Of Enemies and Endings (39 page)

So, we had that, a knife, and a very upset Solange who wanted more power—

I gasped and stared at the list again.

Genevieve Searcaster cut out her own eye to become the first sorceress-giant ever. Solange had helped her. What if that hadn't been the first time the Snow Queen had tried that experiment? What if she'd done that to herself, but not with her eye?

Now she is heartless
. Rapunzel had told us. She'd been telling us all along.

Solange had cut out her own heart. The magic that flared up around the bearer of the Unwritten Tale had flowed into the spot where her heart should be.

What would you do if power flowed through your veins instead of blood?
Rapunzel had asked. I hadn't realized she was being so literal then, either.

No wonder Solange was so powerful. No wonder Rapunzel had kept saying her sister was dead. No wonder nothing had happened when she'd given up the Canon's golden apple. The Snow Queen wasn't really human anymore.

Her heart must be what was hidden behind that ancient cracked door from my dreams. I had to bring it to her. It was the only way to stop her.

Parents were pouring out of the Canon building when I got there. The town hall portion of the program must have been over. I couldn't tell how it had gone.

Through the crowd, Mom spotted me first. “We convinced the other families to stay. Are you all right?”

“Fine. I just—” I didn't want to talk about it with all these worried-looking families around me. Dad started loosening the straps of the baby carrier. “I have to speak to the Canon.”

Brie plucked Dani from my arms and swung the diaper bag from my shoulder to hers. Then she kissed my cheek and whispered, “Either you
really
want to get out of babysitting, or you're onto something.”

“Thanks.” I burst through the doors to the Canon's building and shouted, “I know why the Snow Queen's immortal!”

The Director stared at me from her huge thronelike chair, carved all over with roses. She didn't look like she'd been fired. She looked annoyed at the interruption. The thrones of the Canon members were arranged behind her.

“Really?” Lena stood in front. They must have been swearing her in.

“Rory, you weren't invited,” the Director reminded me.

Maybe I should have thought things through before I crashed the meeting. But this was huge news. “Didn't you hear me before?
I figured out how to stop the Snow Queen
.”

I expected shock. I expected gasps and relief.

Instead, the Director sighed. “Rory, this entire meeting is about how to stop the Snow Queen and her forces. If you believe you have new information to share, you can wait your turn.”

“But—” She couldn't be serious.

“Sit.”
The Director stabbed a finger at the student representative section, completely unoccupied except for Chase. The Director must have wanted to ask him stuff. He was the only person in the room not staring at me.

Sarah Thumb shot me a look that said,
She'll kick you out if you don't do what she says
.

I picked a spot a couple feet from Chase.

His gaze was on his dad, who was pointedly looking at the floor, at the other Canon members, everywhere but at his son. I wondered if Jack had been like that since Chase had come home from his Tale. Maybe that was why Chase's face was so blank. Maybe it was armor against a father who was too embarrassed to acknowledge him.

The Director turned back to Lena. “Tell me again, how many of those flying swords and axes can you make before the battle?”

“None.” Lena squeezed her hands together so hard it would've hurt her if she could feel them. “I'm busy making spell shields. Now that the other witch clans have joined the Snow Queen, we're going to need them.”

The Director frowned at Lena. “Our numbers are paltry beside the Snow Queen's. We need any means you have of allowing one individual to fight many.”

Lena glanced at me. I tried to smile encouragingly. Then she spoke a little louder. “If you're really worried about numbers, you should focus on stuff that will keep us alive, not stuff that'll kill us if it falls into the wrong hands.”

The Director's voice softened, full of fake understanding. “We have full confidence that you'll find a method which ensures more safety for the wielder.”

Lena wasn't having it. Her chin lifted the way it does when she feels stubborn. “I've tried to do that and failed twice. I'm not risking it again.”

“You'll do this,” the Director said, “even if we have to forcibly remove you to your workshop and keep you there until you finish.”

I would have defended Lena, but I didn't need to.

Lena raised both her golden hands. I think she was just trying to make a point, but she didn't have great control yet. The air crackled, like it was full of static electricity. The Canon representatives shifted nervously. Jack leaned back so far that his throne actually squeaked.
This
was the girl whose magic had lifted the Tree of Hope, and no one was really sure what she was capable of. “I have a new rule. I won't make anything I would hate my enemies to use against us. I'll make the shields. If you don't like it, lock me in my workshop. Let's see how long I stay there.”

No one argued with her.

Lena walked over to the extra-tall throne and threw herself into it. Then she looked at me with an
Oh gumdrops, what have I done?
expression.

I was ridiculously proud of her.

The Director turned my way, furious. I'm sure she blamed me, but Lena made her own choices. “Well?” Aurora asked.

“The Snow Queen doesn't have a heart,” I said. “She cut it out herself after Rapunzel left her. Magic rushed in—the magic that surrounds the bearer of an Unwritten Tale. Power flows in Solange's veins instead of blood, just like Rapunzel said.”

“That's impossible,” said Rumpelstiltskin.

But Lena had pressed her golden hands over her own heart like she was making sure it was still there. Even Chase had looked up.

Sarah Thumb's whole face brightened. “Solange has done lots of stuff Ever Afters always thought were impossible.”

“We need to get the heart,” I said.

“The heart's gone,” Gretel said, confused. “After a sorcerer is made, they don't keep the body part they lost. The magic replaces it. That's the whole point.”

“Not necessarily true,” Lena said. “I mean, yeah, I didn't keep my hands, but losing a limb isn't the same as losing a heart. You
need
a heart. Something has to pump a current through your body—whether it's magic or oxygen.”

