Walking back to the village, Snow felt positively sick to her stomach as she pictured the jeweled mirror in her mind and replayed the words of the dwarf in her head. The wind blew briskly as she quickened her pace. Snow wondered about her disappearance. Was she supposed to disappear? Was she meant to be here in the Willows? What if she was supposed to stay in her own time and have children? What if she has changed history by coming here? She may never know, thought Snow. Not being helped much by the winter wind, Snow felt chills go down her spine as she remembered the eerie feeling she got when she looked into the mirror at Ben's place. She only felt that way when Margurite was nearby. What if Margurite weren't dead. Would all of this be for nothing? Everything that she and Mike have suffered, the amnesia, the tears, the worries. Was it all in vain? She needed some of Jen's herbal tea to calm her stomach. Karen once told her to quit worrying so much about things or she'd get an 'ulcer', whatever that was. When she arrived at the main hut, to her disappointment she found the kitchen empty. She began searching through drawers looking for the tea, as she started the teapot to boil on the stove. Finally, after searching the same drawer three times due to her lack of concentration, she stopped searching and simply leaned against the main pantry door in the kitchen. Her mind raced with the events of the day combined with terrible visions she just couldn't shake. Why is all of this happening? Things were finally starting to look up until now. As nice as he was, she almost wish she hadn't met Ben so she would have never seen that stupid mirror, and all the horrible visions of Margurite and her fury wouldn't have come rushing back to Snow's mind. She buried her face in her hands as she tried to shake the thoughts away. Instead she thought of Mike and the previous evening. She remembered his warm smile and his loving eyes. She could almost feel his kiss from last night. She wished she were there again. "Snow? Are you alright, love?" Snow's head snapped up almost as a reflex to the voice that would never fail to set her heart racing. As if someone had heard her wish, there was Mike. She gasped a quiet sigh of relief, "Mike. It's so good to see you. I was looking for Jennifer's herbal teas. I couldn't find them." Mike chuckled, "You and Karen both have trouble finding that tea!" He remembered back to the day when Karen was searching desperately for Jen's tea whilst trying to tell him about his relationship with Snow at the same time. Snow winced slightly at his mention of Karen, but then brushed it away in remembering their talk last night. He went straight to where the teas were as Snow made a mental note, "Which one were you needing love?" "It's my stomach. I need something to settle it." Mike looked at her with concern in his eyes as he proceeded to make the tea for his Princess, "What's wrong, love?" "It's nothing, really." "Are you sure? You know I'm a good listener, Princess." She looked at him for a long time. Should she tell him? She really didn't want to worry him. What she really wanted was a hug from him. He made her feel safe, always. Before she could stop herself, she stepped toward him and hugged him, throwing her arms around him. This is a pleasant surprise, thought Mike. Then he heard Snow's whimpers that she tried so hard to hold back and he took a step back to look at her. Snow lowered her head, trying to conceal her crying. "What's this? What would make such a lovely princess cry?" In a more serious tone he put his hand under her chin and lifted her head, "What's wrong, love? Please tell me. It breaks my heart to see you cry. Let's go to my cabin, shall we?" Feeling better already, Snow nodded and grabbed her teacup as Mike put his arm around her and led her outside.

Just like the night before, Snow was welcomed by the warm smell of cinnamon and citrus that she had already come to love so much. Mike led her over to the fire where they sat on the soft rug before it. Snow started immediately, eager to get the words out that she may feel free of the burden it had on her, "I met a new friend in the woods. He is very nice. His name is Ben." Mike was taken aback by this, "You met a strange man in the woods?" "Well, he's not exactly a man-I mean he is, I guess. He's really little. He said he was a dwarf." Mike chuckled before he caught himself. A dwarf? With Snow? Snow White with a dwarf. He just couldn't help himself. "I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself. It just hit me funny because of the tale." "The tale?" "Yes, you know-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Did no one tell you how it went? I realize you didn't know when you got here, but I assumed that by now someone would have told you the whole story." Snow shook her head. "Oh, well then let me tell you the story. But you finish what you were saying about your new dwarf friend first. I'm rather curious now." Snow was already lost in thought back to what Ben had told her about the mine. He said he was descended from seven dwarfs! Mike noticed that Snow suddenly turned pale as she sat staring into the fire, "Snow--are you alright, love? Snow?" Snow brought her attention back to Mike, "Seven dwarfs? You said seven dwarfs?" "Yes. What is it? What's wrong?" Snow swallowed hard, "Ben said he was the descendant of the seven dwarfs that originally carved the mine and that is why he inherited it." Mike was astounded, "Really?" Snow nodded and quickly began to sputter the thoughts in her head, "Yes, but there's more. He said they used to make mirrors for the queen that lived in a nearby kingdom before she disappeared in a similar fashion that the princess of that kingdom had disappeared earlier that year! Ben had the original documents from the dwarfs that showed the queen's name to be Margurite of the House of White." Snow stopped, averting her gaze to the floor to wipe her tears, "I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying. It just scared me, I guess. But then, Ben showed me the last mirror that the dwarfs made her. They took it back once she disappeared because she hadn't paid for it yet. It looks just like it did when I saw it. Ben said it's hundreds of years old, but it still looks like it did in the castle. It was just a few months ago to me. I remember it so well. And then there it was, right there in front of me today. It was such an eerie feeling. Mike, it was like it was looking back at me!" Snow was now sobbing as Mike hugged her close to him, "Shhh. It's alright. You're here. Everything's alright." Snow sat back and rubbed her stomach, "It's just made me so sick to my stomach." She reached for her cup of herbal tea and took a sip. Mike rubbed her shoulder, "Would you like me to make you something to eat? It might help your stomach." "No, but thank you. I really don't think I could eat any-Ouch!" Snow doubled over in pain, her hands grasping her stomach. "Snow, what's wrong?" "I don't know. It hurts! It really hurts! It's never hurt this much before." "Is it your stomach?" Snow nodded. Mike sat helpless, as he watched his princess wincing in pain, "Maybe some milk would help?" "No, Mike-there's something wrong! I don't know what it is!" Mike stood up, "That's it, we're going to the Surgery." He picked Snow up in his arms and carried her out of his cabin and over to Karen's. With Snow in his arms, he kicked at Karen's door, unable to knock. As soon as Karen opened the door, Mike sputtered in a panic, "Karen, there's something wrong with Snow. She's having terrible stomach pains." "Get her to the Surgery, " spouted Karen as she looked back at Dinger sitting over by the fire. They both followed Mike with Snow over to the Surgery. Mike laid her down onto the examination bed. "What are her symptoms? What has she eaten lately and when?" Karen began to feel around her stomach. Snow felt her stomach churn and cupped her hand over her mouth. She jumped down from the table pushing past Karen towards the bathroom. Karen followed, "Snow?" After hearing a spout of gagging and heaving, Mike started for the bathroom but was stopped by Dinger, "Mike, it's alright. Karen knows what to do." As Karen watched Snow coughing up blood, she heard Dinger's words. 'The hell I do!' She thought. "Karen, I feel dizzy. " Snow grabbed onto the sink for support as she sank to the floor. "Dinger, come help me!" Karen didn't want Mike to see the blood, but it was too late. Mike had already torn past Dinger and into the bathroom. "God! Snow?" "Mike, get out!" Karen yelled as she assisted Dinger in picking up Snow and carrying her over to the examination bed. Karen continued to bark instructions, "Mike, go sit over by the fire. Dinger, please set up that privacy screen for me." Dinger unfolded the standing screen to act as a divider between Karen's exam area and the waiting area by the fire. Mike, ignoring Karen's orders, still lingered by Snow's bed, "Is she going to be alright?" "Mike, I said go sit. You're in the way!" Dinger touched his arm, "Come on, man. Let's get some coffee." Mike threw off his hand, "No! I'm not leaving her!" Karen yelled over him, "Mike, calm down! This is not helping!" Even over the screaming, they all seemed to hear the quiet plea of Snow lying next to them, "Mike." Mike brushed past Karen and took Snow's hand, "I'm here, my love." She offered a weak smile as she whispered, "Don't worry. Karen is your friend, remember? She'll take good care of me. You should do as she says." Mike nodded, "Then you just get better. Alright, Princess?" Snow nodded and Mike kissed her forehead. Karen asked in a calmer tone, "Can you bring back some milk and a little honey, please? I think Snow has a gastric ulcer. She'll need something to eat. Something bland-no spices. Oh, and ask Kahlua and Jen if they know if we have any of the herb 'goldenseal'. It's used in tea to help speed the healing process for things like this." Mike nodded. Dinger patted him on the back as they left the hut, "She'll be alright, mate."

After a little something to eat and some milk, Snow was feeling better. Karen was still concerned about her spell in the bathroom and wanted to keep her in the Surgery for another day. Snow was put on a bland diet with no caffeine and lots of milk. Since Snow wasn't in the usual habit of drinking alcohol, there didn't seem to be a need to mention that. Karen sat with Mike by the fire as Snow slept in the other room, "She needs to be kept away from stressful situations. Something had to set this off." Mike told her about Snow meeting a dwarf in the woods and about the mirror. "The whole history lesson she got today really had her upset." Karen frowned, "It sounds like it'd be best for her to not go back there." Mike nodded. There was a rap at the door, followed by Stevie inviting himself in, "I jus' 'eard 'bout Snow. 'ow is she?" Karen smiled, "Shhh. She's sleeping right now. She's going to be fine, Stevie. We just have to keep an eye on her." Mike added, "Yeah, and keep her away from dwarfs and mirrors." Stevie met him with a confused look. Mike told him about the dwarf she met in the woods, the jewel mine, and Margurite's mirror. Stevie offered loudly, "A dwarf and a jewel mine! That's just like the story!" "Shhhhhhh!" Karen and Mike added in unison. "Sorry." Stevie whispered with an embarrassed look at Karen.

After about an hour, Snow awoke from her nap to find Mike watching by her bedside in the Surgery. "Hello, Princess." Snow couldn't think of a lovelier way to wake up. "Hello." She started to say 'hello prince', but then remembered that he wouldn't remember all that. She really did wish he could remember that he was her prince, from the Halloween festival and beyond. "How are you feeling?" Snow started to sit up, "Better." Mike pulled up her blanket, "No, don't get up. Just rest." Snow touched his hand, "Will you stay with me?" He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it, "I'll sit with you all night if you like." Snow smiled. Mike began a playful tone, "You know Karen said we have to keep you away from anything stressful. So, I've been thinking about the way to do that." Snow answered playfully back, "Oh, and how would you propose to do that?" "I think I should keep you locked up with me for a while with no outside entities allowed in to put stress on you." Snow giggled, "Oh really? And what if it were you who were putting all the stress on me to begin with?" Mike's smile faded. "God--I am, aren't I? It's all this business with the amnesia that did this to you!" Snow tried to interrupt, "Mike, I was kidding! You're not-" "Princess, I'm so sorry! How could I be so dense that I didn't see it? All this time-" Snow quickly sat up and kissed Mike to shut him up. Then she looked him in the eyes to be sure he was listening, "You're not the one putting stress on me, OK? It's all this stuff with Margurite. You know that. Now stop being silly, you silly thing!" As Mike dreamily watched her lie back down, he thought perhaps he should continue to be silly if it would force her to shut him up like that more often. "Can you do something for me, Mike?" He gently touched her cheek, "Anything for you Princess." Snow bit her bottom lip like a little girl, then asked, "Will you tell me the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?" Mike offered a very large grin, "Of course, love. Be happy to."

