Come morning and Jace and Tula were the first ones awake. They walked out of the room and couldn't see hide nor hair of Hansel or Gretel or the old lady. They exited out the back door, but as they walked along the garden to the fence made of chocolate chip cookies, they noticed a large cage hanging from the top of the roof of the house. The two siblings stopped in their tracks and backed up to the cage, facing it. What they saw inside the cage made Jace gulp. It was Hansel. Curled up asleep, but still Hansel. Hansel began to yawn and stretched his arms out. He rubbed his eyes, and then noticed Jace and Tula.

  "So there were two others!" He exclaimed.

  "Hi" Jace said, holding up his hand, his voice getting high-pitched, as he knew full well why Hansel was in that cage.

  "How are you free?" Hansel asked curiously.

  "Free?" Tula asked, "What do you mean 'free'?"

  "The witch is torturing my sister and I" Hansel replied.

  Jace gave his sister an 'I told you so' look at this statement.

  "I'm sure it's not torture" Tula told him.

  "'Tis!" Gretel said as she came from around the corner with a rake, "She's putting me to work and feeding Hansel all sorts of yummy things to fatten him up for eating!"

  "You've got to help us!" Hansel begged through the cage.

  "Relax, okay," Tula said, "We'll help you out. We'll simply go back inside and talk to her. I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding"

  "Oh thank you, kind ones!" Gretel cheered, holding the rake with both hands and smile on her face.

  With that, Jace followed Tula back inside the gingerbread house, and they looked around the house for the old lady. As they turned the corner into the kitchen, they noticed she was preparing some food. They hid behind a corner as they watched her. She finished preheating the oven and turned back to the bench made of butternut cookies, which had a wooden chopping board with some cookie dough rested on it. The lady walked slowly towards the table, arms stretched out, feeling the air around her.

  "Now where did I put that chopping board?" She asked herself as she continued to feel the air.

  Jace realised something about her as he watched her struggle.

  "She's blind..." He said, turning to his sister.

  "That explains why that boy's locked in a cage," Tula said, "She can't see he's a boy and she's too stupid enough to feel him properly"

  "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we need to help her," Jace said, "Make her some kind of cane"

  "Or guide dog" Tula added.

  Jace looked at his sister blankly.

  "How are we going to get her a guide dog?" Jace asked.

  "Easy" Tula said as she headed for the front door.

  "We're not going to find a guide dog in the middle of the woods!" Jace stated as he followed her out the door and back into the woods.

  "Watch me" Tula said, looking at her brother with a raise of an eyebrow.

  The two siblings ventured into the woods, and days passed, and eventually weeks. They had no idea how far into the woods they had ventured, but Jace was getting certain that this 'guide dog' search was all in vain, but then Tula gave a sqeaul. Jace looked in the direction his sister was looking and saw an orange fox by a tree, eating some grass.

  "Found it" Tula said as she began running up to it.

  "Tula, you can't use that!" Jace yelled after her as he chased her.

  "Why not?" Tula asked, spinning around to face her brother as she reached the fox, "It's perfect"

  The fox stopped chewing on the grass, and looked up at the two siblings, watching the argument.

  "For starters, it could belong somewhere else! And secondly, you can't train a fox in as quickly as we need it!" Jace retorted.

  "For someone who loves fairytales, you're very good at forgetting where we are," Tula said, turning to the fox, who was still staring at them, "Hi there, fox"

  The fox's eyes widened as it realised they noticed it. It looked from Tula to Jace then back to Tula.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  "Hello" It said.

  "It talks?" Jace asked, surprised.

  Tula simply rolled her eyes at her brother and continued talking to the fox, "My brother and I were searching the woods for an animal to be the eyes for somebody we know, do you belong anywhere else? Maybe you could help us?"

  "I don't belong anywhere, I am simply a wandering fox," The fox replied, "I would be delighted to help"

  "Great!" Tula said, as she noticed a vine hanging from a nearby tree.

  She ripped a small part of the vine off and tied one end to the fox's neck, whilst she held the other.

  "What is this for?" The fox asked.

  "To be their eyes, they need to stay close to you, so it's like a leash" Tula answered.

  "Oh. I see" The fox stated.

  "Can you sniff out a gingerbread house for us and take us there?" Tula asked.

  "Gingerbread? Oh, now that sounds much better than grass" The fox replied as it sniffed the air and began leading the way.

  "You can't eat it" Tula told it.

  "Oh, drat" The fox replied.

  Jace was quiet the whole way back to the gingerbread house. He couldn't believe his sister had actually managed to "make" a guide dog for the witch, let alone out of a fox. He was even surprised the fox was so willing to do the deed. It took them much quicker to get back with the fox's quick scent, but as soon as they reached the opening of the woods where the house was, the three of them smelled something.

  "This gingerbread doesn't smell very nice" The fox stated.

  Jace and Tula sniffed the air.

  "Something's burning" Tula stated as they ran inside.

