Once the dragon had dealt with the unicorns, he sped toward the palace. His wings spread out on either side as he went in for the attack.
“What do we do now?” Jack asked the men and women around him.
Conner was the only one to respond. “Pray,” he said.
Mother Goose took a giant swig from her flask and walked toward the oncoming dragon. “I’m going to distract it—the rest of you run for the forests!”
“You can’t! You’ll get crushed!” Conner pleaded.
Mother Goose looked back at him. “It’s all right, C-Dog,” she said with sad eyes. “It’s my fault this even happened in the first place—it’s time I took a little responsibility.”
Before she could take another step forward, the dragon roared violently and the sound knocked everyone to their knees. As they helped one another to their feet they heard a familiar voice behind them.
“Step aside, Goose. Slaying dragons was never your cup of tea,” said a woman’s soft and sweet voice. Everyone turned to look at the top of the Fairy Palace’s front steps and couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Grandma?” Conner panted.
The Fairy Godmother had appeared, wearing nothing but her nightgown. “Forgive my appearance; I only just woke a few moments ago and didn’t have time to dress for the occasion,” she apologized.
The dragon stopped in his tracks when he saw the Fairy Godmother. She was the only thing that intimidated him in the slightest—as if it was in his DNA to fear her. He roared at her, knocking everyone back to the ground except for the Fairy Godmother.
She walked barefoot down the steps and into the gardens toward the gigantic beast with her wand ready. Alex ran out of the palace and joined Conner at the front steps. She gasped and dropped to a seated position when she saw what the others were witnessing.
The sight was unbelievable—their tiny grandmother gingerly walked toward a massive fire-breathing dragon as if she were taking a trip to the grocery store.
“Grandma! Wait! You can’t do this!” Conner yelled.
“Grandma, you’re sick! Please come back!” Alex cried after her.
Their grandmother looked at them with a twinkle in her eye. “Don’t worry, children, I still have a little magic left inside me and I couldn’t think of a better way to use it,” she said. “This is going to be fun.”
The men and women, soldiers and fairies, kings and queens, and trolls and goblins watched in disbelief as the old woman walked closer to the dragon. The giant creature screeched at the Fairy Godmother and blew a fiery geyser in her direction. She blocked it with her wand and the fire was sent in all directions except to the palace behind her.
“You’ve picked the wrong yard to make a mess in,” the Fairy Godmother said to the dragon.
“Don’t just sit there—destroy her!” the Masked Man demanded from the other side of the gardens.
The dragon blew his strongest gusts of fiery breath at the old woman, but she blocked every one of them with her wand. The twins clutched each other, terrified they were about to see their grandmother get hurt, but on the contrary, their grandmother laughed as the dragon attempted to harm her.
“The key to slaying a dragon is to always remember you’re much smarter and more powerful than he is,” the Fairy Godmother called to the men and women behind her. “He may seem scary, but he’s really nothing but a large winged reptile with horrid breath.”
A long silvery trail erupted from the tip of the Fairy Godmother’s wand. She happily waved her wand in the air as if she were conducting an orchestra and the trail slashed through the air like a giant whip. The trail grew longer and longer by the second. The dragon jumped back and forth, trying to avoid it. Eventually the trail was so long the dragon tangled himself in it when he tried flying away.
The Fairy Godmother had the dragon exactly where she wanted him. She cracked her wand like a whip again, and the trail that was wrapped around the dragon grew brighter and brighter. The others covered their eyes at the blinding sight and the dragon burst into clumps of ash.
“NOOOOO!” the Masked Man screamed, and the sound echoed throughout the entire kingdom. He turned back to the Grande Armée soldiers with infuriated eyes—it was a face much more frightening than any the general had ever made. “Don’t just stand their gawking at me, you idiots! We need to get out of this kingdom immediately!”
None of the soldiers questioned the Masked Man’s leadership, and they hurried behind him and escaped into the forest before the fairies came after them.
The Fairy Godmother took a deep, satisfied breath and closed her eyes. Her knees gave way and she slowly fell to the ground, landing softly on her back.
“GRANDMA!” the twins shouted in unison. They ran to her side and propped her head up in their laps.
“Grandma, are you all right?” Conner asked.
“Are you hurt?” Alex asked.
Their grandmother smiled warmly up at them. “I thought I would go out with a bang,” she said weakly. “I knew there was a reason I hadn’t passed on yet, and I’m so glad you got to see your old granny in action before I did.”
“Grandma, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” Conner said.
“You’re amazing, Grandma,” Alex said. “Please don’t leave us.”
“Leave?” their grandmother said, and she made a funny face at them. “Who said anything about leaving?”
“Aren’t you dying?” Conner asked her softly. “Isn’t that why you wouldn’t get out of bed?”
The Fairy Godmother put her hands on her grandchildren’s faces. “Yes, children, I am dying,” she said. “But what the other fairies didn’t explain is that a fairy never really dies. When a fairy’s time is up, his or her soul simply returns to magic. They become the very substance that helps the fairies make the world a better place. Even when I’m gone I’ll still be with you both. Every time you wave a wand, or cast a spell, or use an enchantment, I’ll be watching from afar with enough pride to light the sky.”
Tears spilled out of the twins’ eyes and rolled down their faces. Their grandmother’s voice gradually became softer and softer as she spoke. They weren’t sure if this was true or if she was just trying to make them feel better, but they knew it would only be a few moments before she was gone.
“We love you so much, Grandma,” Alex said. “I don’t know what our lives would have been like without you.”
“Boring, that’s for sure,” Conner joked. “You were the most magical grandmother a couple kids could ask for—literally! I think you pretty much have that title in the bag.”
The twins saw their grandmother’s trademark smile that wrinkled her eyes appear one last time on her face. It was the same smile as their dad’s, and it was their favorite smile in the whole world.
“I love you, children,” she said. “Take care of each other—and remember, I’ll never be further than a thought away.”
The Fairy Godmother’s eyes closed for the final time. Her body became weightless in their hands and transformed into hundreds of bright sparkling lights. The lights floated through the air and joined the starry night sky above them.
Alex and Conner had never seen anything like it. Even as she passed away, their grandmother found a way to leave the twins fascinated—perhaps she had indeed returned to magic after all. The twins hugged each other and cried in each other’s arms as the sun rose above them. The Fairy Godmother was gone, but the Fairy Kingdom had lived to see another day.