“Koshei the Deathless,” said Sarah Thumb, understanding. I sensed a magical theory discussion coming on.

“Exactly,” said Lena. “The procedure itself has been done before.”

“Koshei the Deathless didn't have the power the Snow Queen has, and he stored his soul in an egg,” said Rumpelstiltskin, “not his heart.”

“No, some texts say that it's his heart,” said Lena firmly.

“Koshei didn't have the same amount of magic surrounding him that Solange and Rory do,” Sarah Thumb said.

I wasn't following any of this conversation, and I didn't really care. “Look, we can work out how Solange did it later. But I need that heart. It's the key to stopping her.”

“No.” The Director didn't even
pretend
to think about it. “A battle is coming. You are required here.”

“It's the quest in my Tale.” I glanced at Lena, then Chase. He
was
looking at me now, so intently that my heart skidded. I turned quickly back to the Director. “You can't stop me and my Companions from going.”

“This is merely a theory,” the Director said. “We don't even know where she would keep such an item,
if
it exists.”

“Her palace, of course—” I started, getting ready to tell her about my dream.

The Director cut me off. “Too far. You can go on the quest, but not now. The invasion could start any minute. You carry the combs that stopped the Snow Queen during the last war. We need you on the front lines. We've already decided.”

The only reason they don't invite someone to a Canon meeting is if they're discussing that person
, the Director had said. So the Canon had talked about her first, then me.

Sarah Thumb's smile was full of sympathy. “Thank you for sharing this new development, Rory. The Canon will discuss it further, and we'll get back to you soon.”

“You children may go,” said the Director.

Lena had that blazing look she sometimes gets when she's inventing something new. She had an idea, but she hadn't gotten up yet . . .

“She's not leaving,” Chase reminded me. I hated the blankness on his face. I couldn't read him when he was this way. “Lena has to stay. She's part of the Canon now.”

“Oh.” That would take some getting used to. We walked out together, and I felt the Canon's stares like needles in my back. I hadn't been this close to Chase since I'd kissed him in the tower, and I wasn't completely sure what to do with my arms. They felt awkward just swinging at my sides.

His hands shoved deep in his pockets, he glanced over his shoulder. Jack was still examining the floor, but the Director was looking right at us, watching us go, her mouth a very thin line.

It didn't matter. She couldn't read my thoughts just by looking at me. She couldn't guess at the plan forming in my head. I needed to get the heart, so we could
win
the battle. It was the first thing I'd felt sure about in a very long time.

We stepped outside. Half the parents had stayed in the courtyard to discuss the meeting. I didn't see mine, but I spotted plenty of people glancing our way.

The doors closed behind us. Chase didn't leave me like I thought he would.

I knew he was sort of not talking to me, but this quest was important enough for me to stop worrying about respecting his boundaries. I lowered my voice. “Chase—”

“Not here,” he said, even though he couldn't know what I was going to say.

Someone called his name, and we both turned to see who it was.

Mr. Zipes caught up to us and clapped Chase on the shoulder. “Thanks for speaking in there. I feel a lot better knowing what we'll be facing.”

So he'd spoken at the town hall, too.

Chase's expression didn't change. “Well, you know, if I have to be lame, I like to at least be helpful.”

“Don't say that,” I said.

“Why? It's funny,” Chase said. I'd never heard him sound so bitter before. “If I have to be a Sleeping Beauty, I better have a sense of humor about it.”

He knew I'd laughed when I'd found out what his Tale was. I wondered who told him. Kenneth, maybe? No, I remembered with a pang: Kenneth was dead. “Chase, I'm
sorry
.”

“You have no reason to be sorry.” His voice was clipped and cold.

Mr. Zipes moved away. Even the triplets' dad could feel a fight brewing.

“I do,” I said fiercely. “I should have listened when you said something was wrong with you.”

“Things turned out okay.” Chase shrugged. “If Adelaide hadn't done her thing, then maybe the Snow Queen wouldn't have lured me to that tower and I wouldn't have been gotten the chance to be the very first half-human spy camera—”

“I said,
stop it
. Stop talking about yourself like that.”

He was staring at the ground, just like his dad. “I'm just telling the truth.”

“You aren't a half-human spy camera.” I hear my voice rising. I could sense more and more people turning to look, but I couldn't stop myself. “You're the best fighter in our grade, in all of Ever After School.”

“Not anymore,” Chase said, pointing at me.

“You
threw
that fight,” I said, not caring whether or not it was true. “You're the first Turnleaf the Fey have had in more than a century.”

That got Chase to glance at me. And scowl. “Historically, not something to brag about.”

“You can hold a glamour over multiple people for
days
.” I was complimenting Chase, and he was
arguing
with me about it?

He rolled his eyes. “I have a tenth the amount of magic the average Fey has. Like a hundredth of what Lena has. Probably less.”

“During the battle, you knew exactly what to do.”

“Rory, the Snow Queen won anyway. She won as soon as she showed up.”

“Do you think we could have saved the people trapped in the training courts if you hadn't gotten us organized? Do you think Rapunzel would have had time to hide the Water?”

Chase didn't respond to this. He just stood there with his arms folded, back to glaring at the ground.

I grabbed his shoulders, hard. That made him look at me again. “When the Snow Queen attacked the Unseelie Court, you went in and rescued her primary target. You got King Mattanair and your mother here safe and sound. You knew exactly what to say to convince the Snow Queen's allies to turn against her last spring. You singlehandedly brought back Itari, which is so old even the Fey had forgotten it, and you taught it to like thirty people in less than three months. You are
Chase Turnleaf
, and you don't need a Tale to be awesome. You never have.”