The Everafter War (17 page)

Mirror looked down at the keys he had been handed, then at the list. He shrugged and shuffled off to do as he was told.

“Don’t be mean to him,” Daphne snapped at the prince.

Charming rolled his eyes.

Veronica stepped forward. “What can we do?”

Snow smiled. “You and your family are the key to our success. We need you to train us in how to use this stuff.”

“We’d be happy to help,” Veronica said. “But I don’t want the girls involved in anything dangerous.”

The family spent the entire day instructing the Everafters in the proper use of magical gizmos. Sabrina did her best to help without actually touching anything, and so she eventually found herself instructing people on how to direct the flying carpet. Its magic had never fed her addiction, so she helped several people learn to steer, fly straight, and build speed. It was nice to be treated like a hero by the soldiers, but helping them felt like she was betraying her father. Henry had not accompanied them to the hall. Instead, he was sitting in the courtyard of the fort grumbling. Sabrina thought of all the times she had sulked rather than helped, and for the first time she could clearly see how annoying she could be.

Daphne quickly became the go-to expert on many of the items. Sabrina knew her sister had a knack when it came to wands and rings, but she was surprised to see the respect the Everafters had for her. Sabrina couldn’t help but watch her with a mix of pride and regret for treating her like a child. It was clear Daphne was growing up.

Granny Relda trained a number of Merry Men in the art of flicking a fairy wand to turn on its magic. It didn’t come naturally to the burly men, who were used to clubbing villains and shooting arrows. A wand took a bit of delicacy, so there was a lot of shouting and frustration. Little John was so furious he punched a nearby marble wall and broke his hand. Veronica assisted as Nurse Sprat set the broken bones and Uncle Jake lent her more of the magical healing salve. After treating Little John, the two women were kept very busy with other minor training injuries.

Uncle Jake, who had quite a bit of experience with magical creatures, saddled the unicorns and did his best to calm the nervous beasts. They were stubborn animals and their single pointy horn made them particularly dangerous. Elvis was frantic when they were around and hid behind Veronica whenever one was loose. Despite the obvious pain he was in from heartache and his wounded shoulder, Jake never took a break.

Sadly, at the day’s end, Sabrina worried that the army was a lost cause. Most of the soldiers were hopelessly inept and a few were showing signs of an unhealthy addiction to magic. Worse, there were just too many Everafters to teach and it was clear that time and practice were the only ways to master the new weapons. Snow told Sabrina that there were nearly three hundred more soldiers back at the fort waiting for their training the next day.

“Sabrina, could you show me how to fly this?” Snow White asked, pointing at the carpet.

“It’s really simple,” Sabrina said. “You just tell it what to do and it does it.”

“If it’s so simple why does it look so awkward?”

“That’s me, I think,” Sabrina said. “I can’t seem to get it to work as well as Daphne. Even Uncle Jake says she’s the best. She’s busy teaching the Merry Men how to use a genie’s ring but she shouldn’t be too long if you want to wait for her.”

“I think I’ll stick with you,” Snow said, stepping onto the rug. “So, how do we get it into the air?”

Sabrina joined her. “Well, you just tell it to go up.” Suddenly, the rug rocketed into the air and came to a screeching halt with Ms. White’s head just a few inches from the Hall’s ceiling. Sabrina cringed. “Sorry—like I said, I’m not the best driver.”

“Perhaps it’s easier if we sit?” Snow said, easing herself down. Sabrina did the same. “So if I want it to go down the hall?”

“Just say the word.”

“OK, rug, let’s move,” Ms. White said. The rug shook and dipped a little but sailed forward. It reminded Sabrina of the time she and her family had flown to Mexico on a family vacation. The plane had flown through some clouds and bounced around in midair. The pilot had called it turbulence. Sabrina had almost lost her lunch.

“I’m sorry you and your family can’t seem to get out of town,” Snow said. “I know how much you would like to leave.”

Sabrina nodded. “It’s causing a lot of fighting between my mom and dad.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“My parents are a little obnoxious, huh?”

