CHAPTER ONEFILOMENA, TOTO, AND IRA, OH MY!
Filomena Jefferson-Cho of North Pasadena, known to some as Eliana, daughter of the fairy Rosanna, and now also known as the rightful queen of Westphalia (Filo can still hardly believe that part) is riding a horse down a long, empty, winding path. For the first time since landing in Never After several months, many adventures, and three books ago, Filomena is alone. Though she’s fought ogres as often as a normal twelve-year-old has sleepovers, and though she’s rescued kingdoms, outwitted thieves, reversed enchantments, and escaped evil queens—this might be the strangest thing she’s faced in all of Never After.
Because she’s alone. Well, not completely alone, she supposes. She does, after all, have her newly created built-in mentor, guide, and friend, the formerly broken but now repaired magic talking mirror, Ira Glassman. Right now Ira’s napping, hanging from a strap at Filomena’s hip, because hey, talking mirrors need rest, too. It’s quite a lot of work, possessing mirror world knowledge. Plus, telling the truth can be tiring! So Ira’s fast asleep while Filomena rides her new steed, Toto. Ira named Toto only a few hours ago, when they set off from Northphalia. Filomena agreed with him that the name seemed to fit. Like Dorothy’s little dog, Toto has a lot of personality.
Has it been only a few hours? It’s hard to tell since the landscape has remained the same for most of the journey. The endless rolling green hills in every direction, punctuated now and then only by a smattering of trees. Sometimes Filomena catches a glimpse of a village in the distance. This journey has felt eternal! For Filomena, being without friends always makes time move more slowly. Oh, how she wishes they were here! Alistair would be keeping Filomena company with his jokes; Gretel would be bantering with Filomena. And Jack, well … whenever Filo thinks of him, she gets a roller-coaster feeling in her stomach. Or maybe that’s just the feeling of Toto taking a particularly big step on the rocky path. Filomena is not used to riding a horse, after all.
Princess Jeanne swore it would be easy.
They’d all been standing in Princess Jeanne’s stables at the Northphalian castle before Filomena left. “It’s just like riding a bike!” Gretel had piped up.
“I think that expression means that once you’ve learned it, you never forget it,” Filomena replied, glancing worriedly at the large white-and-brown-spotted horse whose neck Princess Jeanne was patting. “Learning to ride a bike for the first time is not that easy.”
But what choice did she have? Filomena had just found out that her mother’s illness was caused by cursed beauty products sold to Bettina by evil Queen Olga.
“Now that’s taking being a beauty influencer to a very dark place,” Gretel had whispered to Alistair, though Alistair had no idea what she was talking about. Sometimes Gretel and Filomena still forgot how little Jack and Alistair knew about the mortal world.
And of course there’s the fact that Ira told Filomena that a cure was to be found in Excalibur. Yet another story Filomena knows from the mortal world that she now has to carry out herself. But that wasn’t even the worst of it; Ira also told Filomena that she had to go on this quest alone. Ira is a magic mirror, so Filomena was taking this prophecy seriously. But why in all of Never After did she have to go alone? She still couldn’t understand it. The only thing that made being in another world bearable while her mom was sick was having friends with her.
So she took Princess Jeanne up on her kind offer of a noble horse, who had whinnied at Filomena in a rather charming manner upon meeting. After a hasty riding lesson, Filo set off on her next adventure. All on her own.
Filomena hears a yawn come from her hip.
“All right, all right, I’m awake,” Ira Glassman says. “What did I miss? Can you flip me around so I can see everything? Oh, we’re still traveling? So I missed nothing?”
Filomena laughs. “Not too much, Ira. So far, it’s been acres of green pasture as far as the eye can see. We’ve just been traveling the path you told me to follow.”
Ira seems to nod, if it’s possible for a talking mirror to nod, and looks out onto the landscape ahead. Verdant grasses sway in the breeze. The fields are empty in every direction. Toto continues clopping forward, and the rhythm of his movement is relaxing despite the anxiety Filomena feels.
“Can you tell me a bit more about where we’re going? I’d like to be a little more prepared and maybe not completely reliant on a horse I just met to lead me to the cure for my terminally ill mother.”
