CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE BATTLE FOR THE FAIRY KINGDOM

Emerelda and Mother Goose paced on the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace. One by one, the other fairies of the Fairy Council appeared beside them. Xanthous was the last fairy to arrive after retrieving the others and immediately ran to the railing and searched the gardens below.

“Have Alex and Conner arrived with the other armies yet?” he asked the others.

“What do you mean ‘with the other armies’?” Emerelda asked.

“Xanny, calm down for a second and tell us what’s going on,” Mother Goose said.

Xanthous turned back to the other fairies and his flames flickered as he grew anxious. “Alex and Conner were going to collect the armies of the other kingdoms and bring them here before the Grande Armée arrived.”

“But it would take days for all those soldiers to travel here,” Violetta said.

“Alex was going to cast a spell so they would all arrive at the same time,” Xanthous explained.

“What kind of spell could do that?” Skylene asked.

“That would take more magic than all our powers put together,” Tangerina added.

Xanthous was frustrated by their lack of faith and his flames rose. “Ladies, we’ve trusted her since the beginning; we can’t start doubting her now.”

Mother Goose went to the railing and became fixated on something moving in the trees beyond the gardens. “Well, I sure hope whatever spell she tried works, because the Grande Armée is here!” she said.

The fairies joined her at the railing and looked into the distance. Two thousand of the remaining Grande Armée soldiers appeared through the trees. They came from all directions and completely surrounded the gardens and the Fairy Palace. Soldiers positioned themselves in rows and raised their rifles. They wheeled cannons and directed them toward the palace.

At the edge of the gardens, a dozen or so soldiers planted seven tall poles into the ground and stacked piles of hay and dried twigs around the base of the poles.

“What on earth are they doing?” Rosette asked.

Three carriages appeared and were steered to the poles. Only the first carriage had horses while the other two followed behind it magically. The fairies on the balcony screamed and covered their mouths as soon as they realized they were the same carriages that had been sent on the secret path. They could see the kings, queens, and others trapped inside them.

The kings and queens were yanked out of the carriages and taken to the poles. Princess Hope and Princess Ash were forced out of their mothers’ arms and thrown into a carriage with Emmerich and Bree.

Queen Cinderella and King Chance were tied to the first pole, Queen Sleeping Beauty and King Chase were tied to the second, Queen Snow White and King Chandler were tied to the third, Queen Rapunzel and Sir William were tied to the fourth, and Queen Little Bo was tied to the fifth. Jack and Goldilocks were even included, and were tied to the sixth pole. Froggy and Red were tied to the seventh.

“If you would just listen to me for one second, I could explain I’m not the queen anymore,” Red tried telling one of the Armée soldiers. “She’s the queen now—she won the election and therefore being publicly executed is one of her responsibilities, not mine!”

She rapidly jerked her head in Little Bo’s direction, but the soldier wasn’t listening to a word she said.

A handful of the Armée soldiers began drumming while others lit torches and stood near the royals. The Fairy Council was about to witness a horrible execution. General Marquis stood on top of the center carriage and made an announcement to all the fairies in the gardens and at the palace before him.

“Fairies! This is your one and only opportunity to surrender to the Grande Armée!” he declared. “Take this opportunity and I will spare the leaders of your world. Fail to surrender and you will watch them die horrible deaths!”

“Choose the first option!” Red cried up at the Fairy Council.

The fairies living in the gardens peeked out from the plants and trees. They were horrified by what they saw, but there were too many soldiers for them to do anything.

“You have until the count of three,” the general shouted. “One…”

The fairies in the gardens looked up to the Fairy Council members on the balcony. They silently pleaded with them to do something.

“Two…”

The Fairy Council whispered among themselves but no one had a solution.

“Three!” the general shouted with a dissatisfied frown. He had been expecting the fairies to surrender but to his surprise, they stayed on the balcony and did nothing. “Your time is up! Les graver sur!”

The soldiers threw torches onto the piles of dried hay and sticks around the poles and the executions began. Many of the queens screamed, and the kings yelled for help. The flames climbed higher and higher. They were seconds away from being burned at the stake unless the fairies helped them.

