Page 21 of Enchanted in Time
“Mommy?”
Hannah jumped. What was that? Had someone called her name? Emi?
“Mommy, Mommy!”
That was Leon’s high little voice. For heaven’s sake, had they followed her in a car? Hannah frantically searched among the rose bushes.
“Emi? Leon?” It was more of a whisper than a shout. For all she knew, the bear could be anywhere.
“Here, Mama, down here!”
“Where are you?”
Hannah looked under the bushes and shrubs, circled the fountain, and searched through the grass, but she couldn’t see her children anywhere. Was she dreaming?
“Here! In the fountain!”
“What?” Hannah hurried back to the fountain. Had her children gone swimming in it? “What are you doing here? Why...”
The rest of the sentence didn’t reach her lips. She stared in astonishment at the water. She saw Emi and Leon smiling happily, and also Marco’s profile. It was as if her children were sitting beside her on the fountain’s edge, with their faces reflected in the water. Hannah looked up frantically. No one was sitting next to her. Another glance was all it took to confirm that the children weren’t lurking somewhere behind her or anywhere else around the fountain.
“What... what...”
“Yoo-hoo!” Frieda’s voice came warbling across from the water. “How is your evening going? Have you had a nice time? Did you dance with the prince? Has he transformed yet?”
Hannah was about to answer Frieda and tell her about the unbelievable thing that had happened at the ball, when her final question began to sink in: Has he transformed yet? She stared at Frieda’s reflection, her eyes as round as saucers. “How do you know that, Mrs.—”
“Hannah, you’re supposed to call me Frieda!” her elderly neighbor admonished, pursing her lips.
“How do you know what happened here?” Hannah replied, furious. Ignoring Frieda’s objection, she continued: “Why did you push me to come here if you knew what was going to happen at the ball? What’s really going on here?”
“Mommy, Mommy,” Emi happily cried, “you’ll never believe it! We’re looking in a magic mirror right now!” Emi nudged her older brother, who was still barely responding. “Marco, look, the magic mirror really works. There’s Mommy!”
Marco grumbled and glanced at Hannah out of the corner of his eye, only to have his eyes pop out of his head the next moment. “Mom?”
“Are you all okay, Marco? Are you doing well?”
“Yeah, sure, Mom. Why are you in the mirror? Is that some kind of cell phone? Can you Skype with that thing, or what?”
Frieda’s high-pitched laughter echoed across the fountain. “Why, no, Marco!”
“Who are you? What have you gotten us into?” Hannah shouted into the water.
“Please calm down, dear Hannah, there’s nothing to get upset about.”
“Nothing to get upset about? The king just died, and the prince was transformed into a brown bear—right before my eyes!”
“Wow, exciting!” Leon squealed.
“Did you dance with the prince, Mommy?”
“Who are you?” Hannah ignored her daughter’s question. “If you harm so much as one hair on my children’s heads, I swear you’ll regret it!”
“As if I could harm your little angels!” Frieda threw Hannah an indignant look through the water and gently caressed Emi’s and Leon’s heads. “Or have I done something to hurt you?”
“We made pizza! And popcorn!”
“And we watched Cinderella!”
