Switched

by Jen Calonita

  “I’ve got to help a girl fill out a book request sheet,” I hear Helga croak. “Otherwise I would be happy to help shelve more books.” Helga is coming back.

  My heart starts to beat faster, and my palms begin to sweat as that familiar feeling of thieving comes over me. It feels like that brief high I’d get when I pinched something I needed and no one saw. I stare at the book again. I could read it tonight and bring it back tomorrow. If it’s not in the library catalog, no one will even notice it’s missing. I glance quickly around the library. There’s no sign of Beauty or other fairy librarians. I reach out slowly and touch the book jacket. If the book is alarmed, it will probably yell at me or spring to life. Nothing happens, so I test the waters further by throwing open the book flap. I jump back and waiting for a ghostly Stiltskin to pop out and yell at me. Nothing happens.

  I give the surrounding area one last glance, then grab the book and drop it into my book bag, which I quickly tie together and sling onto my back. Then I hurry to the door.

  “Gilly?” I stop short and turn around.

  It’s Beauty. “Did you find everything you need already?”

  “Yes, I did. Thanks!” A flash of lightning makes me jump. With that, I rush to the library exit. An alarm doesn’t go off.

  This is meant to be. I can feel it. The Rumpelstiltskin clues I need are finally within my reach.

  CHAPTER 10

  Read No Evil

  I spend the majority of the afternoon alone in my room with Wilson, Peaches, and the book, which is still in my bag. I need to get it back to the library before anyone knows it’s missing. But if Helga realized it was gone, she would have come calling for it by now. I think.

  Our dorm mirror, which Maxine bedazzled with jewels she’s found (not stolen, I hope), starts to glow yellow, then blue.

  “Good afternoon, Fairy Tale Reform School!” Flora’s voice booms over the magical loudspeaker system. “Due to the weather, the magic carpet racing scrimmage has been canceled for today.” Groans can be heard throughout the girls’ dorms. “Dinner will be served at five o’clock in the cafeteria where we are testing out several recipes for Monday’s welcome tea for our new teachers. Please vote on your favorite dessert: Happily Brownie After Sundae or Tale as Old as Tapioca Pudding. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, and remember: ‘Be good’ is not a saying. It’s a way of life!”

  I stare at my book bag again. Open the book, a voice inside me seems to shout.

  Quack!

  Peaches waddles over as if she hears my thoughts. Winston crawls from my desk to my bed and plops down on my right kneecap. They’re both staring at me suspiciously, and I didn’t even take the book out of my bag yet.

  “Are you guys hungry?” I reach into my desk drawer and pull out some cheese for Winston and a quill for Peaches. She loves chomping on those. But neither of them move. Winston squeaks madly at Peaches, and Peaches quacks at Winston. Then she starts to cough.

  “What did you eat now?” I cry, jumping up to find the ELF Cleaning Spray.

  Peaches coughs up something small and gold. “It’s Jack’s mirror! And in one piece.” I pick it up. “When did you eat this again?” Peaches quacks madly and tries to steal the mirror back. I put it up high on my dresser and grab my book bag. The last thing I need is Peaches getting vindictive and eating the library book next. I sit down on my bed again and take the book out of the bag, preparing to open the first page.

  Winston jumps on the book, and Peaches starts snapping at my fingers. Then she starts to cough again. I do not want the duck throwing up on the book!

  “Guys, quit it, or you’re going back in the Magical Fairy Pets cages!” That makes them quiet. “I didn’t steal the book,” I add, guilt taking over me. “I borrowed it. And since it’s here, I might as well read it, right?” I turn to the first page and read the inscription:

  The reader embarks on this history of Rumpelstiltskin at his or her own risk.

  What does that mean?

  I turn the page again, and my dorm room door bursts open.

  “Gilly, want to have dinner with us?” Kayla asks cheerfully. “Mother is making fairy cakes, and her blueberry one tastes more like dessert than dinner, so I thought you’d like—Oh!” She spots the book, sees the name Rumpelstiltskin written in big, black letters, and begins to stutter. “Wh-where did you get that? Why do you have that? What are you doing?”

