CHAPTER FOUR

A NICE FAMILY DINNER

The Storybook Grill was a popular place for dinner during the week. By seven o’clock each night, the diner was usually filled with families and teenagers ordering their weight in Goblin Fries and Midnight Milk Shakes. There were always loud and energetic crowds, and tonight was no exception.

However, the group in the booth at the very back did not match the liveliness of the other patrons, so they stuck out like a sore thumb.

Cindy, Lindy, Mindy, and Wendy—four teenage girls recently reinstated as the Book Huggers—somberly sipped milk shakes and shared a basket of fries. The girls each had a copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in front of them, but none of them seemed very interested in it.

“We should probably talk about the book if we’re going to be a book club again,” Cindy said.

The other girls nodded, but no one was eager to start. The quartet had recently taken a break from books to focus on other passions—well, passion—and started the Conspiracy Club. However, that club only made them more restless than they already were, and they had been advised to take up reading again.

“Did anyone have a favorite passage they’d like to share?” Cindy asked. “Or maybe a favorite character?”

All the Book Huggers were quiet, forcing Cindy to take charge.

“Lindy, let’s start with you,” she said.

Lindy was awkwardly hunched over her milk shake and staring off into space when Cindy called on her. Wherever her mind was, it wasn’t on Sherlock Holmes.

“Um… I liked the hound?” Lindy said.

“The Hound of the Baskervilles?” Cindy asked.

Lindy looked uncomfortably from side to side. “Was there more than one?”

“Did you even read the book?” Cindy asked.

Lindy hunched lower than before and shamefully shook her head.

“Did anyone read the book this week?” Cindy asked.

The other Book Huggers slumped with embarrassment and shook their heads as well. Cindy let out a long and frustrated sigh.

“We can’t revive our book club if we’re not going to read books,” she said. “But if I’m honest, I didn’t read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, either.”

“I started it,” Mindy said. “It was just so hard focusing on a fictitious mystery when the real-life mystery has never been solved.”

The Book Huggers nodded in agreement. No matter how hard they tried to inspire themselves with new interests, new hobbies, and new clubs, or by resurrecting old clubs, the only thing consistently on their minds for the past year was the disappearance of Alex and Conner Bailey.

“You’d think it’d get easier over time, but it doesn’t,” Lindy said.

“We only started asking questions about Alex because we were bored and had read all the books in the school library,” Mindy said. “But every answer only gave us more questions, and the more questions we had, the more infatuated we became.”

“I’ve read books and watched television shows about people with real-life obsessions, but I never thought I’d become one of them,” Lindy said. “It’s all I think about when I’m awake, and all I dream about when I’m asleep.”

Wendy nodded—it was affecting her sleep, too.

“Bree Campbell knows something we don’t,” Cindy said. “But until one of us gains telepathic powers—or waterboarding is legalized—I don’t think we’ll ever get it out of her.”

“She’s been absent from school for almost two whole weeks!” Mindy said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s the next one to get ‘transferred to Vermont,’ as they say.”

Life had become exhausting to no end for the Book Huggers. They felt like mice stuck in a maze with no cheese.

“What are we going to do, girls?” Lindy asked the table. “I don’t want this to affect the rest of our lives! I want to become a psychologist—not need a psychologist!”

“I’ll never be a heart surgeon if I can’t focus in medical school!” Mindy said.

“I’ll never win my first presidential debate if I can’t remember real issues!” Cindy said.

Wendy pointed to the ceiling and made an X with her fingers—implying she would never fulfill her dream of becoming an astronaut.

“It’s gone too far, ladies,” Cindy said. “This is just like Nineteen Eighty-Four, and there’s no use fighting Big Brother anymore. We have to pull ourselves together while we still can. For the sake of our sanity and our destinies, we have to forget about the Bailey twins.”

The Book Huggers raised their milk shakes and clinked them together. They were ready to turn over a new leaf. The undertaking wouldn’t be easy, but it was necessary if they ever wanted to live normal lives again.

Unfortunately, the Book Huggers’ noble venture was about to feel like the punch line of a great cosmic joke.

The front door of the Storybook Grill swung open, and the Bailey twins walked in with Charlotte and Bob. Wendy happened to glance up from her milk shake right at that second and was the first to notice Alex and Conner. For the first moments after seeing them, Wendy was certain she was hallucinating. They had just been talking about the Bailey twins—it was way too coincidental for them to be in the same diner at exactly the same time.

