Cinderella: Ninja Warrior

by Maureen McGowan

  Ty held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

  “Oh, Your Highness. There’s no need for you—”

  “Give it to me!” He took the key, unlocked the shackles, and gently ran his fingers over the welts that had risen on Cinderella’s ankles. “Forgive me for being forward, Miss, but these must hurt.”

  She smiled, hoping to show him she didn’t mind his touch at all. It sent the most marvelous shivers through her.

  He rose and stood so close, Cinderella could feel the magnetic pull of his body, but still he showed no indication he recognized her.

  “Did you want to show me that?” He bent to look at the locket.

  Filled with love for Ty, she opened the locket with ease, and watched his eyes open wide. He lifted his gaze to her eyes, looking more confused than anything else, but then reached into the leather pouch tied to his belt and pulled out the small metal heart.

  He slipped it inside the locket. “What is your name?” His voice was soft and breathy, as if he couldn’t quite get his lungs to function properly.

  Cinderella shook her head, knowing she still couldn’t talk.

  He looked deeply into her eyes and she tried to convey all she felt in her heart. She recalled her father telling her that love was the greatest magic of all, and Max saying that two wizards joined by love became stronger. If that were true, then surely love could break her stepmother’s spell and let Ty remember.

  “Cinderella,” he whispered, and she nodded, joy rushing through her.

  He pulled her into his arms, and she felt as if all the magic in the world had hit both of them at once. If it didn’t feel so wonderful, she might have thought her stepmother had cast another spell.

  Ty moved his lips close to her ear. “It’s you, my love.”

  At his words, Cinderella felt her tongue untie. “Ty, you remember me.” His mention of love had broken the spell on her tongue. Love was strong magic.

  He pressed a soft kiss into her forehead and then turned to her stepmother. “You knew this was the girl I sought, yet you intentionally hid her from me.” He turned to Cinderella. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Holding hands, they ran to the front of the house, where a groom was holding the reins of two horses. They’d been fast on foot, but her stepmother had flown around the other side and was already on the front steps of the house when the couple arrived on the lawn beside the path. Agatha tentatively stepped out of the house holding a large ring of keys, and Gwendolyn, who had followed Cinderella and Ty, moved toward her mother and sister.

  Her stepmother pulled out her black wand and a fierce color rose in her pale cheeks. “This . . . this . . .” her stepmother sputtered and screamed, “. . . this is unacceptable!”

  She raised the wand and shot a bolt of lightning that exploded into the ground in front of Cinderella and Ty.

  Will Cinderella and Ty escape her stepmother’s black magic?

  To find out, turn to section 9: And So It Ends (page 279).

  Section 9

  AND SO IT ENDS

  9

  Struggling against an unseen force, Cinderella and Ty clung to each other as acrid smoke rose from the ground.

  “Mother!” Gwendolyn yelled, “Kill Cinderella, but not Prince Tiberius! Think of what you’re doing!”

  Her stepmother shot a bolt of energy toward Gwendolyn and knocked her back a few feet. “Silence, you stupid girl! If you’d done your job and charmed him, this wouldn’t be necessary.”

  Gwendolyn fell onto the stone steps of the house, her eyes wide, her body trembling, and Agatha ran down to help her. Cinderella wished she could feel sorry for her stepsisters. But she couldn’t. Not even Agatha.

  “Madam.” Ty’s voice was bold and strong. “Stop this right now.” He tried to move toward her, but couldn’t. He looked down.

  Ty’s legs were buried in the lawn up to his ankles. Cinderella bent down to try to dig him out.

  “You stupid, worthless boy.” Her stepmother spat at Ty. “You think you’re fit to rule this kingdom one day? Ha! You’re weak. Your parents are weak. That bumbling idiot your father installed as royal wizard is weak.” Anger leaped from her face.“It should have been me. If I’d had the right wand, it would have been me.”

  Unable to release Ty’s feet, Cinderella looked up.“Stepmother, please. Let him go and I won’t disobey you again.” She didn’t mean it. Not in the least. But she had to keep her stepmother from hurting Ty.