“Mother Goose, stay here and watch over the palace,” Emerelda said. “The rest of you, follow me. We will not surrender but we must stop this before someone gets killed.”

“Please hurry, Alex,” Xanthous whispered to himself.

Several flashing lights appeared at the edge of the gardens and Emerelda, Xanthous, Tangerina, Skylene, Rosette, Violetta, and Coral appeared in front of the soldiers. All the cannons and rifles were raised at them, waiting for orders to fire. Emerelda lowered her hands and the fires at the base of the poles faded.

“Stop putting out those flames unless you want my men to open fire!” the general yelled.

There were too many guns and cannons pointed at them for the fairies to properly shield themselves in time. If the general ordered his men to fire, there was no way the fairies would survive.

“You are an evil man, General Marquis,” Emerelda called back to him. “And unfortunately for you, you’ve attempted to dominate a world that does not tolerate the wicked. We may not be able to stop your Armée from taking our kingdom today, but you will be stopped. You will not win this war—this world will not let you! This world doesn’t want you here! Untie these men and women at once and admit your failure with dignity, or suffer the consequences when the other armies arrive.”

The Grande Armée soldiers looked around the fairy gardens nervously, but the general’s attitude was not affected in the slightest. Emerelda’s warning only made him angrier. He had been given so many ultimatums he couldn’t tolerate one more.

“Fire at will!” he roared at his men.

The Armée loaded their cannons and cocked their rifles. The gardens buzzed with panic as the observing fairies feared the Fairy Council were about to be murdered in front of their eyes.

Suddenly, a bright light filled the sky as a shooting star appeared. It caught everyone’s attention, especially that of the general and the Grande Armée soldiers. They had never seen anything like it in their world—but neither had anyone in the fairy-tale world. It was too bright to be an average star and it grew bigger and bigger as it traveled closer and closer to the Fairy Kingdom.

“Take cover!” the general ordered his men, and dove off the carriage. All the Grande Armée soldiers fell to the ground and covered their heads. The Fairy Council and the fairies in the gardens stayed still as they stared up at the star in amazement—they knew this was an act of magic. Alex and Conner had arrived.

The star hit the center of the fairy gardens with such a strong impact it caused a massive breeze to sweep through the plants and extinguish the flames growing around the poles. Once the breeze faded and the dust lifted, the Fairy Council could see Alex and Conner aboard Lester in the center of the gardens and they were surrounded by the armies of the Charming Kingdom, the Bo Peep Republic, the Eastern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom, the Corner Kingdom, and the Great Troblin Lake. The twins’ spell had worked.

It was one of the most spectacular things anyone in the Fairy Kingdom had ever witnessed. Everyone looked around in astonishment—especially the incoming soldiers. Only seconds before this they had been in their own kingdoms.

“That was one heck of a spell, Alex!” Conner said. He was a little dizzy from the journey himself.

Alex looked around their new surroundings and a big smile came to her face. “We did it, Conner! We brought the armies here!” she said, and gave her brother a giant hug.

“It looks like the Grande Armée beat us, though.” He pointed ahead of them.

All the pride in their accomplishment drained away when they saw the Fairy Council standing in front of the Grande Armée at the edge of the gardens. To their absolute horror, they saw the Armée had captured the kings and queens and their friends, too, and they felt sick to their stomachs.

“They have everyone from the secret path!” Conner shrieked.

“How is that possible?” Alex gasped. “Someone must have betrayed us! The only people who could have found them were the people who saw them embark on the secret path!”

The Armée soldiers quickly got to their feet and aimed their rifles and cannons, not just at the Fairy Council, but at everyone they surrounded in the gardens.

“I think that’s a mystery we’ll have to save for later,” Conner said.

“You two come up with a plan and take cover! I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!” Emerelda yelled at the twins over her shoulder.

“Fire!” General Marquis demanded as he got to his feet. “Kill them! Kill them all!”

Emerelda raised her hands and the gardens and palace were surrounded with a thick sheet of emerald light. The sheet acted as a temporary force field against the firing cannons and rifles. It took every last bit of Emerelda’s strength to conjure it.

