A porcupine might as well have crawled under my skin and exploded. Every nerve in my body was on fire. There was no way I could tell Tanker and Maude what had happened the night before, but I was so desperately worried that the timing of this meant that the king had found out about Toby and me.
“Now, when you meet him, Lala, remember to bow,” Maude was saying to me in the kitchen as she straightened out my dress. Her mouth was full of bobby pins, and I winced as she stabbed one through my hair with enough force to meet my skull.
Annoyed, I asked, “Why are you even bothering with my hair—aren’t we flying there?”
“Flying? No!” She loosed a high-pitched nervous laugh. “The carriage will be here any moment.”
“Carriage?”
“Yes.”
Tanker was sitting at the kitchen table with his hands folded over one another, looking rather tense. He was wearing a green tuxedo, cubic zirconium clip-on earrings, and a cowboy hat. “He’s probably heard of her progress. Knowing the king, he didn’t want to meet her until she’d gotten used to Garlandia a bit.”
“That’s right, dear,” Maude said, wearing the same plastic smile I was used to seeing my other mother wear when she was worried. “He’s just been waiting for the proper time.”
“Why can’t you guys come?” I asked.
“Because the letter didn’t have our names on it. But we promise we aren’t going anywhere. Isn’t that right, Tanker?” Maude said, ramming another pin into my head. “Oh dear,” she fussed, pulling out her wand and pointing it at the skin above my cheeks. “Why are your eyes so puffy?”
“She looks as though she’s been crying all night,” Tanker said, suspiciously.
“I’m just tired, that’s all.”
“Crying yourself to sleep in a dress given to you by an elf,” he added. “I spoke to McGraph this morning, apparently there was a strange spell around the house last night. I don’t suppose you know why, Makayla?”
I sneered at him but refused to answer his question. There was still a tear in my heart from where it had ripped apart the night before.
“BRAT! BRAT!”
Maude and I jumped as Pinch and Asshole came swooping into the kitchen.
“Tank, would you go check out front. I think they’re trying to tell us that the carriage is here.”
“Right,” Tanker said, getting to his feet and heading for the front door. It was then I noticed he was wearing black stilettos. A second later he reappeared, removing his hat and holding it by his chest. “They’re here.”
Fumbling with the rest of the pins, Maude quickly stuffed them into my hair, and when she was done, she blew something white and sparkly into my face. Immediately I felt the skin tighten around my cheeks like I’d just gotten a Botox treatment. “All right, then. That should freeze her smile. How does she look?”
“Beautiful,” Tanker said.
“This feels funny,” I said, poking the skin around my cheeks.
“Leave it,” Maude said, shuffling me towards the door. “It doesn’t matter, it’s how you are presented that does.”
“Helene didn’t seem to think the king would actually meet with me in person,” I said as they pushed me forward. “Should I be concerned?”
Maude let out a high-pitched squeal and shook her head far too quickly. “Helene doesn’t know anything, Lala. This is simply protocol.” But the inflection in her voice, and the nervous look she gave Tanker—which he returned—said the complete opposite of that. What could they say or do, though? Here, in Garlandia, there was no one to see to it that I would be safe.
After Tanker and Maude had to practically throw me over the threshold, I looked up to find that there was an actual carriage waiting for me; another thing I could check off my mental list of possible outcomes I never could’ve imagined facing. I could only hope that list didn’t end today.
My transportation was a pale blue cab lined in white leather interior, drawn by two white horses. Standing by the open door was an elf wearing a pale blue uniform. Every little girl, it seems, dreams of becoming Cinderella . . . every little girl but me. Even if I had spent a heavy portion of my youth daydreaming about this dress and this carriage, I still wouldn’t have been excited. For what laid before me was anything but a ball.
It was sort of ironic. I’d spent my youth envisioning standing before a judge, so I guess depending on how one dared to look at it—my childhood fantasies were coming true.
“His royal highness has requested your presence, Miss Makayla Wood, also known as Lala Abberwockey of the Erwain descent.”
I nodded my head, then turned towards Maude and Tanker. Anyone could plainly see that they were terrified.
