All right, this chapter had been planned out different than it goes down. My prior plan wound up as overly complicated and no one was in the right place. Some offline opinions found it rather classic, but is it too simple?
Or at least she imagined it to be Abe. Mimi couldn't think of anyone else who would be running around the castle. She had not been gone that long.
She was about to ask when Jacob, who despite being unable to understand a word they said, said it first. "Abe?"
Mimi twisted from Jacob's arms and fluttered to the floor. She had never seen a sicker-looking guinea pig.
"Yes," said Abe the Guinea Pig. "The squirrel says she put a spell on me. I didn't know. She just… she dragged me into this room. And then this happened. I hate it."
"Unbelievable," she muttered. One spell down and then another one popping back up in its place.
"I got to him too late," Blake apologized. "She had already fed him the herbs."
All those jars back in that room where they had just trapped Lavender… great. "Where's my father?"
Blake shook his head. "I haven't seen him."
"How come I have to be a guinea pig?" Abe asked. "Geese can fly."
She had an urge to bite him. But instead she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. They had broken one spell, they knew how to do it. "What did she make you eat?"
"Leaves," Abe replied with annoyance. "She said she wanted me to have a drink and she crushed all the leaves into it."
"Do you know what they looked like?"
He shook his head.
"I'm sorry," said Blake. "I didn't see them."
She stared down the hallway at open door after open door. All the doors save Lavender's were open. "Father!" she called.
No answer, just the echoes of Lavender still screaming obscenities at them from the distance.
"What did she make you eat?" Jacob asked, like anyone could actually respond to him.
Mimi gave him a withering look, and he closed his mouth, fuming.
"So," Blake said slowly. "What's happening?"
She spent a moment trying to decide what he meant by that question, then figured he didn't know right now about anything between her and Jacob. "Lavender's locked up."
"Really? Where is she?" His tail perked up as he looked down the hall. "I noticed all the doors opening."
"All but hers. Jacob slashed her in the arm and then I made one of the servants lock her door."
"And how much time does that give us?"
"I told the servant not to let her out, no matter what."
"But she's an evil fairy," Abe pointed out.
"The boy is right," said Blake.
"No one warned me there would be an evil fairy that evil!"
"We need to get back into that room, Blake," Mimi said, ignoring Abe despite feeling horrible he had been involved. "That's where she keeps everything. All of her herbs."
"What about your father?" Blake asked.
"I don't know. I thought he would find me. I don't where she put him. I told the servant to open all the doors… He would be out. Unless…" No. She couldn't think that way. It wasn't a fair way to think. Everything would be fine. Lavender had never killed anyone.
Blake put a paw on her shoulder. "Mimi, I'm sure he's fine. Where's this room?"
Jacob, apparently bored of listening to animal chatter, was already heading that way, knife in hand. He could be so wonderfully insane.
As well could Blake. "Come on," he said, scampering after Jacob.
The single closed door stood out far more than one would have expected a door. But there it was, noticeably closed among all the other doors swung out at identical angles. Lavender was still behind it, banging and yelling. Jacob stopped in front of it, the knife held up in his hand, blade outwards.
"Is that a kitchen knife?" Abe asked.
"He can't hear you," Mimi said.
All the bravery of Jacob and Blake seemed to have died away into a chilling "now what?" Mimi could scarcely breathe. Her father should have come out by now. He should be with her, taking charge of this mess because he was the only one who knew how to do magic.
"Mimi," Jacob said slowly. "If you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking, please have these things open the door."
Was she thinking the same thing as him? She didn't know what he was thinking. He was idiot posed opposite a single door from a mad fairy. Who knew what she would do when it was opened?
"Servant," she said. "Open the door. Carefully." Carefully? What was carefully supposed to mean here?
But as if the servant were reading her mind the door opened very slowly. Lavender's screaming stopped. Jacob's gasped and thrust the knife forward.
But Lavender had moved to the corner of the room. Her arm had stopped bleeding, but she still looked fit to kill.
"You were always good with carving, Jacob," she spat, running a finger over the wound. "You were one of my finest cooks. And look at you now. Trying to kill me after everything I had done for you. Ungrateful."
Jacob's arm lowered. "Ungrateful? You took away my life!"
Blake slipped into the room, and Mimi and Abe followed him. The shelves were filled with more jars than she had previously noticed. "Abe, do you recognize it?" Blake asked. "The leaf?"
"It was small." His voice cracked. "She crushed it so quickly. I didn't see."
"Think."
"It was dark green."
"They're all dark green!"
Meanwhile, Jacob still delayed whatever he was trying to do. He looked terrified. More terrified than when the Duke had sentenced him to death.
