Through the Mirror and Into Snow (10 page)

W
ILHELM
, T
HE
G
IRLS
, A
ND
O
F
C
OURSE
O
TTER
, got an early start the next morning as he had promised. The ride was uneventful, especially considering all the excitement they had the day before. They were surprised how happy they were to see Dorothea and the tiny cottage again.

She gave them big hugs and of course had a meal fit for a king waiting for them.

“Gee, Val. For being lost in your woods, we sure are eating great. I’m probably gonna need new jeans when we get back.”

“Like you need a reason to ask for new jeans, Sam.” The girls laughed together. Sam was as much of a shop-a-holic as her mother with an equally over-spilling closet. Again the girls proved how night and day they were. On many occasions, Val’s mom had to insist that she change out of her pajama pants before leaving for school. Samantha was always dressed and completely accessorized.

Dorothea and Wilhelm stepped outside to talk. The girls assumed he was going to tell Dorothea the news about Snow. Suddenly Wilhelm came bursting in.

“We’re going to have a baby!” he shouted with pride. “Finally! A baby of our own!” He hugged them then picked up Dorothea and spun her around.

“I’m sorry, dear. I should probably be more careful with you.”

“You’re fine this once, but I suppose I should be more careful not to let such strong handsome men swing me around from now on.”

Wilhelm stole one more quick kiss and was off to spread the word to everyone he could. He was temporarily distracted and forgot he wanted to get the girls back to their home right away. They didn’t mind one bit. They were not about to stop him.

Val and Sam noticed Snow had gotten quiet. She wandered outside and the girls followed her.

“You doing okay, Snow?” Valerie asked.

“I’m fine. It’s just that I worry about them. I don’t think I should stay here. Dorothea will have a baby of her own soon and they surely won’t need me in the way.”

“Don’t say that. They love you. Of course you are still wanted. You think I got any less attention when my brother was born?” Sam asked.

“I know how it works.” Snow sighed. “I don’t know about this, though. I think I want to be by myself for a while if that’s okay with you two. I’m going down to the creek for a bit.”

“Okay. Don’t be long though. Dorothea will start to worry.”

Snow sat at the creek and cried. She missed her father so much and could not imagine life without him. Her mind wandered to her stepmother’s magic mirror and hoped that it could not see her and know she was still alive. She picked up pebbles and tossed them in the water. As the water rippled, she noticed something shiny and red at the bottom on the other side. Otter came running up behind her and ran straight into the water, making splashes everywhere and Snow lost the sight of it.

“You sure do have the right name, you silly dog,” she said with a laugh. Otter wagged her tail and almost appeared to smile with a look of satisfaction in her eyes.
Made you smile! My job here is done.
She came out of the water, shook herself off and rolled around in the grass. The water grew calm and Snow saw the shiny red object again. She was wading through the creek as the girls came running up.

“What are you doing, Snow?” asked Samantha.

“I see something in the water. Look, right there.” She pointed. “Wait. I’ll get it and bring it over. You probably can’t see it with me stirring up the water. Otter did that to me a minute ago as well.” She made her way over to where she saw it. It took a second to find it then she bent down, picked it up and studied it. It was the biggest ruby she had ever seen.

“What is it?” Val asked from the edge of the creek.

“Look!” She held it up and ran back through the water.

The girls took turns with their exclamations of amazement. “Oh my gosh! Is that a ruby? It’s huge!”

“Sure looks like one to me. My mother had a ruby ring, but nothing like this.”

Together they wandered through the creek looking for more stones, but they didn’t find anything.

Something got Valerie’s attention on the other side of the creek. She walked over to Samantha and gave her a nudge.

“Sam, look! It’s the possum!”

“Val, maybe it’s not even the same one. We are in a forest.”

“It has to be. I never see them at home, now this one keeps showing up. Snow, come here! There’s the possum we were following.”

As if it heard the commotion, it made its way deeper into the forest. The girls rushed to get out of the creek and went after it, careful not to lose it, but also careful not to get too close and risk scaring it.

They followed it over trees that had been blown down and bushes so thick they could hardly make their way through. They were careful to steer around the wild rose bushes so they wouldn’t get scraped to pieces. They were surprised they were able to follow the possum so easily and not be discovered by it. Even Otter seemed to sense the importance of the situation and stayed back with the girls. She didn’t run ahead after it at all.

They were far enough into the forest that they didn’t hear the rumbling of a magnificent carriage approaching the small cottage of Wilhelm and Dorothea. Inside the carriage sat a once stunning woman whose looks were now haggard. She was dressed in a black dress with a black hooded cape and a not-so-modest crown on her head. In her hand was a small jeweled mirror. The woman thought she was so stunning; rarely did she take her eyes off herself. It was Snow White’s stepmother.

“W
HERE
I
S
S
HE
?” the woman in black demanded. She stood at the doorway of the tiny cottage with an ugly rage in her eyes as she yelled at Dorothea. “I know she’s been here. You cannot hide my daughter from me, you fool!”

“I have seen no one, Your Majesty. We are but poor farmers. Only my husband and I live here. There are no children here. We don’t even have any of our own. Please. We have done nothing wrong.” She pleaded with the evil queen who pushed her way into the house then began knocking items to the ground.

“Liar! Guards! Search her house, then burn it down! I will not be made a fool of, now or ever!”

“No!” Dorothea cried. “Please!”

One guard used more force than was necessary to pull her outside. She feared for the baby and didn’t put up too much of a fight. When he let her go, she slumped to the ground in tears, arms protectively wrapped around her belly. Two other guards searched the cottage, overturning tables and the bed in their haste. They broke everything in their path before they went outside and touched the flames of their torches to the thatched roof.

