Together, they hauled Snow White to her feet, where Snow White continued to stare at the wall between worlds without blinking.
"I do wonder what that smell is," Rapunzel said, moving off in the direction of the aroma that had been upon them since they entered the new kingdom.
"You mean the sweet smell?" Cinderella questioned. "Did you just now note it?"
"No. I noted it before." Rapunzel's grin was challenging. "But there were things of greater immediacy, such as the fact that the trees were no longer
dripping and the temperature had grown warmer by shades. Which, as I recall, you failed to note."
"I would have noted it eventually." Cinderella drifted toward Rapunzel, smile quirking her lip as Rapunzel turned to meet her. "But I do find it of
particular distraction to have one pressed so unrelentingly against my side. It is a miracle I manage speech at all."
"Is that right?" Rapunzel breathed, taking a step that brought them lightly into contact, and Cinderella felt Rapunzel's peculiar power over her amplify so
that she wondered, as she had many times in the past, if Rapunzel did not have a bit of her mother's sorcery in her.
"Should we see where it comes from?" Snow White questioned distractedly, and Rapunzel's gaze slid away. Following her eyes to Snow White, Cinderella found
her far less frightened and far more curious, as she took a few exploratory steps in the direction from which the delectable scent seemed to be coming.
"Would you like to?" Cinderella returned, risking another glance at Rapunzel's flushed cheeks as she reached for her hand, feeling Rapunzel press against
her side, knowing she did so with greater intention than before.
When Snow White nodded brightly, Cinderella was glad to see a real smile upon her face. "Lead the way," she encouraged, nearly jumping from her skin when
Rapunzel stole a clandestine touch as they turned to follow.
With nothing but the smell to guide them, it took some time to find the place that belonged to the delightful aroma, but, eventually, they emerged from a
patch of trees into a small clearing that had a charming cottage sitting center.
It was no wonder, Cinderella realized, the air smelled so saccharine sweet. Not just a baker cooking up treats, the house itself was a delicacy. Walls
crafted of gingerbread sat temptingly topped by an iced pastry roof. The windows were not made of wood or glass, but of pure sugar crystals. Against the
side of the house, and filling its window boxes, the bushes and flowers grew in an assortment of candies that made Cinderella lick her lips.
"How would one build such a house?" Rapunzel asked, leaning eagerly toward the giant treat.
"Will the animals not eat it?" Snow White sounded hungry as she asked.
"There may be no animals in this kingdom," Cinderella returned, though it was only through strength of will that she was not already face-deep in the roses
that looked to be made of pure chocolate.
"Shall we knock?" Rapunzel queried, her stomach giving a long, loud rumble for emphasis.
Before Cinderella or Snow White could reply, the door of the cottage opened and they rushed to hide, their scuttling and subsequent clamor only serving to
draw attention, Cinderella was certain, as they all chose the same tree and crashed into each other.
"Move over."
"Ow. That's my leg."
"Shh. They will hear us."
Trapped between Rapunzel before her and Snow White at her back, Cinderella discovered the tree trunk they hid behind smaller than it appeared and tried to
squeeze herself as narrow as possible, wishing she had not taken so readily to bodice-free living once more.
"I have already heard you," a girl's voice called out to them, and Cinderella let out an uneasy breath. "And I see you," the voice added much to her
dismay. "Please come out. It has been many years since my brother or I have seen another person."
Determining there was no choice in the matter, Cinderella rested her hand upon Rapunzel's hip as she slid out from between Rapunzel and Snow White,
motioning for them to stay hidden. For the voice had sounded without threat, but so had the voice of Snow White's stepmother when she had come to the
dwarves' cabin to kill Snow White.
Watching a smile appear on the face of the girl who owned the voice, Cinderella was surprised to find she was no more than a child, at least five years her
junior.
"Hansel," the girl called back into the cottage. "Come quickly. We have visitors."
Rushing from somewhere inside, the voice of a young man carried through the door. "Visitors!" he shouted, appearing next to the girl, a grin coming wide
and toothy to his face, but for the teeth that were missing.
