If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After #2) Read Online Free Page A

And then they die.”
    “No way! Awesome!”
    I roll my eyes.
    “Snack?” a waiter interrupts us, waving a plate in front of us.
    “Dogs-in-a-blanket!” Jonah cheers.
    I roll my eyes again. But I take two.
    Jonah takes three and stuffs them all in his mouth. “So what do we do now? Explore?”
    “Can you swallow before talking, please? Where are your manners? We’re at a ball.”
    “Why should I listen to you? You’re wearing pink pajamas with purple polka dots.”
    Humph. “I think we should find the magic mirror that will take us home first so we’re not rushing around later.”
    “Then we can explore?”
    “Yeah. But let’s start with the mirror. It’s probably somewhere in the castle. Looking for it is exploring, right? Now’s our best chance anyway since the royal family and the staff are distracted by the ball. But we have to be careful not to get in Cinderella’s way. We can’t risk messing up the story!”
    He wiggles his eyebrows. “You don’t want to say hi? Even quickly?”
    “Of course I do, but we can’t. We learned our lesson with Snow White. We will NOT mess the story up this time around!” No way, no how, no thank you.

W e find twelve mirrors in the castle:
    The mirror in the queen’s room. The king’s room. The prince’s room. The guest rooms. The maids’ rooms. There are even two in the ballroom.
    None of them work.
    And knocking on them isn’t always easy, either.
    There was a maid in the queen’s room. We told her that Her Majesty requested her presence downstairs so that we could continue “exploring.”
    If we don’t stop exploring soon, we are definitely going to get caught.
    “Now what? We’ve tried all of them!” Jonah huffs after we’ve visited every room — thrice.
    “Maybe the magic mirror isn’t at the palace,” I say. “Maybe it’s at Cinderella’s house. Snow White lived in the palace before she had to run away. So maybe the portal is where the main character originally lives, before she gets to live happily ever after.”
    “But we don’t even know where Cinderella lives!”
    “We can follow her home,” I say. “ She knows where she lives.”
    “Do you think she’s still here?” Jonah asks.
    “Wait, what time is it?” I glance down at my watch. Oh, no! I’m not wearing my watch! I took it off last night before bed. Not that my watch would tell me what time it is here. But it would tell me what time it is at home so we could get home before my parents wake up. And now I have no idea what time it is in Smithville!
    ARGH.
    Jonah follows me sneakily down the hallway back into the ballroom, and I spot a huge round clock hanging on the far wall.
    It’s 11:55.
    I scan the room for Cinderella and spot her dancing with the prince.
    Now the clock says 11:56. Hmm. Does Cinderella not realize what time it is?
    “It’s getting late,” Jonah says. “We should tell her to go. Doesn’t she turn into a pumpkin at twelve?”
    “Her coach turns into a pumpkin, not her.” I grab hold of his sleeve. “But no, don’t do anything! We don’t want to mess anything up.”
    We wait. We watch. 11:58. 11:59.
    My heart thumps. What if our just being here messed things up? What if we don’t have to do anything but be here and the story changes anyway? What if she changes back into her rags right here and everyone gasps and freaks out and the prince doesn’t want to marry her after all?
    Twelve!
    Ding Dong! Ding Dong! Ding Dong!
    Cinderella looks up at the clock. Her face pales when she sees the time. She looks at the prince, says good-bye, and then — sprints!
    Like really fast!
    She makes a mad dash right out of there.
    She doesn’t look back, she just goes, goes, GOES!
    Zoom! Rhymes with Floom!
    “We have to follow her,” I order Jonah, and sprint right behind her. “If we lose her, we won’t know where she lives!”
    “At least we didn’t mess up the story,” Jonah calls out.
    We follow her outside. She’s running down the steps of the palace,