  I try to hide the book, but Peaches nips me again and Winston starts chittering. “I borrowed it from the library.”

  Kayla’s brow furrows. “Borrowed or stole?”

  We stare at each other for a moment. “Kind of both,” I say meekly.

  Kayla’s wings pop out of her back. “What if that book comes alive?” she says, panicking. “What if Rumpelstiltskin shows up in this room? What if…what if…the book is evil?” Her amber eyes widen.

  I jump up and cover her mouth before Miri hears her. “I won’t let it do anything evil. Anna is in danger. I just need to figure out where she is so Jack and I can rescue her.”

  Kayla cocks her head. “Do you mean Jack or Jax?”

  “Jack.” I look away. “Jax and I aren’t talking.”

  “And now you and Jack are teaming up?” Kayla asks. “Why? You barely know him.”

  “He’s seen Anna.” Kayla’s mouth opens slightly. “Back when Stiltskin took his mom. He said she’s disenchanted with Stiltskin. Just like I hoped she’d become! Between what Jack’s seen and what I can find out in this book, maybe we have a chance of getting our families back and convincing all the other kids to leave him too.”

  “So you thought you could figure this out with a book you’re not even allowed to take out?” she asks.

  I look away again.

  “And you were going to do all this without your friends’ help? Gilly, come on! You aren’t thinking straight! Don’t be foolish. This book could be full of lies. Do you even know who wrote it? A villain or a fairy? Or a royal? That changes everything. You heard what Beauty said in our library class—if you can’t trust the author of the book, you have to wonder whether you can trust the content inside it.”

  “I’ll be careful,” I promise. “I haven’t even gotten past the first page yet.”

  “You’re not listening to me.” Kayla is growing impatient. “If the book appeared when you needed it and allowed itself to leave the library, then it wanted to leave the library!”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask. Kayla isn’t making any sense.

  She puts one delicate hand on her right hip. “Didn’t you pay attention in class? Beauty said villain books can’t leave the library without permission because they try to control their reader by feeding them false information. Only a fairy is strong enough to withstand such impulses—most of the time. It’s why fairies protect villain books in the first place. If this book showed itself to you when you went looking for it, it can’t be trusted.”

  “Then this must not be an actual villain book, because I’m not a fairy and it let me pick it up,” I counter. “And besides, a book doesn’t have feelings.” I pat the book, and it starts to glow. Peaches quacks frantically. I frown. “It wasn’t glowing like that before.”

  Kayla’s eyes narrow. “See?” She begins backing away from the book. “Don’t open that book! It looks familiar to me. I’m not sure why, but you shouldn’t open it. You have to tell the teachers what happened.”

  I huff. “You’re being ridiculous! Maybe this book trusts me to do the right thing, and that’s why it showed itself when I needed it to. Maybe it knows Jack and I are the ones meant to find Rumpelstiltskin.”

  Kayla crosses her arms. “Rumpelstiltskin has been around a long time. Don’t you think if it only took two kids to stop him, someone would have already? Trust us. We—your friends, teachers, family—want to help Anna. You just have to give us time to figure out what to do.”

 
; “Everyone keeps saying that, but no one is doing anything!” I feel suddenly desperate. “If Anna has decided to be good again, then I have to get to her before she changes her mind.” I look at the book again. “I’m opening it.”

  “Don’t!” Kayla whips out her training wand and tries to zap the book from me. “Let me show it to Mother first!” I hold it tighter as Kayla continues to spell me. Peaches and Winston are squawking madly, and I jump up and try to run out of the room so she can’t stop me. That’s when I trip. The book goes flying across the room, opening to a page in the middle of the book. Kayla gasps as the book’s narrator speaks in a smooth, feminine voice.

  Ten years before the Troll War, Rumpelstiltskin made an unlikely alliance with the one person he swore he’d never befriend: Alva of Elendale. Even though she had betrayed him more than once, Rumpelstiltskin and Alva made beautiful music together. It is said she was his one true love. Others said Alva used the trickster to do her dirty work in the fairy kingdom. The evil fairy and the deal maker created an unlikely alliance and worked tirelessly to find the ingredients needed to complete their biggest spell yet: one that would send them back to the past so they could change their futures.