“I’ll be right back.” And anyone with half a brain would know that my statement was clearly a question.
“Of course you will. We will be right here, waiting for you,” Maude said.
Tanker grabbed my hands and pulled me in. “Just smile and be polite,” he warned. “That is all you have to do. We will see you in a few hours.” His gaze separated from mine only long enough to attach to the elf escorting me to the castle. “And you will be seeing to it that we do see her back here in a few hours?”
“Of course, Tanker,” the elf replied. “By the sword in my hand.” I thought I saw his right-hand form into a kind of salute down by his side, but my nerves were causing my heart rate to raise so high that I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.
“Right then,” Tanker said, “off you go.”
I nodded my head again and then swallowed a big gulp of air before turning around and letting the elf help me inside the carriage. I waved to Maude and Tanker until they were out of my sight, and then sat back with my hands folded anxiously over my lap as we made the journey out of the forest and towards the castle.
The castle hadn’t looked that far away, but in hindsight it was further than it appeared. It took us two hours to get there. It was a lot of time to be left alone with my thoughts, which were bouncing back and forth between heartache, to the perturbation of what King Loral would say to me once I was in front of him. Or worse yet, what I would say to him. I wasn’t so sure that I could play along—bow to the feet of someone capable of so much hatred. But then again, if I said the wrong thing, what good would I be to anyone if I were dead? Suddenly Toby’s words returned to me from the night before . . . that sometimes one had to pretend to follow their leader to take them down.
“Shit . . .”
The word escaped my lips, my thoughts circling around Toby’s statement and our fight that had followed shortly after. In this wretched place, how far did one have to reach into the darkness to play a role?
My thoughts continued to spin in dizzy circles until we got closer to the castle grounds, at which point the sound of hooves pounding the earth became so loud that they were all I could hear. After we crossed the drawbridge, I saw that we were surrounded by knights. Half of them were wearing armor with pale blue crests and the other were wearing bright red; and as they were carried towards each other via horses, each holding jousting sticks, they bellowed out before knocking one another to the ground. At first, I jumped in my seat—thinking I’d just witnessed a mass murder. But as the grounded knights slowly began to stand back up, I realized their weapons must’ve been props.
“Don’t worry, hon, it’s just practice.”
Again, I jumped. Levitating next to where I was seated, was a tiny Ardeen faery wearing a pale blue maid’s outfit.
“Wh—Who are you?”
“Gwen,” the faery squeaked, a large grin on her face.
“Hi . . . Gwen. What are you doing in here?”
“Buggin.” A burst of purple and orange dust burst from her wings.
“Buggin?”
“Uh-huh.”
I wiggled my jaw back and forth before responding. “Okay. So, did you just fly in to say hi?”
“Oh no, I came to bug you,” she said, floating over to my knee.
“Bug me?”
“Yeah, you see, I’m his nanny.”
“Whose nanny?”
“Toby’s, duh.”
“Toby has a nanny?”
“Yes, and even though he thinks he’s too old for me anymore, it doesn’t mean I don’t care about him. I’ve been with him since he was a baby. Brought him all the way here from Cavita, and you,” she said, flying up and pointing a finger at my nose, “hurt his feelings.”
My eyes crossed as I tried to look at her. I wanted more than anything to swat her away. “What unfolded between Toby and I is absolutely none of your business.”
“Yes, it is!” she squeaked. “He was an absolute mess when he got home last night and—” Suddenly she stopped short, her attention wavering as her gaze fell to where one of my wings was draped over my shoulder. “No,” she whispered.
“What?”
She looked back up at me. “You’re her?” She said the words as though she couldn’t believe it, almost as though the truth of what she was seeing offended her spirit.
I stared down at my wing, at the star printed into the pattern of blue and purple. “What is it—my mark?”
But she didn’t answer, instead she fluttered around as though she were mad, muttering nonsense to herself as she did so. “Oh dear, I must go. I have to get it—” And then she fled the carriage before giving me the chance to snag her into my hands and force her to tell me what was going on.
I didn’t have long to think about the strange occurrence though, because just then the door swung open and my driver held out his hand for me.
