A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(35)

“Who are you?” Froggy asked her. He was fairly new to the Red Riding Hood Kingdom and didn’t recognize her.

“I’m Little Bo Peep, owner of the Bo Peep Family Farms,” she declared.

A hush fell over the room. Little Bo Peep was a very powerful and respected member of the community. It was only on rare occasions that she was seen outside her farms. The townspeople and representatives knew there must be a very important reason she had come to the House of Progress today.

Queen Red eyed her up and down, and left to right. She refused to be intimidated by anyone in her own house. “Thank you for joining us, Little Bo,” she said. “What brings you to the House of Progress today?”

Little Bo smiled. “To put it simply, I’ve come here before you today to challenge Queen Red for the throne of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom.”

Everyone gasped. Never in the history of the Red Riding Hood Kingdom had someone so openly disrespected the queen. Little Bo smiled snidely at their reaction.

At this bold declaration, Red stood up from her throne. “How dare you,” she said coldly. “You think you can just walk into my House of Progress and threaten the throne of my kingdom? You’re lucky I don’t have you immediately locked up!”

“You think this is your kingdom?” Little Bo said without a trace of fear. “Then you’re mistaken, Your Majesty. It may have your name on it but this kingdom belongs to the people. The sole purpose of the C.R.A.W.L. Revolution was to free ourselves from the Evil Queen, who was in power in the Northern Kingdom at the time. Now look at us, a decade and a half later we’re standing in one of the many shrines to another self-obsessed queen. Well, I’m sick of it and I’m not alone.”

She reached into the pocket of her dress and removed a scroll that she handed to Froggy.

“This is a petition signed by a hundred other citizens of the kingdom who agree it’s time for a regime change,” Little Bo said. “They also have stated that I am their chosen candidate for a new sovereign. We elected a queen before, we can elect a queen again.”

“This is preposterous,” Froggy said.

“It’s the will of the people, sir,” Little Bo corrected. “Are you going to ignore it—in the House of Progress of all places?”

Froggy looked over the list of names and shared it with the representatives.

“You’re not actually humoring her, are you?” Red yelled, outraged that they would even read such a thing.

“The Little Peep girl has a point, dear,” Granny said.

“Granny, whose side are you on?” Red asked in shock.

“I’ll always be on your side, dear,” Granny said. “But it’s the people who gave you your throne, so if the people want to give it to someone else now, they have the right to do so.”

All the other representatives seemed to agree with her; even the Three Blind Mice nodded along and they couldn’t read the names on the scroll.

“What makes you think you’re qualified to lead this country?” Red asked Little Bo.

“My farms make up over seventy percent of the kingdom and produce over eighty percent of the goods we trade with other kingdoms,” Little Bo proclaimed. “Only for you to take ninety percent of those profits and use it to build castles and statues of yourself.”

Red’s nostrils flared. “Which keeps many builders and artists employed throughout the kingdom,” she said in defense.

“Yes, but as you can see, there are no builders or artists seeking aid in this room,” Little Bo pointed out. “I believe there is a more responsible way this kingdom can be managed that will benefit everyone equally—and I believe I am the woman to do it.”

The townspeople and representatives began whispering among themselves. Red could sense some of them were starting to agree with Bo Peep.

“So what do you want, Little Bo?” Red said, crossing her arms. “You can’t just waltz in here and demand to be queen.”

Sir BaaBaa raised a hoof to join the conversation. “We could have another election.”

Red was staring daggers at him. “Oh how typical, the sheep wants Little Bo Peep to run for queen. That’s partisanship if I ever saw it.”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Granny said. “An election would give the people of this kingdom a way to express their will.”

“And what if I don’t allow an election?” Red said. “I’m still the queen, after all. The last time I checked, my word was still the law.”

Little Bo stepped even closer to her throne. “Then you would be proving to your kingdom that you are no different from the Evil Queen, and the next revolution that breaks out will be against you.”

The statement was meant to scare Red and it worked. “So be it,” Red said. “We’ll humor this shepherdess with a little election. But if I recall, Little Bo, you have a reputation of not being able to find your own sheep, so I doubt you’ll be able to find support that rivals mine. I was elected queen after the C.R.A.W.L. Revolution and I will be elected queen again.”

“Then I’ll see you at the polls, Your Majesty,” Little Bo said with a coy smile. She turned on her heel and promptly left the House of Progress.

Red reseated herself on the throne. Her cheeks were bright pink and a concerned scowl was frozen on her face. Alex had never seen her look so distraught. The thought of losing her throne had always been Red’s greatest fear—but the idea that she might lose it to the people’s will was obviously almost unbearable to her.