The 10th Kingdom

by Kathryn Wesley

  Her breath was getting thin. Her lungs were straining, begging her to take in air. She kept moving forward, knowing that she had to, and then she popped up, like a cork, from beneath a wave.

  She took the deepest breath of her life, breathing hard, glad to be alive.

  Wolf had already pulled himself onto a ledge. There were torches burning all around. They were in some kind of cellar.

  He grinned when he saw her.

  “Nobody around,” Wolf said as he helped her out of the water.

  “I thought I was going to die down there,” she said. “It was pitch black.”

  The seconds passed. She found herself staring at the inky black surface of the water.

  “Where’s Dad?”

  She scanned the surface for him, hoping that he had come, hoping that he wasn’t in trouble.

  “That passage was very thin at the top,” Wolf said.

  She clenched her right hand. He had to come through. He had to.

  Finally she stood. She was going to go in after him. She was poised for her dive when her father broke through the surface. He gasped great lungfuls of air.

  “I almost drowned,” he managed.

  “Oh, don’t exaggerate,” Wolf said, as he helped Tony out of the water. Wolf patted her father on the back and he spat out even more water. Virginia grimaced. She certainly wasn’t going to tell him what she knew of moats.

  It took a few minutes for him to get ready to travel, but he did. They squished their way forward. As they rounded a comer, Virginia realized they were in Wendell’s wine cellar.

  “See if you can find some towels,” Tony said.

  “Towels?” Virginia said. “We need weapons.”

  “Shhhh,” Wolf said.

  They found the exit from the cellars, then crept up the stairs past the kitchen. Virginia peered inside. No one noticed them. The servants were all frantically preparing food. She could smell roast beef and duck, and those were the scents she could identify. Her stomach rumbled. Swimming always made her hungry.

  They made their way to the first floor reception area. As some of the guests were led through, Virginia saw their chance. She beckoned her father and Wolf to follow. They hurried by, passing behind a row of butlers. Through the glass doors, Virginia could see the guests assembling in the grand ballroom beyond.

  Wolf led them up a flight of stairs toward the upper floors. Virginia’s heart was pounding. They’d been lucky so far, but she had no idea how long it would take before someone discovered them.

  The stairs ended in a beautiful corridor. It was decorated better than anything Virginia had seen in Manhattan.

  “These are the Royal chambers, unless I’m very much mistaken,” Wolf whispered, “and the Queen will sleep as near her Dog Imposter as possible. My deduction is that she will have put our Prince in the very next room.”

  Wolf opened a door and looked around. It was small and not decorated at all. “Maybe I’m wrong,” he said.

  But Virginia had the feeling she had gotten in that cell weeks ago. She stepped inside. “No, this is her room.”

  Her father pushed Wolf inside and closed the door behind them. Virginia went to one of the large walk-in closets and opened it. Inside were five mirrors, leaning against the wall like corpses.

  “Look at those,” Tony said.

  The mirrors were covered in sheets. Virginia pulled a sheet off a mirror, and so did her father and Wolf until all the mirrors were uncovered.

  Her father stood in front of the last mirror. “This is it,” he said. “This is the other Traveling mirror.”

  It certainly looked familiar. The black frame was the same as the other; it was the same size and had the same markings. Wolf came up behind Virginia as her father pressed the catch on the side of the frame.

  The mirror crackled into life, and slowly the reflection formed a picture. First the Statue of Liberty, then Manhattan, and finally it settled on Central Park.

  “Look,” Tony said. “It’s Manhattan. We can go home. We’ve done it.”

  Virginia stared at it. Wolf was watching her intently. She could go now, she knew, but it wouldn’t be right. Snow White had said that Virginia had to follow her heart, and her heart told her she wasn’t ready to leave yet.

  “What? What is it?” Tony asked her. “Come on, let’s not hang out here. Let’s go.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t go back yet.”

  “What are you, crazy?” Tony asked. “We’ve found it. Wolf, tell her, let’s go. Let’s go.”

