Once Upon the End (Half Upon a Time) (12 page)

CHAPTER 23

N
O!” Phillip shouted. Penelope grabbed his arm and tried to pull him out of the room, away from the Wicked Queen and her minions, but he struggled against her.

Penelope shouted his name, forcing him to look at her. “We need to go if we’re going to escape.” Phillip turned back to the room, back to Jack’s body. Lian, the Eye, stood over it, almost in a daze. She kneeled down and turned Jack over, then placed his sword on his chest and gently touched the blade, closing her eyes and dropping her head out of respect. Apparently they had been closer than Phillip had known.

Even after Jack turned to the Wicked Queen, even after he betrayed them, Phillip never wished this. He had fought Jack in a fit of anger, but this,
this
is where that anger had led. And Jack had done the one thing Phillip had not even considered he would: sacrifice himself for the others.

Lian picked up Jack’s body along with his sword and bag. She gently, almost solemnly, carried him to the blue fire portal and laid him down within. “I hope you enjoy a world without any of this,” she said quietly as the portal flickered then collapsed, disappearing in silence.

Then she turned toward the Wicked Queen and pulled out her sword.

“Oh, Jillian,” the Queen said, not unkindly. “Are we finally here?”

Lian nodded, and lightning erupted from the Queen’s hand. Lian slapped it away with her sword once, then again, advancing on the Queen. “I never knew him, because of you,” she said, her voice deadly quiet. “First my mother. You took her from me. Then my father, you took him too. And now you take my
brother
from me?”

Brother?!

Lian held up her sword, glowing a bright white, then disappeared, only to reappear directly in front of the Wicked Queen. Moving faster than Phillip could see, Lian swung her sword at the Queen’s face.

The Queen, however, caught it easily in her hand. Where blood might have flowed in anyone else, the Queen’s hand was remarkably untouched.

“Did you really think you could hurt me?” she asked the Eye softly. Lian rose into the air, struggling against the unseen force of the Wicked Queen’s magic, then screamed as she hurtled across the room, slamming against the wall right next to Phillip.

Penelope was right. They had to go now, or they would
never
leave.

But after what Phillip had just seen, they could not leave without Lian.

“GO!” Phillip shouted, pushing May’s unconscious body into Penelope’s arms. He bent down and scooped Lian up and over his shoulder, then followed the other two right out of the throne room.

“Oh, little Prince,” the Wicked Queen said from right behind him. “You can’t run from me.”

He whirled around, ready to attack, but no one was there. Of course the Queen would have her tricks, her magic. He could not stop for anything, trick or not.

Lian jerked, then kicked him hard in the back, knocking him to the floor. “What did you do that for?!” she shouted at him. “You do
not
rescue me. Not you. Not
ever
!”

A goblin attacked, but Lian took it and four others out without even looking at them.

“She would have killed you,” Phillip said, picking himself up. “And she will kill us all if we do not find a way to escape.”

“
You
caused this,” she hissed. “You made him throw everything away like that!”

Phillip’s anger bubbled back up. “I did nothing
but confront him over his joining the Queen. Something you
convinced him to do!”

Lian snarled, then shook her head. “You have no idea how much I didn’t do this to him. This goes against
everything
. Everything!” She took a deep breath, then shook her head. “But now is not the time. You have one chance to get out of here, and it’s by following me.” She started off down the hallway to their left, one of five facing them, then turned back. “I do this because it hurts the Queen. I do
not
do this for you.”

With that, Lian turned and ran off down the hall. Phillip reached out and took May from Penelope, who put a hand on his shoulder then ran with him to catch up.

The Queen’s castle seemed almost empty in comparison to the garrisons of goblins they’d seen on their way in. Considering how many guards filled the city outside, he could not believe that there were none here. But they encountered no one, heard no one, sensed no one. The entire castle seemed dead inside, even if on the outside torches made it look lived in.

Unfortunately, even dead, the castle still moved. Shadows flitted here or there, and red eyes looked out hungrily from corridors that Lian wisely passed. Her glowing sword seemed to make them flinch and back away, but not for long, and as soon as they’d passed, the shadows followed them.

Down stairways they went, through hallways and random rooms, on and on until Phillip began to doubt that Lian knew where they were going.

