Red

Chapter Twenty: Epilogue

I shifted my weight on the couch. Hansel tossed a pretzel and jerked his head, trying to catch it with his mouth. When it nearly hit his eye he gave up and levitated it into his mouth. 

"That's cheating," I pointed out dryly. 

"You're just jealous," Gretel said, her mouth full of grapes. 

"You're right," I coincided. 

It had been almost two weeks since I'd died. Arreus was pardoned and now worked for Jazz Chada, designing a new line of clothing to go with the perfume line she'd recently purchased. Snow was locked away, and with that, Imelda was released. She was in the middle of restoring White Manor, hoping to make it a hotel.

The mirror Snow White was supposedly talking to had disappeared. If it was a real magic mirror that probably wasn't a good sign; mirror-people often had nefarious intentions. Gran insisted that it was no big deal, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was.

And me, well, I'd avoided going to the Bureau for two weeks, but I had an appointment tomorrow that I was dreading. I'd also been accepted into the Police Academy. Training would start in three weeks. 

Hansel and Gretel ended up living with Gran's mother, but they came over to my place so much it felt like they lived here. 

Buried in these thoughts, I hardly noticed when someone knocked at the door. 

"Oh, that's probably Gran," I said, getting up to get the door. 

"Wait!" Gretel held out her hand. "It's not." 

I paused and turned to look at her. "Who is it, then?" 

Gretel looked scared. "I dunno. I can't- I didn't see them coming." 

Hansel's eyes filled with fear. "Whoever it is, they're really powerful. Maybe we should just wait?" 

I rolled back my shoulders. "It'll be fine. It's all good." 

"Red." Hansel's voice was warning. "You already died once this month." 

"I'm in charge here," I insisted, "and I say it's safe." I left out the fact that I was significantly less powerful than the two kids I was watching. 

I opened the door. 

It was like looking into the mirror, face-wise. You know, they say that you don't really know what you look like, and usually, I can't tell if someone looks like me, but the resemblance was uncanny. Except, of course, for her bright blue hair, flowing over her shoulders in a mass of curls. 

She stretched out her arms, enveloping me in a hug. "Cousin!"

I wriggled away. "Wait. What?" 

The girl pouted her lips, but her eyes were still laughing. "You can't say you don't remember me, Red!" 

"I really don't," I said, gesturing for her to come in. But a memory was forming in the back of my mind, and if I was right, we were in the presence of someone very powerful indeed.

 "You don't? Even our names match! How could you not remember?" She narrowed her eyes. "No, wait, you're starting to remember now." 

"Red, who is she?" I could hear Hansel's subtext: is she a threat?

"Guys," I turned to look at them. "I want you to meet my cousin. Blue." 

Both gaped at her like she'd spoken Southern Dwarvish. 

"Her name is Blue? Like the colour?" Gretel looked confused.

"It's just a nickname." Blue waved the comment away. "People call me the Blue Fairy, you know, because my hair is blue." 

"She's the one who brought Pinnochio to life," I added. 

I remembered her fully now. She was a faerie, I was pretty certain, and a powerful one at that. I hadn't seen her since I was a little kid, not since she'd moved away to Calonia. We were the same age, I knew, but she was far more accomplished and sophisticated than I. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked. 

"Funny you should say that." She looked nervous for the first time. "I heard you died. I'm here about the prophecy. And that mirror, obviously." 

And in further recorded history, I acknowledge that moment as the exact second all hell broke loose.

And they all lived moderately happily for the next week until someone tried to kill them again. 

The End