Chapter 7

Snow had settled in with Hansel and Gretel. When they went to work, she roamed around the beautiful patch of garden around the house and explored the house itself. It was quite amazing what all one could find there. There was the attic that was entirely made up of dark chocolate. And a particular corner of the house was all strawberry bubblegum. That and the Internet kept her always busy. She was working harder at finishing her course-load too. And, she was also, secretly, working on a hack to the newest version of the anti-cheating software. She’d also got back on Pied Piper. He seemed to know a lot about such things and even though he didn’t know it, he was helping Snow develop the hack.

She learnt from Gretel that Ella was getting married to Prince Charming. It was going to be a quiet, online-registered wedding. Everyone said that it was not like Prince Charming to not be celebrating the wedding. Snow was very happy for Ella. But it hurt her that Ella had not contacted her even once after her disappearance. Quite atrocious that girl was turning out to be. Why, if Snow hadn’t taken her to the ball, she would never have even met Charming! But does she tell her about the wedding? Wedding! They had just met once after all! Snow secretly believed that Ella was getting a little deluded with the Prince’s kind of world, especially after the way her step-mother treated her. Even then, one would think that she would have remembered to email her.

Snow was certainly not feeling very happy with Ella.

***

Dear Diary

This is not fair.

Snow is alive.

But where is she?

Artemis

***

Artemis was getting furiouser and furiouser with each passing day. Every time MyrorMe gave out Snow’s name, she was acutely reminded of the fact that she was alive and prettier than Artemis. Aging had always been a sore point with Artemis.

It was all very fine to have anti-aging technology and make-up and cosmetic surgery. But it’s a different kind of a joy to know that you don’t really need those things.

She sent out SnffrDawg 420, the latest in the range of smell-tracking devices a week after Ella’s marriage.

It was on another of those ‘one day’s that Snow saw the little puppy-like creature outside the house. Now she had always loved animals, never mind that this particular one was more of an animal-shaped machine. SnffrDawg reminded her of the Saint Bernard that she had kept as a pet in her childhood. She took it in and reprogrammed it into a docile pet dog that wagged its tail and hung out it metal tongue and licked faces. She called it Snowy. It kept her company when Hansel and Gretel were not in the house. Quite useful it was too. Snowy had GPS installed on it.

Another failure for Artemis. But she wasn’t complaining. Patience was very important.

Also, unbeknownst to Snow, the moment Snowy had located her, it had sent a little message to Artemis with the exact co-ordinates.

At least, now she knew where Snow was.

Next, she sent a team of Antsects (“Guaranteed to ‘bug’ your target to death.”). They were a complete insect package that combined the activities of termites, houseflies, cockroaches, mosquitoes … and ants (of course).

The LakshmanRekha 0.9 around the house wiped them out. If Artemis had bothered to do any research, she would have known. The LakshmanRekha was an essential maintenance tool for the chocolate house. And why not? To keep a chocolate house clean and free from all the insects that would otherwise have flocked to it, such a measure would have been necessary.

It was time, Artemis decided, that she went personally.