The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell (35 page)

C
onner was positive he was dead. The fall into the ocean must have killed him because, wherever he was, he had never been so relaxed. He felt like he was somewhere in the glorious state between being asleep and being awake, a place he knew very well. His eyes were closed, and he was lying down on the softest surface he had ever laid on in his entire life.

The air was cool and refreshing. It smelled a little salty, but he was sure he was only imagining that because the last thing he had seen was the ocean. He opened his eyes a tiny
bit and saw his sister lying next to him. She must have died, too, but she seemed so peaceful that he didn’t worry about her. He couldn’t have worried about anything if he’d tried. He felt so wonderful that, wherever he was, all he could feel was enjoyment.
We must be in heaven
, he thought.

Conner opened his eyes wider. His vision was a little blurry, but he could see so many colorful objects moving in all different directions above him. They looked human the more his eyes adjusted.
They must be angels
, he told himself, and went back to sleep.

Just as he drifted off, a thought occurred to him: Do you sleep when you’re dead? Do you feel and smell the air around you? He must have been alive after all to be experiencing all these things. But where was he? He opened his eyes as wide as possible, so they would adjust faster.

He and his sister were lying in a large clamshell at the bottom of the ocean. They were in an underwater cave of sorts, but they were able to breathe in a large air bubble that surrounded them. There were coral pillars in the cave with dark, rocky walls behind them. A sandy floor was underneath them, and they were facing an endless blue ocean.

Swimming around the top of the bubble was a gathering of mermaids. They were gorgeous and colorful. All of them were pale but had long hair that matched their tails in vibrant sea colors; there were blues and greens, purples and pinks. They were friendly and waved at Conner as soon as they noticed he was awake.

Conner looked down at his wounded arm and saw a
seaweed bandage covering his scratch. One of them must have wrapped it.

“Alex!” Conner said. “Alex, wake up!” He tapped her on the shoulder, and she stirred to life.

“Hmm?” asked Alex, who was in an extremely relaxed state of her own.

“Mermaids!” Conner said. “There are mermaids swimming around us!”

This caught Alex’s attention, and her eyes fluttered open. It took her a few moments to realize where she was and that it was actually happening.

She sat straight up on the clam. “Conner, why are we at the bottom of the ocean?”

“Beats me,” he said. “Check out this bubble around us!” He noticed that the longer they stayed in it, the smaller it became as they breathed in the air.

“The last thing I remember is being chased by wolves and then you—
you jerk!
” she said, remembering being pushed off the cliff. She hit him repeatedly with open hands.

“Hey hey hey, stop it! It was either that or be attacked by wolves! Pick your poison!” Conner said.

“If we survived the fall, how did we get down here?” Alex asked.

“We brought you here,” said a mermaid swimming above them. She had long, soft, turquoise hair that matched the shimmering scales on her tail. “The Sea Foam Spirit wants to speak with you.”

“The Sea Foam Spirit?” Conner asked.

“She’s on her way!” said another mermaid with pink hair and a pink tail.

“I don’t think these mermaids get out much,” Conner whispered to Alex.

“Here she comes now!” said a mermaid of purple coloring.

Sure enough, a cluster of sea foam drifted through the ocean toward Conner and Alex. It came into their bubble and swirled around before hovering in front of them. It slowly morphed to the shape of a mermaid.

“Hello, children,” said an airy voice from inside the sea foam.

“Hello,” Alex said, tilting her head like a puppy looking at something peculiar.

“Howdy,” said Conner, tensing every muscle in his forehead.

“I hope you are well,” the sea foam spirit said. She was frothy, and her foam was constantly rejuvenating itself. “I instructed my mermaids to take very good care of you. You poor things nearly drowned when you fell into the ocean.”

Alex gave her brother a really dirty look. “Did we?” she said. “Are you the Sea Foam Spirit?”

“Yes,” the spirit said. “But you and your brother may know me best as the Little Mermaid.”

Alex’s face lit up. This was one person she hadn’t thought she would meet in the Land of Stories.

“You’re the Little Mermaid?” she asked, completely enthralled.

“Good lord, what happened to you?” Conner asked.

“I thought you died,” Alex said.

“Not exactly,” the spirit said. “When I was turned into a human by the Sea Witch all those years ago, I had to marry the prince in order for the spell to last. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, the prince married someone else, and my body turned into sea foam. I’m no longer of physical form, but my spirit lives on.”

“That’s weird,” Conner said.

“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Alex said. “I was always so sad after reading your story. Not many people know your
real
story; they always assume you had a happily-ever-after.”

“There are many who don’t,” the spirit said. “I believe you two are looking for something that once belonged to me.”

