CHAPTER ONEFOUR HEROES ARE BETTER THAN ONE
“So how cold are we talking, exactly, when we talk about Snow Country?” Alistair asks between huffs and puffs. Filomena, Jack, Alistair, and Gretel have been walking for a few hours now. But Filomena doesn’t mind one bit. When in the company of her gang of friends, the hours tend to go by like the swoosh of a swoop hole.
How wonderful it is, Filomena thinks, to have people who like hanging out with her. And not only that—she can count on them to have her back both when she needs emotional support and also in battle. Back in middle school, she was dumped by her closest friend and bullied by a group of literal trolls. But now she knows where she belongs: right here, alongside her friends, trudging on a dirt trail with nothing but their wits and their courage to keep them safe on this long and perilous journey. It’s much better than being stuck in Algebra One Honors, even if anything is better than Algebra One Honors.
“Is it hot-chocolate-with-vanilla-marshmallows-for-every-drink cold or sledding-as-a-main-form-of-transportation cold?” Alistair continues.
“I’m not sure what scale you’re using here, but I’m going to guess it’s haute-winter-couture cold,” says Gretel with a gleam in her eye. “I can’t wait to put together some winter lewks. I never get to wear cold-weather fashion! Turtlenecks, knit sweaters, earmuffs, oh my!”
Like Filomena, Gretel is biportal, spending part of her time in the mortal city of Los Angeles and part of her time in … well, whatever part of Never After needs her most. Filomena can’t help getting caught up in the cold-weather excitement, too. Though she knows their quest to Snow Country will likely involve risking their lives, that fact seems to pale in comparison (at least for the moment) to the excitement of traveling to a new Never After kingdom. And one with snow, no less!
“You know, guys, I’ve never actually seen snow,” Filomena tells them.
Jack, Gretel, and Alistair turn to her as if she’s just told them she’s actually a friendly goblin and not Filomena Jefferson-Cho of safe, sleepy, suburban North Pasadena, California.
“What do you mean, you’ve never seen snow?” Jack says. “Isn’t there snow in the mortal world? I didn’t know snow was magical.”
“It’s not magical in the mortal world, but it is magical to me! I’m from California, remember? There’s no snow there—I mean, unless you drive up to the mountains, but my parents are terrified that I’d get into a skiing accident, or any accident, as you know. All my mom does is read about people crashing into trees on ski runs. And where I live, it’s pretty much always sunny and warm, no matter the time of year.”
“And you thought Never After was weird!” Alistair shakes his head. “You come from somewhere that doesn’t even have seasons!”
Gretel, Alistair, and Filomena all laugh and settle into fantasies about quaint snow-covered villages, ice-skating on frozen lakes, and resting their stocking feet by a roaring fire.
But Jack isn’t looking so dreamy. Filomena’s vision vanishes upon seeing his face. Once again, Jack the Giant Stalker is carrying the weight of the worlds on his shoulders. And it’s been only a fortnight since Filomena learned she and Jack have a lot more in common than she thought.
It’s still hard to believe that only a short time ago she’d been reading the Never After books in the mortal world (which, at the time, she’d thought was the only world). She loved poring over Jack’s heroic adventures and laughing along with his sidekick, Alistair, from the comfort of her home in North Pasadena, safe and sound. The series always felt real to her, but she never knew just how real it would become. And she never would have guessed that the real writer of the Never After series was her aunt Carabosse, the thirteenth fairy of Never After. Carabosse had come to the mortal world to write books that would address the fairy tales the mortal world thought it knew and set the record straight. But she died before she finished writing the thirteenth book, and now it’s up to Filomena to do the job—because she’s living it!
Oh, and don’t forget: Filomena just found out that Jack the Giant Stalker (now her friend and not just the hero from her favorite book) is also the Winter Knight, the prince of Vineland, and a gift from the fairies to Never After, intended protector of the kingdoms. Seriously, the guy is certainly dashing, but how many titles can one boy have?
Filomena tries not to look at Jack while thinking about this, lest her face give away her inner thoughts. They’re on a mission here; this is no time for blushing!
But Jack’s not the only one with titles. Filomena only recently found out that she is Princess Eliana of Westphalia and a gift from the fairies, too. Just like Aladdin’s Lamp and the Stolen Slippers. The Prophecy about the fate of Never After says there were thirteen blessings from the fairies that the ogres crave, and apparently Filomena and Jack are two parts of that thirteen. That’s why the ogres won’t stop chasing them through the kingdoms. The Prophecy states that once the fairies’ gifts fall into their hands, Never After is theirs for the taking. So far, though, Filomena and company have been successful in undermining the ogres’ plans. It seems that Filomena and Jack are tied by more than their friendship and ability to fight ogres together; Filomena’s beginning to feel like their destinies might be tied together, too.
The four are so deep in their respective thoughts, plodding along the path to Snow Country, that they don’t notice a shadowy group emerge from the surrounding trees and creep up behind them.
“Hey, what the—” Alistair starts as the weight of the heavy pack he’s carrying lifts off his shoulders.
“Wait a second, excuse me—” Gretel says as she senses something swipe her leg.
Filomena feels something tugging at her, but when she turns around, no one is there. She keeps turning, certain that someone’s behind her. The others are doing the same. The four companions form a circle, facing outward with their backs together.
Suddenly a group of boys surround them, appearing as if out of thin air. One boy with jet-black hair and a terrifying mischievous glint in his eyes must be the leader of the pack; Filomena can tell by the way he’s grinning and pacing around them. In his all-black outfit, he looks a bit like a wraith.
Copyright © 2022 by Melissa de la Cruz