Snow laughed.

“They weren’t always cranky.”

“I know. I met them as a couple before you were born. One look and you could see how much they adored one another. I’ve only seen one other couple who looked at each other the way they did.”

“Oh, who?”

“Charming and me,” she said wistfully. “What if I want to fly in a circle?”

“You can explain it to the rug. If you’re just cruising along it tries to follow your directions but when things get crazy, like if you’re being attacked, it sort of has a mind of its own. I guess you could say it wants to save its own butt just as much you want to save yours.”

Snow explained a route she wanted to take and the rug followed her every command.

“So if you two were so happy why aren’t you getting married? You said he proposed, right?”

Snow nodded. “It’s complicated.”

“I’ve got time,” Sabrina said. “I’m sure I have to train Ichabod Crane next and he sweats a lot when he’s nervous. He’s so funky it makes my eyes water.”

“Well, it all started about six hundred years ago,” Ms. White said with a laugh. “You see, there was a time when I was—well, pretty naive.”

“Huh?”

“In a nutshell, I was dumb. In my defense, they didn’t exactly educate women back in my time. There used to be a joke back then—the reason they were called the ‘Dark Ages’ is because the women couldn’t figure out how to light the candles. Jokes weren’t really that funny back then, either.” Snow laughed at her bad joke. “Anyway, I lived on my family’s lands. I coasted on my looks, didn’t worry about my brain, and assumed that eventually I’d find some handsome prince to come and take care of me. And then there was the whole situation with the apple and my mother. I don’t know if I had an epiphany while I was sleeping, but when I woke up I was mad. Not only had I let myself get into a bad situation, my own mother had had a hand in it! And then there’s this guy who the mystical world decides is the man I’m supposed to marry. Who’s to tell me whom I’m supposed to love? But even that’s not what really, truly bothered me. It was the realization that I couldn’t take care of myself. While I was riding off into the sunset on the back of Billy’s horse I made a decision. I would never allow myself to be a victim again.”

“So you learned kung fu and started the Bad Apples self-defense school to teach other women how to fight back. And now you’re training an army. What does that have to do with Billy’s proposal?”

“Nothing, really,” Ms. White said. “The problem is I broke my own promise. I let myself be victimized again.”

“How?”

“Bluebeard.”

Sabrina shuddered. It had only been a few days since her run-in with Bluebeard. The infamous murderer had a twisted attraction to Ms. White. He had abducted her during a chaotic riot. Luckily, Prince Charming appeared in the nick of time to save her.

“When he grabbed me and pulled me into that alley I literally forgot all my training. I was helpless,” Ms. White said, ashamed.

“You shouldn’t give yourself a hard time about it,” Sabrina said. “He gave everyone the heebie-jeebies.”

“I’m not everyone, Sabrina. I’m Snow White, this town’s resident fighter. I pride myself on my smarts and my right hook, but they both failed me. So I am right back where I was six hundred years ago with a handsome prince saving my butt. At Briar’s funeral all I could think about was whether I was fooling myself. I mean, this soft-spoken, demure woman stood up to a dragon. She died with her fists in the air, like a hero. Could I do the same?”

“You’re one of the bravest people I know,” Sabrina said as she showed Snow how to make the carpet do a loop-the-loop without falling off of it.

“I’m not so sure, Sabrina, and until I know, I can’t get married, even though I love Billy. I won’t marry someone who has to take care of me. I’m going to take care of myself. I have to prove to myself that I can, again.”

All in all, the three heads of the army—Mr. Canis, Prince Charming, and Robin Hood—seemed happy with the day’s progress. At the end of the very long day the troops marched back through the portal to their well-earned cots. Mr. Canis told the family that the mysterious saboteur had struck several times that day and had yet to be identified. Luckily, he said, the destruction had been repaired before anyone could be hurt. Canis thanked the family for what they had done that day and excused himself, saying that he and Red had work of their own to do.