“Miss Makayla Wood, also known as Lala Abberwockey of the—”
I put up a hand. “You don’t have to say all that every time you open a door for me.”
The elf bowed his head in acknowledgment, before proceeding to help me out of the cab. My feet hadn’t even hit the ground before the main doors opened and another elf was standing there in the same uniform. This one was wearing a white powdered wig.
“Will you be here when I return?” I asked the carriage driver.
The elf nodded.
“Thank you, uh, what was your name?”
“My name’s not important, Miss Makayla.”
“What?” I asked, appalled. Even in these dire moments, names meant something to me. “I believe names are quite important. They aid us in our identity—set us apart. We are not all the same, after all. What do they call you?”
The elf looked over towards the other elf wearing the wig, then very quickly whispered as he leaned into me just enough so I could hear, “Jude.”
“Jude! I like it. What’s your last name?”
“You should go,” he said, looking very uneasy. It was not the same reaction I’d gotten when I’d told Cee-Cee and Jeremy how much I liked their names. That felt like forever ago.
My smile faded internally, still frozen on the outside from whatever spell Maude had dowsed me with. Looking around, I realized that all the chirping and sounds that had been going on around us from the moment we pulled up to the castle had ceased, and everyone and everything was staring at us.
“Right,” I said, “thanks for the ride, Jude.”
Looking over at the elf with the powdered wig, I began my way towards the castle doors, hearing the carriage door close and the horses whinny as it pulled away.
The elf manning the wooden doors nodded to me as I passed through the marble walls. “King Loral welcomes you, Miss Makayla Wood, also known as Lala Abberwockey of the Erwain descent.”
“Thanks,” I said, giving him a brief nod. I decided not to ask him his name.
As soon as I was in, another elf wearing the same uniform met me, again this one was wearing a wig. Offering me his arm, which I took, he led me through a vast marble hallway, which bent around into another great room.
“His majesty will see you now, Miss Makayla Wood, also known as—”
“Yes, you don’t have to say it.”
“My apologies, Miss Makayla Wood, also known as—”
“It’s fine,” I said.
The elf, crossing his hands behind his back, bowed his head before dipping out from the room, leaving me alone in the giant foreign space.
I turned and faced a single chair on top of an elevated marble platform, covered in light blue velour. It must have been the king’s throne, but it was empty.
I scanned the room. It was quite large—lighter and far less dreary than I imagined the inside of a castle to be. The energy lingering all around me, however, was anything but light. In fact, I felt as though I was standing in the midst of a graveyard.
Holding my hands tightly together, I neared the throne. There was a long rectangular box in front of it, filled with water.
“What is that?” I asked, mesmerized by the colors swirling together inside of it. I was nearing it, trying to get a closer look, when I heard footsteps.
“Miss Makayla Wood?”
My heart stopped beating.
I turned around just in time to see Toby standing there, mere feet away.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
His gaze drifted towards the door where I’d already noted many elfin guards on duty, and he immediately signaled for them to leave.
“The king would like me to speak privately with Miss Makayla.”
The elves bowed their heads, then took their exits. Within seconds, Toby and I owned the room.
“Where’s King Loral?” I asked.
“The king is unwell today.”
“I was told he never leaves his throne.” Although I’d seen proof that this was not true just days ago.
“He never leaves the castle,” Toby corrected.
“I see.” His eyes were bloodshot, like he hadn’t slept. My insides wretched just looking at him. I wanted to tell him that I was sorry—that I had overreacted. But the truth was that I still wasn’t sure what I believed when it came to Toby. Except for that it was inevitable the elf would one day break my heart. If not today, tomorrow. “What was it he wanted to say to me, then?”
“Only that he releases you.”
“What?”
“From Garlandia. As soon as you can hide your wings from the humans, you may go back to your own world. He sees no reason to keep you here. Although, you should know that you will be tracked wherever you go. He will not lose your location ever again.” Lowering his voice, Toby stated very seriously, “And it is in the best interest of those around you, that you remain trackable.”
“Wait—what? After all this hype about the king needing to tell me whether I can go or stay, he’s just going to let me go without even meeting me?”
