Faerietale Page 6

  “You stumbled all the way past the guards?” Snow asked shrewdly. “Mother has dozens surrounding that portion of the palace.”

  Alice laughed awkwardly. “Yes, well, traveler’s luck, I suppose. We’ve been staying with the ladies for a couple days now. Wendy, my friend, is a bit worse for the wear. And Fiametta’s very good with potions. As soon as she’s feeling better, I’m sure we’ll be on our way.”

  “I assume my brother is aware of all of this? Not that he’s particularly observant, mind you,” Snow said dryly, “But he does spend a vast majority of his time there.”

  “Yeah, the Prince knows. He had some, uh, ideas, about me and Wendy. But we convinced him we weren’t interested in joining the club.”

  “And just how did you do that? It usually takes a hefty blow to the head to convince my brother of anything.”

  “If it had come to that, I wouldn’t have minded,” Alice said darkly, before she could catch herself. “Oh my god, I’m sorry I said that.”

  Snow laughed. “Don’t be. I find honesty very refreshing. People are often so dreadfully stiff and formal with me. I enjoy the way you speak.”

  “You do?” Damn those butterflies in her stomach—this was no time to be acting like a giddy schoolgirl!

  “Yes. Now, how did you keep my brother at bay?”

  “I. . .” Alice swallowed and glanced at the window, afraid to see Snow’s expression shift into disgust or embarrassment. Just because Estelle was indifferent didn’t mean that was the normal reaction, and Alice was far too used to being seen as something unusual or distasteful back home. But Snow liked and wanted honesty, and already she knew it would be nigh impossible to deny her what she wanted. “I’m a Same.”

  Snow’s heart leapt. She knew it hadn’t only been wishful thinking, that charge between them. “You are?”

  Was it just her imagination, or was there relief in her voice? Could it be that for once— just once—the universe was actually being kind to her? She was afraid to believe it, afraid that this was just another thing that would be taken away from her. She met Snow’s eyes, took in the smile, the cheekbones and delicate eyebrows, knew she was staring but didn’t care because damn, she was beautiful. And she was smiling at her. Smiling because she’d admitted she was a Same.

  “Are you. . .” Alice said hesitantly, licking suddenly dry lips. They’d only just met, and it would be rude to ask given the circumstances; she was probably less than a peasant in this world. What was the penalty for asking intimate questions of royalty? Beheading, most likely. Though she’d yet to meet the Queen, she could hear her screaming, “Off with her head!”

  “You can ask me anything,” Snow said quietly, lowering her eyes in a way that would have been demure if not for her smile. There was something knowing about that smile. As if she already knew what Alice was thinking. “I promise to answer truthfully. As I said, I value honesty.”

  She took a breath; then she took the leap. “Are you a Same, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh. Wow.” Not her finest moment, but she could have done worse. Whooping for joy would have been worse. As it was she just had a sloppy grin on her face. Like Judy Garland once sang, sometimes dreams really do come true. Really, what were the odds?

  “If we’re being completely honest, Alice,” Snow said softly. “I feel as though I know you already. Perhaps not in the little ways, but on a . . . fundamental level. It’s as if I knew you before, a long time ago. In another life, perhaps. And this meeting today, it isn’t truly our first. I recognized you somehow. I’m not one for such beliefs, usually, but--”

  “All the songs make sense?” Alice asked.

  “Exactly.” She liked the way Alice looked at her, the light in her pale blue eyes, the way the sun burnished her hair to a coppery gold. Everything about her was fresh and interesting and different. It was obvious that she was a stranger in a strange land; everything from her posture to her mannerisms to her way of speaking marked her as a woman far from home. There was an air about her that suggested excitement and daring. Just looking at her made Snow feel invigorated and challenged. It had been so long since such life entered this castle.

  Alice stopped short of pinching herself. If this actually was a dream, she sure as hell wasn’t ready to wake up. Not only had she met the woman from the painting—who was even more stunning in person—but she was like her! And judging by the eyes she was giving her, she was actually interested, too! This was better than hitting the MegaMillions Jackpot.

