Hey! Sorry for taking so long to write this chapter. I had APs and other such annoyingness going on (okay, okay, and a small bout of writer's block too) but finally, you lucky people, I made it a priority for tonight. Well, sort of. First I had to watch the making of the third Harry Potter. And for those of you who don't know, A Wrinkle in Time is on TV tomorrow night at 8 on ABC. Anywhoozles, thanks for all my reviewers (because there are SO many of you. No, but seriously, thanks to those who actually bother to review, especially DH L'Orange. Thanks!). This chapter is dedicated to Jamie, because she has the coolest middle name in the entire world! Okay, read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter Five – Evilina

We quickly discovered that an entrance to the castle through the jungle of vines was simply not going to happen. Sam looked crestfallen at this, as there seemed to be no other way to go about getting to his beautiful damsel in distress, until I remembered Brian's hand mirror.

"Brian," I said quietly. He jumped, making me grab onto his shirt for dear life.

"What's the matter with you?" I hissed.

"I..." he whispered, "I – I..."

"You what?"

He sighed.

"I don't like people very much. In fact I'm...I'm afraid of them."

I stared at him, incredulous.

"WHAT!? But you're a Beast! They're all afraid of you!"

"I know," he sighed again. "I can't explain it. I'm just afraid of people. Take it or leave it but that's the truth."

I couldn't believe it. Of all the absurdities!

"But you never had a problem with me," I pointed out.

"Yes, but I never was particularly afraid of clocks, you know."

He had a point there, but I wasn't ready to admit it. Besides, I had more things to worry about. Such as-

"Well, never mind that now. What about that hand mirror you have that shows you anything you want?"

Brian's eyes lightened up and he reached inside a flap of his coat to some hidden pocket on the inner side. Slowly, he pulled out his beloved hand mirror. The majority of it was covered in Brian's huge, leonine paw, but from what I could see peaking out behind the bronze fur, the mirror was indeed a marvel. It seemed to be made of pure silver and glimmered brightly, with stars of silver winking from the sunlight that shone brilliantly down on it. The carvings on the mirror were like none I'd ever seen and I found myself gaping. Quickly regaining control of the muscles in my jaw that had currently been rendered senseless, causing my mouth to fall open, I gave a satisfied smile and reached for the hand mirror.

"Wait," Brian said, tearing his eyes from his treasure to look at me. "What do you want it for?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Come on," I pleaded impatiently, "don't stoop down to Sam's moronic brain level. We need to use it to find a way to the castle!"

Brian gazed ahead at Sam, who was still puzzling over the vine jungle, and shuddered.

"Alright," he said gruffly, handing the mirror over to me. "But be careful with it."

"I will, I will," I muttered, taking it from him and holding it out in front of me. Besides for the elegant decoration, it seemed like an ordinary mirror. I glanced suspiciously at the Beast, but he was staring nervously at me, waiting. He wasn't the type to play a practical joke.

"Alright," I murmured, squinting my eyes at the mirror to try and see if there was even the slightest trace of magic. Of course, it was only three thirty-four in the afternoon and I wouldn't be able to do any magic of my own until four, and that included being able to see anything even remotely magical. I sighed. I would just have to trust Brian that this would actually work.

"Er-Mirror, mirror, in my hand, help us get to... the castle grand!"

Brian stared at me.

"I think that was the worst attempt at poetry I've ever heard," he rumbled. I was about to glare at him when, suddenly, my gaze locked itself of its own accord on the glass of the mirror. It swirled a thick, liquidy substance that seemed to draw me inside it. Nearer, nearer, nearer, I suddenly felt a strange sucking force pulling me closer and closer into the swirls. The phrase 'centripetal force' flashed through my mind, creeping out from the stashed away file in my brain marked 'High School Physics.' Without bothering to remember just what centripetal force exactly was, I was suddenly yanked through some sort of portal in the mirror and found myself standing on the hard, wooden floor of an old, dusty workshop. Brushing myself off from some dust that clouded the glass plank covering my pendulum, I looked around. On a bench sat a girl who looked only slightly younger than I was. She was dressed in black rags to her ankles and her head was bent over something shiny that I couldn't quite make out behind her long, dark hair that fell over her the sides of her face and down past her shoulders.

"There," the girl said softly, and held out the shiny object in order to look it over critically. It was a shoe. "That should do it. Now, all I need is that incantation Fairy Godmother gave me."

The girl put the shimmering shoe on the bench, where I saw its partner was waiting for it, and went to rummage around on a desk in the corner of the room.

"I know it's here somewhere," she murmured, "I remember putting it...ah! Here it is!"

She held up a piece of paper with a triumphant grin and returned to her magnificent shoes. She sat down beside them on the bench and, holding them in her lap, began to read off the piece of paper.

"May the power of the West," she read slowly,
"Help me to dress up my best.
"Help me please to not get lost
"O'er the paths I'll have to cross.
"By rain or shine, day or night,
"Shoes make sure I'm there alright."

The girl looked up from her reading and waited a minute expectantly. Suddenly, there was a puff of magical purple dust and the girl smiled.

"It worked!" she cried happily. "It must have!"

Just then, there was another, much larger puff of magical purple dust and an elderly woman was suddenly standing in the room.

"Evelina!" she said sharply. "What is heaven's name are you doing?"

Evelina looked not the least startled as she smiled smoothly at the woman and held out her shoes.

"Look, Fairy Godmother. I magicked these shoes with the spell you gave me so now I will not lose my way to the ball tonight!"

The fairy godmother looked at her goddaughter suspiciously.