 
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Snow fished around in her plate at the bland chicken and rice dish as she watched the others indulge in Mike’s famous spicy chili for lunch. He hated to make it now, since Snow couldn’t have any, but it had gotten pretty cold and there were a lot of requests from the men of the Willows for him to make some. As everyone was ‘chowing down’, a sheepish grin formed on Travis’ face as he thought of his next witty statement for the day. "Gee Snow, I sure am sorry that Mike here gave you an ulcer." Mike’s silent glare at Travis spoke volumes. "Mike didn’t give me an ulcer. You all are so silly," Snow added almost under her breath then continued, "It’s all this stuff with Margurite and the mirror and everything. I just got spooked, that’s all." Kahlua set down her coffee, "Well, I think it was bound to happen anyway. I mean, heavens, look at all you’ve been through already." Karen added quickly, "Well, I think it’d be a good idea to just stay away from the mirror and that dwarf." "But Ben is my friend." Dinger added with a mouthful of bread, "Karen’s right. Why don’t you just blow up the mine? You seem to be pretty good at that stuff here lately." Snow lowered her eyes in shame. "Oi!" Dinger rubbed his shin after a swift kick under the table from Kaz. Mike was trying to get Snow’s gaze back, "Dinger, that was quite unnecessary. Snow, don’t listen to that ‘barbarian’ over there." Snow snapped her head up, but said nothing. Barbarian? How could he have known that used to be her secret nickname for Dinger? Must have been a coincidence. But she thought it refreshing that they thought along the same lines. Snow set down her fork, "If you all don’t mind, I’m rather tired. I’m going to go and rest for a while." Mike rose and went to her, "Snow, you alright, love? You’ve seemed kind of down today?" She struggled to think, "It’s probably just my stomach still recovering, that’s all. I’m alright." Mike desperately wanted to cheer her up, "I plan on working a little on that new spice rack later. Were you planning on working any on Tweety’s birdhouse?" Snow smiled weakly, "Sure. I’ll probably do that." Mike gave an encouraging smile, "Well, then we can be creative together, eh?" Snow smiled sweetly and left the hut. The wind was rather cold. Thomas had mentioned that morning that he predicted a winter storm very soon—this week even. Well, I picked a fine time to build a birdhouse, thought Snow. I’d never let Tweety sleep out in the cold. I suppose I’ll just hang it in my tree house for the time being until springtime. Snow wrapped her cape in tighter as she walked to her house. She hated to act so strangely that day, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t get it out of her head. The dream she had last night was just too real. She went into her house, made herself a fire, and laid across the pillows. She would rather have had a dream about Margurite—even that would have been better than the vision that had been plaguing her thoughts all day. They say dreams get fainter as time goes on and it’s harder to remember them. Well, this one didn’t seem to be fainting at all. She could still see it. As she was walking across the village, she rounded a corner and there they were. Mike had Karen in his arms, kissing her passionately. Why did she have to go and have a dream like that? Why couldn’t she dream that she were attacked by wolves or something—anything would have faired better to Snow…anything but to see Mike with Karen. She still worried about it sometimes, even now. Ever since the amnesia, it seemed like they are close in a different kind of a way than before the accident. Before that, it was just playful like with she and Stevie. Mike can’t even remember their date when they talked about all of that. Snow wasn’t worried about Karen, really. It was Mike. Recently, when he spoke with Karen about Snow’s diet and this and that, Snow felt like she were being ‘babied’ by them. With the two of them bustling around her, they seemed to be closer now and she was just the ‘sick child’. "Oh!" Snow turned over, trying to clear her thoughts. She knew she was being silly, herself. She knew that there was nothing between Mike and Karen, but she just couldn’t shake that stupid dream. Snow thought, perhaps a nap would bring her a better one, as she drifted off to sleep. Fluttering down to Snow’s shoulder, Tweety nuzzled her cheek with his beak. Snow opened her eyes and sat up as she yawned, "Goodness, I wonder how long I’ve been asleep. You want to go work on your house, don’t you? Alright, I’m ready." Snow wondered if Mike was there working on his project.

Later that afternoon, Mike was out working on the new spice rack for the kitchen. "Hello, Mike!" came the greetings of Ivanhoe, Ribold, Duncan, Ritchie and Stevie. "Where are you men off to?" "We’re working on a surprise for the ladies—for Christmas. We could use an extra hand if you’re not busy?" "I’ll join you a little later. I’m going to finish this up." The men disappeared into the barn and shut the door with Stevie standing guard to make sure none of the ladies entered the barn. He of course was reading one of his many books. Karen was on her way on an ‘herb hunt’ when Mike spotted her. He was just finished sanding one of the planks, "Hey Karen! Just who I wanted to see." Karen walked over as she eyed his almost completed spice rack, "Hey, what’s up? Looks good." Mike smiled, "Thanks. I wanted your opinion on the size. Since you’ll be using herbs more, do you think I should add another shelf to the top here? I know you’ll be coming in to get your supplies quite often for the Surgery. I was thinking that the spot by the door is more than enough room for the rack." Karen thought for a second, "Yeah, you’re right. I’ll bet we’ll have more than enough to fill it. It’d probably be a good idea to add another rack to the top, there." "Right-o. Consider it done." He leaned over the rack and blew the dust from sanding the boards. The wind caught the dust just wrong, and some of it blew into Karen’s eyes, "Ah!" She covered her eyes with her hands. Mike rushed over to her, "Oh, Kaz, I’m sorry! I should have thought about the blasted wind!" "No, it’s alright. I’m alright." She rubbed one of her eyes, blinking violently, "I just seem to have something in this one…" Mike took her face with his hands and leaned toward her eye for a closer look as he saw the large splinter dangling in her eyelash, "Here it is—I got it." Snow happily bounded toward the woodshop with Tweety in tow. As she rounded the corner, she couldn’t believe her own eyes. There it was—her nightmare! Just like in her dream, there they were. She saw Mike standing in front of Karen, her face in his hands, kissing her. Her stomach coiled into a knot, killing any butterfly that might have been there. She couldn’t look for more than a second before darting away, unnoticed. Karen stepped back, blinking a few more times, "Thank you, Mike." "I’m sorry about that, Karen." "It’s alright, but I think I’ll get outta here before I go blind!" Mike shook his head feeling horribly guilty as Karen darted off. Mike went back to sanding the rack when he remembered, "I wonder if Snow is coming anytime soon? Perhaps I’ll go and check on her." He arrived at the foot of her tree house and called out to her, "Snow! Are you up there, love?" Just as he was about to start up the ladder, he thought, ‘No, let her sleep. She needs her rest. I’ll leave her some dinner just inside her door later with some poinsettias. That should make her smile when she wakes up.’

Collapsing to the woods floor in exhaustion, Snow gasped for air. She was almost hyperventilating as she sobbed uncontrollably while trying to catch her breath from running. She had to run away, at least for the time being. She didn’t want anyone to see her like this. How could this happen? It seemed to be contagious lately here in the Willows, Snow thought. The women running around kissing the other girls’ men. Snow tried to shake off such a cruel accusation, but she just couldn’t help it. She was angry! She even saw it coming—her dream. What do I do now? She sure didn’t want to go after Dinger! That thought was almost appalling. At that point, Snow didn’t care if she ever went back to the Willows, but she really wanted to talk to someone—someone NOT involved in all of this, someone NOT from the Willows. She stood to her feet and headed in the direction of the stream. She tried to retrace her steps back to the mine’s main entrance as best as she could remember. She really wanted to talk to Ben. He was so levelheaded and logical. He’d have some good advice for her. Besides, he was a monk—or used to be anyway. The wind was starting to pick up briskly. She remembered where the carved bridge was, then recalled the tree and landmarks near the main entrance. She wondered if Ben had patched up that hole yet, just in case she had to ‘drop in’ that way again. It had started to snow as the wind blew harder and harder threatening to toss Snow to and fro along the woods path. She could barely see where she was going as the snow whirled around her head making everything in her vision white. The cold blowing snow felt like needles on her face as the wind slapped the ice crystals against Snow’s cheeks. Finally, after a few pushes to the ground by the harsh winds, Snow spotted it—the main door to the mine. It was unmistakable--a large beautifully carved oak structure built directly into the rock face near the river. She began rapping at the door, "Ben! Ben, it’s Snow. Are you there? Ben?" After a few seconds she heard Max barking and then the sound of the latch on the inside. The door opened and Snow looked down to see her tiny friend, "Ben!" He was surprised, "Snow! What are you doing here? Geez, it’s freezing out here. Come on in." She shivering princess stepped out of the blistering wind and into the mine, which was slightly warmer than the outside, but not much. Max jumped up on her, gave a friendly bark, and licked her cold hand, which she petted him with and smiled, "Hi, Max." Ben shut the door, "It looks like there’s a blizzard coming. I was afraid of that. Come on. Let’s grab some warm blankets and tea and head downstairs. When it storms, I like to go down to a lower chamber in the mine for better shelter, just in case." They went back to Ben’s living chamber and grabbed some blankets and provisions. To Snow’s relief, Ben had covered the mirror back with a large quilt. However, Ben headed towards the mirror, "Here, this quilt ought to be pretty warm." As he pulled it off, Snow quietly gasped and tightly shut her eyes. As she opened one eye, she gave a sigh of relief to see that it appeared as a normal mirror. She didn’t quite know what she was expecting from the mirror, but was careful not to look at it too long. Ben and Max led her to a section of the mine with a small opening and a contraption that looked like the mine cart she had seen on her first visit there, but this one had two carts connected together and were both sitting on a track. Ben threw the supplies in the back as Max jumped in with it. "Yeah, Max. I know you love this part!" Ben hoisted himself into the front car and turned back to Snow, "I’d help you in, but I don’t think I’d do you much good." He chuckled, "I know I say that to you a lot, don’t I?" Snow stood looking at the cart and then looking at the dark cave the cart was heading into. Ben grabbed one of the lanterns off a nail nearby, "Well, you coming? I know it looks scary at first, but it’s fun really. Beats the stairs. It’s kind of like a roller coaster, although I’ve never been on one myself. Come on, jump in. You’ll be OK." As Snow pondered what in the world a ‘roller coaster’ was, she cautiously got into the front cart just behind Ben. He grabbed what looked like a large iron stick that was attached to the cart at the front, "Don’t worry. I’m an expert at this thing! Not a word from you, Max!" He pulled down on the lever and the cart slowly began to move ahead on the narrow iron tracks. As they moved away from the wall lanterns into the dark hole, Snow felt the cart moving faster and faster as they began slanting downward, sliding deeper into the mine. The dark damp wind rushed through Snow’s hair as she yelped at every bump and corner. They seemed to be taking the corners on two wheels, thought Snow as they whipped around each one and took rugged sudden turns. Snow’s mouth was so dry, she couldn’t even muster up enough saliva to swallow. She wasn’t really frightened, but her nerves seemed to overshadow the exhilaration of the ride at the moment. Her hands gripped the sides of the cart so tightly, her knuckles were surely white if she had been able to see in the pitch black of the cart’s path. Somehow, Ben knew when the end was coming, because he began to pull back on the lever slowing their pace until they finally stopped. It was pitch dark except for Ben’s lantern, which thankfully stayed lit. Ben jumped out of the cart, "Here, I’ll get us a good fire going. I’d help you out of the cart, but---well, you know." Snow climbed out of the cart as Ben went over and began to make a fire in the fireplace in the corner. As the room grew brighter, Snow saw a makeshift bed in the corner with some crates of supplies. "This is my ‘bomb shelter’ you might say. We’re very well protected from the storm down here. And once this fire gets going, it’s gets pretty warm, too. It’ll probably be pretty nasty out there for a while. You’d better stay here for the night. But don’t worry, Max will keep me in line." He winked at Snow, "Won’t you Max?" Max barked as Snow smiled, "That’s OK, Ben. I’m not too worried—I think I could take you!" Ben put up his fists jokingly, "Oh really?" Snow in turn put hers up, too, "Yeah, really!" Ben waved hands at her in surrender, "Ah! I’d never hit a woman!" He went back to tending the fire. Snow began to get the extra blankets and supplies from the other cart, "You ever considered getting a roommate?" Ben poked at the embers, "Why, you know someone looking?" Snow paused a second while she threw a blanket down near the fire, then said sadly as she sat down, "Yes. Me." Ben turned to look at her, "You? You planning to move out of the Willows?" "Perhaps." Ben sat down next to her, "Something happened, didn’t it? That’s why you’re here. Wanna talk about it? You don’t have to." Snow tried to keep from crying but she couldn’t help it. "Yes, I do want to talk to someone, really. Oh, I just hate crying! Seems like that’s all I do anymore!" She violently rubbed her tears from her face as Ben looked on sympathetically, "Hey, it’s OK. I don’t mind." Snow leaned back against the wall as she gathered her thoughts. Ben jumped up suddenly, "Hey! You know what you need?" Snow shook her head. Ben puffed out his chest proudly, "You need some of Ben’s famous homemade ale--that’s what!" Snow smiled at the pride of her small friend as Ben went over to the provisions he had packed and pulled out a large jug and two mugs. Snow wondered how he was able to carry such a large jug being so small as he lugged the thing over to the fire. He had a beaming smile, "Here we are! Best stuff this side of the country—the continent, even!" Snow took the mug and tasted the brew very cautiously. She never really liked ale all that much. She preferred Mike’s delicious wine to anything, then scolded herself for thinking of Mike. To her surprise, the stuff was quite good. It had a hint of sweet, which Snow liked better than the usual sour taste of ale. "So what do ya think?" "Ben, this is really good. I was surprised, in that I’m not a big ale drinker. What’s the recipe?" "Ah, ‘fraid I can’t tell ya that. It’s been handed down for years, originally invented by the seven dwarfs who carved this mine. We dwarfs have been sworn to keep its recipe secret. Sorry." Snow giggled, "That’s OK. It’s probably better that I don’t know." Ben took another large swig and refilled his mug, "So tell me lass, what brings you here?" Snow took the next couple of hours telling Ben everything. She told him about Margurite sending the huntsman to kill her and then her falling into the Willows. She went on about her royal decree and Edward, and then how Mike became her real true love. Feeling more relaxed by the ale, she told him of the attempts of Margurite to kill her and her trying to blow up the portal. "So that’s what that that noise was? I heard the blast, but didn’t know what had happened." Snow was embarrassed at practically blowing up the woods and looked down in shame at her empty mug, which Ben quickly filled again. She went on to tell him about Mike’s amnesia and about what she saw with Karen and how it was just what she had dreamed. Ben looked thoughtfully at Snow, "Well, the way I see it, it sounds like you and he have a fine relationship. I don’t think he’d go and mess it up like that, you know? Just cause you dreamed it don’t mean it’s got to come true, right? You really saw them kissing?" Snow thought a second, "Well, no. Mike was standing in front of her, but he had her face in his hands right up to his." Ben shook his head as his speech was a little slurred, "Well, ya never know. It could’ve been a kiss, but then again it may have been something else. You should at least talk to him before you make any hasty decisions. Besides, they’re all going to be worrying about you now that you ran out in the middle of a blizzard, you know." Snow nodded. She couldn’t help but see Mike in her mind worrying about her. Feeling a little light headed and warm from the ale, her thoughts briefly drifted to Mike—his eyes, his smile, his kiss. She shook off her daydreaming and thought logically. Ben was right. She’d run out into a blizzard, unbeknownst to her at the time. And now everyone was probably out looking for her. "You’re right, Ben." Snow’s speech was now slurred a little as well, "I’m just a coward sitting here. I have to face this—face him. I really should be getting back." Snow tried to get up, then fell back down. Ben laughed at her, "You can’t go out like that! Besides it’s still storming and it’s already dark by now, you know. It’ll wait till morning, lass. Here, have another one for the night. It helps keep ya warm." "OK." Snow had no objections as her small friend poured her another. Snow leaned in to Ben almost whispering, "Hey, I have an idea!" "What?" "Let’s go for another ride on the cart!" Ben was surprised, "Now?" Snow’s eyes lit up. "Yeah! You think you can do it?" "Sure! I can shift that thing with my eyes closed! It’s just a matter of stopping in time is all. Done it hundreds of times—no, thousands! Come on! There’s a special water-powered elevator over here that you use to go up, see. And then you use the cart to come down." Ben stepped into a small wooden shaft and sat down. Snow had to duck to get in and then sat down next to Ben. "You’d better hang on, Snow. This ride is almost as bad as the cart!" He pushed yet another lever and the wooden shaft went sailing upward at an unbelievable speed. Snow squealed all the way up till they came to an abrupt stop. "Wow!" Ben smiled, "Yeah! What a ride, huh? That’s waterpower for ya. We’re right next to the river. Sometime, I’ll show you how it works. But see, now that we’re here, we just send this back down." He pushed another lever and the shaft went sailing back down. They walked over to where they had gotten on the carts originally, but of course they weren’t there. They were still at the bottom. "So how do you get the carts back up here?" Ben smiled as pulled yet another lever. Less than a minute later, they could hear the carts making their way back up the track until they finally stopped in front of them at the end of the line. Snow looked at Ben with a questioning gaze, "Water power again?" Ben smiled, "Nope…magnets!" Snow laughed as she and Ben jumped into the cart. This time, Snow wasn’t so nervous as they sailed around corners and turns laughing and ‘whooping’ all the way to the bottom.

