CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE SIGNAL IN THE SKY
The flames on Alex’s and Conner’s wounds faded as the sun set and night fell upon the tiny cottage in the woods. Soon the flames dimmed more, burning so low only a thin glow covered the healing parts of their bodies.
“The flames are almost gone,” Alex said. She stood from the cot and finally could put weight on her leg without any pain.
“My ribs feel good, too,” Conner said. He twisted his torso and touched his toes without any difficulty. “I’ve never felt better! Looks like the fire did the trick!”
“We really need to get going,” Alex said to Hagetta.
Hagetta didn’t argue with her this time. She retrieved Alex’s crystal wand from the fireplace and handed it to her. “Here you are, my dear.”
Alex examined her wand and didn’t find a scratch on it—it was as good as new. “We’ll never forget this kindness,” Alex said. “If there is anything we can ever do, please don’t hesitate—”
Hagetta raised her hand. “The best thing you can do is to promise me you’ll take care of yourselves,” she said warmly. “I don’t understand why such heavy burdens have been placed on your young shoulders, but the taller you stand, the less weight you’ll feel. Don’t ever let anything break your spirit, children. Courage is something no one can take away from you.”
Alex and Conner exchanged a kindhearted smile with her. Goldilocks had told them the same thing once, and now they knew who she had learned it from.
“We always seem to land on our feet,” Conner said. “Except that one time you saw us crash and we almost died—but thanks to you, we even bounced back from that!”
Alex leaned under the table. “Are you ready to go, Lester?”
“Squaaa!” Lester squawked and happily fluttered to his feet, almost knocking the table over in the process.
“Great, then let’s go—”
Suddenly, a heavy knock came on Hagetta’s door. All four of them immediately turned to it.
“Are you expecting company?” Conner asked.
“No,” Hagetta said. She was just as alarmed as the twins were by the sound of a visitor. “Quick, hide behind the cauldron so no one will see you.”
The twins crouched behind the cauldron. Lester dived under the table again and Hagetta placed a large tablecloth over it to shield him better. Alex pointed her wand at the door, preparing for the worst.
Hagetta opened the door only a sliver and peeked outside. “Can I help you?” she asked the caller.
“Hello, sorry to disturb you but I’m looking for a young girl and boy. The goose they were flying was shot from the sky and they were spotted landing in the woods around this area,” said a familiar voice. “Have you seen them?”
Hagetta cautiously opened the door a bit wider so the twins could see who was on the other side.
“Xanthous!” Conner exclaimed, and popped up from behind the cauldron.
“It’s all right, Hagetta, he’s a friend,” Alex said.
Hagetta let him inside and he greeted the twins with enormous hugs. He had never been so happy to see them.
“Alex! Conner! Thank the heavens you’re all right! I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said.
His cheerful demeanor confused the twins—weren’t they in the middle of a war? Did he not know the Elf Empire and other territories had been attacked?
“Xanthous, why aren’t you in the Charming Kingdom?” Alex asked. “The Grande Armée has started their attacks! We saw them strike the Elf Empire!”
“We were just about to warn you and the other fairies,” Conner said.
“We already know! All the kingdoms have been attacked except for the Fairy Kingdom,” he informed them.
Alex covered her mouth and tears instantly filled her eyes. “Oh no!” she said. “We never expected they would attack all the kingdoms at once! We didn’t plan for that! I told everyone to split their armies in half! I left everyone outnumbered!”
Xanthous placed his hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. “Alex, you don’t have to be upset. Even with half the armies in hiding, we still managed to outnumber them!”
Both the twins’ hearts started racing, but for the first time in a while they beat in a good way. Was he telling them good news or were they just imagining it?
“Did you just say you outnumbered the Armée?” Conner asked. “But how is that possible? They were double the size of us.”
A proud smile came to Xanthous’s face. “It seems both sides made a mistake in counting,” he said. “They counted the kingdoms’ armies after they were divided and only sent enough soldiers to match those numbers. And it seems we didn’t incorporate the forgotten army in our estimates.”
“What forgotten army?” Alex asked. Her head was spinning trying to recall a kingdom or territory they hadn’t counted.
“The citizens!” Xanthous exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything like it! As soon as the Grande Armée and their recruited criminals crossed into the Charming Kingdom, all the average civilians left their homes to join the army in the fight! And it didn’t just happen in the Charming Kingdom; I’ve heard word from Skylene, Rosette, Tangerina, and Coral—the same thing happened in the other kingdoms as well!”
“That’s awesome!” Conner said with a celebratory fist pump.
It sounded too good to be true and Alex wanted to get all the facts straight before she got her hopes up. “Wait a second. You’re telling me the majority of the Grande Armée has been wiped out and we still have half of the Happily Ever After Assembly armies in hiding waiting to reappear?”
“Yes!” Xanthous nodded.
“So that means we outnumber them now! And by a lot!” Conner happily concluded.
“We do!” Xanthous said, and picked up both the twins and whirled them around the cottage. “We just might win this war after all!”
The twins were so happy to hear this they hollered and jumped around the cottage. Their celebration was cut short when Alex remembered there may have been more than just soldiers at stake.
“Xanthous, the war isn’t over yet,” she said. “There is a chance the Grande Armée has obtained a dragon egg! We still need to rally every last soldier we can and get to the Fairy Kingdom before the Armée does! I bet they’re planning to strike it last!”
