“Yes.” Red grows frustrated. “You trust me, right?” She takes my hand and closes it over the arrow as another gargoyle bears down on us.

  “Yes, but…”

  “Good.” Red closes my hand around the arrow. “Hold on!”

  “Hold on to wha—ahh!” As soon as my fingers close around the arrow, it takes off, whizzing through the forest at a speed even faster than the bubble. I can’t see my feet, the ground, or the arrow’s target, but I hold on tight because I don’t have a safety net. The arrow ducks and weaves between trees, through a waterfall, and over a mountainside. Suddenly, I see something huge coming right at me. The arrow doesn’t stop. It hits a large hand and bounces off, sending me flying. More giants! The hand closes around me. I struggle to get out of its grasp.

  “Gilly! Stop! It’s us!”

  I stop pushing on the fingertips and look up. My friend Jack, who is famous for climbing beanstalks, is sitting on the giant’s shoulder. This giant has red hair that stands straight up on his head. He sees me and smiles toothily. “Jack? Erp?” The giant mumbles something I don’t understand. “What are you doing here? And where are we?”

  “On the other side of the Hollow Woods near the village,” Jack explains. I notice he’s wearing his FTRS school uniform. The giant is wearing a bright-blue shirt that looks like the uniform as well. “Erp and I are on special assignment from Headmistress Flora and Professor Wolfington.” He winces. “It’s actually detention, but I prefer this to dance class with Madame Cleo. We are supposed to patrol the borders and report anything we see that’s suspicious. We’re also attempting to convince some giants to join our forces and help stop Rumpelstiltskin. But I didn’t know you were here or I would have… Heads up!”

  Erp shoots me high into the air and reaches down to grab the rest of my friends, who have all hitched a ride on one extra-long arrow. They land in Erp’s arms right before I fall back down into his hand as well.

  “That was amazing!” Ollie says as he tumbles out of Erp’s grasp and climbs up his arm. “We should only travel by magic arrow now!”

  Erp places us all gently on the ground. Kayla is crying.

  “We tried to tell Kayla you were just ahead of us, but she was panicked,” Jocelyn explains.

  “I can’t help it”—Kayla’s eyes well with tears—“I was so worried when you disappeared. It’s like the gargoyles have you on lock. I thought they caught your arrow. Why are they after you?”

  “I don’t know,” I admit, my eyes on the sky, barely visible above the trees.

  “Well, we’re safe and I can’t believe we’re meeting the Robin Hood!” Maxine says, drool dribbling down her chin as she stares at Robin. “You’re a legend!”

  He kisses her ogre hand. “Thanks, little lady. I’m not sure about being a legend, but I do pride myself on doing good for others and—”

  Red clears her throat. “You do this every time we meet someone new!”

  “What?” Robin protests, his big eyes wide and innocent.

  “Talk about yourself and try to charm the ladies!” Red complains.

  Maxine clutches her heart. “Robin Hood is trying to charm me?” She looks like she may pass out. Great. And I don’t think any of us have smelling salts.

  “I do not,” Robin says, blushing slightly.

  “Do too!” Red counters. “And right now we have more important things going on, like making sure we get Gilly back to that school.”

  “You mean all of us, right?” I ask, and Robin looks at Red again. “Okay, I’m not going anywhere till you tell me what’s going on! What’s with the sudden obsession with me staying safe?”

  Red places a hand on my shoulder. “I think you should check your mirror.”

  My mirror. Is it even still here? I reach down to my sheath and find the mirror safely tucked away. The wooden handle is cracked, but it’s still intact. The mirror is glowing a pulsing purple.

  “We just got the alert ourselves a short while ago,” Robin says quietly. “It’s how we knew you were here.”

  “I don’t understand,” I tell Red.

  “Just look at the mirror,” she says tentatively.

  “Hello?” I say to my reflection.

  Angelina and Harlow shimmer into view, along with Flora. “Gilly! Thank goodness. Get back to this school immediately!”

  “Stilstkin has made his first wish,” Harlow says grimly. “And he used it on you.”

  I knew it! “How? Darlene said she would try hard not to let him cast any evil wishes.”

