts of white lightning struck them, and they collapsed into piles of ash and bone. Ella and Matteo staggered back as finger bones clattered around their feet.
My heart stopped, and I stared at Crispin, aghast. His eyes had gone white again, and his face was grim.
Lara’s smug resolve began to crumble. “Now, Crispin, don’t do anything foolish. Remember, I have your daughter.”
“No,” said Crispin. “You don’t.”
The walrus-man gave a bellow of terror as he, too, was obliterated in an instant. His tusks lodged in the ground as if someone had used them for a game of mumbly-peg.
“Crispin.” Lara’s voice quavered. “This has gone far enough. Y-you don’t want to do anything you’d regret.” She gulped, and her face paled. “After all…what would Molly say?”
Mentioning that name was the Unqueen’s last mistake. This time, not even the smallest fragment of bone was left behind. Just a pile of fine dust that blew away in the wind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
How Does a Moment Last Forever?
“Crispin, please, stop,” I begged. “You’re not a killer.”
“I’m not Crispin,” he said. “Or at least, I won’t be much longer.”
Alice hurried toward him. “Daddy…”
“Stay back.” Crispin’s voice was cold and distant. But when he spoke again, he sounded more like himself. “Stay back, Alice. I’m not going to be in control of this much longer.”
Alice choked back a sob. “Daddy, please…”
“Goodbye, sweetheart,” he said. “Don’t ever forget how much I love you.”
“Wait!” cried Alice, as a rabbit hole opened up underneath her. “Stop! Don’t—”
A moment later, she was gone, and so was the swirling vortex of magic on the ground.
“Your turn,” said Crispin to the rest of us. As he spoke, another rabbit hole appeared—a much bigger one this time, barely three feet away from where I stood. “Everyone dive in, quickly. Before Beatrice notices and blocks my magic.”
“Crispin, don’t do this,” I pleaded. “You said you didn’t want to lose yourself like this.”
“I said that Alice kept me from doing that.” A single tear rolled down his pale cheek. “But she’s gone now. And so is the White Rabbit.”
“Avenge the Queen!” More selkies emerged from the rows of tents. They all began summoning runes for combat spells.
As a final tear fell away from Crispin’s face, he began to change. His skin became as white as his hair and eyes. The rabbit mask hanging from his neck crumbled to dust. His whole body shone with a fierce light, and his lip curled into a sneer.
“Fools,” he intoned, in a completely different voice. “Bow before the White King.”
I was so mesmerized with horror that I barely noticed Cordelia tugging on my arm. “Nick, we have to go, now.”
“But…Crispin…” I faltered.
She took my face in her hands and turned it toward her. “Nick, Crispin is gone. Or at least that version of him is. You need to get back to the one we left in 1922. If we stay here, that White King person is probably going to go after us as soon as he’s done with Lara’s soldiers.” She shoved me toward the rabbit hole with all her strength. “Now move!”
I stumbled and fell into the portal. I never saw what the White King did to the selkies…but for a split second, I heard their screams.
A moment later, my feet were on solid ground again. Or rather, solid marble. As the afterimages of all the swirling lights of the rabbit hole cleared from my vision, I saw that I was back in the ballroom. Cordelia, Ella, and Matteo stood beside me.
“Glamour spell,” I said to Cordelia. “Hurry. Or she’ll know it’s us.”
She nodded and passed a hand over her face. Runes appeared briefly, but when it was over, she still looked the same.
“It didn’t work,” I said.
“Yes, it did. Remember? It doesn’t work on you because you know me too well.”
“Oh. Right.”
She seized my arm. “Quick, let’s start dancing. Then if Beatrice shows up, maybe she won’t even notice us.”
“What do we do?” asked Ella.
“When Beatrice arrives, tell her you’ve decided to come back and stay here forever, like she wanted in the first place,” I said. “Make it convincing.”
“Can’t I just chop her head off?” asked Matteo.
“You tried that before,” Ella reminded him.
“With the useless ceremonial swords hanging on the wall over there.” He patted the weapon at his side. “Agatha’s a lot better than them.”
“Don’t,” said Cordelia sternly. “This is a time for finesse. Not brute force. You understand?”
“I hate finesse,” Matteo grumbled.
Ella clicked her tongue. “Oh, don’t be difficult.”
The air in front of us began to shimmer with a bright blue light.
“Beatrice.” I took Cordelia’s hands. “Our cue to dance away, I think.”
“Good luck, you two,” said Cordelia.
As we danced, we tried to stay close enough to see and hear what was happening without arousing Beatrice’s suspicion. Fortunately, when she first appeared, all her attention was on Ella and Matteo.
“I thought I sensed an unusual surge of magic.” She gave the couple a puzzled frown. “How did you get here? And why did you come back?”
