“I am not your errand girl, Butterboy,” Trollbella said. “There’ll be no more favors between us until you’re ready to commit.”
“Fine,” Conner said. “Bree, will you please get my mom and Bob—”
“Fine, I’ll fetch my Butter-in-laws,” Trollbella said. “But please stop begging—I hate seeing how vulnerable you’ve become without me.”
Conner and Bree ran down the hall toward the commissary as Trollbella fetched Charlotte and Bob. They found all their friends from Oz, Neverland, the Sherwood Forest, The Land of Stories, and Conner’s short stories “The Adventures of Blimp Boy,” “The Ziblings,” and “Galaxy Queen” huddled around Jack and Red. The only ones who weren’t paying attention to their arrival were the pirates from “Starboardia,” who never looked away from the television.
“Are they still watching that ditzy woman?” Red asked. “The Otherworld may be advanced, but it sure leads to some awful habits.”
“Well?” Conner asked, getting straight to the point. “Did you find my sister?”
Jack slowly shook his head. “No,” he said. “We looked at all the places we thought she would be—the ruins of the Fairy Palace, the Giant’s Castle in the sky, the clock tower of the Charming Palace—but we didn’t find a trace of her.”
The news was so disappointing, Conner had to sit down. If Alex wasn’t in the fairy-tale world, he didn’t know where else to look. His train of thought shifted from thinking of places she might be to worrying she’d never be found.
“I’m sorry you didn’t find Alex, but I’m so glad you’re back,” Goldilocks told Jack as she cradled their newborn son. “It’s a miracle you weren’t spotted, even at Lester’s heights.”
Jack went to his wife’s side and kissed Hero on the forehead. Red gave Goldilocks a large hug from behind, as if the sentiment were meant for her.
“Goldilocks, you’re back on your feet!” Red pointed out. “Is it safe for you to be walking again so soon after giving birth?”
“Red, I had a baby, not a whale,” Goldilocks said. “How is the fairy-tale world? Are the conditions any better?”
“It’s exactly as we left it,” Jack told the room. “The citizens from all the kingdoms are still being held in Swan Lake, if they’re not building monuments to the emperors. The Literary Army is lined up on the lawns of the Northern Palace, but all they do is march all day—as if they’re waiting for something to happen.”
“It sounds like they’re preparing for battle,” Goldilocks said. “They couldn’t be expecting us, could they?”
“I imagine it’s just a scare tactic to keep the citizens from rebelling,” Jack said. “They still haven’t discovered the royal families in the abandoned mine, so I doubt they’ve caught wind of us. How could they?”
“And the others in the mine? Are they still… made of stone?” Goldilocks asked.
“Unfortunately so,” Jack said. “Same goes for the Fairy Council.”
“Oh, it was a terrible sight!” Red said, and shuddered at the thought. “All their faces were frozen in the most unattractive expressions of terror. If someone turns me into stone, I hope they have the decency to tell me something amusing beforehand.”
“What about the creature that did it?” the Tin Woodman asked. “Was there any sign of who or what it is?”
“They wouldn’t be here if they had seen it,” Blubo said, and recalled the terrifying moments he had spent in its presence. “All it took was one glance, and boom! Everyone went stiff as a rock. I wouldn’t be here if my eyes hadn’t been closed.”
Commander Newters gulped fearfully and turned to Conner. “There are creatures that turn others into stone in the Land of Stories?” he asked.
“It didn’t come from the fairy-tale world,” Conner said. “It must have been a character my uncle recruited using the Portal Potion—I just don’t know which story it’s from.”
“Does it have to be from literature?” Beau Rogers asked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were talking about Medusa from Greek mythology.”
“What’s a Medusa?” Peter Pan asked.
“She’s a horrible monster,” Beau Rogers animatedly replied. “Legend says she has a long, scaly body, fangs, and snakes for hair! Just one gaze into her red eyes will turn you into a statue!”
The Lost Boys covered their eyes, ears, and mouths at the young archaeologist’s frightening description. The Blissworm clapped its tiny hands together, anxious to meet her.
“DON’T WORRY, LADS,” Robin Hood said. “I’VE COURTED MANY A MAIDEN WHO TURNED OUT TO BE FAR WORSE. WITH JUST A FEW VERSES OF A ROMANTIC POEM, SHE WILL BE PUTTY IN MY HANDS.”
The Prince of Thieves didn’t make anyone feel better about the situation, especially Conner. He got to his feet and started pacing around the room. A very difficult decision had to be made, and Conner couldn’t delay it a moment longer.
“We can’t waste any more time,” he said. “Tomorrow we’re going to fight the Literary Army and reclaim the fairy-tale world. I never thought we’d have to do it without my sister, but we can’t let the people suffer any longer.”
“Poor Alex,” Red said. “There have been many times I’ve disappeared for some me time, but I always return after a couple of hours. I hope she’ll resurface in time to help us. She put so much work into recruiting our army—it’d be a shame if she missed the war completely.”
Suddenly, Goldilocks’s face lit up with an idea. Red’s nonsense always had a funny way of putting things into perspective for her.
“Hold your horses,” Goldilocks said.
“Which horses?” the Tin Woodman asked.
“No, it’s a figure of speech,” Goldilocks said, and got back to her point. “We’ve been looking at the Literary Army and at Alex’s disappearance like they’re separate situations, but what if they’re more related than we think? After all, we’re at war—a war Alex is a key player in. It’s very possible someone is using Alex to sabotage us. Perhaps it’s time we stop asking where Alex went and start asking who took her.”
Of all the directions Conner’s mind had gone in the last week, this was a conclusion he’d never come to. His sister was so powerful and strong-minded; it was hard to imagine that someone could abduct her from the hospital without anyone noticing, especially someone from the Literary Army.
“They couldn’t have taken Alex,” Conner said. “Even if the Literary Army knew we existed, they have no way of accessing the Otherworld. Besides, I think one of us would have noticed a card soldier or flying monkey walking around.”
“I didn’t say it was the Literary Army,” Goldilocks said. “In times of conflict, there’s always the enemy you know and the enemy you don’t. The Literary Army may be who we’re up against, but who’s the third party we’re forgetting to consider? Who else would benefit if either of our armies was defeated?”