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"Tie those barrels down!" screamed Duncan trying to be heard by Travis over the forceful winds. "Bart, did you lock up the barn?" "Yes!" "I mean did you lock it up really good?" "YES!!" The whole village was scampering about trying to tie down anything they could before the storm got worse. Pieces of wood and branches were flying around everywhere. The ice crystals nipped at everyone’s noses as the blistering winds blew the snow round about the village. Stevie was busy gathering the rabbits to be put up in the barn. Kahlua and Ritchie gathered the chickens assisted by Bart knowing he’d have to lock the barn up again. Ribold and Dinger were hauling extra firewood into the main hut while Karen helped Mike bring in extra food stores from the storehouse. "Mike, where’s Snow?" Mike picked up a crate, "Isn’t she helping Yvonne?" "No, I haven’t seen her since lunch." A look of sheer terror swept over Mike’s face, "God! She’s asleep in her tree house!" Mike couldn’t believe he’d forgotten. For some reason, he was thinking she was in the main hut helping Yvonne making up extra beds for all of them to sleep in till the storm was over. Mike dropped the crate of supplies and headed toward the tree house. Karen ran over to Dinger and Ribold and had to yell to be heard over the winds, "We have to help Mike. He went to get Snow. She’s still in her house." The two men dropped the firewood and headed in that direction with Karen. The three of them met up with Mike at the bottom of the tree, "Snow!" They kept yelling, but there was no answer. Mike had started up the ladder, battling the winds and swirling snow when suddenly there was a loud ‘crack’. Dinger yelled, "Mike, get down! We’re losing the house! Come down NOW!" Mike continued to call up to the house, "Snow!" The large tree swayed as the main branch holding the house gave way under the forceful winds, cracking and splitting. The house buckled under, tumbling down in large pieces. Karen screamed, "Mike!" as Dinger grabbed her and pulled her out of the way of the falling tree house. After a moment, Karen crawled from the snow and over to the rubble that was once Snow’s house, "Mike!" Kaz was joined by Dinger and Ribold as she yelled to them, "We have to get them out of there quickly. They’ll get hypothermia in this wind and ice!" The three frantically searched for their two friends lost in the rubble. Dinger yelled out, "Here, I got ‘im!" Karen rushed over to Mike who had been knocked unconscious and bleeding at the head once again. Karen worried that a second head injury made his chances greater for a serious concussion. "We gotta get him to the Surgery! I’ll just stay there for the night instead of the main hut." "Then I’ll stay with you, " as Dinger helped Karen try to pick Mike up. "Arg! Ribold, we need another hand!" Karen reminded, "No, keep searching for Snow. We have to find her! She’s been out here in this house a long time. We don’t know if she’s alright." Dinger spotted Edward and Bart rushing over to help. Edward and Ribold helped Karen get Mike back to the Surgery while Dinger stayed and helped search the rubble for Snow with Bart.

Ribold and Edward headed back to the main hut. Karen had Mike’s head bandaged just as Dinger and Bart entered from the menacing storm outside. They could barely get the door closed as Karen frowned at all the snow that had blown in. "Well, where is she?" Dinger was out of breath, "She wasn’t there. We looked all through that blasted mess." Karen’s jaw dropped, "What do you mean she wasn’t there?" "Just like I said—she wasn’t there, love. We looked all over." Karen glanced at Bart who sadly nodded in agreement. "Well then where the hell is she?" Dinger shook his head, "You got me on that one. Has anyone seen her since lunch this afternoon? That blasted girl is always runnin’ off ya know. We need ta keep a leash on that one!" "Dinger, she could be out there freezing!" Dinger shook his head, "Bart, ya know we can’t go out! Nightfall is nightfall, even in a blizzard." Karen heard Mike moaning and rushed back over to him to find that he was coming around, "Thank God! Mike, how do you feel?" Mike opened his eyes and saw Karen, Dinger and Bart all staring at him, "Good Lord! What are all of doing just staring at me like that?" All three bystanders laughed in relief. Karen asked again smiling, "Mike, how do you feel?" He reached up toward his head and felt all the bandages, "Like I got the worst headache in the world, that’s all!" They chuckled again, trying to keep it to a minimum. Mike suddenly remembered and looked at Karen, "Snow! Where is she?" Karen pulled the covers up closer, "Mike, you need to rest now. You had a bad fall, not to mention that you were buried under a house." Dinger added, "Yeah, in fact we had to make sure you weren’t wearin’ no striped socks like that wicked witch of the east chick!" He and Bart laughed at his joke while Karen kept her attention on Mike, "Mike, you do remember how you got here, right? You remember going to get Snow out of her house in the blizzard?" Mike smiled and tried to sit up with excitement in his voice, "Yes, but that’s just it. I remember! I mean I remember everything! Everything before the amnesia—I remember, Karen! I have to see Snow. I have to tell her! Where is she?" Karen was taken aback by his news. That second blow to the head had reversed his amnesia. How could she tell him that Snow was missing in the middle of a blizzard? "Mike, you can talk to Snow after you get some rest, and not before." She threw Dinger a concerned look and he nodded in agreement at her decision not to tell him just yet. Mike still felt a little lightheaded and dizzy from his injury so he took her advice in stride, "Alright. But tell her I love her, Karen. Will you?" Karen managed a weak smile, "I will, Mike. I will."

Karen sat by the fire with a hot cup of tea and Dinger in the chair next to her, holding her hand. Mike had been sleeping peacefully in the next room along with Bartolome. They all stayed in the Surgery for the night while the others slept in the main hut. Karen wore a worried look about her face all night unable to sleep. Dinger rubbed her fingers with his, "Where did she go, Dinger? What if she’s…" He interrupted, "I’m sure she’s fine, Karen. The storm looks to be lettin’ up. We’ll go at first light, alright Angel?" There was a knock at the door. They heard Stevie’s muffled voice, "Oi, Dinger, Karen, I’m trying to dig out the snow so I can open the door." After a moment, he managed to pry the door open assisted Dinger who gave it a good heave. "I come to see ‘ow Snow and Mike are doin?" Dinger frowned, "Stevie, why aren’t you in the main hut with the others till this storm’s over?" "The storm’s lettin’ up. I ‘ad to crawl out a window of the hut. The main door’s really snowed in good. But I jus’ ‘ad to come an’ make sure Snow an’ Mike were alright. Ribold said you were still lookin’ for Snow when he left. ‘ow is she?" Dinger touched Stevie’s arm and gently offered, "Well, she wasn’t there. We’re going to look for her at first light." Unnoticed by the others, Mike had gotten out of bed and was standing at the doorway, "What? Snow missing in this storm? Why haven’t you been looking all this time?" Mike started toward the door stopped by Dinger, "Mike, no! We will all go together! But not now—we have to wait. You know that! We’ve been through this. Come on, man. I know it’s your emotions talkin’, but we ‘ave to use our heads, here." Mike backed off, turning away. Karen looked at Stevie who shown a horrified look knowing Snow was lost in this blizzard. Mike headed back toward the bedroom. Karen was worried about Mike’s mental state and head injury and headed toward the bedroom while Dinger consoled Stevie by the fire. Karen was surprised to find Mike sitting on a bed crying, his forehead resting on his hand. She sat down slowly on the other side of the bed and gently put her hand on Mike’s shoulder. "I can’t lose her Karen. I just can’t. Where is she? Everything she’s been through—everything I put her through, the amnesia and not even remembering who she is. " He looked up at Karen, "She’s my soul mate, Karen. That’s who she is. That night in the barn when she and I had our date, I was going to propose to her. I was going to ask her to be my wife. But we got off subject, and we started talking about other things, and well—at the time I just thought it best to wait. Then the amnesia thing happened and—God, I wished I’d asked her there in the barn. Just to turn around and not even know who she is. It’s a wonder she didn’t give up on me." Karen squeezed his shoulder, "But she didn’t, Mike. She loves you, I know she does." Mike lowered his head and closed his eyes for a second as tears dropped onto his cheek, then took a deep breath and looked at Karen, "I can’t lose her. Where is she, Karen? Where is she?" Karen wished she had anything else to say except, "I don’t know, Mike."

