by Mari Mancusi
Sophie turned to their fairy guide. “What are we doing here?” she demanded. “We don’t have time for a party!”
“There’s always time to eat!” the fairy scolded.
He waved a hand at the huge tables filled with food. Succulent meats and cheeses piled high on one, mouthwatering shiny fruits and vegetables on another. There was an entire table filled with breads that smelled as if they’d come straight from the oven.
And the last table—well, that was all desserts! Spun-sugar dreams, the likes of which Sophie had never seen. Her mouth watering, she took an involuntary step forward, reaching out for a pastel-pink cupcake with at least four inches of icing. Like the fairy had said, there was always time to eat….
“Wait!” Stu grabbed her arm.
“What?” she snapped, a little more harshly than she’d meant to.
“Remember what Merlin said about fairy food? If you eat or drink, you could become their prisoner forever.”
Sophie dropped the cupcake like a hot potato. “Oh my gosh,” she cried. “I totally forgot!” Which was really weird, she thought, seeing as she totally remembered at the same time. What was wrong with her head? Why couldn’t she seem to clear it?
She spotted Ashley a few feet away, reaching for a crusty roll. She ran over and batted the pastry out of her hand.
“I know,” Ashley moaned. “Totally filled with carbs. It just looks so good!”
“It’s not the carbohydrates I’m worried about! It’s—” Sophie clammed up when their guide approached.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking grouchy for the first time. “Don’t you like the food?”
“We’re actually not that hungry,” Stu confessed. “And we’re in kind of a hurry?”
“Of course! Of course! We’ll be on our way in just a moment! You may not be hungry, but I am starving. Haven’t eaten a thing all day! Just let me grab a quick bite!” He reached out for a shiny apple and crunched down on it. The juice ran down his chin. And even though that was admittedly a little gross, Sophie felt her mouth water again.
“Just going to grab a little nectar,” the fairy added. “Be right back!”
He danced off to another table. Sophie watched him go, then turned back to the sparkling Christmas trees. “So weird that it’s Christmas here, don’t you think?” she asked Stu. “I mean, are they just behind? Or do they celebrate all year long? ’Cause that would be kind of awesome. All-year-round Christmas.” Christmas had always been her favorite holiday. Every year she begged her dad to keep the tree up long past New Year’s Day.
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Stu asked, sounding confused.
She gestured with her hand. “The trees? The presents? This is obviously a Christmas party.”
“Christmas? Are you blind? Do you not see all the costumes? And the pumpkins? They’re clearly celebrating Halloween.”
“Halloween? There’s nothing here that even remotely looks like…”
She trailed off, a feeling of dread washing over her. She looked at Stu. His face was as pale as hers felt.
“We need to get out of here,” he said in a low voice. “Like, right now.”
An awful dread rose inside Sophie. On the surface nothing had changed. The fairies were still dancing and drinking and eating without a care in the world. The presents were still piled high on the tables and the trees were still glittering with globes of light. But somehow it no longer felt festive. Instead, an almost-sinister vibe seemed to fill the air, and her skin started to crawl with unease. Her mind flashed back to Merlin’s warnings. Fairies were tricky. Dangerous. They could not be trusted.
“Where did Ashley go?” she asked, realizing her future stepsister was no longer standing near the bread table. “We need to grab her before that fairy comes back.”
“There she is!” Stu pointed to the other side of the clearing, where the fairies had set up a makeshift dance floor. There was a small band with flutes and drums and violins playing a lively tune while the other fairies danced. Sophie could just catch a glimpse of Ashley, hand in hand with a fairy boy, twirling and laughing.
“Of course. Five minutes in Fairyland and she’s already got herself a new boyfriend,” she groaned.
“Do you want me to go get her?” Stu asked.
“No. I’ll do it,” she replied. “Just be ready to go when we get back. This place is seriously giving me the creeps.”
