by Joan Holub
“This may come as a giant blow.
But to the ball you will not go.”
Hic! Hic! Hic! Tears filled her eyes. That prediction was coming true!
On Saturday night, Snow was lying in bed at the Academy’s infirmary when her three friends came into her room. They hadn’t been allowed to visit her until now because those who were jointly in charge of the infirmary — the doctor, the nurse, and the alligator-purse lady — first had to weigh in on a diagnosis and treatment plan.
It had gone like this:
“Mumps,” said the doctor.
“Measles,” said the nurse.
“Hiccups,” said the lady with the alligator purse.
The alligator-purse lady had guessed closest. Because Snow obviously did have the hiccups. But her rash had nothing to do with mumps or measles. When she’d finally gotten things under control enough to be able to speak without hiccupping between every other word, she’d explained to them about her fruit allergy. However, as a precaution in case she really did have something contagious, they’d pronounced that she wasn’t allowed to go to the ball tonight. And that was that.
As soon as her friends entered the infirmary, they raced to her bedside and hugged her. “I’m so sorry this happened!” Cinda exclaimed.
“We would have been here sooner,” Rapunzel added, “but they made us wait twenty-four hours in case you were contagious.”
“Does it hurt?” Red asked, eyeing the rash.
Snow managed a smile. “Not really. It doesn’t even itch that much anymore.” The infirmary lady had produced a special ointment from her alligator purse that had instantly soothed the rash.
When Snow had gotten up the courage to look at herself in the talking hand mirror just before her friends arrived, she’d seen that the blotches on her skin were more pink than red now. The doctor said it would take a few days for it to completely disappear, but they were already fading. “You won’t win any beauty contests tonight,” the mirror had told her. “But you’re still the fairest in my opinion.” Which had been really sweet of that mirror.
“You all look grimmsolutely grimmtastic!” Snow told the three Grimm girls. They were dressed for the ball in ruffled silk and satin gowns. Gowns that glittered with sparkles, Snow noted with satisfaction. Which proved Ms. Wicked wasn’t the best or only authority on fashion!
“We wish you could come with us,” Rapunzel said. Her gown was black, as usual, but for once she’d added a bit of color to her outfit. The blue sash at her waist matched the blue streaks in her hair. And her stylish ankle boots had sparkly blue clasps up their sides.
“We feel awful that you have to miss the ball,” Cinda put in. She was pretty in pink tonight in a gown featuring gauzy sleeves and shiny satin ribbons at her waist and neck. Her glass slippers peeked out under the scalloped hem of her gown.
“It just doesn’t seem fair,” Red added. Her red-and-white striped gown rustled as she sat on the edge of the bed.
A sudden lump rose in Snow’s throat. She ran a hand over her soft blue nightgown. It was cute, with white polka dots. But not anywhere near as cute as a ball gown! She felt tears form in her eyes and forced them back. It wasn’t fair that she couldn’t go to the Prince Prance. But no way did she want what had happened to her to cast a shadow on her friends’ fun tonight. And she would not to give in to self-pity.
“Horrible things happen,” she said with a smile. “But there will be other balls.”
“I just don’t get how this happened,” Red said. She reached over to straighten the flowers in the vase on Snow’s bedside table.
“Yeah, you’re always so careful to stay away from fruit,” said Cinda, as she fluffed Snow’s pillow.
“It has something to do with your stepmom, right?” asked Rapunzel as she smoothed Snow’s blanket. “We ran into Prince last night in the library. He told us how Ms. Wicked had asked him to bring you upstairs for a birthday surprise, so you were going to be late meeting us.”
“You should’ve seen the look on his face when we told him it wasn’t your birthday,” said Red. “He was totally confused. We were, too.”
From the looks her three BFFs were giving her, Snow knew that they were waiting for an explanation. “My stepmom has the fake mapestry I made,” she told them and immediately had their attention. “It was in my blue bag when I went to take it out of my trunker after classes yesterday. Grandmother Enchantress sent it to me to give to her. And after I did my stepmom told me E.V.I.L. is suspicious of Wolfgang, so —”
“Yeah, he found out this morning he’s been denied Society membership,” Red told her.
