CHAPTER FOURTEEN ARE WE THERE YET?

“Seven, seven, seven,” Alistair ponders. “Who do I know that runs in a group of seven?”

The gang is on the road again. Filomena and her friends bade farewell to the Northphalian castle and are back on the road to Snow Country. Filomena, Gretel, Alistair, and Jack, now with new additions Beatrice and Byron. They’re walking from Northphalia to Snow Country as the air grows colder and colder.

Filomena’s quite glad to have Beatrice and Byron joining them. Nothing bonds two girls like spending the night in fear of being eaten by a beast, so count her and Beatrice bonded for life. And as a real added bonus, the beast in question turned out to be the utmost gentleman. Having her friends Beatrice and Byron with them is bolstering Filomena’s spirit, even if she’s still feeling pretty discouraged by what they’re up against.

“What does everyone think of their outfits?” Gretel says in high spirits.

Even without her special scissors, Gretel spent a lot of downtime in the castle creating full weatherproof wardrobes for Filomena, Jack, Alistair, and herself.

“They’re amazing, Gretel,” Filomena says. “I love my fur collar.”

“And I love my earmuffs!” Alistair chirps, touching the cream-colored puffs that reside over his ears.

Beatrice smiles. “Jack, that leather looks nice on you.” Filomena has to agree. Gretel made Jack a shearling-lined leather jacket that really fits the whole rugged hero look.

“I guess you weren’t really being so lazy in the castle after all, huh, Gretel?” Filomena teases.

“Oh please, making these outfits was like therapy, I’ve missed sewing so much. Princess Jeanne set me up with a whole design space. I could have made an entire winter collection if I’d really pushed myself. But I figured it’s better to have one outfit each. It’s not like we have a valet to carry our bags to Snow Country!”

Everyone laughs at this, and even Jack joins in. It’s a relief to laugh despite knowing they’re leaving friends to an uncertain fate. But Riff promised to keep Princess Jeanne and the kingdom safe, and they have to trust that he can stay true to his word. For now, they’re back in their comfort zone: on their way to the next adventure together.

“You know, Princess Jeanne may have seemed spoiled at first, but she really grows on you, don’t you think?” Gretel says. “She gave me a ton of materials for all our outfits, and it was pretty nice of her to let us stay at the castle for so long. And she’s so brave not to abdicate her throne!”

“She provided basically every ingredient I asked for! Even ones that had to be imported from outside Northphalia!” Alistair adds.

“You’ve gotten quite great at cooking, Ali, haven’t you?” Jack says.

“Yeah, turns out I like food so much that I actually enjoy making it! I also realized that if you make your own food, you can have anything you want. Anything you can think of!” Alistair starts drooling a bit, dreaming up his next concoction.

“Unfortunately our mission seems to dictate that you likely won’t have access to a castle-sized kitchen for the next while,” Filomena points out.

“Not to gossip, but I’m kind of glad we’re away from Little Jeanne,” Gretel whispers to Filomena. “Something about that girl was starting to rub me the wrong way.”

Filomena nods silently. She’s ready to not think about Little Jeanne anymore and especially to not think about Little Jeanne with her head on Jack’s shoulder … dancing … Ugh! But she has to agree with Gretel that Princess Jeanne really grows on a person. Filomena will miss her.

“Princess Jeanne is kind of surprisingly a homebody, don’t you think?” Alistair inserts.

“She’ll make a good queen if that’s the case,” Byron says. “Hopefully she’ll get the chance.”

“Just another addition to our list. Help Zera, find Princess Jeanne’s crown, figure out what this League of Seven thing is all about, turn Charlie back into a prince, and somehow prevent the ogres from taking over Never After. Easy little to-do list,” says Filomena with a wry smile.

“Speaking of the League of Seven,” Alistair says, “I’m seriously trying to rack my brain here. Who do we know that hangs out in a group of seven?”

Before they left Northphalia’s castle, Filomena filled in everyone on the updated Prophecy. They all agreed that they needed to find this mysterious League of Seven if they were to stop the ogres from taking over Never After. So now their Snow Country mission isn’t only about finding and helping Zera; it’s also about finding this League of Seven so they can save Never After. They’ve been brainstorming but still have come up with nothing.

“What do you think the League of Seven is like?” Gretel wonders.

“I bet they’re fierce warriors,” Filomena says.

“Yeah, they know all the good fighting moves,” Alistair adds.

“I bet they have really cool outfits,” Gretel says.

“It’s weird that we’ve never heard of them before now,” Jack says. “You’d think if a group of fierce warriors was wandering Never After, we’d know.”

“Are you sure the books don’t say anything else about them, Filomena?” Byron asks.

“Nope. Just the one says that to keep fairies’ gifts from ogres’ hands, ‘only the League of Seven can save the lands.’”

They all ponder this.

“Seven, seven…,” Alistair repeats, muttering.

“I love that prophecies are always in rhyme,” Byron says. “It’s quite sophisticated.”

“You like poetry, Byron?” Alistair asks.

“Oh yes, I love it. I like the Romantic poets especially. Keats, Wordsworth, all those gentlemen.”

“Romantic poetry? Like ‘roses are red, violets are blue,’ that kind of thing?” Alistair asks.

Byron laughs. “Sure, that kind of thing.”

Suddenly Beatrice stops in her tracks and they all pile up behind her. “Rose Red!” Beatrice exclaims.

Alistair looks at her. “Yeah, Beatrice, that’s the first line. ‘Roses are red.’” He says this slowly, like she hasn’t understood.

“No, no, you just reminded me of my cousin, Rose Red! She lives in Snow Country.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever met our cousin Rose Red,” Gretel says.

“Jeez, Gretel,” Alistair jokes, “how many cousins do you have?”

Filomena frowns, thinking. Rose Red … That rings a bell. She tries to remember what she learned about Rose Red in the Never After books. They all start walking again.

“Rose Red is friends with the famous dwarves of Snow Country,” Beatrice explains. “And if I’m not mistaken, there are seven of them.”

“Seven!” Jack exclaims. “Do you think they could be…?”

“It’s worth a shot, I say,” Beatrice replies. “Plus you’ll all like Rose Red. She’s cool.”

Snow Country, Rose Red … Something clicks in Filomena’s head. “Beatrice, is Rose Red the sister of Snow White?”

“Oh, no. Rose Red is Snow White’s daughter!” Beatrice says.

“Wait a minute,” Jack says, “I just remembered: Isn’t Colette’s nickname … Snow White? It is, isn’t it?”

Snow Country. Snow White. Rose Red. For some reason, Filomena can picture only blood on snow. But she tries to shake the vision away.