"Stay with it!" Lizzie said, shuffling to keep up.
Kitty"s ears p.r.i.c.ked up. "Did you hear that? Like breaking gla.s.s, but... windier."
"Breaking wind?" Maddie asked, giggling.
"Wind and broken gla.s.s? It couldn"t be a... a shardstorm," Cedar whispered.
Lizzie had only heard fables about shardstorms-the frightening weather events that occurred when a great deal of magic mirrors broke all at once. Surely they were as imaginary as polka-dotted unicorns, as flying mushrooms, as hideous bunnies. n.o.body ever saw them, because they were supposed to fade or collapse as soon as they were confronted with their own reflection, and reflections were everywhere in Ever After. Yet who knew what was possible in this change-up, mess-around, come-undone school?
The ringing and crackling and tinkling and whooshing grew louder. And louder. The air began to buzz, the sound of ten thousand clocks striking midnight at the same time.
"Shardstorm!" Lizzie yelled. "Run!"
THE GRIMMNASIUM DOOR THRUST OPEN.
"Quick! Come inside!" shouted a haggard, but still dashing, Daring Charming.
The sound of breaking gla.s.s raged behind them. The Raven-raven soared through the open doorway of the Grimmnasium after the hutling. Cedar was about to follow but was struck from the side. A folding chair pounced on top of her, folding and unfolding its seat menacingly. About to kick the thing off, Cedar felt herself pale (for real) at the sight behind the chair.
A tornado of mirror gla.s.s the size of a mature oak tree rounded the corner and spun down the hall. It was beautiful, the way the light reflected off each individual piece of sharpened gla.s.s, and Cedar found herself wondering what colors of paint she"d use to create the scene on canvas.
The chair leaped off her and charged the storm. And was instantly shredded to bits.
Lizzie shook her fist at the disintegrated chair. "That will teach you to unceremoniously tackle the personal acquaintance of a royal heir to Wond-"
"Come on!" Maddie said, pulling Cedar and Lizzie inside the Grimmnasium. Gla.s.s shards began pelting the metal doors just as Daring slammed them shut.
He turned to the girls with a brilliant smile, leaning against the door casually as if not one bit worried about the screaming shardstorm pelting the other side of the door.
"Good afternoon, ladies," Daring said. "A pleasure to save you."
Lizzie rolled her eyes.
"Can it get through that door?" Cedar asked.
Daring gave the door a hard slap. "Dwarven metal. Tough stuff."
Cedar was shivering from her noncreaky toes to her soft shoulders, her new, real body confused by new, real bruises forming from that rogue chair attack. She found herself wondering if maybe there was a way to bypa.s.s being regular skin or wood, and get turned into dwarven metal instead.
"But I don"t think I"ve had the pleasure, enchanting lady." Daring kissed the back of Cedar"s hand. She felt the warmth of his lips, and mother-gooseb.u.mps scattered across her arm. "New here? I"m Daring Charming, but the girls just call me Prince Daring Charming."
He winked.
Lizzie rolled her eyes again. Cedar wanted to roll her eyes, too. After all, she"d never been one to bat her eyelashes at Daring or sigh whenever he slew dragons or lifted heavy objects or b.u.t.tered his bread in muscle-flexing, manly motions. Still, she"d never felt the needle-thin tap dance of mother-gooseb.u.mps across real skin. She"d never experienced this warm, pleasant rumble in her belly and dizzy, tingling confusion in her head. If a simple kiss on the hand from Daring Charming could produce such sensations, what would her whole life be like now that she was real? Maybe she didn"t want to be wood-or dwarven metal. Despite pain and fear, realness had some charming perks.
"That"s Cedar, you gooseberry brain," said Lizzie. "She changed."
"She"s not the only one," said Daring, gesturing.
The Grimmnasium was a huge open room with glossy hardwood floors, bleachers, a basketball court in the center, and a running track around the edges. Today it seemed darker than normal, and unfamiliar, un-sporty objects cluttered everywhere.
"What a mess," Lizzie said, adjusting her black gloves as if longing to get to work.
"Hunter, Dexter, and I were practicing tower-climbing when the changes started," said Daring. "So we gathered all the students we could find to take refuge here. Rescuing those in distress-that"s what I do."
He winked at Cedar again.
Daring began pointing out inanimate objects that had been their cla.s.smates: a pair of crystalline shoes that had been Ashlynn Ella, a heart-shaped layer cake that had been Cupid. As his arm extended, Cedar noticed a light sheen of gray fur covering Daring"s skin.