Just a few hours later, the villagers had dug the snow away from the main hut door and were planning a search party for Snow in teams. Mike hadn’t slept since he found out his Princess was missing. He was sick with worry. Duncan was going through some instructions with the group when Dinger leaned over to Karen, "Ya know—this is all like déjà vu to me. Don’t it seem like we’re always organizing search parties to find Snow?" Mike glared at Dinger but held his tongue. Duncan continued making the search arrangements. They took the horses and went out in teams taking blankets, food, water, and medical supplies. They split up in the woods calling out to Snow. Mike was searching with Karen and Kahlua. The two ladies were searching around a clearing when Mike felt something on his shoulder. He looked over, "Tweety? What are you doing here? I hope you weren’t out in the blizzard all this time. Hey, do you know where Snow is?" Mike chuckled to himself that he was talking to a bird. Why not? Snow did it all the time and it seemed to work for her. Suddenly, Tweety flew up and in the direction of the stream then back to Mike, squawking. "Are you trying to tell me something, or is that just something birds do?" Tweety repeated his actions. Mike decided he had nothing to lose and followed Snow’s blue jay, forgetting of course to let Karen and Kahlua in on it.

"Thank you so much Ben for your hospitality. I so appreciate it. And thanks for letting me cry on your shoulder." "Anytime, Snow. You know you’re welcome anytime." Snow leaned down and hugged her friend and then rubbed Max on the head, "Now you take care of him, Max. Hear me?" Max barked as Ben laughed, "What, this lazy mutt? It’s more like me takin’ care of him and he knows it!" Ben walked Snow to the main door of the mine, "Now, don’t forget what I said. Just talk to him. I know you’ll get it all straightened out. Keep your chin up!" Snow smiled as she put her cape hood up and went out into the snow. Ben returned to his chamber and began to light up his fire. "Why did you let her go, Benjamin? We had a deal!" Ben gave no response and continued to poke at the fireplace. "I asked you a question Mr. Benjamin. Why did you let her go?" The dwarf kept his gaze at the fire, "Because she’s my friend, that’s why. She told me all about you, you know." "We had a deal, Benjamin!" "I don’t want nothin’ bad to happen to her. I’m not so sure what you have up your sleeve, now—your majesty," he said sarcastically, as he turned to face Margurite.

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The storm had all but dissipated and there were just flurries sailing by here and there, as Snow left the mine. The air smelled so clean and the wind was crisp, but not too harsh. Snow began to replay in her mind the events that led up to her leaving the previous afternoon. She couldn’t help but be bothered about seeing Mike and Karen. She thought about Ben’s words. What else could it have been but a kiss? She started to feel upset again. How could she deal with this on an ongoing basis? She just couldn’t. It didn’t seem to stop. She felt doomed to be forever paranoid of Mike and Karen being together. There wasn’t really anything she could do. She wished things were like they were before the explosion. She was so much more confident of everything then, and she wasn’t even sure why. It must have been everything they had gone through together, Snow thought. It had brought them that much closer. Why do the memories he’d forgotten seem so important to Snow? She really didn’t know. She felt like even though trivial to everyone else, it was important to her. Standing by the stream lost in her thoughts, Snow didn’t even notice Mike rush over upon seeing the back of her cloak. With relief he grabbed her and turned her around, "Snow! Thank God you’re alright!" He pulled her in and hugged her tightly. Snow was completely taken off guard by his actions. Wide-eyed she hugged him back, "Mike, you startled me. What are you doing here?" He pulled back to look into her eyes, still grasping her arms, "We’re looking for you! All of us! The blizzard—you just disappeared! Where did you go?" Snow reached up toward the bandages on his head. Mike motioned toward his head, "Yeah, I took a fall during the storm. But I’m fine. But what about you? God, I was so worried! I told Karen that I was afraid I’d lost—" Snow interrupted, "Ahh! Her again! Karen! I saw you two kissing yesterday. What was I supposed to think about that? That’s when I left." Mike wore the most puzzled expression, "Kissing?" Snow voice began quivering, "Yes, by the woodshop." Mike chuckled, "Oh, love—I wasn’t kissing her, some sawdust blew into her eye and I was just helping her get it out." Snow pulled away from his grasp, "If that isn’t the oldest excuse on earth—even I know that one! Do you take me for a fool?" Snow turned and ran from him, sobbing. Mike ran after her, "Snow!" He caught up to her grabbing her by the arm. Snow lost her footing and tumbled to the ground taking Mike down with her. Sitting on the ground, she turned away from him, crying. He rubbed her shoulder, "Snow it’s true, I swear. I had just finished sanding that blasted spice rack and some of the sawdust blew into her eye. It’s the truth." Snow was still sobbing, still unable to look him in the eyes, "It’s just so different now—everything. You and her now versus then—what we talked about in the barn that day—things were different before the explosion. But you don’t remember it! I don’t know what to feel about that--I just can’t deal with it all!" Mike grabbed her arms and turned her toward him smiling with excitement in his voice, "But that’s just it, love! I do remember! It’s so crazy! Hitting my head—the same thing that stole my memory gave it back to me! I remember everything, Princess!" Mike brushed her face with the back of his hand. Snow shook her head, still trembling, "No. You’re just saying that. You just want me to believe it." Snow wanted to believe Mike’s words so badly, but he couldn’t remember everything just like that, could he? Mike gently took both of her hands in his, "Our date, All Hallow’s Eve…believe it, my love." What could he say to make her believe him, Mike thought? He rubbed her hands with his when he noticed it. He smiled knowing this was the one thing that would do it. She would believe him, now. "Where is your bracelet, love?" Snow gasped. Her yelp of relief was choked by a sob of sheer joy. She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. No words could express what she was feeling at that moment. But there was one thing that could. Tears in her eyes, she grabbed Mike and pulled him into a passionate kiss, lowering them both slowly to the ground. The blanket of snow beneath them didn’t even feel cold as they engulfed one another lovingly. With Snow’s arms about his neck, Mike caressed her face and her hair as he kissed her. Following Mike’s footprints in the snow, Karen and Kahlua had finally caught up to them. "Here you are---Oops! Sorry," as Karen caught sight of the couple kissing in the snow. Their kiss suddenly halted. Mike pulled Snow back up and helped her to her feet, both of them looking rather embarrassed as they glanced at Karen and Kahlua. Mike had never received a kiss like that from Snow before. He was thankful that he was wearing his apron to conceal the effect Snow’s kiss had on him. Kahlua gave a sigh of relief, "Thank God! Snow, where have you been!" Karen sounded the whistle around her neck three times as the signal that they had found Snow. Mike offered, "Let’s get back to the village. She can tell us about it later. I’m sure she’s freezing." Snow thought to herself how much she in fact didn’t feel cold, but felt warm all over as Mike rubbed her arms.

"OK, young lady," Dinger’s grilling tone sent a feeling of dread into Snow. She knew this was coming—a lecture on ‘not leaving the village alone’ once again. She knew she had done a bad thing, but they just don’t understand what all happened, what she was feeling. "Spill it, Princess!" Snow winced at Dinger using Mike’s pet name for her in such a derogatory fashion, "I ran away. I’m sorry. I’m a very bad girl." She gave a teasing side-glance to Mike, " Perhaps you should lock me up in the jail tonight." Mike returned her playful tone, "Yes, fine idea. I’ll volunteer to stand guard." Dinger winked at Mike, "I’m sure ya would, mate!" Duncan offered, "I don’t think that will be necessary. Besides it’s very cold in the jail now after the blizzard." Dinger continued his questioning, "Well, here she still hasn’t explained ‘ow she survived such a fierce blizzard out in the woods all alone." "Oh, I wasn’t in the woods." Karen raised her eyebrows, "You weren’t?" "And I wasn’t alone." Mike gave her a quick concerned gaze, "You weren’t?" "No. I was with Ben in the mine. We were quite safe, I assure you." Karen frowned, "You went back to the mine? But you were so frightened by that mirror? It upset you so much, it gave you an ulcer—or at least caused it to act up, really." Snow lowered her gaze, "Well, I was more upset by what I saw yesterday." Karen gave her a concerned look, "What do you mean, Snow?" Mike quickly stepped in, "I can explain later, Karen. Really, I think Snow needs her rest. I’m sure she didn’t have a very good night’s sleep in a cold mine." He turned to her and smiled lovingly, "You can sleep in my cabin for a while. Then I’ll get you something to eat." Snow looked into his warm brown eyes and smiled back at him, "Yes, well I guess the tree house would be awfully cold right now, wouldn’t it?" Kahlua spouted, "You’re right about that." Bart began sadly, "Snow, your tree house, well—it was destroyed in the blizzard. The wind knocked it right out of the tree." Duncan added, "Yes, and thank goodness you weren’t in it at the time. That’s how Mike was injured." Dinger had to throw in his bit., "Yeah he went after ya. Almost got ’im killed!" Snow turned to Mike and once again looked at the bandages on his head, tears filling her eyes. Mike simply held her hand and smiled at her. Stevie jumped into the conversation, "Doncha worry, Snow. We’ll all pitch and get yer house rebuilt in no time. Won’t we?" He looked about the room. "No," Mike said with a huge grin on his face, "we won’t be rebuilding Snow’s tree house." Snow looked at him puzzled but with a curious look in her eyes, "We won’t?" "No, Snow will be staying with me from now on." Snow offered innocently, "I will?" Mike looked at her with his loving smile, "Yes. Married couples usually live in the same house, you know." Snow squealed with delight as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. The whole room cheered with hollers and ‘congratulations’, as even Tweety flew happily about the hut. The tears flowed freely down Snow’s cheeks as she hugged her true love. She didn’t care that everyone saw her cry. It was the happiest day of her life…well, at least so far!

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Mike tucked Snow into his bed. He kissed her on the forehead, fearing that if he kissed her lips he wouldn’t be able to stop. Snow smiled knowingly, as if she could read his mind. With a regrettable ‘good-bye’, he slowly closed the door of his hut to let his Princess sleep. Glancing over at the barn, Mike then decided to give the horses a treat for suffering the cold blizzard since Jenn was still gone and Snow was resting. As he stepped into the barn with a basket of carrots and apples, he noticed the hay was wet and packed down from the blown in snow of the previous night’s storm. Through the twigs of soggy hay, some color caught his eye. He knelt down and picked up a few colorful beans. They were the coffee beans from the bracelet he had made Snow. "So that’s it--it’s broken. Bless her heart." Of course, this gave Mike the most wonderful idea. Finishing the spice rack would just have to wait. After searching the storeroom for fifteen minutes, Mike decided to try looking in the kitchen. There it was—under one of the cabinets. Figures, that someone moved it. He pulled out the tin that he kept his paints in along with hardened coffee beans. Since Snow was asleep in his cabin, Mike took his project to the woodshop to finish without interruption.