Dorothea didn’t know where the girls could have gotten to, but she was glad they were away from there and hopefully safe, at least for now. She felt helpless as she watched her home go up in flames.

The queen was well out of sight when Wilhelm returned home. At the sight of the smoke, he ran his horse as fast as she could go. He didn’t even let her come to a complete stop before he flew off and ran over to Dorothea. His first concern was not for the house, but for his wife. He held her close and wiped away her tears.

“I’m sorry, Wilhelm,” she cried. “I couldn’t stop her.”

“Stop who? Who did this?”

“The evil Queen White. She was looking for Snow.”

“Did she get her and the other girls?” he asked in a panic.

“They weren’t here, thank goodness. I don’t know when they disappeared. I was busy cleaning up. I didn’t even notice they had gone.” Her crying got louder. “I’m going to be a lousy mother!”

Wilhelm tried to comfort her. “Shhhh.” He put his hand to her belly in attempt to comfort the baby as well. He had only known he was a father for a couple of hours, but already he was as protective as any father could be. “You’ll be a wonderful mother. The girls seem to operate on their own schedule. I’m sure they wandered off again. This time, it was a good thing they did.”

Together they walked to the creek but could see no sign of Sam, Val or Snow.

“I know enough of them to be certain they can take care of themselves. I don’t think they were here when the queen showed up or they would have tried to help you. They would have been captured in the process for sure. It is best that they are long gone from here.”

“But will they be all right? Are you sure, Wilhelm?”

“That much I know for sure, my love.” He tried to put her mind at ease and gave her forehead a gentle kiss. “Now, we must get going.”

“Oh, our home. Our lovely home.”

“We’ll be okay. The house is not important to me. It is only you and the girls that I am concerned about. We must go see the prince. Surely he can help us and get a search party together to look for them.”

“Oh, I would feel better if I truly knew they were safe.”

“I’m certain they will be fine. Let’s be on our way. We will be traveling in the dark and that will not be safe. Are you sure you and the baby are all right? I should not have left you alone.”

“We are both fine, really.”

“It’s settled then. To Sequoia Kingdom we go.”

It grew dark faster than the girls anticipated and they started to worry about the time.

Samantha stopped walking. “Valerie. We have to stop. This is getting stupid. It’s getting dark, I’m tired and we didn’t even tell Dorothea we were leaving. I’m sure she’s getting worried about us.”

Snow agreed. “Sam is right.”

“I know. I was thinking the same thing. That stupid possum keeps getting us into more trouble. The moon helps, but I think it’ll be too dark to even try to follow it soon. We should go back. This was a dumb idea. Sorry. I was just thinking it was leading us somewhere for a reason. You know, like bringing us here to Snow.”

The girls got themselves turned around and began to head back. At least they thought they were heading back the same way. After a short while they came to a creek.

“Sam? You don’t think we’re back already, do you?” asked Val.

“We can’t be. That was too quick. Are we lost now?”

“Maybe it’s the same creek,” Snow said, hopefully. “We should follow it. I bet it’ll take us back to the cottage.”

“Maybe,” answered Valerie. “Our river back home, the Mississippi, winds all over the place. We cross it a dozen times on the way to my grandma’s house. It’s worth a shot to try to follow it.”

They followed the creek in silence, hoping they weren’t lost. The last thing they wanted to do was worry Wilhelm and Dorothea needlessly. Suddenly Samantha let out a cry of delight.

“Look in the water. It’s so sparkly! It looks like diamonds.”

“Wow does it ever! The sand looks like what was on Cinder…I mean Danielle’s shoes.” Valerie beamed with excitement. She loved collecting odd rocks around their farm. These were simply stunning.

Again the girls managed to get themselves totally distracted and began wandering through the creek marveling at the sand and small stones. They were so intent on their search they didn’t even notice an old haggard woman standing by the creek until they were right upon her.

“You girls shouldn’t be out here alone.”

She had caught them off guard and they jumped at the sound of her raspy voice. The sight of her was equally as unappealing. The wrinkles were far worse than merely that of an old woman. Her face had the appearance of a scary Halloween mask made of rubber rather than skin. All that was missing was a large wart on her much too pointy nose. She stood hunched over and used a walking stick for support. The fingers that clutched it were far too thin. They were like the hands of a skeleton instead of those of a person. Her eyes were an unnatural dark shade; almost completely black. Her gaze sent a chill down Valerie’s spine. I started to growl. No wait, that’s Otter growling.

“Stop that, Otter!” Valerie scolded. “Bad dog!”

“Don’t be afraid. I am merely a harmless, old peddler woman. I have wandered off the road for a bit of rest. I didn’t expect to find anyone else out here. You girls shouldn’t be out here alone. There could be dangerous people in the forest.”

“Is the road far away?” Samantha asked. “I guess we are kinda lost.”

“Oh, no. It’s not far at all, my dears. It’s off that way just a bit,” she said as she pointed behind her. “I do, however, have something for one of you before you go.”

They were puzzled by her statement.

“What do you mean have something for one of us?” asked Samantha. “You couldn’t have known we’d be here.”

“You are correct there. It’s just that I have but one item left to sell, and I would rather not take it home. I’d like to give it to one of you. It’s a shame to have to pick one from three such pretty girls. I do wish I had more of my beautiful hair combs.”

“Hair combs?” asked Valerie.

“Yes.” The woman walked over to Snow. “I do believe this silver would look best in your dark black hair.”

As she reached up and put it in Snow’s hair, memories of the story came rushing to Valerie. She let out a loud scream, but it was too late.