The air fairly crackled with the tension growing among the three buildings in the woods. In Esmerelda’s cottage, Lidka sat at the window keeping watch, Dad was fast asleep in the bed in the corner, and Kate sat at the table observing them both. Esmerelda had gone out to talk with each side and told the girls to wait.
“What do you think is going to happen?” Kate asked, breaking the silence.
Lidka shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m leaving anyway.”
“Where are you going?”
She didn’t answer but stood, hands balled at her sides.
“Girls, come on out,” Esmerelda called.
She was stacking up firewood near the burning coals as if she were getting ready to cook everyone dinner. It was not a happy family reunion, however, as the Kolodenkos and the Burgosovs stood apart from each other, eyeing the other side with distrust. Oblivious, Esmerelda shuttled about, adding sticks to the pile and humming to herself.
Finally, she sat back down in her rocking chair, and said, “Let’s begin.”
“Your family gave us worthless shoes,” Malwinka complained, taking a step toward Princess Kolodenko. “There is no wealth here. Something is missing.”
Princess Kolodenko remained silent, her lips set.
Esmerelda, ignoring the outburst, motioned to Malwinka. As if hearing a silent command, Malwinka pulled the shoes out of her bag and placed them before the babuszka.
Openmouthed, Kate looked at Lidka. She refused to meet Kate’s eyes. “How could you?”
“You got your dad. Everything could go back to the way it was,” she said, crossing her arms.
Next, Esmerelda turned to Ludmilla and tilted her head. Ludmilla produced the wrapped ball gown. Esmerelda unwrapped it, and, smiling, draped it over her knees.
Nessa’s eyes opened wide and she riffled through her own bag. “When did she steal the ball gown? I brought it with me. Kate had given it to Johnny for safekeeping. I’ve had it with me this whole time.”
“There is a reason you need a Keeper.” Ludmilla grimaced at her and stepped back, bowing and sweeping her arm in an arc, inviting Nessa to go next.
Nessa lifted her chin and marched over to the waiting babuszka. She draped the servant dress and then the wedding gown on top of the ball gown. With one last longing look, she turned away and set her back to the Burgosovs.
Next, Esmerelda raised her eyebrows at Princess Kolodenko. When the princess came close, the babuszka gently cupped her face. Reluctantly, Princess Kolodenko took out two sparkly blue objects and placed them in Esmerelda’s hands.
Malwinka and Ludmilla gasped, then whispered to each other.
“What are those?” Lidka asked.
“The heart stones that give us the blue diamonds and are the source of our wealth,” Princess Kolodenko said. “When we are in need, we can pluck out a diamond. Over time, a new one replaces it. This was Kopciuszek’s secret. It was our secret. But now that Esmerelda has taken everything back, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Esmerelda bent over the shoes and fixed the blue diamond heart clips to them. There was a hush of sadness about the meadow as the sun sat low in the sky. Centuries of feuding had led to this. It was like they were children and the babuszka was taking all their toys away.
Just then, Lidka darted through the circle they had formed. Before anyone could react, she grabbed the pile of Cinderella’s treasures. Stunned, everyone stared as she ran toward the fire pit.
Kate’s body reacted before she even realized what Lidka intended. She lunged after her. “No!” she yelled. “You don’t understand what could happen. That dress has power.”
Lidka stood with the items held out over the coals. “I have to. I am tired of this feud. Is time for it to end. Once these are gone, we will have nothing left to fight over.”
“Wait!” Ludmilla approached slowly and steadily as if trying not to spook a cornered animal. “We can work this out. You don’t need to destroy anything.”
“Yes, we’re all here,” Malwinka said. “We can decide together what must be done.”
Lidka set her lips into a determined line. She dropped the bundle into the coals, and everyone gasped. For a moment nothing happened.
Kate searched for a long stick, something she could use to pull out the items before they caught fire.
The servant’s dress caught first. A small flame licking at the years of grease stains embedded into the fabric.
Ludmilla lunged and tried to reach into the pile, but she shrank back from the sudden heat.
Next went the wedding dress, and Kate’s heart fell. Such a beautiful gown.
Her attention moved to the ball gown. What was Cinderella’s dress going to do? For the longest time they all stared, waiting. Waiting.
BOOM!
The ground shook, and Kate was knocked flat. She couldn’t see for the smoke, and her ears rang with a high pitch that blocked out all other noise. Instinctively, she crawled away from the fire, coughing and gasping for air. The smoke burned her throat. She moved far enough away that she could stand and look back. A cloud covered the area, hiding everything from view. Where was Lidka? Did she make it out? Where were the others?
Close to her, a figure was stumbling, a shadow lost in the smoke. Kate took a deep breath and rushed in to help. It was Lidka. Kate caught her by the arm and helped her get to the clear air. She collapsed moments later. Her clothing was charred, shredded, and her burns were difficult to look at. She smiled at Kate before closing her eyes in pain. “It’s over,” she said.
“Help!” Kate called, blinking cleansing tears out of her eyes. The smoke stung. “Help. We’re over here.” Where is everyone? She didn’t want to leave Lidka alone, but she had to find help. Lidka needed to get out of this smoky air.
From out of nowhere came Esmerelda.
“Come on, dearie,” she said tenderly to Lidka. “We’re going to get you to bed. Can you stand?” She brushed back Lidka’s hair from the side of her face not burned.
Lidka’s eyes fluttered open, but she stared emptily back at Esmerelda.
“Help me, Kate. Take her other arm.”
Both arms were burned, and Kate hesitated to touch her.
“Under here, like this,” Esmerelda said, demonstrating. “She’s not hurt there.”
Together, they got Lidka to her feet and led her back to the cottage. The others had also found their way to the door and watched with mixed expressions. Once they had Lidka lowered into her bed, Esmerelda shooed them away, including Kate.
Kate found the others shook up from the blast, but otherwise unharmed. They waited silently outside while a soft wind blew away the smoke layer by layer. When the air completely cleared away, they were all left in shock. There was a crater where the fire pit used to be, which was to be expected. But the surprise was what happened to the forest.
The tree trunks for as far as they could see were bent at right angles like the blast had burst through them on its way out. It was the strangest sight Kate had ever seen.
It was as if the trees were trying to kneel.
Princess Kolodenko shook her head as she surveyed the bent trees. “There must be hundreds of trees out there. No one will ever believe the truth, even if they were told.”