The girl who was formally known as Beatrice DuPont, but was currently Queen Beatrice LeBlanc, was hurrying down a corridor with the guy who was formally known as Madoc Chapeau, but was currently her husband King Armel LeBlanc, who was also struggling to hold up the headpiece in his arms.

“I can’t believe you fit that in there,” Beatrice marveled.

“I can’t believe no one noticed a seven foot tall mirror disappear,” Mat Hat marveled back.

“What are we gonna do with it?” she asked.

“Did you still want to go home?” he asked back.

“Yes.”

“Then that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“How?”

He sighed. “Good question.”

“Need some help?” came a now familiar voice as Annette strode into view. They pushed open a door to what appeared to be a large storage closet.

The King set his freight down on the ground with a heavy thud. He then reached deep into it and, with quite a bit of effort, managed to haul the magic mirror back out.

“There we are,” he announced and shook the hat until it was back to the flat cap it was when Beatrice first stole it.

“I thought you said you didn’t know what a lion was,” the Queen remarked.

“I didn’t – I don’t.”

“But there’s one right here.” She indicated the picture carved into the ornate and polished wooden frame of the mirror. “Wrestling a unicorn…”

“I’ve never seen that crest before,” he mused.

“That’s because it’s from her world,” explained Annette.

“How would you know that,” asked Beatrice.

“I came across it in my research.”

“What were you searching for?”

“I got tired of the grind,” they shrugged. “I was looking for something more than this life is currently offering.”

“How do you expect to achieve that?”

“Well, I figured I’d at least try something different before I went insane. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I’m starting to,” Beatrice conceded.

“I have an idea,” King Armel interjected. “A way for us to all get what we want.”

“Ok, but can I have my clothes back now? I don’t think this attire is entirely appropriate for me to be wearing back on my side of town.”

Regular Beatrice DuPont stood before the great mirror in her cocktail dress with matching cropped jacket and kitten heels. Annette quietly left as Beatrice frowned at her reflection and her remaining companion watched curiously.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I feel so different, yet I look exactly the same.” She sighed and turned around to look at him. “I have no idea what happened these last couple days, or if these last couple days even happened, but I guess I should thank you.”

“It’s me who should do the thanking,” he argued. “I feel pretty different too.”

Sounds of footsteps running up and down the hall made their way through the thick wooden door of the closet. “Find those traitors and send them to the guillotine!” Angry Jacques bellowed.

“Alright, better get a move on,” Mad Hat advised. “That is, if you still want to go back.”

“I have to go back to my own reality,” Beatrice confirmed. “This place has no real sense of gravity for me. Don’t be mad, but I’m still half sure I’m whole dreaming. Or was it the Red King who dreamed me?”

“You’re not dreaming,” Mad Hat said in a low voice with a strained smile.

“So says the figment of my imagination,” she argued, but with less force than before.

“I swear I wasn’t going to let Jacques hurt you or anything.”

“Still, you should have told me what you knew.”

“I didn’t want to freak you out.”

“Oh, because nothing else that happened freaked me out, right?” she asked sarcastically.

“I thought they did?” he puzzled.

“You need to learn sarcasm, man,” she rolled her eyes. “What are you gonna do about the mirror?” She traced the carvings tenderly.

“Destroy it,” he said firmly. “Otherwise Jacques will probably use it to send an army into your world to try and conquer it, or something.”

“I don’t think he’d get very far, especially with winter around the corner, but it’s probably best that our two worlds are kept separate,” she agreed.

A loud banging sounded at the door. It seemed the royal outlaws had finally been found.

“Ready, then?” the King asked.

The Queen took a deep breath and nodded. “Bye,” she smiled weakly, “for forever, I guess…”

“Goodbye.” He looked like he wanted to say something more, but before he could get the words out she had given him a light kiss on the cheek, slipped through the mirror, and was gone.

Jacques and his men burst through the door. “HAT!” he shouted angrily.

Jacques was crimson with rage. “Th-th-the muh-muh-mirror!” he stuttered forcefully.

“It’s broken, Your un-Majesty!” a soldier stated.

“I can see that!” Jacques bellowed, and indeed he could.

Shards of reflective glass littered the ground along with the splintered wooden frame. He snatched up the only thing not broken in the midst of the mess, which was  a plain cap.

“That trickster may have ruined my mirror, but I’ll have his magic hat!” Jacques eagerly stuck his arm into the fabric cavity. “What!?” he hollered.

Instead of finding a treasure trove good enough to rival that of an English nanny, he had only found the inside of a hat. Jacques turned the whole thing inside out, but found it only to be an ordinary piece of headgear. He threw it to the ground in disgust and moved to storm out of the oversized closet.

“Where are they!?” he growled.

“They’re gone,” announced Annette, blocking the doorway wearing a long cape and carrying an ornate sceptre.

“What are those,” Jacques questioned in disgust with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“I thought I should look the part.”

“The part of what?”

The bishop appeared and snatched the crown off of Jacques’ head, which had left a bit of an indent in his otherwise perfect hair, and placed it on Annette’s.

“La Reine est partie, vive le Souverain!” the bishop proclaimed.

Jacques’ mouth gaped open. “What is the meaning of this!”

Annette adjusted the crown slightly. “The King and Queen abdicated to me before they left,” they explained simply. “Guards, take him away. There are going to be a few changes around here.”

To be continued…