Cinderella Stays Late Read online

The smile the prince beamed back at her made Cinda’s insides feel all funny. In a good way, though.

  “Cool. See you later, then,” Awesome called. Whistling, he walked off.

  As she watched him go, Cinda remembered that she might not be here long enough to make the team. If she got expelled for any of the mistakes she’d made, that is. She hoped she wouldn’t!

  When she arrived at the Grimmstone Library, the door was already propped open. So, thankfully, no one had to answer any gooseknob riddles.

  “Good. You got the other slipper,” said Red as Cinda joined her friends in a long line to wait for Ms. Goose to check in their borrowed finery.

  Seeing that Snow had brought her vellum book reminded Cinda of something she wanted to look up. She asked to borrow it.

  “Sure,” said Snow. “But it’ll only respond to my voice commands. Which class do you want?”

  “History, please,” Cinda replied.

  “Grimm History of Beasts and Dastardlies,” Snow told the book as she pressed a finger to the oval on its cover. Then she handed the book to Cinda, while Red took charge of Cinda’s sneakers.

  As the line moved slowly forward, Cinda thumbed through endless pages. Realizing she wasn’t finding what she wanted, she finally tried the index. Under E, there was an entry that caught her eye: E.V.I.L. Society.

  “Look!” Cinda cried softly. She turned the book so the other three girls could see.

  Snow reached out and pressed her fingertip over the E.V.I.L. letters. Instantly, a small, clear bubble rose to hover a few inches above the page. Inside it, a definition was printed in small type: Exceptional Villains In Literature.

  Cinda’s eyes widened. So that’s what the acronym stood for!

  Snow read the rest of the definition in a soft voice. “ ‘A secret society bent on evil. Established in the Dark Ages. Now defunct.’ ”

  Pop! After Snow finished reading, the bubble popped on its own and disappeared.

  A shiver zipped up Cinda’s spine. “Could E.V.I.L. be the foe Ms. Jabberwocky was talking about?” she exclaimed in a whisper. “The one that has the principal worried?”

  “But the book says it’s defunct. No longer in existence,” said Red.

  “What if someone has started it up again?” asked Rapunzel.

  With worried eyes, they all stared at one another. No one had an answer to that!

  Just then, the Grimm girls reached the front of the line. Snow closed the vellum book and tucked it in the crook of her arm. Ms. Goose quickly checked in the gowns and slippers the other three girls had brought back. Then it was Cinda’s turn.

  When Cinda explained about the ripped yellow gown and slippers she’d already returned, Ms. Goose was naturally upset. However, when Cinda also mentioned the missing white gown and started to explain that she’d forgotten to check it out, Ms. Goose interrupted her.

  “Let me see.” The librarian studied her list. “Ah, yes, your white gown brought itself back last night. I discovered it this morning in the Lost and Found bin with your yellow outfit. At midnight, any late artifacts usually go a bit haywire — or a lot haywire — then pop themselves back to the library of their own accord. Unless they’ve gotten trapped somehow, that is.”

  Her words sparked an idea in Cinda’s mind. “What if an artifact was trapped somewhere, though?” she asked.

  Catching on quickly, Red added, “You mean, like in a trunker?”

  “That could certainly prevent an artifact from making its way into the Lost and Found,” said Ms. Goose.

  The missing pumpkin had been trapped in her trunker last Monday, Cinda thought. But where was it now? Downriver? Or had the Steps found it floating in the river before Rapunzel had looked for it? Or maybe that pumpkin she’d tossed out of the Hall last night wasn’t even the right pumpkin at all!

  Cinda’s thoughts were like a jumble of mismatched stockings. She dared not go to the principal about all this without more evidence against the Steps. Plus, none of them knew who might be part of E.V.I.L.

  “Let’s see,” mused Ms. Goose. “One ruined gown and slippers. Another gown left to find its way back to the library on its own.” The librarian got out an abacus and started doing calculations.

  “Oh, I almost forgot,” Cinda added. Reluctantly, she removed the slippers, which slid right off her feet this time.

