by Holly Hook
“I didn’t say anything.”
"Look," Candice said. "You did what you had to. They shouldn't have been talking about you like that."
"Well, he is a creep," Franco said.
"Do you want a shooting star to the face, too?" I asked, which was stupid as I didn't have the staff anymore.
“You two,” Candice said, moving to stand in between us. She was wearing a white dress today with silvery trim that couldn’t be woven without any magic. “If this is true, Nori will have those knights detained or something. You don’t have to fight.”
“You’re always getting in the way of our arguments,” Franco said. The bitterness was there. "This is between me and Shorty."
"Come on," I said. I was ninety percent sure Franco had a crush on Candice. It was one of those things. Candice never liked him as more than a friend and she wanted to keep it that way. Going any further would ruin their relationship. "We don't have to be like this."
Franco turned away and sighed. The tension was always there between us.
It had been great at first, hanging around this huge castle and getting nothing but the best food. It had also been great not having the dread of the dark region in the pit of my stomach all the time or having to be around my other grandmother while she cursed some poor children and tried to shove them in ovens.
But after a while, there was nothing to do here but read, sit in the garden, and lie around. Nori hadn’t even assigned me a magic trainer or given me any kind of royal title, not that I cared about that. I was still just plain Shorty and that was fine with me.
My mother’s mother was terrified of me.
I wasn't fine with that.
"I just want the two of you to get along," Candice said. "What happened in the other world is over now. Well, except for my father being all worried about me. And Franco, Shorty helped get you away from that water nix. Remember that?"
Franco faced her and heat crept into his face. "Yeah. I remember that all too well."
Candice's father had been a king in this world, but had abandoned his kingdom when a wise woman told him that not-yet-born daughter was part of a story and Alric would try to harm her to make that story fall. When a story fell, a part of Fable turned dark and fell under Alric's rule, so Candice's father had fled to the other world, married a woman there and had Candice. Her father must have figured out where she was, at least. I had to keep telling her that because she was up every night, worrying about him.
Franco's parents had to be worried, too, and that might be why he was taking his crap out on me more than usual.
The thing was, none of us knew a way back to the other world.
One that didn't involve going to Alric and asking to use his magic mirror, anyway.
Franco leaned around Candice to glare at me. He opened his mouth to say something, but then the guards blew their trumpets to announce some visitors.
The sound had just annoyed me every other day at the Star Kingdom, but now it was terrifying.
I couldn't see through the gardens to the front gates, but then the trumpets blew again. And again. Whoever was here, it was a lot of somebody.
I faced Candice and Franco. "We've got to check that out. Now."
Chapter Two
I wished I had kept the staff. At least I looked more intimidating that way. I didn't have that, so I tore off the silver magician's robe instead and tossed it into some shrubs shaped like a planet with rings. It landed, hanging off one of the rings. My T-shirt and jeans were a step up from the robe, at least, even if it wasn't official.
"You're saying the Fox Kingdom is going to invade," Candice said as we ran down the brick path. We split around the water fountain and came together again. The plum trees grew tall and we passed the benches where we usually read.
"I don't know," I breathed. "Ebert and Humphrey might be spies. Maybe that's why they suck as knights."
And why they know what I did, I wanted to add, but Franco was running behind us.
But when we reached the closed front gates, it wasn't an army bearing Fox Kingdom flags, ready to brutalize me.
Instead, a large, disorganized group of peasants stood there, peering in at us with long, tired and dirty faces. Leading them were a group of teenagers, one of them a girl with golden hair so long she had to haul it around in her arms. She leaned on a redheaded guy in green. Another young guy in an orange tunic stood there, a sword hanging from his belt like he was guarding the dark-haired girl next to him. She had a purple ball of yarn in one hand and it was glowing in the sunlight as if it were made of the rampion that grew in these gardens. I think I saw an elf, too, but he was farther back in the crowd.
These people were tired.
They might even be refugees.
"Who are they?" Franco asked. "I don't know the politics of this world, but the orange dude looks like he might be royal."
"I think he is," I said, checking out the sword handle. The jewels decorating it were the color of the setting sun. When I was in the dark region, no one really told me about the other kingdoms, especially the ones in the lighter area, but I knew they were out there and they usually were named after things like trees and animals or maybe even seasons. I could guess that orange jewels meant he might be from a place called the Fire Kingdom--no wait, that sounded like something from the dark region.
This might not be cool after all.
But he raised one hand. The guy was clearly the leader and he couldn't be any older than me. The rest of the people were adult villagers for the most part, one of them a guy so old he was stooped over.
I waved back just as the two guards posted at the entrance, two knights named Clyde and Adrian who weren't idiots. They stood there, peering at me through their visors and waiting for something.
Me.
I was the best representative here to talk to these people and I was dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. I'd left the silver cloak behind me, thinking this would be an approaching army. It would have to work. Judging from the desperate looks on their faces, they wouldn't care how I was dressed.
I motioned for the knights to open the gates.
"What if they're with Alric?" Candice asked.
"I know what people who are with Alric look like," I said. "I grew up around them."
