Of Witches and Wind

by Shelby Bach

  This was happening. It was real now.

  Melodie’s tears clinked onto the mirror, leaving a blob of gold on the corner. “She could’ve been an even better inventor than Madame Benne, and we’re going to lose her.”

  “Will the Water of Life still save her?” I asked.

  “Yes, but what difference does it make?” snapped the golden harp. “The Snow Queen has you trapped.”

  If we didn’t get out of the Glass Mountain right now, Lena would die.

  “No. Not yet.” I was coming out of this Tale with both my best friends. I had to.

  We tried to turn left, but trolls in hockey masks marched forward. We tried to turn right, but Mia blocked the way, hurling a few more throwing stars.

  “No, Rory. You’re surrounded and outnumbered,” said the harp.

  Five more trolls appeared behind us. This had to be an organized effort. They were herding us down this hall in particular, toward the door at the end. It was the only one made out of silver, not glass.

  “You three will die soon,” Melodie said. “And Lena will die too. And before the week ends, this whole chapter will be wiped out. The Snow Queen has won.”

  “I’ll be there in less than thirty minutes,” I promised.

  I had to think.

  What was at the end of this hall? Where would the Snow Queen’s servants want us to go? The dungeons?

  A troll jabbed a spear at us from the next opening we passed, and Chase intercepted it too quickly for me to see. His sword came back orange with troll blood.

  No, not the dungeons. Even villains don’t install fancy doors on the way to their dungeons.

  The scrying-spell idea wouldn’t work, but last year the Snow Queen had wanted Melodie to escape. The harp had to know something we could use. “Melodie, is there anything else helpful you can tell me about the Glass Mountain?”

  “There’s only one entrance,” she said acidly. “One singular way in and out.”

  “We know that, Melodie. Rory asked for something helpful,” Chase said, as we ran. The silver door at the end of the corridor drew closer and closer.

  That ticked the harp off even more. “The Glass Moutain is a variant of the same spell that imprisoned the West Wind, the one embedded in those water bottles. It contains a person’s essence. The heat interferes with the Snow Queen’s magic. She has a tenth of her usual power.”

  Ben shoved me and Chase again, and I collided with an end table so hard that I felt a bruise forming on my hip, red hot with pain. A few silvery throwing stars whizzed by, inches from our shoulders. Mia had gained on us again.

  “The Snow Queen shouldn’t be able to touch the actual structure. She probably can’t get closer than a yard or so,” said Melodie.

  Mia was twenty feet behind us, and the silver door only forty feet away. There were no openings left ahead of us—there was nowhere else to turn. Now we were trapped.

  Whatever was behind the silver door, we were about to find out.

  “Her magic will disintegrate as soon as she casts a spell upon it,” Melodie added. “If a servant breaks the outer wall for her, it will re-form in one-point-one seconds, too quickly for her to reach the barrier and get out. The only way to break it is to pull every single silver Fey symbol out of the glass at the exact same instant—”

  “Dude, Melodie,” Chase said. “Minions listening.”

  “—and there are thousands upon thousands enclosed in the glass,” Melodie continued, like he hadn’t spoken. “If it were possible, then the Snow Queen would have done it by now. It was made by Madame Benne. It is the best prison ever invented. Is this what you wanted to know?”

  My hand was on the silver doorknob. I was actually kind of surprised when it didn’t electrocute me or anything. It wasn’t even locked.

  “Yes,” said Mia, seven feet behind us. “There is no way out but for the way you came in, and we will never let you reach it.”

  I threw the door open, and the boys dashed in behind me. White silk covered the walls from floor to ceiling, making the room almost cold. And in the back stood a high-backed silver throne—seated upon it was a tall figure with skin the color of slushy snow, strawlike blond hair, and glacier-pale eyes.

  Of course. No need for dungeons. Her servants had chased us straight to her.

  “Rory, all this effort to get away,” said the Snow Queen in her musical voice. Goose bumps formed on my sweaty skin. “I am hurt. It is as if my guests don’t wish to talk to me.”

  Mia stood in the doorway, three silver snowflakes in each hand. She didn’t attack. She was just blocking our escape route. Clearly, the Snow Queen was in the mood to chat.