  As she set them in the library return box on the desk, Ms. Goose checked her list again. “Hmm. I don’t have any record of glass slippers being checked out. No record of them at all, in fact. Those slippers don’t belong in the Grimmstone Library.”

  “But I got them here last night,” said Cinda.

  “Nonsense,” Ms. Goose said briskly. She glanced at her abacus again. “Looks like you’ve earned yourself three demerits. And a note about this incident must go home to your family.”

  “Oh, no!” Cinda said. Hearing snickers behind her, she glanced over her shoulder. The Steps had apparently come along to witness her punishment for the trouble they’d made, just for fun.

  “That’s not really fair,” Red blurted out. “Because she’s not the one who ruined the dress and slippers last night.”

  Ms. Goose tilted her head, causing her glasses to slip to the end of her nose. She glanced down at the library return box. “Well, then, who did?” she asked.

  Cinda and the three Grimm girls just looked at one another. They knew exactly who’d done it, but they couldn’t prove it. And Cinda was reluctant to rat out her stepsisters to Ms. Goose, even if they did deserve it. “I don’t think I —” she began.

  “I wasn’t asking you,” Ms. Goose interrupted. “I was asking the glass slippers. They seem to want to tell us something.” And indeed, the slippers were hopping up and down inside the library return, as if bursting with determination to get in on the conversation.

  “What?” Cinda asked blankly.

  As if in answer, the glass slippers eagerly leaped out of the library return and clomped over to Malorette and Odette. Everyone in line moved back to watch as the slippers proceeded to point their toes at the Steps, making little kicking motions. It was like they were accusing them!

  “Aha!” said Ms. Goose. “Malorette and Odette of Grimm, you are guilty of destroying library property. You will receive two demerits each and a note will go home to your parents.”

  The Steps’ jaws dropped.

  “But —” Malorette sputtered.

  “Wait —” Odette blustered.

  “Oops! Make that three demerits each,” Ms. Goose corrected. “Because Cinderella would not have borrowed her white gown from the library if you hadn’t destroyed her yellow gown in the first place. Furthermore, you will do scullery duty with Mistress Hagscorch for two weeks, starting today.”

  The Steps’ eyes widened in alarm. Looked like Cinda and Snow weren’t the only ones who found the Academy’s cook a bit scary.

  Then Ms. Goose turned to Cinda. “You, on the other hand, are the innocent party here, and will receive no punishment.”

  Thinking that Cinda’s business was finished now, some other students in line behind her and her friends stepped up. Stunned, Cinda moved out of their way. “What about the glass slippers?” she remembered to ask the librarian.

  “They are obviously a magical charm, not an artifact,” Ms. Goose informed her. “Now run along. And take the slippers with you.”

  Malorette and Odette must have heard what Ms. Goose said, because now their look of alarm changed to one that was positively green with envy.

  “You got a charm? Already?” Red said in delight as they left the library.

  “It’s an honor to be chosen by a charm so soon after you’ve arrived,” said Snow. “Most students go to school for months or years before it happens. None of us has been chosen yet.”

  Cinda clutched the glittery glass slippers tight. “So I can keep them?” She hadn’t dared to hope that might be possible.

  Her friends nodded.

  “They’ve got magical powers only you can unlock,” said
Rapunzel. “That’s how charms work.”

  “Wow!” said Cinda, gazing at the slippers in wonder as she put them on.

  “Take care,” Snow warned. “Some students will be jealous.” She nodded toward the Steps, who were stalking away down the hall.

  Cinda lifted her chin. Too bad for them. Her dad was going to hear about the trouble they’d made soon enough. Then he’d realize that the Steps weren’t so sweet, after all. Cinda didn’t suppose for one minute that they’d tell her dad about her getting a charm, however. They only liked to tell him bad stuff about her. Stuff they mainly made up. She smiled to herself. She’d tell him, though, as soon as she got the chance!

  Later, after breakfast in the Great Hall, Mermily was outside working on the fountain again. So the Grimm girls gathered in Cinda’s room in Pearl Tower to make another attempt to open the rolled tapestry.

  This time they tried all kinds of magical passwords and spells, in addition to just plain pushing and pulling at it. Nothing worked. They were about to give up, when the tapestry suddenly leaped from their hands into the middle of the floor, where it unrolled itself.