"You plan on attending the Prince's ball? Even though your stepmother forbids it?"

Evelina narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, Godmother, has that ever stopped me before?"

Her godmother smiled but her eyes were still calculating.

"But Evelina, you know the consequences of dressing up as a courtier. And who knows if that spell will work on fancy slippers as those? It was made for your work boots so you would not get lost on the way to market square. Mind, it would have made life a lot easier if you had some sort of sense of direction. You're just like your father, you know. Can't even find your way out of bed in the morning..."

The older woman began muttering to herself and looking as though she quite forgot where she was. Evelina took this opportunity to put the shoes carefully on a worktable and silently depart from the room.

I had no idea what this had to do with getting into the castle of Shrieking Beauty, but as it seemed I wasn't yet to depart from the strange place, I waited somewhat impatiently from my place in the corner of the room.

I didn't have to wait too long before the door opened and another girl entered the room. This girl seemed to be a younger version of Evelina, but her hair was a lighter brown. She grinned as she saw the muttering old woman.

"Fairy Godmother!" she cried, "What are you doing here?"

The woman looked startled and then smiled warmly at her second goddaughter.

"Willanna," she sighed, "at least you are a girl with sense. Evelina has been scheming again."

Willanna looked curiously at her fairy godmother.
"Scheming? What do you mean?"

The old woman sighed again.

"She insists on going to the ball tonight. You know how willful she is."

"The ball!" Willanna cried in shock, "But – but she'll get lost! She always gets lost! And the way is dangerous without a carriage!"

"Yes," the fairy godmother agreed, "but she has bewitched her shining dress shoes to get her safely there. With the spell I gave her years ago, the shoes will now lead her and help her through any difficulties." For a third time, the old woman sighed. "It's a shame I let her have that spell. Spells are so dangerous in the wrong hands, you know, dear."

Willanna nodded but her eyes suddenly had a faraway look to them.

"Oh!" cried the fairy godmother, "I must be going! It is nearly time for-"

But what it was nearly time for, I never found out, for just then, I was sucked back into the strange swirls and spat rather forcefully out of the hand mirror.

I landed with a thump on the ground and, rubbing my bruised side, got laboriously to my little clock feet.

"The shoes," I said hoarsely, "we have to get the shoes!"

"What?" asked Sam, who was standing nervously above me. Suddenly, his eyes widened.

"What is it?" I asked, brushing myself off from the dirt of the ground.

"Oh," whispered Brian and slowly lifted me off the ground, his eyes full of fear.

"What?" I said nervously. "What's going on?"

It was then that I heard a long, low yowl.

"Wolf!"

Without even the chance to see the creature, Brian raced off down the path with Sam hot on his heels. We ran past the castle, over hills, and into a forest when, suddenly, a tall woodsman in some sort of armor and carrying an axe ran past us. Brian and Sam skidded to a stop and I twisted around in Brian's large paw to see what was going on. The armored woodsman hacked the wolf to pieces until it was so mangled it could hardly be called a wolf anymore.

"Have a heart!" I yelped, hiding my eyes. I wasn't one for gruesome sights.

"Oh, thank you!" cried a voice. Peeking through my clock fingers, I saw a young girl standing beside the wolf's remains.

"All I wanted to do was visit Granny," the girl was saying to the woodsman, breathing quickly and excitedly. "And then this wolf came and swallowed me whole!"

"That wasn't very nice of him," I muttered. The girl heard me and spun around.

"Oh!" She cried in alarm. "A talking clock? A lion? A scary looking man with straw in his hair? Oh my!"

"Don't be frightened," Sam said kindly. "My name is Sam, and this is Brian and Argyle."

The girl bit her lip, decided we were safe, and smiled slightly.

"My name is Dara," she said. "And this is our local woodsman, Stanley."

We all muttered our hellos, except for Sam who seemed quite delighted with meeting new people, and then Dara's eyes brightened.

"I have an idea!" she exclaimed. "Why don't you all come with me to Granny! I'm sure she'd love to have you."

I was about to protest when Sam grinned broadly.

"That's an excellent idea!" he said excitedly. Dara smiled.

"C'mon then," she said, beckoning us forward. "It's just beyond that bend."

She skipped ahead and we followed reluctantly behind. Stanley wiped his bloody axe on the ends of his shirt that stuck out beneath his armor.

"If you're a woodsman," I said contemplatively, "then why are you wearing armor?"

Stanley gave me a mean look and made no response. I returned the mean look and proceeded to stare straight ahead.

Dara led us right to her grandmother's front door. The house was made of logs, as any house in the woods wood be, and it was small. It looked as though it only had one room inside. From the chimney, breaths of smoke curled into the forest air, leaving the cent of gingerbread. Perhaps it wasn't so terribly coming here after all. My stomach rumbled. Dara knocked in some sort of special code and the door opened of its own accord.

"Granny!" she said happily, running into the house. We followed at a much slower pace, and Brian had to stoop to get through the door. I had been right. The house only consisted of one room, but it was a very cozy room at that. Against the wall to the right was the head of Granny's bed, and the rest of it stuck out into the center of the room. Behind the bed, towards the far wall, was a small, wooden table and behind that was an oven, from in which the gingerbread aroma seemed to come. I was just breathing it deliciously in when, suddenly, the house began violently to shake.

"Granny?" Dara said worriedly, standing beside her grandmother's bed. Her braided pigtails hung limply over her shoulders as her eyes widened.

"What's going on?"

As I was thrown from Brian's paw to the ground from another violent shake, I began to wonder the same thing.