Page 18 of Once Upon a Midnight Clear

Thoughtful contemplation crossed her face. “My boy is so clever. Of course, you are right. Then a concealment spell instead of a disguise spell.”

She cast the spell over him in a sprinkle of gold fairy dust.

“How will I find her?” he asked.

“Use your supreme tracking skills, my darling.” She started to send him through to the other realm, when he stopped her again.

“How do I bring her back?”

“Ah, yes.” She tapped her chin. “Now that she’s in the Christmas realm, I’m not sure removing the shoes will send her back here. But give it a try, hm?”

“That’s not helpful at all. How did you get the shoes in the first place?”

“Ah, that’s a long story that will have to wait. Off you go, now. Good luck.”

She tossed a handful of fairy dust and snapped her fingers and then he was gone.

Chapter 7

Malvinaawokewithastart. She sat upright in her oversized, four-poster bed and stared into the inky shadows. There was nothing but dying embers left in the fireplace, plunging the cavernous room into a deep chill. Something awoke her, but she wasn’t quite sure what. Some shift in the realm. As though a bit of magic rippled through the kingdom.

She shoved off the bedcovers, her bare feet landing on the cold stone floor. A shiver went up to the nape of her neck. She pulled on her thick dressing robe and stalked across her vast bedchamber where she shoved aside the tapestry hiding the Dark Mirror. It was an oval shape, set in an opulent gold frame with ornate scrollwork taking up most of the wall.

“Dark Mirror, tell me what I seek. Do I sense magic in the land?”

A fog appeared in the glass before the face appeared. A face with nothing but round holes for eyes, a nose, and mouth.

“Aye, my lovely queen. Your magic as always.”

She shook her head. “Not my magic. Other magic.”

The mirror paused a long moment before saying, “Aye, there is other magic, my dark queen. Seek what you have lost. The glass slippers have returned.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. “The slippers have returned. I must find them. Where are they?”

“Search for them in the village. There you will find them with a young woman.”

“Thevillage.” She said the word as if it were vile.

She hated the village this time of year. Full of cheerful, well-wishers who sang carols and wanted nothing more than peace, love, and joy. The thought made her skin crawl.

“It is where you will find the girl and the slippers.”

“Then that is where I must go.”

“Is she dead?” a man asked.

“She doesn’t look dead,” replied a woman.

“She looks dead to me,” said the man.

“Poke her with a stick. See if she wakes,” suggested the woman.

Ella remained still, listening to the couple. She heard a rustling nearby and then something sharp and cold hit her upper arm. She jerked upward.

“Hey!”

As she said it, the two jumped backward, recoiling from her. The woman dropped the stick.

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