A few years older than his sister, the boy had the same complexion and dirty yellow hair. Watching him rest his arm across the girl's shoulders, Cinderella
felt a measure of ease at the honesty of their affection and waved Rapunzel and Snow White out of hiding.
"I knew I had seen more of you," the girl said with a clap upon seeing them.
"Is there anyone else here?" Cinderella questioned.
"No," the boy responded. "It is only Gretel and I."
"You live here alone?" Rapunzel asked, fingers curving around Cinderella's arm.
"Now," the girl responded. "The witch who once kept us here has gone."
"If the witch has gone, why do you stay?" Snow White questioned. "Have you no family?"
"We did once," Hansel sadly replied. "We lost our way back to them many years ago, and now we cannot leave."
"Of course, you can leave," Cinderella replied. "Perhaps, we could help you find your family."
"No," Hansel shook his head.
"Why not?" she asked.
"This is why," Gretel said, and dashed suddenly toward them. Worried it was an attack, Cinderella stepped before Rapunzel and Snow White, whirling with
them as Gretel ran past and vanished into the trees.
"See." The voice snapped their eyes back to the cabin, and Rapunzel gasped at Cinderella's side.
Once again, Gretel stood in the doorway, as if they had not watched her run from the cottage a moment before.
"How did you..." Cinderella breathed, and Gretel gave a weighted shrug.
"We run and we return," she said. "It does not matter how fast or which way, we always end up here."
"You are trapped," Rapunzel whispered, and Cinderella slid her hand over Rapunzel's where it rested at her elbow as Hansel and Gretel nodded in response.
"What holds you here?" she asked.
"It is the spell of the witch that keeps us from leaving," Gretel replied. "That keeps us alone."
Burdened at once by the deep sadness that shown in Hansel and Gretel's heavy gazes, Cinderella bristled just as quickly at the broad grin that suddenly
split Hansel's face. "Would you like to eat with us?" he invited, and his sister's wide eyes turned to him.
"Yes, please," she added with the same coaxing grin. "There is more than enough to share. Taste anything you would like. It is all good for eating."
"This here is brittle," Hansel further encouraged, breaking off a piece of a flower box and biting it in half. "You will not taste its equal."
Eyes locked upon the brittle Hansel held out in offering, Cinderella clung to Rapunzel, unaware of Snow White's approach of the cottage until she heard a
crunch and watched the light pink petal of a candy flower break off in Snow White's hand.
"Do not eat that!" Cinderella cried, rushing forward to knock the petal from her hand and dragging Snow White away from temptation, eyes unforgiving as
they watched the disappointment set in on Hansel and Gretel's faces. "The spell of the witch," she questioned. "How does one fall under it exactly?"
When Hansel and Gretel looked to each other, shame dropping their heads, anger flared in Cinderella's chest.
"You tried to trick us," she declared, taking in the house's delicacies, far less desirable now that she recognized them as snares. "If you had eaten
that," she added quietly to Snow White, "you would have been trapped too."
Eyes spilling over with panic, Snow White brushed her hands together to remove residual traces of the cottage, and Cinderella took Snow White's elbow,
ensuring she stayed with them as she led Rapunzel away.
"Please!" Gretel called out. "Please. We are just so alone."
Glancing back, in spite of her simmering anger, Cinderella could not ignore the honest tears that streamed down the girl's face.
"We try to be brave. But when the storms come and the ghouls tap at the windows, we are so afraid. Please, will you not stay?"
The desperation in their eyes, as they stared out from their captivity, was almost convincing. "No." Cinderella shook her head. "We will not stay. We will
try to help you. We will look for your mother."
On a sob, Gretel's shoulders drooped, and Hansel put his arm around her in comfort. "Our mother is dead," he said.
"Yours too?" Snow White took a step forward, and Cinderella clutched her arm.
"Yours?" Gretel asked, glancing up with a sniff.
"Yes, and hers." Snow White tilted her head toward Cinderella.
"What about your mother?" Hansel asked Rapunzel.
"She locked me in a tower," Rapunzel replied.
"Oh," Hansel awkwardly returned, and, for a moment, silence lingered in the clearing.
"What about your father?" Cinderella questioned. "Where is he?"