Kahlua was on her way into the barn to reclaim a tablet she left up in the loft the other day when she was stopped by Stevie. With some embarrassment in his voice, "Aye, sorry Kahlua. I got orders to not let any of the women in the barn." Kahlua put her hands on her hips, "Says who? Who’s orders?" Stevie counted on his fingers as he spouted, "Ivanhoe, Ribold, Duncan, Ritchie, Bart, and Dinger." Kahlua glared at Stevie making him very nervous which was her intention, "And why not?" Stevie stammered his words under Kahlua’s glare, "W-well, ya see. They’s makin’ somethin’ for--for all the ladies ‘ere in the Willows. Ya know—for Christmas." With a gleem in her eye, "Really? What is it?" "Um—well, I can’t tell ya. It’s a surprise. That’s why ya can’t go in the barn." "Hmmm. Well, there’s something in there I need. So, if you would be a dear and poke your head in and see if one of the fellows can give me my writing tablet? I left it up in the loft the other day." "Sure!" Stevie opened the door just enough to shout through the door crack, "Oi! Kahlua’s out ‘ere and says she needs her writin’ tablet in the loft. Can one of ya get it for her?" About a minute later while Stevie stood in front of the cracked door so Kahlua couldn’t see in, Stevie was passed the tablet. He held it right up in front of Kahlua’s eyes as the men inside shut the barn door, "’ere ya go, Kahlua." Kahlua chuckled a ‘thanks’ as she walked away shaking her head. Stevie went back to reading his book. After a while the men decide to call it a day and stepped out of the barn. Stevie was excited with his new idea, "Oi! You’re all ‘ere. I wanted to ask ya somethin’. Do you think we could still take a stab at fixin’ the tree ‘ouse?" Ritchie brushed some sawdust from his pants, "Well, you heard Mike. Snow won’t be needing it anymore." Stevie nervously kicked some snow around on the ground below. "No, not for Snow—for me." "For you?" "Oi! I’d really like to have a tree ‘ouse. Snow’s was really neat, ya know!" The men chuckled and Dinger patted Stevie on the back, "Well, Stevie. We’ll have to see about that one. We wouldn’t want another blizzard to knock it down again, now would we? Maybe we can plan for that for the springtime, eh?" Stevie halfway smiled, "Well, OK. But don’t forget, OK Dinger?" "I’m sure ya won’t let me forget, now will ya?"

Snow awoke to the sweet smell of raspberry tea. She opened her eyes to see Mike gently stroking her hair, looking on lovingly as she slept. "Well, hello sleeping beauty. How is my fiancée feeling?" Snow’s heart leapt at the word ‘fiancée’ coming from Mike’s lips as her butterflies soared once again. "I’m fine," she smiled cheekily and sat up. She looked over at the roaring fire as it tempted her with it’s brilliance, "Can we sit by the fire like we did the other night?" Mike was delighted at her request, "Sounds lovely." She pushed away her covers as Mike grabbed a few pillows and a blanket to throw down. The crackling of the fire gave Snow a warm and safe feeling coupled with being here with Mike, her Mike, who now had regained all those memories he had lost. Her fears were now put to rest. She was no longer going to be the silly girl who worried about the least little trivial thing. Karen was a good friend to both of them. In fact, the next time she saw Karen, she made it a point to give her a big hug. Mike watched Snow gazing at the fire lost in her thoughts, "Whatcha thinking about, love?" Snow had no reason to not tell him the truth. She turned her full gaze to him, "About Karen, and how silly I’ve been worrying about you two." He traced her face with his fingers, "So you do believe me about Karen?" "Yes, I do." "Snow, I should tell you this much. When you were missing in the blizzard, Karen was so worried about you, as we all were. But she didn’t sleep at all the whole night. And when I found out you were missing, she comforted me and encouraged me so I wouldn’t give up. She really cares about you. She cares about both of us, Snow." "I really want to talk to her and tell her how much I care for her too and just how silly I’ve been." Mike smiled and took her hand, "Well, that’s all well and good, but right now, you’re here with me and I’m not letting you out of my site for a while, Princess." She giggled. Mike’s eyes lit up as he remembered, "Here, I have something for you. Close your eyes and hold out your hand." He pulled the new bracelet from his pocket and instead of putting it into her waiting palm, slipped it onto her arm. As he did so, he whispered, "Open your eyes." Snow gasped as the tears immediately welled up in her eyes, "Oh, Mike. You made me another bracelet! It’s even lovelier than the first. Thank you!" She sat up and hugged him tightly. As she sat back down looking at her bracelet she sniffed, "I feel so guilty, now. I—I broke the bracelet. I was just so mad this one night about everything…Margurite, the amnesia, Karen." Mike listened earnestly to her feelings. He wanted to comfort her, to take her in his arms. But he knew that right now she needed him to listen. Snow lowered her gaze in shame as she continued, "And then I go running off during a blizzard causing everyone to worry about me. And you--you almost got killed because of me—my house! I’m really quite upset with myself, Mike. It’s like I’ve been able to take a step back and see what a child I’ve been. I’m so ashamed." She kept her gaze down, unable to look Mike in the eyes. He took her face in his hands as he so often does gazing lovingly into her eyes, "I don’t see a child, Princess. I see a woman—the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, in fact. I wouldn’t change anything, Snow—not even the amnesia. And let me tell you why. Because most people fall in love with someone one time, whereas, I’ve had the privilege of falling in love with you twice, Princess. And I wouldn’t change that experience for the world. I know that it’s hard to understand what I mean." Snow smiled and shook her head as a few more tears streamed down her cheeks and she whispered, "No, I do understand. Because I fall in love with you every day." Mike melted in her words and in her teary blue eyes. He watched her lips quiver as he wiped a tear from her face. He thought such beautiful lips shouldn’t suffer to quiver so. He indulged to still them with a kiss.

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"Whatcha doin’, Stevie?" as Ritchie eyed Stevie’s busy behavior in the snow near the main hut. "It’s the first big snowfall ‘ere and I’m makin’ a snowman!" Kahlua smiled, "Well, that’s a neat idea, Stevie! You want any help?" "Sure!" As Stevie, Ritchie and Kahlua gathered large piles of snow to build into a snowman, they were soon joined by Mike and Snow as they caught sight of the busy group while on their way to the main hut. "Well, we definitely need a carrot nose, some eyes and a mouth, " as Mike headed toward the kitchen to get the snowman some facial features. Pretty soon, there was a gathering of folks helping with the snowman, and he was done in no time. He had pinecones for eyes, a carrot nose, and for a mouth they painted some rope a red color and formed a pipe from a corncob. They gave him twigs for arms and threw a blue scarf around his neck. "Oi! We gotta ‘ave a hat!" Stevie started off to his cabin to see if he could find anything, when Nigel offered, "I have an extra one in my cabin. It’s an old one you can borrow for our chilly friend here if you like, since I couldn’t give ya my pipe, of course." Nigel returned with the hat that looked very much like the one he always wore, except a little more faded. "That’s a mighty handsome snowman there, Stevie." Stevie gave Ritchie a large grin at his compliment, "Thanks Ritchie! I love Christmas! I love makin’ stuff for the holidays, ya know?" Mike pulled Snow into him and began to sway with her in a dance as he sang part of the words to Winter Wonderland, "In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown. He’ll say are ya married, we’ll say ‘no man’. But you can do the job when you’re in town." Kahlua smiled at the blissful couple and then shivered, "Brrrr! I don’t know about the rest of you, but it’s pretty chilly out here! I think I’ll head on inside." With nods of agreement, everyone came on inside the main cabin. "That is the most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve ever seen!" as Ritchie stood admiring the lovely tree that Yvonne and Karen had spent the last few hours decorating. Cut by Nigel this morning, the large eight-foot evergreen stood in the middle of the main hut and was adorned with beauty. Entwined with garland of sparkling ribbon and strung dried fruit potpourri provided by Mike, the tree gave off wonderful scents of Christmas while it glistened in the firelight. Perhaps its most unique and special feature was its ornaments. Each inhabitant of the Willows had handmade an ornament of their choice for the tree. Adorned with everyone’s special touch, the holiday evergreen told a story with each branch. Mike’s ornament was of course one of his lovely handmade cinnamon stick log cabins. Snow made a replica of her Tweety bird out of small pinecones covered with tiny leaves for feathers and then painted it blue. Bartolome created a model of the ship they sailed over on to the New World. Ivanhoe carved a very detailed knight on a horse out of a single piece of wood. Duncan made a tiny replica of his own flute to hang on the tree. It actually worked as he demonstrated its high-pitched sounds. Nigel glued together an eye-catching wooden chest filled with some of the different shiny small treasures he had found on one of his expeditions. Edward’s ornament was a castle made from the description of Snow’s castle, as he found it more interesting to make than his own old homestead. Killion put together a lovely nativity ornament that Snow especially admired with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus as straw figures clothed with felt. Everyone’s ornament was special but all agreed that the most interesting ornament was Stevie’s. With his love of science fiction, Stevie handcrafted an ornament of the solar system. He had made the moon and every planet from different sized nuts and berries and a prickly sweet gumball for the sun and then hand painted them all in colors coordinating with their colors in the universe and wired them together into a perfect solar system. The moon was even wired to rotate around the earth. Stevie beamed with pride at his creation while everyone gave him their compliments. With Christmas still a few weeks away, there were a lot of things planned for a Christmas celebration in the Willows. Of course, there was the Christmas dinner, which would be served on Christmas Eve along with the telling of the first Christmas--a tradition in the Willows. On Christmas day, everyone planned to play some games, dance, and sing Christmas carols. It was a magical time for everyone in the village.

That night, Mike couldn’t help but notice that Snow seemed a little distant as they sat by fire, each with a cup of cocoa. "What’s on your mind, love?" Snow outlined the rim of her mug with her fingers, "I would really like to be able to sing carols with everyone. You know how much I love to sing. But I’m sure all of the carols that everyone will sing will be ones that I probably don’t know. I heard Stevie singing some carols today and I didn’t know any of them." Mike grinned as he leaned back and reached toward his bookcase. "I think our mysterious ‘mailman’ must have had you in mind." He presented to Snow a CD of various Christmas carols. "I found this in the woods today. There are so many carols on here, I think it covers just about all of them. Now, you’ll know them by Christmas." Snow smiled as she took the CD and read the carols listed on the back of the case. "In fact," Mike continued, "I think we should plan to do one together. You can sing and I’ll play the music for you. We can practice it here and surprise everyone on Christmas. Just pick out your favorite after listening to it a while." Snow bit her lip, "Do you think we should?" "Sure. But I’m probably more prone to say so because I just love to hear you sing, Princess." Snow smiled and leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder as she looked at the list of carols. Mike put his arm around her as he sang to her softly, "Oh, the weather outside is frightful. But the fire is so delightful. And since we’ve no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."