“Yes.”
I leaned in, and in a softer voice, asked, “Is this because of last night?”
Toby’s shoulders relaxed for a moment, and he cleared the space between us. Whispering, he said, “Of course not. He’s probably just seen all he wants to see of you for now. This is a complete coincidence, that’s all.”
“If I go, what happens with us?”
Toby prepared to reach for my arm, his mouth open, ready to answer me; but just as he was about to, Rally barged in through the side doors, causing Toby to immediately separate himself from where I was standing.
Rally came to a halt, staring suspiciously at the two of us.
Toby hesitated for a moment and then turned on me, a false temper residing beside his energy. “I said you will bow to me, faery.”
“What?” I asked, staring at him questionably.
Shooting me a rather nasty look, Rally moved forward and grabbed Toby’s elbow. Speaking curtly, he said, “What are you doing? If the king finds out you’re here instead of me—you’re not even supposed to be in the castle right now.”
“Toby?” I whispered.
Rally flinched and whipped his head towards me. “How did you just address your heir?”
What was going on? I felt as though I’d seriously just taken a pill that had altered my reality from one moment to another.
“I—I—”
“On your knees, faery,” Toby stammered, and through the fierceness he was portraying I could tell that he was pleading with me just to do as he said. “Before you force me to call on the guards.”
Still I was struck dumb, and though I knew what I needed to do, I couldn’t find it within myself to act fast enough.
Rally cocked a brow, inspecting the way Toby was looking at me, and then without hesitation pointed his wand at me and screeched, “On your knees!”
Immediately my legs unbuckled, and I fell to the ground, forced to kneel before the one who I would’ve willingly given myself to the night before. I cried out in pain as Rally continued to point his wand down at me, threatening me from saying anything else. Turning his attention back to Toby, he said in a hushed voice, “Are you mad? If the king finds out you’re here at all, let alone with her it will be both our heads. What reason do you have for this?”
“I simply thought it my duty to deal with the Erwain myself, seeing as my uncle was too ill—”
“It was my duty. He sent me.” Rally shook his head. Then looking suspiciously from me back to Toby, he said, “There’s nothing else going on here that I need to be aware of, is there?”
Toby looked wronged. “What are you insinuating?”
Rally hesitated before going on. “It’s just that when I came in here, sir, it looked like there was something going on.”
“Careful Rally. As someone next in line for the throne after me, your accusations could be construed as that of someone who is trying to get another out his way.”
Rally looked offended. “I am a servant to the king, Sir Toby, and to you. I would never plot to get you out of my way.”
“Then you would be forewarned to drop this now.” Toby lifted his chest and backed away; but before he could get too far Rally caught him by his cape.
“I would never plot, but I would stand up for what I believe in. And if there is something intolerant going on under the king’s nose, I would make damn sure he knows about it.”
Toby tightened his jaw as the two stared one another down. Finally, Toby stepped away and addressed me directly. “The choice is yours where you live, but if you live in Garlandia, faery, you will need to begin following the rules of this land.”
I choked on the word as it came from my mouth. “Faery?”
Rally stepped in line with his heir. “That is what you are. A large insect.”
“Shut your mouth,” I snapped, knowing the second I said it that it was a mistake. Toby’s eyes flared up in my direction and two perfectly round red circles found his cheeks; his blood was surely boiling.
Rally’s wand pointed down at me once more, and he began to yell, “Bow, faery! Bow to the heir or face the dungeons!”
My face burned as I scowled up at Rally—thank god, the spell Maude had placed on me had finally worn off so I could show this foul entity how I really felt. I stood, balling up my fists. “I will not bow my head. It is no more an act of respect as much as it is a practice to demean those who serve you. I won’t be a part of it.”
Rally’s pupils centered in on me. “Guards!”
Immediately the doors flung open and at least ten elves wearing pale blue armor marched in and lined up all around me. They all had porcelain masks covering their faces—each one of them indistinguishable from the next. I gulped at the sight of them.
“Take her to the dungeons! Force her to expel her dust!” Centering his full attention on me, Rally spat out, “Let’s see what you’re really made of, faery. How it is you kept yourself untraceable all these years?”
