by Liz Dejesus
Pee on a stick and see what it says. Kind of a messed-up fortune cookie if you ask me.
PREGNANT. Such a big word. Literally life changing. Bianca put the pregnancy test back where it was and walked out of the bathroom.
She was still in a bit of a daze at this bit of news. She was going to be a big sister. There was going to be a whole new person in her home. Things were changing so fast. Her father had been home a little over a month, and her parents had picked up right where they left off ten years ago. Where did that leave her?
Then, Howard’s words echoed in her mind. There are others that haven’t arrived yet. Others that are still to come, and you have to pave the way for them. They will need a road to follow, a steady path that will lead them to safety.
Bianca quickly realized that she would have to keep her family safe. She returned to her bedroom and sat next to Terrance, who was, amazingly, still asleep.
“Terrance.” She gently shook him awake.
He opened his dark brown eyes and stretched.
“Yes?” he asked as he stifled a yawn.
“We have to take the slipper out of the museum,” she announced.
“What? Why?” He sat up and rubbed his eyes.
“My mother is pregnant.”
Terrance let out a low whistle.
“Yeah.”
“Where will we take the slipper?”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head and then tapped the back of her head against the headboard, hoping it might make her brain work faster.
“We should speak to the prince. He’ll know where to take it. Perhaps he has a favor that is owed to him.”
“If you think that’ll help.”
“You need to give Prince Ferdinand more credit. He is an excellent negotiator when he needs to be.”
Bianca chuckled. She got out of bed, and together, they went to the guest bedroom where the prince was staying. She knocked a few times and said, “Ferdinand? Are you awake?”
“Come in,” he said.
Bianca stifled a giggle. Ferdinand was using the telephone. He held the phone at arm’s length.
“Can you hear me?” he shouted into the phone.
“What are you doing?” Bianca asked.
“I am speaking to Ming. She gave me her telephone number yesterday and asked me to call her. I am doing as she requested,” he explained.
“I see,” Bianca replied.
“Ming, darling, when can I see you again?” he shouted into the telephone.
“You don’t need to yell,” Bianca chided.
“My apologies. This is all so new to me.”
“Your Highness, may I have the phone, please?”
“I’m not finished speaking to my love,” he said.
Bianca gave him a tightlipped smile. “Give me that. There has been a slight change of plans, and we need to leave.”
“No!” Prince Ferdinand held the phone against his chest.
Bianca sighed and snatched the phone from his hands. “I don’t have time for this, Ferdinand.” She put the phone to her ear and said, “Ming? You still there?”
“Yeah, B. Still here.”
“We’ll have the what-are-you-doing-with-Ferdinand conversation later. For now, we have a situation. Mom is pregnant.”
“What?” Ming shrieked.
“Yeah, so we have to go back to Everafter with the slipper.”
“Awww man.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“All right.”
“You wanna tag along? Can’t let me have all the fun.”
“God no! Are you crazy? I’ll stay home, thank you very much. I’ll help your parents at the museum. I’ll get your mother pickles and ice cream. Massage her cankles. Whatever she needs,” Ming said.
“Good to know. All right, I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, B. Oh, put Ferdinand back on, please.”
“Okey dokey.”
Bianca handed the phone back to the prince.
He mimicked Bianca and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello? Yes? You have? You will? Most excellent! I shall return for you soon, my darling. Farewell.” Ferdinand was beaming as he returned the telephone to its receiver.
“What was that about?” Bianca asked.
“Nothing,” he lied.
“That didn’t sound like nothing to me.”
“I’ve…ah…I’ve invited Ming to attend the Winter Ball with me,” he said sheepishly.
Bianca giggled. “And what did she say?”
“She said yes!”
“Aw, your first date, months and months from now. A cross-dimensional love affair,” she teased.
“And what exactly do you call what you and my friend Terrance are doing?”
“Hey, don’t spin this on me. I’m doing the teasing here. So there.” She stuck her tongue out and left the guest room.
“That was very mature of you,” Terrance said, leaning against the hall wall, arms crossed, as he watched her.
“Not much time for maturity. We have to pack and go to the museum.”
“What are you going to tell your mother?”
“Nothing. She’d stop me if she knew what I’m about to do.”
Bianca zipped past him and hurried into her room. She grabbed her weathered backpack and stuffed it with clothes and her favorite magical items: the blood red cape, the maroon brick, and her new apple seeds.
Terrance placed a firm, yet gentle hand on her shoulder. “Bianca, stop and think for a moment.”
He was the voice of reason inside her jumbled thoughts. If anyone was going to convince her to change her mind, he was the only person in the universe with the power to do so.
“Ter, my mother has been waiting ten years for another chance to have this baby. Do you really want me to stand by and watch her lose it?”
“You don’t know if that’s going to happen.”
“And you don’t know if it won’t. Can you promise me that my mother will be safe? What if it were your mother?”
Terrance took a step back, as though she had just slapped him across the face.
“That’s not fair,” he whispered.
