by Joan Holub
She dropped down beside him and tried to pull the stakes out. When that proved impossible, she did the only thing she could think of. “Shape-shift!” she urged him. He looked at her uncertainly.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he told her.
“You won’t, I promise. Do it!” she insisted. It was a lie, of course. She was terrified of dragons!
Within seconds, Dragonbreath did as she asked. His body turned green and scaly and began to grow into dragon shape. Ping! Ping! One by one, the shards pinning him popped from the ice like corks from bottles. After they flew into the air, they clattered to the ice floor. Snowflake gathered them and replaced them in the mirror puzzle.
When next she dared peek, Dragonbreath’s tail had unfurled to a dozen feet long. His dragon body was covered with green scales.
“Frost-awesome!” enthused Jack Frost upon seeing him shift into a powerful monster again. When she scowled at him, he ducked his head and muttered, “Or maybe not?”
The Beasts and Dastardlies in the mirror cackled with laughter. The sound echoed throughout the room, causing Snowflake to tremble. She glanced at the dragon warily. With its red eyes, it looked nothing like the boy she knew. Why didn’t Dragonbreath shape-shift back to boy-size now that he was free? What if, in his dragon form, he’d forgotten all about her and his quest to save the realm from evil? What if he’d forgotten he was good?
Backing away now, she called to Jack Frost. “Please, please fly up and try to rescue my wand from that mirror holding it captive.”
Jack flipped his muffler around his neck and crossed his little arms. “This time I want to know what’s in it for me.”
Without thinking, she said, “Helping good triumph over evil?”
“Why would I want that?” Jack asked in surprise. “No, I want a reward.”
“Okay. I’ll think of some way to reward you later,” she promised. “Wand’s honor.”
The sprite sighed. “Oh, all right.” He headed for the mirror. When he was only inches away from it, he reached out a hand to grasp the wand. “Ow!” From out of nowhere, a shiny, tiny shard struck him.
Forgetting all about retrieving her wand, his lips curled into a sneer and he began circling the room high overhead. “Those Grimm brothers thought they were so smart, collecting their tales. Well, what about me?” he groused loudly. “They couldn’t include me in even one single story?”
As he circled the room thinking darker and darker negative thoughts, he worked himself up into such a fury that he began to bounce off the walls. Boink! “I’ll get my revenge, though. One day, I’ll rule the entire realm of Grimmlandia!” Boink! “Soon, it’ll be payback time, Grimm dudes!” Boink! Boink!
This was a troubling development. The shards must be more potent in this mirrored room than they were elsewhere. If Jack could be struck and affected in here, maybe she could, too. And Dragonbreath. Snowflake looked around warily. They needed to get out of here, fast.
“Hey, Dragonbreath!” she called. But the enormous dragon just stood there on the icy floor. It was so still that for a moment she wondered if she’d somehow accidentally “chilled” it. But then she saw its tail twitch and its eyes swivel to watch Jack’s fuming antics. What was it thinking?
All the room’s mirrors followed the dragon’s gaze and turned themselves toward Jack too. While they were distracted, the dragon quickly reached up to the high mirror that had trapped her wand. With the flick of one clawed, scaly green finger, the wand was wrested free from the mirror’s surface. Wasting no time, Snowflake’s charm flew straight to her and settled into her hand. So that’s what Dragonbreath had been doing — trying to divert the mirrors’ attention away from her wand!
“Change back, so we can make a plan,” she called to him. No answer. He must not be able to respond to her while in his dragon form. And now there was new trouble brewing.
The mirrors in the room were angry. Deciding Dragonbreath was more powerful than she, they faced off against him. They flew off the walls and surrounded the dragon. As if under a spell — and perhaps Dragonbreath was? — he made no attempt to defend himself.
As much as Snowflake might want his help, it looked like everything was up to her now. She needed a plan to foil that mirror army. And fast!
Her fingers curled tightly around her wand. “If you’re truly a good magic charm, you’ll protect us,” she told it. Quickly, she waved it over Ms. Wicked’s broken mirror and said a rhyming command to call back the missing shards.