But the longer they stayed in her sight without disappearing, the more she realized they weren’t a mirage—the real-life Alex and Conner Bailey were right there! Wendy was paralyzed with shock. The color drained from her face, and she couldn’t feel her arms or legs.

“I think we should actually read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” Cindy said. “Next week, we’ll come back to this diner and have a real discussion about it, just like we used to.”

“I concur,” Mindy said. “But can we do it a week from tomorrow? I’m getting my braces off a week from today.”

“Congratulations!” Lindy said. “Will you have to wear a retainer?”

Wendy began humming to get the other Book Huggers’ attention, but she was drowned out by the noise of the diner.

“Just for the first six weeks, then only at night after that,” Mindy said.

“I was so relieved when I finally had mine taken off,” Cindy said. “It felt like handcuffs had been removed from my mouth.”

“My dentist said I don’t need braces,” Lindy said. “It’s probably a good thing—I wouldn’t have the patience for them.”

Wendy couldn’t believe they were talking about something so meaningless when something so extraordinary was right in front of them. She managed to regain feeling in one hand and lightly tapped Cindy on the shoulder with it.

“Wendy, are you okay?” Lindy said.

“You look like you’re going to be sick,” Mindy said.

“Was there something in your Midnight Milk Shake?” Cindy asked.

Desperate for them to see what she was seeing, Wendy used resources she hadn’t used since the first grade—spoken words!

“Alex… Conner… over there!” Wendy peeped.

Her voice was high-pitched and squeaky like a baby bird’s. The Book Huggers were so shocked to hear her make a noise, it took them a second to realize she had actually used words out loud and they had meaning. Once the message was interpreted, they jerked their heads in the direction of the door so fast that they pulled muscles in their necks. Once they all saw the Bailey twins with their own eyes, the Book Huggers went as still and pale as Mount Rushmore.

The twins were all eyes as they looked around at the diner’s fusion of fairy-tale and 1950s decor. They knew Cinderella’s stepmother and stepsisters had opened a restaurant after moving to the Otherworld, but this was their first time seeing it.

Rosemary was in the middle of taking an order when she saw the Baileys out of the corner of her eye. The waitress abandoned the customers in mid-sentence to greet her old friends.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in!” Rosemary said, and hugged the twins.

“Hi, Rosemary,” Conner said. “This place looks great!”

“Are Petunia and your mom around?” Alex asked.

“Mother has the night off and Petunia got another job, working for a veterinarian,” Rosemary said. “Good riddance, if you ask me—she was a lousy waitress! I’ll be sure to tell them you stopped by! Are you coming for dinner?”

“Yes,” Charlotte said. “Table for four, please.”

“Right this way,” Rosemary said.

The stepsister grabbed four menus and sat them in a booth directly next to the Book Huggers. The girls quickly grabbed their copies of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and covered their faces with them, but Alex and Conner weren’t paying attention. The twins were so amused by all the art and knickknacks throughout the diner, they didn’t even notice their former classmates.

“How’s Cinderella doing?” Rosemary asked the twins once they were settled in their booth.

“Well, actually—”

Alex was about to tell Rosemary the truth when her mother gave her a stern look. Anything that might get them off the topic of nice family discussion wasn’t allowed at dinner tonight.

“Just fine,” Alex said. “Hope’s growing like a weed.”

“Wonderful. Please give them my best,” Rosemary said. “I hope you enjoy the food. When you’re ready to order, just wave me down—oh, we’re out of the Beanstalk Salad tonight.”

Rosemary went back to the customers while Alex and her family looked over the menu. It referenced so many people and places in the fairy-tale world, it was absolutely aggravating not to talk about the current crisis. The twins hoped their nice family dinner would end as soon as possible.

“So kids, what’s new?” Charlotte asked. “How are your friends doing?”

She was so calm and casual, Alex and Conner knew she wasn’t referring to the truth. They shared a curious look, and it suddenly dawned on them what their mother was doing. Their nice family dinner was a chance for Mom to pretend they were a perfectly normal family, living perfectly normal lives. The twins felt like they were in a play they didn’t have the script for.

“Good,” Conner said. “Um… Goldilocks and Jack are expecting their first baby!”