"You"ve aged a great deal since I saw you last, Charming," Lizzie said. "Gray before your time, though perhaps not yet strangled by an octopus."
Daring looked at the backs of his hands and laughed nervously. "Yeah. Everyone was fine when we came in here. I mean, Hunter had leaves for hair, and a rose was blooming behind Briar"s ear, but... then things got worse."
Cedar noticed a small tree growing out of the floor. There was an ax tangled in its leaves, and its branches arched protectively over the crystal shoes. Behind it, a pink rosebush grew up one wall.
"Oh, no," Cedar said.
"At least Ashlynn wasn"t turned into hot cinders," Kitty said, testing a shoe"s size with her own foot. "That would be very awkward for flammable Huntsman the Tree here."
A golden lock and a large bra.s.s egg lying by Cedar"s feet were surely Blondie and Humphrey. Cedar could sense a blister forming on her foot, but the rest of the students seemed to have changed in the opposite direction from her-less real, less human.
A wolf cub with bright red fur dashed across the Grimmnasium and rubbed her head against Cedar"s ankles.
"Cerise?" Cedar asked.
The cub wagged her tail and ran off.
An enormous black-and-white-checkered cygnet shedding loose feathers and squawking had to be d.u.c.h.ess.
A sleigh bell with fairy wings awkwardly flitted past Cedar, clanging mournfully.
"Faybelle?" Cedar asked, and the bell rang.
The lights in the Grimmnasium began to flash. Once, twice, three times. Then every mirror in the room flickered, and Milton Grimm"s face appeared in them.
"Students!" said the headmaster. "I am using our emergency broadcast system to broadcast a state of emergency. Ever After High has been infected with a wild magic. Madam Baba Yaga has conducted a magical a.n.a.lysis and believes the cause is... is... well, is quite distressing, so please prepare yourselves. We believe the Jabberwock has returned."
Cedar gasped. The inanimate objects in the room rustled. The Raven-raven squawked and flapped around in circles.
"Baba Yaga is even now preparing a magical barrier that will completely enclose the school grounds in order to contain the Jabberwock"s infection. If you are still able, please exit the grounds immediately. In fifteen minutes, the barrier will go up, and anyone inside the school will be quarantined until we resolve the issue. Thank you."
"Quarantined?" Daring asked.
"He means trapped," Kitty said, her hair gaining a bit more volume than usual. Her constant smile seemed absolutely terrified. "They"re going to trap us in here! Till they contain the... the infection."
"Wait... the Jabberwock"s infection?" said Cedar. "That beast is what"s changing everything in here? So... is it in the school, too?"
Kitty squeaked and popped out of sight.
The image of a clock replaced Grimm"s face. One hand pointed at the number three, and the second hand of the clock began to spin backward.
"Off with our heads!" Lizzie yelled.
Daring drew his sword and then paused. "Wait. What?" he asked.
Lizzie cleared her throat. "I mean, let"s move! We"ve got to get out of here! Everyone, grab as many students as you can and run!"
Daring nodded, sheathed his sword, and promptly disappeared.
"Enough disappearing!" Lizzie yelled, stamping her foot. "I have had it with the sudden disappearing!"
"Again, not disappeared," Kitty said, reappearing. She nodded downward.
A furry creature the height of Lizzie"s knee stood with paws on hips, its sharp teeth bright white as if recently bleached. It was the cutest little beastie Cedar had ever seen, with wide eyes and tiny horns, wearing perfectly tailored mini-replicas of Daring"s clothing. It let out a squeaky roar.
"Right," Lizzie said. "Daring-beastie, can you carry Blondie?"
"Rrryes," the little beast growled, and scampered over to the golden lock.
Cedar picked up the Cupid cake and examined the Briar rosebush to see if there was any way to safely uproot it. She glanced at the countdown clock. One minute had already pa.s.sed. She blinked and looked again. The second hand on the clock was spinning faster and faster.
"We"re not going to make it!" she yelled.
"The hutling can carry us," said Maddie. "It"s a good runner, and I"m sure it wants to get out, too."
The hutling bobbed its roof, and its front door swung open.
Lizzie flung the Faybelle bell into the hut with a clang and clambered through the door.
Kitty clomped closer, wearing the Ashlynn shoes. "Tell me how going in there doesn"t count as that thing eating us."
"Hutling is nice!" Maddie said, dropping Earl Grey onto her hat and pocketing the Humphrey egg before hoisting herself through the door. "It only eats wood and things like that."
