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by myself,” Gwendolyn told her. “You knew I wanted to come with you! Now you can’t do anything about it. I’m going, no matter what you say.”

Chapter 5
    Annie sighed. She had hoped that Liam and Beldegard would agree with her and want to send Gwendolyn home, but Liam had said that someone would have to go with her and he wasn’t about to go, and Beldegard didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t join them. Now Annie was stuck traveling with her sister, who would make demands, expect to get her own way, and probably be as useless as a horse in a row boat. Life wasn’t fair.
    Once again Beldegard took the lead, only this time Gwendolyn was beside him. Annie and Liam were walking far enough back that they were able to hold their own private conversation.
    â€œWhat happened at that cottage?” Liam asked. “One minute everyone seemed friendly and the next minute you could cut the tension with a dull sword.”
    â€œThere was a needlepoint cushion that said ‘harmony, happiness, and peace,’ or something like that. Iheard the magic as soon as we walked in. Someone had imbued the cushion with magic so that everyone in the cottage would be nice and get along.”
    â€œYou mean they filled a cushion with friendly magic?”
    â€œExactly. An object can be used to do something magical, but my presence caused the magic to go away. I read about it in a book just the other day. Ever since people started asking me to undo their magic, I’ve been looking through all the books on magic I can find so I know what I might come across.”
    â€œHuh,” said Liam. “A magic cushion would explain why Mother Hubbard would let a bear into her house in the first place. She expected him to behave himself because of the magic.”
    Annie nodded. “And I’m sure it worked just fine until I made the magic fade.”
    â€œSo what about that other old woman? She said she recognized you. Had you ever seen her before?”
    â€œUnfortunately, yes. She’s the horrible witch I told you about who feeds children to fatten them up so she can eat them.”
    â€œThat was
her
! I wish I’d known,” Liam said, suddenly looking serious. “I would have taken care of the old witch then and there.”
    â€œWith her cousin standing by? For all we know, Mother Hubbard may be a witch herself. Just because she has a magic object that works on its own doesn’tmean she wasn’t the one who put the magic in it. And even if she is a good witch, we’d need proof before we can do anything about Granny Bentbone. No, what we need to do is get word to my father. He can send men to search what’s left of the gingerbread cottage. The cages are probably still intact, and there were all those old children’s clothes and toys in the loft. If the men dig through the rubble, they might be able to find something. Once they have proof, they can deal with the nasty old witch.”
    â€œGood idea,” said Liam. “I’ll send word from the village. If we’re lucky, we’ll find the dwarf and be back in time to help your father’s men.”
    Annie shuddered. “I wouldn’t call that lucky. I’d be a whole lot happier if I never saw that old woman again.”

    Set on the shore of the Crystal River, the village of Farley’s Crossing was a good-sized village built at the only ferry crossing for miles around. Annie was eager to reach the tavern and sit down for a while, but Beldegard called for a halt just inside the tree line before they ever set foot in the village.
    â€œI’ve been here before, back when I was still human. It’s a nice enough place, but the people here wouldn’t take too kindly to a bear walking through the center of their village. The tavern is on the main street. Youthree get some supper and I’ll meet you at the back of the tavern. Find Rosey and tell her that I’m out back