Page 50 of The Broken Mirror
That wakes everyone up. First of all, Jack is speaking again? That’s good news. Second, they get tingles just hearing the wordplan.
“I was wondering when you would say that!” Gretel exclaims. “Don’t be shy. Tell us!”
Jack joins them at the table and stands next to Filomena. “Today we’re rescuing Zera,” he says.
Cue expressions of extreme surprise.
“Here’s how we’re going to do it,” Filomena says. She lays a map out on the table and tells them the plan.
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to Queen Christina’s castle they go. On the walk, Filomena watches Jack and Alistair, who aretalking yards ahead. She can’t hear them, but she can see the change in their body language and smiles to herself. Jack’s apologizing. She sees Alistair stop, then Jack stops as well, and the two share a huge hug. She grins. If this isn’t fuel for their rescue, she doesn’t know what is.
When they arrive at Queen Christina’s castle, they break into two groups. Gretel and Rosie go to the front doors, and Jack, Alistair, and Filomena wait in the bushes at the back of the castle with one of Rosie’s brothers. Timothée is his name.
Part of Jack’s and Filomena’s plan included a brother coming with them to act as a guide. Since the brothers had been held in the dungeon, Filomena figures they know their way around and may be able to lead the rescue mission to Zera. The brothers all agreed that Timothée should go. Apparently he has a photographic memory. Filomena hopes it applies to dungeon passageways and not just studying textbooks.
The rest of the merry crew had lives to return to, wives and girlfriends who were waiting for them. Once Timothée was done helping, he would leave as well to pick up where his old life left off before he was turned into a swan.
They figure that, for once, it might be goodnotto travel in a huge group, so Byron and Beatrice stayed at the cottage. The less obvious this mission can be, the better—and frankly they were due for a break.
In the bushes, Filomena and the three boys hold their breath as Rosie and Gretel use the huge silver knocker on thecastle’s front doors. They look chipper, as planned. Filomena had racked her brain for the best sort of distraction. Then she thought,Why pretend when we can use Rosie’s and Gretel’s strengths?So they decided that Rosie and Gretel would act as castle-door-to-castle-door sales reps offering custom-made uniforms for Queen Christina’s staff. Hopefully they’ll get all the servants to collect in one room for fittings. Then Rosie can distract everyone with her inventions while Gretel takes measurements and talks over outfit preferences.
Gretel, in record time, spent the morning quickly crafting samples from whatever garments were lying around the cottage. Bedsheets turned into gorgeous breathable suit jackets. Floral curtains became chic feminine overalls. Rosie especially loves this idea; she can finally get rid of some of the giants’ decor choices.
But will the ruse work? What if the castle staff aren’t interested? Gretel is confident the staff will be head over heels for the uniforms. Filomena hopes her friend is right and that Rosie and Gretel won’t be tossed out head over heels.
From the bushes it appears as though the plan is working. Gretel and Rosie are grinning like two very charming sales reps ready to sell the world. Then Gretel looks over and gives a quick wink. She and Rosie step through the front doors.
Go time.
“All right, Timothée,” Filomena says. “Lead the way.”
The four start sneaking, quiet as can be, through the gardens behind the castle. Filomena tries not to be distractedby the creepy shapes the bushes are pruned into. A skull? Is that a dagger? Yikes. Queen Christina seems to have a rather gothic aesthetic, too. They should introduce her to Robin Hood.
Timothée leads them to a tiny door hidden under a dark green shrub at the back of the castle. He lifts the door, revealing a ladder that descends far, far belowground.
“Good thing you’ve been practicing on Rosie’s loft ladder, Ali,” Filomena whispers.
“I can’t go first!” Alistair whisper-screams back.
“Timothée, you go. Then I’ll go, then you, Alistair, and then Jack,” Filomena decides. The boys all nod, and they begin making their way down, one rung at a time.
The bottom is pitch-black darkness. This they didn’t account for. Filomena wishes she had the headlamp her parents bought her. But then she remembers: She has abuilt-inheadlamp!
Quietly she says the spell that activates the mark of Carabosse on her forehead, and suddenly the dungeon is illuminated. Timothée looks at her in horror (or awe), but there’s no time to explain now. She motions for him to lead the way and he shrugs it off. Filomena guesses that once you’ve turned into a swan, shock value fades pretty fast.
“I’m guessing Zera is being held in the most highly secured part of the dungeon,” Timothée whispers.
The dungeon is like a maze, with small corridors that lead into one another and low ceilings. Alistair is perfectlyfine standing upright, but Jack and Timothée have to stoop as they walk.It would have been impossible to navigate this without a guide,Filomena thinks. So even though Timothée’s not in the League of Seven, she’s still glad to have him on their side. The walls are stone and coated with cobwebs and something slimy. At one point, Filomena reaches out to steady herself and has to hold in a scream when her hand touches something that feels otherworldly.
Timothée leads them through a few more tunnels until finally they reach a wall of solid stone.Lily Licks,Filomena thinks.How are we going to get through this?
But before she can give it much thought, Alistair is already working his magic. “OPEN SESAME!” and the whole wall crumbles into sand.
Jack grins and slaps Alistair on the back. “I can’t believe how often that’s come in handy, Alistair.”
Alistair smiles proudly. Timothée looks to be once again in shock. He must be thinking,Who are these people?
“Alistair’s sort of a king of the desert,” Filomena explains.