  “How long were you planning on staying?” Snow asked.

  “Well, Wendy’s still feeling pretty rough,” Alice said. “A few days more, at least.”

  “Has anyone given you a proper tour yet?”

  “I haven’t seen much beyond the harem.”

  “That’s a pity. Perhaps I can show you around a bit.”

  Alice leaned closer, daring to be bold. Their hands brushed between their skirts, fingers ghosting against fingers, and she saw the breath visibly catch in Snow’s throat. She had a terrible urge to press her mouth to that neck, to taste the pulse jumping so lightly at the vein. This close, she could almost count Snow’s eyelashes, could feel their breath mingling.

  “Princess Snow.”

  They startled, the moment shattered. Snow turned to the guard who stood in the doorway, hand at his sword, and gave him her frostiest look. “Yes, Ridell?”

  “I have not seen this girl before.”

  “She is a guest,” Snow said firmly. “And she is not to be hassled. Now if you will excuse us, we will continue on our tour. I’m so glad you like our library, Alice. Please, do visit it whenever the mood strikes you.” She hooked her arm in hers and led her purposefully to the door, past the guard. “I, for one, enjoy sitting with a cup of tea and a good book on any day, particularly an overcast one. Next is our Sapphire Sitting Room, just down this hall. . .”

  Chapter Three

  Once Upon a Time. . .

  Tink wove her way through the trees, looking for any other flashes of telltale Faery light. Lacewing and Bloom and Yellowrose had been gone for several days now. Her Queen didn't think much of it-- she'd just laughed and said that the Fae did love their travel, and sometimes they stayed gone for longer than was wise. But they always came back, she'd reassured her.

  And she would've let herself be reassured, were it not for the fact that Violet and Sunflower had been gone for far longer than several days, and they'd had no word or sign of them.

  She knew it was likely that they'd just found somewhere else to live. Fae did that; they found a friend and stayed with them for months or even years before coming back to the village. But so many? So close together? And most Faeries who found a friend to live with at least came back for visits now and again.

  While she saw no light, she did hear an out-of-place noise, and she swooped down to investigate.

  It was a human, a young man. He sat with his back to her, his head down and his shoulders shaking.

  Little fool, she thought, not unkindly. Didn't he know that such a display of worry and vulnerability out here would most certainly get him killed?

  "Boy," she said sternly, landing in front of him. "Why are you crying?"

  "I'm lost," he murmured, rubbing at his eyes and looking up at her. Immediately some of the grief vanished and his expression lit with interest. “What are you?"

  "A Faery, of course. Well, technically I'm a Changeling, but not sure that matters much anymore. And what are you?" she teased.

  "I'm Peter Pan!" he said, and to her surprise he darted into the air and spun around.

  Perhaps he wasn't fully human after all. She'd never met a regular mortal who could fly without the aid of Faery magic. "Well, hello to you, Peter Pan," she said cheerfully. "Do you have any idea what direction your home is?"

  "No," he said gloomily. "I just started flying and when I finally stopped. . ."

  "Then I have a solution. Find a new home!"

  "But I liked that one."
<
br />   "I know. But first, come and see where I've found. Came across it just yesterday while I was doing a bit of flying myself."

  Clearly curious now, he followed after her, and she led him to what she'd started calling The Mermaid Lagoon. He grinned widely at the sight of it, and she couldn't help but grin right back. The boy did have the most infectious expressions. "See? Beautiful, isn't it?"

  "It's perfect."

  She beamed. "The only others who know about it seem to be a group of pirates who dock here sometimes. And, of course, them," she said, gesturing to the multitude of mermaids who were laughing and splashing around in the bright blue water.

  "Ohhh. I've heard mermaids are really dangerous!"

  "They are. So you have to be-- really careful," she squeaked, as he darted away from her and lit down on an enormous rock directly in the middle of the mermaid swarm. Granted, he wasn't touching the water, but it wouldn't be any hassle at all for one of them to leap up out of the water and drag him down.