“I don’t think so,” Conner said.

“Wait, do you mean the ‘saber from the deepest sea’?” Alex asked anxiously. “Do you know what it is?”

“How do you know we’re looking for it?” Conner asked suspiciously.

“I know many things the average entity doesn’t,” the spirit said. “Especially things said or felt near water.”

“Swan Lake!” Alex said. “We were talking about the Wishing Spell items we had left to collect while we were traveling across Swan Lake.”

“So, Ms.-Foam-Lady-formerly-known-as-the-Little-Mermaid,” Conner said. “What is the ‘saber from the deepest sea’? We’ve been trying to figure it out since we got here.”

“As you recall, I traded my ability to speak to the Sea Witch for a pair of legs so I could be with the prince onshore,” the spirit said. “After he fell in love with the other woman, my sisters traded their hair for a knife from the Sea Witch. She said that if I killed the prince with it, I could return to the sea as a mermaid, but ultimately I couldn’t go through with it and became what I am today.”

“The knife!”
Alex said eagerly. “The ‘saber from the deepest sea’ is the knife the Sea Witch gave you! Of course! I was expecting it to be much bigger!”

“Yes,” the spirit said.

“Hold up,” Conner said. “You went through all that trouble for a
guy
? Were there not any available mermen?”

“Perhaps that is the lesson of my story,” the spirit said.

“And where is the knife now?” Alex asked.

“I gave it to a man, not too long ago, who needed it for the same reason you do now,” the spirit said. “I gave it to him on one condition: that he destroy it after he finished with it.”

“Oh no,” Conner said, putting his hands on his head and pulling his hair.

“So, it’s gone?” Alex asked, about to cry.

“It is gone, but it isn’t destroyed,” the spirit said. “The man failed to fulfill his agreement, fearing that he might need it again someday.”

“So where did he put it?” Conner asked.

“It’s in a place where people put things they never want to see again,” the spirit said.

“He flushed it?” Conner asked.

“No, remember that place the Traveling Tradesman was telling us about?” Alex said. “He must have dropped it in the Thornbush Pit!”

“Oh, great!” Conner said sarcastically. “Why did he have to drop it into a cursed pit? Why couldn’t he have just dropped it in a gopher hole?”

“We’re never going to get it,” Alex said. “If we even get close to that place the vines and thornbush will drag us to the bottom of the pit forever.”

“Unless you have these,” the foam spirit said. She extended both of her hands, and two necklaces, each with a golden shell, appeared in them. “Wear these while you retrieve the knife from the bottom of the Thornbush Pit, and the cursed plants will not harm you.”

“Thank you,” Alex said.

The twins leaned forward to take the shells out of her foamy hands, but the spirit pulled them away. “I will only give you these if you promise to destroy the knife as soon as you’re done with it,” the spirit said.

The twins looked at each other and nodded.

“Of course,” Alex said.

“No problem,” Conner said.

“Very well,” the spirit said, and handed them over to the twins. “Be careful, though. The shells are twins, too. If one breaks, the other shell will as well. Remember that.”

“Why are you doing this for us?” Alex asked.

“Why do you always ask what someone’s motives are when they help you?” the spirit asked.

The question took Alex off guard. “Because people don’t really help each other where we come from,” Alex said. “They do occasionally, but it’s rarely without reason. Good people are hard to find.”

“It can’t be too difficult. I’m looking at two now,” the spirit said. “Which is why I was inclined to help you, and which is why I am also inclined to tell you this: You are not the only ones after the Wishing Spell.”

“We know,” Conner said. “The Evil Queen is, too.”

“She’s the one who sent the wolves after us,” Alex said, “isn’t she?”

“Yes,” the spirit said. “She is as determined to find the knife as you are. That is why you must hurry if you are going to beat her to it. Unfortunately, the Wishing Spell can only be used once more.”

“What?” Conner said. Both the twins felt like someone had kicked them in the stomach. This definitely complicated matters. “You mean, if she gets to the knife first, that’s it, game over?”

“Unfortunately so,” the spirit said.

The bubble around the twins was almost gone. It barely covered the clam they sat in. Their time underwater was running out.

“We can’t let that happen,” Alex said, shaking her head. “We have to get there first! We have to go right now!”

“I’ll have my mermaids escort you there as fast as they can, but once you are on land, you must travel the rest of the way on your own,” the spirit said. “Stay safe, children.”

The Sea Foam Spirit fizzled out and disappeared. The mermaids swam down to the twins and each grabbed hold of the clamshell Alex and Conner sat in. Together they moved the twins through the ocean, on to their next adventure.