The Enchantress Returns

The second installment in the Land of Stories series picks up more than a year after thirteen-year-old twins Alex and Conner Bailey first traveled into the fairy-tale world and discovered that their grandmother is Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, a being capable of moving between dimensions. Their grandmother has vanished without contact, and the twins have received no invitation to return.

The story opens in the fairy-tale world's Eastern Kingdom, formerly known as the Sleeping Kingdom, where Queen Sleeping Beauty celebrates her people's recovery from a century-long sleeping curse. That same night, enchanted thornbushes and flaming spinning wheels engulf the kingdom. Soldiers rush the queen toward safety, but an unseen force destroys her escort. The Enchantress, the fairy who originally cursed Sleeping Beauty, has returned.

Back in the Otherworld (the real world), Alex takes honors classes at a local college while Conner writes stories about their adventures for English class. Their mother, Charlotte, a nurse, has been secretly dating Dr. Robert Gordon ("Bob"), a colleague who gave the family a Border collie named Buster. Bob asks the twins' permission to propose, and they agree.

On proposal night, Charlotte fails to come home. Soldiers from the Charming Kingdom, the realm ruled by the Charming royal family, burst into the house, followed by the twins' grandmother. She reveals that Charlotte has been kidnapped, that Buster is actually Sir Lampton, a soldier she transformed into a dog to guard the twins, and that a crisis in the fairy-tale world has reached a breaking point. She places the twins under house arrest and departs.

The Fairy Godmother sends Mother Goose, an eccentric storyteller who rides a horse-sized goose named Lester, to watch over the twins. Alex plies Mother Goose with champagne and extracts key information: The Enchantress, whose name is Ezmia, has returned and holds their mother captive. Alex flees toward her grandmother's mountain cottage, hoping to find a portal. Conner follows on Lester and saves Alex from a collapsing bridge. At the abandoned cottage, Alex activates a painting of the Ugly Duckling Pond. The cottage floods and sinks, and the twins surface in the actual pond: They are back in the Land of Stories.

In the Dwarf Forests, a wooded region inhabited by dwarfs and outcasts, the twins encounter Froggy (Prince Charlie), a human prince whom the Fairy Godmother has transformed back into a frog to spy on forest creatures considering allegiance to the Enchantress. Because his loyalty to the twins outweighs his duty to report them, Froggy agrees to shelter them at Queen Red Riding Hood's castle.

Meanwhile, Ezmia visits Rumpelstiltskin in Pinocchio Prison. A former dwarf miner she once took as an apprentice, he has served 127 years for his role in her plot to kidnap Sleeping Beauty as an infant. Ezmia, who recovered from a past poisoning by Evly (the Evil Queen) with even darker powers, demands he kidnap another royal child.

At Red's castle, the twins learn that Princess Hope, the infant daughter of King Chance and Queen Cinderella, has been kidnapped. They hide under Red's enormous ball gown to attend an emergency meeting of the Happily Ever After Assembly, the council of fairy-tale rulers, at the Charming Palace. There, the Fairy Godmother explains Ezmia's origins: She found Ezmia as a five-year-old orphan in the Otherworld's Dark Ages, a girl who had accidentally used magic to defend herself from soldiers. Raised among fairies, Ezmia became extraordinarily gifted but was isolated by the other fairies' jealousy. Repeated heartbreaks twisted her into the Enchantress, whose powers now draw from darkness and anger rather than goodness.

Ezmia crashes the meeting, demands the rulers surrender, and captures the Fairy Godmother's soul in a turquoise jar when they refuse. Alex realizes Ezmia kidnapped Charlotte by mistake: The spell summoned "the Bailey girl" from the family's home, but Alex was away at class. Charlotte has been pretending to be Alex to protect her daughter.

In captivity, Charlotte cares for Princess Hope and learns Ezmia's motivations. The Enchantress displays five jars, each containing the soul of a man who broke her heart, and reveals her ambition to conquer the Otherworld as well.