  "Hello!" he said brightly. "I'm Peter Pan, and I'm going to be living here! Well, not right here, as I don't have a tail, but quite nearby! Very pleased to meet you!"

  Apparently amused by him, they let him live. And by the time the sun descended, he'd made a start on quite a respectable treehouse for himself.

  "I'm quite glad that I could help you," Tinker Bell said. "Goodnight."

  "What?" he asked, sounding so bewildered that she turned back around.

  "I'm going home," she explained.

  "Aww. Do you have to?"

  "Well . . . no, I suppose I don't, really. So perhaps one night."

  He grinned. "Two."

  "All right," she said, laughing. "Two."

  ***

  It ended up being three nights, but after that she went back home, curious about news of the others. Not only had none of the them returned, but now Star Bright and Moon were gone, too, and Moon was really far too young to be out on her own for long. Her Queen had told her that she had searchers out now, but that she would appreciate Tink's assistance as well.

  Perhaps Peter would help, too, she thought, as she searched around his usual resting spots. He wasn't at his treehouse, or at the Lagoon, or by any of his favorite berry patches.

  Finally, she spotted the familiar shock of dark hair, though today he'd finally taken her advice and was wearing something other than dark green. She'd teased him that with his dark hair and green clothes she had trouble finding him; that he looked like just another forest shadow. Now he wore a bright purple shirt and dirt-stained white pants, and she laughed as she landed on his knee and pretended to closely inspect the fabric underneath her. "Granted, it's not green, but I fear you may have gone a bit too. . ."

  The words died, for that was when she looked up. The dark hair was the same as Peter's, and the eyes were dark, too, but there was something far worse than mischief in these.

  "Well now," he whispered, voice like a snake's rattle. "You made this easy."

  And before she could break her paralysis, he'd brought his hands up and around, trapping her inside a round metal prison. She stared out at him through one of the tiny holes, shrinking back as much as she could when he laughed.

  "Bells ring, clocks chime," he sing-songed, and then he shook the metal ball she was in, hard. Sagging against the curved side, she shrieked as loud as she could.

  "Ring, bell, ring!" he crowed, laughing. "Pretty sound, pretty sound." He shook the prison again, and then scurried deeper into the woods.

  After a short distance, he reached inside a hollow tree and pulled out a thick leather strap. Attached to it were several other hollow bells. Tink heard voices as he rattled the strap, most of them far too weak. "Moon!" she cried. "Lacewing, Yellowrose . . . are you there?"

  "Not Yellowrose," a voice came. "She's gone."

  "Little bells, little bells," the Mad Hatter said. "One doesn't chime. Need more. One and two and three and four and five and six and seven little bells," he said, attaching her own ball onto the strap.

  Then he ran further, until he came to a small house. Tink couldn't help but stare. The entire house seemed like it was made of cookies or maybe a sweet bread dough, and it was lined with icing and covered with all manner of candies and treats. Though there was a small fire burning merrily in front of the house, it couldn't disguise the smell of so many sweets, and Tink's stomach growled involuntarily.

  Then a woman came out, red hair shining and a brilliant smile on her face, and Tinker Bell instinctively looked down for any sign of scales, certain that she was one of the mermaids somehow come to be on land.

  "And what have you brought for me today?" she asked sweetly, and the Mad Hatter held out the leather strap.

  "Oooh," she said. "Well, isn't this just a brilliant little snack."

  Before Tinker Bell could even fully grasp the meaning of that word, the woman plucked off one of the metal bells and tossed it into the fire.

  "No!" Tink screamed, and she heard the Fae below her cry out as well, but everything was drowned out by the unfortunate victim's shrieks. Her cries were mercifully short, and after that there was only the sound of the other Fae crying.

  "Lovely," the woman said, using a stick to nudge the metal ball back out of the fire. "I thought I might throw all of them in at once, but the noises they make are just divine, aren't they? Really add something to the meal."

  The Mad Hatter chortled and pulled off another ball. "Can I do the next one? Can I?"

  "Of course!"

