Page 49 of Switched

He’s breaking her curse with the harp’s help. My help!

“Someone stop that spell!” I shout.

Jax and Jocelyn run at Stiltskin, but his squad members are one step ahead of us. They’re already shooting spells that send my friends flying backward. Maxine goes charging in next and is sent flying into a wall. Every time one of us comes at him, they zap us right back. I watch Kayla make her move. She flutters toward Rump with Ollie on her back. With Stiltskin’s eyes on them, I run at him at full force and knock the wand out of the troll’s hand. Someone bangs into the harp, and it crashes to the floor, breaking the connection to Alva. The room goes silent as the smoke and ash swirls around us.

We did it!

My eyes lock on Stiltskin, and a feeling of triumph comes over me. “Your plan failed.”

“Did it?” Rumpelstiltskin’s smile is pure evil as he reveals a mouth of gold teeth. He starts to laugh uncontrollably, showing off his hairy chin. The sound of his laughter is so high pitched and unnatural that it makes the hair on my arms stand up. Stiltskin Squad members join in on the laughter. “You foolish little girl. My plan didn’t fail.” His eyes narrow at me. “Yours did!”

I glance quickly at Alva’s statue and realize it’s no longer there.

I inhale sharply. In its place, a dark-haired woman is lying on the floor, her silky, black wings covering her like a cape. The Wicked Fairy is free.

I look at Rumpelstiltskin in horror and feel a spell hit me in the chest. The room around me swirls, then fades to black.

CHAPTER 17

The Battle between the Light and the Dark

The sound of my name brings me back to consciousness. “Gilly? Gilly, are you okay?” Someone is leaning over me—Anna? As the face comes into focus, I realize it’s AG. I try to sit up, but I don’t have the use of my hands. They’re bound by invisible restraints, the same ones that now burn into AG’s wrists. The fear on her face is easy to read. We’re trapped.

I glance around the room to get a handle on the situation. The kids we just rescued are being wrangled together and tied with magical restraints. Squad members are placing the broken pieces of the harp in a large tin box while others attend to Alva, who is still lying motionless on the floor. One girl leans down and presses her ear to her chest.

“She’s breathing!” says the girl.

“You may have reversed Alva’s curse, but the harp is broken,” I yell to Rump. “You’ll never be able to enact your curse now.”

“Oh, Gillian, you simple girl.” Rumpelstiltskin looks like an old man as he dusts himself off and fixes the collar of his gold shirt. His beady eyes are as dark as ever. “Who said the harp needed to be in one piece in order to work its magic?” I freeze.

“All we needed was for someone pure of heart to make it play, and that someone was you!” Rumpelstiltskin explains, laughing harder. “My love for Alva may be strong, but it’s tied up in our mutual desire to control Enchantasia. That’s way too evil for the harp. That’s where you came in!” He folds his hands across his wide belly. “We knew you wanted your poor, unfortunate sister back so you could save her from a life of villainy.” His voice is mocking. “We just needed someone on the inside at FTRS to plant the seed that she was unhappy. And you came running!” He dances around the room. “What fun it’s been watching you fall for every little trick we’ve planted!”

Someone on the inside? I don’t understand. And then it dawns on me. I look at Jack. “You tricked me.” He looks down. “I trusted you, defended you to my friends. I followed your lead.” I feel like such a fool. “And the whole time, you’ve been working with him?”

“Yes,” Jack says bluntly. “Look, I’m sorry, but I made a deal. Get you to come up here to play the harp in exchange for my mum and my cow back. I had no choice. It was just business.”

“Business? You betrayed Enchantasia!” I shout, struggling against my binds.

“You seem nice enough,” Jack tells me, and my mouth runs dry. “But it was your family or mine.” He looks at Stiltskin. “Now it’s time to uphold your end of the bargain.”

“Bring out Mr. Spriggins’s mum and cow,” Stiltskin tells Gretel.

Gretel opens the door to the atrium. Jack’s mum is in tears when she sees him. She runs to Jack, and they embrace.

“Now place them all together, like he wanted,” Rump says. “The dungeon will suffice.”

“The dungeon?” Jack spins around. “You said I’d get my mum and cow back!”

“And you have, haven’t you? It’s not my fault you never said where you wanted to end up with them. So the three of you will stay here and help me now.”

Jack struggles as Gretel ties them all together. “You lied! We had a deal.” Gretel pushes the three of them over to our hostage area. “We had a deal!”

“You should have made a smarter one!” Stiltskin sneers, then looks at me again. “I have the harp thanks to you too. And now we can finally start putting our plan into action.”

Rump thinks he’s won, but he hasn’t. “You won’t get away with this. I’ve stopped you once. I’ll do it again. I’ve already saved Anna. I can still save the harp too.”

“Have you really saved Anna?” Rumpelstiltskin thinks for a moment. “Or did she never need saving?”