And so she started toward Ashley, pushing past throngs of fairies who somehow kept getting in her way. They seemed to have multiplied since she and Stu and Ashley arrived. The party was really getting packed. As she wove through the crowd, trying to get to Ashley, the fairies smiled happily and greeted her cheerfully—some even offering up elaborately frosted cupcakes and sweet-smelling milkshakes with extra sprinkles on top.
“Just try one!” a pretty young fairy with long blond hair and sapphire-colored wings begged, holding out the most amazing-looking donut Sophie had ever seen. (And Sophie had seen a lot of donuts in her day.) It had chocolate crumbs and gummy worms and was dripping with rainbow frosting. It was all Sophie could do not to snatch it from her hands and take a huge bite.
It’s a trick, she reminded herself, keeping her hands glued to her sides instead. Don’t fall for their tricks.
“No thank you,” she said, even as her stomach growled in protest. She pushed her way past the fairy and kept walking toward Ashley. Who still seemed so very far away…
“Do you want to dance?” a handsome fairy boy asked, stepping in front of her and blocking her path. He gave a low bow, holding out his hand, palm up, as if begging Sophie to take it. “Please, please say you’ll dance with me!”
Sophie shook her head, surprised at how much effort it took to do so. The band broke out into a new song, with high, sweet notes trilling from a piccolo.
“No thank you,” she managed to spit out, holding her hand over her eyes to try to see through the lights, which were getting kind of hazy. Where was Ashley? She had to be close now. This meadow was not that big….
It was then she spotted her across the dance floor. Still dancing. Still laughing.
Still so far away.
The pace of the music picked up. She started dance-walking, hoping that would get her there faster and avoid more interruptions. A few fairies clapped as she did a little spin move she’d learned long ago when she used to take hip-hop dance classes. She repeated the move, trying to remember some of the others she used to know. If only she hadn’t stopped taking dance lessons at age eight.
“Sophie! There you are!”
Ashley ran over and grabbed Sophie by the hands, twirling her around. Sophie laughed in delight as her head spun with the lights on the trees, creating a delicious blur of sound and sight.
The music soared, picking up tempo again. The fairies cheered, their dance steps becoming faster and more intense. Sophie and Ashley tried to keep up, laughing as they tried the complicated steps.
“This is the best!” Sophie exclaimed as she somehow managed to execute a perfect break-dance move. “Why did I ever quit dance classes? Dancing is amazing!” In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had had so much fun. Maybe Stu had been right—since the mission had started, she had been acting like the fun police. But no more! From now on, she was determined to enjoy herself. To have a good time—no matter what.
“No, you’re the best!” Ashley replied, hugging Sophie with wild exuberance. “I am so excited you’re going to be my sister!”
“I know, right?” Sophie cried, dance-hugging her back. Mostly because she didn’t want to stop dancing. “I love you so much.”
Wait, what? Something in the back of her brain started to tickle. And not like a funny tickle. But the tickle that kind of hurt. Like something wasn’t right about this at all.
But that was ridiculous. She was having fun! Having fun with her friend. Who was almost her sister. And the music was so wild. Such a driving beat, she could barely keep up!
Why, she co
uld stay here and dance forever and ever and—
“Sophie! We need to get out of here. NOW!”
Sophie whirled around, her eyes lighting up as she found Stu standing beside her. For some reason he was wearing his Beats headphones over his ears. She grinned at him, reaching up to try to pry them free.
“You have to hear the music!” she begged. “And dance with us.”
But Stu only shook his head, keeping his hands on his headphones. The speed of the music picked up again, the beat faster and faster, and the dancers once again increased their pace. Sophie vaguely realized she was starting to get tired. In fact, she could barely breathe she was panting so hard. But how could she stop? The music was so good! The dancing so great. Her sister so fun.
“Sophie! Listen to me!” Stu cried, poking her hard in the arm. She scowled, poking him back.
“Do you mind? I’m trying to dance!”
“Yes. I can see that. But do you know why you’re dancing?”
“’Cause I love dancing?”
“Do you, though?”
