Page 53 of The Broken Mirror
“Right. Just for the enchantment,” Jack says, looking at his feet.
Filomena closes her eyes.
But just as Jack leans in to kiss her, Gretel, Alistair, Byron, and Beatrice yelp from behind the trees and run out. Jack and Filomena pull away in surprise, confused. Disoriented, they see the glass coffin is popped open and Rosie is bent over, hugging her mom and kissing her cheeks.
And then Colette, unbelievably, sits up and starts rubbing her eyes.
True love’s kiss.
A kiss from Rose Red to Snow White.
Filomena is spinning from how many feelings she’s feeling right now. Elated—Jack almost kissed her! Wanted to kiss her? Wants to still? Disappointed—because he didn’t kiss her. Relieved and excited—Colette is awake! And still, amid all this excitement, she feels a deep cut of sadness at seeing Rosie and her mom together, hugging and crying tears of joy. Filomena can’t help but think of her own mother, who she suddenly wishes she was hugging right now.
After a few minutes of collective disbelief and celebration, they all decide to give Rosie and Colette a moment alone. Jack and Alistair instinctually walk a few paces away to talk, and Gretel grabs Filomena by the arm and yanks her a couple of steps in the other direction.
“Oh. My. God,” she says.
“I know!” Filomena squeals.
“You just almost kissed Jack the Giant Stalker!”
“Iknow!”
“But you didn’t.”
“Iknow.”
“Wait, would that have been your first kiss?” Gretel asks. Her eyes are all excited.
Filomena nods sheepishly.
“So let me get this straight. You just almost had your first kiss with your best friend and huge crush to break an enchantment for Snow White? Fairies, will we ever be normal?!”
They grab each other’s hands and giggle.
“So what now?” Gretel goes on. “Do you think you guys will kiss later? Now that it’ssoooobvious you like each other?”
Filomena’s suddenly panicked. Whatdoesthis mean? What does this mean for them now?! Do they kiss later? Do they pretend this never happened? They were going to kiss, but it was for the purpose of their quest. Will they actually kiss just because they want to? Will they date? How do you date in Never After? Oh my fairies!
“Oh no, you’re panicking, aren’t you?” Gretel says, putting her hand on Filomena’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be totally chill.” But she doesn’t look sure of that at all.
“What do I do, Gretel? Do I try to kiss him sometime? But when? In between rescuing a fairy and fighting an ogre?!” Filomena’s voice is reaching a fever pitch.
“Breathe,” Gretel says. “Just breathe. Everything will happen naturally, all right? We’ll figure this out. Plus Alistair and I will always be there as buffers.”
Filomena nods, and they don’t have time to say anything else before Rosie calls them over.
They all gather around Colette, who’s still sitting in the glass coffin. She’s smiling the warmest, most brilliant smile. She’s beautiful.
“Thank you for breaking my curse, lovely heroes.”
They all bow to her.
“As you may know,” Colette continues, “I was cursed by Queen Christina. She has a horrible sort of magic. The kind that can’t perform any real transformation, can’t bring anything beautiful into the world. It can only mimic transformation, make thingsappeardifferently than they are. That’s why her curses can always be reversed. She’s more of a trickster than anything. But still, she can do damage.”
They all nod.
“Queen Christina cursed me because she was afraid of my presence in Snow Country,” Colette continues. “Rose Red told me that in your mortal world, Filomena, I was cursed because of my beauty. Isn’t that right?”
