Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)(36)

A soldier ran up the front steps of the library and examined the debris.

“All clear, sir,” he called out.

“Good,” the general said. “Now send in the platoon to find the girl. If she resists arrest or retaliates with an assault, you are to terminate her immediately. That is an order, do you copy?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” the soldiers responded.

As the platoon charged up the library’s front steps, they came to a sudden halt. As if the destruction of the statues were being rewound before their eyes, the debris magically reassembled piece by piece until both lion statues were fully formed again—and the felines weren’t happy. The lions roared with such gusto that many of the soldiers’ helmets flew off. With one powerful blow, the platoon was knocked down the library’s steps and the soldiers rolled into the street.

“Holy reincarnation!” the general said, and the cigar fell from his mouth.

In over six decades serving in the United States Armed Forces, General Wilson had never encountered anything like this. The stone felines were putting up the greatest defense he had ever witnessed.

Suddenly, all three double doors at the library’s entrance were blasted open from inside. Alex and the witches emerged and stood on the front steps with the lions. The witches looked around Fifth Avenue in wonder. The Otherworld was so much bigger and brighter than they’d thought. They’d expected a world similar to their own, but instead were standing in a metropolis of lights and concrete beyond their wildest dreams.

The soldiers looked at one another with the same dumbfounded expression: Where did they all come from? General Wilson picked up a megaphone to speak to the mysterious women.

“This is United States Marine Corps General Gunther Wilson,” he said. “Whoever you are and wherever you came from, you are interfering in a matter of national security. Put your hands up and come quietly or you’ll be taken by force.”

The witches shared a cackle—unaware of who the soldiers were or what they were capable of.

“You heard the man, sisters,” the Snow Queen screeched. “It’s time to put our hands up.”

The witch raised her hands into the air, and hundreds of enormous icicles shot up from the ground. They were so sharp that they flattened the tires of all the Hummers on the street and nearly impaled many of the soldiers.

“Attack!” the Snow Queen screeched. “The Otherworld is ours!”

The witches squealed in celebration and their invasion began.

The Sea Witch rode her rogue wave around the library and threw pieces of coral at the nearby soldiers. The coral latched on to their uniforms and grew rapidly around their bodies, binding their arms and legs.

Rat Mary placed open palms on the ground, closed her eyes, and whispered a spell to summon all the rats in the area. To her surprise, thousands of rodents crawled out of the sewers and drains, the trash cans and subways, and joined her on the front steps of the library. She directed them toward the soldiers, and the rats pounced on them like a plague of locusts.

Arboris pointed to the trees beside the library’s steps. All the leaves flew from the branches into the air and rained down on the soldiers. The leaves poked and stung the soldiers like swarms of killer bees.

Smoke steamed out of Charcoaline’s ears, and the cracks of her ashy skin filled with magma. A fiery geyser erupted from her mouth like a volcano, and she aimed the blast at the general. He and his soldiers dived out of the way, and their wall of sandbags exploded.

The Marines had never been trained for such attacks. They were so shocked by the witches’ magic, they were practically paralyzed and didn’t know how to retaliate.

“Sir? What do we do?” a soldier asked the general.

“Shoot them!” the general ordered. “Shoot them all!”

The witches didn’t recognize the weapons the Marines were aiming in their direction. By the time they realized the objects were firearms, the soldiers had already started firing. A split second before the witches would have been shot and slaughtered on the steps of the library, Alex raised a hand, and the bullets bounced off a magical force field.

When the general realized the soldiers were wasting their bullets, he motioned for them to hold their fire. The Marines lowered their weapons and stared at Alex’s magic in amazement. The Sea Witch picked a steaming bullet off the ground with her claw and examined it with her large black eyes.

“The Otherworld is not the same place it was when we discovered it,” she said with a nasty scowl.

The Sea Witch held the bullet to the Snow Queen’s nose. The blind witch smelled it and her brow tightened.

“They’ve evolved,” she screeched. “Where is Morina? Why didn’t she warn us about their development?”

The witches looked around the front steps and the entrance hall of the library, but Morina was nowhere to be found.

“She’s tricked us!” Rat Mary yelled.

“Morina’s sent us to our death!” Charcoaline moaned.

“How could ssshe betray usss like thisss?” Serpentina hissed.

“Silence, you fools!” the Snow Queen ordered. “We will not perish because of Morina or any human of the Otherworld! We aren’t prepared for this battle—but mark my words, by sundown we will be ready for the war! All we need is a place to retreat until we gain our strength!”