Toto gives a disgruntled sniff in response, not pleased with having his directional skills questioned.
“Filomena, how many times do we have to go over this?” Ira sighs. “You know I would love to dish everything I know. I love to gossip; I love to chat. You know this. I know this. But I’m as bound to the rules the fairies created as any other talking mirror. I can reveal things only at the right time, the time they’re meant to be revealed.”
They’ve had this sort of conversation a few times already in the hours they’ve been traveling, and each time, Filomena still doesn’t quite get it. Does Ira know all? When she and Jack discussed talking mirrors in Snow Country, Jack kept mentioning mirror world knowledge, but what did that actually mean? Filomena understands there are only thirteen talking mirrors in all of Never After—each animated by a fairy—plus Ira the handheld talking mirror Filomena animated thanks to the fairy mark on her forehead. She keeps picturing Ira on the other side of the mirror, sitting in a chair in an empty room, gazing at everything on Filomena’s side, with every piece of knowledge about her world swirling around him.
She has learned, however, that Ira can heal and regenerate just like a person. Though Robin Hood smashed him to pieces a few days ago, Ira had already started to recover. Ira thinks that soon he’ll be able to show images in his mirror face again, as he was made to do.
“Let me put it this way,” he says. “It’s not just that I’m prevented from telling you things I know. It’s that there are many things I don’t know until the moment they are to be shared with you. Does that make sense? I didn’t know about the Excalibur thing before I said it. I’m like an oracle; it just comes to me. I’m a mere vessel. Get it?”
“I think so. It’s starting to make a bit more sense. There’s nothing like this in the mortal world, like, at all, so I’m playing catch-up. I’m not like Jack. He’s understood the dynamics of the mirror world since he was born!”
“Ah yes, Jack the Giant Stalker. I’ve been meaning to ask you about him. How did you two meet, after all?”
Filomena blushes slightly. She leans forward, laying her head along Toto’s soft neck and wrapping her arms around him. “Isn’t that something your mirror world knowledge would cover?”
“Perhaps, but I like to hear things right from the source.” He winks.
Filomena gives in. She doesn’t have to be prompted too hard to talk about her favorite people in all the worlds. She tells Ira about their first meeting: running into Jack and Alistair in the mortal world. How they brought her to Never After, how Gretel joined them, how she and Gretel are both biportal, how they’ve been battling the evil ogre queen Olga ever since Filomena arrived in Never After, with little victories here and there but always a larger battle to be won. She tells Ira about meeting Hori and Bea; Cinderella’s ball; being captured by the Beast, Byron; then breaking his curse. How the fairy Zera asked for their help, but then they got sidetracked helping Princess Jeanne rescue her kingdom from evil King Richard and his army.
She talks about how Robin Hood is Princess Jeanne’s childhood friend and how he was in love with Jeanne, wanted to run away with her and leave the kingdoms behind, but she refused because she was committed to finding her crown and ruling Northphalia. Not to mention Jeanne is quite keen on Lord Sharif of Nottingham. So Robin Hood became a thief working with evil Queen Olga, though they have no idea where either Robin or Olga are now. Filomena also tells Ira about Rosie and meeting her and the dwarves in Snow Country, and Colette the fairy, aka Rosie’s mom, also known as Snow White, who died at the hand of evil Queen Christina. And then of course, it was with the help of Rosie that Filomena was able to create Ira in the first place.
It’s only after she says all this that she realizes Ira isn’t listening. “You’re not even paying attention. I just told you the whole story, and you were totally zoned out, weren’t you?”
“It’s just … I know about all that. And I know you, Princess Jeanne, Hori, and Prince Charlie were all recently crowned kings and queens of your kingdoms. That’s not what I’m asking, dear. I know the plot. I want to know about you. And about Jack,” Ira teases.
About her? About Jack? Filomena’s been so focused on the action over the past few months that it’s only in rare moments when she really reflects on herself. On what’s going on inside her, in her heart, and in her mind.
“Well, what do you want to know?”
“Is this Jack kid good enough for you? He’s handsome, I’ll give you that, but that’s not everything.”