"He led us to these woods," Hansel responded. "He cared more for his new wife than he did for us."
The story achingly familiar, Cinderella closed her eyes against its pull.
"Perhaps, we could stay just one night," Rapunzel whispered, and Cinderella shook her head. She refused to let Rapunzel move from one prison to another.
"They tried to trick us once," she declared. "They will do it again."
"We will not. We swear we will not!" Gretel cried out, and Hansel nodded his promise.
"I do not believe you," Cinderella replied gently, knowing well what she might have done at their ages to keep someone who might actually care for her
near. "But I will find a way to help you. I promise."
"You lie!" Gretel screamed. "You can leave, so you will leave, and you will never come back!"
Whirling away from her brother, Gretel rushed into the depths of the cottage, and Cinderella took a step forward, taking it back at once when she felt the
witch's spell try to lure her in.
After watching his sister's retreat, Hansel turned back to Cinderella, his eyes dark and untrusting. "We do not believe you either," he said, and two honey
drops shook free from a window ledge as the door of the cottage slammed shut.
Cinderella had not spoken since they started back to Aulis. Glancing to her mouth set in a firm line, her cheeks reddened with frustration, Snow White
could tell, though it had been Cinderella's idea to leave Hansel and Gretel alone at the cottage, it was far from easy for her.
Not knowing what to say to make her feel better, Snow White took in the surrounding forest, still amazed at the events of the day. Such a brief time ago,
she believed there was only Aulis and the demi-kingdoms over which her father had rule. Now, she did not only know of other kingdoms, she stood in one, so
close to her own it was no more than a walk away, but separate somehow from the world she knew.
Seeing something move from the corner of her eye, Snow White turned instantly toward it, on-guard since the cottage, where she had come too close to
indulging in its temptations and falling under a witch's spell.
Upon spotting the burst of color in the sky, her apprehension lessened at once, and she glanced over at Rapunzel's amazed laugh to see even Cinderella's
face produce its first near-smile since they left the sweet cottage.
The swarm of butterflies approaching, a patchwork of blues and oranges and reds and purples, it was almost peaceful, almost calming, as if the universe
worked to give them a moment of joy amidst their worries. Letting them land upon her arms and dress and hair, with the suddenness of a collision, Snow
White did not feel relieved at all, but furious. She blamed them, she decided at once, especially Cinderella, for everything, from almost getting trapped
with Hansel and Gretel to the queen's attempts on her life.
Glancing to them again, Snow White's mouth flicked up in a gratified snarl as she watched Rapunzel snap free from Cinderella, as if she too realized
Cinderella was to blame for everything bad that had happened to her.
"I think you wanted to leave them alone," Snow White felt urged to say, and Cinderella turned to her, looking every bit as irritated as Snow White felt.
"I saved you from your own stupidity," Cinderella countered. "You are far too dense not to have gotten trapped there on your own."
"At least she is educated," Rapunzel laughed, and Cinderella looked back as if in surprise.
"You do not even care that they have to fend for themselves," Snow White accused.
"What would you know about fending for yourself, Princess?" Cinderella shot back.
"And what would you know about it?" Rapunzel cut in, and Cinderella spun to face Rapunzel, fists clenching at her thighs. "You were willing to become a
slave not to have to fend for yourself."
With a flourish of wings around her, Snow White felt instantly lighter, better, less burdened, not so hungry for a fight.
"At least I recognized my captivity," Cinderella declared, "and did not think it love."
"Ah, yes," Rapunzel returned, as the butterflies that abandoned Snow White landed upon her hair and dress, covering her in color. "But how you rushed back
into captivity when you did believe it love."
The last of the butterflies lifting off her shoulders, Snow White felt faint as they flew to Cinderella and Rapunzel. It was most unusual behavior for
butterflies, she thought, when she could once again think clearly, and she watched them hover and land upon Cinderella and Rapunzel's shoulders, moving
back and forth between them as if they were two plants in a garden, bursting with nectar.
"Well, at least I did not just wait for the first person to come along," Cinderella uttered. "If it had not been me, it would have been the prince. You
would be married to him now."