“Fly to me, shards,
From far and near.
Land on this mirror
And fit yourselves here!”
There was a wild, whooshing sound. Within seconds, shards began zooming through the windows into the room. Joining together, they whirled in a tornado shape like the one she’d seen in the principal’s office earlier that week. One by one, they dropped lower and fitted themselves neatly into the golden frame.
But when this formerly-wicked mirror was remade, would it turn out to be an evil one, a good one, or something in-between?
While the shards kept coming, Dragonbreath — still in dragon form — continued to stand, twitching his tail slowly back and forth. The floating mirrors crowded closer and closer to him, an evil army about to attack. He was outnumbered! Still, he was a powerful dragon. He must be holding off for fear that she and Kai, and maybe Jack, too, would be harmed if there was a battle.
Knowing she had to act, Snowflake instructed her wand to watch over her bunny. Then she took a fortifying breath to prepare her for what she was about to do next.
“Yoo-hoo! Look out, you Dastardlies,” she called. She picked up a chunk of ice and hurled it at the closest mirror. In a flash, the mirror angled toward her, repelled the ice chunk, and sent it hurtling back toward her!
Whoa! She ducked just in time to avoid being struck and the chunk smashed into the ice floor behind her. Crack! A rift in the floor opened so suddenly that she had to windmill her arms to keep from falling backward into the freezing cold river that flowed beneath the ice. “Help!” she cried out. At the last minute, she regained her feet. Phew!
A change had come over the dragon at her cry. Now it gave a tremendous roar that rocked the room, making the mirrors sway and almost causing her to accidentally topple backward again.
Roarr! Zzzt! A great blast of fire shot from the dragon’s snout. Fire slammed into the mirror Snowflake had been aiming for and a half-dozen others nearby. They melted!
“Way to go!” she cheered. She was so relieved she almost forgot all about her fear of fire.
Her words seemed to encourage the dragon, and it trained its fiery breath on another group of mirrors. Roarr! Zzzt! Roarr! Zzzt! More mirrors melted.
But then Snowflake noticed something worrisome. The mirrors weren’t the only things melting around here. Under the heat of his flames, the floor was melting, too. There were great cracks all around her now in addition to the one she’d almost fallen into. Cracks that were getting wider by the second. Some were even traveling far across this room and beyond.
Although she wasn’t much good at architectural structure yet, she did know that without a sturdy floor, the castle would eventually crash in upon itself. Her stomach clenched with fear. They had to best these Dastardly mirrors and get out of here. And fast, or they’d soon be cast into the river below! Though she could swim, she knew for a fact that dragons could not. And even if Kai could swim, the river might prove too wide, deep, and cold for him.
Zzzt! Roarrr! The dragon melted the final mirror just as the last shard fit itself into the frame on the floor. Immediately, as if it were the mirrors’ magic that had prevented him from transforming into a boy again, Dragonbreath shifted back to a prince.
“Let’s skedaddle!” Snowflake grabbed her wand and Kai. Dragonbreath grabbed the gold-framed mirror puzzle and leaped to safety just in time to keep from falling into one of the ever-widening cracks in the floor.
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But the melted mirror lumps weren’t so lucky. They slid through the cracks and sank into the river. Glub, glub, glub!
Snowflake and Dragonbreath raced for the castle exit. All around them, the castle began to break apart as the cracks in its floor widened and lengthened. There were way too many now to repair.
The two friends ran on, winding their way outward from the center of the collapsing castle. Soon, they met Rapunzel and then Snow White. Both girls looked dazed, but the evil spells on them had lifted now that all the shards had returned to the broken mirror, and they gleefully joined Snowflake and Dragonbreath to dash the rest of the way out of the castle.
At last, the four of them emerged onto the skating rink. And just in time.
CRUNCH! CRASH! Behind them, the castle fell into ruin. Snowflake hugged Kai in her arms, grateful they were safe. “You okay?” she murmured to him. As if in answer, the bunny nudged her hand, seeking a pat. She smiled and obliged.
