“I was working a night shift at the castle,” the janitor said. “We tried calling the police but couldn’t get a signal or a dial tone on any of the phones. When the coast was clear, the three of us made a quick dash to Tavern on the Green.”
“And that’s where they met me,” the biker said. “My friends and I were cycling around the perimeter of the park and also took a shortcut to get home. After the shield went up, we hid from the witches in Tavern on the Green with other people who got trapped in the park. We thought we were safe there, but eventually they found us. We’re the only four who escaped!”
“The rest were captured and taken to the witches’ base,” the woman in pink said. “We’ve been hiding under the terrace ever since.”
The janitor began to laugh, but not because he was amused. He started rocking back and forth as if he was on the verge of losing his sanity.
“You know, the guy I replaced was fired for making wild claims about magical things in the park,” he said. “We all thought old Rusty was just insane, and now here I am, cowering like a toddler from a bunch of witches. Funny how the tables have turned.”
The people under the terrace looked exhausted, and they trembled as they spoke. Obviously they had been through quite an ordeal, but something about their story wasn’t adding up.
“You guys make it seem like you’ve been here for days,” Conner said. “The witches have only been in the park for an hour at most. How have you covered so much ground?”
The joggers, the biker, and the janitor all exchanged bewildered looks.
“Sweetie, we have been here for days,” the woman in pink said.
“What?” Conner said. “How is that possible?”
“Ever since the shield went up, time in Central Park started moving much slower than in the rest of the city,” the man in green said. “All the clocks on Fifth Avenue have barely moved, and it’s been two days since any of us saw the sun!”
“An hour inside the park is like a second outside it,” his wife said. “Whenever we see people on the other side of the shield, they’re barely moving—like they’re stuck in slow motion!”
Conner felt like his heart had stopped beating. Now he understood why it had taken his friends so long to crawl out of the tunnel—Alex wasn’t only shielding the park, she was altering its time, too! Whatever the witches were up to, they had bought themselves plenty of time to get it done.
“Wait, why are you so surprised to hear this?” the biker asked. “Haven’t you been in the park for just as long?”
“No, we just got here,” Conner said.
“You mean there’s a way out of the park?” the janitor said, and jumped to his feet. “You’ve got to take us there! I’m going to lose my mind if I have to stay here another—”
“Quiet!” Goldilocks whispered. “Someone’s approaching!”
Conner, his friends, and the escapees quickly hid behind the pillars in the walkway. They heard footsteps, and soon four figures appeared in the distance. Rat Mary and Serpentina were escorting a Boy Scout and a Girl Scout to the Bethesda Fountain. The witches pushed, kicked, and called the Scouts foul names as they went. The children looked terrified and even more exhausted than the escapees under the terrace. They each carried two large wooden buckets and placed them in the fountain’s pool.
“Now fill them up, you filthy hobgoblins!” Rat Mary ordered. “And hurry! The Mistresses are waiting for their refreshments!”
The Scouts followed her commands and filled their buckets with water from the fountain. Serpentina scanned the water with a peculiar expression.
“Thisss doesn’t look any better than the water in lakesss or pondsss,” she hissed. “The Mistressesss requested clean water.”
“What the Mistresses don’t know won’t hurt them,” Rat Mary said. “Besides, the Snow Queen and the Sea Witch promised us that life in the Otherworld would be different. So far, it doesn’t seem to be any different from back home. We’re still doing all the work while they sit on their thrones and do nothing.”
“You know, Morina may have intentionally led usss all to our deathsss, but I’m starting to ressspect her,” Serpentina said. “Ssshe’s probably back in the kingdomsss enjoying being the only—”
Even though no one made a sound under the terrace, both witches suddenly snapped their heads toward it. Conner, his friends, and the escapees all held their breath and tucked themselves as far as possible behind the pillars.
“I thought I heard something,” Serpentina said.
“Probably more humans—yuck,” Rat Mary said. “I look forward to exterminating them all. They’re the true vermin of this world.”
“Ssshould we round them up and take them back to the bassse?” Serpentina asked.
“No, we’ve done our task,” Rat Mary said. “We’ll send another witch to come back for them.”
The Scouts finished filling their buckets, which became so heavy that the children could barely carry them. The witches shoved the Scouts back in the direction they’d come from and disappeared into the park. The escapees under the terrace waited a couple of minutes before moving, just to make sure the witches were gone.
“That was a close one,” the woman in pink said. “Let’s get out of here before other witches come back to capture us.”
The group of escapees hurried through the walkway and away from the terrace. They climbed a flight of stairs leading to a path on higher ground and heard a loud POP from above them. They looked up in terror to see Rat Mary glaring at them from the top of the stairs. The witch roared with laughter and exposed her tiny, sharp teeth.
“You didn’t actually think we’d leave you here, did you?” she said.
The escapees turned around and ran back toward the terrace, but after another loud POP, Serpentina appeared and blocked their way.
“You aren’t going anywhere!” she roared. “Sssay, I recognize sssome of you from our home world! You’re the friends and brother of the Bailey girl! Oh my, the Mistressesss will be ssso pleasssed we captured you!”
“We aren’t coming quietly!” Jack shouted.
He raised his axe and Goldilocks raised her sword, but Rat Mary and Serpentina snapped their fingers and the weapons flew into the witches’ hands. The BabyBj?rn, with Hero inside, also unfastened itself from around Goldilocks, flew to Rat Mary, and wrapped around her torso. The witch looked down at the strange holster and was pleasantly surprised to find an infant attached to it.
“It’s my lucky day,” Rat Mary said. “There are so many potions I’ve always wanted to make that require an infant as the main ingredient.”
“NOOOO!” Goldilocks yelled.
She charged up the stairs to rescue her son, but Serpentina’s long tongue wrapped around Goldilocks’s leg and dragged her back down the steps.
“If you even think about hurting him, I’ll teach you a new definition of pain!” Goldilocks warned the witches.
Rat Mary and Serpentina shared a menacing laugh.
“I sincerely doubt you’ll get the chance,” Rat Mary said. “Not where you’re going, at least.”