  Seeing that nobody was hurling any throwing stars at us, Ben bent over, wheezing.

  Solange smiled. Her teeth seemed almost transparent, like they were made out of ice. “It is nice to have guests. You cannot imagine what my life has been like, Rory Landon. I have been locked in here for decades. Every thought has been of my escape. Every message has been of my return. Every action has worked for my triumph. I have been working toward this end since before you were born, Rory Landon, and you know the day will come soon.”

  I did know. Remembering it usually filled me with the same mindless terror as heights, but now, with her seated just a few feet away, I had two thoughts:

  She hadn’t used any magic yet. She probably needed all her power to keep Mia up and moving.

  And she was enjoying this. We could use that.

  “Melodie, why would the Snow Queen hang her throne room with white silk?” Chase asked.

  “It reflects all the sunlight back through the glass,” Melodie said automatically. “Lessens the greenhouse effect. Keeps the room colder and her magic stronger.”

  “Ah, you have the golden harp on the line,” said the Snow Queen. “Let me have the magic mirror. If she tells me all I wish to know about the Glass Mountain, perhaps I’ll give her enough Water to spare her mistress.”

  The Snow Queen was lying. Solange would never let any of the Water out of her sight.

  Melodie’s eyes widened. “Yes, I’ll—”

  Frustrated, I slapped the mirror face down on my palm. “Mirror, mirror, go to sleep; they’ll leave a message after the beep.”

  There. At least Melodie couldn’t tell the Snow Queen any more.

  Chase jumped up, an inhuman seven feet, and slashed a wide gash in the white silk. Then he yanked on it, ripping it down. More light flooded in, through the thick wavy glass of the prison’s outer wall.

  Bright green grass started just a few feet away, right on the other side of the glass. I could see the plateau with the Water of Life on the right, and on the left, mountains rose up in jagged peaks, wearing snowy white caps.

  We had to get out there.

  “A futile effort.” The Snow Queen leaned her head on her fist with a lazy smile. “It will take at least ten minutes for the room to warm. More than enough time for me to kill you.”

  “Every little bit helps,” Chase said, with a tiny grin, ripping the last of the silk away from the wall, but he was scared. His shoulders had gone stiff.

  “Wait,” said Ben. “I don’t know what’s happening.”

  “Ben, meet the Snow Queen.” Chase pried the M3 out of my hands. I’d forgotten I was holding it. “Geez, Rory, don’t break it.”

  Ben’s face, his whole body, was frozen. I knew that feeling, where terror had locked every joint rigid.

  Solange nodded deeply. “A pleasure.”

  Chase flapped the M3 open and closed nervously, muttering something to himself in Fey. Probably cursing.

  “Now, how would you prefer to die?” said the Snow Queen. “I will take requests.”

  “Peacefully. In my sleep. At a ripe old age,” Chase said, and Solange actually laughed. Her face changed. She looked so much younger.

  We had to keep her talking. I jerked a thumb toward Mia. “How long were you inside her?”

  The Snow Queen’s lips curled up very slowly, and I realized how m
any times I had seen that same smile on Mia’s face. “Rory, are you trying to distract me with all your little questions? I have used that trick myself.”

  Okay, so this was an obvious plan. I willed my face not to move.

  She sighed. “But I will play along. I have been bored for decades, and I’ll probably be bored again after I kill you. The spell that animates my lovely doll can respond to most situations without my direct involvement. I only saw with her eyes and spoke with her lips when something interested me. Clever, Rory, but not clever enough. How heartbreaking. To realize what Mia was, an instant too late. Lena would have caught it by the second day.”

  She was trying to make me feel stupid, but it was a mistake to mention Lena. It only made me more determined to get out of here. “But how long exactly were you in her?”

  Solange narrowed her eyes, like I was doing a bad job entertaining her. “That is the wrong question, Rory.” I flinched. I guess I knew where Rapunzel learned that saying. “I’m disappointed. If I were in your position, I would want to know about much more than Mia.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Tell me about your sister.”