“That’s wonderful,” Charlotte said. “Do they know if it’s a boy or a girl?”

She knew as well as he did that the fairy-tale world didn’t have ultrasounds, but he continued playing her game.

“Nope,” Conner said. “I guess they’re waiting to be surprised.”

“Your father and I did the same thing when we had you,” Charlotte said. “We weren’t sure if we were having two boys or two girls, we just knew there would be two of you. Imagine our surprise when we had one of each—we didn’t have to return any of the baby clothes.”

Conner found this fascinating. “Really?” he said. “What would you have named us if we were two girls or two boys?”

“The firstborn was going to be an Alex no matter what,” Charlotte said. “I’ve loved that name since I was a little girl—it was the name of my favorite doll. But if Conner had been a girl, his name would have been Sarah.”

“What a coincidence! Before Margret passed away, we were planning on having a baby, and if it was a girl, we would have named her Sarah, too,” Bob said. “Were Alex and Conner an easy delivery?”

Charlotte let out a long laugh as the memory came to her.

“Giving birth was easy compared to the days that followed,” she said. “Their grandmother was so excited to have grandchildren, she visited us every day with someone new from the fairy-tale world. The first day she brought Mother Goose, who almost mistakenly switched Conner’s bottle with her flask! Thank goodness I was an overly protective first-time mom and saw it happen! The second day we had the whole Fairy Council in the house. They were lovely, but kept magically upgrading our belongings into nicer things. By the time they left, we didn’t even recognize our house!”

The twins had never heard this story before and laughed just as hard as Bob did. They could tell their mom enjoyed telling it as much as they enjoyed hearing it.

“Those were good times,” Charlotte said with a bittersweet smile. “I miss them.”

These were the moments of nice family discussion that Charlotte was so desperate for. The Baileys hadn’t had them since the twins’ father died. There was no talk of death or turmoil like in their usual conversations; they were just a family laughing and sharing stories with one another.

As much as Alex wanted to continue hearing stories about their parents, not addressing the issues at hand was eating her alive. Conner could feel the impatience boiling inside his sister. He knew it was only a matter of time before she ended their mother’s game of pretend.

“Mom, I’m sorry you haven’t had more moments to tell us stories like that,” Alex said. “You’re right, you and Dad raised us to put family first and we haven’t for a long time.”

“Thank you, Alex,” Charlotte said. “That means a lot.”

“But,” Alex said, “I can’t keep pretending everything is okay when we know it’s not.”

Conner covered his face with his hands. “Oh boy, here we go,” he said.

“Alex, I asked you guys not to bring this up—”

“I’m sorry, but I have to,” Alex said. “Right now, a lot of people need our help. I know Conner and I have given up a lot, and you’ve given up a lot by association, but we don’t care what we’ll have to sacrifice if it saves our friends and all the families like ours. We’re doing the right thing because that’s also the kind of son and daughter you and Dad raised. So please—let us.”

Charlotte looked at her children differently than she had all day. She wasn’t glaring at them with frustration or anger, but with pride. She reached across the table and held their hands with her own.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I guess I’ve been a little selfish. All I want is for you to have the same experiences every teenager gets to have before this time in your lives is gone, but I forget there’s nothing normal about you. It doesn’t matter what I want—you should be living the lives you were meant for. Forgive me, it was just so difficult losing your father; I hate feeling like I’ve lost you, too.”

“I’m sorry we’ve made you feel like you lost us,” Conner said.

“You’re my children, but other people’s heroes,” Charlotte said. “Any mother would be lucky to be in my shoes, but that doesn’t mean they’re easy to wear. Sometimes at the end of the day, I just have to pretend you’re both asleep in your beds.”

Charlotte dabbed the corners of her eyes with her napkin. Alex and Conner couldn’t blame their mom for wishing things were different—they did, too. The twins put so much time and effort into ending people’s suffering, they didn’t realize how much their own mother was hurting. But if their mom was willing, she was about to become more involved in their lives than she was prepared for.

“Now tell me what’s going on in the fairy-tale world,” Charlotte said. “And how in the world am I going to help you with it?”

Alex and Conner were relieved they could continue discussing their plan. Both opened their mouths to fill her in, but they were at a loss for words. After all, it was a complicated thing to explain. So much of it involved their uncle Lloyd, and they didn’t want to overwhelm their mom with news of an evil brother-in-law.

