Free Story's End by Marissa Burt Page B

voice. The only other time Snow had seen her mother look this afraid was when the Red Enchantress was about to torture her.
    A great clanging sound jolted through Snow, and she nearly screamed. Her mother, too, was frozen in her tracks.
    When Snow could find her voice again, she gasped out, “That’s the sound. I heard it before, when I arrived. We must be close.”
    They raced toward the noise, sprinting through one huge room where a skeletal throne towered over them, leering skulls perched in a row atop it. And then they were out. An open courtyard stretched off to a portcullis that led to freedom. The grating sound came from an ancient drawbridge, which they saw was even now being raised, inch by mechanical inch. Two misshapen men stood at the wheel, pushing with all their weight to bring up the heavy gate. They were so engrossed in their task, Snow’s mother was on them before they saw her.
    A twist of her mother’s wrist, and the men crumpled to the ground. The bridge clattered down with a thud. Her mother went first, then the madman, and finally Snow, as they all raced out of the castle and into the blackness of the night.

Chapter 9
    P eter leaned against the building wall. He had never been so embarrassed in his life. After Una had danced off with some stranger—how could she be so foolish?—an Evil Stepsister had snatched him up, and he had spent the last half hour with Esmerelda, who stomped on his feet and prattled on about what a good partner he was. He had been lucky to get away from her, and now he would be happy to never dance again. Peter was rubbing an aching foot when he heard a familiar voice.
    “Nice dancing.” Indy did a bad job of stifling his laughter. “Oh wait, is that your partner coming this way?”
    Peter whirled around so fast he felt dizzy. The last thing he wanted was for Esmerelda to trap him again, and then he saw that Indy was making fun of him. “Go ahead and laugh,” Peter said with a scowl. “Where’s Una, anyway? This was her dumb idea to begin with.”
    “I haven’t seen her since she left,” Indy said. “Unless she had such an interested ”—Peter didn’t like how he emphasized that word—“partner like you did, I bet she’s already on her way back to Bramble Cottage. Did you learn anything from your new friend?”
    Peter felt his face flush hot. He had been so desperate to get away from Esmerelda, he hadn’t thought to ask her about any castles. Or cemeteries. “Nope,” he said. “What about you?”
    “No one I talked to knew about Jaga’s cemetery,” Indy said. “But the Enchanted Forest is apparently filled with castles; fat lot of good that is.”
    Peter sighed. The Enchanted Forest ran along the east side of the Hollow and stretched for miles. It had a reputation worse than the Hollow, and no reputable character roamed freely there, certainly not at midnight.
    “I wouldn’t mind asking a few more people, though”—Indy nodded toward the lit building in front of them—“if it meant we could get something to eat. I’m starving.”
    They pushed their way into the common room, where a young bard was sitting by the fire playing a song. Indy stopped short in front of a crew of unsavory characters. They were crowded around a masked man.
    “That’s the guy who danced with Una,” Indy said.
    Peter and Indy were trying to decide what to do next, when the man gave them a friendly little wave. The next moment, the rogue himself was next to them, ushering them to a table, scraping up additional chairs, and gesturing to the innkeeper for more food.
    Peter took the chair to the left of the man. Indy pulled his sword from the scabbard on his back, sat down on the right, and laid the blade flat across his knees.
    The masked man glanced down at the blade, but instead of looking threatened, he merely gave Indy an encouraging smile. “You can call me Kai,” he said as the innkeeper served them. “You’re Una’s friends, aren’t you?”
    Peter and Indy