“You guys sure are a sight for sore eyes,” Charlotte said. “We could really use your help. New York City is under attack! The witches and the Literary Army have crossed into the Otherworld!”
“The witches?” Emerelda asked. “What on earth are they doing in the Otherworld?”
“I imagine the same thing as the Literary Army,” Mother Goose said. “Come on, Emerelda, you can’t be that surprised. It’s just like the kids say: Witches be witches.”
“They kidnapped Alex a week ago and have put her under some sort of spell,” Charlotte informed them. “Conner and his friends came to the city yesterday to find her, but now we’re not certain where any of them are. Before she was kidnapped, Alex helped Conner assemble an army from his short stories to fight the Literary Army, but I’m not exactly qualified to lead them.”
If there was ever a moment where someone with natural leadership skills would be of use, this was it. Arthur looked at Merlin and the wizard nodded—it was the young king’s time to shine. Arthur scaled the side of the Statue of Liberty’s platform and whistled down to get everyone’s attention.
“Everyone listen up,” he said. “We’ve got people to find and an army to defeat. We’ll accomplish neither of these things if we just stand around scratching our heads. So first things first—Lester, I want you to do a lap around the city and see if you can spot either Alex or her brother. Come back to us the moment you see something.”
Lester saluted the young king and took off at once.
“As for the rest of you, we’ll need to split up into four teams,” Arthur instructed. “Team one will go after the witches, team two will face Captain Hook and his pirates, team three will confront the Wicked Witch, the Winkies, and the flying monkeys, and team four will track down the Queen of Hearts and her card soldiers.”
All the characters were confused. None of them had the slightest clue who this bossy young man was.
“EXCUSE ME, BUT WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? THE KING OF ENGLAND?” Robin Hood asked.
“That’s exactly who he is,” Mother Goose announced. “Everyone, meet King Arthur! He just pulled the sword out of the stone back in Camelot!”
“OH,” Robin Hood said. “IN THAT CASE, CARRY ON!”
Arthur let the disrespect roll off his back and dived into planning mode.
“Before we storm the city, it’s crucial we know how to defeat the villains we’re up against,” he said. “Does anyone know how to defeat Captain Hook or the Queen of Hearts or the Wicked Witch?”
Liberty Island went completely silent as everyone thought about it. The Lost Boys, Blubo, and the Tin Woodman had always dreamed about destroying the villains from their home worlds, but none of them knew how to actually go about it.
“Gosh, it’s been so long since I read those books,” Charlotte said.
“Oh, I know!” Bob announced. “Wait—never mind, that was how they did it in the movie, not the book.”
“Oh come now,” Arthur said encouragingly. “There’s got to be someone who knows about their weaknesses!”
To the rest of the crew’s surprise, Catfish Kate raised a hand. “Master Bailey knew how to defeat Smoky-Sails Sam,” the pirate said. “I bet he would know exactly how to defeat Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, and the Wicked Witch!”
“You idiot,” High-Tide Tabitha said. “That was because Smoky-Sails Sam was Master Bailey’s character—the captain, the queen, and the witch aren’t his creations.”
“Then who is their creator?” Arthur asked. “We must speak to him immediately!”
“You can’t,” Bob said. “James M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll, and L. Frank Baum have all been dead for decades.”
Charlotte didn’t want to give up just yet, so she imagined what Alex or Conner would do to get the answers they needed. Her eyes were drawn to the binder of short stories and the flask of Portal Potion in her hands.
“Wait a second,” she said. “Maybe it is possible to speak to them. If we wrote a story where the authors came back to life, we could use the Portal Potion to enter the story and ask them how to defeat their characters!”
“Holy Mary Shelley,” Mother Goose said. “It’s both brilliant and immoral—just like me!”
“I’m more than willing to break some morality clauses if it means saving the world,” Charlotte said. “Who’s got a pen?”
Beau Rogers handed Charlotte a pen from inside his leather jacket. She sat on the ground and quickly jotted down the short story she had in mind on a blank page in Conner’s binder. Once she was finished, Charlotte poured a few drops of the Portal Potion on the story, and a beam of light shot out from it.
“Here goes nothing,” she said.
Charlotte stepped through the beam and entered a bright and endless space. The words from her story floated in the air all around her. She watched in wonder as the words started to stretch and gain color and texture. Soon Charlotte found herself in a dark room with three empty chairs. The words James M. Barrie, Lewis Carroll, and L. Frank Baum slowly transformed into the men they described, and the authors materialized before her eyes.
“Hello, gentlemen,” Charlotte said. “We need to talk.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
FAIRIES VS. WITCHES
Once the battery on Bree’s cell phone died, Conner and his friends had no way of tracking the time. They felt like they had been trapped in the candy cane cage for days, but whether that was due to the time alteration or their anxiety was anyone’s guess. The escapees they’d met under the Bethesda Terrace and the captives in the other cages all sat silently. They watched the horrible events around them as if they were trapped in a nightmare they couldn’t wake from.
Goldilocks hadn’t sat down once since they were put inside the cage. Her eyes never left Hero as he bounced around in the BabyBj?rn attached to Rat Mary. Eventually, the infant became hungry and started to cry. Instead of giving him back to his mother, Rat Mary tried feeding him a bottle of bright green elixir—a potion Conner and his friends didn’t recognize. Hero smelled the liquid and wisely refused it.
“Attaboy,” Goldilocks whispered.