Three guards hammered down on me right away, and I had to fight the urge to pull out my wand; not that it would have done me any good.
“Stop!” Toby shouted, just as the guards started pulling me roughly towards the doors. At his command, they came to a halt.
“Sir Toby, what are you doing?” Rally barked.
“She’s not going anywhere, let her go,” he replied softly. “You all may go back to your stations.”
“Sir?” the one closest to me questioned.
“I said let her go!” Toby exclaimed.
“Yes sir.” This time the guard didn’t argue, and I was released instantly. The guards left as quickly as they’d come in.
Rally, looking as though a murderer was getting freed, pleaded with Toby. “I beg of you, think about what you are doing. She is disobedient, and the king has no tolerance for—”
“Rally, shut up,” Toby said, looking fiercer than I’d ever seen him. “She’s allowed to go, and if I hear that you are causing her any trouble, I will tell the king you allowed me to see her.” Then, with no more than a fleeting look in my direction, he turned and slipped out from the room, his cape fluttering behind him.
As soon as it was just the two of us, Rally pointed his wand at me as though it was a gun. “I’m on to you.”
I turned back to look at him; I despised him more than ever. “Oh look,” I said, holding up my purple and blue wand, “I have one, too.”
“You better watch it."
“Why?”
Rally lowered his wand, but kept his eyes invested on me. “I never believed for a second that those idiot parents of yours didn’t know where you were. There’s something brewing in that forest and I don’t like it, and I won’t look the other way. As far as King Loral goes, I don’t know what it is about you that has got him soft, but I took an oath to protect my king, and I will die keeping it.”
“Well, everyone makes mistakes,” I said condescendingly. “It sounds to me like the king doesn’t want me to meet his heir. I don’t suppose you know anything about why that is?”
“For your information, it is the elves in general he doesn’t want you to meet.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. I’ve been around elves from the moment I got here practically. You’re an elf.”
“Mostly.”
I cocked my head to the side, but he didn’t explain further.
“Everyone else can be monitored. Toby, however, shares his uncle’s blood. He can camouflage himself. The king isn’t a fan of knowing he may be blinded from his nephew’s actions.”
“The king doesn’t trust his own heir?”
“In the end, Lala, the king doesn’t believe the species should mix, and he needs to give no reason for his decisions. He is the king,” Rally hissed.
“Long live the King of Serpents then, right Rally,” I said, still holding out my wand.
“You better watch it,” Rally repeated, taking a step forward. “I’ll make you a garden ornament if it is the last thing I do; and whether or not he’s mine to guard, if I catch Sir Toby slipping up with you, he will find himself turned into a cozy little bird bath.”
“I wish I could aspire to be a monster when I grow up,” I said sarcastically, still backing away. I couldn’t let him see that his words actually terrified me, that if Toby and I weren’t careful both of us could be turned to stone. I slipped through the doorway and let the nearest guard escort me away, but not before hearing Rally’s last words.
“It works in both worlds, faery! A fine statue you will make here or there!”
Refusing to look back, I let the elf guiding me take my arm.
“Miss Makayla Wood, also known as Lala—”
“Would you stop that!” I yelled. “Just please get me out of here!”
“Yes, of course.”
Once outside, I saw that Jude was waiting for me with the carriage. Separating myself from the elf who had my arm entangled with his, I ran over to him.
“Thanks, but I think I’ll just get back on my own if that’s all right.” I didn’t have time for a carriage ride, and I needed to work off some of this built-up anxiety.
“Anything you want, Miss Makayla,” Jude answered. Thank god, he’d learned not to say the whole thing. Then he said so softly that I wouldn’t have heard him if I hadn’t seen his lips moving. “You have my sword, my queen.”
I lowered my chin. “What?”
But he was off and moving again before I could question him any further.
As the carriage moved along, I stared around at my audience for only a second more before gathering my dust around my wings, lifting further into the sky than ever. It was a little different flying with the weight of the ball gown, but I didn’t care, I just wanted away from that castle as soon as possible.
