The nasty old witch had tended the fire and continued drinking glasses of wine until she fell asleep in her chair. Over the last hour, she had been getting more and more ugly. Her skin was turning a sickly gray; her eyes had clouded over with a white, milky film. It seemed to Grace that she was having a harder time seeing what she was doing. Grace turned to Harold and whispered to him.
"Why is she getting uglier?"
"This happens every night. She turns into a yucky monster."
"We need to get out of this cage," Grace replied, crawling forward to check the door.
"Be careful, she might hear you," Harold said in a panic. Grace looked back and smiled, trying to calm him down a little bit.
"I'm gonna get us out of here, I promise."
Harold squinted his eyes in disbelief, but kept quiet.
Grace inspected the door to see if she could find a way out. She thought about using the barrette again, but she couldn't reach the big, rusty lock. When she looked over to the other side of the door, she saw the big hinges that held it in place. Beyond the door, she saw the little man from earlier standing in the parlor.
She watched him making a motion as though he were putting on lipstick. She kept quiet, but realized he was signaling her to get her lip-gloss. She took the little tube of lip-gloss from her purse and showed it to the man. He nodded his head and smiled at her. Suddenly, he disappeared in a little poof. He reappeared right outside of the cage door. He pointed to the large hinges and pantomimed putting on the lip-gloss again. A light went on in Grace's head, and she began to slather the lip-gloss all over the hinge. She pulled up on the pin, getting sparkly gloss all over her fingers, and to her surprise, it lifted out with no resistance. They were going to get free!
The witch gave a loud snore and sat up in her chair.
"What is going on? What are you doing, niece?" She stood up as the man disappeared once again. She felt around the room while she walked toward the cage to investigate.
"I was sleeping," Grace replied, hoping she would sit back down and fall back to sleep.
"Give me your finger; prove that you're still in the cage." The witch stuck her hand into the cage, obviously unable to see the children through the thick cataracts now covering her eyes.
Grace stuck out the long metal hinge for the witch to feel.
"You are so bony, child!"
"I'm starving. What do you expect?"
"Well, that won't be a problem much longer. I would say in about ten minutes," Miranda cackled as she added a log to the burning fireplace, preparing it to roast the children.
"Why would you want to eat us right now? We are both so skinny. Give us some food and eat us later." Grace hoped that the witch would fall for her game.
"I guess I can wait a little longer. I was going to have you for dinner tonight, but I think that you would make a fine breakfast, too." Miranda turned and grabbed a plate of cookies from the counter. She took a large key from her pocket and opened the lock on the cage. She was caught off guard when the loose hinge caused the door to slip from her hand. Grace grabbed Harold's hand and pulled him past the witch and out of the cage, almost knocking Miranda down.
The two children ran toward the door, but Miranda reached her hand out and grasped on to Grace's ponytail. She yanked the little girl back, and the two tumbled onto the floor. Grace scrambled to her feet as Miranda made her way up a little more slowly.
Grace pushed against the old witch while she was trying to regain her footing. Miranda once again lost her balance and fell over, but this time, she landed inside the big stone fireplace. Miranda let out a piercing scream when the hot coals burned her tissue paper skin. She tried to scramble out of the fire, but just then, the little man reappeared. Miranda looked surprised when he reached up and swung the heavy iron fireplace gate, and it closed with a click. Miranda's screaming intensified while she tried in vain to open the scalding gate.
"Get outside; your mommy is waiting," the little man finally spoke.
"Who are you?" Grace asked above the screaming of the dying witch.
"Your Uncle Jess." He smiled and signaled her to go before he disappeared for the last time.