“Hurry!” Emerelda grunted. “I can’t hold it for very long!”

Alex couldn’t think—she was in a state of shock knowing one of their own had told the Grande Armée about the secret path. Conner didn’t wait to consult with his sister; he jumped off Lester’s back and began instructing the soldiers and the fairies around them. They had to strategize as quickly as possible.

“All right, men, I know I’m half your age and size but listen to me!” he shouted. “I want all of you to line the edge of the gardens and don’t let the Grande Armée through. The soldiers from the Northern Kingdom will guard the north side with Skylene. The Charming Kingdom army will protect the south side with Xanthous. The Eastern Kingdom army will protect the east side with Tangerina. The Corner Kingdom army will take the west side with the soldiers from the Bo Peep Republic. We cannot let them get to the Fairy Palace.”

The armies were hesitant to take orders from a fourteen-year-old boy.

“What? Did I stutter?” Conner asked.

“You heard the boy!” Sir Lampton said, coming to Conner’s rescue. “Let’s surround the gardens!”

The armies followed Lampton’s lead and separated into the directions Conner had instructed. Conner felt a tug on his shirt. He turned around and saw Queen Trollbella standing behind him.

“What about us, Butterboy?” she asked, and batted her eyelashes. “What do you want the Troblin Army to do?”

“Trollbella? Who invited you to this war?” Conner asked hysterically.

“I couldn’t stay home while my troblins came and had all the fun, so I joined my own army,” she said, and then pulled him down closer to whisper in his ear. “I also couldn’t let my Gator go to war by himself—he would miss me too much.”

Trollbella blew a kiss to Gator, who stood a few feet away, and he gulped—the relationship he had never agreed to had gotten way out of hand. Conner eyed the anxious Troblin Army around him and thought of the perfect assignment.

“Rosette! Violetta! Coral!” he called to the remaining fairies. “Before the Elf Empire was attacked, they agreed to help us—we have more than enough men here but since they didn’t arrive with us I assume it means they’re still fighting the Grande Armée in their own territory. I want the three of you to take as many troblins as possible to the Elf Empire and help them.”

Rosette couldn’t stop herself from shaking her head at his request. “You want us to help the elves? But they would be outraged if we showed up—”

“They can file a complaint later!” Conner said. “We’ve got to get rid of all these guys no matter how many bridges we burn!”

Rosette, Coral, and Violetta shrugged and agreed to the task.

“All right, troblins, everyone grab hands and hold on tightly,” Coral instructed.

The Troblin Army joined hands and formed three groups, one around each fairy. They slowly disappeared into sparkling clouds of colorful dust as they traveled to the Elf Empire. Trollbella had joined hands with them, too, but Conner grabbed her and Gator out of the group before they disappeared with the others.

“Not you, Trollbella!” Conner said. “I want you, Gator, and the remaining troblins to wait by the Fairy Palace. It’ll be safest there.”

Trollbella looked at him like it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever told her. “Even during war, my safety is your biggest concern,” she said. “I feel your love like a warm blanket over my body, Butter—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah—just go!” Conner pushed her and Gator toward the palace.

“Everyone take cover!” Emerelda screamed. She couldn’t hold off the bullets and the cannons anymore and collapsed to her knees. The sheet of emerald light faded as quickly as it had appeared. The armies of the Happily Ever After Assembly took cover behind trees and boulders as they moved to their positions between the Grande Armée and the gardens.

Conner jumped back onto Lester, and with one large flap of his wings, Lester flew the twins to Emerelda’s side. Alex pointed her wand at the soldiers shooting at them and their rifles turned into large snakes that wrapped around their hands.

Emerelda was so exhausted she could barely stand. The twins helped her to her feet and placed her on Lester’s back.

“Lester, take Emerelda to the Fairy Palace,” Alex said.

The gander squawked and took off with the green fairy draped across his back. Conner looked around the gardens and saw that most of the armies had made it to their assigned posts.

“Now what do we do?” Alex asked her brother.

“We’ll get the royals and our friends to safety,” Conner said.

The twins ran toward the front of the gardens where the carriages and poles had been placed.