“But that’s impossible,” Xanthous said. “Dragons have been extinct for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
“I’m afraid it’s very possible,” Hagetta said. “I’ve never seen one myself but there have been rumors among the witch community for a very long time that one or two were preserved.”
Xanthous sighed and the flames on his head and shoulders went low as he thought about it. “Then let’s not waste another minute,” he said. “Alex, it’s time for the signal. Let’s get back to the Fairy Kingdom—it should only take the kingdoms’ armies a day or two to meet us there.”
“No, that’s not good enough,” Conner said. “We need a way to get all these men to the Fairy Palace now. As soon as the general hears his units have been defeated he’ll want to strike again soon.”
“But you can’t get thousands and thousands of men to the same place at one time,” Xanthous said. “There isn’t a flying ship or a secret path large enough.”
Alex went very quiet and thought to herself. “It’ll have to be a spell—possibly the biggest act of magic ever done in the history of the fairy-tale world,” she said. “The signal has to alert all the soldiers and transport them to the Fairy Kingdom at the same time.”
“But who or what is that powerful?” Conner said. “I don’t think Grandma or the Enchantress could pull off something like that.”
Xanthous and Alex looked at each other but neither of them had an answer or an idea. Alex thought back to her magic lessons with her grandmother—if Alex could just visualize something well enough, she knew she could make it happen. But what could she possibly visualize that would accomplish this?
Hagetta cleared her throat. “If I were you, I would use the night sky as an ally,” she said. “During times of trouble, most people look to the stars for guidance.”
It was exactly what Alex needed to hear. Her eyes grew and she looked up to the cottage ceiling as the idea came to her. She imagined it perfectly, as if she were seeing it projected on the ceiling above her. “I know what the spell has to be!” she said. “I’m going to need help, but I think it’s crazy enough to work!”
“You’ve never let us down before,” Xanthous said.
His words were encouraging and Alex needed encouragement now more than ever. “Xanthous, I want you to collect all the fairies stationed throughout the kingdoms and meet us back in the Fairy Kingdom,” Alex said. “Conner and Lester, you’ll come with me.”
Xanthous bowed to Alex and Conner. “I’ll see you there.” He burst into bright shimmering sparks and disappeared into thin air.
“Where are we going?” Conner asked, but before she could answer, Alex raced out of the cottage and onto the grassy lawn outside. Conner and Lester quickly followed her out and Hagetta watched from the doorway.
Alex climbed onto Lester’s back and took his reins. She gestured for Conner to do the same and this time he sat behind her on the goose.
“Lester, I want you to fly as high into the sky as you possibly can,” she instructed him, and he nodded eagerly.
“So what are you going to do?” Conner asked Alex. “This might be the single most important spell you’ll ever cast in your life—no pressure or anything!”
Alex looked over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s not what I’m going to do, it’s what we’re going to do.”
“Huh? What am I supposed to do?” Conner asked.
“You’ll see,” Alex said with a mischievous grin. “All right, Lester, let’s go!”
Lester spread his enormous wings and lunged forward. The twins waved back to Hagetta as he soared into the sky.
“Thank you for everything, Hagetta!” Conner called behind them.
“Best of luck, children!” she said, and waved them off.
They flew so high into the night sky Hagetta’s cottage disappeared from view. All they could see was a sea of trees that stretched into the distance for miles around. Lester tirelessly flapped his wings until the air became too thin and he couldn’t fly any higher.
“This is good, boy,” Alex said, and raised her wand over her head. “Conner, hold my wand with me—you’re helping me do this.”
“Me? I don’t know how to do magic!”
“Yes you do,” Alex assured him. “You’re just as capable as me—you just have to believe it! No matter how much you deny it, there is just as much magic in your blood as there is in mine. Grandma taught me that the key to magic is having confidence—and with your help, I know we can make this spell work.”
Conner was hesitant. “Okay, but if this doesn’t work, it’s not my fault.”
“I know it will!” Alex said. “Just believe you can do this! And hold on, we’re about to go very fast!”
Conner reluctantly grabbed the end of his sister’s wand and they raised it together.
The world appeared to go in slow motion as they raised the wand above their heads. The twins could feel magic rush through their bodies and into the wand in their hands. Not only did they feel it surging from inside of them, but they also felt it traveling through the air around them. It was as if they were summoning all the magic in the world to help them cast this spell.
The twins pointed the wand into the sky directly ahead of them and a gigantic blast of white light erupted from the tip and surrounded them. Like a cannonball, they shot through the air and headed toward the Fairy Kingdom. Alex and Conner had turned themselves and Lester into a shooting star that bolted across the sky faster than anything had ever traveled before.
It was so bright everyone and everything in all the kingdoms below stared up at it in bewilderment. Upon seeing it, every soldier of the Happily Ever After Assembly armies, on duty or in hiding, turned into his or her own sphere of light and instantly shot through the sky to join the twins. The more kingdoms they traveled across, the more soldiers were attached, and the larger the star became. It was as if thousands and thousands of shooting stars had been launched from the ground and then came together to form a massive comet.
With one flick of a wand, Alex and Conner had performed the greatest act of magic ever achieved. They united all the armies in the world so they could finish off the Armée who had threatened their home. Together they flew across the night sky, heading to the Fairy Palace with enough light to re-start the sun.