Snow nodded. After what her stepmom had said about Wolfgang’s “bad family,” his rejection came as no surprise.
“So Ms. Wicked bought that your mapestry was the real one?” Rapunzel asked Snow.
“She did,” Snow replied. “She also wants me to help her use it to find the treasure. Can you believe it?”
Snow could feel Red’s gaze on her. She turned her head until their eyes met. Speaking firmly, she said, “But there’s no way I would ever work on the side of evil.”
“Of course you wouldn’t!” exclaimed Cinda.
“Goes without saying,” added Rapunzel.
Snow leaned forward, still looking at Red. “You know that, too, don’t you?”
“I … um …” Red stuttered. She gulped and started again. “I’ve never doubted you, not really,” she said, her words rushing out at last. “But there’s just so much at stake, and your stepmom is part of E.V.I.L. So Wolfgang warned me not to —”
“Not to trust me?” Snow interrupted.
“Well, just not completely,” Red said lamely.
“Humpf,” muttered Snow. “So you decided to trust him over me?”
Red raised an eyebrow. “You mean I’m only allowed to trust one of you?”
Snow hesitated. “Well, no.” And come to think of it, Snow herself had mistrusted Wolfgang just as much as he’d apparently mistrusted her.
“I’m sorry,” Red said, looking contrite. “I’ve been so afraid that Ms. Wicked might get you to tell her things we didn’t want her to know.”
Snow considered this. “My stepmom can be pretty persuasive,” she admitted. “But I’d never tell her anything to jeopardize our mission to find the treasure, save the school, and defeat E.V.I.L.”
“I believe you,” said Red. She reached out to grasp one of Snow’s hands. “Forgive me?”
“Yes,” said Snow, sending her a sweet smile. “I do.” She gave Red’s hand a squeeze.
Cinda and Rapunzel exchanged a look of relief. “Well, thank grimmness for that!” Cinda exclaimed, which made everyone laugh.
“I wonder why Ms. Wicked asked you to help her find the treasure?” Cinda mused as their laughter ebbed. “Why not my stepsisters? They’ve done E.V.I.L.’s bidding before, after all.”
Snow drew her legs up and wrapped both arms around her knees. “I don’t think she wants E.V.I.L. to know about the mapestry. So that if she does find treasure, she can keep it for herself!” She shook her head. “And I didn’t exactly rush in with an offer to help her. So to get back at me, she gave me a cupcake loaded with pieces of apple.”
The other girls were outraged. “So that’s what happened!” exclaimed Cinda. “That Ms. Wicked is even worse than my two Steps. She’s evil to the core.”
“Yeah,” said Red. “As rotten as …”
“A rotten apple!” Rapunzel supplied.
Snow smiled at her friends and nodded. They were right. Her stepmom was just downright mean. She hadn’t even come to visit her in the infirmary. Not that Snow wanted to see her, of course!
“Hey, why are we wasting our breath on her, anyway?” Cinda asked everyone. “Let’s move on to fun stuff, if you know what I mean.” She shot Rapunzel and Red a pointed look.
Snow sat up straighter, watching curiously as Red and Rapunzel went outside the door to her room. They were back in a moment, carrying a box that was bigger than
Snow’s feather-filled pillow. They set it on the bed.
“Ta-da! We brought something for you!” Red announced.
“Open it,” said Cinda, and Snow did. Carefully, she parted the fragile sheets of white tissue. And inside, she discovered …
“A ball gown!” she said in surprise. An adorable and sparkly pale turquoise one, with puffed white sleeves striped with dark turquoise satin piping.
“Just because you’re not allowed to go to the ball, doesn’t mean you can’t get all decked out for it,” said Red.
Her spirits rising, Snow hopped from her bed. As the Grimm girls all hugged, tears fell from more than one eye. Happy tears of friendship.
“Thanks, you guys,” Snow said softly. Then, with the help of her friends, she put on the cute gown. They’d even brought slippers. Digging deeper in the box, Snow exclaimed in surprise, “What a grimmorgeous tiara!”