Unfortunately, preparations for the war started another war entirely—this one about the family’s sleeping arrangements. With fears that the fort might be attacked at any moment, Henry was insistent that the family spend the night elsewhere. His first suggestion was to sleep in Granny’s house, until the old woman reminded him that it didn’t have water or power and was probably still surrounded by noisy lunatics. Daphne suggested they check into a room in the Hotel of Wonders, but everyone suspected that Prince Charming would never allow it. Instead, after much shouting and throwing up hands, it was decided that everyone would camp out inside the Hall of Wonders. Mirror seemed put out by his sudden overnight guests, but plodded down the hall to a room that held camping supplies. Uncle Jake drifted back to the fort without a word. Sabrina guessed he was going to visit Briar’s grave. She wondered if she shouldn’t go with him but Granny told her that Jake probably wanted to be alone.

Sabrina nestled into her sleeping bag and watched her sister do the same. Elvis lay between them, his big head resting on Daphne’s belly.

“Daphne?”

The little girl opened a single eye.

“Are you OK?” she said. “I mean, about Briar and—”

“I’m fine,” the girl said quickly.

“It’s just, I mean, you probably feel very sad and you can talk to me if you want,” Sabrina said.

Daphne rolled over so her back faced Sabrina.

Sabrina sighed and stared up at the vaulted ceiling of the Hall of Wonders. She was tired but too restless to sleep. She thought about Briar Rose, who had always been so kind. Snow White had been right about Briar; despite her soft-spoken personality, she had been a fighter. Sabrina liked to think of herself in the same way, though she had to admit most of her battles had been selfish in nature.
Can I be a hero, too?
she wondered.

As she lay there in the dark she heard someone rustle in a sleeping bag. Sabrina turned and watched her mother stand up, slip on a pair of flip-flops, and pull a sweatshirt over her head. Sabrina’s father was sleeping deeply and it was clear to Sabrina that her mother was trying not to wake him up. She tiptoed down the hallway toward the Room of Reflections. Curiosity piqued, Sabrina shook her sister awake.

“Iiiiiiiidoooooghwannnnagiiiiiiiitupppffff,” the little girl grumbled.

“Wake up,” Sabrina said.

“Didn’t I tell you I’m mad at you?” Daphne muttered.

“Mom just snuck out of here. Let’s follow her,” Sabrina said.

“Maybe she’s just getting a drink of water,” the little girl complained.

“I am the queen of the sneaks and I know sneaking when I see it. She was sneaking,” Sabrina said, pulling the little girl out of her sleeping bag. “C’mon!”

Daphne grumbled but followed Sabrina down the hall to the Room of Reflections. They passed without disturbance into the Hotel of Wonders and then through the portal that led to the fort. Outside, the night had grown chilly and damp.

“It’s cold,” Daphne complained. “Let’s go back.”

“Sssh! There she is,” Sabrina said, pointing toward their mother. Veronica rushed toward the medical tent and disappeared inside.

“Why is she going into the medical tent?” Sabrina wondered aloud.

“Maybe she’s got a bellyache,” Daphne said, nearly asleep on her feet.

Sabrina grabbed her sister’s hand and dragged her to the back of the tent. There they got on their hands and knees and tucked their heads underneath a loose section of the canvas. Lying very still, they watched Nurse Sprat take their mother’s blood pressure.

“Thanks for meeting me so late,” Veronica said.

“Not a problem,” the nurse replied. “But I do think this is something you want to discuss with Henry.”

“I can’t. Not until I’m sure.”

Sabrina looked over to her sister. Daphne was mouthing the words, “What are they talking about?”

Sabrina shrugged and turned her attention back to her mother.

“I’d go to a human doctor but we’re kind of trapped here,” Veronica said. “And this particular problem might be a little difficult to explain.”

The nurse nodded. “Have you been feeling funny since you and your husband woke up?”

“No,” Veronica said, “which is what worries me. I should be tired. I should feel nauseous. But I feel better than fine. I’m worried that the spell might have done something terrible.”