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Mike sat leaning against the foot of a chair in front of the fire with his fiancee next to him. Snow looked into his warm brown eyes and couldn’t resist. She curled up onto Mike’s lap like a little girl, put her arms around him, nuzzled her face into his neck and began kissing it. Mike wished so badly that they were already married, as this was driving him absolutely wild. Knowing she was such a naïve little thing and didn’t realize her effect on him, he tried to drum up casual conversation to get his mind pointed in another direction, "So, what’s the mine like, Princess?" She stopped kissing his neck and simply rested her head on his shoulder, "It’s fascinating, really. I had a nice time while I was there. I wasn’t scared at all. Ben and I rode to the bottom of the mine in a cart on wheels and then soared back up to the top in a wooden shaft he called an ‘elevator’." "So, Ben is kind to you?" "Oh, yes. And so is Max." "Max?" Snow began a playful tone, "Yes. Max is Benjamin’s friend. In the beginning he was mean, but now he’s a sweetheart--very friendly and quite handsome as well." Mike leaned back to look at her, "Handsome?" Snow smiled, "Yes, and he kissed me too." "He kissed you?" the jealousy began to shine through Mike’s tone. She emphasized, "Yes, big, wet, sloppy kisses!" Mike was dumbfounded, his mouth agape as Snow continued, "Max is Ben’s pet dog, silly!" "Oh!" came a huge sigh of relief from Mike as he noticed his heart beating almost as fast as when Snow was kissing his neck a moment ago. "Actually, Max is a wolf, " Snow continued, "Ben raised him from a cub." Mike raised an eyebrow, "A wolf? Isn’t it dangerous to have a wolf for a pet?" "Well, Ben seems to have tamed him pretty well. He makes a good watchdog for Ben, since Ben is so small. But Max is really a pussycat at heart. Maybe Ben just has that special touch." Mike eyed her playfully, "Well, just don’t be letting him give you any of that ‘special touch’. I don’t like the thought of you spending so much time with him." Snow eyed him back, "Oh, so you think I’m going to run off with a dwarf over you?" "I don’t know. Are you?" She looked up in thought, "No. Maybe I’ll just run off with Max instead!" Mike pretended to be hurt, "Oh! That hurt! Here, I’ll show you a wolf!" He leaned over Snow on his lap, grabbing her and lowering her down to the floor while he tickled her and growled like an animal pretending to bite at her neck. Snow was squealing all the while. Mike lifted his head from her neck and looked at Snow lying beneath him, giggling. He paused to look into her eyes, then traveled down her face to her lips, her neck. She has no idea what she does to me, Mike thought. Her teasing ways coupled with her naïveté of its effects on him drove Mike crazy. Becoming aware of Mike’s wandering gaze, Snow too began studying his features—his hair, his eyes, his mouth. She thought how cute it was that his nose was just slightly crooked that gave her a sense of relief that Mike wasn’t ‘perfect’. She didn’t want someone ‘perfect’, as she was not perfect herself. To her he WAS perfect…her perfect prince…now that he remembered. And she once again was his Fairy Princess. Again, Mike struggled to shake off certain thoughts as he gazed at his Princess lying beneath him. He sat back up pulling her up as well, "Are you hungry at all love? You haven’t eaten in a while." Snow had forgotten about food being lost in her happiness, "Yes, actually I am quite hungry." They bounded through the snow to the kitchen, made a few sandwiches and grabbed some pieces of fruit, then quickly got back to the warmth of Mike’s cabin. "So I must ask the future Mrs. Lovall, when she’d like to set a date for the wedding?" Snow smiled beamingly, "What are your thoughts on that Mr. Lovall?" He looked down at his cup of coffee, "The sooner the better. I mean—" he snapped back up to look at Snow, "whatever you’d like is fine with me, Princess." Snow giggled at his blunder as she purposely held his gaze, "What about New Year’s Day? That way we have a marvelous Christmas engagement and then start the New Year off in a brand new life together." Mike took her hand and kissed it, "Sounds perfect, my love." He tried to quickly calculate in his mind how many days that actually was. Snow gasped, "Oh, you know what? Ben will want to hear about this! I told him of what happened. And also…" her eyes shone excitement as she remembered, "he said he was once a monk and used to perform marriage ceremonies. Mike, he could marry us! Come on, let’s go ask him now!" Mike had a mouthful of his sandwich, "Now?" "Yes! Let’s go!" Snow was so excited, she took Mike by the hand, stood up and grabbed her cloak. Mike managed to grab his coat as Snow pulled him out the door.

Snow continued telling Mike about the mine and the exhilarating cart ride as she tried to get him to agree to try it out as well as the elevator. Mike spotted something up in a tree and stopped in his tracks pulling Snow to a halt. "What is it Mike?" She watched Mike looking straight up into the branches of the tree above them. Suddenly, Mike wore a huge grin on his face, "You know what that is up there, love?" Snow looked up, "What? Where?" "There—that clump of green that looks like it doesn’t really belong there." "Yes." "It’s called ‘mistletoe’. Do you know what it’s for?" Snow shook her head, "No?" Mike grabbed Snow around the waist and pulled her close, "The tradition of mistletoe is that you have to kiss when you stand beneath it." Snow gave a questioning grin, "Oh, I think you’re making that up." "No, It’s true. In fact, you can ask Karen or Kahlua or anyone when we get back." "All right, I will." Mike leaned in as if to kiss her as she raised a finger to his lips, "Ahhh, but you can’t kiss me until I’ve confirmed it." Mike released his grasp, somewhat disappointed, "OK, but that means I get double the kiss next time to make up for missing out, here!" Snow giggled as she took his hand and continued on to the mine.

As they rounded the bend to the mine’s main door, they found it partially open. "That’s strange…it’s usually locked. Oh, I know. Ben probably let Max out for a while. You’ll have to let Max get used to you first. Then he’ll warm up to you." Mike didn’t sound too thrilled, "Great." She led Mike down to Ben’s main living chamber. They found Ben sitting by the fire thinking rather intensely about something. "Ben! Guess who I brought with me?" Ben snapped his head in the direction of her voice with a horrified look, "Snow, what are you doing here?" "I brought Mike to meet you, Ben. Mike, this is my friend Benjamin." "How do you do?" Ben nervously shook Mike’s hand, then averted his attention back to Snow, "Snow, you shouldn’t have come! You have to leave right away!" "Oh, but we have so much to catch up on. She can’t leave now." A wave of sheer terror came over Snow as the voice behind her sent a painful shudder through her body. She was paralyzed with fear. Mike whirled around to see Margurite standing in the large mirror Snow had described to him. As the queen stepped through the mirror and into the room, Snow found the strength to turn around. There she stood face to face with her darkest fear. Margurite was still alive, glaring at the shivering girl. Mike stepped in front of Snow as if to protect his Princess from the menacing witch that stood before them. Margurite smiled at Mike’s attempts to shield her stepdaughter, "Mr. Lovall, do you really think that such a pathetic excuse for a boyfriend such as yourself is any match for me? Remember, I know all of your lame little Willow secrets. There isn’t much left for surprise. What card have you to play, ‘Mr. Coffee Man’?" Mike lunged at her trying to grab her. Margurite caught him in mid air with a wind gust of magic from a ruby ring on her hand thrusting Mike forcefully against the rock wall next to the mirror. Snow screamed, "Mike!" Stunned from the blow, Mike shook off a dizziness in his head. Then he realized his torso was stuck to the middle of the wall by the queen’s magic, his feet dangling below. He couldn’t pull himself free. Snow started over to him but was stopped by Margurite. "And you!" Snow yelped as the queen pointed her finger in Snow’s face, "You will do as I say or you can kiss your precious beau goodbye! Understood?" Snow nodded with fear in her eyes...not fear for herself, but for Mike. Margurite dragged her fingernails through her long hair. Draped on her person was a black and purple satin gown trimmed in gold ribbons and embroidered designs. She in addition wore lots of gaudy jewelry. The sheer sight of her made Snow sick to her stomach. Benjamin stood by the fireplace feeling helpless and guilty. The queen glided across the room over to Mike dragging the train on her satin gown, "Since I paid a short visit to the Willows myself, I discovered something in that repulsive little village that I actually became quite fond of. So I propose a trade. You go back to the Willows and bring what I desire and your boyfriend here goes free." Snow seemed to find new added strength in her growing anger at her stepmother, "What is it you want, Margurite?" The queen folded her arms and ticked her long fingernails against the satin sleeves of her gown, "Since the passing of your father, I’ve become quite a lonely woman. I’ve never been one to associate myself with servants, but then again I’ve never found one to my liking. It came to my attention while I was in the village, that the Willows men are quite attractive fellows, I will admit." She reached up and touched Mike’s chin. He turned his head in disgust and tried to slug her but couldn’t move his arms from the wall. The woman laughed at his reaction, "Oh don’t worry, I don’t much care for domesticated males, dear. However, I have always followed the idea of uniting with royalty, as with your father," she motioned to Snow who glared at the haughty queen. "I became quite familiar with that ‘prince’ of yours, Snow, seeing much of the world through his eyes and his mirrors," she added as a side note. "And after a bit of thought, have decided that I shall make him a permanent resident in my new kingdom as my own personal servant." Snow wore a puzzling look, "Do you mean Edward?" The queen’s piercing green eyes shown with pride giving Snow yet another shudder, "Of course! But he isn’t just Edward, now is it? It’s PRINCE Edward. And he will make quite a lovely cure to my loneliness." Mike forced a chuckle through his fear, "Sorry, Ms. White, but I’m afraid Eddy isn’t going to think much of you!" Margurite turned her green eyes on Mike, "Well, we shall see about that, now won’t we?" She whirled her full dress back around and walked over toward Ben, "Needless to say how grateful I was to Mr. Benjamin here for becoming such good friends with you, Snow. We have this lovely deal going, you see." As she gave Ben a wicked smile, Ben scowled at her, "You promised you wouldn’t hurt anybody! You better keep that promise!" Snow was shocked and saddened, "Ben, how could you do this? I thought you were my friend?" Ben lowered his head in shame, saying nothing. "So, little ‘princess’," she said sarcastically, "you have your work cut out for you, don’t you? Now you understand that you are to bring Edward with you ALONE, right? If you bring any of those other fools with you, especially that Dinger character, it will have serious repercussions. Do you understand me?" Snow nodded with a glance at Mike. "So I’d say you better be off to fetch my prince so you can return before dark. Go on…shoo shoo!" Margurite waved her hand at Snow as if she were waving away some kind of pest. Snow looked at Mike who smiled at her and winked to give her some encouragement. What else could he do? He hoped that Snow would bring the others secretly. Perhaps they could form some kind of plan to get them all out of there safely—he just didn’t know how. With a frown at Ben, Snow ran out of the room and out the mine door. What do I do, thought Snow? She slid down against the rock near the mine’s entrance, sobbing with fear. "If I bring Edward, he’s my stepmother’s slave forever, and if I don’t then Mike is doomed!" After a minute of sobbing, Snow wiped her tears, "Pull yourself together, Snow. This is no time to lose your senses! You’ve got to think! But I just can’t! I can’t do this!" As Snow’s face was buried in her arms, Snow felt something licking her hand. "Max!" She hugged her wolf friend. As she petted the wolf, she thought of a plan. "Now, Margurite has no intentions on harming Edward, but she would harm Mike, so the logical choice is to bring Edward. Then that’s where you come in, Max! I need your help on this. You think you can do it?" Max barked and put his paw on her leg. She took his paw in her hand, "Good boy! We can do this together! She won’t beat us this time, Max!" Snow crossed her fingers that Edward would still be fishing. He had mentioned earlier in the kitchen while she and Mike were making sandwiches that he planned to go ice fishing. Snow and Max rounded a clump of trees by the stream and found him relaxing by the partially frozen stream with just his fishing pole. He glanced in their direction, "God! Wolf!" He scampered up but stopped when he saw Snow, "It’s OK Edward. He’s with me. I need your help. Mike’s in trouble." Snow quickly told him what had happened and ideas she had for a ‘plan’. "Snow, I don’t know. That sounds pretty risky. What about the others? I don’t want to end up being that witch’s slave forever." Eddy shuddered at the thought. "We have to try, Edward. It’s our only chance! She said something bad would happen if we brought the others and I’m not taking that risk." Snow and Eddy headed towards the mine with Max in tow.

