CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE HEALING FLAMES OF HAGETTA’S FIRE
Conner wasn’t expecting to wake up. When Lester crashed into the forest, he figured it was the end. He hoped that the Happily Ever After Assembly could win the war without them, and if they did, he hoped he and his sister would be remembered as war heroes. The last image in his head as he slowly lost consciousness was the statue they would erect in his honor. The statue was much taller and more muscular than he was in real life and the sculptor had added a cleft in his chin—it was exactly how Conner wanted to be remembered.
But to Conner’s surprise—he woke up. His eyelids slowly opened and his blurry vision took a moment to adjust. He was lying on a cot in a small and cluttered cottage. A large wooden table and an iron cauldron were in the center of the cottage and a thick stack of mirrors had been placed between them. The walls were filled from floor to ceiling with shelves of jars: jars of dirt, sand, plants, flowers, colorful liquids, insects, small reptiles, and pieces of bigger animals, like pig ears and cow hooves. A small fire of peach-colored flames burned in a tiny brick fireplace.
“Where am I?” he asked himself. He felt a tingling on the side of his torso and looked down to see his entire left side was engulfed in the same peach-colored flames. “AHHH! I’m on fire! I’m on fire!”
Conner screamed and looked around the cottage for something to extinguish them. He didn’t see anything and beat the flames with his sleeves. He figured his whole body was in shock since he didn’t feel any pain.
A woman appeared from another room in the cottage and rushed to Conner’s side.
“Calm down,” the woman said, and grabbed his hands. “You’re doing more damage than the fire is,” she said. The woman was middle-aged and wore dark red robes. Her hair was the same color as her robes and she had bright green eyes.
“What’s happening to me?” Conner yelled.
“You broke your ribs in the fall,” the woman said. “The fire is healing you.”
“The fire is healing me?” he asked.
The woman walked to the fireplace. “It’s a magic fire. Look,” she said, and held her hand over the flames. They flickered around her hand but didn’t burn her. “See? Are you satisfied?”
Conner stopped panicking but he was anything but relaxed. Seeing his body covered in flames was incredibly unsettling, however helpful they were.
“Did you see us crash?” Conner asked the woman.
“Yes,” the woman said. “You were all hurt pretty bad. I brought you back here to heal your wounds before they got worse. You’re in the Dwarf Forests, but don’t worry, you’re safe in my cottage.”
“Where’s my sister? Is she all right?” Conner asked.
“She’s banged up worse than you but she’s coming around,” the woman said.
The woman moved her cauldron out of the way so Conner could see his sister resting peacefully on a cot behind it. Alex’s leg and wrist were covered in flames healing her broken bones.
“Who are you?” Conner asked. “Are you a witch?”
“My name is Hagetta,” the woman said. “I prefer the term healer these days, but yes, I’m a witch.”
Her name instantly rang a bell. “Hagetta?” he repeated. “Any relation to the witch named Hagatha?”
Hagetta nodded. “She was my much older sister,” she said. “Hagatha taught me everything I know about witchcraft. But I was never interested in dark magic like she was, so we parted ways shortly before she died.”
Alex stirred to life and slowly sat up. She looked around the cottage as her eyes adjusted. “Where am I?”
“You’re safe, dear,” Hagetta said.
“Hey, Alex, heads-up—you’re also on fire! But don’t worry, it’s helping your leg and wrist heal,” Conner warned her.
Alex’s eyes grew twice in size as she saw the flames engulfing her wrist and leg. “Okay,” she peeped. Nothing could make her entirely comfortable with this. “Sooo… what kind of fire am I on exactly?”
“They’re healing flames from the breath of an albino dragon,” Hagetta explained. “The albino dragons were very rare and just as awful as regular dragons, but their flames had unique healing qualities. My great-great-great-great-grandmother acquired some of those flames during the Dragon Age and my family has kept them burning from generation to generation.”
“Wow,” Conner said. “I can’t even keep a Chia Pet alive.”