All eyes swiveled toward the silver tiara she held. “Oh!” breathed Snow as she turned it round and round in her hands. It sparkled with turquoise jewels that had been clustered together to form seven four-leaf clovers. A big one at the center of the tiara, and three smaller ones on either side. How sweet! They all knew she missed her lucky clover amulet. But she hadn’t thought her friends even knew that seven was her lucky number!
“It’s more than grimmorgeous. It’s grimmelegant!” Snow beamed at them. “You guys are the best,” she told them. “Thank you sooo much times a million!”
Her three BFFs exchanged looks of confusion. “The tiara didn’t come from any of us,” Red insisted.
“But who else could have put it in the box?” asked Snow. Prince knew seven was her lucky number, but there was no way a boy would give a girl he hardly knew a costly gift like this. So who had given it to her?
“Check inside of it to see if it’s engraved,” Rapunzel suggested.
Snow did. “There is something written here.” She squinted at the tiny lettering. “Seven Dwarves Jewelers,” she read aloud.
“Never heard of it,” said Red. None of the other girls knew of a jewelry store by that name in all of Grimmlandia, either.
It crossed Snow’s mind that her stepmom could have planted the gift somehow. And remembering the blue shoelaces and the opal brush, she was tempted to toss the tiara away regardless of how beautiful it was.
“Look — here’s something I missed. It must have fallen out of the box when I opened it.” Snow’s new gown made a crinkling sound as she bent over to pick up a small vellum card that had fallen to the floor. She read the words on the card aloud:
“Riding on high,
I trick the eye.
If you wish to fool,
Press my center jewel.
Where once was something,
will appear nothing.”
“It’s a riddle!” Snow exclaimed.
“Maybe the library gooseknob sent it,” joked Rapunzel.
Snow giggled. But then a new idea struck her as she recalled that Red’s magic basket and Cinda’s glass slippers had been accompanied by riddles, too. She looked at her three BFFs. “Do you suppose this tiara could be my —”
“ — magic charm?” Red finished excitedly.
“Oh my gosh, yes!” said Cinda, clapping her hands together.
“It’s got to be!” echoed Rapunzel.
Snow stared at the tiara with fresh wonder, hardly able to believe it. Her very own magic charm! Though she still missed her lucky clover necklace, a magic charm seemed as good or even better than all of her lucky charms put together!
“‘Riding on high, I trick the eye,’” she repeated. Slowly, she lifted the tiara and placed it on top of her head. “‘If you wish to fool, press my center jewel.’” Reaching up, she pressed her finger against the largest cloverlike cluster of jewels.
Instantly, looks of alarm came into her three friends’ eyes. Cinda’s hands flew to her mouth. “She’s gone!” she exclaimed.
“Can you hear me, Snow?” Red called out.
“Come back!” pleaded Rapunzel.
Quickly, Snow removed the tiara. “I was here all along,” she assured them.
“But what just happened?” said Red.
A grin spread over Cinda’s face. She repeated the second half of the riddle. “‘Where once was something, now appears nothing.’ Get it?”
Red’s jaw dropped. “Your magic charm made you invisible!”
Rapunzel laughed in delight.
Snow put the tiara on top of her head again, only this time she didn’t press on the jewel. “Am I still here?” she asked. Since she’d still been able to see herself even when she’d appeared invisible to her friends, she wasn’t sure.
They nodded. “And you look grimmsolutely stunning in that gown and tiara!” added Red.
“That’s for sure,” said Rapunzel.
Cinda reached for the hand mirror, which lay on top of the bedside table, handing it to Snow. “Here,” she said. “You can see for yourself.”
“Well, well, well,” said the talking mirror, whose ghostly image appeared as soon as Snow held the mirror up to her face. “This is an improvement! Looks like I underestimated those busy-bee dwarves. They came through for you again.”
“Did you say dwarves or scarves?” Snow asked in confusion. She sat down on the edge of her bed, and her friends gathered around to stare at the mirror.
“Scarves? What are you talking about? I’m talking about the dwarves in your schoolbag,” it explained. “They said they came from your handbook.”
