Excerpt
The Queen looked at all of the residents sitting at the table and pointed to all of them. "On behalf of all of us sitting here, we want to applaud all of you for being the special group of dolls who will leave the doll land to enter human land on Halloween night."

All of the residents got up and applauded the boys and girls.

"Tonight we will go into the parlor for coffee, so enjoy the music outside, and have sweet dreams."

The Queen and the rest continued to applaud the dolls as they went outside. "Mildred, bring our coffee into the parlor," Poulette said to the sugar mill lady in charge.

While they were all seated on her brocade couches, Poulette began thinking of a time way back when, as she paced the floor with her cup of coffee. "Eleven, eleven ---- back to seven is a saying I vaguely remember saying when I was a child."

She continued pacing while she was deep into her thoughts, "My brother and I would say, eleven, eleven ---- back to seven, when we felt something would bring us unhappiness."

She was thinking very hard about why they said that. "To say, we had eleven, eleven ---- back to seven, meant that we would be sad if a certain situation arose, like the day my cat died," she remembered. "I was so sad. We said eleven, eleven to stop sadness from coming. I think that's what it meant." She was questioning herself.

"Did you ever hear stories about the dolls of Lackluster from your grandma?" asked Marie.

"Never," she answered. "I never heard about the other side or the Land of Lackluster!" Her face was flushed.

"I didn't know you had a brother," said Plume.

"He left home, after I left to come here in the doll land, which was how long?" she shrugged her shoulders. "Since the beginning of time? I haven't seen him since." She paced the floor and remembered, "Oh sha, I just remembered a riddle we use to say together. It went something like this."

Poulette took a deep breath and said the riddle.

"Eleven, eleven, back to seven, are the words we have to say.
When the trouble makers come to take our happiness away.
We look with blurred vision into a long mirror on a stand.
It's the passage to make them go back, into their own land."

"What did it mean to you, Poulette?" asked Plume.

"I don't remember, but it has something to do with my cat dying. That's the only time I felt so sad as a child, so we made up the riddle about the trouble makers." She kept pacing the floor.

"Who were the trouble makers?" Marie asked with her hands folded on her lap.

"They were the ones who killed my cat." She looked up in amazement. "Yes, they killed my cat!" She was becoming breathless as she picked up her pace. "The trouble makers came ---- and killed my cat, so my brother and I went to the mirror to say eleven, eleven ---- back to seven, because we were told when the trouble makers came, we had to say the riddle." Poulette almost spilled her coffee, she was shaking so much. "Let's go to the mirror!"

"What mirror?" asked Marie.

"I don't know," she said, trying to catch her breath, while nervously walking around the room. "The mirror we had isn't here in my house."

"My mirror!" Faustina jumped up from the couch shouting. "My mirror has the writing "back to seven" on top of it near the ceiling."

"What!" Marie was shocked.

"Yes! You know how big my mirror is, hanging from the ceiling and bolted to the floor. Well, I never have to look at the ceiling, but a few times I did see the words "back to seven" on the frame at the top of the mirror. I did!"

"Let's go to your house," said Poulette in a hasty voice. "I want to see your mirror."

In a hurry, they got up from the couch at the same time and walked quickly to the front door, causing all of them to get stuck in the frame of the door.

"One at a time ladies," said Faustina.

The dolls were outside watching them struggle to untangle themselves from the frame of the door.

"Were playing a game, sha," Poulette giggle with the dolls. "I bet Madame Plume that I can win racing to Queen Faustina's house." The rest played along with what she started.

"Oh no, I bet I will win," said Plume. Feathers from her dress were flying in the air as they were getting detached from the fabric. They were all tightly squeezed in the door frame.

"Oh no, I'm in this race, too. I bet I can beat all of you," laughed Marie, holding on to her tignon.

When they all managed to get out of the door frame, they ran quickly to Faustina's house. She fiddled with her keys to open her door. When they entered the house, they all dashed to her long mirror.

"Look at the top of the mirror. It says back to seven. I thought it was the name of the one who made the mirror," said Faustina, still jiggling her keys.

"It sure does say that!" exclaimed Marie. "Faustina, you said earlier that you heard the numbers eleven, eleven. Now, do you remember where you heard this phrase?"