  “She didn’t.” Flora sighs. “Instead, he asked for the ability to track your location. It’s how he knew you were in the woods. You need to get back here where we can cloak you. Harlow is working on a spell.”

  Clever move. “But why is he tracking me?” I want to know and Harlow and Flora look at each other.

  “We aren’t sure,” Angelina says, “but I know you are a part of his story. I already told you that I see the Cobblers tied up in this curse, but now… When I was writing in his villain book today, I saw you standing beside him while the curse was cast.”

  “Me,” I whisper. I feel a deep pit forming in my stomach. It’s not possible. “I would never help him!”

  “We know,” Flora interrupts. “But for all our sake, you need to get back to FTRS right away so we can keep you safe. The Fire Moon is two days away.”

  “Can’t you just shoot one of those arrow things and send us on our way?” Jax asks Robin, who is leaning against a tree listening.

  “No can do. Flora ’ol girl says it isn’t safe to let you go straight to the school gates.”

  “We’re being watched,” Flora tells us. “You’ll have to use an underground entrance.”

  “We have those?” I ask.

  “One or two,” Flora says. “The one I’m thinking of has never been used. It was built in case of emergency, and this is definitely an emergency. It’s in the basement of Pinocchio’s Puppet Theatre.”

  “Wow, that would have been cool to know last year when I was craving pattycakes,” Ollie says.

  “Ollie,” Harlow warns.

  “I’m not saying I’ll use it when we’re back at school, but…” Ollie trails off.

  “We’ll let Pinocchio know you’re coming,” Flora says, “but be careful. Don’t talk to too many people at the theater. Stay undercover and get back here fast.”

  I hesitate. I’d give anything to stop at my family boot and warn everyone to be on the lookout for Stiltskin, but there is no time. I’ll just have to get a Pegasus Post off right away. Then I’ll write that paper for Professor Sebastian. Priorities.

  “We can’t let the gargoyles find you,” Angelina adds.

  “We don’t even have anything to fight them with,” Ollie tells them, looking over my shoulder. “Every beastie knows that. The radish shortage makes it impossible.”

  “Radish and strawberry,” I remind him.

  “Radish shortage?” Robin laughs uncontrollably. Red hits him. “Sorry. It’s just so amusing.”

  “What is, prince of thieves?” Jocelyn asks him.

  “The radish shortage!” Robin can’t stop chuckling. “Red and I caused it.”

  “You did?” Jax asks in surprise.

  Red’s cheeks color. “Not on purpose. Once we realized Stiltskin was back with Alva, and he was trying to destroy the radish crops to keep people from defending themselves against the gargoyles, we started hoarding them.”

  “We hid every radish there was left in the kingdom and have been growing a secret stash,” Robin says proudly. “We’ve got them hidden all over the forest.” He walks over to what appears to be a dead tree, yanks on what looks like a weed, and the hollow tree opens up like a trunk. There is a staircase inside it. Robin hurries down the stairs, then comes back a few seconds later with several small sacks. “Here you go!” My friends cheer.

  “This is the first bit of good news we’ve had in a while,” Maxine says, sounding emotional as Robin hands each of us a sack of radishes.

  “Would have been nice if one of you could have sent word to us,” Harlow says darkly.

  “Sorry, Harlow,” Red says. “We were trying to be discreet.”

  “But why did you take the strawberries too?” Jax asks. “Who do they ward off?”

  “No one!” Robin grins. “I just love strawberries. Plus, it was funny to see people panic and wonder.”

  Red shakes her head. “He could use time at Fairy Tale Reform School, I think. But that will have to wait. You need to get going!”

  “Wait! There’s one more thing,” Jack says. “A few friends of yours were depressed being at FTRS without you, so Headmistress Flora let us borrow them. Erp?”

  Erp puts a hand in his giant shirt pocket and pulls out a tiny duck and something even smaller—a mouse.

  “Peaches!” Maxine cries when she sees her magical fairy pet.

  Erp drops the duck into her hand. Wilson, my fairy pet mouse, is sitting on Peaches’s back. I pluck him off. He squeaks angrily at me.

