by Chris Colfer
In truth, the only thing pressuring Alex was Alex herself. It felt like ages since she’d experienced a true adventure. She craved the fear of getting caught and missed the thrill of being chased.
“Let’s ride Cornelius,” Alex said. “It’ll take us a quarter of the time to get there.”
She confidently turned around and headed back to the field. Rook froze for a moment before catching up with her—he liked her more and more with every moment they spent together. When they returned to the field Alex whistled for Cornelius and he appeared shortly after.
“Good evening, Cornelius,” Alex said. “Rook and I are going to the Red Riding Hood Kingdom to spy on someone. Care to join us in a little mischief tonight?”
Cornelius was just as surprised as Rook had been. He had never seen this side of Alex before, but he liked it. He nodded his huge head as if to say, “I thought you’d never ask.”
Alex and Rook climbed astride the unicorn and the three took off toward the Red Riding Hood Kingdom. By the time they reached the kingdom’s partially built wall, the sun had set and the moon was aglow in a twinkly night sky. All the stonemasons had gone home for the night, so Alex and Rook didn’t have to worry about being seen entering the kingdom.
Rook jumped off Cornelius’s back and began climbing the unfinished wall. “It’s a little tricky but I think you’ll manage in that dress of yours,” Rook called down to Alex.
Alex didn’t even bother trying to climb it. She removed her wand from the pocket of her dress and pointed it directly at the wall. A doorway appeared immediately and Alex effortlessly walked through it and into the kingdom.
“Oh, now you’re just showing off,” Rook said to her, and climbed down to meet her.
Cornelius tried to walk through the doorway but couldn’t fit.
“Stay on the other side of the wall, Cornelius,” Alex said. “We’ll be back soon.”
The unicorn slumped. He was disappointed he wasn’t going with them but patiently waited as Alex requested. Rook took Alex by the hand and led her through the grassy hills of the Bo Peep Farms. It was the first time a boy had ever held her hand. She felt like her heart was doing cartwheels into her stomach.
About a mile past the wall, the rooftops of Little Bo Peep’s quaint farm came into view in the distance. It was an adorable place and reminded Alex of a play set she and her brother had when they were toddlers. The barn was big and painted bright red with white trim. The farmhouse was wooden and small, the perfect size for one person, and had a wraparound porch. A metal windmill stood between the buildings, slowly turning in the night breeze.
Huge stacks of hay were scattered across the land and there were fluffy black and white sheep as far as the eye could see. It was like the farm was covered in little walking clouds.
When they got closer to the farm Rook pulled Alex behind a haystack to hide from a group of farmhands they saw ahead. The farmhands were collecting their tools and putting them away in the barn. They had finished their work for the day and were preparing to go home.
The front door of the farmhouse suddenly burst open and Little Bo Peep stepped onto the porch. She had taken her bonnet off for the evening and her dark hair was up in a tight bun. She wore a long blue cloak over her yellow ruffled dress and held her staff in one hand and a lantern in the other. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight.
At first Little Bo appeared to be in a hurry, but she stayed on the porch once she realized the farmhands were still there.
“Good night, Miss Peep!” the farmhands called to her.
“Good night, gentlemen, thank you for all your hard work today!” Little Bo said back. “See you in the morning.”
The farmhands tipped their hats to her and all climbed into the same wagon and drove off into the night. Little Bo smiled and waved to them, but once they were out of sight her smile faded into a somber expression. She did a full circle around the porch, scanning the farm to make absolutely certain that she was alone.
Once she was sure that every farmhand had left, Little Bo hurried down the steps of the porch and headed straight to the barn. She pulled open the heavy red doors and shut them behind her. Alex and Rook heard a scrape as Little Bo locked them from the inside.
“What do you think she’s up to?” Alex whispered.
“Let’s find out.” Rook gestured for her to follow him.
They sprinted to the barn as quickly, as quietly, and as low to the ground as possible. Alex kept tripping over her dress and Rook had to help her up each time. They were both laughing and kept reminding each other to stay quiet. Alex couldn’t remember the last time she had had this much fun.
They circled the barn until they found an open window. They slowly peeked over the windowsill to see inside.
The barn was lined with mountainous stacks of square hay bales. Little Bo was standing before the largest stack, in the middle of the barn, tirelessly pulling the bales down one square at a time. She grunted and dabbed her forehead with the corner of her cloak. Eventually, a large rectangular object covered with a sheet was revealed. Little Bo had been hiding something in the hay.
She yanked off the sheet covering the object and Alex had to put a hand over her mouth to keep from gasping out loud.
“That’s a magic mirror!” Alex whispered. “Little Bo Peep is hiding a magic mirror in her barn!”
“Are you sure it’s magic?” Rook asked.
“I’m positive.” The mirror had a thick silver frame with floral engravings and its reflection was too crisp to be a normal mirror’s.
Little Bo examined herself in the mirror, fixing a few strands of hair that had fallen into her face. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she gently placed an open hand on the glass. The mirror instantly rippled to life like a stone had been dropped in a still lake.
Little Bo leaned as close to the mirror as she could without touching it. “Are you there, my love?” she whispered softly. Her eyes were wide and anxious as she waited. She looked like a puppy waiting for its master to arrive.