  The book slams shut with a bang, and the glowing stops. The four of us—the fairy pets included—stare at the book on the floor in shock.

  “That voice sounded somewhat familiar.” Kayla makes a face. “And Alva dated Rumpelstiltskin? Eww.”

  “That’s what you got out of that?” I tap the book to see if it will zap me. I’m able to pick it up, no problem. “Beautiful music together—do you think that is why he’s looking for music? Hayley mentioned that in her Pegasus Post.”

  “Making beautiful music and actual music are two different things, aren’t they?” Kayla asks. “Didn’t her post also mention a book? What if he’s looking for this one?” Her face darkens. “And my mother was talking about a book too. You heard her the other night.”

  I feel a little queasy. “It can’t be the same book.” Can it? Is this the book Rumpelstiltskin is looking for? Or Kayla’s mother? Why did the book find me? “What do you think the book meant about finding a way to the past? People can’t revisit their past. Can they?”

  “I don’t think so. The book must be lying to you.” Kayla yanks the book from me. “I’m taking this to Mother. She’ll know what to do.”

  “No! You can’t! I’ll get in trouble.” I try to grab the book again, and Peaches starts choking.

  The duck opens her beak, and the mirror drops out again, clattering to the floor. It starts to glow, the glass on the mirror swirling like it does when Miri visits.

  “Hide the book,” I tell Kayla.

  Kayla holds the book behind her back, and we wait for Miri. Instead, the purple mist on the glass fades away, and a picture slowly comes into view. Kayla, Peaches, Wilson and I lean in for a closer look. People are working on some sort of assembly line. They’re kids! Kids I recognize!

  A girl with dark-brown hair lifts a heavy parcel and carries it to another boy, both of them stumbling slightly under the weight. The girl is crying. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I can see the boy yelling at the girl. Some of the other kids are crying too. The girl turns toward the mirror.

  “Oh my God! That’s Anna!” I pick up the mirror.

  “What’s she carrying?” Kayla asks as we watch the kids move large parcels that look like hay bales. The picture isn’t crystal clear, so it’s hard to tell. Two more kids start yelling at Anna now too. “Is that straw?”

  “I think so.” I look for clues as to where they are. I don’t see Jack’s mom, not that I know what she looks like, or a cow. All I see is the Stiltskin Squad and miles and miles of blue sky. The ground is a white, fluffy mist. Are they on a mountaintop?

  Suddenly, our view is blocked by a smaller kid. He’s got his back to us, but I notice his stringy hair, patterned jacket, and bright-green pants. He starts motioning wildly to Anna, and she bursts into tears and runs out of the frame. That’s when the kid turns around.

  He’s no kid.

  Rumpelstiltskin smiles cunningly, like he sees us. Then he waves his hand, and the mirror’s image fades to black.

  “No!” I shake the mirror. Anna was so close. So close!

  Kayla looks at me. “We are taking this book to Mother. Now.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Fairy Tales

  I follow Kayla through the castle, my breath coming fast. Jack was telling the truth. Anna is being bullied by Stiltskin! My instincts were right: Anna is miserable and wants to come home.

  We race past the pumpkin patch and the vegetable garden and beyond the magic carpet racetrack into a woodsy area close to the Hollow Woods. In the distance, I can see Prince Sebastian and Beauty’s castle. I don’t see a fairy hut anywhere.

  Kayla stops near a cluster of trees. “Ready?” she asks.

  I look around. “Ready for what? Where’s your house?” Instead of answering me, Kayla blows something glittery in my face. I start to cough as the scent of rosemary and lavender overwhelms me. My hands start to glow, moving from my fingers all the way to my feet. My body starts to tingle as the trees in front of me swirl like the mirror in my hands.

