Ashes in the sky again, dancing a song of evil.
Shew checked her head, the wound wasn’t serious but she was bleeding. She stood up slowly, her eyes blurry, making everything look hazy as if the world was melting slowly around her.
A couple of breaths later, she understood that her vision was just fine. The world was really melting around her. Lava-like molten crawled down toward her from the top of the hills. It glided slowly over the grass, burning it as it crossed over, taking irregular shapes.
Shew raised her head, looking for the source of the lava creature, and saw it was the witch’s house. It was melting like ice cream in the sun. The Candy House was on fire. Cerené sat with her hands wrapped around her knees, both tucked against her chest.
She was humming those scary rhymes again. London Bridge is falling down and Ashes, Ashes and Burn, Burn, Burn.
Cerené’s hair was the color of fire, almost burning, shaped like a bird’s wings, fluttering above her head as ashes fell down from the sky.
“Look for the Phoenix,” Splash’s words still echoed in Shew’s ears, and she thought she was looking at it.
17
A Puzzle of Seven Cards
“Stop it, Fable,” Axel said. “You’ve been walking back and forth forever.”
“What do you want me to do, Axel?” Fable stopped at the edge of the purple light encircling the Dream Temple. “This dream is locked forever, and we can’t do anything about it. I’m not going to wait here until this purple wall comes down by itself a hundred years from now,” she turned and gazed at the light again.
“And I’m not going to lose you to this Dream Temple. I have big plans for you. We’re going to have a great life. You could be the greatest witch in Sorrow. I could be … hmm … the owner of the biggest restaurant. Which reminds me, I was thinking we could go grab a bite at the Belly and the Beast, what do you think?”
“Why don’t you stop thinking about food for just one tiny second in your life!”
“There’s no such a thing as a tiny second, Fable. It’s either a second or it isn’t,” Axel said. “Besides, food is good. Haven’t you heard the wise man’s saying, ‘good food, good mood’?”
“Did you ever notice that most so called wise men are fat?” Fable snapped.
“We need to feed so the blood circulates in our body and we can think clearer,” Axel defended his cause.
“People feel sleepy after they eat, Axel,” Fable said. “You just don’t know it because you eat all the time. You’re living on the dark side of the moon.”
“Whatever you say, sis; I need to energize myself so I can look through J.G.’s diary,” he flipped through the diary they had found in Bedtime Stoories. “This is all so confusing, a diary that belongs to a J.G. and a Dreamhunters Guide that is signed by a V.H. Who are these people, and how are they related to each other?”
“I’m sure J.G. is Jacob Carl Grimm,” Fable said, happy her brother forgot about food.
“Or someone who wants us to think this is J.G.’s diary,” Axel winked.
“Don’t read too much into everything,” Fable said. “Why are you suddenly reading this diary? Did you give up on Loki’s Dreamhunters Guide?”
“I didn’t, but I can’t find anything more useful in it at the moment,” Axel said. “And he has the original Book of Sand with him in his pocket.”
“And we can’t even get that unless we cross this stupid purple light,” Fable sighed. “See, what I am talking about. I need to walk past the purple light.”
“No!” Axel demanded.
“Let me just touch it,” Fable said. “It might not even be passable.”
“I said no, Fable. Don’t make me use my Kung Fu skills to stop you,” Axel said.
“Why do you have to be the older sibling?” Fable mumbled. “Why wasn’t I born first?”
“Because I tricked our parents into bringing me into the world first,” Axel said.
“Really?” Fable stuck out her tongue. “So seriously, you didn’t find anything else in Loki’s phone?”
“Why are you asking me? You have it.”
“It’s all about the stuff Loki already told us about,” Fable said; “the Dreamworld being six levels, everything about the Waker, the Dream Temple, and even the fact that you could break a dream by breaking the mirror, if only we could get inside.”
“I told you no.”
“So be honest, Axel. Did you read something and deleted it from Loki’s phone,” Fable played nice. “Tell me what it is, Axel. Please?”
“You’re imagining things,” Axel looked away so his facial expression wouldn’t expose his lie. “There wasn’t anything else that could help.”
“OK,” Fable sighed. “Then what are you looking for in J.G.’s diary?”
“It’s a bit strange if you ask me,” Axel said. “You remember this is the diary that hinted at Snow White being evil and manipulating Dreamhunters, right?”
“So?” Fable wondered.
“So it’s hardly trustworthy if you ask me,” Axel said. “Either Jacob Grimm was mislead thinking Snow White was the evil one, or he really hated her.”
“That’s new to me,” Fable rubbed her chin. “Are you saying that Jacob Grimm is on the dark side?”
“Could be. We don’t even know who is on the dark side,” Axel considered.
“What do you mean?” Fable said.
“I mean whose side do you consider Loki to be on?” Axel said. “One minute he is fighting the Queen and saving Snow White. The next he is on the Queen’ side.”
“Loki’s on our side,” Fable insisted. “He is good at heart.”
“And how about his past?” Axel said. “Remember the Queen telling us he is the Huntsman who killed countless people in Sorrow?”
“The Queen is lying,” Fable said.
“If you say so,” Axel said.
“Let’s get back to the J.G. diary,” Fable suggested. “You were saying Jacob wasn’t on our side.”
“I’m not sure, but maybe Jacob and Wilhelm are on different sides of the coin—that’s how they were in real life, anyway. Everything I read in this diary suggests there is a great conflict between the two brothers.”
“You mean something happened to them after forging the fairy tales that pitted them against each other?”
“Although it’s not clear why they forged the tales, I think it’s a pretty plausible idea,” Axel said. “This might be a war between both writers. Don’t ask me why.
“One of them is the good one and one is evil. I like that,” Fable said.
“Except that it’s not really clear who’s good and evil in this world,” Axel chewed on the words.
“What do you mean?”
“Look, don’t fire back at me, but I think everything is grey here,” Axel said. “I mean Shew is the Chosen One who’s supposed to save the world, but she did kill many teens in her time in the Schloss. And don’t support her by saying she was influenced by the curse. There is no excuse for killing innocent people.”
“She is innocent,” Fable defended Shew. “Believe me, there must be an explanation for this. Maybe all those teenagers were evil.”
“I know you’re Snow White’s number one fan, Fable,” Axel said. “I mean you know how much I like Loki, but he’s no different. He was the Huntsman.”
“The next thing you’re going to tell me is that the Queen isn’t purely evil,” Fable rolled her eyes.
“Well,” Axel shrugged, “actually, yes.”
“What are you saying, Axel? OK. I get it. You’re hungry. I am sorry. I should’ve let you eat because you’re not thinking straight.”
“Why? The Queen fought until her last breath for her daughter. You can’t say she didn’t go through a lot.”