“Kill them!” the general demanded as the twins charged toward them.

“But sir, they’re children,” Colonel Rembert said.

“If they want to fight like men, then they can die like men,” General Marquis said. “Now fire!”

The Grande Armée soldiers around him guarding the captive royals pointed their rifles directly at the twins. Alex raised her wand and waved it toward their feet. Vines like leafy nets shot out of the ground and pulled the general and his men to the earth. They struggled against the vines but Alex knew they wouldn’t hold them down for long.

“Good job, Alex!” Froggy said.

“Nice one!” Jack said.

“Untie me first!” Red cried.

Alex pointed her wand at her brother’s palm and a long, shiny, silver sword appeared in his hand. He used the sword to slice open the ropes binding Froggy’s and Red’s hands together first. As Conner cut the ropes, Alex stood guard.

Several Grande Armée soldiers ran to their general’s aid and Alex swished her wand through the air at them. Their rifles were transformed into long-stemmed roses that pricked their fingers before they could shoot.

“Jack,” Goldilocks whispered to her husband, who was tied next to her.

“Yes, my love?”

“I have something I need to tell you, and now might be the only chance I get.”

“This may be the worst predicament we’ve been in yet, but there’s no need for good-bye,” he said.

“No, that’s not it,” Goldilocks said. “It’s what I kept from you on the secret path. Jack, I’m pregnant.”

As if the world had suddenly been paused, Jack lost all sense of sound and thought. All he could see was his beautiful wife beside him and all he could think about was the beautiful news she had shared with him.

“What?” Jack said with an enormous smile. “You mean it?”

Goldilocks smiled and happily nodded. “Yes—does it make you happy?”

Jack laughed and tears filled his eyes. “Even though we just barely survived an execution and war is all around us, you’ve made me the happiest man in the world,” he said.

Conner ran to Jack and Goldilocks next and sliced open the ropes around their hands and feet. “You two look way too happy to be in the middle of a war right now,” he said, and stared at them oddly.

“Alex, do you mind supplying us with hardware?” Goldilocks asked, and she and Jack held out their empty hands. Alex flicked her wand at each of them and supplied them with a sword and an axe.

“We’ll finish untying the royals; you two get the kids to safety,” Jack told the twins. He gestured to the carriage behind them, where Bree and Emmerich were trapped inside. The carriage door had been locked but Conner sliced it open with his sword in one strike—he was impressing himself with this sword business.

“Conner! It’s so good to see you!” Bree threw her arms around his neck.

“Are you guys all right?” Conner asked his friends.

“Besides jumping out of our skin with fear, we’re fine,” Emmerich said with large eyes.

He was holding Princess Ash in his arms and Bree helped Princess Hope out of the carriage after her. Conner whistled for Lester and the goose returned from the palace in a matter of seconds. “Lester, take these four to the palace, too! Make sure they get inside safely—they mean a lot to me.”

Lester saluted him with the tip of his wing and crouched down so Bree and Emmerich could climb aboard his back.

“Are you coming?” Bree asked Conner.

“I’ll be there soon.” He winked at her. “But don’t worry.”

“Impossible,” she said.

It made Conner feel like a million bucks but he knew this was no time to be sentimental. He nodded at Lester and the goose took off toward the palace with his friends before Bree could see him blush again. Bree and Emmerich held on to the little princesses tightly as they flew. Conner watched them go until he saw them land safely on the grand balcony in the distance.

Sounds of gunfire and cannons came less and less as the Grande Armée began running out of bullets and cannonballs. Most of the French soldiers tossed their firearms aside and charged toward the gardens with their swords. The Happily Ever After Assembly armies ran out from the trees and boulders shielding them and fought them. The echoes of gunfire were replaced with the clashing of swords—the real fight had begun.

Jack and Goldilocks sliced through all the ropes binding the kings and queens to the poles. Little Bo was the last one freed, but being saved seemed like the last thing on her mind. She searched the rows of Grande Armée soldiers surrounding the gardens as if she had lost someone in a crowd. Once Jack cut through the ropes around her wrists, she ran straight into the gardens with no explanation of where she was going.

“Come back! It’s not safe!” Froggy yelled at her.