She knew it was a shot below the belt. It was unfair to throw that question at him. She knew how much he loved his family and how devoted he was to both his parents.
Terrance shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Darling, I will follow you until the end of the world if that is what you wish, but I think you’re making a mistake by taking the slipper out of the museum.”
“I have no other choice,” she muttered as she continued to pack her things.
“You always have a choice.”
“Not this time.”
Eighteen
Bianca circled around the Plexiglas case containing the glass slipper. It sparkled and glinted from every angle.
“So, what exactly is the plan?” Terrance asked.
“We let the Frog Queen watch us take the slipper out of the museum, I open the portal to Everafter, and we run like hell to the Fairy Realm,” Bianca said, reminding him of the plan they’d come up with on the drive to the museum.
Bianca took a long deep breath, opened the glass case, and removed the slipper. She still couldn’t believe she was actually doing that. She carefully wrapped one of her T-shirts around the slipper and gently placed it inside her backpack. She hoped the slipper wouldn’t crack with all of the running around they were about to do. There were also the other items she had taken with her: the red cape, the maroon brick, the apple seeds, and bottled water and a few cans of soup. She was certain that if she survived this adventure, her parents were going to ground her for life.
“Let me know when they get close. We want them to watch us leave,” Bianca said.
“All right. What do we do in the meantime?” Prince Ferdinand asked.
“You two can do whatever you like. I’m taking a nap. Wake me up when it’s time to go,” Bianca replied.
“You’re not really going to sleep, are y
ou?” Ferdinand asked.
“You bet your royal butt I am. I’m exhausted and I know that this little adventure is just going to get crazier by the minute.” She gave him a sweet smile and ducked behind the gift shop counter.
She unrolled a sleeping bag she’d stowed under the cash register during their vigils and closed her eyes. She ended up taking a forty-five minute power nap. Terrance gently nudged her awake. She opened one eye and arched an inquiring eyebrow at him.
“They’re close. We should go outside and get ready for our departure,” he said.
“Gotcha,” she replied. She shoved the sleeping bag back where it belonged and took a deep breath, steeling herself for the next part of their journey. Together, they all walked out of the museum and waited.
“They’re closer now,” Terrance said.
Bianca nodded. She took a deep breath and chanted the portal spell.
“Find the shortest distance between
This place and the faeries’ green.
A place for weird-less days and weary nights,
Put this door within my sight.”
Once more, the ghost-like door appeared before her and opened the path to another world.
A few moments later, Rebekah, Blair, and Elda emerged from their hiding place.
“Hey, Frog Queen! Looking for this?” Bianca held the glass slipper above her head.
Elda hissed at Bianca. Once Rebekah caught sight of the glass slipper, her eyes became even larger.
“You want it? Then come and get it!” Bianca cried.
Terrance, Prince Ferdinand, and Bianca sprinted through the portal. Back to Everafter. Where her enemies would surely follow.
Nineteen
After walking without rest for several miles, Bianca was losing steam. The sun had already set, and her lungs were on fire, her legs ready to give in. She dropped to the ground and rested her back against a mossy rock. She did her best to catch her breath. By the time the burning sensation left her lungs, the sun had set and it was beginning to get dark. She wondered how far they were from the Fairy Realm. It was some form of sanctuary; if not for them, then at least for the glass slipper. The important thing was to keep it away from Rebekah and Elda.
“Come on,” Terrance said. He grabbed her arms and gently pulled her up.
“Are we close?” Bianca asked.
“No,” Prince Ferdinand replied.
“Nice way of sugarcoating it for me,” Bianca muttered.
“We may as well stay here. It’s far too dark, and I don’t trust myself enough to guide us the rest of the way. Do you happen to have that brick with you?” the prince asked.
“Of course I do. I never come here without it,” Bianca replied.
“Then I suggest we use it.”
“I’ll find a decent place for us to set up camp. I’ll return shortly,” Terrance said.
Before Bianca could utter a word in protest, her boyfriend vanished into the forest. She let out an exasperated sigh and sat down on the cold hard ground. Prince Ferdinand dropped next to her and patted her on the shoulder.
“You’ll get used to it,” he said.
“Used to what?” she asked.
“Him darting back and forth without a moment’s hesitation. It’s part of his charm,” the prince explained.
Bianca giggled. “I forget that you guys have been friends for ages.”
“He is my dearest friend. And to be completely honest, I’ve never seen him this happy.” He picked up a wooden stick and began to peel the bark off until he had stripped it clean. “You’re both very lucky to have each other.”
“I know.”
The prince took that same stick and broke it in half. “I can only hope to be so lucky…someday.”
Bianca was going to ask the prince what he meant to say, when the leaves rustled, letting them know that someone was approaching. She would have to save her question for another time. Bianca readied a fire spell and the prince brandished his sword; they were both ready for a fight.
“It’s me,” Terrance said from the darkness.
Bianca clenched her fist and made the ball of fire vanish in a puff of smoke.
“Follow me. I found the perfect place for us.”
