Authors: Cameron Jace
“Poor you,” she teased him and held his head with her hands as if he were a good puppy.
Loki kept looking around while she talked to him. He should have tapped his Fleece three times as a sign from Axel to break the mirror. He reached with his left hand to tap the fleece on his right hand three times, and prayed Axel would hurry breaking the mirror.
“Don’t wake up, Loki,” Snow White pleaded. “We can play together here. There are things that I need to show you. I need you here. You’re the only one who can save me,” Snow White whispered in his ears as if she was scared of someone again—or something.
Why does she do that to me? Why does she play me when she can just kill me? Is it that she really needs to be saved, and I am just too stubborn to admit it? I need someone to save me.
“You’re just playing games with me,” Loki said, wondering why Axel hadn’t broken the mirror yet.
“Not now, believe me,” she held Loki’s head in her hands. Although she had drawn her fangs back, and her face returned to normal, he still didn’t trust her. “I’m not the evil one,” she whispered, glancing momentarily at the locked door behind her as if scared of what lay behind it.
“Then who is?” Loki said.
Damn it, Loki. Don’t ask her that. You don’t care about her. You only care about yourself.
“I can’t say,” she lowered her head. “I can’t,” she repeated, her eyes scanning the ceiling as if there were hidden monsters somewhere up there. Loki looked up and saw nothing suspicious.
Is she trying to tell me something?
“And yes, I’m controlling this dream,” she said. “You keep trying to kill me when you should save me, and I won’t let you in my dreams as long as you still want to kill me without knowing my real story.”
Suddenly, Loki heard the cawing of crows. They were many, and increasing, circling outside the castle. They looked a lot like the crow that had knocked him down entering Snow White’s window in the waking world. Loki didn’t know what this meant. He watched the crows outside the window fluttering hysterically in the sky.
Then he heard a thud, and another.
He felt the earth shake underneath him as if there was an earthquake. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The world outside was collapsing; mountains were crumbling, the earth was shattering, and the stars were falling like snowflakes from the sky.
Loki turned back to Snow white, but she was gone.
The room was falling apart. Everything was shaking violently, and it was only seconds before the castle was going to crumble to ashes.
The dream was ending.
It was healthy sign, though. It meant that he was just waking up from it, and that he wasn’t going to drown in it. Loki closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, ready to wake up, and planning to have a nasty encounter with Axel for not breaking the mirror.
***
Loki thought that waking up from the Dreamworld would give him enough time to relax and catch his breath.
He was wrong.
When he opened his eyes, he heard Axel and Fable’s screams. The curtains had been pulled open, sunlight filled the room. Loki stood up instantly, checking to see if someone had pulled the stake out of Snow White, but no one had. Axel and Fable weren’t in the room. They were screaming outside.
“Run, Loki, Run!” Fable shouted.
“It’s Big Bad,” Axel screamed. “He’s still alive!”
Before Loki could recover from his dream enough to comprehend this, he saw Big Bad in front of him. He had a big smug smile on his face, holding Axel and Fable like two sacks of potatoes, one in each hand.
“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Loki asked Big Bad whose face was wounded badly. Loki assumed it was from yesterday’s little adventure with the vampire princess.
“He’s here for revenge for what you did to him in the parking lot, Loki,” Fable said, hanging like a yoyo in Big Bad’s hand. “Axel and I stopped him.”
“Let them down, Big Bad,” Loki said.
“No way,” Big Bad said. “I’m going to kill them both, kill you, and then finish the sleeping vampire princess.”
“Kick his ass, Loki. You can do it!” Fable kicked her legs in the air. Amazingly, she reached with her hand and slapped Big Bad on his cheek as hard as she could. It was a brave move.
“You little brat,” Big Bad threw Axel rolling on the floor, and grabbed Fable with both his hands. “I’m going to kill you first, lousy witch,” he grabbed her by the throat.
“I’ve been called worse by better!” Fable choked.
“Lousy witch, daughter of a lousier witch,” Big Bad reddened with anger.
“Get away from my sister,” Axel’s screamed, and ran into Big Bad with his head, but ended up on the floor again. Big Bad didn’t even wince. He just stood there like a truck, and Axel slid down from the crash.
Axel went hysterical, looking for the Magic Dust, but he couldn’t find it because Big Bad was stepping on the bag.