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"Do you think this will work?" Eddy asked Snow as she ‘prepped’ Max for their plan. "I don’t know—I hope so. Max is a very protective wolf. I would think it would be instinct." Snow and Edward entered Ben’s chamber to find everyone was there just as she had left them. Snow gave a silent sigh of relief to see that Mike was still all right. "Well, for a king’s brat, you follow directions rather quickly." Mike was very displeased at Margurite calling his fiancee a ‘brat’. The queen glided over to Eddy dragging her gown as she inspected him up and down, "Yes, indeed. You will be a dashing member of the court. No one will know you are my servant except for myself, of course. " "I am no one’s servant, Madame," Edward gave off a tone of disgust. "Oh, but you are. Don’t worry, you’ll be treated well." Snow was watching the door out of the corner of her eye, waiting for Max. The plan was for Max to attack the queen long enough for Edward and Snow to try and restrain her, as much of a plan as it was. But it was the last chance Snow had at a rescue. Sounds of a wounded rat outside the chamber led Margurite to bark orders at her ‘partner in crime’, "Ben, could you please see to that mutt of yours!" Ben went outside and led Max into the room ordering him to sit by the fire and stay there. ‘The plan was foiled by a blasted rat! Stupid wolf!’ Edward thought. What now? The queen turned back toward the mirror, "Alright, let’s get this over with." Suddenly, a rope flew out of the mirror, through the air and began to tie Snow’s hands behind her. She tried to wriggle free, but it was too late. The rope became a solid knot. Then with a clenched fist, the queen shot a blast of wind at Eddy with her ring freezing his feet to the floor. Margurite grabbed Snow and began to drag her from the room as Mike protested, "Where are you taking her?" "Never fear Coffee Man, my stepdaughter and I are going to have a little chat, that’s all." He could hear Snow’s struggling yelps as her stepmother dragged her out of the room. Seeing Eddy trying to free his feet from the floor, Mike pleaded to Ben, "You have to do something! You were Snow’s friend! How could you just hand her over to that witch like this? How could you make a deal with Snow’s life?" Ben wore a sadness in his eyes, "You don’t understand. Besides, she won’t hurt Snow. She promised." Mike clenched his teeth, "You can’t believe anything she says! She’s been trying to kill Snow for months!" Ben knew this. He remembered the horror stories that Snow had told him on that cold night of the blizzard. What could he do? He was just a tiny dwarf. If he broke the deal with Margurite, he would remain that way forever. She’d never give him her spell book then….the book with the magical spell that would make him a normal sized man and change his life forever.

Snow struggled and fought as Margurite dragged her down the long flights of stone stairs to the belly of the mine. Into a corner lower-level chamber with a large open wooden door, she pulled the Princess over to a chair and thrust her down, magically re-tying the ropes to keep her in the chair. Snow could hear rushing water and smell the dampness in the air. Again, the queen ran her hand through her long hair, "You hear that, Snow? It’s the river. These walls are particularly thin. That’s why you can hear the water so well. This chamber always posed a flood risk to the mine, which is why the dwarves built that heavy wooden flood door. If this chamber ever flooded, they would need to shut the flood door in order to not flood the entire mine." She smiled menacingly as she picked up a nearby rock chisel tool and dangerously began toying at the rock wall’s surface. "This time you have no knight in shining armor to save you, Snow! I’ll be rid of you forever—you and that sniveling dwarf friend of yours. This entire mine will be flooded within hours." She thrust the pickaxe into the wall and a stream of water began to spurt onto the floor. Snow’s eyes pleaded in terror, "You said you’d let Mike go free." Margurite glared at Snow with her green eyes while still wearing the smirk on her face, "So if I were to give you a choice of your life or his. Whom would you choose?" Snow whispered gently as her tears began to fall, "His." "Hmmm, alright. Because I’m so forgiving, I’ll grant your last wish and release your ‘coffee mate’. However, I must be rid of you. You understand, don’t you?" Again, she thrust the axe into the wall a few times until there was a large gust of water pouring in. "Well, if you’ll forgive me, I positively hate getting wet. So long, Snow White!" She laughed as she made her exit from the cavern. The freezing water was rushing in faster and faster as it continued to make the hole bigger allowing even more water to rush in. Snow frantically tugged at the ropes behind her and tried to mover her chair closer to the door. But the chamber was filling quickly and the chair was near impossible to move. "Snow!" She heard Ben’s voice and then saw him round the corner as he stepped into the soggy chamber. The water was up to Snow’s knees as Ben struggled to wade through the water, which almost came up to his chest. "Ben!" He tried to get the knots undone, "I can’t untie this—it’s too tight!" Snow wasted no time, "Margurite left a pick axe over there. See if you can find it to cut the ropes." He waded over to the wall near the door and fished around the water until he found it, "Got it!" As the water was nearing his shoulders, he found the ropes underwater with his hand and yanked them apart with the sharper part of the axe. Snow felt the release of her hands and headed for the door. A wave of water caught Ben and knocked him off of his feet. "Ben!" Snow waded towards Ben as he sputtered, "I can’t swim!" Quickly she grabbed him and pulled him through the water and out the door onto the upper level of the cavern. Shivering from the icy water, Ben coughed as he began tugging at the large wooden door, "Help me get this door sealed shut so the mine won’t flood." As the water rushed past them, Snow and Ben furiously tugged at the door until it slid shut and then they lowered the latch seal making the chamber watertight. Ben looked up at Snow, "I know it’s no good apologizing about all of this, but thank you for saving me back there, Snow." Snow gave him a forgiving smile, "Then we’re even now, Ben. You know, she was planning to kill you. She was going to let the whole mine flood." The dwarf stamped his small soggy foot, "Figures! I knew she wouldn’t keep her end of the bargain! Just like a witch! Ya see, she has this book of spells. She said there was a spell in it that would make me normal. You know--not a dwarf anymore. She said she wouldn’t hurt you. I should’ve known not to trust her. In any case, no spell is worth your life Snow. I’m sorry." Snow smiled as she took his hand, "Come on, let’s get to the elevator. We have to stop her."

"Alright Coffee Man. I’m letting you go, " said Margurite as she re-entered the chamber to find Mike and Edward just as she’d left them. She didn’t notice the absence of the dwarf. Mike sputtered immediately, "What have you done with Snow?" "Well, unless your girlfriend is a ‘mermaid princess’, I’d say she’s out of luck. But I was generous enough to agree to grant her last wish. So you shall fair better than she and escape with your life—that is, unless you try and test me." Edward still struggling to free himself from his frozen spot on the floor was stunned, "Mermaid Princess? You drown Snow?" Mike hardly even noticed himself fall to the ground being free from Margurite’s spell as he swallowed the horrifying thought that his Princess had drown. Not my Snow, not my precious bride! Not to drown, thought Mike. Such a horrible death! No, it just couldn’t be. Margurite watched with delight as Mike struggled to get up from the floor, too weak to stand, "Oh, don’t worry. You’ll be able to walk before the water gets to this level. I couldn’t risk your trying to be the ‘big hero’ again, of course. Come my prince! We’ll be off!" Before Margurite could release Eddy from his frozen spot, Snow came tearing into the room aiming straight for Margurite’s throat, "You leave them alone!" Through Mike’s weakened state he still managed a most exuberant cry of relief, "Snow!" Margurite grabbed the princess and tossed her against the wall. Edward yelled to the queen as he watched Snow slide to the floor in pain, "Let’s just go, Margurite! She doesn’t matter anymore. Release me and let’s go!" Margurite was furious enough already that Snow had escaped, "You must take me for a fool!" The queen turned to Edward not seeing Benjamin enter the room and grab a poker from the fireplace. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the object hurling toward her abdomen as she jumped aside just missing Benjamin’s swing. The queen grabbed the poker trying to yank it from the dwarf’s grasp. Max, still lying in obedience by the fire saw his master struggling and lunged for the queen. Snow sucked up her pain and ran toward Margurite to try and shove her back into the mirror and away from her friends. Grabbing Margurite, they both went sailing into the mirror followed by Max, just as Ben was taking another swing at the witch. ‘Crash!’ The poker hit the mirror smashing it into hundreds of pieces before Ben could stop his momentum. The only sound louder than the crash of the mirror was the painful cry of Mike as he watched his bride go through a doorway only to be shattered forever.

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Snow tumbled to the floor of the queen’s basement as she plowed through the mirror. She saw her stepmother pick herself off the floor and start towards her when Max lunged at Margurite. Snow watched in horror as this wolf who had been so gentle to her now ripped at the queen’s flesh, as the woman desperately tried to fight him off. Snow struggled within herself. Should she attempt to help this woman who had had tried so hard to kill her and her friends? One thing was for certain, she couldn’t bear to see the friendly wolf act so viscous. "Max!" Snow yelled as she stood up. The animal stopped in obedience and came to Snow’s side as he licked his bloody chops. Snow turned back to the mirror in an attempt to return to the mine, to her love, but the mirror was a solid reflection of herself. She couldn’t see into the room where she had come from, nor could she put her hand through the mirror into the chamber of the mine. What had happened? Did Margurite seal up the portal? She turned to see her stepmother lying in a pool of blood. She noticed on a table next to her was a book. It was a book of spells. "The book! That’s the book Ben wanted!" She grabbed the book and put it in her pocket. Snow started over to check and see of the queen were dead or alive, but then stopped in her tracks. She shuddered, unable to approach the wounded woman to check for any signs of life. What could she do? Maybe she could get some help. With Max by her side, Snow ran past her stepmother and up the steps of the basement