"Good point," she said.
The knights unlocked the gates with the brass key and swung them open. The desperate crowd didn't surge in like invaders would. Instead, they waited patiently while I walked out to them.
"Hello," the young guy with the sword said. "I'm King Mica of the Sun Kingdom. This is Princess Ignacia of the Swan Kingdom. We're here to represent the rest of Fable's light region."
I waved them in, forgetting that I was supposed to act all pompous. "I'm Shorty," I said. "My grandmother is the Queen here. I guess you want to talk to her."
"That would be good," Mica said, studying me. He eyed my jeans, which I insisted on keeping from the other world. I didn't like the way he was doing that. He was sizing me up like I might be some kind of threat.
"We're seeking asylum and to offer our help fighting Alric," he said. "We came a long way. Ignacia's magic yarn led us here." He waved to her. The yarn she held seemed to be glowing.
"I'll take you to her," I said, and motioned for Mica and Ignacia to follow. "Everyone else can rest in the garden. I'll have Candice and Franco bring out some water and some food. It looks like you're all hungry." I shot Franco a look that told him not to argue. This was serious.
I could see a long story in the way Mica followed me. The girl clutched the yarn. She was dark and pretty but I could tell she had gone through a lot, maybe even more than Candice had. She linked hands with the king and I led them back through the castle, ignoring the cramping in my legs.
I had to take them past where Ebert and Humphrey were still lurking in the wine cellar. Their low voices drifted out as we walked in silence, but neither one of them dared say anything to me. I still wasn't sure where they fit into the picture but if the
y knew about what I'd done, they had to be from the Fox Kingdom.
I led the couple up the stairs and pounded on the door of the Astronomy tower again.
"Yes?"
"Company," I announced.
There was a pause on the other side of the door and it opened a crack.
"They're not here to kill us," I promised my grandmother.
She opened the door all the way and took in the two newcomers. Her features relaxed only after she did that. My grandmother didn't even trust me. It was a great feeling.
"Come in," she told the two of them, closing the door on me as much as she could as they entered. I stood aside as the king and the princess from the Swan Kingdom stepped inside. "Do you bring news?"
She closed the door, leaving me out.
I turned away and stalked back to the garden, taking a way around the wine cellar. I was having a very weird and very disturbing day. Candice and Franco had let in the rest of the refugees while I was gone. I saw most of the villagers sitting on the benches and wandering around the garden, checking out the flowers. These people had seen things. I knew the feeling. They walked around as if they had just come out of a war. My girlfriend and Franco were nowhere to be found. They must be bringing out food and water.
The girl with the long braid sat down, leaning on the freckly guy. I walked up to them. "So...where did you all come from?"
"It's a long story," the girl said. "I used to live in a tower and my mother was a crazy dark witch, if that's what you're asking."
"That's nice," I said.
"She's trapped in a glass coffin in Alric's lair now," she finished. "That's also a long story." She looked around in amazement. "You have rampion growing everywhere here."
"We do," I said, right before her words sunk in. "Your mother is trapped in Alric's lair?"
I knew what that felt like, too, only I had never met my mother. She had been sealed away right after I was born and Alric had only allowed me glimpses of her through his magic mirror or occasionally through a pond to remind me that I had to do whatever he wanted or she would remain there forever. It had all been a lie. I had gone to the other world to find the frog prince and she still wasn't free. I had even killed Lawrence and she still lay there under glass. I didn't even know where Alric's other lair was. He had mentioned something about sands. There were several deserts in the dark region. That could be anywhere.
The freckled guy nodded. "We were there. We made it to Alric's lair after she left her tower. Alric wanted to kill Rae here to make our story end the wrong way, so--"
"So whatever kingdom you were in could turn dark," I finished. "I've seen it happen. It's not good. Candice and I were in the Fox Kingdom when it went dark for a short time. I won't say why we were there." I remembered the graying skies right after I had killed Lawrence, along with the shattering windows and the rotting food. Alric wanted to rule a Fable filled with despair and death.
I wished I had a hood to pull over my hair.
It was the exact shade as his.
"It sounds like you know a lot about what's going on," Rae said, bunching up her braid on her lap. It sparkled in the sun.
"We hear a lot of things in the Star Kingdom," I told her.
"I'm Henry," the freckled guy said. "I'm a prince from the Acorn Kingdom. This is Rae. She used to live in an old tower in the Stone Kingdom and lucky her, I stumbled across it and got to climb her hair."
"Short for Rapunzel," I said.
"You know the story?" Rae said, mouth falling open. "This is far from where Mary used to live. She had the only book with all of Fable's stories. It was from her that I learned what mine really was."
"The only other book in Fable with the stories is in Alric's lair," Henry said.
I had backed myself into a corner. Alric had left his copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, the book with all the workings of Fable inside of it, unguarded a few times and I had taken a peek or two. He probably would have killed me if he'd caught me in his little library, but I'd gotten away clean and read most of the tales. They were supposed to be about real people in Fable who were born over and over, leading out the same lives again and again. After I had been assigned to go after the frog king, I believed that whole theory.
