22. Evangeline
Evangeline
Bruce greeted Jacks and Evangeline at the door to the Hollow. He tapped his little blue wings excitedly and blew out a rapid series of sparks, as if trying to relay something important.
Jacks regarded him seriously.
“Do you know what he’s saying?” Evangeline asked.
“Of course. Don’t you?” Jacks looked as if he was hiding a smirk as he opened the door.
At first, she only noticed the light. Every candle and lantern and chandelier was glowing, filling the entire Hollow with welcoming golden light that made everything beneath it shimmer, from the clock that Jacks had just painted to all the bunting that was hanging in the hall, embroidered with flowers and broken hearts, little foxes and pie slices, apples and ribbons, and fat little baby dragons.
This had definitely not been there before.
Evangeline felt herself tearing up. It wasn’t just the bunting; it was the fresh flowers she hadn’t gathered that were sitting on the desk, the Hollow maps that she hadn’t put out, and the name tags for the staff that she hadn’t gotten around to making.
Everything was bright and ready and absolutely perfect.
“I think the Hollow is glad that you’re home,” said Jacks.
The clock chimed. Ding!
Two slices of pie appeared on the desk, both with smooth tops and ooey-gooey berry filling pouring out the sides.
It didn’t look like the clock’s famous honey pie; it looked like Evangeline’s pie, except there was a little heart in the corner of each slice with four tiny initials just underneath. E.O.T.H.
Evangeline looked up at Jacks, delighted. “What’s this?”
Jacks’s mouth hinted at an unusually shy smile. “It’s just something I added earlier today when I painted.”
Evangeline went over to the clock and examined it. Honey Pie was gone, and one of the clock’s hands now pointed to the words Evangeline’s Famous Hollow Pie.
Her heart suddenly felt so full it might burst. And then she was throwing her arms around Jacks.
“I take it you approve?”
She kissed him. “I love it so much, and I love you. But wait—” She pulled back just a little and glanced back at the pretty pieces of pie. “The initials don’t match the words on the clock.”
One of his dimples appeared. “They aren’t supposed to.”
“Then what do they stand for?”
“For you.” His blue eyes shone as they met hers. “Evangeline of the Hollow.”
Evangeline felt as if she’d barely touched her head to the pillow when she was awoken by the sound of chatter.
Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel the sun on her face, and it seemed as if it wasn’t the only thing awake.
Her ears were full not just of chatter, but of footsteps and laughter and more noise than the Hollow usually made in the morning.
“What’s going on?” she mumbled.
“You should probably open your eyes and see for yourself,” said Jacks, and she could tell he was smiling from the lightness in his voice.
Groggily, she opened one eye, then the other. The window was too high to see out of from bed, and so she forced herself to get up, swiping pink hair from her eyes.
The sun was so bright, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she could barely believe what she was seeing.
“There’s a line of people!” They were waiting in front of the door to the Hollow. “So many people.” Evangeline tripped backward, so eager to get ready she could barely remember how to walk.
Jacks, of course, was already dressed. His golden hair was still tousled and untamed, but he appeared to have carefully chosen his clothes for today.
He wore bone-white breeches, tucked into tall, freshly polished brown leather boots, a pale blue shirt that turned his eyes the color of sea glass, and a brand-new brown vest. He’d buttoned all of his shirt buttons, except for the ones close to his throat, and the effect was utterly dashing.
She didn’t see a dagger tucked into his belt. She imagined he probably had one hidden somewhere, but perhaps she was wrong. As he leaned against the dresser, watching Evangeline excitedly stumble all over herself, he didn’t look guarded; he looked happy.
“You did it,” he said.
“We did it,” she corrected.
The Hollow rattled its floorboards.
“We all did it,” Evangeline said loudly.
The last thing she needed was to offend the Hollow.
Although, as she quickly bathed and got dressed, Evangeline realized that the pressure to make today perfect was no longer there.
She still wanted it to be special; she wanted it to be wonderful.
But perfection wasn’t required for either of those things.
In fact, she was starting to think that all perfection did was get in the way.
Instead of fretting about her hair, she wore it down in long loose waves and tucked a violet behind one ear.
The violet was the same color as her underskirt, which she wore beneath a layer of cream lace that covered her hips and matched the little cap sleeves on her shoulders.
Her bodice was pink, and down the center were little buttons shaped like broken hearts, just like the scar on her wrist, which she was so happy to have back.
After taking one look in the mirror, she started for the stairs.
Everything was just as beautiful as it had been the night before. There were flowers and bunting and little dragons, and now there were also butterflies, floating up the stairs and around the clock, and Evangeline imagined that the Hollow was just as eager and nervous as she was.
One of the butterflies landed on her shoulder as she stood at the top of the stairs.
And suddenly, Evangeline couldn’t move.
Jacks came up behind her. “What is it?”
“I think maybe I’m just trying to hold on to this moment.
” Evangeline hadn’t understood before why reopening the Hollow had meant so much to her.
But as she stood there next to Jacks, amid the butterflies and the baby dragons, she felt unspeakably glad that she and Jacks were reopening this place. Joy like this was meant to be shared.
The thought felt like something her mother or father would have said. And so even though her parents never got the chance to tell her what she was supposed to be doing now, after she’d found her happily ever after, she knew they would have been proud.
“I think I’m ready now.” Evangeline took Jacks’s hand and they started down the steps together.