  Kayla grabs my arm, and then I’m falling, falling, falling. Suddenly, I stop. My hands aren’t tingling. I’m still holding the mirror. My arms aren’t glowing. Holy gingerbread! I stare up at the tree I was just standing next to. It looks about a hundred feet tall! So do the blades of grass that surround us! We are standing at the base of the tree trunk, and somehow I’m now…

  “Six inches tall,” Kayla says. “Cool, huh?”

  Even the book and the mirror have shrunk!

  Kayla knocks on the tree trunk, and a small door appears. “I didn’t tell you about the shrinking part because it freaks people out. You should have seen Headmistress Flora the first time she visited!” Kayla laughs. The door opens, and Kayla leads me inside a sitting area. “The secrecy is for our own protection after all that happened with You-Know-Who. Fairies can be full size or small, and for the time being, we’ve kept our house tiny. We save a lot on rent this way too. Mother?” Kayla calls. “I’m home! I brought Gilly.”

  Kayla leads me through the house, where I pass doors marked with signs that say Fairy Garden, Herb Room, and Flying Training Room. As we near the kitchen, I smell the blueberry fairy cake Kayla was talking about earlier. Kayla’s mom is floating around the kitchen as pots whisk themselves. I watch as she drops a handful of spices into a pot, and it bubbles over. Then her mom wands the pot, and the bubbling ceases. Sensing me, she turns around. Her eyes are the same amber shade as Kayla’s.

  “Gillian,” she says, pulling me in for an embrace. “I’m so glad you could join us for supper. How are you doing, dear?”

  “I’m fine,” I say in surprise. Kayla’s right—it’s as if her mother doesn’t remember me helping her out of the forest the other night at all. A mother would have mentioned that sort of thing. “Thank you for having me, Ms.…”

  “Please, call me Angelina.” She stands back and looks at me. “How are you holding up? Are you sleeping okay? Eating? Consumed with revenge?” I blink in surprise. “Kayla told me about your sister Anna joining the Stiltskin Squad. I can only imagine what you’re feeling—probably a lot like Kayla did without us. Not that I know or remember much.” She smiles. “But you will get through this test. That’s all it is, really. A test. We take many of them in life. Let’s get you fed, and we’ll talk all about it.”

  “Thank you,” I say, slightly embarrassed by the fuss. My mind is still on the book and what it could mean.

  “What’s wrong, dear?” Kayla’s mom can read me well. Fairies usually do. “Did your shrinking spell go okay?” She touches my ears. “Sometimes the ears get misshapen during the shrinking process, and you wind up with ears that look like mine.” She motions to her pointy lobes. “But yours
look fine! They could use some earrings to liven up this dull uniform though.” She studies my face for a second. “How do you feel about silver half-moons?”

  “Mother,” Kayla says impatiently. “There’s no time for ear piercing.” She motions for me to take the book out. I place it on the table. “When I got to Gilly’s room, she was reading this. Do you recognize this book? Is it the one you keep talking about? It looks sort of familiar to me.”

  Kayla’s mom’s smile vanishes.

  Immediately, her shoulders droop, and the wooden spoon in her left hand clatters to the floor. It’s like she’ll do anything to get away from us. She looks wildly for an exit, then flattens herself like a gingerbread man against the closed kitchen door. She seems unable to even speak, let alone scream. Then she starts to convulse. Kayla and I look at each other in alarm.

  “Mother!” Kayla cries. “Gilly, get the book out of her sight.”

  I try to grab it but feel a zap. The book is refusing to move again. Instead, its pages flutter open, whipping by at light speed even as the book whispers words and phrases I don’t understand.

  Kayla’s mom is near tears as she continues to shake violently. Kayla and I try everything to get the book to stop, but no matter what we do, the book vanquishes the distractions.

  Finally, Kayla’s mom grabs her own wand from the counter and points it at the book. Her arm is shaking, but her voice is clear. “Finireto!” she shouts, and the book closes. The glowing ceases, the voices stop, and the book becomes just a book once more. Kayla scoops it up and tosses it through the doorway into the living room. Her mom sinks to the kitchen floor, mumbling the same thing over and over.

  “I remember! He knew, he knew! I remember!” she repeats again and again.