“We should have kept her tied up,” Red said.

“I think she may be in shock,” Froggy said. “Come on, dear—we have to catch her before she gets herself killed!”

“Do we have to—or is it just the right thing to do?” Red asked with a snide look. Before she could argue anymore, Froggy pulled Red into the gardens with him, determined to save the queen.

Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty ran to the carriage their daughters had been placed in and were alarmed to see they weren’t there anymore.

“Where are the girls?” Cinderella asked desperately, looking at the trees around them.

“Don’t worry, I sent them with my friends, back to the palace,” Conner said. “They’re safe.”

“Oh, thank the stars,” Sleeping Beauty said, and placed a hand on Cinderella’s shoulder. Their postures sank almost a foot knowing their daughters were safe.

“We should escort the kings and queens to the palace, too,” Goldilocks suggested.

“No! We said we wanted to help our armies fight and we meant it!” Snow White insisted.

All the kings and queens nodded eagerly along with her.

“Your Majesties, with all due respect, this is an actual war and a few roadside lessons with large sticks is no match for what we’re fighting tonight,” Jack said.

Rapunzel quickly turned to Conner. “Was it true about our people fighting off the Grande Armée at home?” she asked him, and the question gained all the royals’ attention. “We heard soldiers talking about it when we were taken prisoner, but is it true?”

“Yes,” Conner told them. “You should be very proud of your citizens—they kind of rock.”

The kings and queens looked at one another and the same confident smirks appeared on their faces. “Then I have no plans of seeking refuge,” Chance told the group. “If our people could be so brave, then we can as well!”

The general and the soldiers lying on the ground started breaking through the vines holding them. Alex waved her wand and more vines grew, but there wasn’t time for Jack and Goldilocks or the twins to argue with the eager royals.

“All right, we’ll lead our own little fleet into battle,” Goldilocks said. “But everyone follow closely behind us and watch each other’s backs!”

“Don’t go unprotected!” Alex pointed her wand at each of them and swords and shields appeared in their hands.

“I never thought I would ever say this, but let’s fight!” Cinderella raised her sword in the air. The other kings and queens did the same and Jack and Goldilocks led them into the gardens to fight alongside their armies.

Conner looked around the gardens. The Happily Ever After Assembly armies were now fighting the Grande Armée soldiers all over the gardens. It was hard to tell which soldier belonged to which kingdom. They were doing well holding the enemy back, but the troblins at the front steps of the palace looked very worried as the battle crept toward them.

“We should get to the palace and help the troblins,” Conner said.

“I agree—” Alex nodded, but something suddenly distracted her. A persistent beating noise was coming from somewhere close behind her.

“Alex! Help me!” said a familiar voice.

Alex followed the sound and found Rook. He had been locked in one of the carriages. Her heart dropped and she immediately went to free him.

“Rook? What are you doing here?” Alex asked. “How did you get inside the… carriage?”

Before she could finish asking the question it suddenly dawned on her. Other than the fairies and her brother, Rook was the only person who had witnessed the kings and queens being sent down the secret path.

“Alex! Please let me out!” Rook pleaded.

All the color drained from her face and she didn’t move. Her hand had been a second away from unlocking the latch. “It was you,” she gasped. “You told the general about the secret path.”

Although she knew there was no other possible explanation, Alex prayed she was wrong. She wished for the first time in history there could be an alternative version to the truth.

Rook didn’t even try to deny it. “Yes, it was me, but I didn’t have a choice!”

She burst into tears as her heart burst into pieces. He was the person she had thought she could depend on for anything. She had never allowed someone so deep inside her heart before. The joy she had thought was evolving into love was just the foreshadowing of a stab in the back.

“I can’t believe this,” she sobbed. “I trusted you, Rook! I trusted you!”

Tears formed in Rook’s eyes seeing her so hurt. “Alex, I never meant to betray you! You have to listen to me—my father was hurt so I told the general where the secret path was so he could get help! Now please, you have to let me out—there’s something the general is planning that I have to tell you about—”

“How am I supposed to trust you now?” she asked.

“Alex! Behind you!” Conner shouted.