Reading from a book of legends, Conner proposes building the Wand of Wonderment, a legendary weapon formed by combining the most prized possessions of the six most hated people in the world. The group identifies their targets: the Snow Queen's scepter, Cinderella's stepmother's heirloom, the giant's prized possession, the Evil Queen's Magic Mirror, the Sea Witch's jewels, and the Enchantress's unknown most prized possession. With the help of Jack, the legendary beanstalk climber, and Goldilocks, his outlaw partner, the group builds a flying ship that Red names the HMS Granny.

The quest takes the group across the fairy-tale world. They battle polar bears to claim the Snow Queen's scepter and convince Lady Iris, Cinderella's stepmother, to voluntarily surrender her wedding ring after she explains she mistreated Cinderella because the girl resembled her deceased father. Each item magnetically attaches to the growing Wand, confirming the legend is real. Throughout the journey, a mysterious transparent ghost appears to the twins, silently pointing into the distance before vanishing.

The beanstalk climb reveals that the magic harp, Harper, was the giant's most prized possession. At the Evil Queen's ruined castle, Evly's reflection, trapped in the Magic Mirror, tells the twins Ezmia's most prized possession is "herself" and identifies the ghost as the Lady of the East. Goldilocks disguises herself as Red to trade with the Sea Witch for her jewels, but the deception is exposed and a fight erupts. They escape with the pearls, which form the Wand's handle. Among the jewels, Alex finds the engagement ring Bob bought for Charlotte, confirming he has entered the fairy-tale world.

The Granny crashes in Troll and Goblin Territory, where the group is captured by Queen Trollbella. Bob is also a prisoner, having slipped through a portal to search for Charlotte. Ezmia floods the underground kingdom, and Alex uses the ice scepter to hold back the tidal wave while everyone escapes.

Overnight, the magic harp sacrifices herself to the Wand, absorbed into it. The twins follow the Lady of the East through a secret tunnel into Sleeping Beauty's vine-consumed castle, where the ghost reveals herself as Old Queen Beauty, the Beauty from Beauty and the Beast. She explains Ezmia cursed every generation of her family because Beauty's husband rejected Ezmia's love, and that Ezmia's most prized possession is her pride. Alex also learns she is the future Fairy Godmother, heir to a throne of magic.

Ezmia constructs a coliseum atop a massive pillar of earth and captures every monarch, the seven members of the Fairy Council (the governing body of the fairy-tale world's fairies), and the twins' allies. She forces each ruler to renounce their throne. Alex climbs the pillar carrying the Wand and confronts Ezmia. The Enchantress blasts Alex into the sky, but the Wand makes her invincible. During an unconscious dream, classic literary heroines help Alex realize she must strip away the hatred powering Ezmia rather than kill her.

Alex flies back on a winged horse (Bob, temporarily transformed), throws down the Wand, and addresses Ezmia directly: She apologizes for the pain the world inflicted on the Enchantress and forgives her. This act of compassion destroys Ezmia's pride, draining her magic. Ezmia crawls to the discarded Wand and briefly regains power, but Rumpelstiltskin leaps in front of the blast meant for Alex, sacrificing his life. Conner slices the Wand in half, permanently destroying Ezmia's power. Without anger to sustain her, Ezmia's body decays and she vanishes.

The freed souls ascend from the jars. Rumpelstiltskin is buried in a daisy-covered field. Charlotte and Bob marry at the Charming Palace. Jack and Goldilocks, pardoned for their crimes, steal Red's necklace and ride off as outlaws.

The Fairy Council decides the gateway between worlds must be permanently sealed, though two golden mirrors will allow the family to communicate across dimensions. Alex announces she is staying in the Land of Stories to become the next Fairy Godmother. Charlotte has given her blessing, recognizing Alex's heart has always belonged in the fairy-tale world. Conner is devastated but accepts that the twins were meant to serve as a bridge: Alex continuing the magic, Conner continuing the storytelling. He brings Lady Iris and her daughters through the portal to start new lives free of persecution. The portal closes, separating the twins between worlds, though Conner feels certain their story is far from over.