  Oh no, Jace thought, forgetting how the fairytale ended, this is it, they were too late, she had already cooked Hansel. He looked around, and even out the back, the cage was open, and there was no sign of Hansel or Gretel.

  Tula and the fox ran up to the oven as Tula looked at the controls. Jace came back into the kitchen to join the two of them.

  "Something was cooking" Tula stated, turning the oven off, and opening the door.

  Once the door was open, out stepped the witch, who had burns on part of her clothes. She sumbled around for a bit, coughing but Tula managed to catch her before she fell.

  "Who's that?! What happened?!" The lady asked, feeling around.

  "It's okay, lady, it's just me and my brother" Tula stated, "The ones who were a bit lost"

  Jace sighed in relief, remembering that it was the witch in the oven, not Hansel. Of course, he said.

  "You were in the oven," Jace said, "Do you know where Hansel and Gretel went?"

  "Hunkle and who?" The witch asked.

  "Seriously?" Jace asked no one in particular.

  "The oven!" The witch remembered, "Oh, you must mean that pesky girl and her chicken! They tricked me! Pushed me right in the oven and almost cooked me to crisps! Lucky you two were here to save me"

  "Actually, we weren't here.." Jace said.

  "No wonder I could only hear the other two brats," The witch said, "If you weren't here, where were you? And why did you come back?"

  "We were in the woods" Jace told her.

  "We noticed you were blind, and decided we needed to help you, so here" Tula explained, handing the witch the vine, "Say hi"

  "Hi?" The witch said.

  "Hello" The fox said in unison.

  "Who's that?!" The witch gasped at hearing the other voice, "Who else is here with you?!"

  "It's a talking fox" Jace stated.

  "He's going to be your guide...fox from now on," Tula explained, "He's like your eyes"

  "Oh, really?!" The witch asked in joy, "Tell me, guide fox, what do I see in front of me when I turn this way"

  She turned to her left as the fox did the same.

  "It is a beautiful butternut kitchen table, adorned with lovely little strawberries as decorations, m'lady" The fox described the image to her.

  "That is the most beautiful thing I have ever imagined my table to look like," The witch exclaimed, then turning to Jace and Tula, "Thank you, children! How can I ever repay you?"

  "Well, seeing as we got you some eyes-" Tula began but Jace cut her off.

  "And saved you from being dinner" He said.

  "That, too," Tula said, "I guess you could show us a way out"

  "Way out? Of the house?" The witch asked.

  "Of this world,"Jace began explaining, "You see, this whole world, it's a book where we come from. And somehow we got transported into it and ended up here. And have no idea how to get back"

  "Well, I'm pretty sure I know a path that leads to a different place," The witch responded, "As for if it's your place, who knows"

  "We'll take it" Tula said.

  "Lead the way, Mr." The witch said.

  Both Jace and the fox looked at her in confusion.

  "I think she's talking to you, foxy" Tula said to the fox.

  "Mister?" The fox asked the witch.

  "You need a name, don't you?" The witch said, "I've decided it's Mr. Fox"

  "Genius" Tula said.

  "Shall we?" Mr. Fox said as he lead the three out the door of the gingerbread house.

  The four walked far away from the house, and came across apath made of pebble and stone. Jace and Tula looked down it but couldn't see anything beyond the trees.

  "Are you sure this is it?" Jace asked.

  "Is there a frog footprint here?" The witch asked.

  Jace, Tula and Mr. Fox looked at the ground below them and saw a tiny footprint in the corner, just before the path.

  "Indeed there is, ma'am" Mr. Fox said.

  "Then this is most definitely it" The witch stated.

  Jace and Tula began walking but were pushed back by some kind of invisible wall, each giving a slight grunt as Mr. Fox watched in confusion.

  "What's going on, Mr. Fox?" The witch asked her new pet.

  "The children can't seem to get onto the path" Mr. Fox responded.

  "That's odd" The witch replied.

  "It's like there's some kind of invisible forcefield blocking it" Jace said as he reached his hand up and touched the invisible wall.

  But as he touched it, there was a bright white light coming toward the four of them.

  "Now there is a strong flash of light that I think you are lucky to not be seeing" Mr. Fox said as he blocked his eyes with a leg.

  All of a sudden, the bright light stopped and Jace and Tula found themseves back in their bedroom. Fairytale book still in Jace's hand. But the bookmark was nowhere to be seen.

  "Did that all just really happen?" Jace asked.

  "I guess?" Tula replied, uncertaintly, "Maybe? Who knows?...Hey, where's the bookmark?"

  She pointed at the book that was in her brother's hands. Jace looked down at the book. She was right. The bookmark had completely disappeared. He looked from the book to the trash bag next to him.

  "I guess I already threw it out" He said, turning his attention back on the book.

  Tula noticed the way her brother was staring at the dusty old book and put an arm around his shoulders.

  "Time to let go, don't you think, Jacey?" She said.

  Jace stared at the book for a moment. Tula never called him "Jacey". If that experience really all happened, then it made her become closer to him. He gave a slight smile.

  "Time to let go" He said as he threw the book in the trash bag.