  Wolf didn’t move. He had a small frown on his face.

  “I have to see her first,” Virginia said.

  “Virginia, she is not your mother,” Tony said. “Whatever she is now, it’s not Christine, not the woman we knew.”

  “We’ve been led here all along,” Virginia said. “Don’t you see? It was never the mirror. It was just a way to bring us here, to meet her.”

  Her father grabbed her arm as if he were going to drag her into the mirror. “We have to get home while we still can.”

  “No.” Virginia dug in her heels, literally. “I have to see her.”

  “Your last request is granted.”

  They all turned. The Queen stood behind them. Beside her was the Huntsman.

  Virginia stared at her mother for a long time. She was shorter than Virginia remembered, and there were some extra lines on her face, but she was just as beautiful as she had always been.

  Virginia was so intent on the Queen that it took a moment to register the fact that Wolf was bowing to her.

  “Did I do well, Your Majesty?” Wolf asked.

  Virginia felt a shiver run through her.

  The Queen nodded. “Excellent.”

  Wolf went deeper into the room, took a piece of candy, and threw it in the air, catching it with his mouth. Then he smiled a cold smile that Virginia didn’t recognize.

  “I thought it would be safest to stay with them to make sure they didn’t spoil your plans,” Wolf said.

  He was serious. That was why he had been so evasive. He had helped her!

  “What have you done?” Virginia backed away from him. “No, no, no, not you.”

  She loved him. He loved her. He couldn’t have betrayed her. He said that wolves mated for life and she was the one.

  “It’s simple, Virginia,” Wolf said. “I obey the Queen.”

  It felt as if someone had stabbed her in the heart.

  Her father stepped toward the Queen. ‘ ‘Christine,’ ’ he said, “what are you doing here? Don’t you recognize us?”

  The Queen looked at them as if they were mad. “I’ve never seen either of you before.”

  “Of course you have,” Virginia said. This was easier to deal with than Wolf. “I’m your daughter, Virginia.”

  “Christine, it’s Tony. Don’t look through me. It’s Tony. Me.” Her father took a step toward the Queen, and the Huntsman pushed him away.

  The Queen’s voice became murderously quiet. “I said I don’t know who you are.”

  ‘‘Mom, we came from New York. Where you used to live.” The Queen seemed to falter. She looked at Virginia with a genuine uncertainty in her eyes. Then the moment passed. “This is just magic to distract me,” she said.

  “Majesty, we must prepare for the Coronation Ball,” the Huntsman said.

  “There is time enough,” the Queen said. “Leave me with the girl.”

  She looked at Tony. “Take him down to the dungeon, then bring Wendell to me. Wolf, go to the kitchen now.”

  Wolf bowed again, and didn’t meet Virginia’s gaze. He left. Her heart left with him. Snow White was right. She couldn’t wait to be rescued.

  She had to rescue herself.

  The Huntsman dragged her father from the room.

  The Queen stared at Virginia for a moment, then went to another adjoining door, which led to a changing room. She made no attempt to stop Virginia from escaping through the mirror. She didn’t even shut the mirror off.

 
Virginia wasn’t sure what she should do. Should she escape and try to come back later to rescue her father? Or should she stay and see what she could do now?

  “I have sensed you for a long time, through the mirrors,” the Queen said, as she changed clothes. “But your image has always been denied me. Why is that, do you think? You don’t look very powerful to me. Has someone been helping you? Some little dead heroine puffing you up as an adversary?’ ’

  Virginia reached into her pocket and carefully took out the poisoned comb.

  “Would you like to dance tonight?” the Queen asked. “I could find you something to wear. A pretty girl like you shouldn’t sit on the sidelines all her life.”

  The Queen came back into her line of sight. Virginia concealed the comb behind her back, clutching it like a weapon.

  The Queen was dressed in a beautiful white dress. She held it out to her sides like a girl.

  “Do you like it?” the Queen asked. “You can wear too much black.”

