For a second, Dreadlilocks was too shocked to speak. “…What…w-why do I have to??” she asked.

“You’re seriously asking that now, after everything you’ve been through??” said Gin. Then she sighed. “…If you must know…it has to be you. Or at least, someone like you, who was written by Jack. That’s the only reason you survived the Odsplut: it’s harder for Mère L’Oye to unwrite something she never wrote in the first place. You have a better chance of making it into the Keep than anyone, and there’s no time to lose.”

“But…I know she’s doing a really bad thing to everyone, but maybe if we could just talk to her—”

“Her own son tried that, and he’s in prison now. If she wouldn’t listen to him, she’d never listen to you…She doesn’t even see you as a real person.”

“But she’s only doing all of this because she’s sad and scared to die! And now you say we have to kill her…it doesn’t feel right…!”

“You’re wasting your pity. This is a matter of life and death, and you’re hesitating…meanwhile, she’s choosing to destroy you for no reason other than selfishness, without even batting an eye. Why do you feel bad for her??”

“I…”

“I came to rescue you because I respected your journey. I thought you had conviction…if you were going to act like this in the end, you should have just let Kyloe kill you.”

Gin got up and left the room, looking frustrated. Dreadli stared after her, then lowered her gaze to the floor.

~~

The winds howled, and sugar piled up against the windows as the hours went by. Dreadlilocks eventually realized her clothes were more or less dry. So she decided to put her boots back on, and see where Gin had gone off to.

She wandered through the little gingerbread house, peeking into each of the candy-coated rooms. Most were filled with giant cookies of various shapes and sizes. Some of them were even humanoid, like Gin.

Dreadli reached out to touch the hand of a small, featureless gingerbread child.

“What are you doing…?”

Dreadli flinched and turned around, finding Gin standing behind her again. Her chocolate-drop eyes were narrowed.

“Um…I was just wondering…what all these are,” Dreadli replied.

Gin walked past her into the room. “…These are my…characters,” she answered, picking up the gingerbread child. She placed it on a counter. “Replicas, anyway. Since the old ones were destroyed…”

“I made this whole world so I could start over, give them a safe home,” she went on. “But in the end, I couldn’t…every time I’d try to bring one back to life, I’d just start remembering…everything that happened last time.”

“…Was it something scary?” Dreadli asked.

“‘Scary’…doesn’t even begin to describe it. Everything I built was ripped to shreds, and then I was, too. All because I dared to create something without Mère L’Oye’s permission.” She looked Dreadli in the eye. “…So maybe you can see why I don’t have a lot of sympathy for her.”

Dreadli began kneading her dress again. “Um…that’s what I came to talk to you about,” she said. “I…I decided I’m going to do it. I’ll convince Jack to…kill her.”

Gin looked surprised, then ashamed. “…I guilted you into it, didn’t I?” she said. “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have…I was just angry—”

“No, you were right. If she won’t listen, there’s no other way…besides…if I can save everyone by doing one bad thing, then…maybe it’s worth it…”

“But you could be right, too. Maybe there is some way to fix this where Mère L’Oye doesn’t have to be killed…but Jack is the only one who would know. So if nothing else, just make sure you talk to him.” Gin twirled one of her licorice ribbons around her finger. “…He’s been so depressed, you know…? He thinks he deserves what’s happened to him. He can’t see how important he is to everyone anymore…”

Dreadlilocks placed a hand on her shoulder. “…Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he’s okay,” she said, trying her best to smile.