Joe tried to stay upbeat for his niece and nephew. Before his interrogation, they had been receptive to his attempts to lighten the mood. But having seen their father subdued and carried off, they were no longer willing to play or laugh.
"Hey, do you two know any stories? What's your favorite?" Joe asked. "Ryan?"
His nephew shrugged.
"How about you, Morgan?"
"Mommy reads me 'Snow White.'"
"'Snow White,' huh?" An oddly relevant selection, he thought, given that their own tale had taken a fairy turn. "How about 'The Tortoise and the Hare' instead?" An inspirational underdog story!
"I want 'Snow White.'"
Morgan's startling forcefulness reminded him of Chris. She even had his willful brown eyes.
"All right," he complied, unwilling to challenge even a small female MacRae. In that way, she reminded him of his mother. "A long time ago, in a galaxy—"
"That's not how it goes, Uncle Joe. It starts 'Once upon a time,'" she corrected, and Ryan nodded in agreement.
"Right, sorry, just kidding," Joe teased. "Once upon a time, a beautiful princess lived in a kingdom ruled by her evil stepmother. Jealous of Snow White's beauty—" He broke off at the rattle of keys and the creak of their cage door.
Guards streamed into their cell. The first to enter had the scar-faced fairy queen perched on his shoulder. The children stared at the winged creature with wide eyes, and she in turn leveled her gaze on them. Joe then realized what she'd meant by the word "leverage."
"She's the evil stepmother!" he shouted to his niece and nephew. "Don't listen to her. Do whatever you can to get away!"
Joe rose to his feet and stood in front of the children. He curled his hands into fists and held his stance firm.
One push, however, was enough to knock him off balance. He hit the rock wall and a suffocating hand flew to his throat.
Morgan and Ryan put up the fight of their little lives with teeth, flailing arms, screams, and tears. Before long, though, the guards had them lifted over their shoulders.
With the twins in tow, the gray horde funneled toward the exit. Ryan reached toward his sister with outstretched fingertips. Joe thought it was just a desperate gesture of protection, but then Ryan vanished. And while the guard who had been carrying the little boy tried to come to terms with the impossible, Morgan disappeared as well.
"Look, you fools, they're up there!" the fairy queen shouted. "You! Follow them on foot. You! Get the Royal Air Brigade. Don't let them escape!"
Just as Joe's consciousness began to wane, the pressure on his throat lifted abruptly. He collapsed to his knees and coughed air back into his lungs. Once he was alone and could breathe again, he had a good laugh.
Wings. Now, why didn't I think of that?
⭐️⭐️⭐️