Terrance then led them in the darkness until he stopped in front of a small cave. They took a moment to explore it before settling in. Bianca walked deeper into the cave, using her flashlight to search out any danger.
“Whoa,” she gasped.
If she hadn’t been paying attention, she would’ve fallen off the edge and head first into a pit. She kicked a rock the size of her fist and watched it fall into the darkness. There was no sound. It just kept falling and falling into the seemingly bottomless pit.
Bianca headed back to the cave entrance. She found Terrance and Prince Ferdinand waiting for her and told them about the pit. “Stay away from that area. But at least we’ll see them coming through the one opening. No chance of them sneaking up on us from behind.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Terrance said.
Bianca placed the brick on the ground and chanted the spell.
“Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin.”
The power of magic always amazed her, especially moments like these, when she watched the single brick become a house before her eyes. It was as though someone had taken that brick and copied it over and over again. A thousand invisible hands worked as one and rapidly created a small, yet indestructible home. A place that was safe and filled with warmth in the middle of the dark woods.
They sat by the fire and ate dinner. It was a simple meal of the soup and bottled water Bianca had packed. She gazed into the flames and wondered what they were going to do next.
“Is it just me, or does Rebekah seem like she’s, I dunno, not such a bad guy?” Bianca asked.
“You may be correct, but it doesn’t change the fact that she is allowing Elda to control her like a puppet. If she had any sense at all, she would’ve come forward and asked for help,” Terrance replied.
“Ferdinand, would your mother have let her use the slippers?” Bianca asked.
The prince appeared to be taken aback by her question. “I don’t know,” he replied. “It would’ve depended greatly on my mother’s mood, how Rebekah asked, and what she would’ve offered in exchange for the use of one slipper… seeing as you had possession of the other. What would you do?”
“Hmm, I don’t know. I’m just going to keep the slippers away from the Frog Queen because I don’t want them anywhere near Elda. She’s just bat-shit crazy and evil, and based on my experience, that is a lethal combination to have.”
“Do not fret. Everything will be all right,” Ferdinand said as he leaned back and rested his head against the wall.
“I hope you’re right. The only thing I care about at the moment is my mom. I need to keep her safe.”
“How do you feel about your mother’s pregnancy?” Terrance asked.
“I’m happy,” she said with a warm smile. “It’s what my parents always wanted. I just wish it had been ten years ago when it was supposed to happen.” She sighed and added, “I’ll have a baby brother or sister, and by the time he or she is born, I’ll be out of the house. I’ll miss everything.”
She groaned in frustration. It was all wrong. Everything was finally falling into place, but somehow, she still felt like the odd man out.
“Why will you be out of the house when the baby comes?” Ferdinand asked.
She still hadn’t told him that part of her plan was to finish high school and move to Everafter.
“Things I still need to figure out. I’m not ready to talk about it right now.”
“Fair enough.”
She didn’t like keeping something so huge from him, especially now that she considered him a good friend, but she wanted to be certain of her decision before sharing her plans with anyone other than Terrance.
Her boyfriend became pensive and suddenly asked, “Have you learned anything else about the seeds the dwarves
gave you?”
“Yeah, I used the black one the night I got cursed at the museum. I guess it worked. Mom said that it would’ve protected me had I taken it sooner. I read Snow White’s diary, and she explained some of their magic and what they might be capable of, but I haven’t put any of those theories into practice with all of the seeds,” she said.
“Perhaps you can use one of the seeds to create a decoy of some sort,” Terrance said.
“Decoy? Like a fake slipper?”
“It is what they are after,” Ferdinand said.
“I don’t know. I mean…I can try.” Bianca searched in the red velvet bag and grabbed a white apple seed. The way this particular seed shimmered and caught the light, it looked more like an opal than ivory.
“Here goes nothing,” she whispered.
Very carefully, she cracked the apple seed open and emptied its contents onto a little plate the brick house provided. It sparkled and shimmered like a rainbow in the warm firelight. She wondered what it was made of.
Probably something cool like morning dew, rainbows, and fairy dust.
“Okey dokey. Let’s give this a whirl.”
She concentrated and tried to picture the glass slipper in her mind. The clear blue-ish glass, the gentle curve, and the two-inch heel. The magic moved through her, trying to find its way to the pulverized seed. Bianca’s forehead was quickly covered with tiny beads of sweat. All she needed was a fake slipper. She was desperate to keep her family safe. All she wanted was for them to be all right…with or without her. The more she thought about the slipper and her family, the more difficult it became for the shoe to remain solid.
The first try didn’t last very long. It remained solid for a few minutes, and then it dissolved back to its original apple-seed form.
“Damn it!” she hissed.
She tried a few more times, and apparently, the fourth time was the charm. The glass slipper remained solid. Bianca exhaled. The air around her swirled and shimmered. The number three appeared and vanished with a flash of light. Another hour gone. Three hours of her life would now be lost because of the magic apple seeds. Bianca hoped that it would be worth it in the end.