Worlds Collide (The Land of Stories #6)(61)

“Am I seeing things or is that Mother Goose and the Fairy Council?” Jack asked.

“It is—and they’ve come in the nick of time!” Goldilocks cried.

“And Charlie’s with them!” Red shouted in disbelief.

“How is this possible?” Conner asked. “The Fairy Council were statues, Mother Goose was in Camelot, and Froggy was trapped in a magic mirror!”

“Who cares?” Red snapped. “After all the crap we’ve been through, just be glad we have some happy questions for a change!”

The Scouts had no idea who any of the newcomers were, but their flashy entrance was enough to distract the gingerbread soldiers from eating them. The unexpected company infuriated the witches beyond belief. They had come so far; they weren’t going to let anything stop them now. The Snow Queen, the Sea Witch, Charcoaline, Arboris, Tarantulene, Serpentina, and Rat Mary formed a line at the south end of the Great Lawn, preventing the newcomers from coming any closer. The other witches cowered at the sight of the Fairy Council and hid behind the ovens.

The Fairy Council, Mother Goose, Merlin, and Lester landed on the lawn in front of the witches. Froggy, Rook, Cornelius, Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table joined the fairies and stood by their sides. The fairies and the witches stared at one another for a tense moment before anyone said a word.

“Release these children and surrender your army at once!” Emerelda demanded.

“Or what?” the Snow Queen asked.

“Or we’ll remove them from you,” Xanthous said.

The witches glanced at one another and roared with cocky laughter.

“Is that so?” the Sea Witch asked. “And how exactly is that going to happen? After all, fairies can only use their magic to help others.”

“Witch, please,” Mother Goose said. “We’re the ones who write the rules, and we can break them just as easily as you.”

“This is your last warning,” Skylene said. “You will surrender and go back to the kingdoms where you belong.”

“Don’t be foolish and make this worse than it needs to be,” Tangerina said.

“The witches are not going back to the old world!” the Snow Queen screeched. “We’re sick of your limitations, sick of your regulations, and sick of your laws! Your kind has forced us into the shadows for centuries—so we left the kingdoms before you could suppress us into oblivion! We’ve found our own world to rule as we please, and there isn’t room for fairies here!”

“You mistake our mercy for mistreatment,” Emerelda said. “If our goal was to exterminate you, we would have done it a long time ago. Your survival is thanks to our generosity and nothing more. We’ve never suppressed you, we’ve simply protected the innocent people you harm without remorse—and a new world isn’t going to stop us.”

“Then let’s settle this once and for all,” the Sea Witch hissed. “If the universe isn’t big enough for both the fairies and the witches, it’s high time we take our proper place on the magical food chain! Sisters, if we want a world for ourselves we must destroy the fairies!”

The witches charged toward the fairies, and an overdue battle of good versus evil began. Each member of the Fairy Council paired with a witch and spread out across the Great Lawn to duel.

Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table dashed toward the gingerbread soldiers with their swords raised. The soldiers collected weapons from the candy arsenal and fought the young king and his knights. The gingerbread soldiers were easy to disarm and slay, but they greatly outnumbered Arthur and his knights; battling the giant cookies wasn’t going to be a piece of cake.

Alex’s location was no longer a mystery to any of the newcomers. She was clearly visible on the hill at the north end of the Great Lawn. So while the fairies and witches were dueling, Froggy hopped around the lawn looking for Conner and the others. The only thing on Rook’s agenda was getting Alex to safety, so he cautiously steered Cornelius through the fighting knights and soldiers toward the hill. Mother Goose and Merlin raced to the groups of Boy and Girl Scouts. With a snap of their fingers, the spiderweb around the Scouts’ feet vanished and the children were free.

“As I said to the Children’s Crusade of 1212: Get out of here, kiddos! This isn’t your fight!” Mother Goose said.

In true Boy and Girl Scout fashion, before running to safety, the Scouts ran to the candy cane cages and freed the witches’ prisoners. Oliver used a lollipop axe to slice the lock off the cage that held Conner and his friends.

“Hey, I know you!” Oliver said. “You guys were on my flight!”

“Oliver, you’ve got to get all these other people out of here,” Conner said. “Take everyone to the southwest corner of the park. You’ll find an opening to an abandoned subway tunnel at the base of a hill. Crawl into the tunnel and follow it as far away as you can get!”

“But what about you and your friends?” Oliver asked.

“We’ll be okay,” Conner said. “Believe it or not, we’re actually used to this kind of stuff. Now hurry—before the witches see you!”

Oliver nodded and saluted Conner. Once he got their attention, Oliver led all the Scouts, their troop leaders, the escapees from the Bethesda Fountain, and all the other captives off the Great Lawn and toward the southwest corner of Central Park.