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“There must be something your little heart desires. Perhaps there’s someone you love?” the Queen asked.
“Well, there is someone…” Snow replied.
“Ah! I thought so, I thought so,” the Queen said, laughing. “Old Granny knows a young girl’s heart. Now, take the apple, dearie, and make a wish.”
The Queen thrust the apple into Snow White’s hands. She smiled and nodded in encouragement as she watched the girl consider the apple.
Then the girl wished. She wished for all the things the Queen once had—for love, for a handsome prince to ride in on horseback and carry her away to his castle to make her his wife. But she also wished for something the Queen knew she herself could never have, and that was to live happily ever after.
The Queen watched, wringing her hands in anticipation.
“Quick! Don’t let the wish grow cold!” she said.
And with that, Snow White sunk her teeth into the most beautiful, ripest apple she had ever seen.
“Oh, I feel strange,” she said.
The Queen watched in anticipation as the effects of the poison set in. Snow wavered to and fro. The Queen rubbed her hands together and rocked back and forth…waiting. Waiting until she would again be fairest of all. And then, finally, Snow White fell to the ground. The bitten apple rolled from her hand, and the wicked Wicked Queen burst into maniacal laughter that could be heard throughout the kingdom. As if in response, a loud thunderclap resounded from above, and the sky opened up with a shower of pouring rain.
Snow White lay at the Queen’s feet as the old woman cackled. She thought she would be elated. Energized. Filled with joy. But instead, she felt weak. The long journey had taxed her. If only she wasn’t stuck in this wretched old body! It would take her ages to get back to the castle. She wanted nothing more than to ask the mirror who was now fairest of all.
She hadn’t bothered to see what she needed to reverse the Peddler’s Disguise potion. Surely the sisters had something tucked away in that old trunk they left.
“Apologies, my Queen.” It was one of the sisters’ voices, though the woman was nowhere to be seen.
“There is no antidote,” another voice echoed, followed by the sisters’ odd chattering laughter.
Panic.
“No antidote! No way to reverse it? Impossible. There has to be a way!” She mentally flipped through the pages of the old book, her heart pounding, hands shaking; she had to sit down again, her heart was that of an old woman.
“Calm yourself,” she said.
Her head was spinning, and she couldn’t catch her breath. “All for nothing!” She felt numb. She couldn’t face her father?
??s reflection in the mirror like this. Old, ugly, worthless. And then she found herself doing the only thing she could. The Queen broke into hysterical laughter. Her life, this day—it had all been so ridiculous. How had she come to this point? She could not control her laughter and she cackled loudly as she stepped out of the door into the rain. Perhaps it would cleanse her. Renew her. Give her some perspective.
She had hated her father and then become just like him. Heartless. Wicked. Cruel. She made a ruin of her life for nothing. She would never be the fairest, not like this. Nothing! She had killed her little bird for nothing. Her head was splitting with pain, she was thrown, taken aback by her guilt, her regret. But what did she regret most, the ruin of Snow’s life or her own?
Suddenly, the little men came crashing into the garden, they’d known what had happened and were crying out for the Queen’s death. The shock jolted her out of any sentimental reverie, and she was once again wicked—now concerned only with preserving her own life.
She scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could. The men looked nothing like she had imagined. Their faces screwed up in anger, they knew why she was there, they knew what she had done; somehow, these men possessed a magic of their own.
She ran from the men in a panic, her heart racing and terror gripping at her. Her strides much wider than theirs, she had managed to gain a fair amount of distance on the tiny men, even running in the pouring rain in her weakened state.
The men did not relent, and they pursued her into the forest. Still, she maintained her lead on them.
And then she came to a split in the path. One path led up a cliff, at the top of which was a huge boulder. The other continued farther into the woods. If she ran into the woods, perhaps she could lose herself among the trees. If she ran up to the top of the cliff, she would be trapped.
And then, the sisters appeared again.
“My Queen, we can guarantee that taking the path that leads to the boulder will mean certain death for you.”
The sisters were more serious than the Queen had ever heard them before. Their voices were devoid of eerie laughter.
“We implore you, take to the forest. You will be safe there. We can find you and reverse the hag spell. Forgive our dishonesty….”
The Queen considered her options. The forest—safety. A haven for her. A new chance at life.