  She walked into the closet and admired herself in one of the mirrors.

  “I am your daughter,” Virginia said.

  The Queen laughed. “I don’t have a daughter.”

  “You traveled through a mirror, like me,” Virginia said. The Queen looked at her slyly. “What do you know about Traveling mirrors?”

  “I know they are a way home,” Virginia said. “For you as well. You don’t belong here any more than I do.”

  “You lie very well.” The Queen smiled. “We should get together.”

  She walked over to the Traveling mirror and put her hand on its frame.

  “If this is where you came from, then why don’t you just go home? Go on, I won’t stop you.”

  Virginia looked at the minor, then at the Queen, remembering that one moment of uncertainty. If she could get through that, she might be able to speak to her real mother and end this.

  “You look through it, don’t you?” Virginia asked. “At night, you look at home and wonder what it’s like.”

  The Queen pushed the catch on the mirror’s frame and shut the mirror down. “Are you sure you won’t have an apple? You’ve been eyeing them since you came in.”

  Virginia hadn’t even noticed the apples until now. They sat

  on a table, and they were as beautiful and red as the ones grown by the Peeps. Suddenly she remembered how hungry she was. “Have one if you’re hungry,” the Queen said.

  Virginia reached for an apple, and then stopped herself. It hadn’t been her will to take one. It had been the Queen’s.

  ‘ ‘What?’ ’ the Queen asked. ‘ ‘You think I’m trying to poison you? Really. You’ve been reading too many stories.”

  The Queen took an apple and bit into it. She offered Virginia the rest. Virginia shook her head.

  “What have people been telling you?” the Queen asked. “I’m no worse than anyone else here.”

  “Then why does everyone fear you?”

  “There is only black and white in this world. Nothing in between. And we are all cast in our roles. Just as you are.” “I don’t believe in destiny,” Virginia said.

  The Queen smiled. “It certainly believes in you.”

  Chapter Forty-Four

  “You’re my mother,” Virginia said. The room was darker than it had been before. It felt odd in here, in this closet, with the woman who had once been someone else.

  What had the Evil Stepmother said? That she had given all of her powers to the Queen? Which meant that Virginia was fighting a magical battle, without having any magic of her own.

  “Or maybe I just look like your mother,” the Queen said. “Have you ever thought about that? That this is some cruel magic trick on you? Because I’m not your mother. Nor would I want to be, frankly, because you are little Miss Nothing to me.”

  “Why did you leave me?”

  The Queen left the Traveling mirror and walked over to Virginia. She stopped only inches away. They were closer than they had been in years. The Queen’s eyes were cold, colder than any Virginia had ever seen.

  “You were unwanted,” the Queen said. “That’s plain to see.”

  Virginia frowned.

  “Haven’t you always thought that secretly? Honestly?” The Queen’s voice was soft, hypnotic. “Come and compare I yourself to me in my mirror. Mirrors cannot lie.”

  She led Virginia to another of her mirrors. Virginia stared at her own reflection. She could actually see the blending of her father’s features and her mother’s and how they formed something uniquely her. The Queen stood beside her. There was a family resemblance—on both sides.

  “Do you think you are fairer than me?” the Queen asked. “Shall we ask the mirror? Look in the mirror.”

  The room was getting darker. Everything seemed to have slowed down.

  “Mirror, mirror, on the wall ...”

  Virginia swayed, struggling not to faint. Things were getting darker and slower, and the room started to swirl. “What are you doing to me?”

  The mirror showed her standing right beside the smiling Queen, but something wasn’t right.

  “Who is the fairest ...”

  Virginia stared at the mirror, struggling with all her might to remain conscious. “What are you doing?”

  She forced herself to look away from the mirror. As she turned her head sideways, she saw herself and the Queen reflected in another mirror.

  Instead of the Queen standing passively beside her, the Queen had her hands around Virginia’s neck, choking her. The moment had a horrible feeling of familiarity to it.