Alex became less anxious knowing this information but she was still uneasy from waking up in the strange cottage. She couldn’t stop staring at Hagetta—she could have sworn their paths had crossed in the past.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” she asked.
“Her name is Hagetta and she’s Hagatha’s younger sister.” Conner filled her in.
Alex was shocked. “You’re Hagatha’s sister?”
“I am,” Hagetta said. “But I believe we saw each other at Jack and Goldilocks’s wedding.”
“You’re right!” Alex said, putting the pieces together. “How do you know Jack and Goldilocks?”
Hagetta laughed at the thought. “I’ve known Goldilocks since she was a very little girl and started her life on the run. We first met when I caught her trying to rob me. I scared her off and thought I’d never see her again, but then a few weeks later I found her in the woods—she had been attacked by some creature and barely survived. I brought her back here and healed her wounds but she refused to stay any longer. She insisted she didn’t need my help and told me she could take care of herself. I knew she was too stubborn to convince, so I gave Goldilocks her first sword. I told her she would have to learn to defend herself if she was going to live on her own.”
“You gave Goldilocks her first sword?” Conner asked, tickled pink by the story. “That’s like giving Shakespeare his first pen!”
Hagetta smiled. “She returned the favor a few years later. A gang of trolls cornered me in the woods and tried to enslave me. Goldilocks heard my pleas for help and she came out of nowhere on that horse of hers.”
“Wow, talk about karma,” Conner said.
“Indeed,” Hagetta said. “And since then, I’ve tried to assist anyone I met who needs a helping hand. I never thought a wanted fugitive would teach me the power of a clean conscience.”
“We can’t thank you enough for helping us,” Conner said, then quickly looked around the room. “Wait, where’s Lester?”
The twins heard a squawk as Lester drowsily popped his head up from under Hagetta’s table. Flames covered his busted beak and his left wing was ablaze as the peach-colored fire slowly re-grew his wing one feather at a time.
“That is the most stubborn gander I have ever met,” Hagetta said. “He wouldn’t let me touch you when I first found you—it was like he was protecting his own chicks. I told him I only meant to help but still had to sedate him with a sleeping potion to calm him down. It should be out of his system by now.”
Conner made an affectionate frown and rubbed the giant goose’s neck. “Thanks for looking out for us, bud,” he said. “Mother Goose will be very happy to hear that.”
Alex searched her dress pockets and suddenly gasped. “Oh no,” she said. “My wand broke and the pieces must have fallen out of my pocket!”
“No worries, child, your wand will be back to normal soon,” Hagetta said. She pointed to the fireplace and Alex saw her crystal wand had been placed directly on the firewood and the flames were slowly mending it.
Alex was so relieved she laid back down and almost forgot she was on fire herself.
“You’re the nicest witch we’ve ever met,” Conner said. “I thought all witches were terrible, but you’ve proven me wrong.”
“All it takes is one bad apple to disgrace a whole tree,” Hagetta said. “I come from a very long line of witches and I’ve only ever heard of one witch who eats children—but thanks to the story ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ the whole world thinks all of us live in gingerbread houses and lure innocent youths to their deaths.”
“That’s an interesting point,” Conner said. “I’ve met just as many ugly humans as I have ugly witches but we’re not stereotyped.”
“Most witches don’t start out as ugly,” Hagetta said. “Dark magic leaves its mark on its dealers. My sister Hagatha was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Men traveled across kingdoms to woo and court her. But after devoting her life to harmful witchcraft, its effects began to show on her face.”
Alex sat straight up. “Wait a second, how long have we been here?” she asked.
“A few hours,” Hagetta said.
“Oh no,” Alex said. “Conner, we’ve got to get back to the Fairy Palace at once! Now that the Grande Armée has started attacking we have to form a new plan!” She made the mistake of stepping on her bad foot and yelped in pain before falling back onto the cot.
“You two are no good to anyone in the condition you’re in,” Hagetta said. “Wait for the flames to finish doing their job. Once they burn out, you’ll be healed.”