“A…friend helped to send us here,” said Ella. “And as for why—we decided we were wrong to leave.”
Beatrice smiled. “Of course you were. I knew you’d figure that out eventually, even if it took you over two thousand years.”
“You gave us an amazing gift,” said Ella. “One perfect, never-ending evening. It was a mistake for us to turn our backs on it, and…we’re sorry.”
Matteo bristled. “We’re what?”
Ella kicked him in the shin, and he fell silent.
For a moment, suspicion lingered in Beatrice’s gaze. Then, to my relief, she relaxed. “This is quite unexpected…but I’m very happy to have you back, of course.” She waved her hand. “Here, let’s get you out of those horrible clothes and into your nice formal attire again.”
In an instant, Ella was wearing an elaborate blue ball gown, and Matteo was dressed in a crisp uniform with gold braid. He looked down and gave a snarl of irritation as
he saw that all his weapons were gone. “My babies,” he mourned.
“Have fun, darlings,” said Beatrice. “It’s such a joy to have you home again.”
A slight tremor suddenly shook the ballroom. A worried expression came over Beatrice’s face. “Excuse me. There’s something I need to do.”
In seconds, she was gone. Ella and Matteo gazed at each other in silence for a moment. Then Matteo took Ella in his arms and began to dance with her. As they moved across the dance floor, I saw a flash of crystal on Ella’s foot. Beatrice had restored her famous glass slippers, as well.
“What was that all about?” I wondered out loud as Cordelia and I danced away. “With the earthquake, I mean?”
“I’m not quite sure,” said Cordelia. “But let’s focus. Right now, we need to get to that clock.” She inclined her head in the direction of the huge timepiece on the other side of the ballroom.
“Right.” I began moving toward it.
Cordelia pulled back on my arms. “Don’t make a beeline for it. Too conspicuous.”
“Beatrice’s distracted,” I reminded her.
“Yes, but the clockmen aren’t.” Her eyes briefly cut toward the hooded figures at the edge of the ballroom. “And if any of them saw that we magically appeared here along with Ella and Matteo, they’ll be watching us. We have to be more discreet than that.”
“I wish we didn’t have to wait. I want to get this over with.”
“I imagine that Ella and Matteo aren’t in quite as much of a hurry. Have some consideration for them. This is their last dance, after all.”
I looked in their direction. Ella was leaning her head on Matteo’s shoulder. He was more grumpy and stone-faced than ever—which, knowing him, probably meant he was trying very hard not to show how upset he was.
“Let’s just relax and dance for now,” said Cordelia. “We’ll get there when we get there.”
“Crispin said we have to hurry.”
“And we will. Once we make to the clock, and we have the ability to speed up time, hurrying will be the easiest thing in the world.”
I gave up and went on dancing. It was a lot easier to do with human feet.
“How are you?” asked Cordelia. “This must be overwhelming for you, suddenly being human again.”
“Yeah. Very. I’m trying not to get used to it.”
“You should let yourself enjoy it.” She gazed at me in curiosity. “I’d forgotten what your human face looked like.”
I chuckled. “Me too. Still haven’t had a chance to see myself in a mirror. What do you think?”
“Of what?”
“My face. A lot better, right?”
“Well…”
I snorted in amusement. “Don’t tell me you agree with Alice.”
“The thing is, I never really got to know human Nick. Only Beast Nick. Human Nick was so…”
“Arrogant? Dismissive? Fanatically devoted to anti-magical philosophies?”
“Something like that.”
“I haven’t gone back to being him. I’m still the new me. I just look like the old me—for the moment.”
“You do look good like this.”
“Good? Is that all?”
“Very good.”
“Still not quite what I was hoping for.”
“Nick, stop fishing for compliments.”
“Sorry.”
We danced on as the orchestra broke into a hauntingly beautiful melody—a simple piano theme with strings in the background.
“That song sounds vaguely familiar,” I said.
“Oh?” Cordelia drew closer to me as we swept around a pillar. I saw that the magic of the castle had restored her yellow dress and my blue coat to their original, pristine condition while we danced.
“Yeah. I’m sure I’ve heard it before.”
“Fascinating.”
“Can’t quite remember the lyrics, though.”
“A pity.”
“They’re on the tip of my tongue. ‘Something as old as something.’”
“Nick?”
“What?”
Cordelia leaned her head against my chest. “Shut up and dance.”
My heart fluttered. “Er…right.”
I barely remembered that we were supposed to be saving the world. It felt like Cordelia and I were now the only people in the ballroom. All thoughts of curses, evil fairy godmothers, and alternate timelines faded away.
I’ve never been good at handling situations like this, hence my messy romantic history. I knew that any second now, I was going to do something stupid and ruin everything. It was in my nature.
