Page 258 of Naughty Nelle

The mirror at last responds. Its voice sounds strangled.

“You, My Queen, are still fair, I suppose;

But the answer to your query is Calla Rose.”

“Calla?” I gasp. “What happened to Snow White?”

No response. I grow impatient. “Tell me, you smart-ass looking glass!”

To my horror, the mirror’s cracks multiply. A terrifying cobweb of cracks spreads across my face. I’m a monster! As I shriek, the mirror shatters into a million little pieces. Tiny shards of glass are scattered everywhere. There’s no way I can put it back together. It’s beyond repair! Ruined! Gone forever!

Shaking all over, I climb out of the dumpster. Shock gives way to rage. Everything inside me is screaming. That two-timing, worthless piece of glass! It betrayed me again! My former best friend, still nothing but a traitor! And now, I have to compete with Calla!

Still trembling, I take one last look at my castle. Someone behind me tugs my arm. I spin around.

It’s one of those damn dwarfs. The tiniest one. He’s holding a shovel that’s double his size.

“What do you want from me, you little twerp?”

The dopey-looking runt says nothing. He keeps pointing to the ground as if he’s trying to tell me something.

I glance down and gasp. Winding its way toward me at wicked speed is a monstrous green and yellow snake. I take a giant step backward. Then another and another…until I’m standing at the cliff edge of my property. A nauseating feeling of déjà vu shoots through me. There’s nowhere I can go—but down! But this time, there’s no river to rescue me.

Picking up its pace, the snake slithers right up to my feet. It fixes its unblinking yellow eyes on me. One hiss and I know. I’m going to be history!

The snake flicks its forked tongue on my ankle. It tickles, but I desperately want to scream. Frozen with fear, I can’t find my voice. It flicks its tongue again; I don’t need to look down to know it’s going to strike. And then, just as its venomous fangs prick my skin, the tiny dwarf charges toward me with his shovel. In one swift, seamless move, he scoops up the snake and tosses it over the cliff.

I’m too stunned to say anything.

The mini-mute makes a wavy motion with his free arm, snaps his teeth, and rests his head on his hands as if pretending to go to sleep.

What is he trying to tell me now?

Confused, shaken, and wanting nothing to do with any of these Snow White fanboys, I flee. And don’t look back.

Back at the orchard, my jittery fingers pluck out slivers of glass embedded in the threads of my dress. I wish we had never come here. My castle belongs to another, and my magic mirror has betrayed me again. In the course of a few minutes, my emotions shift from despair to anger and then to self-pity.

A voice coming toward me distracts me, and I stab my thumb. Damn that mirror!

“Guess what! I think I won the contest! Look at how many apples I have!”

It’s Calla…Calla with her cascading curls, her angelic face. She is fairer than me. But why am I not consumed by that insane, flesh-eating jealousy that used to besiege me? Why do I feel a lightness in my heart as I watch her skip toward me?

Full of energy and excitement, she pokes her head into my empty basket. “Jane, don’t worry. I’ll give you some of my apples so you don’t come in last.” She fills up half my basket with her apples.

I don’t get it. I’m supposed to hate this child—want her out of my life—but I don’t. I can’t. How could anyone loathe a child so sweet and pure?

I wish I’d never talked to my mirror. My stupid, stupid big mouth mirror.

Calla adds a few more apples to my basket. The cherubic smile on her exquisite face completely melts me. I kneel down beside her so that we’re face to face. I can see my reflection in her twinkling eyes. The image of the person I have become.

And then it hits me. The truth. Hard. Direct. Pure. Shrink was right. My mirror was never magic. It was just a worthless piece of glass that messed with my head. And played with reality. Why could I not see this before?

I draw Calla closer until we’re heart to heart. Every part of me tingles. Calla is what’s magic.

She adds yet another apple to my basket.

“Thank you, my sweet girl.” Thank you for everything.

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