There was one story Alric had torn out of the book, though.
The Glass Coffin.
His story...and my mother's story.
I needed a lie. Mary and Nori had spoken a lot about the book. That was my cover. "Mary used to talk to my grandmother," I said. "I heard about some of the stories from listening to them."
Rae and Henry bought it. I'd had to tell Candice my parents were Watchers, or spies of Alric, when we first got stuck back in Fable together. The whole thing had blown up, of course, when Candice caught me talking to Alric through a pond.
"So," Rae asked. "Is the Star Kingdom where all the rampion comes from?"
"Of course," I said. "My grandmother creates shooting stars and rampion grows wherever they land. If one lands in a dark spot, it starts healing the area. She's been sending them out every night, trying to keep the darkness in the world from getting worse. The dark spots are growing all the time, though. She's tired. Magic drains you." I thought of her studying her globe, trying to figure out where she hadn't sent out her stars yet.
"At least that's answered," Rae said. "My real mother ate some right before I was born. That's why my hair can heal people."
"Saved me many times," Henry added. "I hated being blind."
I wondered how many characters had just landed on our doorstep. Most people in Fable were just peasants, extras in the stories. These were some of the more important ones.
They had targets on their backs. Like me.
"Who else is with you?" I asked. "Who I might recognize, that is?"
"Well," Henry said. "There's Brie and Stilt, if you remember the story about the girl who had to spin gold. Ignacia just had to save her six brothers from being swans. They were cursed by Alric's sister..."
"Alric's sister?" I asked. "Alric has a sister?"
I had never heard of her. Then again, I had never heard of much, being trapped in the castle nursery most of my life.
"We didn't know, either," Rae said. "Maybe they don't get along so they don't talk to each other. It sounds like Annie is jealous of her brother and she's eager to show him who's the most powerful. That's not a good thing for us. It's why Ignacia and Mica had to leave their kingdoms. I hope her yarn took us a way that she can't follow too easily."
"She has seven league boots," Henry reminded her.
"She'll check the Swan Kingdom first. Ignacia's brothers are busy hiding in one of the villages there," Rae said.
My head was spinning. There were so many stories overlapping here and I couldn't get a word in. Candice's story was the Frog Prince, but we had improvised and made that end the way it was supposed to in order to save the Fox Kingdom. I didn't want to talk about that part.
And I wasn't sure I was part of any story.
I had never read The Glass Coffin or about how my mother was supposed to be freed.
"So you know where Alric's lair is," I said.
"It's under a tower in a desert," Rae said. "Stilt was able to find it. The elf, I mean. It's in the upper part of Fable's underworld. But now that Alric knows where it is, he might end up moving it to another place."
"I would if I were him," Henry said.
I itched to ask the question. "Did he have prisoners there?"
"Lots of prisoners," Rae said. "At least two whole kingdoms of people were trapped down there. He turned most of them into vapor and kept them in jars. And there was a woman down there, trapped in a glass coffin. We tried to get her out, but her coffin wouldn’t break. Henry was there too and I had to free him by breaking his glass box. It turns out he had two kingdoms down there. We freed Henry’s kingdom, but there was nothing we could do about the other one. I think it wasn't our story to do so."
My mother had fled to the Tree Kingdom right before she had me,
all in order to get away from my father and Lawrence, who were both overbearing jerks to her. After she had me, Lawrence found her and sold out her location to Alric. She’d been trapped ever since and the Tree Kingdom had gone with her.
I held back the emotion, not letting it get to my face. “Have you thought about going back and freeing the others?"
“Like I said, we couldn’t,” Rae said. “I think that’s because it wasn’t in our story. The glass wouldn’t break when we beat on it. We can’t find the guy who’s supposed to free that woman. We’ve read The Glass Coffin, which is supposed to be the story he’s in.”
I about jumped.
“You’ve…read the story. How?”
Henry spoke now. “Ignacia and King Mica went to the other world and found another copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. They used their magic ball of yarn to find a portal there and back. It can take you wherever you ask it to. Why? Would you possibly know anyone from that story?”
Chapter Three
“Why do you want to read the story so badly?” Henry asked me. “Is someone you know trapped down there?”
“No,” I said, telling the truth. I didn’t know my mother. Alric had made sure of that. She could be a total witch for all I knew but I’d never know unless I did something. For years, I had lived without a way to ever reach her.
But if they were right about this ball of yarn…
“Well, this could be a way to stop Alric,” I said. “He’s supposed to die in the story, right? The bad guys usually do.” I sat on the bench under the biggest plum tree and ran my finger down the table of contents until I reached the Glass Coffin. I turned to that story.
There it was, the pages Alric had torn from his copy.
It started out with a young man seeking shelter from an older man for the night. He then woke to find a bull and stag fighting outside the house.
My heart sank. Alric could change his shape and a bull was his favorite, most intimidating one. If anything got someone to do what he wanted, it was having a bull breathe down your back. I’d never seen him do it, but he had mentioned it many times.