“Who is this withered old grape?” Atticus said.
Mirror raised his hand for silence. “Your Majesty, it would serve you well to learn a little respect. This is Baba Yaga, a great and powerful sorceress. You should apologize.”
Atticus laughed, but Mirror was not kidding.
“You’re serious? OK, fine, I’m sorry, m’lady,” he said with an exaggerated bow.
Baba Yaga was having none of it. “So another steps forward to mock the Old Mother. Enough!”
“No! I’ll take care of this,” the Wicked Queen said. She swung her arm forward as if slashing at Atticus with an invisible sword. A tidal wave of destruction sprung from her hand. The magic leveled trees and threw earth skyward. A cloud of dust and broken stone enveloped everything as far as Sabrina could see. When the debris settled, Atticus and Mirror remained untouched and unharmed.
The queen was shocked. “How?”
Mirror winked. “Now, that would be telling.”
This time Morgan unleashed her power. Blasts of lightning and plasma rained down on the two villains, but like before they remained untouched. When Morgan raised her hands for another attack, a blast of fiery flame erupted from Mirror’s fingertips. The magic slammed into Morgan, and she flew backward several yards into the wall of Baba Yaga’s hut.
“You insult my home, little mirror. It makes me . . . angry,” Baba Yaga hissed.
She reached into the folds of her dress and removed three slimy toads. Their slippery legs squirmed in her hands as she held them up to her mouth. “Bright Morning! Dark Night! Red Sun!”
She dropped the animals onto the ground, and before they had a chance to hop away, they began a disturbing transformation. Their skin bubbled and their bodies stretched, legs growing several feet. With each passing second they twisted and changed unnaturally, until three full-grown men, each with the face and webbed hands of a frog, stood in front of Baba Yaga. They were dressed in tunics and armor each reflecting their names—white, black, and red—and they held flaming swords. With their super-strong legs they sprang into combat, slashing and stabbing at Atticus, whose own sword was raised in preparation.
Mirror sighed as if the battle were a mild inconvenience. “Enough of this unpleasantness,” he said as if what had just occurred was nothing more than a glass of spilled milk. “We’re all friends here, and I’ve come to make you the offer of a lifetime. I will let you all keep your lives and all you have to do is lower the barrier. Old Mother, I know that it is within your power. After all, it was you and Wilhelm who created it in the first place.”
Baba Yaga chuckled.
“What if I said pretty please?”
“You are a curious thing, little mirror,” Baba Yaga said as she lurched toward him. She studied Granny Relda’s face as if she could see the creature hidden beneath. Sabrina stared as well. What was it that Baba Yaga saw—some weakness? “The mirror that refuses to see that he is broken. Ah, I see. The answer is always in the eyes. Yes, I know how to beat you now. I can see your biggest weakness and how silly it is.”
Her laughter was a combination of unnerving hacking and loud croaks, but the sound only unleashed Mirror’s rage. He let loose a blast of raw energy that swept across Baba Yaga and swallowed her whole. It was magic so strong it ripped the flesh right off of the old witch’s bones like she had stepped into raging hot fire. Within seconds her skeleton was picked clean. It fell to the ground alongside the bones of her fence and pathway.
“NO!” Bunny cried.
Mirror clapped his hands as if to remove the dust of hard work. “Tsk, tsk. What a shame. Now I have to spend the rest of my day searching her house for the spell.”
But to everyone’s surprise Baba Yaga’s skeleton clambered to its feet and stood upright. Sabrina gasped. The muscle, veins, organs, and skin began to grow over the bones, slowly inching across joints and through its rib cage. In no time at all, the old witch was whole again.
Mirror cocked a curious eyebrow. “Now that is a good trick.”
“Get into the house!” Baba Yaga shouted, running for the door, and without hesitation everyone scrambled back through the doorway. Henry helped Morgan to her feet, and once inside, the old crone commanded her house to rise.
Sabrina felt the floor heave beneath her. One side of the room tilted steeply and the group slid across the floor, crashing in a pile against the wall. Then the other side of the room was hoisted high and everyone slid the other way.
“I love this house!” Puck crowed.
“I hate this house,” Sabrina said. She had seen it move from the outside: it had legs—big, claw-footed things like those from a monstrous chicken.