The Wishing Spell: Chapters 19–24

Conner stabbed the saber into the ground outside the mouth of the pit, and he and his sister held on to it while they were being pulled, determined not to end up like the other victims of the vines.

Malumclaw lowered his head in a scornful and mocking bow.

She was still very much the woman from the portrait in Snow White’s palace, but she had been weathered by time and fatigue.

Her eyes were dark and bleak; she seemed empty and cold down to her soul.

The dark silhouette of a man appeared in the mirror.

“Mira looked for Evly for years and eventually found her. They wrote letters to each other and exchanged them through the bars of Evly’s cell. The Enchantress ultimately discovered the letters. But the Enchantress was smart; she knew if she killed Mira, Evly would be inconsolable and worthless to her. So instead, she imprisoned Mira inside a magic mirror for eternity. Evly was heartbroken,” the Evil Queen said.

“I became Evly, the Evil Queen of the Northern Kingdom. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? People tend to be creative when they’re condemning others.”

From the moment Mira was trapped inside the mirror, I refused to continue with the Enchantress’s plan. I still pretended to go along with it, gaining her trust and becoming a protégé of sorts.

She kept a room full of potions here in the castle. I spent hours of every day in that room, immersing myself with the substances, learning everything about them.

I concocted a poison so strong and deadly that all the trees and flowers for miles and miles were killed after three drops hit the ground outside my cell window.

The poison weakened the Enchantress to the state of an ailing human.

I used a love potion on the king, and he became enamored with me.

I ordered every beautician in the kingdom to my palace and underwent every beauty regimen possible for years and years to preserve the little youth I had left.

Word of my new activities got out, and the kingdom criticized me, saying I was vain and obsessed with beauty.

“My entire life has been spent trying to recover something that was taken from me so many years ago. However, I’ll never be martyred for that life. I’ll be forever known as the vain queen who tried to kill the poor, innocent, and helpless Princess Snow White and nothing more,” the Evil Queen said.

Jack was wielding Goldilocks’s sword.

The Huntsman began shooting arrows at Jack. He ducked and dived, barely eluding them.

Goldilocks had to dodge the arrows, too; they were ricocheting off the stone walls in every direction.

The wolves behind her were not being so cautious; they had a hard time getting traction on the smooth wooden floor and kept slipping into the holes, howling as they fell to their deaths.

“Oh my, what big claws you have,” Red said, trembling.
“The better to maul you with, my dear,” Malumclaw said.

“What part of imploding castle don’t you understand?”

Porridge took some convincing, but Jack coaxed her into hopping over the moat with them.

They shared a kiss so passionate that a few of the soldiers blushed. It was love personified.

Porridge happily pranced over to Goldilocks, who petted her horse’s mane.

The pattering of the horses’ hooves on the road was the only sound the group made.

Jack faithfully walked by her side the entire trip with his hand on top of the manacles around hers.

Red Riding Hood seemed intimidated by a palace so regal and large.

“She didn’t die, per se,” Alex said, trying to put it delicately. “The castle was falling apart, and her mirror, well, it—”

She showed no remorse with her confession.

“Gross! Eww! Yuck!” the woman said after each step.
Goldilocks recognized the prissy voice.

“Because I’ve decided to make things right,” Red said very haughtily.

HIS HIGHNESS KING CHANCE CHARMING AND HER ROYAL MAJESTY QUEEN CINDERELLA CORDIALLY INVITE YOU TO AN EXCLUSIVE CELEBRATION OF THE BIRTH OF THEIR CHILD, THE UNNAMED PRINCESS, AT THEIR PALACE TOMORROW AFTERNOON.

The princess was indeed beautiful. She was only a few days old but looked just like her mother, with auburn hair and bright eyes.

“Yes, of course,” Snow White said. “It’s all very bittersweet.”

Although most of them had had their predicaments with the twins, they were sad to see them go.