I heard Donovan’s footsteps coming closer. “Sadie, if you can hear me, do something. Let me know where you are.”
“I don’t want you to find me,” I said. “I don’t care if I die here. I don’t love you.”
My voice got choked. This time not from the root, but because I knew the truth. I did love Donovan. I had to, because my nose grew when I said I didn’t. It was real love after all.
Donovan let out an exclamation of surprise. His footsteps hurried closer. The branches above me creaked, parted. At first I saw nothing, and then Donovan pulled the hood off his invisibility cloak.
He peered through the crisscross tangle of leaves. “Well, I’ve got to give you credit. You know how to get a guy’s attention.”
I’d never heard such beautiful words. “Hurry,” I whispered. “The queen is coming back.”
He pulled his sword from its sheath. “Shrink your nose so I don’t accidentally hit it.” He walked around the bush and hacked at the branches entwining my feet.
It was hard to recall all the lies I’d uttered. My opinions had been a jumble of panic. “I love singing, chocolate, and indoor plumbing, clearance sales, cats . . .” I must have hit some of the right things. My nose shrank.
Every time Donovan hit the bush, the whole thing shuddered. Bits of bark and leaves rained down on me. I squeezed my eyes shut. “I hate homework, chores, the song Hotel California, alarm clocks . . . oh, I remember . . . freaky magical plants that trap people.” Each truth made my nose feel less taut, less painful. The scratches were disappearing with the length.
“I hate mean girls, and I don’t care what they think. I’m not wasting my time worrying about their opinions.” I doubt Donovan heard my confessions. His sword sliced through the plant again and again, chopping away the foliage. “I don’t care about that stupid viral video or what anyone thinks of my audition.”
When he’d cleared the branches above me, he slid his sword, flat end down, under the roots that wound around my arms and legs. Using the blade like a letter opener, he cut through them. They popped and broke, releasing their grip.
“I wanted you to find me.” My nose was nearly back to its normal length. “I don’t want to die here.”
Donovan took my hand and pulled me to my feet. “I second that. Let’s go.”
I had one more lie to straighten out. “I love you,” I whispered. With those words my nose shrank the last bit.
He did a double take. For a second, his expression showed nothing but shock, and I contemplated all the ways this moment could turn really awkward. “What did you say?” he asked.
“Nothing . . .” I didn’t want my nose to grow so I added, “that can’t wait until later.”
Donovan seemed to agree. He pulled me toward the meadow. “Chrissy is waiting for us. She’ll take us home.”
“She came back too?” Of course she had. How else could Donovan have gotten here? Chrissy must have borrowed magic from someone, and Donovan had volunteered to search Queen Orlaith’s land for me. The thought filled me with warmth, with energy. I used that energy to run faster.
Chapter 29
The advantage of sprinting through the forest without a stolen goblet shoved in your dress is that the birds don’t rat on you in squealing alarm. The only sound I heard was our footsteps and panting breaths.
The trees thinned. I saw Chrissy in the meadow, floating a few feet off the ground. Her wings fluttered in agitation. “Hurry!” she called to us. “Kailen is coming!”
I glanced over my shoulder. A dark shape was gliding over the forest—not a bird. Kailen flew in his fairy form. I had no idea how he knew I’d escaped from the bush, but he held his twisted wand outstretched as he scanned the trees, looking for me.
I pushed myself to go faster. We only had a few more trees to pass, and then we’d be out of Queen Orlaith’s lands. Donovan could have pulled ahead. He stayed beside me, though, matching his pace to mine.
Chrissy flew a couple of feet closer, then stopped, held back by an invisible border. She hovered in the air, waiting and fingering her wand so that sparks of glitter shot from its end.
We were almost to her.
“Hurry,” she called again. “I can’t come on Kailen’s land, but he can come here.”
Yeah, I remembered that detail from the last time Queen Orlaith had captured me and dragged me back to her domain.
Chrissy swished her wand and a swirl of sparkles hovered and twirled at the edge of the boundary, illuminating it for us. Freedom was so close, just a few sparkles away.
“Stop!” Kailen yelled from the tops of the trees. He’d spotted us.
I ran faster. The border was only a few steps away.
“By fairy law,” Kailen called, full of indignant authority, “the girl is my prisoner.” He spoke to Chrissy not to me.
Donovan and I sprinted across the border. It felt like running into a shower of glitter. I waited for the lights to brighten, for Chrissy to take us away. She didn’t. We ran to her, and she did nothing except twirl her wand and eye Kailen—watch his black wings carrying him toward us.
“Let’s go,” I breathed out. I wanted to add, don’t you dare turn us over to him, but I was panting too hard to say it. So I stared at her with a correlated expression.
Chrissy didn’t even glance at me. Her wings slowed until it looked like she was lazily hanging in the air. “The girl is my charge. That gives me the right to help her.” Her smile was smug, almost flirty. “We can’t expect mortals to obey fairy law.”
Kailen landed on the ground, tucking his wings behind him. His eyes fixed on Chrissy. “I can expect you to obey it.”
“You can expect it,” she said, definitely flirting now, “but you’ll be disappointed.”