“Of course!” she retorted.
But then something niggled at the back of her brain again. Did she love dancing? If so, why had she quit hip-hop? Why did she never go to school dances, choosing to stay home and play video games instead? And hadn’t her dad tried to get her to sign up for ballroom lessons so they could dance at the wedding? What was it she had said to him? When pigs fly, I’ll dance?
Well, pigs weren’t flying. But fairies were.
Stu met her eyes with his own. “You’re under a fairy spell,” he insisted, his voice dark and serious. “I’ve read about this in books. You’ll dance until your legs give out. Until your heart stops.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her hard. “Sophie, you’re going to dance yourself to death!”
“No! That’s not true! I can stop anytime. I can—”
Stu grabbed his headphones and placed them over her ears, muffling the music.
And the fairy spell.
Sophie stopped dancing. She stared at Stu in horror. What had she been doing?
“Come on,” he said, covering his ears with his hands. “We need to grab Ashley and go.”
Sophie nodded. She could still hear the music slightly and her legs ached, begging to keep moving. But she planted her feet firmly on the ground, then stalked over to Ashley. Her future stepsister was still dancing to a horrifying beat that was so fast the movement of her legs looked blurred. Sweat poured down her face and her eyes were bulging, while a manic smile stretched across her mouth. Sophie grabbed her arm, trying to pull her away from the fairy she was dancing with.
“What are you doing?” Ashley demanded, fury slashing across her face. “I’m dancing!”
Sophie clamped her hands over Ashley’s ears; then Stu started dragging her away from the dance floor. At first Ashley struggled, trying to break free, but she was too exhausted, too weak to put up much of a fight, and when they finally got outside the circle, she practically collapsed on the ground, panting hard.
“Oh my gosh,” she said. “That was…awful. I couldn’t stop! Why couldn’t I stop?”
“You were under a fairy spell,” Sophie said, sinking down beside her. Her future stepsister’s eyes were wide and terrified. On impulse, she reached out and gave her a hug. Ashley collapsed in her arms, shaking. Sophie felt a little shaky, too. Her heart was still beating a mile a minute.
“It’s okay,” she assured Ashley, stroking her hair. “It’s going to be okay.”
But was it?
As if in answer, their fairy guide suddenly reappeared, pushing through the crowd with deliberate steps. He looked down at them, his arms crossed over his chest. He made a tsking sound.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in a sulky voice. “Don’t you like the party? Aren’t you having so much fun?” He held out a hand in Ashley’s direction. “Come on! One more dance? It’ll be so amazing!”
“No!” Ashley declared, struggling to her feet. She planted her hands on her hips, staring the fairy down. “I’m not falling for your tricks again. We’re done here.”
An amused smile floated across the fairy’s face. “Are you, now? I guess we’ll see about that, won’t we?”
Suddenly, just like that, the color seemed to leach from the sky. The festive landscape crumbled away, the bright and shiny trees morphing into dead copses of twisty branches and dried-up gray leaves. The tables that had been piled with cakes and breads were now filled with rotten meat and moldy fruit, covered in cobwebs. And those gummy-worm donuts? Real worms slithered through them now. The music, once so lively, now screeched with the sound of a requiem fit for a funeral.
But it wasn’t the trees or the food or the music that truly terrified Sophie. Rather, it was the fairies themselves. Or, more precisely, the creatures who had been pretending to be fairies. Now their ethereal facades had been ripped away, revealing their true nature. The once beautiful, lithe creatures with candy-colored hair and gossamer wings had transformed into ancient hags with hunchbacks, green skin, bulging eyes and noses, and mouths filled with broken teeth.
Not fairies at all.
Goblins.
And their guide was the most hideous of all. With red-glowing eyes and sharp fangs and long twisted claws instead of fingernails. He raised one of those claws in their direction, his lips rising to a sneer.
“Get them!” he commanded.
Sophie turned to Stu and Ashley. “Run!”