  “Oh, dearest Rapunzel,” said the Snow Queen. Her good mood was back. “My most loyal servant. I left her behind in the Canon to be my eyes and ears. You see, Rory, I always knew you were coming. I always knew that someone would come to take my place. Rapunzel offered to stay as long as it took for you to arrive, the girl they think will destroy me. She offered to befriend you. It was her idea to poison you as soon as you trusted her. I’m delighted that she managed to poison everyone else, too.”

  “You’re lying.” I knew it as soon as it was out of her mouth. She might have convinced me if she’d mentioned Mia in that plan.

  The Snow Queen smiled like this idea was too delicious not to share. “Yes, I am. But this is still what Mildred will believe.”

  An echo whispered around the room, and I couldn’t place it until Ben shuddered and said, “Please stop.”

  She didn’t stop. I watched Mia, her puppet, say all the Snow Queen’s words with her. But Mia spoke so softly—we could have never guessed that they had the same voice. “Mia poisoned you all, right under Rory’s and Rapunzel’s noses. The blades on Mia’s fingers hold the poison. It was a simple matter of changing the glamour slightly as Mia and I chopped up the chocolate for the Fey fudge pies. Now, since you will die here, Rapunzel will take the blame for it.”

  No, we wouldn’t die.

  “After all,” the Snow Queen added, “you didn’t even tell Melodie what Mia was before you cut off all communication with your Chapter. Rapunzel is the only suspect. Well, besides the witches, and all the witches are disposable.”

  She will attack you with words, Rapunzel had said.

  Well, that was obvious, especially after the mirror vault and the staircase of talking stones.

  I just needed more time. My mind raced back over what Rapunzel had told me the day we left. The part that hadn’t come true yet, that would get us out of here.

  “Why do you want the Water of Life?” I asked.

  “Who doesn’t?” she replied. “Next question.”

  Chase took over distracting duty. “Tell us how you and Rory are alike, then.”

  “You—” But then Solange made the same expression everybody made, like she’d swallowed her tongue. Fury crossed her face. She didn’t like losing control any more than the Director did.

  “Two words, Snow Queen: Pounce Pot,” Chase said gleefully. “I just wanted to see if I could get you to shut up.”

  Where others see a wall, or a mountain range, you see an escape.

  The snowy peaks gleamed through the glass. Rapunzel had meant this wall. This was the way out.

  On the other side, the rings of return would take us back to EAS. If we could just smash through, we would have an exit for approximately 1.1 seconds. Even the Snow Queen couldn’t reach us that fast.

  And I just happened to have a new ring that specialized in smashing.

  “You are nothing compared to me, Rory.” The Snow Queen had apparently gotten her tongue back, and she sounded extremely happy about it.

  Good. She hadn’t noticed I finally had a plan.

  “Guys,” I whispered, “I think this Tale needs more broken glass.”

  Ben stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “What?”

  Chase understood. He glanced at the wall over my shoulder, sighed deeply, and shoved the M3 in his pocket.

  “I will kill you today, of course, but I was to be your future. I was the direction your life was headed,” said the Snow Queen. I thought she was just confirming my Destiny, but then she added, “You would have become me, if you had lived.”

  The idea hit me like ice injected straight into my bones, but my left hand curled into a fist. A new breeze rippled over my arm.

  Chase grabbed my other hand and Ben’s shoulder, and he gave me a look that clearly said, This is going to hurt, and I blame you.

  Then the Snow Queen was on her feet. “No!”

  I punched through the wall of the Glass Mountain. A hundred thousand clear slivers fell over us like confetti, and I dragged us through.

  e tumbled to the ground. The grass burned my knees. Through the new slices in my jeans, tiny new cuts welled up red—like a rash of paper cuts. I looked up.

  The Tree of Life’s branches stretched across the sky. We were back. The courtyard hadn’t even changed. Waves lapped the Tree’s roots, and sea breezes rippled through the leaves.

  I ripped my pack off and unzipped it.

  Ben moaned, clutching his shoulder. “I think I’ve been shot. Can you say you’ve been shot when you get hit with a throwing star?”

  Chase’s face had the same paper-cut rash. “I got him, Rory. Go save Lena.”

