A Grimm Warning (The Land of Stories, #3)(98)

Alex got to her feet and started jumping up and down. “Conner, you’re a genius!” Alex said. “I bet the elves never left! I bet if we fly to the bottom of the tree, we’ll find the elves hiding!”

Conner started jumping up and down with his sister—he never missed an opportunity to celebrate his own cleverness. “I’m so glad I remembered that,” he said happily. “Because I gotta tell you, most of the stuff you say to me goes in one ear and out the—AAAAH!”

CRACK! The twins had been jumping on a weak part of the branch and fell straight through it. To their surprise, the tree branch was hollow and they landed on a long wooden slide. The slide traveled through the branch and coiled down the giant tree trunk. The twins screamed and tried to grab ahold of anything they could but the slide was too slick, so they slid deeper and deeper into the bottom of the tree.

The slide finally ended and Alex and Conner piled on top of each other on the ground. The giant tree trunk was hollow and they found themselves in a secret chamber at the tree’s base. Alex and Conner looked up and could see the slide was one of many that spiraled upward into the different branches of the tree. They had fallen into an escape route.

The twins were also startled to see that they were no longer alone. Thousands and thousands of elves were hiding at the bottom of the tree just like they had predicted and they were just as surprised to see them.

They were all short but very thin. Everything about them was pointed: They had pointed ears, pointed jaws, pointed shoes, and some even wore pointed cone hats. Their clothing was black and white and asymmetrical. They wore vests that buttoned sideways; their pant legs and sleeves were different lengths.

“What’s up with their clothes?” Conner whispered to his sister.

“Don’t you remember the story ‘The Shoemaker and the Elves’?” Alex whispered back. “Elves are horrible at making their own clothes.”

Upon their arrival the twins were instantly circled by a dozen elf soldiers. They pointed their wooden crossbows at them and Alex and Conner threw their hands up.

“What are you doing in our empire?” one of the elf soldiers asked.

“We don’t mean any trouble!” Conner said.

“We’ve come to speak with your empress,” Alex said.

The elves shoved their crossbows closer to them. “Who are you?” the soldier demanded.

“I’m Conner Bailey and this is my sister, Alex,” Conner whimpered. He panicked. “My sister’s a big deal—she’s sort of the Fairy Godmother at the moment.”

“Conner!”

“What else am I supposed to say? They’re about to shoot us!”

“Liars!” the elf shouted.

Alex reached for her wand and with one swoosh magically turned all their crossbows into bouquets of flowers. All the elves in the tree gasped and stepped back from her.

“She’s a witch! She’s come to grind our bones for her potions! Seize her!” the elf ordered. The soldiers lunged toward them and the twins braced themselves.

“STOP!” said a stern voice from the other side of the tree. All the elves quickly turned toward the direction it had come from. Across the secret chamber a female elf sat on a throne made of leaves.

“I’m guessing that’s the empress,” Conner said under his breath.

Empress Elvina was the largest elf in the room and when she stood from her throne she towered over everyone, including the twins—she was like a queen bee in a hive. She had a pointed jaw, pointed ears, large brown eyes, and very long earlobes. Her dark hair was wrapped in two buns on each side of her head and she wore a large headdress made of branches that stretched high and wide above her. The empress’s gown was very tight and made entirely of sticks and twigs as if they had been individually glued to her lean body. She looked like a walking tree.

A fluffy but massive red squirrel was perched at the side of her throne like an overgrown dog. The empress slowly sauntered toward the twins and the elves parted as she moved through them.

“If she says she’s the Fairy Godmother, then let her prove it,” the empress challenged. She was exactly like Mother Goose had described, very beautiful on the outside but the twins could tell there was much more behind her intimidating eyes.

Alex didn’t know what to do. She may have been a girl with a wand, but how was she going to convince the elves that she was legitimately acting as the Fairy Godmother?

A loud squawking echoed from above them. The entire empire looked up and saw Lester sliding down into the base of the tree. He was flapping his wings madly but was sliding too fast to stop. He plopped on the ground beside Alex and Conner, beak first. He greatly regretted his decision to follow the twins into the tree.

“We have a giant goose; does that help our case?” Conner asked with a nervous laugh. He meant it as a joke but the empress was taken by the large gander.

“I recognize this bird,” she said. “He belongs to Mother Goose.”

“Mother Goose is a friend of ours,” Alex said. “She loaned us her goose so we could travel here safely to speak with you. I’m the Fairy Godmother’s granddaughter, and since she’s ill at the moment, I’m filling in for her.”

Empress Elvina’s eyes darted back and forth between the twins. Perhaps they were telling the truth after all.