Before Evangeline opened the front door, Jacks let their staff in through the tavern. He would be the one to direct and train them, while Evangeline managed the welcome desk. She wanted to be the first face each guest saw when they entered.
Now that it was finally time to open the door, she felt another burst of nerves, her fingers shaking with excitement. And then guests were pouring in. There were oohs and ahhs over the clock and giggles from children chasing butterflies.
Many of the faces were new, but Evangeline thought she recognized a few as well: people from the south. At first she thought it couldn’t be possible. She could not imagine that people would travel from so far away.
But a number definitely had. She recognized Ms. Mallory, who used to come to her father’s curiosity shop for maps of fictional places. She’d brought her grandson, Samuel, with her today.
Then there was Lady Vane, who used to buy pots of disappearing ink. “I couldn’t be prouder of you,” she said when she checked in. She’d traveled with a gentleman whose name Evangeline could never remember but who used to order foreign cookbooks from the shop.
“I’m so pleased you’re all here,” Evangeline said. “But I don’t understand. How did you even know about this?”
“Oh, we read about it in the paper.” Lady Vane pulled out a familiar scandal sheet.
The Whisper Gazette
By Kutlass Knightlinger
Have you ever wished that your life had a little more magic? Have you ever hoped your humdrum, boring, uneventful existence would turn into something more? Something magic? Something wonderful? Something worthy of being mentioned by someone like me? Then I have most excellent news for you!
The fabled Hollow is reopening in the Magnificent North—yes, I know the North is terribly far and unpleasantly cold, but if the stories I’ve heard are true, then it may be worth the trip.
The Hollow is one of the oldest places in the North. It is believed to have existed since before the North was Magnificent, and many say it is the birthplace of fairytales, built on a spring of magic so strong that anyone who enters finds themselves in a story.
I’ve also heard that the newly opened Hollow is going to be run by the one and only Evangeline Fox, Valenda’s Savior Sweetheart, and we all know that where Evangeline goes, stories follow …
“It’s good to see you again!” said a familiar voice.
Evangeline looked up from the paper, startled yet again as the author of the scandal sheet winked at her.
The infamous Kutlass Knightlinger. He was dressed much as he had been the first time she’d seen him, in leather pants and a shirt with a lacy jabot, and, of course, he was carrying a feathered pen.
Evangeline would have bet all her pies that he was going to ask for an interview, but she questioned him first. “How did you know about this?”
“He wrote me a letter.” Kutlass pointed a gloved finger toward the tavern, where Jacks was leaning against the bar and snapping orders at the staff, who looked slightly terrified.
“Will you excuse me?” Evangeline said. Knowing Kutlass, she doubted he would say yes, so she didn’t wait for him to answer.
She slipped away from her desk and sidled up to Jacks in the corner of the tavern, smiling reassuringly at the cowering staff.
“I’m not going to be nicer to them,” Jacks huffed. “The only way to properly run an inn is to make sure your staff is a little scared of you.”
Evangeline bit back a smile. “I’ve never read that in the Innkeeper’s Guide.”
“You put too much faith in that book,” said Jacks, but now he looked as if he was hiding a grin.
“Speaking of reading…” Evangeline held up the scandal sheet. “Did you do this?”
Jacks raised an eyebrow. “Where did you get that?”
“From the people who came all the way from Valenda, because of you.”
“No,” Jacks said, drawing out the word. “They’re here because of you.”
Evangeline mock-scowled. “Why do I feel as if we’re going to keep having this argument?”
“Because”—he paused to brush a kiss to her lips—“I like arguing with you almost as much as I like being your hero.”
“You really are my hero.” Evangeline popped up on her tippy-toes, about to kiss him once more, when she saw another image of him—shining locks of golden hair falling across his forehead as his eyes turned the color of storm and he said the words I won’t be your hero.
“What’s wrong?” Jacks asked.
Evangeline shook the image from her head. “I was just thinking about you. The other you from the mirror.”
Jacks’s face darkened.
“Don’t be jealous. I was thinking about how different he is from you, and how thankful I am that I have this version of you. Although, I hope that other Jacks finds the other version of me.”
“Oh, I think he will.” Jacks smirked as he held out a thick brassy coin. “I found this in your pocket last night.”
Evangeline leaned in to peer at it. “That must have come from the gambling den.” Except it didn’t look like one of the Jacks coins. The images on this coin were too blurry to decipher. “Actually, I don’t know where that came from.”
“I do.” Jacks tossed the coin high in the air, and when it landed on the bar, it began to spin. It whirled and twirled until the blurred images on either side merged together, forming a very familiar picture of a dashing young man, clasping the hilt of a dagger while tears fell from his eyes.
“It’s called a Luckless Coin,” Jacks explained. “I used these coins a long time ago to keep track of people who owed me debts. If I slipped one in a person’s pocket, I would know wherever they went. So, clearly the other Jacks didn’t plan on losing you.”
The coin continued to spin as Evangeline realized what Jacks was saying. Although the mirror Jacks had let her go, he’d left her with something that would guide him back to her.
Presumably, the coin wouldn’t work now that it was in another world, but it did make Evangeline think that the mirror Jacks would soon reunite with the mirror version of her. Or at least, she truly hoped he would.
Evangeline loved the idea of infinite endings, but she wanted all of her endings to involve Jacks.