  “Whoa!” Cinda exclaimed. “What made that happen?”

  Red shook her head. “No clue.”

  The girls got on their hands and knees and gathered around to examine the two-foot square piece of cloth.

  “What is it?” asked Rapunzel, turning her head this way and that to view it from every angle.

  “A map!” declared Cinda. “It’s Grimmlandia. See?” She pointed out various familiar landmarks like the Academy itself and London Bridge. “It seems to be unfinished in places. Especially around the edges.”

  Snow tapped a finger to her chin, thinking hard. “You know what? I think this is actually a mapestry — a magical map in the form of a stitched tapestry.”

  “A mapestry?” Rapunzel arched an eyebrow. “But those are supposed to lead to —”

  “Hidden objects,” finished Red.

  “Or treasure,” added Snow. Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “Have you ever heard that old legend about an ancient treasure being hidden somewhere in Grimmlandia?”

  Red and Rapunzel nodded.

  “I haven’t. What kind of treasure?” asked Cinda.

  “No one knows,” said Red.

  “Look!” Rapunzel’s dark eyes went wide and she pointed at a long bright-blue section of the mapestry — Once Upon River. “Something’s happening! See that embroidered orange blob?”

  “Yeah. It wasn’t there a second ago,” said Snow, getting excited, too.

  “It just now stitched itself on top of the river!” said Red.

  “And now it’s moving!” Cinda’s voice rose as she spoke until her last syllable turned into a squeak.

  The girls watched in amazement as the sewn blob picked up speed, moving away from the river and the Academy, which were at the center of the map.

  “What if it’s … real!” breathed Cinda. “What if that orange blob is Peter Peter’s pumpkin — the same one I tossed into the river last night? And what if it’s really moving along the path shown here?”

  “C’mon!” said Red. Grabbing the mapestry, she dashed through the curtain and the common room to the outside walkway between Pearl and Ruby towers. The other girls raced after her.

  “There!” said Rapunzel. She pointed to something in the distance, while at the same time staying well away from the edge of the walkway. Her height phobia again, thought Cinda.

  Sure enough, the girls could see something round and orange rolling down a path, moving away from the Academy toward the forest.

  “It’s a runaway pumpkin!” said Snow.

  “Or a pumpkin rollout! Like my stepsisters said,” Cinda added. “And the mapestry is tracking its path!”

  Suddenly, the pumpkin plunged into Neverwood Forest. As it did, it began growing larger, until it had turned into a full-size beautiful carriage with orange wheels, pulled by four green-and-orange-striped horses. Cinda could just make out a big scrolly P on the carriage door.

  “That’s the pumpkin from the ball last night!” she exclaimed. “The centerpieces were decorated exactly that way.”

  “It’s Peter Peter Pumpkineater’s pumpkin for sure, then,” said Rapunzel. “I remember he turned it into a carriage exactly like that on Career Day!”

  “But Ms. Goose said that library artifacts must never leave the Academy grounds,” said Cinda. “What happens if one does? Something worse than dire consequences?”

  The three wide-eyed girls nodded. “Super-duper dire consequences,” they said in unison.

  “Like what?” asked Cinda.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think it’s ever happened before,” said Red.

  The girls watched the carriage until they could no longer glimpse it between the trees. Then they all looked down at the map. The stitched blob was still moving.

  “It’s headed for the wall!” Rapunzel said in horror. They all held their breath, fearing what would happen when the blob hit the wall that surrounded Grimmlandia.

  All at once, the orange blob disappeared! It had gone off the edge of the mapestry altogether.

  The girls looked up from the map and gazed out over the landscape that stretched into the distance. “Where did it go?” Red asked.

  Snow’s face was paler than ever. “Into the Nothingterror,” she whispered.

  Seeing something move from the corner of her eye, Cinda looked over to see the Steps standing at a window in Ruby Tower next door. They’d been watching the pumpkin roll away, too!

  “Quick, hide the mapestry. Take it inside,” Cinda told the others. “I’ll be right back.”