Loki stood firm in his place, balling up his fists. It puzzled him why he hadn’t moved yet to save Fable. Deep inside, he knew he was becoming too attached to her and her brother. As repetitive and annoying as it sounded, he wasn’t here to get involved. He wasn’t here to make friends or fight bullies. He wasn’t here to care about anyone. It all seemed trivial to the grand aspiration of being forgiven and going back home.
But he did care, with all his heart. How did he get attached to the siblings in a course of a day? How was it that they’d became more than friends to him? He hadn’t felt this way about anyone during the whole year he’d spent in Snoring. And it reminded him about his mother telling him about the Chanta, that he’d only feel it when he cared for others the way he cared for himself.
What will it be, Loki?
“Bite me,” Loki snapped, and ran against Big Bad, bumping him with his shoulder. There was no Magic Dust now; he had to fight on his own, with bare hands.
The impact made a crunching sound, and Big Bad only winced a little while Loki ended up on the floor like Axel.
“I kill vampires and I can’t hit a bully,” Loki mumbled.
“Thank you, Loki,” Fable pecked him on the cheek. The thud was useful after all. It had caused Big Bad to drop Fable.
Big Bad picked up Loki by his shirt, and started swinging him in the air. Loki watched Axel and Fable do nothing, his arms and legs flailing, as he tried to free himself from Big Bad.
“How do you like it now?” Big Bad said. “I don’t mind killing you before I kill the Crumblewoods.”
“Do something,” Loki said.
Axel’s lips crinkled as he stood still. “I love you Loki, but I can only save one person. I love my sister, Sorry,” he hugged Fable.
“You didn’t save her, you coward!” Loki snapped. “I did.”
“Actually, I dropped her,” Big Bad laughed. “None of you losers saved the lousy witch.”
“Wait, Loki,” Fable said, standing at the edge of the Dream Temple. “I have an idea.”
Fable knelt down, and reached for the Alicorn and pulled it from Snow White’s heart.
“Are you out of your mind?” Axel screamed, staring at the vampire princess.
“Don’t—“Loki managed to say from under Big Bad’s arm. “She’ll kill us all!”
It was too late. Fable had pulled out the Alicorn, and Snow White’s red eyes fluttered open.
She took a moment to get her bearings, enough for everyone to take a step back. Then she stood up with her fangs drawn out, and anger pulsing through her veins. Loki wondered why she didn’t wake up so swiftly the first time they broke the glass.
“I don’t understand this,” Axel said. “Vampires should die in the sunlight. Why doesn’t she die?”
“Shut up,” Fable said.
“No I won’t,” Axel said. “At least I want to say a couple of more words before I die.”
“She won’t hurt us,” Fable said, staring at the vampire princess. The dark power of Snow White when she was angry fascinated Fable. She wondered if she could be as powerful as her one day. “Don’t you get it? She likes Loki. She won’t hurt us.”
Snow White walked barefoot, and slowly, toward Big Bad as if he was her only enemy in the room. Big Bad dropped Loki to the floor, unable to avoid Snow White’s penetrating eyes.
Loki couldn’t take his eyes off her, too. Fable’s decision of removing the Alicorn was surprisingly the right thing to do.
“You don’t want to do this,” Big Bad tried to convince Snow White.
Like always, Snow White didn’t say a word. She walked toward him slowly with blood dripping from her white dress. Whenever she was angry with someone, there was always blood dripping from her.
“Does she always have blood on her dress?” Axel wondered. Fable cupped his mouth, watching the vampire princess do what Fable always wanted to.
Suddenly, Big Bad’s face reddened and the bones in his body started cracking. It was as if something inside him was about to burst out. It reminded Loki of the same sounds he’d heard Big Bad produce yesterday. What was going on?
Big Bad let out a painful moan, arching his back, and then he screamed with all his might:
Awooo!
Loki wondered why he did that; there was no way Big Bad was calling for the Bullyvards. He stepped over to protect Axel and Fable, preparing to run away.
“It’s the call,” Axel said. “He is calling the Bullyvards to help him.”
“If they come, they’re going to die today,” Loki said, picking up his bag.
“Don’t you boys get it?” Fable was still observing tentatively.
“What?” Loki said.
“Big Bad is turning into a…” Fable said.