“She doesn’t, Phillip,” said the Queen’s voice in his ear, and Phillip whirled around, his goblin sword drawn, only to find no one there. “I will find you before you can escape. I’m on my way now. You can’t run, Phillip. You can’t hide.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Lian shouted back. “She wouldn’t be trying to scare you if she could reach us.”

“You all hear her?” Phillip said without stopping.

Penelope nodded, while Lian just kept running, not looking back.

Finally, they came to a large wooden door, which Lian opened by sticking her sword through the door’s lock. Three more doors followed, made of iron, steel, and brick, and each one unlocked as well.

“We are too far underground to escape,” Phillip told Lian, but she just shook her head.

“I need to get something first,” she said, and opened the last door, this one made of bone, revealing cages upon cages, one within another.

All were empty.

“No,” Lian whispered. “NO! Where did you take him?!”

“Phillip,” said the Wicked Queen from everywhere. “I suggest you listen to me. If you care about your mother and your kingdom, you should listen to my warning.”

Phillip stiffened. “She is threatening my people.”

“She
took
him,” Lian said, ignoring him. “Why? What could she—” And then Lian froze, turning to Phillip, her mouth hanging open. “Oh
no
.”

“She knows, Phillip,” the Queen’s voice said. “She knows what’s happening. She knows about the giant.”

“The giant?” Phillip asked, and Lian dropped her gaze, not able to look at him. “The giant?” he repeated.

“The one you’ve been looking for,” she told him without meeting his gaze. “The Queen, she must have taken my . . . taken the thief, the one who stole from him, and sent him to your kingdom. She’d hidden him away from the giant this entire time, but now that he’s out in the world again, the giant will find the thief, and tear apart anyone in his way.”

“He will destroy
everything
, Phillip, and you’ll never return in time,” the Queen told him. “Your mother, your kingdom . . . all gone. Because the giant isn’t alone. He has six others just like him, and they’re on their way. I’d say they have perhaps a week? No more, certainly. And here you are, powerless to save anyone and much too far away to reach them.”

“
Monster
,” Phillip whispered, gripping his sword. “I am glad you still live, that I might destroy you myself!”

“They don’t have to die, Phillip,” the Queen said.

“Don’t listen, Phillip,” Lian told him, but Penelope shook her head, strangely calm.

“We already know what he decides,” the princess said, and gave Phillip a sympathetic look.

What did she mean?

“Tell me where you are, Phillip,” the Queen said. “I will send you home. You can face the giants. You really are the only hope your people have, the only hope your mother has. And you know that. You’ve killed giants, more than you can count. Who else could save them?”

“You lie,” Phillip whispered.

“NO!” Lian shouted. “Phillip, we need to escape!”

“That’s not the choice he makes,” Penelope said.

“I speak only the truth,” the Queen said. “I’ve never lied to you. You know this. I told you one would betray my granddaughter, and one would die. One has died, Phillip. And now it’s your turn. Give up my granddaughter. Release her back to me, and you can save your people. A kingdom for one person. The choice is simple.”

Phillip swallowed hard and looked down at May’s face as he held her in his arms. He could not betray her. He could
not
. . . it was not even an option.

But neither could he leave his kingdom, his people to die at the hands of a giant.

Not when he could save them.

And that was it. One life versus those of an entire kingdom. And the Queen would not hurt May. She had been hunting her for too long. There must be a reason . . . there
must
be.

It did not matter. Betrayal was betrayal. But there was no choice here, not for him.

“
No
, Phillip,” Lian said, her voice hoarse. “Whatever she’s promising you, this is
worse
.”

Phillip tried to speak, tried to explain, but there were no words. There was nothing he could say or do, other than despise himself and the Queen both.

“Only . . . only her,” he said, barely able to get the words out. “Penelope and Lian come with me.”

“You drive a hard bargain, but one that I find acceptable,” the Queen told him. “Now. Open your mind to me.”

Phillip opened his mind and, somewhere deep inside, felt a horrible presence flitter like a butterfly through his memories. He watched as if from outside as he followed Lian down the halls, through the castle, through the metal doors to the room with the cage.

And then a circle of blue lightning opened, and the Wicked Queen stepped out.