As much as it killed her to sit still at a time like this, Alex had no choice. Their plan had been compromised, and she slumped as if they had already lost the war.
“It was really smart of you to keep half of the armies hidden, Alex,” Conner said. “At least no one was unprepared for this to happen. As soon as we get back to the Fairy Palace we’ll find out who has and hasn’t been attacked—maybe our first plan can still work.”
“I’m not sad because of our plan,” Alex said. “You saw how viciously they opened fire on the Elf Empire. There’s no way the Corner Kingdom or the Bo Peep Republic stands a chance against forces like that—”
Hagetta couldn’t help but interrupt. “Did you just say ‘Bo Peep Republic’?” she asked. “What on earth is that?”
“It’s the new name of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom,” Conner said. “They changed the name because Little Bo Peep was elected queen.”
Hagetta raised both of her eyebrows and looked off into space, completely flabbergasted. “Was she now?” she asked.
“Do you know Little Bo Peep?” Alex asked.
It was obvious from her expression that they were acquainted. “Very well, I’m afraid.”
“How do you know her?” Conner asked.
“She sought me out when she was a little girl,” Hagetta explained. “Apparently she dozed off one afternoon on her farm and lost track of her sheep. The whole thing was a great embarrassment for her so she found me in the woods and paid me five gold coins to make her a potion that would keep her awake.”
“Did you make her the potion?” Conner asked.
“I did,” Hagetta said. “And it was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.”
“Was something wrong with the potion you gave her?” Alex asked.
“No, there was just a lot wrong with the customer,” Hagetta said. “The potion worked so well that Little Bo came back to me many times, expecting fixes for all of her problems throughout the years. She needed a potion for her sheep to grow the fluffiest wool, she needed a potion for her cows to give the sweetest milk, she wanted seeds to make her chickens lay the biggest eggs—it never stopped! Especially when that man came into the picture.”
The twins looked at each other, equally intrigued.
“Which man?” Conner asked.
“The man Little Bo fell madly in love with,” Hagetta said. “He was older than she was and a total crook.”
“Are you talking about the man trapped inside her magic mirror?” Alex asked. Her curiosity had completely taken over her body and she couldn’t help asking.
Conner and Hagetta both stared at her. Conner had no idea what she was talking about but Hagetta was astonished she knew anything about it.
“How did you know about the magic mirror?” Hagetta asked.
“What magic mirror?” Conner asked, hoping one of them would fill him in.
Alex hesitated as she tried to make the explanation as harmless for herself as possible. “During the election a friend and I thought it would be fun to spy on Little Bo,” Alex said. “We weren’t looking to cause any trouble, just to have some fun, but we saw a magic mirror inside her barn and there was a man trapped inside it.”
Conner raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Is this the same friend you’re not dating?”
Alex didn’t respond. All her attention was on Hagetta.
“The magic mirror in Little Bo’s possession is a mirror of communication, not of imprisonment,” Hagetta said. “I should know—I made it for her. The man you saw wasn’t trapped in the mirror; he was locked away in prison many years ago. I gave them each a mirror so they could still communicate.”
Alex covered her mouth. It had never occurred to her that the mirror in Little Bo’s barn might be a communication mirror like the kind she and her brother had.
“Wait a second,” Conner said, making connections of his own. “There was a mirror in one of the cells in Pinocchio Prison! Is Little Bo Peep in love with the Masked Man?”
“She never told me his real name but yes, that is the name he chose for himself,” Hagetta said. “He was the youngest son in a very powerful family—but he longed to be more powerful than all of them. He tried everything he possibly could to gain the control he desired; he lied and stole, he made promises he couldn’t keep, and bargained deals he couldn’t afford. He’s the most conniving type of man there is.”
Alex nodded as everything began making sense to her. “Little Bo wanted to be queen because she thought being the ruler of a kingdom would give her the authority to free him from prison.”
Hagetta grunted. “I’m sure she also couldn’t live with the guilt,” she said. “Little Bo is the reason he was caught in the first place—she turned him in.”
Conner gasped. “She turned in the man she loved?”