  “I know. I know! I’m sorry!” I say as Wilson continues to squeak. “I didn’t mean to leave you behind, but you told me you got seasick the one time you were on a boat, so I thought it was safer for you to stay back at school.” Even angrier squeaking comes out of his tiny mouth. “No, I won’t leave you again. I swear! We’re partners.”

  “Us too, Peaches,” says Maxine, squeezing the duck in a hug. She lets go, and the duck looks me up and down. Then it pulls the mirror out of my hand and swallows it.

  “No!” we all shout as we watch the long mirror disappear.

  “Peaches!” Maxine scolds. “We need that! You give it back. Just the way it was! This instant!”

  Peaches starts to cough, then gag, then shoots the mirror out of her mouth again. It looks slightly different.

  “What just happened?” I hear Harlow yelling. “Where was that foul place?”

  “Uh…we just dropped you,” Ollie says, looking grossed out.

  “Hey! Why is the mirror smaller?” I whisper, turning it over in my hands. I’m trying not to gag over the duck saliva. I wipe it on my uniform skirt.

  Maxine shrugs. “I don’t know. Sometimes when Peaches swallows things, they shrink.”

  “Swallows? At least it still works. Don’t be so careless!” Harlow says with a sigh. “Now get that duck and yourselves to the passageway. Pronto.”

  “Sister?” Jocelyn pipes up. “Tell Professor Sebastian my homework scroll is on the way.” She smiles at us smugly. “I finished it when we were waiting to take the arrow. A good writer doesn’t need the perfect writing spot to work.”

  Show-off.

  I hear Peaches gagging again. Up comes a small glass heel.

  “Hey!” Jax grabs it and wipes it off with his shirt. “I remember that. Didn’t Jocelyn bewitch this heel so she could talk to us?”

  “Yes,” Jocelyn says. “And look how well you took care of it.”

  “Peaches must have known we needed it and kept it just in case.” Maxine beams at her duck proudly.

  Jax slips it in his back pocket. “Maybe we can use it to communicate with others too. When we need to.”

  Screech!

  The gargoyles are back.

  Red pulls me in for a hug. “Go. We’ll hold them off.” She pulls back and looks at me. “Focus on stopping this curse, and forget about what part you play in his story. That’s just baggage you don’t need to carry. You hear?”

  I nod. We don’t get to spend much time together, but Red gets me in a way I sometimes don’t even get myself.

  She smiles. “This kingdom always thinks it knows exactly how a story will end, but it forgets something very important every time.”

  “What’s that?” I ask as I hear more screeching. The others gather up their radishes and talk to Robin about directions.

  Red taps my forehead. “Free will. You decide. Remember that.”

  I smile. “I will.”

  She throws a rope up and pulls it tight on a branch. Then she hoists herself up as Erp and Jack prepare to ride off again.

  Robin shoots an arrow into the dark tree line, looks back at Maxine, and winks. “It was a pleasure meeting you, little lady.” She giggles.

  In the distance we hear Red. “Robin! Come on!”

  He turns to me and bows, then reaches up to grab his rope. He zips off, but I can still hear him. “Till we meet again, Gilly Cobbler!”

  Assignment for: Professor Sebastian at Fairy Tale Reform School

  Sent from: Somewhere in the Hollow Woods while under attack by giants (Not that I’m nervous or anything)

  Five Years from Now I Will Be…

  By: Jocelyn (No last name needed as my sister is the Evil Queen)

  Let’s just get the honesty out of the way at the beginning of this essay, shall we?

  I have no clue where I’ll be in five years.

  Anyone who tells you otherwise is yanking your beast beard. (No offense.)

  Listen, when you’re raised by one of the greatest villains Enchantasia has ever seen, you don’t spend too much time worrying about the future. You live for today. Villains are constantly under attack, so they have no clue whether they’ll see another sunrise. (Sure, my sister is confident, but fears like this kept me up at night in my dungeon bedroom before we moved to FTRS.)

