Losing the Plot by Annaleise Byrd

Author:Annaleise Byrd [Byrd, Annaleise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781760656454
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Published: 2024-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

Cannibalistic Conspiracy

I stared out through the grated door in horror. This was not part of the plan. Sure, Hansel was meant to be locked in the stable, but not Terry and me as well. Gretel had gone rogue!

The witch shrieked in Gretel’s direction. ‘What art thou doing, girl?’

I was wondering that myself.

Gretel scrambled to collect her buckets. ‘I wanted Hansel to have one last taste of sweetness before you eat him,’ she cried pitifully, ‘so I gave him a little of the roof.’

Wow, she was good. Almost as good as if she’d prepared that little speech in advance.

The witch frowned – no doubt because Gretel had gone off script. I glanced around nervously. How far could the story stray from the original before it started to implode? What exactly would happen? And why on earth hadn’t I asked Gretel more about plot holes when I’d had the chance? I held my breath, wondering if the whole fairytale world was about to come crumbling down around our ears. Even Terry had frozen mid-chew.

Gretel took a great, shuddering breath. Then she let out a wail like an air raid siren crossed with a heavy metal electric guitar solo. Tears poured down her cheeks and splashed into her buckets. ‘If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us,’ she howled, ‘we should at any rate have died together.’

Gretel was back on script. I recognised her wild beasts line because I’d been skimming ahead during Terry’s laborious reading of Hansel and Gretel right before he’d slammed it shut.

The witch clicked her tongue. ‘Just keep thy noise to thyself,’ she said. ‘All that won’t help thee at all.’ And she hobbled back into the house.

Gretel busied herself pouring her buckets of salty water into a large cauldron near the door of the cottage. She didn’t look at us. I was glad she’d managed to cover Terry’s dine-and-dash and get the story back on track, but I still didn’t know why she’d locked all three of us up. I wished I could ask Hansel, who was watching Gretel with a thoughtful expression on his face, but talking was clearly far too risky.

Terry sat at the back of the stable. Leaning against the wall, he chewed his gingerbread with the supremely relaxed air of someone not even remotely concerned about the possibility of being eaten by a witch. He saw me watching him and held out a piece with two hard-boiled sweets stuck to it.

I crossed the small space to take it from him, then returned to my vantage point at the front of the stable. Maybe having something to eat would help me figure out a plan. I picked off the pillow-shaped blue-and-white candy and placed it on my tongue.

Immediately, I realised it was worlds away from any candy I’d eaten before. The taste of chocolate ice cream, blueberry waffles and home-cooked lasagna rushed over me – all of my favourite flavours and happiest memories combined into one delicious super-flavour. Peace and contentment poured over me like a hot shower on a cold afternoon.

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