Mike in his weak state, crawled over to the piles of shiny mirror pieces. Remembering Margurite’s words to let him go, he took one of the mirror shards in his hand and closed his eyes, "My Princess. Even facing death, her last wish was for my safety." He squeezed the shard as he lowered his head to his fist. Eddy saw blood running down Mike’s hand and grabbed the shard away from him, "Pull yourself together, man. There must be a way to get her back." Mike opened his eyes and stared at the broken pieces lying before him, "That’s it!" He picked up another piece of the mirror, "The mirror shard that Stevie found in the woods, remember?" "Yes?" as Edward waited for Mike’s next point. "Well, the queen used it to create a magic mirror in the main hut, when she had taken over you." Eddy remembered as he thought back to the incident, "Yes, when you went through the mirror with them." Mike stood up, "Maybe we can do the same thing." Eddy frowned as he thought, "But we don’t have the queen’s magic. We have no idea how she did it." Mike gave a sudden outburst of rage mixed with desperation, "We have to do something!" "Mike, calm down. You won’t help Snow like this." Ben approached the two men with a clean cloth dressing for Mike’s bleeding hand, "Maybe I can help." Mike scowled at the little dwarf upon hearing his voice, "You’ve done enough!" Edward touched Mike’s arm to calm him, "Mike, he saved Snow." Mike looked back down to the dwarf still soaking wet, and remembered that Margurite claimed Snow had drown. He was silent as he listened to Ben’s offering, "The seven dwarfs that carved this mine kept records on everything they made and sold, every transaction. They documented that the first mirror they made for the queen wasn’t pretty enough for her and she sent it back to them, demanding that they make her another one with more elaborate carvings and jewels. That first mirror is probably in this mine somewhere. Maybe we can use it." Edward looked puzzled, "You said probably. You mean you don’t know?" Ben continued as he wrapped Mike’s hand, "Well, a few years before I moved into the mine, there was a massive cave-in due to heavy snowfall that year. It was the older part of the mine that wasn’t as well supported as the rest. The cave-in caused some of the older chambers to be sealed off, so I haven’t ever seen what was in them. I’ve thought about digging them out, but I never really had a reason. That is—until now." Mike gained an excitement in his tone, "Can you show us where?" "Sure." Benjamin led the men down into a portion of the mine that was very damp and dark. The only light came from their three lanterns. Ben unrolled a map to the mine as the three stood before a wall of piled up rocks, "There were three caverns that were sealed. You have to go through this one to get to the others according to the map." Mike had already begun lifting away rocks, "All right. Let’s get started." Ben grabbed a nearby old digging tool and began chiseling when Eddy thought about something, "Hey, shouldn’t we go for the others for something like this?" Mike continued hauling rocks never missing a beat, "God, no! Dinger will make an issue out of it and demand that we hold an hour long ‘safety precaution’ meeting." Eddy paused, "You mean Duncan, don’t you?" Mike stopped and looked at him, "No, I mean Dinger!" Ben listened to them as he chiseled. Eddy still tried to persuade him as Mike worked, "But they could help us out here and it would go much faster." "Eddy, it would go faster if you would stop yapping and start hauling! By the time we got back here with everyone, we could have dug this place out by then. Look, if we get stuck, we can go for the others." Eddy shrugged in surrender and began to haul out rocks and help Mike with large boulders. "You sure got your strength back fast, Mike." "Love can do miracles, Eddy. Maybe someday you’ll know what I’m talking about. " As the men moved more and more rock they got closer and closer to the blocked chamber. "Wait! Do you hear that?" Mike and Eddy stopped to see if they could hear what Ben was talking about. Faintly, they heard a noise. It was barking. It was Max! "Max!" Benjamin dug faster. "Snow!" Mike dug faster as well. Suddenly, each rock began moving in toward the cavern until a large cluster caved into the chamber and the men pushed the rest through to enter the dark room. "Snow! We gotta find that mirror." Mike squinted in the dark as he shone his lantern all around the room. His light fell upon a painting of a wedding couple. The man in the paining wore a crown. The bride was a beautiful woman with lovely red flowing hair. The painting looked incredibly old, but in good condition. Ben approached Mike, "I believe that was the king and his first wife." "Snow’s mother and father, " Mike whispered. How happy they looked, thought Mike. As he passed a corner of the room, a reflection of light shone back at him. He moved closer. It was the mirror! "Snow!" He touched the mirror. It appeared to be just a regular mirror offering Mike’s own reflection. Suddenly, Mike was bowled over and knocked to the ground by a large figure flying out of the mirror. "Max!" Ben shouted as the wolf ran over to him, panting. Mike turned to see the dog and was ecstatic even though he’d been mowed to the ground. Ben took a closer look at his pet in the light of his lantern, "Geez, Max! What is this? Blood? You don’t look hurt, there." Mike stood and turned his lantern toward Ben and his wolf. He was alarmed about the blood. He thought, surely it wasn’t Snow’s. They got along famously. Faintly he heard a voice. It was coming from the mirror. "Max? Where did you go?" Mike rushed back over to the mirror upon hearing Snow’s voice. As the men peered into the mirror, its reflection began to change. They could see a large bedroom decorated with fine gold fixtures and trimmed with fancy wooden carved bedposts and furniture. Then she stepped into their view. It was Snow. She looked just as she did when she sailed into the mirror. Her dress even appeared slightly damp around the bottom. "Snow!" She couldn’t hear their cries as she searched the room calling for Max. They saw her stop when she saw something across the room, something out of their vision. Mike could see Snow’s eyes fill with tears. Why? What did she see? A man came into their view as he hugged Snow. Mike saw her throw her arms around him eagerly as tears streamed down her face. As the man parted from their hug, Mike recognized him from the painting. This was Snow’s father. He looked to Ben with a puzzled look, "It’s her father. But how can that be? He died before she came to the Willows." Ben reminded him, "Ah, but remember that this mirror was the first one sent. So its time window was that of when Margurite first married the king. He was still alive then." Mike turned back to watch his Princess. As she hugged the king, Snow’s face shone her desperation for the love from her father that she so terribly missed. The king looked at his daughter and inquired to her with concern as he wiped her tears, "My little Princess, why do you cry? Are you unhappy?" She choked out a laugh, "No, Daddy. I’ve very happy. They are tears of joy to see you. I just love my Daddy, that’s all." The king smiled and touched his daughter’s cheek, "How did I get so lucky to have such a wonderful and beautiful little Princess for a daughter?" Snow hugged him again and kissed his cheek. "Supper is about ready downstairs. So, I’ll see you at dinner then, little Princess?" She nodded, afraid to speak that she may burst into tears. He smiled and left the mirror’s vision as they heard the bedroom door shut. Snow buried her face in her hands and sobbed, her shoulders trembling in reflex. Mike’s eyes filled with tears along with hers as he watched his Princess see her father again. "Do you think she’ll come back?" Mike’s thoughts were interrupted by the dwarf’s disturbing question as Mike snapped his head toward Ben, "What?" Benjamin repeated the question, "Do you think she’ll come back? Look how happy she is to be with her father again. She may choose to stay with him. I just thought I’d throw it out there just in case you hadn’t thought of it." Mike looked back at the mirror with a horrified look. Could Ben be right? Mike knew how much Snow loved her father and how much she missed him. What if she chose to stay with him and not return to the Willows? He couldn’t bear to be without her. He would just have to go to her. He would simply leave the Willows and live in her time. He would not be without Snow. He reached out and pushed on the mirror, trying to go through it as Eddy and Ben watched in silence, knowing the purpose. The mirror was solid. He couldn’t go through that way. "Snow!" She still couldn’t hear him as he watched her wipe her tears. She walked to the bedpost and ran her fingers over it as if remembering her childhood years. She grasped it in her hands and rested her head upon it. Would Snow stay there with her father and never return? Mike watched on helpless and fearful. He was afraid he’d lost his Princess forever.

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 Chapter Thirty – "You Can’t Trust a Witch!"

Mike watched as Snow looked about the room as if remembering her childhood days. What decision would she make, thought Mike? Perhaps she doesn’t even know there was a doorway mirror in that bedroom, or did she even care? From a nearby chair, Snow lovingly picked up a sash that no doubt belonged to her father and rubbed it against her cheek. Mike tried in vain to hold back his tears as he was sure that Snow was going to stay with her father. Snow wrapped the royal sash about her waist. She glanced down at her damp skirt then looked in the mirror. She brushed her hands across her skirt to try to straighten the wrinkles. She’s preparing to go down to dinner, thought Mike as a tear finally let go and rolled down his cheek. She slowly turned around in a circle, inspecting her skirt in the mirror. Then she stepped closer to the mirror and gave a teasing smirk that was so familiar to Mike. Cautiously she placed her hands on the mirror and then gently pushed. Her hands went through the mirror and into the cavern where the men were. Mike gasped in relief and reached out to grab her hands so he could pull her through. Then he stopped just short of touching them. He knew it was not up to him to bring her back, to pull her through. He knew that she must make that decision. He must let her come back on her own. As hard as it was for Mike, he backed away from the mirror. Slowly, Snow pushed her arms through the mirror and then stepped on through, finding herself in a dark cavern. She saw the lights of the men’s lanterns. Then she saw Mike, her prince. She smiled and reached out her arms towards him. In his most favorite way, he quickly stepped up to her and grabbed her up in his arms and twirled her around and around hugging her tightly. He held her there in the cavern for a moment as they both wept a few tears of joy on one another’s shoulders. Snow opened her eyes and became aware that Eddy and Ben were in the room with them. She sniffed as she gently pulled from Mike’s embrace, "Oh, hi guys." Ben smiled almost in guilt, "Snow, I’m so glad that you’re alright. Max came through the mirror here with blood all over him. I was afraid something bad happened in there." Snow noticed Max, "Oh, Max! Good, you made it back. I wondered what happened to you." Eddy frowned with concern, "What about the queen? She might follow you. What happened to her?" Snow gave an almost frightened glance back at the mirror, "I don’t know, really. When we went through the mirror, we landed in the castle basement where all of her magic potions and things are. She tried to attack me but Max got her first. I called him away from her, but she was badly wounded. I went to look for some help, but I couldn’t find anyone close by. I brought back some clean cloths to the basement to perhaps treat her wounds, but when I arrived back," Snow swallowed, "she was gone!" "Gone!" snapped Mike in horror. Snow continued as she turned to Mike, "That’s when I went upstairs to the main castle rooms and found my father’s bedroom." Mike took her hand, "I saw you there in the mirror. I saw your father and how happy you looked. I wouldn’t have blamed you for wanting to stay with him. I know how much you miss him." Snow shook her head with some surprise, "Is that what you thought? That I would choose to stay with my father and not return to you? Oh my darling," she stroked Mike’s hair, "You are my true love, my life. I don’t want to live my life without you. I cannot even bear the thought of life without you." Mike took her hand from his hair and kissed it. Ben waved his hands, "OK, OK! Sorry to be rude, but some of us don’t have woman folk around here to cuddle with. So if you don’t mind, me and Ed here will go on back upstairs, and you two can stay here if you want." Snow giggled, "Oh, I’m sorry Ben! I guess I’m just too emotional." Edward glared at the mirror with the memory of the menacing woman who wished to enslave him, "Perhaps we should destroy the mirror so the queen can’t come back through it?" "An excellent idea, Eddy, " as Mike picked up a nearby digging tool. Just as he was about to swing at the mirror, Snow cried out in horror, "Wait! No, please. What if we have to get back for some reason, any reason? Please don’t." Mike put down the tool and sweetly touched her face, "Whatever you say, my love." Edward frowned, "Can we put it face down, then? Perhaps that will keep out…, well--, intruders." Ben added, "Yes, that sounds like it would work fine, actually." The men lowered the mirror to the ground facing downward. Mike turned and picked up his lantern, "Well, you’re right about staying here, Ben. I’m sure it’s dark by now and we can’t go back through the woods after nightfall." The dwarf assured them, "No problem. You can stay in a chamber next to mine upstairs. It’s like a guestroom with another fireplace. But I think the beds would be too small for you, so you’ll have to make a bed on the floor. Sorry, they were built for dwarves." Snow’s eyes lit up as she remembered, "Oh, I almost forgot, " she pulled the book out of her pocket. "I found this in the queen’s basement and grabbed it for you." She handed it to Ben who inspected it with his lantern, "It’s her book of spells! Fabulous, Snow!" He set his lantern on the floor and excitedly began to flip through the pages as he held the book up to the light. His smile faded as he approached the end of the book. "It’s not here! There’s no spell here for dwarves! She lied! Drat, that witch! I should have never trusted her!" Snow gave him an apologetic pat, "I’m sorry Ben." Ben shut the book and tossed it down, "It’s OK. I’d rather be a dwarf forever than to see anything bad happen to you Snow." She smiled and leaned down to hug him. Then upon thinking a second with a gleam in her eye she asked, "Ben, if you don’t want the book, I can think of someone who might find it rather interesting." "Help yourself," as Ben picked up his lantern again. Snow put the book back in her pocket, and the small band headed back upstairs—in the infamous elevator of course.

Snow and Mike sat by the fire in the mine’s guestroom. They had made up two beds on the floor by the fire and one over in the corner for Eddy. Mike was used to sleeping on the floor for a short while now since Snow had been staying with him. Snow thought he the most perfect gentleman to offer to sleep on the floor until they are married. The men in the Willows had hinted to Mike that their wedding gift to he and Snow would be a new double bed to replace his single one. Mike was hopeful that their hinting would soon be a reality. Once again shaking off thoughts of a double bed with Snow in view there in front of him, Mike remembered back to the exhilarating ride earlier that evening, "Wow! That cart ride was something, eh?" Snow giggled as she leaned her elbow on a pillow, "Yes, I love that contraption! I’m so glad Ben took us for a ride tonight. I really wanted you to see that." Mike smirked at her, "It’s lucky that he has two carts so Eddy could ride in the front with Ben and you and I in the back cart." Snow bantered back to him, "Of course, I’m sure Edward wasn’t too happy with my squealing in his ear while you tickled me the whole way down the track!" Mike pretended like he would tickle her again and then stopped and instead slid his arms slowly around her waist and up across her back, "Oh, I’m sure he just thought you were enjoying the ride, is all." Snow thought how she was enjoying this ride as she felt Mike’s arms around her caressing her gently. He pulled her in close to him as their lips came dangerously close when they heard a stirring in the corner. Snow whispered as she glanced at the lump on the floor across the room, "I think Edward is already asleep. This whole thing must have worn him out." Mike lifted his arm and brushed back Snow’s hair with his fingers resting his hand against the side of her head, "You’re so precious to me, Snow. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you. Today, Margurite said you’d drown. I could hardly breathe when she said it. It was like she’d taken the life right out of me with her words. If I have to follow you everywhere, Snow, I’m not letting you out of my sight." Snow gave him her teasing smirk, "Then perhaps you should lock me in the jail with you and toss away the key." Mike put a finger to her lips, "Don’t tempt me, my love." He envied his fingers as they traced her lips. But with Eddy so nearby, he didn’t think it a good idea to even kiss Snow. Besides, just as it always with her, it was too difficult to stop at just one kiss. So instead he simply pulled her in close to him and put his arms around her shoulders as she slid her arms around his middle and rested her cheek against his chest. Snow wouldn’t allow scary thoughts of stepmothers or witches invade her thoughts tonight. She closed her eyes and sighed as that wonderful warm honey feeling ran all through her while simultaneously her whole being tingled with happiness.

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