“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I know how to break the curse! I know how to save my sister!”
Conner instantly had everyone’s attention. Even Hero was interested in what he had come up with. But before Conner shared his plan, he ran to the edge of Liberty Island and looked across the river at the Manhattan skyline. Most of the island was covered in his sister’s vines, but Alex herself was nowhere in sight.
“I need a better view of the city,” Conner said. “Lester, could you give me a lift to Lady Liberty’s torch?”
The giant gander leaned down so Conner could climb on his back. Bree’s curiosity got the best of her and she hopped aboard Lester, too. They flew to the very top of the Statue of Liberty, and Lester dropped the teenagers off on Lady Liberty’s torch.
“So?” Bree asked. “How are you going to break the curse?”
Conner shrugged. “Oh, I have no idea.”
“Then what’s your secret plan?” she asked.
“I’m going to ask someone who does have an idea,” he said. “But first, I need to know exactly where Alex is—otherwise the plan isn’t going to work.”
They scanned the city like it was an ancient text. Finally, they spotted Alex drifting through the buildings of downtown Manhattan. She flew to the top of the Freedom Tower and watched her vines spreading through the streets below. The lion statues climbed the sides of the towering skyscraper and joined her.
“Great, she’s landed!” Conner said. “If we can just get her away from those statues, I might have a shot at saving her!”
Suddenly, something moving in the Hudson River caught their attention. A small boat painted in camouflage colors was speeding up the river. The boat docked on Liberty Island, and they watched as General Wilson, a dozen Marines, and a very familiar old woman climbed onto the island.
“Cornelia?” Bree said in disbelief. “But what the heck is she doing here?”
Conner and Bree quickly climbed aboard Lester, and the gander transported them back to the ground. By the time they arrived, all the characters had gathered around Cornelia, the general, and his Marines.
“I’m here on urgent business, so everyone listen carefully,” General Wilson said. “I don’t know who you people are, where you’re from, or why you’re in my country, but you all need to return home immediately.”
“Seriously, Gunther?” Cornelia berated him. “Do you really expect people to respect you when you address them like that? Not all of us are Marines, you know.”
The general did his best to ignore her remarks, but everyone could tell they were getting under his skin.
“In less than an hour, the United States military will be dropping a nuclear weapon on the city of New York,” he announced. “Unless you want to be caught in its detonation range, you must leave this island at once.”
“What?” Charlotte gasped.
“You can’t nuke the city!” Conner yelled. “My sister’s still over there!”
“I’m sorry for your loss, but the decision has been made,” General Wilson said.
“This is exactly what I warned you about, Gunther!” Cornelia said. “Had you just listened to me when I first told you about the portals to other dimensions, none of this would be happening right now!”
The general’s nostrils flared. “Cornelia, I invited you here to help me communicate with these people, not reprimand me in front of them!”
“You invited me here?” she asked. “Forty armed guards showed up at my house in the middle of the night, pulled me out of bed, and threw me into the back of a jeep! If that’s your definition of an invitation, I’d hate to see how you arrest someone!”
“Cornelia, how do you and the general know each other?” Bree asked.
“We used to date,” Cornelia explained. “I spent years trying to warn him about the portal between worlds, but no matter how much interdimensional evidence I gathered, he never took the Sisters Grimm seriously. And now here we are, minutes away from destroying the greatest city in the world!”
“This is not the time to say I told you so,” the general barked.
“I don’t need to say it,” Cornelia snapped. “It’s abundantly clear!”
“Okay, time out!” Conner shouted. “Obviously you two have issues that never got resolved, but can we go back to the part about nuking New York City? That can’t be the only option!”
General Wilson pointed across the river to the vines demolishing the buildings throughout downtown. “We have to stop that from spreading to the rest of the world,” he said. “Unless you’ve got a better idea, the army will be dropping a nuke in thirty-five minutes.”
Conner glanced at his sister on top of the Freedom Tower. His plan to free Alex from the curse would be the most difficult mission of his life, but he would rather die trying to save her than do nothing and watch her perish.
“Actually, I do have a better idea,” he said. “Who’s got a pen?”
The Freedom Tower was the tallest building in Manhattan and provided Alex with a breathtaking view of the city as she destroyed it. At the very top of the building, wrapped around the base of the antenna, was the Communication Platform Ring. The three-level platform was filled with radio equipment, giant lights, wires, and hundreds of support beams. Alex and the lion statues walked around the platform as they watched the vines consume the Big Apple below them.
Suddenly, the Mad Moth whooshed out of the sky and knocked both lion statues to another rooftop nearby. The massive insect roared like a banshee and pounded the statues into smithereens. The Mad Moth gobbled up the small chunks of stone before they could rematerialize into the lions. A thunderous burp erupted from the alien’s mouth, causing the windows of a neighboring building to shatter.
Unbeknownst to Alex, while she watched the Mad Moth devour her stone guardians, Lester had snuck onto the roof behind her and dropped off eight passengers. Alex heard their footsteps as they spread out on the platform, but when she turned around, there was no one in sight. Alex briskly walked through the levels of the platform and searched for the intruders.
“I’ve spent the last thirty-eight hours wondering how to help you,” Conner called out from his hiding spot. “I’ve thought of spells, potions, charms, enchantments—but none of them were powerful enough to break the curse. Then I remembered that when we were kids nothing helped you forget your troubles more than a good story. So I wrote you one—here it goes.”
Conner stepped out from behind a support beam, and Alex hit her brother with a bright burst of light. It knocked him unconscious, and Conner collapsed on the platform. Seeing her brother injured, even by her own hand, broke the curse temporarily, and Alex returned to normal.
“Conner!” she yelled.