A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(78)

“Wait, am I missing something?” Conner asked. “What use can he get from recruiting a bunch of criminals?”

“There are some pretty powerful characters in that prison,” Mother Goose said. “Trust me, I know most of them. And the prisoners in Pinocchio Prison are only the ones who have been caught. The Dwarf Forests and the backwoods of every kingdom are crawling with criminals, and when they see their friends have joined an army fighting against us, they’ll all want to join, too. If the general succeeds in recruiting them, we won’t just be fighting an old army, we could be fighting a war.”

Conner gulped. He was sorry he had even asked. Coral was having difficulty processing the information, too. She politely raised a hand and asked a question.

“So are you saying that it’s possible the Happily Ever After Assembly may be up against—?”

“Everyone else?” Mother Goose said. “All the creatures in the other kingdoms have been waiting for an opportunity to overthrow the fairies and the humans. This could be their chance.”

Coral looked like she was about to cry. She cradled Fisher even tighter in her arms at the thought of what tomorrow might bring.

“The witches, the ogres, the trolls, the goblins, the elves—they’ve wanted us gone since the Dragon Age!” Violetta added. “They’ve just lacked the organizational skills to challenge us.”

“And those are skills the general can provide,” Mother Goose said.

While Conner and the fairies started to panic, Alex was adamant about her original plan. The more information they had, the more options they would have. She raised her wand and a bright bolt of light shot out of it, silencing the room of frightened fairies.

“We’re worrying about a lot of ifs,” Alex said. “We don’t know if the prisoners have joined the general yet. Those criminals are in prison because they couldn’t follow the rules of a society; what makes us think they’ll follow the general’s commands?”

She made a very good point—there was no use in worrying unless they had evidence to worry about.

“My brother and I will go to the prison and see if they were successful in recruiting the prisoners,” Alex said. “We’ll need a way to get there without being seen—and a flying ship or a unicorn isn’t going to go unnoticed by men from our world.”

“You can take Lester,” Mother Goose said. “That’s why I rode him around the Otherworld—if anyone sees him in the sky they just assume he’s a normal bird.”

“Great,” Alex said. “We’ll leave as soon as possible and get a better idea of what we’re up against.”

None of the fairies argued. For the first time Alex’s word was final and it was respected. With no time to lose, Alex and Conner immediately followed Mother Goose up to the grand balcony. She whistled for Lester and he swooped toward them from the towers above. She pulled his reins down and whispered their plan into his ear.

Froggy and Red were also on the balcony, showing the view of the gardens to Bree and Emmerich. Bree walked over to Conner as soon as she saw him.

“Hi, Bree,” Conner said. “How did you sleep?”

“Oh, you know,” she said. “As well as anyone could their first night in a new dimension, I suppose.”

Conner smiled; he remembered that restless feeling all too well. As tired as she was, Bree still had an excited light in her eyes as she looked around the palace.

“I’m so sorry you guys are stuck here. We’re going to get you home as soon as possible,” Conner said.

“It’s my own fault for wanting an adventure,” Bree said. “I made you take me, remember?”

This made Conner feel a little better. He looked over at Emmerich as Froggy pointed out the different parts of the gardens below—he looked like he was having the time of his life. He reminded Conner of himself during his and Alex’s first trip into the Land of Stories. He would have given anything to face those problems again.

“I’ve just talked Lester through it,” Mother Goose said. “He knows to fly high enough so no one will see you.”

“Squaaa.” Lester nodded.

“Then let’s get going,” Alex said.

They climbed aboard the giant goose and took off into the sky, heading in the direction of the prison. They flew over the gardens of the Fairy Kingdom, over the sparkling waters of Mermaid Bay, and saw Pinocchio Prison at the center of the peninsula in southern Eastern Kingdom ahead of them.

“There it is!” Alex pointed out. “Lester, circle the prison until we can see something!”

Lester nodded, and looped the sky above the prison. There was destruction everywhere—Alex and Conner could see the entrance had been blown to bits from all the way in the sky. However, there was no trace of prisoners or soldiers anywhere.

“I think it’s safe to get a little closer,” Conner said.

Lester gradually descended, circling the prison as cautiously as possible. The closer they got, the more certain they were that no one was around. They looked for somewhere to land but the prison was covered in enormous spikes to prevent anyone from doing just that. Alex waved her wand at the prison’s roof and the spikes turned into tall blades of grass for Lester to land on.

“Okay, let’s see if there’s anyone left inside,” Alex said. She pointed her wand at the roof again and a small hatch appeared. They opened the hatch and dropped inside, landing on the prison’s highest floor.