FROM: Anna Cobbler (2 Boot Way) TO: Gillian Cobbler (Fairy Tale Reform School*) *Letter checked for suspicious content Gilly,
I don’t understand you! When Mother and Father got word you were being released, I couldn’t wait to go with them to pick you up. Han, Hamish, Trixie, and Felix were decorating for your welcome home party. How could you stay and let all of us down? Everyone was in tears when we came home without you.
Do you have any idea how hard things have been without you? Money is tighter than ever. Father lost business when people found out his daughter had been hauled off to FTRS. Mother took on a second job as a seamstress, but there’s still not enough to get by. I thought we could hold on ’til your return, but I have no idea when that will be. And the only way I can talk to you is by scroll now that Enchantasia is on lockdown because of Alva. Thanks Gilly—for nothing.
Anna
Pegasus Postal Service Flying Letters Since The Troll War!
FROM: Gillian Cobbler (Fairy Tale Reform School*) *Letter checked for suspicious content TO: Anna Cobbler (2 Boot Way) Anna Banana,
Please don’t be mad at me. Being stuck at FTRS has made me see that doing the easy thing is not always the right thing. It kills me to hear how hard life has been for you guys, but be strong. There has to be another way to get food. Ask Gnome-olia if you can work one afternoon after school and take home stale bread. Or talk to Combing the Sea about helping sell their Rapunzel line. You’re a natural salesperson! You even had me wanting her shampoo. Help Father think up an even cooler shoe than a glass slipper. Then everyone will be begging for his foot apparel!
In here, I’ve learned stealing can’t be a career. That’s why I have to stick around FTRS for a while. To learn what I’m good at so I can have a job to help you all when I get out. I was as selfish as a pixie before FTRS, but I promise next time you see me, you’re going to be proud. That’s something I want more than anything in this world.
Love, Gilly Bean
CHAPTER 19
The End or the Beginning?
It took almost a week for the FTRS crew to clean up the mess left behind by Alva. It took another for the students to be allowed to leave their dorm rooms unaccompanied by a teacher, which was tough since there wasn’t enough staff left to cover the students. Harlow was in the dungeons. Madame Cleo was on a month-long spiritual retreat near the Enchanted Sea. Professor Wolfington had disappeared. Most of the students I knew still didn’t understand what had happened. They were rattled. And they hadn’t had to fight Sleeping Beauty’s tormentor.
It was time to get some answers, and there was only one person still around to give them: Headmistress Flora.
The day we were allowed to roam the halls freely again, we made a beeline for Flora’s office. Painters and workers were still hanging new art, painting walls, and cleaning rugs. The area of the school near the ballroom was off-limits due to debris and unstable ground. For now, we were being schooled in the main building. Headmistress Flora insisted life get back to normal as quickly as possible.
But we all knew things were anything but normal.
“Come in,” the Wicked Stepmother says when we knock on her door. “I was going to have Miri call you down so I could talk to you myself. Please, have a seat.”
I haven’t been in Flora’s office since that day I stole a scroll to see what she had planned for the ball. Before that, I was there the day I arrived at FTRS. “I think I’ll stand.”
Flora nods. “Understandable.” She threads her fingers together. “I believe you all have some questions for me.” The five of us start talking at once. Flora holds up her hand. “Maybe I should go first,” she suggests, and runs a hand through the tight bun in her hair. “I assume you want to know if your teachers were working with Alva.” The room is so quiet you can hear Maxine’s patent leather shoes tapping. “Well, the answer is yes.” Maxine inhales sharply. “Just not in the way you think.”
Flora rises and steps around her desk, much as she did the day I arrived at FTRS. Her dark gray gown makes her look like she’s in mourning. “We knew she had things planned for the royals and Enchantasia. What we didn’t know was what. We met with her when we could in the Hollow Woods, making it seem as if we were ready to join forces with her. Sadly, it seems Professor Harlow wanted to for real.” She looks at me intently. “This was not a matter we wanted our students entangled in. Your safety is our utmost concern, and going up against Alva at the ball was foolish.” She purses her lips. “That said, without you and Professor Wolfington, none of us might be here today.”