Page 80 of Enchanted in Time
Would they find the treasure? Had Maximilian actually hidden it for her? She hadn’t gone back to the castle with him. Had he buried the treasure at the agreed-upon spot? Where the brick pathway began on the side of the hill?
Hannah’s heart beat faster. Oh, what she could do with that money!
“I want a pony!” Emi squawked, as if she had read her mother’s thoughts. “Or even better—a unicorn!” Her eyes were as round as saucers. “Do you think they still live in the forest? Can you show me one? Maybe even Irmgard?”
Hannah laughed, although Frieda did not. When Hannah noticed that, she looked at her neighbor and frowned. “There are no unicorns!” she said.
Frieda smiled. “If you say so, Hannah. I thought your adventure had taught you that there are more of them than you could possibly imagine.”
Hannah stopped short. Was Frieda saying that... well, strictly speaking, Frieda was also a magical being—something that didn’t really exist. If Frieda hadn’t been sitting there and Hannah’s own children hadn’t followed her every move through the magic mirror, then she might have spent the morning wondering whether the past few days had even taken place. But with things as they were, there could obviously be no doubt.
“There are too unicorns, right, Frieda?” Emi demanded, interrupting Hannah’s thoughts.
“Of course, my little angel.”
Hannah was silent. She was staring out the window and peering into the forest they were riding through in the carriage. She kept looking for the magical creatures she had encountered, but all she saw were the bunnies and squirrels that fled before the clattering sounds of the coach. Would they soon be riding through the mysterious mist again? From what Hannah could tell, it was nowhere in sight, not even where she had spotted itfour days before in the woods. Perhaps it had been there because she had traveled through time. And today they would not be traveling through time but simply riding to the castle in their own time and year.
It wasn’t long before they rounded the bend, and the valley and castle appeared. Hannah’s heart beat a little faster. How thrilled she had been four days before! And now? Some small part of her still hoped to make the leap through time to see Maximilian again. But that was not going to happen.
“MAMA!”
Leon’s cry made her jump. “What’s going on?” She was about to fling open the carriage door when she happened to look out the window. And there it was. Standing on the hill in the valley was not the old ruin that she and her children had been to so many times but the fairy-tale castle where the ball had been held and the story of this adventure had begun.
Beside her on the carriage seat, Emi was pressing her little snub nose against the windowpane. “Wow, Mommy, that’s where you went to the ball? Like a princess?”
Hannah’s mouth fell open, and she nodded. “But how did it...”
“Don’t you remember the curse?” Frieda asked with a little smile.
Hannah blinked in confusion. “Of course. How could I forget what happened to Maximilian?”
“I mean the wording of the curse in its entirety.”
Hannah thought for a moment. She remembered the story about the magical being who had come to the castle, cursed Prince Gustav, and killed King Ludwig von Lichtenberg. And then the wording came to her:
The moment your father dies and you ascend to the throne, you shall be changed into a bear and your entire kingdom consigned to oblivion! None shall remember yourroyal house. None shall recall the name von Lichtenberg, and your magnificent castle shall be turned into a crumbling ruin. Thorny vines shall cover it, and not one single person shall know which lordly royal house once inhabited these walls and brought them distinction!
Frieda nodded. “And since the curse was averted...”
“... the family was not forgotten, and the castle did not become a ruin,” Hannah said, finishing Frieda’s sentence. Her expression softened. How might Maximilian’s life have turned out? Did he find a woman, fall in love, and marry her? She could probably read all about it in the historic accounts, and she was annoyed that she hadn’t found out about it at home. How she would have loved to search the web for information, and maybe she would even have stumbled across a picture of him. But she could do all of that later that evening.
“We’re there!” Leon cried from outside as the coach came to a halt in the castle courtyard. Marco immediately lifted him up off the box. The coachman climbed down as well and held the door for Frieda, Emi, and Hannah.
“And this time, don’t just take off!” Hannah said, admonishing him. He smiled and bowed. Hopefully, that meant he agreed!
Emi and Leon immediately raced up the wide, dirt-strewn steps that led to the main castle entrance and tugged on the broad double doors. But they were locked.
“Oh, no!” Leon’s shoulders slumped. “I really wanted to see the inside!”
“Then let’s go hunt for treasure first!” Emi squealed and went skipping down the steps and across the castle courtyard to the gate in the massive castle wall. “What are you all waiting for?” she called to the others.
“Okay then! Let’s go hunt for treasure!” Hannah replied as she, Leon, Marco, and Frieda all followed the little girl. Theypassed through the wide gate and walked outside along the little trail that ran by the castle wall. It was the same path that Hannah had run along when she’d fled the bear prince to cross the forest alone and return to her kids. When they passed the gate that led to the castle garden, Hannah couldn’t resist. She jiggled the handle, but that gate was locked as well. She stood there for a moment, her hand on the latch, and looked down at the ground.
Frieda smiled. “You liked him a lot, didn’t you?”
Hannah looked up and nodded. Then she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. They continued to walk along the trail, which kept leading downhill and closer to the woods. The forest seemed peaceful and idyllic. Birds were twittering, little mice were scurrying through the underbrush, and not a single strange plant was luring them with its scent. The forest had recovered from the Evil, which had evidently withdrawn. Hannah tried to listen for boggarts or forest gnomes, but nothing suggested their presence. Maybe she would encounter them deep within the forest—surely not every evil being had disappeared. But under no circumstances did she wish to find out with her children in tow.
“Look, Mommy, are those the purple flowers that tried to lure you to sleep?” Emi pointed at a carpet of violet-colored blossoms that were lifting their little heads toward the morning sun.