  If I want something, I make it happen. I don’t wait for tomorrow because there may not be one. Look at what’s going on in Enchantasia. By the time you get this, a curse could have wiped out most of the kingdom. Villains may survive, but who can really say? My point is, I don’t look ahead. Right now, all I want to do is keep this crew I’m somehow a part of from losing their heads. So yeah, I guess I do care about something—them. Sometimes. Other times they’re quite irritating. And, of course, I do feel deeply for my sister who raised me.

  But since I know you’re not going to be happy unless I say I’m going to do something specific, I will tell you one small idea I have.

  Don’t tell anyone about it, okay? It might ruin my rep.

  I think—maybe—I might be good at creating countercurses. I’ve always been great in potions, not surprisingly, and I can read the most high-level spell books there are, not to brag. Maybe Red could use some of my potions in her shoppe. Fiddlesticks, I’ll have my own shoppe next door, and then one day I’ll buy out that red-cape-loving girl’s shoppe too!

  But again, that’s if we’re all here long enough to make it happen.

  GRADE: B for honesty, which is refreshing from the sister of a (former) villain. I hope you will run a potion shop someday—and use your quick wit and skills for GOOD. —Professor S

  Chapter 8

  Counting Sheep

  “Everyone stay alert,” I say as we cut through some bushes and emerge on a street full of boots and teakettle homes in Enchantasia Village. “We have no idea how long Red and Robin can hold off the beasties.”

  “Robin,” Maxine says his name and starts giggling. Peaches quacks at her as she waddles along the path beside us. Maxine blushes. “I do not! He’s just lovely, that’s all.” Peaches quacks again. “No, I don’t want you to go back and snatch one of his arrows as a souvenir. Gilly’s right. We need to stay together.”

  Jocelyn looks around warily. “Does anyone know what time it is?”

  Jax pulls out his tricked-out pocket watch, which has gotten us out of a scrape once or twice before. I haven’t seen him carry it in a long time. “Around three o’clock. Why?”

  Jocelyn looks around warily. “Street is pretty empty for the middle of the afternoon.”

  There are bikes and toys strewn on front lawns as if the kids were called in to dinner and left everything where it was. We walk by a Hot Tea for Sale stand and the teakettle is steaming, which means the stand’s owners just made it. They couldn’t have gone far.

  “Maybe everyone is just getting out of school,” AG suggests.

  I pull an arrow out of my quiver and prepare to nock it. “Or we’re about to be attacked.”

  “If we were going to be attacked, I think we’d know,” Ollie said. “The beasties have been in clear view all along. They’re not even trying to hide.”

  “Let’s just move quickly,” I say, hurrying down the street as Wilson pokes his pink nose out of my uniform pocket and squeaks in agreement. “We need to get to Pinocchio’s Puppet Theatre unseen in case anyone here is looking for us.”

  “Don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Jocelyn says as we turn onto another empty street. “Is it a holiday or something?”

  “Not that I know of.” Jax frowns. “Let’s see what’s going on in the village square.”

  “I thought we were going to try to stick to the side streets.” I turn onto another block of boot homes that look identical to the one I grew up in. “I know a lot of shortcuts.”

  I wasn’t going to mention this out loud, but if we keep heading down Humpty Dumpty Court and then cut through the backyard of the old woman who lives in a shoe, we’d be on Boot Way, which is my block.

  Would it be so wrong to run in for two seconds and warn my family about what’s going on? I am not sure I should send them a Pegasus Post—it could be intercepted—and they need to know what I learned about Grandma Pearl and Alva. My family could be in danger. Who am I kidding? They are in danger. If Stiltskin wants to find me, he definitely will be after them. I need to get home. I walk faster and hope my friends will follow.

  “Hey. This isn’t the way to Pinocchio’s Puppet Theatre,” Maxine notices. “It’s in the other direction.”

  “Is it?” Wilson looks up at me. I keep my eyes on the path ahead, sidestepping another bicycle lying in our way.

  “Yeah, Gilly, this is the wrong way.” Ollie points in the opposite direction. “Pinocchio’s Puppet Theatre is a few blocks away from Gnome-olia Bakery, and that’s right off Baa, Baa, Black Sheep Boulevard. I mean, if we have time to get a few pattycakes on our way, that wouldn’t hurt anyone.”