"I didn't take away your life," Lavender said softly. "Killing you would have taken away your life. I just… changed you. You were very rude, talking to your elders that way. You deserved it. And I heard of what had become of you. One of the top cooks in a noble house! Would that have happened if we had never met?"
"I couldn't even go back to my family." The knife shook in his hand.
"An unfortunate price to pay. So sorry." Lavender took a step forward. "Was it so bad? Apparently you met my little stepdaughter somewhere along the way."
Mimi froze. Lavender watched her. Just stab her, Jacob, she silent begged.
"You transformed Mimi."
"Not very well. What went wrong there? When did you two meet?" Another step forward and another. "Were you that dwarf creature when you met? Is that how you spoke? Or something else? I must say I'm curious. Even more curious than I am of seeing how a guinea pig and a squirrel will open one of my jars!" She shrieked the last sentence, and Abe scurried to the wall. Blake hopped to the shelf, but Lavender didn't seem to particularly care. Another step brought her there, opposite of Blake. She began to pull the jars down, one after another.
"Be quick about it, then," she said as she pulled down jars faster and faster. "If you're going to stab me. Oh, you can cut up a woman's arm, but can you stab a heart?"
"You have no heart," Jacob said. He still did not move.
"Oh, but I do."
Jacob finally moved. He sprinted across the room, knife outstretched. But he never made it to Lavender.
The shelves ran deep, and enough jars had been removed for her to remove something else—the motionless form of an owl.
Mimi screamed, and Jacob slid to a halt.
"He sleeps," Lavender said as she cradled Weatherbold in her arm. "For now. Drop the knife."
The knife clattered to the floor.
"I still don't trust you." She lay down Weatherbold and walked over to Abe, who sat trembling. "Children scare the easiest. " She picked him up, then grabbed an empty jar form the shelf.
"No!" shouted Jacob.
She stuffed a squirming Abe into the jar and put on the lid.
Jacob picked up the knife.
"I already told you to drop that, Jacob. Now."
"Let him go."
Mimi didn't know what to do. Blake clung to the shelf, eyes on Abe in the jar, but Lavender did not set him down. And there was her father, lying motionless, feathered chest barely rising. No wonder he hadn't come. He had been here the entire time. She began to silently cry.
"You have a choice, Jacob," Lavender said. "I can tell the boy means a lot to you. Very sweet. But I don't want that knife anywhere near me. And therein lies your choice. He'll suffocate in that jar and his life will be on your hands and I will also kill Weatherbold. Or you can give me that knife and let me walk out of here. That's all I ask."
"If I kill you," Jacob said, "You can do nothing to them."
"I can choke the bird before you come near me. I can strangle a guinea pig. I'm sure you would all love to see that. You might move quickly. But would you dare it?" Once more she picked up Weatherbold.
"Don't you touch him!" Mimi shouted. "Jacob will let you go!"
Lavender laughed. "Mimi is on my side with this, Jacob."
Jacob looked at Mimi then back at Lavender. "Free them from their spells. Everyone here. Let them go."
"You have our herbs here," Mimi said. "Get them for us. Tell him I want him to let you go if you do that."
"Silly girl. I already noticed a big difference in my jar, which I imagine was from Jacob's transformation. I'm not going to give back four more sources!"
"Sources of what?" Jacob asked. "What are you talking about?"
"The more you talk, the worse it is for the boy." She nodded at the jar, where Abe's eyes were half-closed. "Make your choice. And Mimi, you're in no position to make deals while I have your father."
"I have the knife," Jacob said.
"And I've the guinea pig and the owl. Shall I bring the squirrel into it as well? I imagine he's one of mine. You remember being a squirrel, don't you, Jacob? A monstrous dwarf would be much more preferably after that."
At that moment, something crashed to the floor. Several things, and the air filled with the smells of plants. Blake was in the process of pushing over another jar, but Lavender did not notice.
Among the broken glass and dried herbs lay something dusty and golden, though the luster was quickly fading.
Lavender gasped, and pushed Abe and Weatherbold onto the shelf. "What have you done?" She brought her hands to her face. Her skin changed, fading with the dust's color. Her hair was grey by the time she made it to her knees, plunging her hands into the dust and pushing it into a pile.. "Bring me another jar! Now!"
No one moved, and only another jar of something crashed down next to Lavender. She rose, shaking, and took hold of an empty jar.
And then Jacob did move. He approached Lavender and drove the knife into her heart. The empty jar fell from her hands and joined the rest of the broken glass. She gasped again, eyes widening in pain.
Jacob pulled the knife away, blood dripping from it. His face was pale and sick as he stared at the knife.
Lavender fell to the floor, clutching her chest. Blood seeped from between her fingers at first, but a moment later there was nothing. She collapsed forward, hair now white, grey skin crumbling like spilling sand. She made no noise. By the time her head touched the floor, little more than a skeleton remained.