“A deal is a deal,” she said, and just like that, Penelope and Lian both disappeared, just as May’s eyes opened. Phillip carefully set her down, and she looked from the prince to the Queen.

“Just in time,” the Queen told her. “Phillip just gave you up for his own freedom.”

May turned to Phillip, her mouth opening without any words coming out.

And then, before Phillip could even say one word, he disappeared as well.

CHAPTER 24

P
hillip had . . . betrayed her? Still groggy, May stumbled backward to slam into something that felt like metal bars.
Phillip
had? Where was Penelope?

Where was Jack?

No. NO. If Phillip had, then . . . then Jack . . .

The Queen just smiled at her.

“It can’t . . .” May whispered, and just like that the room began to spin. She couldn’t breathe. She coughed, just trying to get some air, trying to grasp at any thought that would come.

“It’s very true, I’m afraid,” the Queen said, still smiling. “And I’m afraid there’s no one but you to blame, my little May.”

May could barely hear her, like her voice was coming from miles away. He . . . he couldn’t be . . . she would know, somehow. She would
know
! “You . . .
liar
,” May heard herself saying.

The smile disappeared. “You should remember what lack of respect gets you, my dear.”

May felt an invisible hand latch itself around her body and slam her up against the bars, crushing her into the metal until she could barely breath.

She didn’t care.

“YOU.
LIAR
. He’s . . . alive!”

“I would shut your
mouth
if I were you,” the Queen said, her eyes on fire with shadowy flames.

The hand squeezed, and May gasped.

“HE . . . IS . . . ALIV—”

The hand threw her across the room.

“Do I need to show you his body?!” the Queen shouted. “What will it take to show?!”

“There’s . . . nothing,” May said, every breath shooting pain through her chest. “You . . . couldn’t . . . show me . . . anything. He’s . . .
alive
.”

“I never thought you stupid,” the Queen said, dragging May back into the air. “But this inability to see reality—”

“REALITY!?” May shouted, and kicked out. Her foot slammed into the Queen’s hand, and whether from pain or surprise, the magic disappeared. May collapsed back to the floor, but was on her feet instantly.

A sword. She needed a sword.

“You
struck
me!” the Queen said, her eyes wide.

May dove for a goblin sword on the ground, then aimed it at the Queen. “I’m about to do more than that.”

Lightning played over the Queen’s fingers. “You will have to suffer for that, of course.”

May launched herself forward, swinging the sword straight at the Queen, only to have it slide off something that wasn’t there. She struck again and again, never getting within a foot of the Queen.

And then a tiny bolt of lightning leapt from the Queen’s fingers to May’s chest, and May found herself on the floor, not sure how she’d gotten there.

“I could kill you right now,” the Queen said from somewhere above her. “It would be easy. But I wonder if you might still serve some use?”

May just looked up at her, barely comprehending her words.

“Your friends are all gone,” the Queen said, smiling slightly. “You have no one left but me.”

“You’re
happy
,” May said, almost not understanding the word.

“Happy?” the Queen asked her, and she looked confused for a moment. “Of course not. Why would you suggest such a thing?”

“You took . . .
everything
from me.” Her voice cracked left and right, but she just pushed through it, slowly sitting up. “Everything I had, you destroyed. My home. My family. My friends. You took everything from me and everything from them. It must have made you happy. . . .”

The Queen paused, then nodded. “I suppose I should be, shouldn’t I? But like you, I wish it hadn’t come to this. I knew it would, of course. I knew from the moment I first saw you in the Mirror, when I asked it to show me . . . well, there’s time for that later. I knew when I stole you from your father and stepmother and brought you here as barely more than a baby. And I knew when Jack freed me from Rapunzel’s jail. And I warned you.”

“You
lied
,” May said, her entire body screaming in pain as she pushed to her feet then picked up her sword again. “He’s
not dead
.”

“You can’t kill me, child,” the Queen told her. “Though you are welcome to wish me harm all you’d like. You can’t hurt me, of course. Not physically.” She frowned. “I’m beginning to forget what it feels like, caring for you. But I know that I did once, and strongly.”

“You could never have cared and done ANY of this!” May shouted.

The Queen smiled. “We lived in that other world for so many years, and you still don’t see how there’s more to life than good and evil, May? Of course I cared for you. I loved you. Dearly. It was not always that way, of course. When I first found you, I knew that caring for you would lead us here, and I would be far safer just killing you as a child.”

