Page 40 - Nuts to You - The Nutcracker Retold

Drosselmeir looked up, but you couldn’t tell from his face that his heart was falling faster than the window had shattered. This drove the Mouse Queen mad. “I have your Nut, your precious Krakatuk, and I’m going to make you pay!”
But Drosselmeir paid the Queen no never mind. He seemed lost in his thoughts – and what he was thinking was to stay far away from the Nut that was in the hands of the Mouse Queen.
Prince Reggie peered out from behind his mummy’s robes, but all he could see was Drosselmeir’s still, still hand. Or was it? Reggie had to blink twice. The hand had been on Drosselmeir’s knee, but there it was on the table. How’d it get there? Reggie hadn’t seen it move, but move it did. Watching really hard, Reggie still missed the hand make another move, this time to a pile of books. What was the old man after?
And then Reggie saw it – the pipe! That nasty noisemaker that had driven them out in the first place! Reggie saw red and black and a flash of white – and the next thing he knew he was inside the tower, standing on Drosselmeir’s table. He almost peed his pants!
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