31

Kayla ran ahead, following Jorek on the way to Miranda's cottage. Suddenly, she heard something that stopped the breath in her chest.

"Mommy?"

Kayla and David ran past Jorek and saw Grace running toward them.

She scooped her little girl up into her arms and swung her around. David joined them, and they stood in silence hugging their baby.

Grace began pouring the story of her ordeal out, followed by a stream of tears. She was finally letting some of the stress of the events fade as a loud crack came from the forest surrounding them.

In an instant, they were surrounded by a dozen or more sprites, all hovering in the air, baring their sharp teeth and holding claws at the ready. Harold announced his presence by uttering a loud screech.

Jorek flew to the front of the little group.

"My family, this is our Queen, daughter of Carolyn. The little girl is Princess of the forest. You must not harm them."

The group of sprites ignored his pleas and moved in a little closer, growling.

"Amira?" Jorek asked a sprite that Kayla assumed was the sister he had spoken of before. The female sprite looked at Jorek and opened her mouth, uttering a spine-tingling hiss. He refused to back down from her.

The family, along with Harold, clutched each other in fear, but Grace broke free and stepped forward. Kayla reached out to bring her back, but Grace shrugged her off.

The little girl raised her right hand to the sprites. A soft glow emanated from her palm, engulfing the group of winged creatures. The sprites began to twist and writhe in what seemed like pain. Jorek jumped forward and pleaded with Grace, who was now in some kind of trance.

"Don't hurt them, Princess. They are under a spell," he begged.

Grace turned to him and smiled a sweet warm smile. She turned back to the squirming sprites.

"Let the spell be broken. Return to the forest, and do no harm," Grace said, sounding like an adult, not like the little second grader that she was. A poof of smoke came out of the top of the chimney on the little house with a loud popping sound.

The light from Grace's palm faded, and the sprites hovered, looking confused.

"Jorek?" The female sprite called Amira, looked at Jorek, blue eyes glistening. She flew to her brother and embraced him in mid-air.

"I'm so sorry," she cried as the two hugged.

"No apologies needed, my sister. This is our Queen, Kayla, our King, David, and our little Princess, Grace."

The sprites bowed to their new Royal family standing together as they said in unison, "Your Majesties."

"Let's go home, Mama,” Grace said, looking exhausted.

"All right, Munchkin, let's go home."

At home in Olympia, Kayla had been able to track down Harold's parents and return their son to them. He had been missing for more than two weeks. They had a play date scheduled for the following week.

Kayla had told Joy about the curse and about her being Queen of the forest. Joy had smiled and asked Kayla if she was planning to move. She told Joy that she had left Jorek and Amira in charge of the forest creatures. Last she had heard, the gnomes had even returned.

Kayla and David were cautiously optimistic that Miranda's curse had been broken. They hoped their lives would be uneventful from then on since they no longer had to worry about which fairy tale was going to try to kill them.

"Grace, how did you make that light come out of your hand?" Kayla asked, for the first time daring to bring it up.

"The little man told me that I could set the sprites free. He helped me get out of the cage and kill the bad witch. That was when he told me what I could do."

"Who was the man?" Kayla asked, thinking that she already had a good idea.

"He said he was my Uncle Jess."

Her parents exchanged an amused glance, and both hugged Grace tightly.

"Maybe we should call Uncle Mooney and tell him all about how Jess helped you."

"Okay." Grace jumped up and went to get the phone.

Kayla leaned over and kissed David. "I love you, My King," she chuckled.

"You will always be My Queen," he said and kissed her again as Grace brought the phone and sat down to call her family and tell them all about her adventure.