And with that, lights flared around us . . . lit fireworks, surrounding us in white flashes. A whoosh of air pulled me upward.
When the lights cleared, we stood in a hotel room—my old hotel room—the one where I’d first met Chrissy and Clover. My suitcase sat where I’d left it near the closet by the bathroom. Pieces of glitter from Chrissy’s first visit still lay on the floor. The only difference was that now Queen Orlaith’s goblet stood on the dresser next to the TV. It seemed out of place there, a gleaming fairy relic aside a cheap plastic remote.
Donovan blinked to adjust his eyes and looked around. He let out a relieved sigh when he saw we were in the right century.
Chrissy opened a gauzy purse that appeared on the end of her wrist and slid her wand inside. “That will teach Kailen to ask for my number and then forget about me.” She snapped the purse shut in satisfaction. “I bet he remembers me for a long time now.”
Donovan put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “Could you have cut that escape any closer? We were running for our lives, and you stopped for witty banter with the enemy?”
Chrissy glided over to me, still glowing with triumph. “Here’s a pearl of wisdom from your fairy godmother: Never waste the chance for a dramatic exit, especially if a hot guy is involved.”
I was too overjoyed to be mad at the way Chrissy dragged out our departure. I threw my arms around her in a hug, which is sort of hard to do when the person you’re hugging has huge wings. “Thanks for returning for me.”
Chrissy patted my back reassuringly. “That’s what fairy godmothers are for: helping you and dispensing pearls of wisdom about hot guys.”
Donovan sliced Chrissy a glare, his hands still on his hips. “She came back because I paid her.”
“What?” I pulled away from Chrissy and turned to Donovan. The last time he made a deal with a fairy, it involved stealing a powerful goblet from an enemy queen. “What did you pay her?” My gaze returned to Chrissy’s, already pleading, already dreading.
Chrissy folded her arms. “Don’t look at me like that. He cashed in a wish, and I gave it to him.”
“He cashed in . . . what?”
Donovan reached into his pocket and pulled out three sticks he’d cut from the queen’s
trees. One silver, one gold, and one missing the diamond that had been there.
He held up the diamond branch. “The wish fruit ripened just as we left. That meant I had a magic wish. I wished you would come back home.”
Chrissy smiled benevolently. “Some fairy godmothers wouldn’t have had the courage to grant that wish. Fortunately, your fairy godmother is exceptional. And if the UMA contacts you with a customer satisfaction survey, please remember to use that wording. Exceptional.”
I’d forgotten Donovan had a branch with unripe fruit, and now I laughed at the way it worked out. My sacrifice sending Donovan home had ripened the fruit, giving us the extra magical wish we needed. And the sweetest part was he’d used the wish to save me. “Exceptional,” I repeated.
Chrissy walked to the dresser, an extra bounce in her step. “Well, that’s another project successfully completed. Clover wasn’t able to sabotage my attempts, no one died, and I retrieved a powerful relic.”
She picked up the goblet from the dresser and surveyed it with approval. “Let the Fairy Godmother University acceptance committee say I don’t deserve to be admitted now.”
She held up the goblet, making a toast. “This should put my job as an insomnia fairy to rest. Pun so intended.”
I didn’t point out that Donovan and I had played a large part of retrieving the goblet. “Is Jason back to his regular life?”
Chrissy fingered the goblet, still admiring it. “I left him at his dressing room at the America’s Top Talent arena, surrounded by gift baskets.”
Good. His natural habitat.
I looked around again, noting the hotel room’s unchanged state. “How long have we been gone?”
Chrissy checked her watch and scowled. “Beetle dung. It’s been half an hour. I thought for sure I’d gotten the stopping time thing right this go ‘round.” She let out a dramatic sigh. “Oh well, I’m still exceptional.”
Half an hour. Not long at all. My mother was probably still at the store. No one was panicked or worried sick about my disappearance. I wouldn’t have to come up with some convoluted explanation no one would believe anyway.
“About Jason,” I said, drawing Chrissy’s attention back to me, “is he still in love with me?”
“Yes, but he’ll get over you quickly. Jason never stays in love with the same girl for long.” As though anticipating a protest, she added, “You never specified a time length.”
And I was glad now I hadn’t. “That’s fine. I don’t want him to be unhappy.”
Donovan grunted in a way that made it clear he was less concerned with Jason’s happiness.
“What about the princesses?” I asked. “Will they be okay?”
Chrissy gestured toward the bed, and for the first time I noticed a picture book lying there. “See for yourself.”
I glanced at the cover. The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The illustration showed dancing couples swirling through the fairy pavilion—my sisters. I picked up the book and flipped it open. An illustration showed a man coming to the castle in soldier’s clothing. Not Donovan. Prince Geoffrey. I smiled and turned pages, watching my sisters and me getting ready for bed, stepping down the stairs, waltzing. The prince I danced with didn’t look like Jason. He looked like Donovan.
I flipped to the ending and saw my sisters waltzing with their princes again—this time at the castle ballroom in wedding attire. The king and queen overlooked the celebration, the queen with a pleased expression, the king—well, in the time I’d known him he’d never looked happy, but he at least looked satisfied. It did have a happy ending.