Big Bad’s eyes became slits and turned yellow. A mass of hair started growing on his face, his arms, and the rest of his body. His nails grew longer and sharper, and his hairy feet grew noticeably bigger, ripping out his shoes.
His transformation scared everyone, all but Snow White. She stopped in front of him, and snarled once more.
“So he’s not Big Bad?” Axel wondered. “He’s the—”
“The Big Bad Wolf!” Fable celebrated the weirdness of their town.
Big Bad dared Snow White’s eyes one last time both of them threatening each other with their fangs.
“Clash of the Titans,” Fable commented.
Finally, Big Bad gave in and retreated, crashing out through the second story window and running away on all fours.
“This isn’t happening, right?” Axel rubbed his eyes.
Snow White turned back to them, and snarled at them, too.
“We have to run,” Axel yelled. “How many times does she have to spare our lives?”
Loki and Fable stood fixed to the floor, their faces painted with the color of confusion. This time, Snow White wasn’t going to treat them nicely. She swung her hand at them, and a sudden snowy swirl hit the room and flung them out of her way. They got the point and ran as fast as their legs could carry them out of the Schloss.
16
Surviving a bad day at the Schloss wasn’t the worst that could happen to Loki. The surprises kept on coming.
Entering the Candy House on Seven, Breadcrumb Street, Fable rushed into her room and slammed the door behind her, cursing and crying.
“I can’t believe how awful you boys are,” she sobbed from inside her room. Loki and Axel heard sounds of moving furniture behind the door. “She saved your life twice, Loki, and you still want to kill her. I hate you!”
On their way back, Fable had begged Loki to give up on killing Snow White. She’d told him that after seeing Big Bad turning into a wolf, it was obvious that something wasn’t right in Sorrow. Loki had to tell her and Axel who he was while driving his Cadillac back to the house. He told them everything about being a half-angel banned from Heaven, about the demon girl he was banned for loving, and about his need to kill Snow White to go home and find out who he really was.
“Cheer up, Fable,” Axel said on his way to the refrigerator. “We have a fallen angel in our house. It’s not like it happens every day.”
“Half-angel,” Loki corrected him politely.
“I don’t care who he is,” Fable snapped. “I don’t even care if he can spread his wings and fly.”
“You can do that, right?” Axel said to Loki, skeptically. “Oh, I remember they gave you two black star tattoos where wings should’ve grown on your shoulders.”
“That’s right,” Loki nodded, wondering what Fable was doing in her room.
“If I get Abe Von Noxious, the tattoo artist on Scrimshaw street, to draw me black star tattoos, you think they will think I am a fallen angel in school?”
“Shut up, Axel,” Fable shouted. “I hate both of you!”
“What did we do that was so bad? Aren’t you glad we all survived the Big Bad Wolf,” Axel chuckled to himself, pounding his forehead with his fist. “I can’t believe I literally met the Big Bad Wolf. This is insane.”
“OK, Fable,” Loki said. “I’m sorry. I know it’s confusing, but the fact that she saved us doesn’t help me go home. I know how you feel toward her, but just think about all the other teens she killed.”
“When are you going to understand that she is my favorite fairy tale character. She killed those who interfered and trespassed in the castle,” Fable fired back. It sounded like she was dropping heavy books on the floor. What was she doing? “We never heard anything about her hurting someone
outside
the castle.”
“She’s got a point,” Axel said, licking jelly from his fingers. “Why doesn’t she leave the castle and come kill everyone in town? I’d do that if I were her.”
“All Snow White wants is for no one to intrude or interrupt her life in the castle,” Fable continued. “It’s like living in a town with other people who don’t share your lifestyle, and all you ask is to be left alone.”
“Vampire lifestyle, that’s funny,” Axel said with a mouthful. “What are you doing in there, Fable?”
Loki and Axel exchanged looks.
“Oh. No,” Axel suddenly let the plate of Jelly drop to the floor. “You better not be doing what I think you’re doing, Fable.”
“You bet your gluttonous belly I am,” she replied. “Finally, I found it!”
“What’s going on, Axel?” Loki said.
Axel looked terrified, examining the place around him, searching for a hiding spot. “Not good, man. Not good. We need to leave the house, now!” Axel pulled Loki by his shirt. “Remember when you first came to the house? This is worse.”