Page 52 of The Broken Mirror
Rosie looks puzzled. “Well, it’s my dad of course, but he’s been dead for years.”
The seven friends sit at the table, thinking. No one is coming up with any answers.
“What if we just go find her and see what happens?” Alistair asks. “There’s no use sitting around here, trying to pull an idea out of thin air.”
Everyone is in agreement. Rosie also can’t wait to see her mom. So they decide to spread out and search the forest for the glass coffin.
An hour later, having walked up and down the forest pathways, Filomena hears Gretel shout from beyond a nearby hill: “Come quick, everyone!”
Jack and Filomena, who are walking the forest together, run to meet Gretel. Alistair, Rose Red, Byron, and Beatrice come running, too.
There, at the base of the hill, is a glass coffin caught in a beam of sunshine. Flowers around the coffin glimmer and sway in the breeze, untouched by the frigid weather. Somehow, here in this pocket of enchantment, it’s warm.
Rosie runs to the coffin, pressing her hands against the glass. “Mom!” she cries.
There is Colette, as beautiful as can be. It’s easy to see Rosie’s resemblance to her, even though Rosie’s hair is red and Colette’s is black as night. They both have skin white as snow.
Colette—Snow White,Filomena thinks—is lying with her eyes closed. Her expression is one of neutral contentment. She’s deep in a sleeping spell. Filomena wonders if she’s dreaming.
“What now?” Rosie says, looking at the group. “Do we go back to the village, try to find some old boyfriend of my mom’s? The one that got away or something?”
Filomena can tell that Rosie’s grasping at straws. But she feels certain there’s no prince coming for Snow White.
Gretel takes a deep breath, then gives a light laugh. “I hate to do this, guys,” she says. “I don’t want to make things awkward or weird. But I have an idea.”
They all look at her, waiting.
“I think we all know there’s potential for a true love’s kiss right here, with us, in this group.”
Filomena’s heart starts pounding wildly. Surely Gretel means Byron and Beatrice. They are married after all! But does a fairy-tale true love’s kiss count if you’ve already kissed hundreds of times?
“Are you going to say what I think you’re going to say?” Alistair gapes, wide eyed, at Gretel. “You’re actually going to cross that bridge?”
“I don’t think we have a choice!” Gretel replies.
“Can someone fill me in here?” Jack asks.
Gretel sighs. Then she smiles. “Jack, Filomena, I think you two can break the spell.”
Jack’s jaw drops slightly open in shock. Filomena feels her face flush bright red, and this time it’s not hidden by the cold. She and Jack look at each other shyly, flustered. Then they grin. Are they smiling at each other? Are they agreeing to this? What is happening?! A thousand thoughts run through Filomena’s mind.
Gretel ushers Alistair, Byron, and Beatrice behind a tree a few paces away to give the tense moment some privacy. Rosie remains, though, leaning over the coffin, looking at her mom.
“Wow,” Jack says. “This is intense.”
Filomena laughs nervously.
“I feel kind of shaky,” Jack says.
“Me too.”
“Are you nervous?” he asks.
“Yep.”
“Me too. Do you want to do this?”
“I mean,” Filomena says shyly, “if it will break the enchantment.”
