Page 50 of Switched

He’s stumped me again. I turn and watch dumbfounded as Anna steps out of the hostage pool and walks over to Rumpelstiltskin. I feel like I’ve fallen fifty feet down the beanstalk.

“I’m sorry, Gilly.” Her voice is suddenly cold. The tears that stained her face only moments are gone. “There was no way to break Alva’s curse without your help, and we need Alva for what we have planned. Someday you’ll see it’s for the best.” Someone hands Anna a fresh jacket and she slips out of the dirty one, which was clearly for my benefit. A girl hands her a comb, and Anna quickly smooths her locks and adds a headband. The poor little Anna routine is over.

“It was all a lie?” I ask. I feel like I might throw up. My sweet little sister is really gone. “You tricked me too?”

“We knew your love for me was pure enough to get the harp to play,” Anna explains, her face brightening. “And it did. Now Rumpelstiltskin can cast the greatest curse Enchantasia has ever seen.” She turns back toward me and touches my arm. I recoil. “Don’t worry. Your life will be spared in the curse. I made sure he let me include you and our family when he remakes Enchantasia the way it was meant to be.”

Hot tears fall down my cheeks. My baby sister has truly turned evil. I thought I could change her, but Professor Sebastian is right. People can only change if they want to. Thanks to my foolishness, I’ve endangered not only my friends, but also the whole kingdom. I should have listened to Jax. How could I be so pigheaded?

I steel myself as I look at Anna and say, “I don’t want any part of your plan. I won’t turn evil, Anna. Not even for you.”

Anna rolls her eyes. “Oh, Gilly, always so concerned with being good. Well, guess what? Now I’m better than you ever were. I’m part of greatness! With Stiltskin and Alva’s curse, Enchantasia will be great again. No troll and ogre war, no school for royals or schools for children who might become villains. Stiltskin will unite the whole kingdom. Under his rule, we will all matter! Villains won’t dare attack us with him in charge. No one will be able to stop us.”

Anna is clearly committed to this cause, but I have to try one more time. “The past is in the past,” I say. “The only thing that can be changed is the future. Deep down, you must know how wrong this is.”

Anna’s face darkens. “What’s wrong is you not seeing how much good he can do for all of us. Forget FTRS and these people!” She motions to my friends. “They’re not your family. I am.”

“We’ve acted more like her family these last few months than you ever have,” Jocelyn snaps. “You’re just too jealous to admit that to yourself.”

“I have nothing to be jealous of!” Anna says, but her voice does sound shaky. “Gilly is the coward! She can’t see the future!” Anna turns to Hansel. “Put them with the others and then get them all back down to the dungeons. They’ll be out of our way down there.”

The candy thief drags me back over to my friends. I’m too broken to fight him.

I watch Anna talking to Stiltskin as the squad members continue to collect harp pieces. Alva is placed on a stretcher and removed from the room. Gretel rounds up the rest of us, zapping kids who don’t move fast enough with her wand. I see a shadow cross her face and look up. Erp is still watching us, but no one seems to notice. If only I could get a message to him. But would he even help us?

A boy pats me down, searching for weapons. He pulls my coal miner dagger off me, then lifts my bow and arrow. I reach for it out of force of habit, but the kid throws it on to the pile of weapons he’s already collected. The coal miner daggers we need to climb back down the beanstalk have all been taken. Ollie’s and Jax’s swords and Jocelyn’s bag of magic tricks are gone too.

I look from Jack to Jax. “I’m sorry. You tried to tell me that I was being played by this kid, and I didn’t listen. Now we’re trapped here.”

Jack cuts into our conversation and says, “Hey, I was played too. I had to put my family first. Didn’t you do the same?”

“On some level,” I admit. “But look at what it got me. I’m stuck in an atrium with a cow, a wicked fairy, and a sister who has turned evil.” I look at Jax again. “I’m a fool.”

Jax’s face is sad. “I’m sorry I was right. I really wanted to be wrong.”

I wish looking into his violet eyes would calm me like it has before. This time it doesn’t. “I know.”

Tears stream down AG’s cheeks. “He’s so evil,” she whispers. “Father said he was, but I thought he could be reasoned with. Now I see for myself he can’t. He’ll never reverse my curse. He’ll only try to strike another deal. What he did to you and your sister… I’m so sorry, Gilly.”

“What curse?” Jocelyn asks. “This one is cursed too? How so?”

AG doesn’t answer. She’s crying too hard. I doubt she’d tell Jocelyn what she is anyway.

I look at the rest of my friends. “I’m sorry I dragged you all into my mess. I wish I knew how to get us out of it.”

“Move!” Gretel barks, knocking me from behind. “Time for the dungeon! It’s nice and damp down there. I’m sure you’ll love the accommodations, pretty little princess.”

She pokes AG with her wand and laughs, and AG growls.

“What did you just say to me?” Gretel gets in AG’s face. “I said move! I’m not scared of any beast’s daughter.”

AG growls louder this time. Her chest is rising and falling heavily. She looks at me, a mixture of uncertainty and determination in her yellowing eyes. Maybe hope isn’t lost yet.

“AG, be proud of who you are,” I encourage her. “Own it!”

“Enough goody-goody talk.” Gretel pushes me again. “Get walking. You and the pretty little princess.”

“Don’t call me a pretty little princess,” AG says.