"It's on the mirror!" She was shaking her gold key ring wildly. "Look on each side of the mirror. There's an eleven on each side."

All of them looked closely at the frame of the mirror and saw two straight lines which they had seen before, but never saw it as an eleven. But knowing what Poulette said in the riddle it had to be two elevens, because "back to seven" was on top of the mirror.

"I do remember," said Faustina. "The mirror was for my grandma, and she told us to say eleven, eleven --- back to seven when my brother and I laid down with our feet touching the mirror, looking up at the ceiling."

"Why, Faustina?" asked Marie.

Old memories were coming back to the Queen. "Because," she hesitated to think while looking closely at her mirror, "when the --- ugly dolls --- came over," she placed her hands to her cheeks as she remembered, "my brother and I pointed to each eleven," she paused. "We pointed to the right one first and then to the left one, and we said eleven, eleven. Then we pointed to the top of the mirror and said, back to seven."

When she finished pointing at the mirror in the order they did back then, the mirror started to look like water. Her long mirror that hung from the ceiling and was bolted to the floor, was one full maze of rippling water.

"What in the name of Sha Bebe is going on with the mirror? I don't remember this happening!" When Faustina backed away from the mirror, they all backed away.

"I don't know, sha," said Poulette, "but if this is another opening for the ugly dolls to enter, Plume needs her wand."

Marie shouted, "No! Wait, Plume. Don't leave now. Stay. Look what's happening."

The rippled water in the mirror cleared away, and where the mirror was, a beautiful scene came into view in the light of the full moon. It was a body of water with a lot of greenery on cypress trees. A pirogue was docked between two huge pilings right at the edge of the mirror.

"Marie do you know about this?" Plume asked. Her voice was shaking.

"It's Swamp Alley, the passage way to the other side," said Marie with great happiness in her voice. "I could never find it, and it's right here through Faustina's mirror. Poulette, say the riddle again." Marie felt total exhilaration.

"Eleven, eleven ---- back to seven, are the words we have to say, when the trouble makers come to take our happiness away. We look with blurred vision into a long mirror on a stand. It's the passage to make them go back, into their own land." Poulette repeated the entire riddle.

"Then, this is the mirror, and the passage to free Antoine. Plume, now go and get your wand. We're going to the other side," said Marie, with the biggest smile they had ever seen on her face.

"Now! All of us at the same time." Plume was extremely cautious at this point. "Suppose we get lost and can't find the way back to this side." She was very nervous. "Remember, Poulette couldn't find a way to get the armoire opened again. We'll all be stuck on the other side!"

"I understand," said Marie calmly. "Plume, go and get your wand, and Poulette and Faustina will stay on this side to say the words to open the mirror up again, if it should close."

"I'm not sure about this, Marie. How far will we go?"

"Not far," she answered Plume. "We'll just get in the pirogue and paddle out a few yards and see if the mirror closes. If it does, Faustina will say the words to open it again, so that we can come back on this side."

Hesitant about the whole thing, Plume went to her house to get her wand. Faustina and Poulette vowed to watch them.

While Plume rushed to her house to get her wand, the Queen got a few things from the yard. "Marie, bring some rope, and tie one end to the piling that's near the mirror, and the other end to the pirogue. If you lose your way in this short distance, we can pull you back to the mirror with the rope," she said. "Take this lantern, too. You may need it. It's dark out. We'll stay right here. I'll say eleven, eleven ---- back to seven the way my brother and I did if I see the mirror closing. Don't you worry about that."

Poulette managed to squeak out a few words. "Oh no, don't be worried. We'll be right here, sha."

Plume was back with her wand, so she and Marie got into the pirogue and left the Land of Sha Bebe to enter the other side. Neither one knew exactly where this unknown place was, but they were on a desperate mission to free the Wizard.

Poulette yelled, "Marie, do you have your rosewater?"

"I have rosewater with me in my pocket. We'll be okay," she smiled as she waved goodbye. She believed in the magic of her rosewater. She always kept some on her spiritual altar, and she always had some in a small bottle in her pocket.

Marie knew that Swamp Alley was only a portal to the other side. When she would reached the end of the alley, she didn't know what to expect, or where she would be, but this was her destiny which she chose to fulfill at this time in her life. She had to save Antoine Clement Hebert.