There were dozens more students still outside on Ice Island. They wore concerned and surprised expressions as they gathered around the foursome, asking all sorts of questions. Snowflake quickly explained how shards from Ms. Wicked’s magical splintered mirror had been the cause of so many of them becoming argumentative. When Dragonbreath tried to give Snowflake all the credit for saving the day, she explained that it was he who had melted the mirrors.
Cheers went up. “Hooray for Dragonbreath and Snowflake! Fire and ice saved the day!”
Snowflake checked the eyes of those around her. None were glazed. The shard spell had truly lifted from one and all. And that was something to cheer about!
As some of the students began leaving the island to row back to the Academy, Dragonbreath turned to Snowflake. “Did I scare you?” he asked her, nodding toward the castle. “All that firepower, I mean.”
She shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I was so determined to beat those mirrors that I kind of forgot to be scared.”
He laughed. “Good.” He glanced over at her castle. It was now unrecognizable, a great jumble of partially melted blocks. “I’m sorry about your castle,” he said, his voice taking on a serious tone again.
“It’s okay. I’ll rebuild it even better,” she assured him. Then she grinned. “And maybe you can help? Turns out dragon fire is not only great at carving out windows and doors, it can also melt and reshape ice.” At this, Dragonbreath’s green eyes sparkled happily. He really was cute, Snowflake decided. And more important, he was nice.
“You got it,” he replied. “So, we’re friends?”
She smiled up at him. “Friends,” she agreed softly.
“Hey, does anyone else hear a squeaking noise?” Prince Foulsmell asked, looking around at the dozen remaining students. They all stopped talking to listen.
“It’s coming from there,” Prince Awesome called, pointing to a beach ball–size lump of ice on the ground near the castle. They all went over to check out the lump.
“It’s Jack Frost!” exclaimed Snowflake. “He’s trapped inside the ice!”
“I can’t melt the ice around him,” said Dragonbreath, shaking his head. “I might accidentally fry him.”
“Listen, I think he’s trying to tell us something,” said Snow White.
They all leaned closer to the lump of ice. “Other side,” Jack Frost croaked. Misunderstanding, the group moved to the other side of the ice lump.
“No!” Jack squeaked in frustration. Somehow, he managed to turn his gaze to Snowflake’s wand. “Other side,” he repeated.
She looked at her snowflake wand in confusion. But doing what he seemed to be asking, she turned the stem in her hand and flipped the wand over. She saw at once that its reverse side had changed. Instead of a snowflake, it was now a sun! After she showed it to the other students, she touched the sunny side of the wand to the ice lump. And the ice encasing Jack magically defrosted!
“Well, it’s about time!” groused the sprite, leaping out. Without a single word of thanks to Snowflake for freeing him, he shot high in the air and whizzed out of sight.
She wondered where he was off to or whether she’d ever see him again. She really hoped he’d given up on the idea of becoming her sidekick at least!
Soon, the remaining students headed for the swan boats. Snowflake climbed into a six-seater. Rose, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, and Mary Mary got in with her.
On the way back to the Academy, Snowflake suddenly blurted, “I’ve already told Rapunzel about this, but the rest of you should know that I’ve discovered what tale I’m from.” She took a deep breath, and then admitted, “I’m the evil Snow Queen.” To her surprise, no one chucked her out of the boat!
“Yeah, we all know that already,” Mary Mary informed her. “Lots of people overheard you say it in the library before they came out to the island and … well … word gets around, you know?”
“For a while, some people thought I was evil,” Rose put in, as if trying to reassure Snowflake. “My fairy tale got rewritten to make me look bad. But once Ms. Wicked escaped through her mirror, my tale rewrote itself back to its original state and proved I wasn’t evil after all.”
“I don’t think my tale is going to rewrite itself,” Snowflake told her sadly. “I think I might actually have a bad side. When I get upset, my feelings kind of spiral out of control.”
“So?” said Rapunzel, dipping an oar in the river. “Everyone loses their temper once in a while.”
