Growing more distressed, Fifer circled around again, staying high up and peering through the second-floor windows of the entryway, trying to understand what was happening. Finally the last of her friends were being stacked and sent to the library. “What?” she muttered. Were there people down in those remote rooms to guard them or something? Was this just a way to contain them?

Frieda, who’d retreated to the hallway when the fighting got rough, reappeared and came thundering down the stairs. “Destroy the tube!” she shouted when the last bodies disappeared. She produced magical sledgehammers and handed them off. A few dissenters cast the spells, and the magical sledgehammers began pounding the control panel, sending bits and pieces flying. Soon the whole tube began rocking off its base.

Fifer gasped. “What are you doing?” she cried. “Now there’s no way for them to—” She clutched her head as she realized what Frieda had done. On purpose. “No!”

Frieda Stubbs had trapped all of Fifer’s friends and team members in the remote expansions of the magical mansion, just like she’d trapped Simber in the theater. Only this was much more serious. These were humans who, unlike Simber, needed food and water to survive.

With Florence and Sky far off in the jungle, Fifer was the only one left to show Frieda Stubbs that she wouldn’t get away with this. But as the grim realization of what had just happened came over her, Fifer began to panic.

One Small Victory

Fifer wasn’t sure what to do. If she retreated now with the birds, would Frieda Stubbs feel even more emboldened? It seemed like that would make this already horrible situation even worse.

And what about all of Fifer’s friends who’d been frozen and sent to magical rooms with no way to escape? How was she going to get them out of there? They would thaw naturally in a matter of minutes, so being temporarily frozen wasn’t the problem—being trapped forever in the library and lounge definitely was, though. “Think, Fifer,” she muttered as she flew around the perimeter of the mansion.

The people in the lounge might be able to survive for a while with the food and drink to be found there, so that was a bit of a relief for some of them, at least. But what about the ones in the library? They’d have plenty of books to read to pass the time, which normally was sufficient in Fifer’s mind. But there wasn’t any water or food in there. How long would it take to repair one of the tubes? And how long would it be before Fifer or anyone else could get to it so they could try? This was a serious problem.

Fifer and her birds circled the mansion again, staying just out of range of the dissenters’ spell-casting ability, as she struggled to figure out what to do. What would Alex do? Or Aaron? Or even Thisbe?