  With that, she stomped into Ruby Tower and over to the Steps. “You stole that pumpkin and stuck it in my trunker before school last Monday, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” blurted Odette. “But we didn’t know it would turn out to be your trunker until —” Malorette elbowed her in the ribs, and Odette clammed up.

  “Aha! So you did steal the pumpkin!” said Cinda. “And you somehow magicked it out of there when I wasn’t looking. Right before I shut my trunker door. Did you use one of those one hundred percent invisibility spells or something?”

  Malorette just smirked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And you can’t prove anything. As usual.” She and Odette pushed past Cinda and began walking away.

  Cinda followed them to their alcove, refusing to give up. “I overheard you talking about a ‘pumpkin rollout.’ And the E.V.I.L. Society.”

  Malorette sniffed, and fluffed her poofy black hair. “We don’t know anything about that.”

  “But if such an intriguing society did start up again, I know plenty of students and even some teachers here who might be interested in joining it,” said Odette, with an identical sniff and fluff. “Maybe some already have.”

  “Yeah, villainous characters get a bad rap here at the Academy. It’s not fair!” Malorette added. “They’re just as important in the Books of Grimm as anyone else.”

  At that moment, Cinda noticed the key dangling from Malorette’s necklace. Why was it bone white instead of iron like everyone else’s trunker key? she wondered as before. She drew in a sharp breath. “A skeleton key!” she blurted. “Those can open many different locks. That’s how you got the pumpkin into and out of my trunker, isn’t it?”

  “You’re talking nonsense,” said Malorette. But she and Odette looked nervous now.

  From their reactions, it was obvious the Steps were heavily involved in whatever evil stuff was going on around here. Cinda didn’t need to hear any more. She turned to go back to Pearl Tower.

  “Wait — where are you going?” asked Malorette, sounding a little worried.

  “To hang out with my friends,” Cinda told her and Odette. “My new, nice friends. And you know what? That was me at the ball wearing those glass slippers. Me dancing with Prince Awesome. And tomorrow when you’re doing scullery duty in Mistress Hagscorch’s kitchen, I’ll be hanging out with h
im in the gym. Isn’t that absolutely grimmtastically grimmazing?”

  Leaving both Steps with their mouths hanging open in shock, Cinda flounced off to her tower, smiling all the way there.

  On Sunday, Cinda and her friends decided to have a picnic in the Bouquet Garden to celebrate Cinda’s first week at the Academy. They also planned to discuss who else might be involved in the E.V.I.L. Society, to decide who they could trust with their suspicions regarding the missing pumpkin, and to study the mapestry for clues to a possible treasure.

  However, when Cinda went to her dorm room before going to meet the others, she discovered a big trunk sitting in the middle of the floor. There was a letter lying on top of it addressed to her. She unfolded it and read:

  My dearest daughter Cinda,

  I’m sorry I wasn’t home to say good-bye before you left for Grimm Academy. I meant to be home to give you this trunk to take with you, but your stepmother had told me school didn’t start until next week. Must have been some mistake.

  Not likely! thought Cinda. Her stepmom had probably told him that on purpose, to make sure he wouldn’t be there to see her off to school! She read on.

  I hope you are doing well at the Academy. Your mother would be so proud of you. I am, too. Please enjoy this finery, my beautiful girl.

  Love,

  Your Dad

  Flipping the lock, Cinda opened the trunk.

  It was full of dresses! New, fancy ones — a dozen or more. And petticoats, stockings, and slippers, too!

  “Wow!” she breathed. All these were for her?

  Tears filled Cinda’s blue eyes as she examined each article of clothing. Her dad had sent her this gift? It must mean that he hadn’t forgotten her, after all. He did care about her!

  At the bottom of the trunk, Cinda found the best gift of all. Her father had sent her a framed picture of himself. She lifted it out and stared at his dear face. “Thank you,” she whispered. Giving the picture a quick kiss, she set it on her desk next to the one of her mom.

  She could hardly wait to write a letter to thank him. And to tell him about the glass slippers charm, last night’s ball, her hope of making the new masketball team, and about her teachers and classes. And most especially about her new Grimm girl friends!