Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 13)

Ch.28 Eavesdropping

Once they were in Gold's shop, Nicole placed the Nutcracker onto a small bed in the back room as she turned to Danielle who was still holding onto the Blue Fairy's wand.

"You ready to do this?" she asked her.

"I hope so" Danielle replied in a deep breath "Turning wooden figures into humans is another part of my destiny."

"Do you by any chance know if he'll remember anything?"

"Hard to say."

Nicole gave a small sigh "Looks like there's only one way to find out."

She stepped back as Danielle hovered over the Nutcracker, and once she was ready, she waved the wand over it and using her magic, she lightly tapped the wooden figure as a bright glow beamed that they had to shield their eyes. And once the light had faded, they opened their eyes to see that the Nutcracker had grown full size as Nathan Nutcracker laid still on the bed with his eyes closed.

"Oh my God" Nicole gasped "You- you did it."

"Yeah" Danielle agreed astonished.

"But uh, why isn't he waking up?"

"I uh- I have no idea, he should have been awake."

Nicole went over to Nathan and began to shake his wooden body.

"Nathan" she called, but no reply "Nathan if you can hear me please open your eyes."

But still no response.

"I don't understand" she gasped "Is he dead?"

"He can't be, he's not human he can't die. Unless he's- not exactly alive like how he was back at Ever After."

"What?"

"You know how back at Ever After how Francis was literally made from wood before the Blue Fairy made her alive? Well maybe this curse somehow turned Nathan back into just a wooden figure without any magic to turn him alive."

"But that can't be it, he wasn't a wooden figure before he became alive, when he got cursed he went from a human into a Nutcracker. And besides, you're using the Blue Fairy's wand, that should have made him alive."

"Well then maybe it just takes time, let's wait a bit and see if he wakes up, and if he doesn't we might have to talk to Gold and see what he can do."

"Fine" Nicole sighed while turning back to Nathan "Don't worry Nathan, you'll be alive soon."

They both sat in silence until Danielle spoke up.

"That's a nice sword he has" she commented.

"Oh yeah" Nicole agreed with a small smile "You know his sword can cut through hard substance?"

"What do you mean?"

"I watched his slice a stone in half."

"What really?" she gasped amused.

"Yeah" she nodded "He used the silver and gold leaves from my palace to pour onto his sword, and now it's cooler than before."

"Wow" Danielle breathed "I wish I could see that."

"Perhaps you can, I mean he once he wakes up and all."

"Wait what's that?" she suddenly pointed to something on Nathan's belt loop.

Nicole turned to what she was pointing at, and there tied around his belt loop was a pink ribbon.

"Oh my God" she gasped "It's my ribbon."

"Your ribbon?" Danielle remarked, "You mean the one you always wear when you're dancing?"

"Well yes, but I remember I gave it to him back then as a little lucky charm, and I'm surprised he actually wears it."

"And it looks like he hasn't taken it off" she added with a smile.

__________

Hiding in an alley between two buildings, Noah leaned against the wall and waited until he heard footsteps as he turned to see his sister heading towards him.

"So what have you learned so far?" she asked.

"Nothing much" he shrugged "Same stuff as before."

But as they were talking, neither of them noticed Terrence walking down the sidewalk. And when he looked up and spotted them, he quickly hid behind a trash can, close enough for him to hear what they were saying.

"Meaning you still have no idea where the other items are?" she affirmed with a frown.

"I'm still looking" he assured "But apparently that Brooke girl is really good at hiding things. I searched everywhere in her house."

"Well there's gotta be some secret compartment or something, it's a big house, there has to be something."

"Well if there is they're really good at hiding in plain sight."

Lydia gave a small groan before continuing "Look Noah, in order for this to work, we need to get those items, we can't let this curse get broken."

Terrence held back his gasp as he continued to listen.

"What if the items aren't even in her house?" Noah questioned.

"They've gotta be in there, Brooke has all the items they need to break this curse."

"I'm just saying what if it's not in her house? Do you really think she would hide them in her own house?"

"Where else would she hide it?" she doubted.

"What about Mr. Gold's shop?" he offered "He always has everything in that shop of his."

She sighed "Alright then, I'll send some people to search his shop, and if they're not there, then we're searching her house again. Because I know they're in there, we just gotta think like her, if we were Brooke, where would we hide certain objects?"

"Under a mattress?"

"We searched that" she replied dully.

"I know Captain Obvious" he frowned "We were there, I'm just saying that's where most people would hide their things."

"Well Brooke isn't like most people, she's a clever Narrator, there has to be some secret compartment that's hiding those items. It can be anywhere, the walls, the attic, basement, maybe even in her bathroom. But the point is, once we get those things, we can move on to the big plan."

"You still want me to follow your orders?"

"Actually-" she replied when a thought came to her "Put that to the side, I've got another search for you. Remember that gem I told you about? The Trigger? Also known as the one you had until you lost it in the curse?"

"Let me guess" he smirked, "It must be here, and you want me to find it?"

"Indeed" she smirked back "Because pretty soon, that Trigger is gonna be very useful for us."

As they walked off, Terrence couldn't believe what he just heard as he hurried off, needing to tell everyone that Lydia and her crew are up to something terrible.