A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(89)

“That’s good, but if he breaks your heart I’ll beat him up for you,” Conner said.

Alex burst into laughter. “Now that’s something I’d pay to see,” she said, and quickly changed the topic so she’d feel less exposed. “But while we’re on the subject, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you have a crush on your friend Bree?”

Had Lester been a car, Conner would have slammed on the brakes. Instead he abruptly grabbed ahold of the reins and caused Lester to squawk. He blushed so much Alex could see it on the back of his neck and ears.

“Do I have a crush on Bree?” Conner said like it was a preposterous thought. “Come on, Alex, just because I asked you a couple harmless questions about your love life doesn’t mean you have to be rude.”

Alex grunted at the double standard her brother set. “I’m not being rude, I just figured I would ask since you turn bright red whenever you’re around her or her name gets brought up,” she pointed out. “Last night when she hugged you good-bye I thought your head was about to explode—I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a crush on you, too.”

Conner started smiling and couldn’t stop. Did Bree have a crush on him, too? He’d never thought it was a possibility until now. Had she traveled around Europe with him not only because she wanted to have an adventure but also because she wanted to spend time with him? He quickly forced his smile to diminish when he remembered he was in the middle of defending himself.

“Rest assured, I don’t have any feelings whatsoever for Bree,” he said. “To be honest, she was starting to get on my nerves when we were in Europe. The way she always second-guessed me, the way she remained so calm in any situation, the way she wore her hair under a beanie with her streaks of blue and pink in the front, the fact that she surprised me every day with a new interesting fact about herself… it was all so annoying.”

Alex didn’t have to question further—it was obvious how Conner really felt. She was glad he couldn’t see her raised eyebrow. “Uh-huh, sounds like you haven’t given her much thought at all,” she said. “I’m actually glad there’s nothing going on.”

“Why is that?” Conner asked, and became overly defensive in the opposite direction now. “You don’t think I’m mature enough to have a crush on someone or for someone to have a crush on me? For your information, I’m a catch, too—”

“No,” Alex interrupted. “Because we’re about to visit our old friend Trollbella, and we’re not leaving without the support of her army—even if it means you have to marry her.”

Conner moaned a long weary sound under his breath. He had almost forgotten about the young troll queen who had been madly in love with him since they met.

“Gosh, I hope divorce exists in this world,” he said.

The twins remained fairly quiet for the remainder of their trip into the Troblin Territory, fearing they would expose more about themselves than they were willing to. They knew each other so well it was a wonder why either ever tried fooling the other.

The mountainous boulders surrounding the Troblin Territory appeared on the horizon and Lester began his gradual descent. As they flew closer Conner was surprised to see that the land between the boulders was covered in water. The entire territory looked like a massive aboveground pool.

“Wait a second,” Conner said. “They never drained their territory after the Enchantress flooded it?”

“Nope,” Alex said. “The fairies offered to completely restore the land but Queen Trollbella had something else in mind.”

“What was that?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” she said.

Lester swooped into the territory and landed smoothly on the water. He was like a miniature boat as they traveled across the giant lake the territory had become.

“No way,” Conner said in shock when he saw what his sister was talking about. Queen Trollbella had turned her territory into a vast floating city.

Hundreds of forts crafted from the wreckage of their ruined underground home floated in the waters ahead of them. Troll and goblin families occupied the smaller forts while the larger forts served as common areas shared between them. Some of the goblins swam from fort to fort while trolls glided over the water in wooden floating devices. Many sat on the edges of the forts with their enormous feet in the water, and held fishing poles—although the twins were pretty sure there were no fish to catch. The trolls and goblins were darker than usual now that they lived above the ground. The sun had tanned their skin to dark shades of green and blue and brown.

Despite the environmental change, all the creatures looked incredibly bored as they drifted in the water. Alex and Conner floating past them on the giant goose was the most interesting thing they had seen in weeks and caused quite the scene.

“They sure are hard up for entertainment,” Conner said, and his sister nodded.

The twins heard a familiar voice as a long and wide boat traveled toward them.

“Row, troblins! Row!” Queen Trollbella ordered. She lay leisurely across the front of the boat and took in the sun. A dozen trolls and a dozen goblins were seated in the center of the boat and rowed long oars as they were ordered. The boat drifted slightly to one side since the trolls’ arms were shorter.

A young male troll stood at the back of the boat and monitored the rowers. He was short and stout just like Trollbella and wore a large horned helmet and a breastplate. All the rowers came to an abrupt stop as soon as they saw the twins floating on Lester in the water beside them. They pointed at the large goose and whispered among themselves as all the creatures on the surrounding forts had.