A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(124)

“Well, it’s just lovely,” Cinderella added.

Now that everyone had finally arrived, Alex began the assembly meeting.

“I’ve called you all here today to make an announcement,” Alex said. “I’ve decided my first act as the new Fairy Godmother will be to abolish the Happily Ever After Assembly.”

The hall immediately erupted in protest. Empress Elvina was the only one not surprised by the news and she found the others’ reactions very amusing. It was the first time in a great while that the elves were in the know before the humans.

“Have you lost your mind?” Tangerina asked.

“I think you need a vacation, kiddo,” Mother Goose said.

Xanthous tried reasoning with her. “Alex, we’ve stood behind you on every decision but this is one we can’t support.”

“Everyone calm down and hear me out,” she said. “My grandmother formed the Happily Ever After Assembly as a way of uniting the world, but as the Grande Armée proved, the world is far from being united. The war wasn’t the last threat we’ll face. We have to be prepared for whatever the future may bring and we can’t do that if some of us are left out of the conversation. So today, I am founding the Happily Forever After Assembly, and I’m asking the troblins and the elves to join us.”

The hall went very quiet but no one objected. The men and women looked back and forth between the troll queen and the elf empress, waiting to see how they would react to the offer.

“You want the troblins to join?” Trollbella asked in shock.

“Yes,” Alex said. “Your people come from a long line of horrible behavior and you’ve done a wonderful job of restoring their dignity, Trollbella. However, the trolls and goblins will never respect us if we don’t respect them, too. I learned very valuable lessons from two unlikely teachers over the course of the war—one was a prisoner and the other was a witch. They taught me that every creature is an individual and we can’t punish an entire race for mistakes made by individuals. As easy as it is to label large groups with the reputations of their ancestors, it isn’t right. As we forgive the trolls and goblins, I hope the elves can forgive the humans and fairies for the treatment they have received from the fairies in the past.”

“Our agreement wasn’t based on forgiveness,” Empress Elvina said. “But it was a very gracious gesture on the fairies’ part to assist us during the Grande Armée’s attack, and we are grateful. If this new assembly will benefit future generations of elves, then we will gladly join it.”

A smile came to Alex’s face. The fairies around her were stunned that she had convinced the elf empress to join forces with them.

“Are we all in agreement, then?” Alex asked the room. She made eye contact with every ruler and fairy in the hall and each nodded.

“I believe we are,” Emerelda announced. “Let today mark the dawning of the Happily Forever After Assembly.”

The hall burst into a round of applause. Even the empress couldn’t resist clapping. Trollbella was so excited by the union she did a cartwheel. Alex had secured a very promising future for the fairy-tale world.

Jack cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but we’re still wondering why we were called here.”

“That leads me to my second order of business,” Alex said. “The majority of the criminals the Grande Armée recruited fled from battle, which means more criminals are at large throughout the kingdoms than ever before, not to mention the remaining Armée soldiers that escaped. We need to work together to round them up and put them behind bars. With the assembly’s permission, I would like to ask Jack and Goldilocks to form a team to track these criminals down.”

Jack and Goldilocks looked at each other.

“Us?” Jack asked.

“But we are criminals,” Goldilocks said.

“Which makes you the perfect candidates,” Alex said. “You think like criminals—you know where they’ll hide and who they’ll make alliances with.”

“We’ll have to think about it,” Jack said, speaking on their behalf. “Recently we’ve been toying with the idea of settling down.”

This was news to Goldilocks. “When did we have that conversation?” she asked her husband.

“Well, I just assumed, because—” He raised his eyebrows suggestively so she knew he was thinking of their unborn child without saying it aloud.

Goldilocks smiled at him and held his hand. “Just because a bird builds a nest doesn’t mean its wings are clipped,” she said, and then quickly turned to Alex. “We’re in. Jack and I want this world to be a better place as much as the rest of you do. Besides, it will allow us to live our lives much like we always have, except we’ll be acting for the greater good instead of for ourselves.”

“I agree,” Jack said. They had both gained a sudden interest in the future, knowing they were bringing a child into the world. “We accept your offer.”

“Then I would recommend the first person you track down is the Masked Man,” Mother Goose said. “There is no limit to his ruthlessness or his greed—he tried stealing from the Fairy Godmother herself. I bet he’s out plotting his next strike against the fairies even as we speak.”

“Mother Goose, what did the Masked Man try to steal from her?” Alex asked. “Surely Grandma didn’t have a dragon egg in her possession.”