Isn’t it What if the glass slipper had happened to fit another woman before the prince even got to Cinderella He might’ve married the wrong person Maddie groaned She wanted to shut him down but to her horror Mrs Greenberg was nodding her head at him now Was she actually agreeing with that little creep One more thing Holden said How did Cinderella get home from the ball Maddie smirked He thought he was so clever that he could make her fall for a trick question like this If she didn’t know the story so well she might’ve said that Cinderella rode home in her coach but of course that wouldn’t have been possible Well her coach changed back into a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight Maddie replied So obviously she walked Nice try Holden Satisfied that she had answered the question correctly Maddie began to gather her things so she could sit back down at last Unfortunately Holden wasn’t finished With one shoe he asked Why not Wasn’t this before roads were paved Weren’t villages many miles away from the palace That must’ve been agony It was Maddie said feeling much like Cinderella at that moment It was absolute agony Well it’s a lovely story Mrs Greenberg said Even if it is flawed Maddie flopped back down into her seat Flawed How could anyone think that Cinderella was flawed She was furious with Holden for ruining her report What she didn’t realize yet was that her stepbrother had ruined a lot more than that
Chapter 2 Maddie stayed up late that night wondering how to get her dad to divorce Carol She imagined how good it would feel to see Holden packing all his Star Wars and Avengers figures into boxes and rounding up all his video games She’d even help him load the truck and cheerily wave goodbye as he pulled away forever As comforting as the thought was though she couldn’t help but feel bad for her father He’d been so much happier since he met Carol Maddie had to admit she was a really nice woman even if she had raised a troll for a son Once Maddie had ruled out the thought of breaking up her father’s marriage she comforted herself by calculating the exact number of days between now and when she and Holden both left for college As good as she was at math multiplying by 365 was exhausting and that’s how she finally fell asleep It wasn’t much later that there was a soft but urgent knock on her bedroom door At first the knock didn’t wake her but then came another louder knock And another even louder one Maddie rolled over groggily and looked at her clock She couldn’t figure out why someone would possibly be bothering her at 12 04 a m As for who was doing it that was a much easier question to answer Holden go away It’s like a million o’clock Open your door Maddie Holden demanded from the hallway This isn’t funny There was no way Maddie was going to open the door She was convinced he was planning some cruel trick that could only be pulled off in the middle of the night Go back to bed Holden I’m not opening my Maddie stopped short as something across the room caught her eye The thin slivers of light that fell through her blinds shined on her diorama and something about it looked very different Not believing her eyes Maddie rose from her bed to examine it
Sure enough the dolls had been moved around to depict a completely different scene Now one of the wicked stepsisters was marrying the prince and Cinderella was sitting in the corner crying Was this Holden’s gag Had he somehow snuck into her room and messed with her project Furious she thrust open her bedroom door and shoved the shoe box in his face What did you do to my diorama she demanded He didn’t hear her say it though because at exactly the same moment he said just as loudly What did you do to my tablet Then at the same time they said What did you say Look at my diorama It’s all messed up Maddie accused I didn’t touch it Holden insisted I was asleep until you made my tablet turn on What are you talking about Maddie asked I haven’t touched your tablet Wait a second Holden said taking a closer look at Maddie’s diorama I don’t believe it Maddie you have to see this See what Holden grabbed her by the arm Come on He pulled her down the hallway toward his room Holden if this is a trick I’m going to wake up my dad and you’ll be in so much trouble Look he told her pushing open the door to his room It was the usual disaster area it always was where every surface was covered with Oreo crumbs dirty socks and the cars section of the newspaper One thing stood out though in the midnight darkness On top of Holden’s desk his tablet computer was emitting a soft eerie glow You shouldn’t leave your screen on Maddie said It wastes battery power I can’t turn it off Holden said Go look at it Maddie kicked aside debris to clear a path to the desk then gazed down curiously at the illuminated screen On it was a beautifully ornate title page for an e-book In tall scripted letters was a name she knew quite well Cinderella it read
Maddie groaned I knew this was a trick Did you really have to wake me up in the middle of the night to start the Cinderella fight all over again I swear Holden said I woke up and saw this I didn’t do anything Now flip to the end With a sigh Maddie swiped her finger across the screen She saw beautiful drawings of Cinderella scrubbing her stepmother’s floor meeting with her fairy godmother and arriving at the ball in her pumpkin coach Then there was a picture that didn’t make sense Cinderella was walking home from the ball with no shoes on holding her swollen foot in pain It’s like I said Holden explained She had to walk home with no shoes on so look at her foot It’s all bruised But that’s not part of the story Maddie said She stared at the drawing confused There was no way Holden could have made this picture himself Any time he tried to draw a person it ended up looking like a lopsided cow This was a beautiful illustration of a scene that didn’t exist in any version of Cinderella Maddie had ever read If he didn’t draw it then how did it get in there The e-book only got stranger after that There was a picture of the prince trying the glass slipper on one of Cinderella’s wicked stepsisters then one of him kissing her The prince kissing a stepsister No way This is so weird Maddie said Just wait Holden said Check out the last page Maddie flipped to the end and saw a detailed sketch of the prince marrying the wicked stepsister while Cinderella sat alone in a corner crying No it can’t be Maddie said She held her diorama next to the tablet and looked back and forth between the two The similarities were astounding The dresses the characters wore the expressions on their faces the flowers in the bouquet The two scenes were virtually identical How did you do that she asked Holden I’m telling you I didn’t he said You know I can’t draw and I haven’t been in your room all night I think I think we broke Cinderella