Filomena laughs. Jack’s pretty much the best person she can think of. He’s kind and brave, and it’s true that he’s very handsome, but more importantly, he’s so fun to be around. Well, except for that time in Snow Country when he was being Jack the Giant Jerk, but to be fair he had just found out that Zera was captured, so Filo can’t really blame him too harshly. Zera was basically a mother to Jack, a mentor and a role model and a protector. Zera was captured and drained of her life by none other than Olga. And Jack had since apologized, of course.
“Yes, yes, I can confidently say he is a good guy, Ira. More than good enough.”
“So, what happens with you two now? You’ve smooched a few times … now what?”
Her cheeks flush red in the way they do when anyone asks about her and Jack. She’s still getting used to the fact that they’re … well, what are they? They definitely like each other. But they didn’t smooch; they kissed briefly. That was all.
“I have no idea. Absolutely no idea.”
Ira chuckles. “I’d say we have a long road ahead on which to figure it out, but it in fact appears as though we may be reaching the next leg of our journey.”
Filomena was so wrapped up in their conversation that she didn’t see what was coming into view. All along the horizon, as far as the eye can see, stretches a forest like a border protecting one side of Never After from the other. It’s apparent that, whatever this is, there’s no choice but to go through it.
CHAPTER TWOBROCÉLIANDE FOREST
As they get closer to the forest, Toto begins whinnying loudly. If Filomena were traveling without Toto, she wouldn’t be concerned upon coming to the forest. It looks nothing like the grim darkness of the enchanted Sherwood Forest. Instead, it’s leafy and bright, with trees as tall as mortal world skyscrapers. It stretches as far as she can see to either side, into a horizon of green grasses. A forest without end. How had she not seen this before? It’s as if it just appeared while she was talking to Ira. And it’s quiet, too. Everything feels still, except for a cold breeze rushing through the branches. But Toto whinnies again as they step up to the edge of the forest. Filomena knows from living with her beloved Pomeranian puppy, Adelina Jefferson-Cho, that animals have great instincts. Adelina always gets flustered about two minutes before someone knocks on the door, as if she can sense a potential intruder or a dangerous presence.
“What is this place, Ira?” Filomena whispers. She’s not sure why she’s whispering, but it’s so quiet, she feels compelled.
“I believe this is the border between the parts of Never After that you know and, well, where we’re trying to go,” Ira says solemnly.
“Okay, great!” Filomena says in what she hopes is a bright, casual manner. “So we’ll just ride on through the forest and see what’s on the other side.”
She tries to speak with confidence, but her heart is pounding. Doing this alone feels so completely different from when she was with the League of Seven. Having Jack, Alistair, Gretel, Rosie, Byron, and Beatrice by her side had made her feel capable, protected. Six people had had her back whatever the situation. Now it’s just her. Ira may be smart, but he can’t exactly swing a sword or block an attack. And Toto, Filomena can already tell, is much more flight than fight.
Filomena gently gives Toto a tap with the stirrups, indicating she’s ready to move forward, just like Princess Jeanne showed her. Whatever lies ahead there’s no choice now. She has to get through it. It’s not like they can go around the forest. And what’s the problem, really? It’s just a nice-looking forest. She’s been in plenty of forests before.
As Toto steps forward, into the forest, the trees appear to shift just slightly. He walks on the soft brown earth of the forest floor, the tall ancient trunks standing around them feeling as if they’re leaning closer. The sun is softly dappling through the treetop canopy twenty, thirty, forty feet overhead. The more steps Toto takes, the more the trees’ bark and leaves begin to shift, to be shrouded in slight mist. The mist seems to rise from the forest floor itself, and the trunks start shimmering. Soon Filomena, Ira, and Toto appear to be surrounded by trunks that reflect like mirrors, obscured by a soft haze.
“What is this place?” she whispers again to Ira, hoping for a more specific answer.
Ira doesn’t respond. She looks into the antique handheld mirror that Rosie gave her to animate, Ira’s home, and all she sees is her own reflection. It’s just a regular mirror. A chill runs up her spine. Where did Ira go?
Copyright © 2023 by Melissa de la Cruz