A dark silhouette of a man appeared through the rippling glass. “I am,” his deep and gruff voice declared.
Little Bo smiled and pressed both of her hands against the glass. “I missed you so much today,” she said. “I would have come sooner but the farmhands were working late.”
“How did it go at the House of Progress?” the man asked.
“Everything went exactly as we planned,” Little Bo was happy to share. “I wish you could have been there to hear me; I was very convincing. No one would have thought I was anything but genuinely passionate about the kingdom.”
“Good,” the man said. “Make sure to keep it that way.”
The man’s harsh tone made Little Bo blue. “What’s wrong? You don’t seem yourself,” she said, and peered closer into the glass to see his silhouette better.
“Every day I’m trapped in here is harder than the one before,” he said. “I’m starting to have doubts that I’ll ever be free.”
“You don’t trust me?” Little Bo said sadly.
“I trust your intentions, my sweet, but until you’re crowned queen I can’t get my hopes up,” he said. “Misery fills the emptiness that hope leaves behind when the world disappoints you.”
Little Bo passionately pressed her body against the glass. “I will find a way to get you out of there, if it’s the last thing I do,” she said. “Soon I’ll be queen and I’ll have a world of opportunity at my disposal. I’ll exhaust every resource in my power until I have you in my arms again.”
The silhouette went silent. “We’ll see,” it said coldly.
“You must believe in me,” Little Bo said. “I can’t do this without your trust.”
The silhouette slowly faded away and the mirror’s glass became solid.
“No, come back! Please come back!” Little Bo pleaded but the man did not return.
Little Bo slid down the glass and onto the ground. She sat on her knees and buried her face in her hands, quietly s
obbing. Once she stopped crying she stood up and re-covered the mirror and re-stacked the bales of hay to hide it.
“We should head back before she finishes,” Rook suggested.
Alex agreed and they quickly crept away in the direction they’d come from. They stayed quiet until they reached the wall and then returned to the Fairy Kingdom on Cornelius’s back.
As they traveled home on the swift unicorn, Rook asked, “What was Little Bo Peep doing with a magic mirror? And who was that man trapped inside it?”
Alex had been asking herself the same questions. “I have no idea,” she said. “I feel so awful for her. Once someone is trapped in a magic mirror it’s nearly impossible to get them out, and whoever that man was, it looked like Little Bo loved him very much.”
“That’s the real reason she wants to be queen, then,” Rook said. “She thinks if she becomes queen it’ll be easier to find a way to free him.”
“And from the looks of it, that man hasn’t been trapped in the mirror very long,” Alex said. “After a while people imprisoned inside magic mirrors begin to lose themselves—their thoughts and memories fade and eventually all they can do is reflect the world around them. That man’s mind was still pretty intact. He must have been cursed recently and that’s probably what triggered Little Bo’s decision to challenge the throne today.”
“You sure know a lot about magic mirrors,” Rook said.
“I’ve had some experience with them,” Alex said. “And Little Bo’s not the first person to think of a throne as the solution to getting someone out. Not many people know this but the man trapped inside the Evil Queen’s mirror was her beloved, too. Her vanity and all the horrible things she did to Snow White were in one way or another just attempts to save the little of him that was left.”
“Oh, good,” Rook said with a smile in his eyes. “I was afraid you might have a collection of magic mirrors with all the other boys you’ve gone on walks with trapped inside.”
They shared a laugh over the thought. “Stop giving me ideas,” Alex teased. “Besides, you’re the first boy I’ve ever taken a walk with, so my collection would be awfully small.”
Alex’s saying this made Rook feel like the most special boy in the world and the way he looked at Alex made her feel like the most special girl. The closer they got to the Fairy Kingdom, the closer they sat to each other on the unicorn. Soon they reached the field just outside the fairy gardens and Rook helped Alex off Cornelius. They looked into each other’s eyes, knowing their night was coming to an end.
“It’s getting late,” Rook said, looking up at the night sky. “I should go home before my father worries.”
“I had so much fun tonight,” Alex said. “Thank you for taking me on an adventure. I really needed one.”
“When may I see you again?” Rook had been waiting to ask since they left the Red Riding Hood Kingdom. “If I may see you again, that is.”
“I’d like that very much,” Alex said. “There’s this fairy ball thing I have to go to tomorrow night but maybe we could see each other again at the end of the week?”
“I can’t wait.” He was looking so deeply into her eyes she felt like he was staring at her soul. He leaned closer to her and her heart began to flutter—was he about to do what she thought? Was she ready for it? But just before their mouths touched, Rook turned from her and began walking in the direction of his home.
“To more adventures,” Rook said.
“To more adventures,” Alex repeated.
“Good night, Alex,” he said as he disappeared into the trees.
Alex sighed and leaned on Cornelius for support. Her heart was beating in time to a glorious symphony that played in her mind. She felt like she was floating above herself. She had never wanted to be with someone as much as she wanted to be with Rook. His presence gave her a purpose she couldn’t explain.
