Between the lines

HELP ME.

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page 11

On the bright side, Oliver realized, odds were in his favor that his intended bride was not in a coma, nor did she have a rope of hair for him to climb in order to rescue her. However, he was going into this endeavor blindly-knowing nothing about where this girl might be.

He had saddled his stallion, Socks, and now hesitated outside the castle walls. Glancing down at Frump, who trotted beside his master, he spoke aloud. “Which way, boy?” Oliver asked. It was extremely difficult to rescue a princess, he realized, when one had precious few clues to begin with.

Frump barked, jerking his snout in the direction of the Enchanted Forest.

Oliver cringed. Although that was the quickest route to the cottage of the wizard Orville-the person in the kingdom who was most likely to be able to conjure clues for Oliver’s quest-it was also riddled with hazards. There were roots your stallion might trip over while galloping; there were low-hanging branches. Some bits of the forest were so thick that you could not see a foot before you. And because the woods were enchanted, the paths through them were mazes that changed constantly; the route you took the last time was never one you’d take twice.

He closed his eyes, imagining Princess Seraphima, who would be consigned to a lifetime of misery with a villain if he didn’t manage to save her.

Then again, it wasn’t like she was counting on Oliver’s arrival…

He reached for the compass around his neck, thinking of home, which was just a few steps behind him. Maybe his mother was right; maybe it was better to be safe than sorry. Before he could convince himself to retrace his steps into the safety of the castle walls, however, a tiny light zoomed before his face. Squinting, he could just make out the body of a fairy. Nasty little creatures, they fed on lies and gossip. They’d been known to put a grown man to sleep, and to steal all the secrets from his mind. Oliver waved his hand before his face, the way you might try to get an insect away from you, but the fairy rose, glowing, and then dove, biting Socks firmly on the hindquarter.

The stallion reared and bolted into the Enchanted Forest. It was all Oliver could do to hold on for dear life, and he hoped that Frump was able to keep up.

Sawing at the reins, Prince Oliver finally managed to stop the horse. “It’s all right, boy,” he soothed, looking around to get his bearings.

It was too dark to see. And then suddenly, there was a pinprick of light. And another. A third. If he squinted, he could see the long, thin legs of the fairies illuminated against the halos of their beating wings.

One fairy hovered in front of his face, mesmerizing him. Her hair was a constantly shifting mane of sparks that crackled as she moved. Nearly translucent, her skin glowed in the dark like the face of the moon. Her teeth, when she smiled, were perfect tiny dagger points. In the blink of an eye, she darted toward his neck, and bit his skin.

“Ouch!” Oliver cried, swatting her away as she licked his blood from her lips.

“He tastes like royalty,” said the fairy. “Like wine and wealth.”

“I’m a prince,” Oliver replied. “I’m on my way to rescue a princess.”

The second fairy landed on his hand and sank her razor teeth into his thumb, making Oliver yelp. “He’s lying,” replied the second fairy. “I taste fear.”

The third fairy landed delicately on the tip of Oliver’s nose. “Fear? I know who this boy is.” She looked directly into Oliver’s eyes. “This is the queen’s son. I’m Sparks. The one who gave you wisdom.”

The first fairy came to hover beside her. “I’m Ember. I gave you loyalty.”

“And I am Glint,” said the second fairy. “I gave you life.”

“Thank you for all of that,” Oliver said politely, because a prince is nothing if not polite. “But I’d really like it if you allowed me to pass through the forest.”

“You can’t,” said Sparks. “It’s too dangerous.”

Ember nodded. “A boy without bravery shouldn’t take chances.”

“Glint,” said the first fairy, “bite the horse again so he’ll gallop home.”

“No!” Oliver cried out. “What if I challenged you?”

He knew very little about fairies-no one knew much about them, really. They somehow managed to learn the secrets of humans without ever letting a secret of their own slip out. But Oliver had seen the strongest of knights carried back to the castle by his peers after a hungry swarm of fairies had pulled every hidden memory from his mind. They were destructive and impulsive, and they never had any regrets.

“If I beat you at your own game,” Oliver said, thinking on his feet, “wouldn’t that be proof enough of my bravery?”

“A game?” said Sparks, her hair flickering with excitement.

Ember landed on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. “But we make the rules.”

Glint settled on a branch in front of him, calling her sisters close. As they leaned in, their hair brightened, like combined flames. Finally Glint broke away. “You must try to cast a glow farther than any of us.”

Oliver didn’t miss a beat. “Done,” he accepted.

The fairies looked at each other. “Stupid humans,” said Ember. “They can’t shine.”

“What do we get if we win?” Sparks asked.

Oliver thought. “All my secrets,” he said soberly. “Every last one.”

The fairies clapped, creating a rain of glitter. “Me first,” Glint sang, and she shimmied so that a halo of silver light rose from around her body. The forest lit, six tree trunks deep, before fading into darkness again.

“Amateur,” Ember scoffed. She spun in a tight circle, holding her wings out like helicopter blades, and a warm bronze glow enveloped the area where Oliver was standing. Like that of the fairy before her, the circle of light grew and grew, this time ten trees deep, before snuffing itself out.

“Watch and learn, girls,” Sparks said. She curled tightly into a ball, growing so small she was only a pinprick, and then with a sudden pop let loose a corona of golden light.

The glow was fiercer, hotter, wider-but quicker to fade to black.

“Your turn,” Glint said, raising one arched silver brow.

“Wait. If I win,” Oliver replied, “I want safe passage.”

The fairies, blinking intermittently now, whispered to each other. “Safe passage,” they agreed.

Oliver reached into Socks’s saddlebags and took out the packed lunch that the royal cook had given him before he left. Inside were two hard-boiled eggs, some cheese, and a hunk of bread. There was also a tiny drawstring bag of seasoning.

Loosening the string, Oliver gently blew across the small heap of pepper, so that it created a cloud around the fairies.

Glint, Sparks, and Ember sneezed in unison, and as they did, flashes of light burst like fireworks to illuminate the whole of the Enchanted Forest.

“Well,” Oliver said, swinging himself back into the saddle. “I think it’s clear that I-”

Before he could finish his sentence, Socks let out an enormous sneeze too. He reared on his hind legs, inadvertently pawing at Glint, who then nipped him in self-defense.

Once again, Oliver held on for dear life as his runaway stallion bolted into the Enchanted Forest. Finally, they broke through the thick foliage, just in time for Oliver to notice that they were approaching a cliff. At an alarming pace.

“Whoa!” he cried, yanking on the reins.

There was six feet of ground remaining before the cliff edge. Three feet. One. Miraculously, Socks halted abruptly at the edge. “Thank goodness,” Oliver said.