“Long story short, a really terrible man has taken over the fairy-tale world,” Conner said. “They call him the Masked Man.”

“How’d he take over?” Charlotte asked.

“He stole a potion from Grandma that turns every written work into a portal to the world it describes,” Alex said. “He traveled into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. Somehow he recruited the Queen of Hearts, the Wicked Witch of the West, Captain Hook, and all their minions and soldiers into a big Literary Army and attacked all the kingdoms.”

“That sounds terrifying,” Bob said. “Those villains used to give me nightmares when I was a kid.”

“They’re much worse in real life,” Conner said. “Imagine how scary you thought they were, now double that image, cover it in butter, and leave it outside for a week—that’s how frightening they really are!”

“Why can’t the Fairy Council do something? Why does it always have to fall on your shoulders?” Charlotte asked.

“The Fairy Council has been turned to stone, and all the soldiers in all the kingdoms are no match for the Literary Army,” Alex said. “If we don’t find a way to stop them, no one will.”

Charlotte hated that so much responsibility had fallen on her children’s young shoulders.

“For the record, I am not okay with you two fighting these guys,” Charlotte said. “But how are you going to stop them?”

Alex nudged Conner. “Tell her your plan,” she said.

Conner didn’t appreciate his sister’s unenthusiastic introduction. “We’re going to recruit our own army,” he said. “We’re going to use the same potion to travel into my short stories and bring back my characters.”

Charlotte and Bob couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“Oh my gosh!” Charlotte said. “Is that really the only thing you can do?”

“Trust me, I wish I could file a report at the Pentagon,” Conner said. “Sometimes you’ve got to fight fire with fire.”

“I still don’t see how I fit into all of this,” Charlotte said.

The moment had finally come for the twins to tell her. It was such an absurd request, the twins were afraid to ask. If she refused, they weren’t sure who could help them.

“We need you to look after Conner’s characters as we bring them out of his stories,” Alex said.

It was like someone pressed the Pause button on Charlotte and Bob. Without breathing or blinking, they just looked at the twins with open mouths and large eyes. They weren’t taking it well.

Conner waved his hand in front of their faces. “Are you still with us?” he asked.

“Sorry,” Bob said. “It’s just—most parents of fifteen-year-olds only worry about getting asked for money to go to the movies, or driving permits.”

Conner sat up excitedly. “Oh-my-God-Alex-we’re-old-enough-for-driving-permits!” he said in one breath.

“One crisis at time, remember?” Alex said. “So, Mom and Bob, can you help us?”

Bob and Charlotte looked at each other and shrugged.

“If it’ll save the fairy-tale world, I won’t object,” Bob said.

“What kinds of characters are going to be in my house?” Charlotte asked. “We just had the carpets cleaned.”

“Oh, nothing crazy—pirates, cyborgs, superheroes, mummies—the usual fictional suspects,” Conner said under his breath. “So, does that mean you guys are in?”

The twins held their breath. Charlotte was hesitant, but it might have been more concerning if she were completely fine with the idea.

“All right,” she said. “It’ll be an adventure.”

The twins were so relieved, they sank a foot into their seats.

“Awesome!” Conner said.

“Fantastic!” Alex said.

Bob and Charlotte glanced down at the Storybook Grill menus, but it was a very difficult conversation to follow with French fries and hamburgers. They both pushed the menus away.

“You know what, I think I’ve lost my appetite,” Charlotte said. “Maybe we should go home and I’ll cook something later.”

“I agree,” Bob said.

The twins weren’t going to argue. They left the Storybook Grill with Bob and Charlotte and headed back home. All of them were completely unaware that their entire conversation had been heard by the patrons in the next booth.

The Book Huggers leaned so far out of their seats to watch them leave that Cindy and Mindy fell onto the floor. The night had consisted of the most important eavesdropping of their lives.

“Girls, did you hear everything I just heard?” Cindy said.

“I’m not sure,” Lindy said. “My heart started beating so hard toward the end, I only heard every other word!”

“We’ve been right all along!” Mindy said. “They never went to Vermont—they were living in another dimension! Did any of us ever think of that?”

Wendy raised a hand—reminding the group it had been one of her suspicions from the very beginning.

“Forget Sherlock Holmes,” Cindy said. “We’ve got our own mystery to follow.”