Stu’s heart raced as they ran through the woods, the goblins hot on their heels. From behind, he could hear their angry shouts. Their stomping feet. Were those awful creatures gaining on them? What would they do if they caught them? His mind flashed back to their guide’s razor-sharp fangs and he shuddered.
As they ran, the landscape seemed to shift before his eyes. What was once bright, shiny—even glittery—was quickly turning into the set of a horror movie: dark trees loomed above them, gnarled branches stretched out like claws, and ground tangled with twisted roots, ready to reach up and trip them. Even the beautiful babbling brook—once a perfect pumpkin orange—now raged with molten lava.
Merlin was right. Fairyland was dangerous!
“What are we going to do?” Sophie cried, gasping for breath. “We can’t keep running. They’ll catch us for sure.”
Stu looked around, desperate. His eyes caught something to his left—the entrance to what looked like a small cave, cut into the hillside and half-hidden by vines. “Look.” He pointed. “Maybe we can hide in there until they pass.”
“But we don’t know what’s in there!” Ashley protested. “What if it’s dangerous?”
“More dangerous than murderous goblins?”
“Good point.”
They cut left, ducking into the cave, which was dark and weirdly moist—but at least out of the path of danger. Once they were inside, Ashley pulled her phone from her backpack to use as a flashlight. Stu peeked out to make sure no one had seen them come in. Thankfully, the goblins were still some distance away. He let out a breath of relief and dropped the vines he was holding to better cover the entrance.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go deeper in. We don’t want them to see Ashley’s light.”
They stepped farther into the cave, Ashley leading the way with her phone. To their surprise, after a few yards, the low-ceilinged tunnel ended, opening up into a massive cavern with a ceiling so far above them it disappeared into the darkness. The ground was made of bumpy crystal, and phosphorescent little worms crawled along the walls, casting an eerie green-tinged illumination around the space. Gross, but effective, Stu decided.
Ashley put her cell back in her bag, no longer needing the flashlight, and let out a low whistle. “This place is huge,” she cried. “We must be inside some big mountain or something.”
“But there was no mountain,” Sophie argued. “The cave was just under a small hill.”
“Things in Fairyland are clearly not what they seem,” Stu remarked wryly. His ears pricke
d up as they caught a high-pitched twittering sound echoing through the cave. He looked up to see a few rainbow-colored bats flutter above them before disappearing into the darkness.
“Bats and bugs,” Ashley mumbled, half to herself. “There just better not be any snakes.”
Stu looked in the direction the bats had flown. His eyes caught a sliver of light shining in the distance. Wait, was that where they’d just come from? Had they already walked this far? Or was this some kind of weird magic, too?
“We need to be careful,” he warned. “We don’t know what could be in here.”
As if in answer, a gust of wind howled through the cave. The hairs on the back of Stu’s neck stood on end. He forced himself to keep walking, trying to ignore the screeching sounds from above, which, unfortunately, sounded like more bats. Like a lot more bats.
“Look!” Ashley suddenly cried. She started dancing with excitement. “Look! Look! Look!”
“Please no more dancing,” Sophie protested, holding up her hands.
Stu looked up to see what had gotten Ashley so excited. To his surprise, there was something resembling a road sign above them, cut into the rock.
MORGAN LE FAY’S CASTLE—400 METERS AHEAD
Yes! Finally! They were getting somewhere. Maybe this mission wouldn’t be a failure after all.
“Come on. What are we waiting for?” he exclaimed, jogging ahead.
But Ashley hedged. “You think it’s safe to go there now? What if they’re friends with the goblins? What if they turn us over to them as their prisoners? Or take us captive themselves?”
“It’s possible,” Sophie agreed. “But what else can we do? We need that flower or Merlin can’t create his potion. We can’t go back without it.”
Ashley made a face. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”
They hurried down the twisty passageway. Stu’s heart fluttered with a mixture of excitement and unease at every step. Ashley wasn’t wrong. They could be walking into a trap. But Sophie wasn’t wrong, either—they literally had no choice.