Part 8 (2/2)

BUT IN THE TEAPOT THEY WILL GO.

APPLE READ THE FIRST RIDDLE ALOUD over and over as she and Raven left the school, crossed the Troll Bridge, and entered the Village of Book End. The cobblestone main street was mostly empty, the shop fronts quiet, doors closed, as if the village were in mourning. The news of Maddieas banishment must have already spread.

aWhispers three, whispers threeaa Raven muttered. aGlowing in forestsa curses, I canat make sense of it. You know who is really good at solving riddles?a aMaddie,a said Apple. aAnd we canat ask her. How about Kitty Ches.h.i.+re? Sheas a Wonderlandian, too. I bet sheas royally good at riddles.a aBut sheas terrible at keeping secrets,a said Raven. aHow about Lizzie Hearts?a aWell, your mom said not to ask for help.a aI wisha”a Raven started.

aI know,a said Apple. aFurther proof that Maddie is indispensable! We canat risk asking her, but we should go to the tea shop, anyway. The riddle mentions tea twice. Itas our best clue.a aButa but Maddie will be there all day with her dad, and imagine how sheall feel when we canat talk to her.a aRaven, weare doing this for her, and if telling her would break the spellaa Raven stopped before the red front door of the Mad Hatter of Wonderlandas Haberdashery & Tea Shoppe. She took a deep breath.

aOkay, but this is going to be terrible, because not only canat we talk to Maddie at alla well, we canat even risk thinking about the spell while weare with her.a Apple wrinkled her nose. aWhat?a aMaddie sometimes hears, um, a voice she calls the Narrator, and that aNarratora reports on what people are thinking.a aWait, we canat think about what weare doing around Maddie because then a voice will tell Maddie what weare thinking and the spell will break?a Apple smiled, expecting Raven to say she was kidding. Raven nodded. Apple lost her smile.

aClear your thoughts,a Raven said.

Apple let her mind go blank and opened the door.

The first thing she noticed was the quiet. Usually the tea shop was full of chatting customers, their conversations like the harmony to the melody of piping teakettles and clinking silverware.

The Mad Hatter was sitting at one of the empty tables. His large, black-and-white-striped top hat in his hands, his thinning mint-green hair exposed.

aNo room! Weare closed!a he called out.

He was always shouting silly things like that, but this time Apple believed him.

aOh, itas you, Raven Queen.a The Mad Hatter smiled wide around his bucked front teeth. aHow is a Raven like a writing desk?a aNeither is able to feel happy today,a said Raven.

The Mad Hatter nodded, and his smile slipped away. aIam going with her, of course. Closing up shop. Do you think they like tea in Neverland?a Apple tried to imagine the pirates, mermaids, and Indians in Neverland drinking tea out of dainty cups. Maddieas destiny to become the next Mad Hatter of Wonderland had already been severely compromised when the portal to Wonderland was sealed. At least in Ever After she and her father had been able to continue their destiny by opening the tea shop. But in Neverlanda aWe were hoping to get some tea from you just now,a said Raven. aDo you know what kind of tea would involve willows and whispers and glowing in forests?a aAh, will oa the wisps tea!a said the Mad Hatter. aAn exotic brew. Never made any in the shopa always meant toaa He looked around wistfully at the walls covered in doors, the empty tables set for a teatime that wouldnat come. aIall just go fetch my copy of Recipes for Teas, Tales, and Time.a The Mad Hatter went into the kitchen just as Maddie came out. Apple stiffened. She heard Raven squeak.

aRaven!a Maddie hopped over to them on one foot. aAnd Apple White. I knew youad stay with me on my last day. I knew you didnat forget about me after I hopped off.a Raven shook her head but pressed her lips together.

aSometimes I hop when Iam sad,a Maddie explained to Apple. aBecause itas hard to stay sad when youare hopping. Your feet bounce your middle and your middle wants to laugh. Try it!a Apple stood on one leg and hopped. She didnat feel like laughing.

aRaven, are you gloomy and goosey again?a said Maddie. aYou donat need to worry about me. Iall be okay. In Neverland. With thea”aha”aha”ACHOO! Excuse me. With all the pirates and things. I justa Iall miss you so much. When I think about it, I want toaa Maddie screwed up her face as if fighting off tears. She took a deep breath, bent one leg, and hopped madly around the room. She returned with her smile again in place.

aHey, why are you girls so quiet?a Apple cleared her thoughts, focusing on anything other thana”no, she wouldnat think it. Instead, shead think about bunnies. Cute, little, fuzzy bunnies with wiggly noses.

aApple, why do you keep thinking about bunnies?a Maddie asked.

Apple cleared her thoughts. Bunnies, bunnies, bunniesa Maddie giggled. aI love bunnies, too. Are you trying to cheer me up?a BUNNIES. BUNNIES. THINKING ABOUT BUNNIES. Apple felt a light sweat begin to glisten on her forehead.

aSomething strange is going on,a Maddie said, squinting through one eye. aNarrator? Why are they acting squirrelly? Like squirrels without hats even?a Maddie tried to get the Narrator to explain, but the Narratoras job was to observe, not spoil secrets.

aSecrets?a asked Maddie. aWhat secrets?a Just what Raven and Apple werea uma Bunnies. So many bunnies.

aNarrator?a said Maddie, shocked. aYou too?a aHere it is!a the Mad Hatter said, returning from the kitchen. aI found the recipe in this book. And I found the book in a hat. And I found the hat in a closet. And I found the closet under the table, though how the closet got under there Iall never know.a Apple read the recipe as quickly as she could. She had to get out of there soon or she woulda”

BUNNIES. BUNNIES!.