Snow’s eyes widened as realization dawned. “I forgot to press the illustration in my Handbook to put them back inside their bubble after they helped me in History class on Wednesday! I guess they’ve been hanging out inside my bag and Handbook since then.”
“Yes, and they’ve taken quite a shine to you,” chuckled the mirror. “Shine. Ha! Ha! Get it?”
“Uh-huh, go on,” said Snow.
“Didn’t you notice them trying to be helpful? Handing you things every time you opened your bag?”
Snow thought about how things had seemed to jump into her hands each time she reached into her bag lately. And how she’d seen the bag wiggle or heard it make weird sounds. And there were the times she’d imagined she’d seen little hands waving to her, and a bearded face. Only it wasn’t her imagination after all, it seemed! “Well, now that you mention it —”
“They stitched that tapestry thing, too,” interrupted the talking mirror. “Kept me awake night and day with threads going every which-a-way.”
“The mapestry?” said Snow. “But until the enchantress made it visible, they wouldn’t have been able to see the threads because — Oh, wait,” she said, interrupting herself. “The directions that came with the invisible twill said that it would be visible to only the stitcher — or magical helpers in his or her employ.”
“Ah! And since the dwarves were helping you, they were ‘in your employ,’” Rapunzel concluded.
“Well, that explains why I couldn’t remember sewing certain parts of the mapestry,” Snow said. She looked sheepishly at her friends. “I thought maybe I’d been working on it in my sleep.”
“Those dwarves have assigned themselves the task of watching over you,” the talking mirror told her. “Wish I’d been in the bag to see how they finagled you that magic charm.”
Snow’s eyes lit up. “I need to thank them!”
Cinda reached onto the table again and handed over her blue bag. Snow opened it and peered inside. “Where are you, little dwarves?” she called out. Silence.
“Now that their work is done, they’ll have gone back to your handbook to rest,” said the mirror. “But if you ever need their help again —”
“I’ll just open my handbook and call them out,” Snow finished. “Thanks, guys,” she called down into her bag. “For everything!” She wasn’t quite sure, but she thought she heard some little voices call back, “You’re welcome!”
By now, music from the Great Hall had begun to drift into the inf
irmary, which meant that the ball was starting. It was time for the girls to leave. After lots of hugs and good wishes for a swift recovery, Snow’s friends said their farewells and dashed off in a whirl of silk and satin.
After they’d gone, Snow lay back on her bed with the tiara in her lap and closed her eyes, thinking. Wolfgang’s failed attempt to infiltrate E.V.I.L. was a real blow. Getting information about the group’s future plans was essential, and someone inside the Society at its meetings would be best placed to get that information. But if not Wolfgang, then … who?
Words that Ms. Wicked had spoken to her last night floated into her mind: “One day, I’m hoping that you’ll come round to seeing things my way.” Her eyes flew open. Did she dare do what she was thinking of doing? Snow got goosebumps at the very thought. She wanted nothing more to do with her stepmom. Not ever! Yet who knew better than she how Ms. Wicked’s mind worked?
No one, that’s who! And with a little drama coaching from Red she might just pull off an act convincing enough to make her stepmom believe that she’d come round to seeing things her way after all. And if she got into the Society …
Snow sat up straighter. Did she really have the courage for this? Her glance fell on the jeweled tiara in her lap. Grandmother Enchantress had once told the Grimm girls that magical charms only came to those of good heart. Though the dwarves had had a hand in getting Snow hers, she still must have been judged worthy. So maybe she needed to start believing in herself, too. For surely a good heart was also a courageous heart! She only wished there was something she could do right this moment to help save the Academy, though.
Just then, from the corner of her eye, Snow saw a stick fly in through the infirmary window. Her head whipped around in surprise and she gasped. For it wasn’t a stick after all. It was the Pied Piper’s pipe!
By now, the renegade pipe had a string of seven items dancing along behind it. The chess piece, the ruby ring, the spoon and silver dish, a necktie, an umbrella, and a fancy vase. Probably enough stuff to do a lot of damage to the protection surrounding Grimmlandia if they all escaped over the wall into the Nothingterror. Usually seven was Snow’s lucky number, but this situation didn’t seem lucky at all!