  Tink tried to reach a hand through one of the holes, tried to reach out for little Moon, but even if she'd been able to stretch her full arm out it wouldn't have been enough to grasp the other Fae's hand--

  And then something slammed into the Mad Hatter, sending all of them to the ground. Tink sat up, rubbing at her hand, and saw a familiar flash of dark green. "Peter! Peter, there's two of them, watch--"

  But instead of striding forward and joining the fight, as she'd expected, the red-haired woman disappeared with a wink and a smile. Tink stared at the suddenly empty space, and then yelped in alarm when the two fighting men rolled right over their leather strap, pressing them down into the mud so deep that she was barely able to keep her mouth and nose above it.

  She couldn't see anything anymore; could only hear grunts and yelps of pain and curses. She started shaking, certain that at any moment the Hatter would pull them up, that she would see Peter's body lying there and it would be her last sight before she and her friends were thrown into the flames.

  Then the strap was yanked out of the ground, and she saw Peter, saw the Mad Hatter limping into the woods, and the shock of realizing that she wasn't about to be burned after all had her bursting into tears.

  "Don't-- hey, don't cry, it's okay now! It is!" Peter said, fumbling to unsnap the mud-covered prison. He finally got the two halves apart and carefully dumped her out onto his palm. "There, see? You're out!"

  "The others," Tink said. "Get the others out."

  He nodded and put her down, and worked on opening the other prisons. Tink tried to focus on cleaning the mud off her wings, but her hands were trembling too badly to let her do anything other than tug harshly at them.

  Then she remembered Moon. She hadn't been on the strap with the others; she'd been thrown. Tinker Bell got to her feet and looked around, seeing a glint of silver close to the fire. Peter had stopped him from fully completing the throw, thank Scheherazade.

  She ran over to her, wincing uncomfortably at the heat of being so close to the flames. Moon was red-faced and sweating, but other than that she seemed safe. Tink got around on the other side of the metal ball, gritting her teeth at the heat of the metal as she pressed her palms to it and shoved.

  She managed to roll Moon far enough away for the heat to die down, and then Peter was picking up her ball as well, setting her loose. Tink silently looked over the other Fae's dirty faces. She'd been told that Yellowrose was gone. The only one missing now was Bloom.

  "Peter?" she said q
uietly as he picked her back up. "The . . . the one who was in the fire. We have to bring Bloom back home. If she's left here then--" She couldn't finish the sentence. Peter nodded, and gingerly picked up the charred metal ball.

  ***

  "Thank you, Peter Pan," the Faery Queen said, as she placed a bouquet of Bloom's favorite flowers over her grave. A second grave for Yellowrose had been dug next to Bloom's, though there was no body to bury. "And thank you, Tink. The Mad Hatter had not given us trouble in so many years I did not think him to be a threat anymore. I regret that I was not the one to pay for my mistake."

  Tinker Bell moved forward and wrapped her arms around her, and the two of them stood there for a long moment. Then Tink stepped back and looked around at the other Fae, and at Peter, who was crouched down at the edge of their clearing. "I'm going back with him," she said quietly.

  "I expected nothing less." The Queen kissed her cheek. "Be safe, my girl."

  "I will."

  “Well now. You look comfortable.”

  Wendy tilted her head back and grinned up at her. She was stretched out on the grass, wearing a turquoise top and matching pants, both so gauzy they were almost transparent. Cybele was beside her, lying on her stomach and painting her nails. Estelle was sitting under one of the trees, reading.

  “I'm calling it therapy. Fiametta said being outdoors is good for me.”

  Alice sighed loudly. “Too much sun can give you skin cancer.”

  “And too much glaring can give you wrinkles,” Wendy shot back, still grinning. “I'm not out here like this every day. That's the point. C'mon, sit.”

  “How's your leg?”

  “Not perfect yet, but a lot better,” she said. “I don't think there's even going to be much of a scar. So we--”

  Then the interior door flew open, and Edom tensed, hand going to the blade at his waist. He relaxed when Snow White hurried in, but only slightly. The Prince, who was lounging on the widest couch, his head on Beckah's lap, glanced over at her. "Hey, Snow."