I threw my frustrations to the wind, quite literally, and I didn’t allow my wings to stop beating until I came to the sign in the tree that read Serendipity. Only then did I allow them to slow as my feet drifted down to meet the cobblestone pathway.
Much to my surprise, Helene was leaning against Maynard the tree as I strolled over towards 17 Serendipity Lane.
“That was quick,” she said, a sharp look in her eye.
“Helene? What are you doing here?” My breath was shortened from the flight.
“I heard you were summoned. I came to wait for you to return with your parents, but they had to go.”
“Tanker and Maude aren’t home?”
“Afraid they got called out, Contessa needed them. Something about a pickle jar. Anyway, how’d it go?”
“Not very well,” I said, preparing to head back to the house. I needed to find a way to speak with Toby.
“Hey, where are you going?” Helene hollered at my back, a slight alarm to her voice.
“I’m changing out of this, and then I need to—” I didn’t know what I needed to do. Perhaps I could return to the gazebo, maybe Toby would be there.
“I can change that faster than you can,” Helene said from behind.
And before I could question her, I heard a snap and looked down to see that the ball gown Toby had given me had suddenly transformed into a short black dress over fish nets and red pumps.
“Hope you don’t mind borrowing from my closet.”
“Whatever,” I said. I was too distraught to bother with the fact that I looked like a cheap hooker with wings.
Helene studied me for a moment. “That bad, huh? Did they say you couldn’t go back?”
“No. They said I could.”
“Why the long face then?”
“It was their delivery, I suppose. I don’t like being told how to act.”
Helene smiled devilishly. “There’s no question about it, then. You are my niece. Come on,” she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up into flight with her before I had a chance to hit the brakes. “Looks like you could use a good, stiff drink.”
“I’m sorry, Helene, but I really need to attend to something.” I pulled away, my wings beating in place over the tree line, preparing to head back down.
“Whatever it is, is it more important than learning how to use that?” She gestured to my wand. I hadn’t even realized I’d pulled it out.
“You’re willing to show me how to use my magic now?”
She rolled her head in a circle. “Yeah. And I suppose I could share with you a little of the information you so desire.”
“You mean, you’d tell me about—” I couldn’t say the organization’s name out loud, but she nodded at me as though she knew what I was insinuating. Sneering at the castle in the distance, I pictured myself holding Rally down with my wand. If I mastered my magic, that dream could one day become a reality. “Fine, but I do have something important I need to do before we—”
“Don’t you worry. What I have planned won’t take too long. So, how about that drink?”
I hesitated only a moment before following her lead. As we flew above the trees, I said, “No offense, but I don’t think licorice root is going to cut it right now.”
“Oh honey,” she said, reaching down and pulling an ankle flask from the inside of her boot. “This ain’t licorice; if it was, I wouldn’t be the cool aunt. A little birdie told me you fancy something a bit stronger.”
I gave her a disbelieving look as we flew deeper into the forest, away from the castle, and then I accepted the flask, sniffing its contents. “Merlot? But I thought faeries weren’t supposed to have wine.”
“Pish posh, who told you that—Tanker? Hell, everyone drinks the stuff, Makayla. Just because he can’t handle his liquor!”
The mature side of me, the one who had given up fun and friends, and romantic notions her entire life, looked down into the flask and thought, no, you should not drink this. But the faery inside me, the one named Lala who had just had a wand directed at her head—that side of me was drawn to the wine like a glass of ice-cold water in the desert.
Whether or not it was the right decision, I decided to listen to Lala, and just as I said to hell with it and tipped back the flask, I saw and felt blue dust all around me.
“Must mean adrenaline,” I mumbled, the wine entering my system, immediately flowing into my veins.
“What’s that?” Helene asked, shoving the flask back in my face when I tried to hand it over.
My lips felt swollen as I spoke, my tongue thick inside my mouth. “Blue dust. I haven’t figured out what it means yet, but that’s got to be it. Adrenaline. My heart is beating so fast.”
“I see,” she said, her voice distant. “Drink up, kiddo, I’ve got a killer night planned for us.”
When I looked at her again, half her face seemed to slip away, leaving only a black skull. That’s all I remember.