  “Shut up.” She stalked forward.“Your idiot parents share blame in this, too. That wand. Your mother’s powers. They should have been mine.”

  The evil wizard raised her arms, a dark cloud appeared, and a storm pelted Cinderella and Ty with freezing rain and sleet.

  Cinderella leaned into the strong wind and rain. “Stepmother!” she shouted, but her words were blown back by the wind. “Let the prince go—do what you will to me, but let him go!”

  Behind her stepmother, Cinderella spotted Max—again a human, not a cat—entering the grounds and holding her mother’s wand. Sparks flew from the magic wand and struck her stepmother, knocking her clear off her feet.

  “Max, you did it! When did you become human again?”

  “Just now,” he said. “It was trickier this time.”

  The pelting wind and rain stopped, and Cinderella clung to Ty. But her stepmother wasn’t down for long. Soon she and Max were engaged in battle.

  Cinderella and Ty struggled to dig his feet out of the dirt, but it seemed the more they dug, the deeper his feet sank into the ground.

  “Stop!” Ty grasped her hands. “It’s no use digging. It’s a spell.”

  She nodded and looked up. Her stepmother flew through the air, spinning so quickly, all Cinderella could see was a dark brown blur. “Go, Max!” she shouted, but the blur shot a terrifying bolt of red energy at him.

  Max tumbled back, end over end across the garden, until he was almost in the forest.

  Her stepmother shot a bolt of lightning from her wand, and the tree behind Max cracked in half and fell on top of him, burying him in branches and leaves.

  Cinderella gasped.

  Max shot out from the fallen tree’s branches and flew into the air. He mounted a counterattack and shot an enormous ball of red, orange, and blue fire at her stepmother.

  But his spell was stopped midway by another spell. The mixture of sparks and fire and energy shot up toward the sky, twisting and spinning, as if the spells themselves were at war.

  Her stepmother’s spell won, and the mass headed back to Max, lifted him into the air, and left him spinning.

  “We have to help him,” Cinderella said to Ty.

  Her stepmother dropped her arm and Max slammed into the ground near the house in a lifeless heap. Cinderella lurched forward, but Ty held her back.“It’s important we work together, and believe in ourselves.” Ty’s body felt warm and strong against hers, and in spite of everything, he didn’t look scared. “I believe in you,” he said.

  “I believe in you, too.” The strength in Ty’s posture fueled enough courage inside Cinderella to combat her terror.

  A powerful force ripped Cinderella away, spun her in the air, and slammed her onto the ground. When she opened her eyes, she discovered she was about twenty feet from Max, who still lay motionless.

  A sob rose in her chest, but her determination rose faster. Adrenaline raced through her and she scrambled along the gravel toward her godfather. Max was still breathing, but unconscious, and still had the wand. Her stepmother must not have recognized it yet. Cinderella retrieved the wand from Max’s limp hand and turned back toward Ty.

  Her stepmother had encircled the prince in black sparks.

  “Gwendolyn is the one you love,” she said to Ty in a calm, convincing voice.“Cinderella practices black magic and must be reported and put to death.” She repeated the words over and over, chanting.

  “No.” Cinderella ran forward, aiming her mother’s wand at her stepmother. Silver sparks flowed from the wand, st
ruck the evil wizard, and sent her tumbling to the ground, away from Ty.

  Ty looked dazed as Cinderella ran toward him. Had her stepmother made him forget her again? Not from the look in his eyes. The royal wizard’s protective spell against more mind control had held, even against her stepmother’s black magic. Just before she reached Ty, she ran into an invisible wall and bounced back.

  Her stepmother landed in front of her. “You horrible, lying child. You’ve had the wand all along.”

  Cinderella scrambled back, trying to regain her breath after the slam to her face and chest.

  “That wand is mine, you little troll! Give it to me!”

  “No!” Cinderella hid it behind her back. “It’s not yours. It was my mother’s and now it’s mine.”

  Her stepmother seemed to grow in height. “After everything I did to get that wand, don’t think I’ll let a tiny obstacle like you keep it from me. You’re weak. You’re pathetic. You can’t do anything to keep it out of my hands.”

