Never After--The Broken Mirror by Melissa de la Cruz

Author:Melissa de la Cruz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

CHAPTER TWENTY

GRETEL’S CURSE-BREAKING ASSEMBLY LINE

Gretel is totally in her element. She’s pacing around the loft, surveying the materials at hand. Filomena loves to see her friends so expertly doing what they do best. It makes her wonder what exactly it is that she does best.

Despite Rosie’s protesting, Gretel finally got her to agree to let them help.

“Aren’t we supposed to be figuring out this League of Seven thing? Not making T-shirts?” Rosie says.

“Of course, but who says we can’t do both?” Gretel says, smiling. “We can brainstorm while we sew. That’s one of the best things about sewing: You can think and talk about other things while you do it. Now look, your problem is that you aren’t able to sew fast enough to keep all the flowers fresh. As soon as they wilt, the shirts become limp and break apart, right?”

“Right. And then I can’t get them on my brothers fast enough, and it’s the most frustrating thing in all the worlds.”

“So I think what we need to do is dry the flowers. That witch never said the flowers had to be fresh, did she?”

Filomena grins. “Aha! A loophole!”

“So we’ll collect them, dry them, and sew them promptly. Plus, with four of us sewing, it’ll go way faster.”

The four go out to a patch of star flowers that Rosie found in the forest and start picking as many as they can gather.

“Wait!” Gretel says, slapping Alistair’s hand as he tries to pluck a flower. “We shouldn’t pick all of them. Just in case we mess up and need backup.”

They go back to the cottage. Alistair lays the flowers out on baking sheets to dry in the oven. Once the blooms have dried, the friends go up to Rosie’s loft again.

“So how many shirts are we making?” Gretel says, laying out the flowers carefully.

“Seven.”

Filomena’s and Alistair’s heads nearly snap off, they turn to look at each other so fast.

“Seven?” Filomena asks.

“Seven,” Rosie confirms.

“The League of Seven!” Filomena and Alistair say at once, jumping up and down.

But Rosie doesn’t look quite so excited. “I don’t know, guys…”

“This is perfect, this is fate!” Filomena says. “I can’t wait to tell Jack.” Once she calms down, though, she realizes Rosie is skeptical. “You’re not excited about your brothers being the League of Seven?” Filomena asks.

“It’s not that…,” Rosie says. “I mean, my brothers are brave and all … but, well, you’ll see.”

Filomena’s confused. Why isn’t Rosie excited by this? They’re one step closer to saving Never After!

“Well, whether they’re the League of Seven or not, we’re still going to reverse the curse,” Gretel says. “But seriously, Rosie, it feels like too much of a coincidence. Seven brothers, seven heroes?”

Rosie says nothing, only shrugs, and Filomena holds on to hope.

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