Alex patted Cornelius’s head good night and made her way back to the Fairy Palace. She couldn’t help skipping as she walked; she was full of excitement, giggles, and butterflies.…
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE FAIRY INAUGURAL BALL
The day of the Fairy Inaugural Ball finally arrived and the entire Fairy Kingdom was united in celebration. Two years ago, when Alex first laid eyes on the fairy gardens and the Fairy Palace, she never would have thought the kingdom could look more magical than it already did. But when she awoke that morning and looked out her window and saw the results of all the hard work the fairies had put into making this day as special as possible, she realized she had been mistaken.
A double rainbow arched high above the kingdom without fading. The fluffiest white clouds imaginable slowly morphed into the shapes of flowers, animals, and insects as they floated through the sky. The air was filled with bubbles of all sizes and some transported the tiniest fairies from one corner of the kingdom to another. Every plant was bigger and brighter than normal and swayed in a light breeze. High geysers shot sporadically out of every pond and lake and never from the same place twice.
The kingdom only became more majestic as the sun set and all the stars appeared. They twinkled vividly in the night sky and with each shooting star a sparkly trail glistened down as if it were raining stardust. The Fairy Palace shimmered brighter than ever, as if it were covered in millions of miniature lights. Fireworks went off in slow motion above the palace, illuminating the gardens and bodies of water in bright colors.
The ball began downstairs in the main hall of the Fairy Palace and the sounds of celebration increased as more and more fairies from around the kingdom arrived. Alex was still in her chambers, too nervous to join the festivities. They were all waiting for her, they had all come to see her—it was more attention than she was comfortable with.
Alex had been standing in front of her mirror for hours. She magically transformed her dress into several different gowns, each more eccentric than the next, until she finally settled on a simple white gown with matching gloves. She even styled her hair up into a look Queen Red would have been proud of.
She looked beautiful and, more important, she felt beautiful. She wished her six-year-old self could see her now. Alex would have grown up with such confidence had she known this was where she would end up. She just wished her brother and her mom could see her.
The small piece of glass Alex had chipped off her mirror so she could communicate with her brother during his trip had been shimmering non-stop all day. She figured her brother was having the time of his life in Germany and wanted to tell her all about it. Alex couldn’t wait to hear about it, but she ignored him, wanting to spare herself from any jokes or sarcastic comments he would make about her dress and the ball tonight—she was dreading it enough as it was.
There was a knock on her door and Tangerina and Skylene walked into her chamber.
“Hello, hello,” Tangerina said. “We came to see how you were doing.”
“Everyone is waiting for you downstairs,” Skylene said.
Alex lost all confidence in her appearance as soon as she saw the enchanted outfits they were wearing. Tangerina was dressed in a square gown made entirely out of honeycomb. Live bees circled her neck and wrists like floating jewelry and honey dripped from her earlobes like teardrop earrings. Skylene wore her long hair up in the shape of a large water lily. Her dress was made of continuously flowing water; it started at her neck and flowed down her body, stopping just before it touched the ground—it was like she was wearing a waterfall.
“You two look amazing,” Alex peeped.
“Is that what you’re wearing?” Skylene asked. She and Tangerina exchanged a look that made Alex feel horribly underdressed.
“It is,” Alex said confidently, trying to rebuild her self-esteem. “You both said I should dress as I want to be remembered, right? This gown is elegant but simple and it does its job without being overly flashy and without stealing focus. That’s exactly what I’d like my reputation to be.”
The fairies just nodded. “It’s cuuute,” Tangerina final
ly said.
They weren’t convincing and made Alex feel more discouraged than ever. “I can’t do this,” she said, and sat on her bed. “I’m not cut out for this kind of attention or pressure. I’m the kind of girl who just wants to be at the ball, not be the belle of the ball.”
Tangerina and Skylene sat down on either side of her.
“You’ll have to excuse the kingdom,” Tangerina said. “The last Fairy Inaugural Ball was canceled when we discovered how destructive Ezmia was. It’s been a very long time since we had something or someone worth celebrating. We’re all just very excited, perhaps too excited.”
“I can’t imagine how over-stimulating all this must be for you,” Skylene said. “And I don’t think we’ve been much help. We may have given you the wrong idea about what tonight is truly about.”
“Then I shouldn’t dress how I want to be remembered?” Alex asked.
“Forget what we said about that, Alex,” Tangerina said. “Being a fairy means you must be true to the goodness in your heart, and nothing is truer than wearing your heart on your sleeve.”
“And the more honesty you show in your appearance, the more you will be remembered and admired for it,” Skylene added.
Alex thought about that for a few moments but wasn’t sure she entirely understood. “So I’m supposed to wear my feelings?” she asked.
“So to speak,” Skylene said.
“But if you truly believe this gown represents you, then you should have no regrets wearing this downstairs,” Tangerina said.
“We’ll give you a few moments alone to think it over,” Skylene said. “There’s no rush; come down whenever you’re ready.”
They each patted her on the shoulder and walked to the door.
“Oh, and Alex,” Tangerina said before leaving, “don’t think you’re not worth celebrating.”
The fairies smiled affectionately at Alex as they left her chambers. Alex stood before the mirror again, this time looking into her heart more than at her reflection.