Alex turned around and saw a dozen Grande Armée soldiers sneaking up behind her. Half of them cut the general and his men free from the vines and the other half came at the twins with their weapons raised. Without thinking, Alex took her heartbreak out on the soldiers charging at her. She cracked her wand like a whip and a burst of white light sent the soldiers flying into the air.

Conner was just as terrified as he was impressed. “Alex?” he said meekly.

“I don’t know what came over me…,” Alex said breathlessly. “I… I… I just hurt all of those men!”

“Alex, it’s all right!” Conner said, and cautiously approached his sister. “They were about to do the same to you!”

Alex’s eyes darted around the gardens. In a matter of seconds she had completely lost sight of who she was. The anger and heartbreak consuming her had turned her into another person entirely.

The soldiers finished cutting the vines around the general and his men.

“Let’s get to the palace now!” Conner said.

“Alex, please let me out!” Rook pleaded.

Freeing him was the last thing Alex wanted to do. She pointed her wand at the carriage door and five more latches appeared.

“No, Alex!” Rook said. “Don’t do this! I have to tell you about the—”

“I never want to see you again,” she told him.

Conner ran up to his sister and grabbed her arm. They dashed into the gardens ahead and disappeared from Rook’s view.

General Marquis got to his feet and brushed off the vines. He looked at the battle around him and his nostrils flared. His men were horribly outnumbered. It was only a matter of minutes before the Grande Armée would be defeated entirely.

“Colonel Rembert!” he cried out.

“Yes, General?” Rembert said, running up to him.

“It’s time we started phase two of our plan,” the general ordered. “Get the Masked Man! Tell him to bring the dragon here at once! It’s time we finished this war.”

The thought of the dragon surfacing sent shivers down Rembert’s spine. “Yes, sir,” he said.

The twins zigzagged through the gardens, headed for the palace. Alex was crying so hard she couldn’t run anymore and fell behind a giant patch of daisies. Conner kneeled down beside her and she buried her face into his shoulder.

“I’m assuming Rook was more than a friend,” Conner said, and wiped his sister’s tears with the corner of his shirt.

“Oh, Conner, I feel so stupid,” she said. “This is all my fault! I let my heart get in the way of my head and it almost got our friends killed!”

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said. “Everything’s okay. We got to them and everyone is safe—as safe as possible, that is.”

“I feel like a piece of glass that’s been stepped on,” Alex cried. “I feel so broken inside I don’t know how to be myself anymore. Now I understand why Ezmia was the way she was—you saw what I did to those soldiers! I’m no better than she was.”

Conner pulled his sister up so he could look her directly in the eye. “Alex, stop talking like that!” he said. “You are not going to let one stupid boy who needs a haircut change who you are, do you understand me? The Alex I know would kick herself for even saying something like that! Ezmia was a whiny and narcissistic wench and you will never be her no matter what happens to you. Now you’re going to snap out of it and we’re going to help our friends win this war!”

Alex sat up and slowly nodded. “All right,” she said.

“Good. Now let’s get to the palace and help the troblins.”

He helped his sister to her feet and they continued through the gardens. Everywhere they looked they saw that the battle was persisting—but from the looks of it, the Happily Ever After Assembly was winning!

They saw seven Grande Armée soldiers surround Skylene with their swords exposed. Just as they went in for the kill, Skylene spun her hands above her head and the water from a nearby pond jetted at the soldiers like an enormous fire hose.

Soldiers chased Tangerina through the gardens and cornered her against a tall hedge wall. They raised their rifles at her and she raised her hands toward them. A thousand angry bees flew out of her sleeves and beehive and attacked the men. They fell to the ground as the bees stung them over and over again. A smirk appeared on Tangerina’s face—it was almost therapeutic for her.

Cannons were aimed at Xanthous and the Charming Army fighting alongside him. Small balls of fire grew in Xanthous’s hands and he threw them at the cannons, causing them to explode before they could be set off. The men around him cheered and one burned himself when he tried to pat Xanthous on the back.