Best to keep quiet and let the moment pass. Much safer that way.
I gulped. “Cordelia.”
She looked up at me. “Yes?”
What are you doing, you idiot? Shut your mouth before you make a fool of yourself.
“I—I don’t know if we’re going to remember what’s happened here after the timeline changes. But all the same—I feel like there’s something I should tell you.”
“Yes?”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Stop, you idiot! All right, we can still salvage this. All you have to do is tell her something else. Something safer, like ‘I have the deepest respect for you,’ or whatever. Basically anything but those three words.
“I—” I began, then broke off.
Deepest respect. That’s all you need to say. Then you can go on being friends, like before. Nothing needs to change.
“I have—”
That’s it. Keep going.
“I love you.”
My horrified internal screaming was quickly silenced by the smile on Cordelia’s face.
“I love you too,” she said, in a voice that was almost a whisper.
“What are we saying?” I murmured, as my lips brushed against hers. “We can’t just admit things like this, can we?”
“It seems we can.”
“We should stop before this goes any further.”
“You’re right.”
“We have a world to save, after all.”
“Exactly.”
“So we’re agreed. We’ll stop.”
“Absolutely.”
We didn’t stop.
Things like that kiss really shouldn’t have been possible, by rights. This was one of those moments that was too good and beautiful to be real—and yet it was real. I don’t get many of those, and I wanted this one to last a thousand years.
I began to understand how Ella and Matteo felt.
When we finally, reluctantly pulled away from each other, we were surprised to find that we were standing right next to the clock. The very thing that would speed us to the end of this story. Thanks to this clock, if everything went the way it was supposed to, I’d soon be a Beast again, and our kiss would be erased from reality.
Stupid magic.
“I don’t think we can wait any longer,” said Cordelia.
I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t find the words. Cordelia seemed to understand anyway. She took my hand and squeezed it. “Go on. Crispin and Molly are waiting.”
She was right. That didn’t make me feel any better, but still, she was right. “Okay. Here we go.”
I reached up, took hold of the hour hand, and pushed it forward.
The world blurred past us, colors blending together like a painting left in the rain. The beautiful music changed to a shrill whine. As the time drew nearer, I switched to using the minute hand, and everything moved a little more slowly. I stopped turning a few minutes shy of midnight, and the ballroom went back to normal.
“The clock should start striking any second now,” I said. “We’d better make sure Ella and Matteo are ready.”
“But how are we going to stop Beatrice from interfering when Ella tries to leave?” Cordelia asked.
“We’ll have to hope whatever’s distracting her right now keeps at it. And so far as the clockmen are concerned…we’ll deal with them as best we can.” I glanced down at myself. “I hate to
say it, but claws and additional muscles would be a big help right about now.”
We cautiously moved back toward Ella and Matteo. They’d stopped dancing. Now, they were holding each other and talking in low voices. I felt guilty as I approached them; like I was interrupting something sacred.
Cordelia touched Ella’s arm. “It’s time.”
Ella wiped away a tear and drew in a deep breath. “I know. We’re ready.”
“No, we’re not.” Matteo’s eyes smoldered with anger, and his gaze darted around the ballroom as if he were searching for someone to punch. “But we’re going to do it anyway.”
“What should I do, exactly?” asked Ella. “Just walk out?”
“You’ll have to run,” I said. “Don’t bother being nonchalant. We need to be quick now.”
Ella and Matteo’s eyes met. Neither of them spoke; whatever they needed to say had already been said. They kissed one last time.
Then Ella tore herself away from him and ran.
Along the way, she stumbled. Glass slippers weren’t made for moving fast. One of them fell from her foot and slid across the marble floor. Ella reached down and pulled the other one off, then started to retrieve the slipper she’d lost.
But she’d attracted the attention of the clockmen. They were already lurching toward us in sharp, staccato movements, drawing closer every second.
“Never mind the shoe!” I shouted. “Just run!”
Ella kept going, but the clockmen were close behind. Matteo rushed at them with an angry roar, grabbed two of them, and smashed their heads together. I joined him, punching one in the throat as hard as I could.
“OW,” I yelped, despite my best efforts to ignore the pain. As a Beast, I’d gotten used to punching things without ever injuring my hands. Now it felt like I’d broken a few finger bones.
Cordelia starting dismantling the clockmen with her spells. Gears and cogs scattered everywhere, but quickly tried to roll back together. So far, she was preventing them from reforming, but there were more of them stalking across the ballroom towards us.
And, as if things weren’t already bad enough, just as Ella made it to the stairs, the air rippled in front of her and Beatrice appeared. “What exactly do you think you’re doing, dear?”
“I think we’re done for,” I said to Matteo.
The Stroke of Eleven Page 15