“What?”
Conner slapped his knee and burst into laughter. Alex shot him a dirty look.
“I’m just kidding, you’ve only been out for a week,” he said. “Sorry, I’ve had a really serious month, so I’m getting my jokes out where I can. The good news is New York is completely back to normal—well, as normal as it was before.”
“How did you rebuild an entire city in just a week?” President Walker asked.
“With the flames of an albino dragon,” Alex said like it was obvious. “It’s a magic fire that restores and heals everything it touches.”
“It’s also great for getting stains out of your clothes,” Conner said.
“We covered Manhattan in the flames, and once the city was reassembled, we transferred all the sleeping New Yorkers back to their homes—that part took the longest,” Alex said. “Then we erased the entire New York incident from everyone’s memory. The whole world will wake up tomorrow morning and go back to their regular lives like none of it ever happened.”
“If everything is taken care of, why bother telling me? Why not erase my memory as well?” the president asked.
“Because we need your help,” Alex said. “Unfortunately, during the battle a few witches escaped. We thought the majority of them were dead, but when we rebuilt the city, their remains were gone. A secret society known as the Sisters Grimm has agreed to track down the witches. Here’s a list of their names, contact information, and the government clearances they’ll need in order to start.”
Alex handed over a thick stack of papers, and the president gave the documents a quick scan.
“Who are the Book Huggers?” she asked.
“Oh, they’re the Sisters Grimm’s newest recruits,” Conner said. “The Book Huggers asked us to use their alias instead of their real names. They said the government would frame them if we disclosed their identities—you’d understand if you met them.”
“There’s one more thing,” Alex said. “I did everything I could to close it, but the bridge between worlds is here to stay. However, I managed to move the bridge from the New York Public Library into the pages of this book.”
Alex handed the president a thick storybook with a magenta cover. The title was written in gold: The Land of Stories: Volume Two.
“You have to keep the book shut or the bridge will reappear,” she explained. “We figured it was probably best to leave it with the president of the United States instead of leaving it lying around our mom’s house. You have to keep it somewhere safe and quiet so it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.”
“Put it next to the flying saucer from Roswell,” Conner said with a wink.
“Why are you trusting the United States with this?” President Walker asked. “I can keep this book as safe and quiet as I want, but if the next president has a different agenda, I won’t be able to stop them.”
“We can cross that bridge when we get to it,” Alex said. “Due to a strange phenomenon, our worlds have collided, and I don’t think something that significant happens by accident. So rather than fighting against it with more secrecy, maybe it’s time we come together? Who knows, it might be what the worlds have been planning from the beginning.”
“And why should I trust you?” the president said. “You say the curse is over, but how do I know the two of you aren’t a danger to national security?”
Alex and Conner looked at each other, and both burst out laughing.
“Madam President, we are absolutely a danger to national security,” Conner said. “But luckily for you, we’ve got each other to check and balance.”
“No matter how far we stumble from the path, we always guide each other back to it,” Alex said. “So you can always count on us to do the right thing.”
President Walker closed her eyes and rubbed her face. This meeting was providing a lot more information to digest than her usual appointments.
“I appreciate your coming here, but I’m going to need to discuss this with the Joint Chiefs of Staff before I can fully commit the United States to such a—”
When the president opened her eyes, the Bailey twins were gone. She looked around the Oval Office, but they had vanished into thin air. The president let out a deep sigh and glanced down at the magenta book in her hands. It was heavy in weight and in responsibility.
“And I thought health care would be my greatest hurdle,” she said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
HAPPILY EVER AFTER, AFTER ALL
Once the Otherworld was finally put back in order, the twins and their friends returned to the Land of Stories to do the same. The flames of the albino dragon burned through the fairy-tale world until every brick the Literary Army had misplaced was restored. The kings and queens reclaimed their thrones, and their kingdoms entered a much-needed period of peace and prosperity.
Alex and the Fairy Council waited until all the other kingdoms were finished before turning their attention to the Fairy Kingdom. Once the gardens were replenished, the fairies hosted a service for Rook Robins. His grieving father watched proudly as a large statue was erected in his son’s honor beside the statue of the late Fairy Godmother.
“There’s nothing in the world I could do or say to ease your pain,” Alex told Farmer Robins. “But I wanted to thank you. If you hadn’t raised such an extraordinary son, I wouldn’t be alive right now. I’ll think about him and his sacrifice every day for the rest of my life.”
“And I’ll spend the rest of my life making peace with it,” Farmer Robins said. “Rook was a stubborn boy, but he always followed his heart. And that’s more than I can say about most people.”
After the Fairy Palace was reassembled, Alex hosted a huge reception on the grand balcony to thank all the people who had helped her and Conner defeat the witches and the Literary Army. Characters from fairy tales, literature, and Conner’s writing mingled while they enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeuvres. The pirates of Starboardia told the royal families tales from the Caribbean Sea, the Merry Men flirted with the Fairy Council despite their blatant disinterest, and the Traveling Tradesman taught the Cyborg Queen how to arrange her galaxy so the planets would always be aligned in her favor.
Once everyone was settled in, Alex tapped the side of her glass to announce a toast. Seeing all the happy faces of her friends and family made her emotional before she had even said a word.