The fairies who lived in the gardens did their part, too. Fairies of all sizes pulled the soldiers’ pants down or stole their hats as they wandered by. Some fairies even enchanted the giant plants in the gardens to grab the soldiers with their leaves and hold them tightly against their stems.

The twins saw Goldilocks and the queens go back to back as they fought off a group of Frenchmen circling them. The soldiers were cocky and laughed at the women challenging them.

“We’ll do that trick I taught you in the Northern Kingdom meadow—on three,” Goldilocks instructed the women. “One, two, three!”

The women dove to the ground and somersaulted into the soldiers, knocking them down. Two soldiers scuttled to their feet but Cinderella and Snow White tripped them using Rapunzel’s hair.

“Well done, Your Majesty!” Sir Lampton called across the gardens.

“Thank you, Sir Lampton!” Cinderella called back.

Sir Lampton was battling his own group of Grande Armée soldiers with Jack and the kings. The Charming brothers were competitively seeing which of them could knock the most soldiers to the ground and they counted each man they disarmed.

“That’s sixteen for Chandler, fourteen for Chance, and twenty for me,” Chase declared.

Jack hit the ground and kicked a soldier’s legs out from under him. “Nice try, boys,” Jack teased. “But that was my fiftieth!”

Mother Goose flew through the air on Lester’s back. She couldn’t stay cooped up at the palace any longer and had decided to join the fight.

“All right, Lester! Just like that time we narrowly escaped those kamikaze pilots during World War II!” she instructed the gander.

The giant goose stretched out his wings and spun in the air like a fighter jet. Mother Goose held a basketful of empty bottles of bubbly she had been saving and threw them at the Grande Armée soldiers as they flew over them. Cannons were aimed at her but Mother Goose snapped her fingers and the cannonballs were transformed into big soapy bubbles.

One of the cannons fired at Mother Goose went astray and blasted a hole in the side of the carriage Rook was locked in. Had he been just a few inches to the left, he would have lost his life. Instead, Rook climbed through the hole in the carriage and rolled onto the ground. He ran into the woods away from the battle zone. He had tried to warn Alex but she wouldn’t listen—the fairies were no match for what was coming their way.

Alex and Conner were a few yards from the front steps of the Fairy Palace when they saw Little Bo run past them. She was followed closely by Froggy and Red and didn’t show any sign of stopping.

“Your Highness—” Froggy called after her.

“Your Elected Highness,” Red corrected him.

“Little Bo, please stop running!” Froggy pleaded.

Alex and Conner chased after their friends. Little Bo sprinted just as determinedly as ever.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked them.

“Isn’t it obvious? Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep and doesn’t know where to find them!” Red yelled back at them.

“That’s not funny, Red!” Froggy reprimanded.

“And by sheep I mean her mind! She won’t stop running!” Red said.

Little Bo frantically raced through the gardens on the search for someone or something. She scanned row after row of Grande Armée soldiers; once she realized whoever she was looking for wasn’t among them she would dart across the gardens toward another row.

“Where are you?” Little Bo said to herself as she ran.

Froggy and Red were starting to lose energy and they slowed down. Little Bo’s pace never slowed and she broke free of the group trailing her and ran farther into the gardens.

“It’s no use,” Froggy said, and stopped running. “She won’t listen to reason.”

Red and the twins caught up to him. Conner glanced back at the palace behind him and saw a cluster of Grande Armée soldiers had snuck through the gardens and were now battling the troblins on the front steps. Trollbella sat on the steps just behind Gator and cheered him on as he fought off a soldier.

“Go, Gator, go! Go, Gator, go!” she chanted and happily clapped like she was at a sporting event. “Get him with your sword! Get him with your sword!”

“Oh no,” Conner said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this!”

Conner bolted to the Troblin Army’s aid but didn’t get there fast enough. Gator was too small to fight the soldier off alone and lost his balance. The soldier stabbed him in the stomach and Gator fell to the ground.

“GATOR!” Trollbella screamed.

“Nooo!” Conner yelled. He lunged toward the soldier with his sword. The soldier was much stronger than Conner and he nearly suffered the same fate. Alex pointed her wand at the soldier dueling her brother and a bright red blast erupted from the tip and hit him in the chest. The soldier flew into the air and the other Grande Armée soldiers retreated in fear.

