Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 49 - Hansel And Gretel

Henry stood in the store reading a comic book.
"What are you reading?" said a girls voice from behind him.
He turned around to see a girl about eleven years old with long, wavy, blond hair and bright blue eyes.
"The Hulk verses Wolverine." Henry answered.
"I'm Ava. I think I've seen you around school. You're in Miss. Blanchard's class, right?"
He nodded
"Almost ready, Ava?" asked a boy walking towards them. He had brown hair and the same blue eyes as Ava, but he was younger.
"This is my brother, Nicholas." introduced Ava.
"Hi." he said.
Henry smiled.
"Come on. Let's go." said Nicholas "You wanna come hang out?" asked Ava as her brother walked away.
"Sure." said Henry.
She smiled and Henry swinged his backpack over his shoulders.
They walked to the doors of the store but the shopkeeper stopped and shut the door.
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he said and sneezed. "Open up your bag." he said to Henry and took a handkerchief from his pocket.
"What?" asked Henry.
"Don't think I didn't see you rob me. Open your bag." his voice blocked because he had a cold.
"I didn't take anything." he said truthly.
The shopkeeper grabbed his backpack from is back and opened it. He sighed and pulled out a handful of sweets. "And a liar too."
Henry turned to Ava. "That's why you were talking to me. So your brother could out that stuff in there."
Ava looked down, ashamed.
"Henry, I'm shocked." said the shopkeeper looking at Henry. "And you two......... Just who do you think you are?" he looked at the siblings.

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A man with brown hair and dark eyes stood in the forest chopping a tree with an axe. Suddenly the coniferous tree began to fall in the opposite direction from him.
He sighed and walked away from the trunk.
"A fine specimen." he said, holding the axe.
A girl with long blond hair in plaits, blue eyes and faded coloured dress came out from behind a dead tree trunk.
"The wood it provides will keep our family's hearth warm this winter."
"Can't I have an axe?" asked the girl.
"Ha?"
"You did say you wanted me here so I could help."
He nodded and panted. "That I do. So here is tour task."
A boy came our behind the girl with a hat, brown hair and also blue eyes.
"Take the cart. Go fill it with kindling. The drier the better."
"Okay." she smiled.
"And have your brother accompany you."
"Okay. Come on." she said to the boy. She took the little cart and began to push it forward.
"Wait." the man said.
They stopped. He walked towards them and took a compass from around his neck. "Take this." he said to the girl and put it around her neck.
"Your compass?" she said.
"So you don't get lost. A family always needs to be able to find one another."
"Yeah."
"Okay. Go."
"Thank you." she walked back to the cart.
"Be safe." They smiled and pushed the cart along and the man watched them go.

"It's getting late. We should go." said the girl carrying sticks to the cart while her brother messing with some string.
The girl took the string from him.
"Hey! Give it back. Come on, Gretel. Give it back." said the boy.
"No, Hansel. We need to get it back to father."
"Fine."
"Follow me." she said taking the compass in her hands. Hansel followed pushing the cart.

They arrived back to where the felled tree was, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"This is where we left him." said Gretel.
"So why isn't he here?" asked Hansel.
They ran towards the felled tree.
"Father!" cryed Gretel.
"Father!" cryed Hansel.
They looked around, now afraid.
Suddenly they heard a cry in the trees. They ran towards the noise.
"Father!"
"Father!"
They ran out onto the road.
"Father!"
Then they turned to the sound of horses hooves. Two dark gaurd on horseback stopped in front of them.
Gretel fell back onto the road, the glass of the compass had smashed in her hands.
A gaurd jumped from his horse. "Get up." he said pulling Gretel up and holding Hansel. He pushed them towards the back carraige down the road.
Gretel put the compass back around her neck and the gaurd walked to the carraige and opened it.
The Evil Queen stepped out of the carraige dressed in a dark dress and a matching hat. "What are you doing in my forest?" she demanded.

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Regina stood in the store alone with Henry, Ava, Nicholas and the shopkeeper
"Well I'm sorry, Madam Mayor, but your son was shoplifting." said the shopkeeper.
Regina turned to look at Henry standing beside her. "Were you?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"Well, look for yourself." he said pointing at his backpack and the contence spun accross the counter.
Regina walked over to the counter and took a look at the stuff.
"My son doesn't eat candy. And he knows better than to steal." she said.
Henry sighed.
She took his backpack with his own possessions. "It was obviously those two." she looked at the siblings. "We're going."
She gave him his backpack and they walked to the door.
Emma walked into the store as they were leaving. "Henry? What happened?" Emma asked.
"Miss. Swan. Must I remind you that genetics mean nothing." Regina said her arm around Henrys shoulders. "You're not his mother. And it's all taken care of."
"I'm here because I'm the sherif."
"That's right...... Go on, do your job."
She walked past them.
"Take care of those miscreants." Regina said and walked out the door with Henry.
"Did you call their parents?" Emma asked the shopkeeper.
"Ah, the number they gave me was disconnected." he took a last at them and walked away.
"Did you guys give Mr. Clark a fake number?" Emma asked dthe siblings.
They both shook their heads.
"Then why is it disconnected?"
"Cause our parents couldn't pay the bill." said Ava.
Emm took a look at the stuff from Henry's backpack on the counter.
She looked back at them. "You guys are just trying to help out, huh?"
Ava nodded. "Please. Please don't arrest us." she pleaded. "It'll just make things worse for our parents."

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"Please forgive us." said Gretel. "What didn't mean to bother you. We just............ Well, we just lost our father."
The queen looked down at the siblings. "Two, helpless children, lost and alone. A family torn asunder...... Such a sad and moving story." she turned away. "Gaurds, seize them."
"Hansel, run!" cryed Gretel and she spun the string round and round and stone at the end hit the gaurd's helmet. Gretel ran after her brother and the gaurd drew his sword, but the queen held him back.
Hansel and Gretel ran through the forest but in a poof of smoke the queen appeared in front of them. She laughed. "Running from me is foolish."
They turned in the other direction and the queen waved her hand. Suddenly the dark roots from beneath the ground rose and chased after the children. They ran and attempted to escape them, but they couldn't. The roots whinded around them, holding them to the ground.
The queen still laughed. "Foolish, but also brave." she said walking down towards them. "And that bravery may just have saved you and your family's lifes." She waved her hand again and the roots dissappeared beneath the ground once more.
"You're letting us go?" asked Gretel, relieved and they stood up.
"I'm doing so much more than that....... I'm going to find your father."
"You are?" said Hansel.
"Why?" said Gretel.
She bent forward. "Because you two are going to do something for me."
"And then you'll take us home?" said Gretel.

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Ava Zimmer ~ Gretel

Nicholas Zimmer ~ Hansel