Apple handed the book back to Maddieas dad, and she and Raven turned to leave.

aYouare leaving?a said Maddie. aYouare just going? Buta but Ia I was hopinga”a Apple didnat look back. BUNNIES. She ran outside, Raven following, both breathing heavily as if theyad been holding their breath as well as their thoughts. They kept running down the block till the tea shop was out of sight. Raven sat on the edge of a fountain and covered her face with her hands.

aDid you see Maddieas face?a said Raven. aShe thought that I didnat care.a aLetas get this over with fast so you can explain,a said Apple. aAccording to the recipe, weare going to need to find will oa the wisps in the Enchanted Forest and make them into tea, which could take hours, and this is just the first item of six. Wead better split up.a Raven nodded. aI agree. We have less than a day to solve all the riddles, collect the items, learn the spell, and use it to defend Maddie.a aRight. So, Iall go chase will oa the wisps?a Apple asked. aAnd you can tackle the next incomprehensible item on the list.a Apple waved good-bye and ran. Every minute she took crossing the school grounds, the footbridge, and the meadow toward the Enchanted Forest was one minute less in the day. She tried not to think about the Kingdom Management quiz the day after tomorrow, or that paper due in Damsels-In-Distressing, or that work sheet for Experimental Fairy Math she was supposed to be doing, ora”

Maddie. Right now, Maddie is more important than protecting perfect grades. A good ruler thinks first of her own subjects. Uh, people subjects, not school subjects. Hocus focus, Apple!

The moment she crossed under the canopy and into the shadows of the Enchanted Forest, a white fluffy streak slammed into her chest, knocking her to the ground.

aGala!a said Apple. aI missed you, too.a In all the drama after Legacy Day and then Yester Day, she hadnat taken time to come visit her pet in the Enchanted Forest. The snow fox nuzzled into Appleas neck and then ran a circuit from atop her head down her arm, up the other arm and over her head again several times, finally stopping to perch on Appleas knee. Apple looked into Galaas s.h.i.+ny black eyes.

aGala, sweetie, Iam trying to find a will oa the wisp. Can you help?a Gala reached forward to touch her cold black nose to Appleas, then she launched herself off Appleas knee and began to run. Apple followed her loping white shape deeper and deeper into the forest. The shadows were so dark they gleamed purple.

Purple, like her eyesa Apple thought, shuddering.

The Evil Queen made Apple nervous, but that was only naturala”after all, thatas how the Snow White story went. Then again, she hadnat been quite as scary as shead imagined. She was just Ravenas mother, right? She was helping them, wasnat she? Besides, as evil as she was, the Evil Queen was still an elder with a lot of knowledge and experience, and Apple thought it wise to learn what she could. From the Greatest Evil There Ever Was. As she went about on her errands. Collecting spell ingredients.

Apple gulped. And hoped she was on the right path after all. But how could she know for sure when everything had gone so totally off script?

The only surety, the only safety at all, was in following her destiny. And Apple would do everything she could to protect not only her own destiny but also everyone elseasa”including Maddieas.

Up ahead was a clearing with a grand gray willow tree at each end. From afar Apple could see a glowing sphere about the size of a baseball bobbing above the ground on a breeze. Suddenly it disappeared. Apple had spotted these will oa the wisps in the past, but until reading that pa.s.sage in the Mad Hatteras recipe book, she hadnat understood what they were.

Faerie is a realm alongside our own, invisible to most. Only its residentsa”fairies, pixies, sprites, and sucha”move freely between it and Ever After. Sometimes, on full moon nights or right after a rainfall, one may catch a breath of Faerie flowers, their rich scents pa.s.sing briefly into our world. Besides Faerieas residents and the occasional aromas, another traveler from There to Here are the will oa the wisps.

One of Faerieas most beautiful flowers is the enchanting dandyrose. At the end of a dandyroseas life, it erupts into a puff of downy white seeds called will oa the wisps. They are so light they sometimes catch a breeze in our world and cross over, especially near willow trees. They disappear and reappear as they move back and forth between Faerie and Ever After. Will oa the wisps glow in the nonmagical light of our realm. They follow whispers, and so serve as an interesting ball in the pixie game of Wisp Whispering.

Not until Apple stood on the edge of the clearing could she hear the whispers.

Tiny pixies flew around the field, some guarding the goal zones by each willow tree, others surrounding the glowing ball, whispering madly at it. Half wore blue jerseys, half green, both sides tackling each other, trying to keep members of the opposite team away from the ball.

When the will oa the wisp disappeared, the two pixies on the sidelines began screeching words Apple didnat understand. Both teams of pixies spread out over the field, forming a grid pattern. A few moments pa.s.sed, and the pixies waited, spinning in place, watching. When the ball winked back into existence farther down the field, the nearest pixies swooped to it, tackling one another and whispering at the ball to follow, follow.

Apple tiptoed up to the two pixies who were hovering off to the sidea”one in blue, one in greena”who she a.s.sumed were the coaches.

aPardon me,a Apple said softly. aIam sorry to interrupt your fascinating game, but I need a favor, please.a One of the pixies flew by her ear, buzzed loudly, and flitted away. The other made a noise Apple would swear was laughter.

aUm, I really need a will oa the wispa”itas to help a friend?a The pixies were screeching at the players, completely ignoring Apple now.

aCan you help me, please?a Apple asked.

The pixies glanced at her and returned their attention to the game.

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