  Virginia pulled herself away, and the Queen stepped back. She was obviously shocked that Virginia had saved herself. Virginia put a hand to her neck. Now she could feel the pain. Her lungs strained for air, more than they had from the swim. The room had gotten lighter.

  “You intrigue me,” the Queen said. “No one has ever resisted me for so long. Why have you come here?”

  “To find you,” Virginia said. “To talk to you, to make you realize who—”

  “You have come to kill me.”

  “No, of course not,” Virginia said.

  “But I’m going to kill you first. This moment, this instant.” The Queen moved toward her.

  Virginia held up a hand. “Stay back or—”

  “Or what?”

  Virginia opened her hand. The comb was gone.

  “Were you looking for this?” The Queen laughed and produced the comb. It looked wicked in her hands, like a sparkling, razor-sharp set of teeth. “How long do you think you have been talking to me? Guess.”

  “Five minutes,” Virginia said.

  “Over an hour,” the Queen said. ‘ ‘I know everything. Your pathetic plans. You think Snow White will protect you. She’s dead. That’s why she’s sending a little girl after me with old magic.”

  The Queen examined the comb, careful to keep her hands away from the teeth.

  “Such beautiful jewels,” she said. “The most awful things often appear in beautiful form. Is it poisoned?”

  “No.”

  The Queen took the comb and ran it through her hair. Virginia held her breath.

  “You little liar,” the Queen said. “If this comb were to break my skin it would kill me instantly. It’s very beautiful, though.”

  She took her hair and twisted it up, using the comb to hold it in place. Then she examined herself in the mirror.

  Virginia remembered what her father had said, about the way her mother was obsessed with her own beauty. Indeed, the Queen’s examination of herself looked familiar.

  “In your whole life,” Virginia said, “did you ever once love me?”

  The Queen looked away from the mirror. Her gaze met Virginia’s and, like before, seemed to falter.

  Then the door opened. The moment was broken.

  “Milady,” the Huntsman said as he entered, “we have a problem with the Prince.”

  The Queen blinked in obvious confusion, and then the mask fell over her face once again. Her ex
pression grew hard. “Take the girl downstairs and lock her up. I will finish with her afterwards.”

  “After what?” Virginia asked. “What are you going to do to everybody?”

  “No more than you would do to me,” the Queen said.

  The guests inside the ballroom reflected all of the Nine Kingdoms. Elves and Dwarves and other notables danced with each other. A man with hedgehog quills protruding from his tuxedo smiled at three identical dancing girls. In one comer, clearly drunk and obviously an embarrassment to the other guests, was the Naked Emperor’s Great-Grandson. Servants ran after him everywhere, covering him as best they could with giant ostrich feathers.

  A table ran the length of the room, ready to seat all the guests except the royal ones, who had their own table in the front.

  Glittering chandeliers cast light on all the beautifully dressed people. The music was stunning, the room even more so. All the guests seemed to be enjoying themselves, but they were also watchful for the guest of honor, Prince Wendell.

  Lord Rupert, who had been in charge of the coronation, clapped his hands for attention. ‘ ‘ Your Royal Highnesses, Lords and Ladies, ladies and gentlemen, may I present a vision of loveliness, the Dancing Queen, the Slipper Supreme, it’s midnight madness, it’s Queen Cinderella.”

  The people in the room gasped. No one had seen Cinderella in a long time.

  They turned toward the entrance as two-hundred-year-old Cinderella entered the ballroom. She was still beautiful, but no longer young. Servants rushed to her side to help her down the steps, but she waved them away.

  She walked forward, sashaying her hips from side to side. Some of the men gave her wolf whistles, and she smiled. Her glass slippers made small clinking sounds on the ballroom floor.

  Cinderella took her place at the head of the table for royal guests. The Kings and Queens stood in respect and raised their glasses to her.

  She turned and gave a beauty-queen wave to the crowd. Then, as she sat down, her exhaustion showed. She didn’t get out much anymore, and this had been quite a strain.

  Finally she looked up. “Where is Wendell?” she asked.