Page 54 of The Broken Mirror
Filomena nods. Colette (or should they call her Snow White?) laughs.
“The mortal world. So obsessed with beauty. It was because I’m a great warrior that she cursed me, not because she’s jealous of how I look! How ridiculous. Anyway, I have something I need to tell you all, so please listen carefully.”
The seven gather close around the glass coffin.
“I know you think things look bleak for Never After.Almost all the fairies have died, many beings have retreated, many others live in fear. It is a dire time. But there is hope. There is still hope.”
Filomena nods. “The League of Seven, right?” she asks.
“Yes, exactly,” Colette responds.
“But we can’t find them, Colette,” Filomena continues. “We’ve been searching for them, and we don’t know where they are! Do you know where they are?”
Colette smiles a smile that could melt all the snow in Snow Country. “I do, Filomena. They’re here.”
Everyone looks around, behind them, on the hill, through the trees. The League of Seven is here?
Colette laughs a bright, sweet laugh. “Youare the League of Seven. Filomena, Jack, Alistair, Gretel, my Rose Red, Beatrice, and Byron. You seven who stand before me. You’re the League of Seven.”
Filomena feels like she’s been struck by lightning. But in a sort of good way? No one is coming to save them. The people they’ve been looking for all along are themselves. They are their own heroes. They are the seven.
Alistair busts out laughing. “How did we not realize that we make seven?!”
The seven friends look at one another with new eyes. They can’t believe it. It’s so shocking, so surprising, so enthralling, this news, they don’t even notice Queen Christina come up behind Colette—and stab her.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIXCATCHINGQUEENCHRISTINA
There is a scream so loud and bloodcurdling that windows all over Snow Country shatter in their frames. It’s Rose Red, who drops to her knees, weeping, clutching the body of her mother, Colette, who is slumped over. Blood wells from Colette’s stab wound, soaking her dress.
Jack, Filomena, and Alistair immediately snap to attention. They draw their Dragon’s Tooth swords from their sheaths and stand guard. Out from behind the glass coffin appears the queen they’ve heard so much about over these past few days in Snow Country: Queen Christina.
She is all angles, with long black hair, pointed teeth, and pointed nails. Whereas Colette’s black hair is deep and expansive like the night sky, Queen Christina’s is matte like charcoal. Her eyes are of the brightest green, like a cat’s.
“You,” she spits, her eyes squinting into slits. “You seven think you can do anything you want with no consequences! You break my curse on the swans, you break my enchantment on that traitor Snow White!” She paces around the group.
Filomena isn’t sure how afraid to be. They have Queen Christina outnumbered seven to one, but Filomena has no idea how powerful she is. Will she curse them right now?
“You think you’re so great? Well, how great are you that your precious Zera is DEAD!” she taunts, walking closer. “Is this the famous Jack the Giant Stalker? You’re the one Zera pleaded for, aren’t you? The one she cried for, saying you’d come save her. But you didn’t, did you? You couldn’t. You let her die.”
Filomena knows that Jack knows none of this is true, but still he’s shaking with rage. He swings at the queen with his Dragon’s Tooth blade, but she jumps away and cackles.
“You’re all doomed!” She laughs. “All your fairies are dying, and the ogres are poised to take the thrones. Never After is practically ours! The ancient clause is invoked, you know, or haven’t you seen the news? The summer solstice is just around the corner!”
From the corner of her eye, Filomena sees Rosie lookat her intently, then make a slight motion toward her hip. There’s a sparkle of silver flash. Rumpelstiltskin’s sister’s silver! Rosie brought her invention!
Filomena steps forward to distract the queen. “So how are you going to curse us?” she taunts. “Have you run out of ideas? Personally, if we get to choose, I’d like to be a bear. Then I can hibernate all winter and attack you in the spring.” She chatters away.
“Filomena, what are you doing?” Alistair whispers.
The queen looks at Filomena, disoriented by her boldness.
“Yeah, a bear would be good. Or maybe a snow leopard. Do you guys have those in Never After?” She keeps rambling on and on until Rosie has sneaked around behind the queen.
Just as Queen Christina raises her hands to cast a curse, the silver net drops on her and drags her to the ground.
“Run!” Rosie shouts.
Everyone besides Rosie and Filomena is terribly confused, but they follow instructions. Running, running as fast as they can. Queen Christina screams at them from the confines of the silver net. Filomena squeezes Rosie’s hand as they run. She lost her mother and saved them, all in the span of five minutes.