  Cinderella fought against the power of her stepmother’s words, remembering what Ty had said. She needed to believe in herself. She gripped the wand, feeling its energy connect with hers. Concentrating, she shot a bolt of energy toward her stepmother, who staggered back a few steps.

  “Impressive,” her stepmother sneered. “Now hand it over.”

  “Never.” Gathering all her focus, Cinderella used the wand to shoot a flame at her stepmother. It struck her arm, and she dropped her wand, but after looking startled for an instant, she recovered quickly and the wand flew back into her hand.

  “Look here, you ungrateful brat.” She strode forward, her face filled with hatred.“The only reason I married your father was to get my hands on that wand. It’s not my fault he was too stubborn to hand it over, even on the threat of death.”

  Cinderella fought to control her emotions. “What do you mean?”

  Her stepmother’s smile turned even uglier than usual. “Your father wouldn’t hand over the wand, so I tossed him off the roof, you idiot.”

  Cinderella felt her throat close in grief. Her father’s fall had been no accident. Of course it hadn’t. The evil wizard had killed her husband just days after their marriage.

  Rage burst through her grief.“Murderer!” she cried as she shot white sparks from the wand, but this time her stepmother was ready and deflected them. The sparks struck Ty instead and Cinderella ran toward him, but a force pulled her away and flipped her over onto her back on the ground.

  Her stepmother towered above her, eyes searing with hatred. “I’m a fair person, so I’ll give you a choice.”

  Cinderella scrambled to her feet. “I’ve seen enough of your so-called deals and choices to know not to trust you.”

  “I’ll make this simple.” Her stepmother stretched her hand out, her fingers like the talons of an eagle. “Wand . . . or prince?”

  Cinderella gasped and backed away. She was more sure than ever that if her stepmother had her real mother’s wand, she’d be able to rule the kingdom with terror. But Cinderella couldn’t sacrifice Ty. Not even to save the kingdom.

  Her stepmother shrugged and then flames shot from her wand to encircle Ty. The flames crept closer to him as he struggled to release his trapped feet.

  Gwendolyn ran down the steps. “Mother, stop it!” she yelled. “What are you doing? Surely if Cinderella marries the prince, it will benefit us all.”

  Not even looking behind her, her stepmother swung her wand and Gwendolyn flew through the air to land on the roof of the house. She slipped, but then grabbed onto the crow-shaped weather vane.

  The flames rose higher, and Ty alternated between shielding his face from the heat and frantically brushing sparks and flames from his clothing. Cinderella’s heart pounded. She had no choice. She threw the wand at her stepmother, who snatched it nimbly out of midair.

  The flames died down and the evil wizard turned the wand over in her hands, her eyes wide with malicious delight. “Fool! With this wand, I can rule the entire kingdom!” She waved it once, and every leaf on every tree surrounding the garden died and fluttered to the ground.

  Cinderella had no time to second-guess what she’d done. She ran toward Ty. The grass around him was scorched, the fabric of his trousers singed. She threw herself into his arms. “I love you,” she said.

  Ty held her tight and said, “I love you, too.”

  Cinderella felt a surge of energy flow through their joined bodies as if they were gathering light from all around them. The ground softened beneath them and Ty was released. Clearly, declaring their love had increased their powers.

  “We need to stop her,” he said.

  “I don’t have a wand.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Cinderella realized she didn’t need one. The magic already inside her had been magnified and sharpened by Ty’s declaration of love.

  She looked up at Ty and found a reassuring determination on his face. He lifted his wand, and together they shot a bolt of energy toward her stepmother. The force of it sent her crashing to the ground, still clutching the treasured wand.

  Cinderella and Ty continued forward, but moved apart to approach her stepmother from either side, so she’d have to divide her attention to attack them both.

  Her stepmother rose from her feet and chose Cinderella as her first target, shooting foul-smelling black sparks toward her.

  Tapping into her ninja training and feeling more in control and powerful than she ever had in her life, Cinderella cartwheeled to the side, and then leaped and flipped above the next flash of sparks.