“I know,” said Snowflake. “But when I lose mine, bad things happen.” She explained to them about the albino bees and about chilling people and animals into statues. “The only time I feel like I’m really in control of my powers is when I’m holding this,” she said, touching the wand that lay next to Kai in her lap.
“You know, I think charms are meant to help us harness the magic already within us,” Cinderella told her. “I’ve always been a terrible dancer, but now my glass slippers help me boogie down. I found that out at Prince Awesome’s ball my first week at GA. Still, I think that somewhere inside I already had the ability to dance. It took my charm to bring that ability out.”
“And I used to be afraid of heights — still am, really — without my charm.” Rapunzel pulled her magical comb from her pocket. It was a deep, rich, polished black, and its spine was carved with fanciful wild plants. “The longer I have it, the less afraid I feel. I think it may actually be helping me get over my fears.”
“Yeah, my basket gave me the confidence to act onstage,” said Red Riding Hood as she paddled. “Well, that and some tricks Wolfgang taught me for overcoming stage fright.”
“So you really think my magic charm might help me control my temper and keep me from becoming evil?” Snowflake asked, feeling hopeful.
All five girls nodded. “I say evil is as evil does,” said Rapunzel.
“Exactly,” Mary Mary said. She looked at Snowflake. “You may have the power to do evil, but you try to use your powers — both the icy kind and the melty kind — for good.”
“She’s right. Truly evil people don’t break evil spells and take care of bunnies,” Rose added.
Snowflake picked up her wand and flipped it from side to side. Snowflake. Sun. Snowflake. Sun. Two sides to her nature, perhaps? The important thing was to not let her upsetting emotions or bad temper overshadow her sunny side. It was food for thought, at any rate.
Once they arrived at the Academy, the girls went to the office to tell the principal all that had happened. Principal R was glad all was well, but bemoaned the loss of Jack Frost. “Now who’s going to spin the straw?” he wondered aloud.
Remembering what Jack Frost had revealed to her — that he’d only tricked the principal into thinking he needed help to spin gold, Snowflake made a suggestion. “I have a feeling that if you try to make some gold all by yourself again, you might find that you can.”
Principal R’s eyes lit up as if he sensed she knew something he didn’t. He sat and worked at the spindle to see what would happen. But nothing
did. “Bah! I told you I needed Jack’s help.” His cheeks reddened with frustration at his inability to produce any gold by himself.
“Try again … Principal Rumpelstiltskin!” Snowflake said, using his full name on purpose. Everyone gasped. But she just waited calmly for the inevitable temper fit to start. Sure enough, the principal flew into a tizzy on the spot. It did the trick! In a mad fever now, he fed the straw and stomped the pedal as the spindle whirled in a blur.
“Look! You did it!” said Ms. Jabberwocky, pointing at the pile of gold he’d created.
The principal’s anger drained away at the sight. He beamed, then asked, “But how?”
“You were actually the one who was spinning it into gold before,” Snowflake explained. “Jack Frost told me it was your anger that gave you the power. He just pretended to help.”
“Makes sense now that I think about it. Because I’m angry in my fairy tale, right?” said the principal.
“Yeah!” Ms. Jabberwocky laughed and let out a stream of fire. After being around much fiercer blasts from Dragonbreath, Snowflake didn’t even flinch!
A few minutes later, when the students filed out of the office, Snowflake wound up next to Mary Mary. They were the last to leave, and since no one else would hear, Snowflake used that moment to fess up. “I’ve been hiding out in the library,” she confided. “Sleeping there I mean.”
Mary Mary came to a halt outside the office doorway and looked back at her in surprise. “Why?”
“Because I thought you liked your alone space and didn’t really want to share a room with me,” Snowflake explained.
“Well, I do like to spend some time alone … but …” Mary Mary paused as if searching for just the right words.
“Yes?” prompted Snowflake.
“But not all the time,” Mary Mary admitted.
It was now or never, thought Snowflake. She would risk getting hurt feelings in order to find out the truth of the matter. “Well, does that mean you’re willing to give it try — the roomie thing, I mean?”