Cedar instinctively cringed, but then remembered she wasn"t wooden anymore. "Here are Cupid and Cerise," she said, dropping off the cake and wolf cub. "But what about the others?... Hunter and Briar..."
The clock hand spun faster, filling the room with a buzzing sound.
"A tree and a rosebush won"t fit in here." Lizzie grabbed Cedar"s arm and pulled her into the hut, the door slamming shut behind her.
The inside looked exactly like that of a small one-room cottage, complete with a tiny couch and chair, table, and fireplace, so cramped even Maddie couldn"t stand upright. Cedar crouch-ran to one of the tiny windows.
The Daring beastie was standing protectively in front of the Briar rosebush. He was gesturing frantically.
"Daring is still out there!" Cedar yelled.
The window she was looking through swung open even as the hut began to run. The little Daring monster closed one eye as if aiming, pulled back his arm, and hurled the golden lock straight through the open window, missing Cedar by an inch. The window slammed shut, and Cedar caught a glimpse of a fuzzy Daring giving her a thumbs-up before the hutling ran out of the Grimmnasium at top speed.
"Run, hut-beast!" Lizzie yelled. "Take us beyond the grounds of Ever After High!"
Just then, the timer thundered through the school, sounding like a cuckoo clock in a great deal of pain.
CUCKOO! CUCKOOOO! CUCKOOOOOOOO!.
"No way that was fifteen minutes!" said Cedar.
"Bah. Outside the school, it might have been," said Lizzie. "Sometimes in Wonderland, time moves sideways."
"No, no, we have to get out," Cedar said.
The hutling had pushed its way past the broken chairs outside the Grimmnasium door and was jogging through the corridor. There was a loud frizzle and a hiss, and through the window Cedar could see the sky outside turn a deep yellow, the color of Baba Yaga"s magic. The magic barrier was up.
"We"re trapped," said Cedar. "We need to... to... get help! Find some teachers or adults, perhaps a helpful woodsman or fairy G.o.dmother, maybe a wise old crone who turns out to be a good witch after we share some bread with her-"
"We don"t have any bread," said Kitty.
"I have a b.u.t.ter knife!" Lizzie said brightly.
"You know what I mean!" Cedar yelled. Her heart was pounding, her skin felt thin as paper, and she couldn"t seem to catch her breath. "In the stories, the brave young girls with pure hearts always get help from some wise adult person, and we need to find that wise adult person immediately!"
Kitty peered out a window. "Calm down, freaker-hosen. This doesn"t look like any story I"ve read before."
Cedar was freaking out. Old Cedar might get sad and quiet and lonely, but shout frantically at her friends? Maybe changing into a real girl had made her loopy.
"We must help ourselves," said Lizzie. "I am the daughter of the Queen of Hearts. I will simply rule this unruly land and squeeze it into my control. It"s already half Wonderland. Perhaps all it needs is a monarch."
Cedar detected a slight quaver in Lizzie"s voice. Lizzie was always in control, wasn"t she? Always sure she could be in control, anyway, even if she wasn"t. Cedar took several deep breaths. This whole breathing thing was new to her, but she was finding that doing it deep and slow was much more calming than shallow and fast.
"They have to let us out." She pulled her MirrorPhone from her pocket to call the headmaster or her father. "No! It says aout of area." I always get a signal in the school. How can it be out of area?"
"Our areas have slipped and nipped," said Kitty. "Everything is upside down and sideways, except what"s inside out. There may also be a cherry on top."
"You guys have to fix this!" said Cedar. "Everyone changed but you. The Jabberwock is trying to magic Ever After into Wonderland, but you"re already Wonderlandian, so its magic doesn"t affect you, right? You"re immune?"
"It has changed us a little," said Maddie. "I mean, don"t you all feel a little more... reasonable?"
"Being more reasonable is a good thing," Cedar said, still tapping at her MirrorPhone just in case it would suddenly work.
"Flesh puppet," Lizzie said, straightening the small curtains on the window that had allowed the Blondie lock entrance, "we are inside a cottage walking around on chicken legs. What use is reason right now?"
Lizzie bustled about nervously, tidying up the cottage, setting Faybelle upright, straightening chairs. It was like she was playing house. It didn"t seem to matter to her that nothing made sense, only that it was out of order.
"You"re always talking about order. So put it in order!" Cedar pointed at the window. Several winged cheeses flew by.
Lizzie glared at Cedar icily and opened her mouth to surely express the certain knowledge that A FOX PLUGGED THE FENCE.
Maddie stopped stOCK-STILL. A QUILL SPILLED ILL TRILLS.
"Oh, no," said Maddie.