“You should have,” May said, pointing her sword at the woman’s heart again.

“Perhaps,” the Queen said. “I
have
made mistakes. And the worst part is, I knew that I would. I saw them ahead of time yet was doomed to follow through on them if I wanted to ultimately triumph. After all, you can’t take the good without the bad, can you? Everything I saw, all my mistakes, they will lead me to ruling over this entire world. You, here, now . . . it all leads to my victory.”

“Trust me,” May said, running the back of her hand over her wet face, “me being here right now doesn’t lead you
anywhere
good.”

The Queen’s eyes flashed with anger. “I warned you, child! I
warned
you! I gave you the same knowledge I had about those two boys. If you had joined me, Jack would still live, and Phillip’s kingdom would not be in danger. At least not until my armies descended upon it.”

May shook her head in disbelief and advanced on the Queen, the sword shaking in her hand. “You . . . you can’t be . . . this
thing
! The woman I thought was my . . . she wouldn’t have hurt anyone!”

The Queen smiled. “I had hurt many, many people at that point, May. But that other world . . . it did strange things to me. Things I never would have expected. But I can see you don’t care, do you?”

May shook her head, feeling a million miles away, looking down on herself and the woman she used to love, the woman she used to think she could save, could bring back from whatever she’d become. “You couldn’t have just been a horrible monster? You had to destroy us all along with the rest of the world?! WHY! WHY did we have to suffer too! You said you cared about me, but all you’ve done since returning is try to hurt me! WHY!”

“Why?” the Queen said, then shrugged slightly. “Because I was curious to see if I
could
. After all, you speak the truth . . . if I did truly care, how could I hurt you? I had to be sure. And now I am.” She reached out a hand, and lightning slammed into May, throwing her across the room, her sword landing far from her hand. “You see? I can hurt you with no qualms, May. That is what I needed to know. In the past, I’ve had . . . difficulty with certain people. I couldn’t kill Snow, not completely. Part of me held back, and now she hovers between life and death forever. But returning to this world, I’ve purged myself of any weakness I previously had. And now I am worthy to truly rule.”

May groaned, her entire head throbbing, while her heart seemed to be skipping beats from the electrical charge. She smelled something burning and suspected it might be her singed hair.

She pushed herself to her feet, only to fall back to the ground. A second time, and she fell again. The third time she managed to hold herself up, then stagger over to where her sword had fallen.

“You really won’t give up until you’ve had your chance, will you?” the Queen asked her, watching May like a cat watches a mouse trying to run this way or that, away from the predator.

“You took me . . . for a reason,” May said, just trying to make it to the sword. “You were . . . afraid. There’s got to be . . . a reason. The Mirror must have . . . told you so.” She reached the weapon but fell against the wall.

“Malevolent used the Mirror to find out how she would die,” the Queen said, still watching her closely. “She was shortsighted, clearly. I had far more important questions for the Mirror than how I would leave this Earth.” She tilted her head. “Though leaving
this
Earth did come up. And for a few years there, I wasn’t quite sure if we would
come back.”

“You should have kept us moving,” May told her, picking the weapon up, not believing how heavy it suddenly felt. “If the Huntsman hadn’t found us, you wouldn’t die right here.”

“Oh, but it wasn’t he who first found us, don’t you remember?” the Queen said. “Someone stole something very special to me that morning. I believed it to be the Huntsman, but he was only after the crown, to fix the Mirror. He had no idea what else had been hidden in our house or that it had disappeared.”

“That doesn’t matter,” May said, dragging the sword step by step toward the woman whom she finally,
finally
no longer saw as her grandmother. “Not to you. Not anymore.”

“Very well,” the Queen said. “If it will move things along, then by all means, kill me.” With that, she opened her arms and waited.

May paused, wondering if this was a trick of some kind.

Then she decided she didn’t care and stabbed the Wicked Queen in the heart.

The Queen looked down at the sword in her chest, then smiled. “Now, I hope that makes you feel at least a
little
better, dear.” Then she pulled the sword out without even a mark. “This must be a bit surprising, I’m sure. But sometimes death isn’t quite as final as we might think.”