  Staying airborne longer than she thought she could, she stared down at the scene below her, feeling as if everything was moving in slow motion. Her stepmother dodged a rope from Ty’s attempt at a binding spell, and before Ty could regroup, her stepmother shot another spell at him.

  Cinderella shouted to warn him, but it was too late. A powerful force slammed into Ty’s chest, threw him back, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

  “No!” Cinderella landed, then sprang forward and planted a powerful kick directly into her stepmother’s chest, sending her into the ground on her back.

  Her mother’s wand fell from her stepmother’s hand. Cinderella dove and grabbed it, but her stepmother grabbed it too, and they struggled on the ground for control of it.

  “It’s mine!” Cinderella shouted through gritted teeth as she flipped her stepmother onto her back, her every muscle burning with effort. “Not yours!”

  Her stepmother’s eyes glowed red. Momentarily blinded, Cinderella turned away. Her stepmother took advantage of the opportunity and rolled Cinderella onto her back. No longer focused on the wand, her stepmother wrapped her hands around Cinderella’s throat.

  Cinderella gasped for air, dropped the wand, and clutched at her stepmother’s hands, trying to draw on Ty’s love, but with him unconscious, she couldn’t. There was no way she was strong enough to battle her stepmother alone.

  Her lungs burned, lights flashed behind her eyes, and a fog invaded her mind. Drifting out of consciousness, she remembered her father telling her she was going to have a new mother and two sisters. She’d thrown her arms around her father’s neck because she’d thought a new wife would make him happy. Now that she understood true love, she knew how childish she’d been to assume love could be replaced so easily. He’d only married this horrible witch in order to give his daughter a family. If only he’d known.

  Struggling to stay in the present, Cinderella fought to keep her eyes open and assumed she was hallucinating when she saw Ty appear and wrap the crook of his elbow around her stepmother’s neck. He pulled her back.

  The vise grip around Cinderella’s neck released and she gasped for air.

  Her stepmother leaped up, ready to lunge for Ty, but Cinderella felt a surge of enchanted power inside her. She threw her hands forward and froze her stepmother in midair.

  Her stepmother’s rigid body dropped to the ground.

  The next thing Cinderella knew, Ty wa
s holding her in his arms. A rush of warmth and safety overtook her before she snapped back into focus. “My freezing spell won’t last.”

  They turned to her stepmother, but she—along with her real mother’s wand—had disappeared.

  Cinderella spun, searching for the evil wizard, but it was no use.

  “She’s gone,” Ty said. “You’re safe for the moment.” He tightened his embrace and Cinderella’s breaths came out hard but shallow.

  Had her stepmother given up? That was highly unlikely. Even if she didn’t come back right away, she had her mother’s wand and would have to be stopped.

  “Max!” she cried, breaking away from Ty and running to where her godfather had lain in a heap since her stepmother’s attack. Cinderella fell to her knees at his side. His chest rose and fell, but his forehead was gashed, his eyes remained closed, and his normally flushed skin was nearly gray.

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Max, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

  A warm hand fell onto her shoulder and she looked up to see the royal wizard dressed in a scarlet robe of fine silk. Ty stood beside him.

  “How? Why?” She looked up into the royal wizard’s eyes.“When did you get here? How did you know to come?”

  “The prince’s groom rode to alert me. I’m sorry I didn’t arrive before the wizard who attacked the prince fled. Who are you?”

  Cinderella gasped. Still under the effects of her stepmother’s spell, the royal wizard didn’t remember he’d seen her before. She turned to Ty and said, “My stepmother cast a spell last night. He doesn’t remember me, just as you didn’t at first.”

  Ty stepped up beside the wizard and said,“This is Cinderella, the girl I was seeking.” He reached down to touch Cinderella’s face. “You were planning to train her.”

  The royal wizard scratched his head. “I was?” He frowned.

  Cinderella stepped forward. “My stepmother made everyone at the ball forget they’d ever met me, even Ty—I mean, Prince Tiberius.” She looked into his eyes.