Thunk!

I land on something hard. And cold.

Snow!

It’s winter? I pull up the zipper on my sweatshirt and shiver. I wish I had a jacket on. And a scarf. And a hat.

Jonah gets up, the wind lifting his hair. He is not dressed warmly enough, either. His sweatshirt doesn’t even have a hood. He’s still holding on to his skateboard, and Prince is standing at his side, tail wagging.

I stand up and realize that we’re on a mountain. The very top of a mountain. There is snow everywhere. The morning sky above us is gray and gloomy. There are tall trees all around, and to our left, I think I see a frozen waterfall. Cool!

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Where is that sound coming from?

I gaze down the mountain. At the bottom is a town with stone buildings, shops, and cobblestone streets. In the center of the town is a large clock tower. Oh! That must have been the chimes I heard. I think the clock says it’s … eight? Yes. Eight chimes for eight o’clock. I look down at my watch, which still says midnight.

“Look, Abby!” Jonah says, pointing. “A castle!”

I glance up from my watch. He’s right. Beyond the town looms a huge gray stone castle. No surprise. There are usually castles in fairy tales. But which fairy tale are we in now?

Then I notice something else. There’s a super-long metal fence surrounding the whole town and the castle. The fence seems to be keeping out the mountain that we’re on, as well as a forest full of trees and small cottages. A big sign on the fence says:

KINGDOM OF BEBEC. WELCOME TO ALL WHO DESERVE TO LIVE HERE.

I raise an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Maybe they only like nice people there,” Jonah suggests.

“Maybe.”

“And that’s good because we’re nice,” Jonah says.

I guess so? I’m pretty nice. I mean, occasionally I can do mean things, but it’s not like the king and queen know about the time I accidentally on purpose spilled water on Penny’s art project.

It did not look better wet.

Anyway, I apologized.

“So what do we do now?” I ask.

“I say we go down the mountain and check out the town,” Jonah says.

“Okay,” I say. “Maybe that will help us figure out what story we’re in.”

“Haven’t we been to all the fairy tales by now?” Jonah asks.

“Not even close,” I say. “The Brothers Grimm alone wrote over two hundred fairy tales. Like … The Twelve Dancing Princesses!” I say. Ooh. Maybe we’re in that story. I’m not the best dancer, but it could be fun.

Jonah shivers as the wind blows. “Maybe we’re in The Snow Queen again.”

“We never go into the same fairy tale twice,” I say. “Maybe we’re in the one, you know, with the spinning wheel.”

“Sleeping Beauty?” Jonah asks.

“No, we’ve been to Sleeping Beauty,” I say. “That’s where we got Prince, remember?”

Prince barks.

“Right. But that’s the one with the spinning wheel,” Jonah says.

“There’s another fairy tale with a spinning wheel,” I explain, my teeth chattering in the cold. “With the gold? A girl has to spin gold. And a magical guy comes and spins gold for her but she has to guess his name.”

“What’s his name?”

“I don’t remember,” I say.

“What’s the story called?”

“His name.”

“It’s called His Name?”

“No, I don’t remember his name! It’s … it sounds like Rapunzel.”

“But it’s not Rapunzel?”

“No.”

“Because we’ve been to Rapunzel,” Jonah says.

“Oh,” I say, remembering. “It’s Rumpelstiltskin! That’s the name of the fairy tale. With the gold.”

“So maybe we’re in that one,” Jonah says. “Anyway, let’s go down the mountain and find out.” He puts one foot on his skateboard. “Ready?”

Um. Is he kidding? He’s not really planning on skateboarding down a mountain, right?

“Jonah,” I say sternly. “You didn’t bring your helmet.”

“Oops.”

“Right. Sorry, but no. You’re not skateboarding down a mountain.”

“Oh! Oh! Can we sled down the mountain?” he asks.

“Your skateboard is not a sled,” I say.

He smiles. “It sort of is. Just with wheels!”

Just what every sled needs. Wheels.

“Please, please, please?” Jonah begs. “Pretty please with a cherry on top? Pretty please with four wheels on top? It’ll be fun!”

“Well …” I hesitate. It might be fun. “Okay. But we’re going slowly. And being careful.”

“Yes!” Jonah exclaims. He flips the skateboard upside down so that the wheels are on top, and sits down in front. “Come on, come on!”

I squeeze in behind him and put Prince on my lap. The wheels are keeping me in place and will hopefully stop me from sliding off. The skateboard slips forward a little. “I’m guessing this thing does not have brakes?”

“You guessed right,” Jonah says cheerfully. “Now give a little push with your foot.”

I look over the side of the mountain, my heart rate speeding up. I don’t know about this. Is it too late to change my mind?

A gust of wind blows into us and we start to slide down the mountain. Officially too late to change my mind. Ahhhh!

“Wheeeee!” Jonah exclaims.

“Stay on this path!” I yell.

As we sail down the mountain, ice pellets land on my head. I think it’s snowing. Or hailing? Great. Just what we need.

I hold on to my brother, squishing Prince between us. His floppy ear flies into my face. “Aim toward the town,” I say, trying not to get a mouthful of my dog’s ear or the hail as I talk.

“Trying to!” Jonah yelps. “I don’t have … that much … control …”

No kidding.

We’re going faster and faster, the wet snow extra slippery underneath us.

And now we’re veering right! Away from the town! We’re veering toward the forest!

The skateboard is going faster and faster and faster. We’re going like two hundred miles an hour, I am not kidding.

The hail is coming down harder now, pelting us. We have no control over where we’re going. No control at all.

Jonah somehow veers us to the left, and we’re sailing right toward a lone cottage.

“We’re going to crash into the house!” I yell. “Can’t you stop it?”

“Noooooo,” he cries.

This! Was! A! Terrible! Idea! Why do I ever listen to my brother? He thinks you should add ketchup to chocolate icing! Obviously, his judgment is impaired!

The house is made out of brown logs and white trim. We’re getting way too close to it. In fact, we’re seconds away from crashing into the front door!

“Brace yourselves!” Jonah cries to me and Prince.

AHHHHH!

Crunk! We go smashing into the door. I expect us to explode or something, but instead the door flies open.

And we slide to a stop inside a living room.