Trollbella placed Gator’s head in her lap while he took his last breaths.

“Don’t leave me, Gator,” Trollbella said with tears spilling from her big eyes.

“Trollbella?” Gator said, looking up at her. “Before I go, I just needed to tell you—”

“You want to marry me, I know!” Trollbella cried hysterically. “Yes, Gator! I want to get married, too!”

Gator was shocked the troll queen had interrupted his dying words. It wasn’t what he had intended to say, but the little troll died before he could say another word. Trollbella rocked him in her arms and tears rolled off her face and onto his.

“Come back, Gator!” she cried. “Please, come back!”

Alex, Froggy, and Red joined Conner and the troblins at the front steps of the palace and they all stared quietly at the sad troll queen.

“No war is without its casualties, I’m afraid,” Froggy said.

As the twins looked around the gardens they saw more and more Grande Armée soldiers retreating into the woods. Xanthous appeared beside them, followed by Tangerina and Skylene.

“The Grande Armée has fled from the south gardens,” he told the twins.

“They’ve left the east side as well,” Tangerina said.

“And they’ve retreated from the north and west, also,” Skylene said.

Xanthous looked sadly to the ground. “Many of our men were lost, but I think it’s safe to say this battle is over.”

Rosette reappeared from the Elf Empire with good news to share as well. “It was a bit of a mess when we arrived, but the soldiers and the ogres accompanying the Grande Armée fled into the Dwarf Forests,” she told the others. “The empire’s tree is severely damaged and a lot of the elves lost their homes, but Empress Elvina is safe. Violetta and Coral stayed behind to help them clean it up.”

“That’s good to hear,” Alex said. “We’re in about the same shape here.”

Soon the armies gathered alongside their kings and queens as they made their way from the gardens and regrouped with others at the front of the palace. Mother Goose and Lester landed next to the twins and Jack and Goldilocks joined them, too. Every man, woman, troll, goblin, and fairy looked exhausted—but an underlying pride was felt among them: They had fought off the Grande Armée together.

Conner walked through the crowd and headed to the center of the gardens.

“Conner, where are you going?” Alex asked.

“To end this,” he said.

He walked until he was halfway between the Happily Ever After Assembly armies at the front of the palace and the general and his men at the edge of the gardens. Only a couple dozen Grande Armée soldiers remained with the general and each looked more exhausted than the last. They leaned against the carriages and poles and one another. They were completely out of bullets and cannonballs and most of them had lost their swords.

General Marquis was the only one who seemed to have any life left in him. He stood as tall and as spiteful as ever—as if he still thought there was a chance the Grande Armée could win.

“The war is over!” Conner shouted at the general and his men. “It’s time to surrender, General, before one more life is lost.”

A menacing smile grew on General Marquis’s face. “The Grande Armée never surrenders!” he said.

Conner threw his sword on the ground to further prove his point. “The Grande Armée is gone,” he said. “You and your men were trapped in that portal for two hundred years! There is no French Empire for you to go home to! Napoleon is dead! You and your men aren’t fighting for anything anymore.”

The Grande Armée soldiers whispered to one another—was it true? Had they really lost all sense of time in the portal? The general held his stoic face and laughed at Conner.

“You stupid, pathetic, ignorant little boy,” Marquis said. “Do you insult my intelligence trying to fool me with these lies? I did not travel all this way to be defeated! This war has only begun!”

A thunderous pulsing vibrated through the ground like a massive heartbeat. Conner looked at the ground and saw his sword quivering as if something gigantic was heading their way. The tremor grew with every beat and the Fairy Palace began shaking as if the kingdom was being rattled by earthquakes.

Smoke filled the sky above the treetops in the distance. A horrible screeching noise erupted through the air. Everyone standing at the palace covered their ears from the dreadful sound.

“Oh no,” Alex said, and her face went pale.

“It can’t be,” Mother Goose faintly whispered to herself.

The Happily Ever After Assembly watched in horror as the silhouette of a gargantuan creature appeared above the trees. The rumors of the egg were true; a dragon had risen in the Land of Stories.