Page 69 of The Broken Mirror
“All right, then. I have an aunt who lives in the village. I think she can help you with this… situation,” he says, nodding to Charlie. He lowers his voice even more. “She’s a witch,” he whispers.
Hortense’s eyebrows shoot up. A witch living in Eastphalia? Everyone knows witches are very rare in Never After and can be very dangerous. Getting involved with one can put a person at great risk.
“I believe she can tell you how to reverse the spell.”
Hortense looks troubled by this, but Gretel perks up. “You know, Hori, the way we broke the spell on Rosie’s brotherswas by carrying out what a witch told Rosie to do. I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”
“I don’t know,” Hori says nervously.
“If I go with you, she might be more willing to help,” John offers. “But you’ll have to barter. You should bring her some food.”
“Food?” Alistair inserts. “That sounds like a job for me!”
“What do you think, Charlie?” Hori asks.
“I think I’d love to be human again. And I’m willing to visit a witch to figure out how to make that happen,” he ribbits.
That seems to settle it. Hori is all business. “John, thank you so much. If you’re willing to take us, then I say let’s do it!”
“Off to the witch of Eastphalia we go!” Gretel says.
“But first,” Alistair pipes in, “to the kitchen! You know what they say: The way to a witch’s heart is through her stomach.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVETHEBROKENMIRROR
It’s a lot for a girl to take in all at once. First, Filomena was just about to have her first kiss, she’s sure of it. Her first kiss! With Jack! Except it didn’t happen because, second, Robin Hood is here, in Westphalia, on the hill before them. And to top it all off, Little Jeanne is standing with him. Which means… Filomena was right. Therewassomething off about Little Jeanne!
“I’d love to catch up, but we’re a bit pinched for time,” Robin Hood says, smirking and shrugging. “I’m actuallyhere for something other than seeing if you two finally get together. Finally got some guts there, Stalker!”
Jack glowers in Robin’s direction.
Filomena instantly feels fired up. How dare he mock them! That was—that was such a special, sacred moment that’s now ruined! She and Jack both pull their Dragon’s Tooth swords from their belts and hold them out, readying for an attack.
“What do you want, Robin?” Filomena says, her eyes squinting with suspicion.
“Now this will be so much easier if you just let me do my job. Look, I don’t care about the ogres, I have no real moral allegiance to anything. I’m a hand for hire. Can you really fault me for that?”
“Yes,” Fil and Jack say in unison.
Robin raises his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, fair enough. But look”—he places a hand over his heart—“underneath it all, I’m a good guy. I’m a guy in love! You see, let me tell you my story.”
Filomena’s getting pinpricks of alarm. What does he want? Why is he being so agreeable, trying to be sympathetic?
“Princess Jeanne and I were very close as children. I’m working with the ogres just so I can get her back, all right? And to get paid. It’s as simple as that. I have nothing against you folks, really! I like you, even! In my own way.”
“Youlikeus?” Jack spits, walking toward Robin with his sword poised. “If you like us so much, then how about you stop being so selfish and join the right side? There’s a lot more at stake than your childhood friendship, all right? The entire kingdom is at stake here. Do you know how evil the ogres are? Do you know the monstrosities they’ve caused?”
The two boys are so close now, face-to-face. Jack is seething; every wrongdoing he’s seen the ogres commit is flashing before his eyes, Filomena knows. She’s watching Robin closely, terrified that Robin Hood will take a swing at Jack when Jack least suspects. She can’t bear for Jack to get hurt. But something’s tugging on her hip…What’s that?
Suddenly Robin’s hand shoots up into the air and catches something.Ira Glassman!Little Jeanne grabbed him from Filomena’s belt while Robin was distracting them!
“No hard feelings?” Robin taunts. “Just another job that gets me paid, you know. Especially since the last one didn’t work out. Ogres say I have to destroy this.” And with that he punches Filomena’s talking mirror, smashing the surface to bits.
“No!” Filomena screams. All reassurance of her power—that she can do this, can take over a kingdom, can create a talking mirror from thin air—her ability to check in on her friends, her ability to communicate with all of Never After and to tellherside of the story… All that was wrapped up in her talking mirror.
Having adequately shattered the mirror, Robin drops it onto the ground.
Filomena turns around to see Little Jeanne, who has a scared look on her face. Filomena is filled with rage and lunges with her sword, pinning the young princess to a tree. Little Jeanne screams as if she didn’t know Filomena to be capable of this.