  Then, a bottle in hand, I sprinted across the courtyard. I threw open the door to the infirmary. Hundreds of faces turned to me, but none of them were Lena’s. “Melodie, you little gold dummy, scream if you’re right next to Lena!”

  “YOU MADE IT OUT OF THE GLASS MOUNTAIN A SECOND TIME?”

  The voice came from the row on the right, eight beds down. Then I spotted Lena, lying way too still, her breath rasping way too loud. I leaped across the room in three strides and knelt on her cot, unscrewing the lid and pouring a quarter of the bottle into her open mouth.

  “She doesn’t need that much,” Melodie said, disapproving.

  The snaky vines under Lena’s skin disappeared. Her lips grew pink again. Then she sat up, choking, raising her hands to her mouth. The Water of Life dribbled through her fingers. “Oh, no—I just wasted so much of it. If I could have just spit it into a cup—”

  I grabbed her by both shoulders and hugged her so hard that the wet spot on her T-shirt bled a wet spot on mine. “Lena, why wouldn’t you stay in bed? I told you to rest.”

  Those aforementioned hundreds of faces stared at us from the beds stretching out beyond her, but then a voice from the ballroom door made everyone turn away.

  “Mother?”

  Ben held a water bottle in both hands, searching the faces just like I had.

  “Benjamin!” A few beds beyond Lena, Mrs. Taylor sat up weakly.

  Every eye in the infirmary watched him as he sprinted down the hall.

  “Hello, Miss Rory. You better have a little Water of Life yourself.” Lena’s grandmother sat right next to us, an apron over her rumpled navy suit. She would have looked like she was just politely welcoming me inside for dinner—if she hadn’t had tears in her eyes.

  I obediently took the tiniest sip possible from the water bottle. The stinging paper-cut rash immediately cleared up, and some glass fell from my left forearm and clattered to the floor.

  Lena frowned at the dime-size pieces. “Rory, sometimes I think you’re way too tough for your own good.”

  Wiping her tears away, Mrs. LaMarelle stretched across me and squeezed Lena’s hand. “I take it you had some trouble with the quest?”

  “No more than usual.�
� Grinning, Chase strolled into the infirmary, his arms full of Lena’s special bottles. My neon-green carryall hung from his shoulder. “Okay, which of you nurses want to take these off our hands? They’ve got Water of Life in them. Fresh from the spring.”

  The whole room perked up. The practice dummies clanked forward to take them. Mrs. LaMarelle stood to help and took the golden harp with her.

  Jenny brought the eyedroppers. “Everyone needs three drops each. That’s what Gretel says.”

  Ben unscrewed the water bottle and helped his mother sip from it anxiously. Mrs. Taylor’s color immediately returned, but as soon as she put on her glasses, she paled again. “You’re covered in blood.”

  “Just my clothes, Mother.” Then he turned to the bed beside him, where Darcy stroked her brother’s spotted back. The fawn was apparently too sick to lift his head from her leg cast. “For you, milady Darcy.”

  Trembling, Darcy took the bottle and carefully poured a little water into Bryan’s mouth.

  One second he was a sleeping fawn, and the next he was a boy hastily covering himself with a blanket before we could recognize what body part that big shock of skin belonged to.

  “You couldn’t have waited until I got clothes?” Bryan asked his sister. His hair was the exact same shade of brown as his fawn fur had been. “I’m never going to live this down.”

  Almost every Character in the infirmary laughed, and for the first time ever, I saw Bryan blush.

  We were still missing something.

  Then Jenny passed by, staring into her bottle. “Is the Water of Life supposed to look like breakfast?”

  No, we were still missing someone.

  I snatched the bottle away from her. “This one has Chatty.”

  Ben and Chase suddenly looked a lot less smug.

  “No, wait. I have an idea.” I grabbed an eyedropper and the Water of Life I had used to heal Lena. “You coming?”

  “I’ll be back soon, Mother,” Ben told Mrs. Taylor, who looked kind of shocked to be abandoned so soon after her miraculous recovery.

  “Now?” Lena glanced at the iron practice dummies moving from bed to bed with their eyedroppers.

  “Didn’t we all just escape certain death?” Chase said.