I turned back to the picture of Donovan and me dancing and held up the book so he could see it.
He took a step closer to examine the picture. “That’s not how it happened.”
“I know,” Chrissy said without glancing at the book. “Sometimes you have to improve the story. How would it look if the youngest princess ditched her prince and ran off with a thief? You don’t want to be responsible for traumatizing children, do you?”
I took Donovan’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Actually, I like that ending.”
He pulled me into a hug. Saying goodbye was going to be hard. Phone calls would be a poor substitute for seeing each other.
After a moment, I pulled away from him and turned to Chrissy. “When are you taking Donovan home?”
She stopped examining the goblet and gave me a disbelieving look. “Take him home? I already did that once. Then he wished to get you and bring you here.” She made a sweeping motion that took in the room. “Voilà. We’re here. My job is done. And remember, I did it exceptionally.”
“Donovan lives in Ohio,” I protested. “We’re in St. Louis.”
Chrissy’s wings opened and shut slowly. “That’s why humans invented the bus system.”
“It’s okay,” Donovan said, resigned.
But it wasn’t okay. “He’s on probation. He’s not supposed to leave his state.”
Chrissy rolled her eyes. “I already explained to you that magic is being rationed.”
The words triggered my earlier complaint. “Yeah, about that. You said you cut corners on my wishes. You knew all along you hadn’t given me what I wished for, didn’t you?”
I’m not sure why I pressed the issue. It wasn’t like I wanted her to give me extra magic. I’d had enough of wishes. I guess I just wanted her to admit I hadn’t been unreasonable or crazy when I complained about being the Little Mermaid and a dancing princess.
Chrissy raised her chin in an affronted way. “I gave you exactly what you asked for. The only corner I cut was that instead of giving you a new singing voice, I gave you the voice you’ll have after you practice a few years.” She waved her hand airily. “Moving your talent up a few years took less magic.”
My hand went to my throat. “This is my real singing voice?”
“I know. It’s amazing what practice will do, right? You might want to remember that in other aspects of your life. Like dancing.”
She opened her purse and set the goblet inside. Instead of shrinking to fit in the purse, the way her wand had, the purse grew until Chrissy was able to shut it.
As I watched her, I caught site of my reflection in the mirror. Streaks of dirt crisscrossed my arms and face. My gown was rumpled, dirty, and torn. Bits of twigs and leaves littered my hair. My mom would wonder what I’d done while she was gone. How would I explain it?
I wiped at my hair, knocking bits of debris from it. “Now that you’re done being my fairy godmother, my nose won’t grow anymore, right?”
“Right,” she said cheerily. “Feel free to go back to your normal dishonest self.” She pulled her wand from her purse and gave it a twist. Sparkles fluttered around her like fireflies paying their homage.
“Clover will probably show up eventually to check on your progress. Tell him I said he’s a slacker and he missed all the good parts and he’s fired. Again.” She gave us one last smile, then disappeared in a swoosh of sparkles and glitter.
I stared at the spot where she’d stood. I suppose Chrissy had that effect on people. You had to stare, even after she left.
“So,” Donovan said, running a hand through his hair. “I guess I’d better check the bus schedules.”
“Do you have to leave right away?”
“I doubt I’ll be able to. How often do you suppose the buses go to Ohio?”
My purse sat by the door. I dug my phone out and handed it to Donovan. “There’s one way to find out.”
While he looked up the schedules, I took clothes from my suitcase and went into the bathroom and changed. I undid my hair, brushed as much dirt out of it as I could, and cleaned my arms and face with a washcloth. I hung my gown in the shower. It was the only place it would fit. Hopefully my mom wouldn’t look inside before we left.
When I finished, I went and sat on the bed beside Donovan. He had the internet open to bus schedules. “A bus to Cincinnati leaves in four hours. I can transfer to Hamilton from there.”
?
??Will you get in trouble for being away?”
“No. If anyone notices I’m gone, my brother will cover for me.” Donovan handed me my phone. “It’s hard to believe we’re back, isn’t it?”
“Things will be different for you now,” I reminded him. “You’ve got silver and gold.”
“And you,” he said. It was a question more than a statement.
“And me,” I agreed. I liked being needed, being loved. “Which reminds me, no matter what you made Jason promise, I’m not going to prom with him.”
Donovan smiled. One of his smirks. “I bet I could sneak out on your prom night. After all, I do own an invisibility cloak.” He leaned over and dropped a kiss on my lips. “Can you come to Ohio for my prom?”
“You’re sure you want to show up with the girl whose upchucking video goes viral?”
He grinned. “I’ll find a way to live with the infamy.”
Donovan slid his hand across the back of my neck and kissed me again. He smelled of the woods, of that strange jasmine scent that hung there. His lips were warm against mine, soft, and perfect. Everything felt perfect. We were home again. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer.
A moment later, the hotel door swung open and we jumped apart, startled. My mom stood in the doorway, a grocery bag in her arms. Her gaze went from me to Donovan and her mouth dropped open.
“Oh, hi Mom.” I tried to sound casual even though I knew I was blushing. “This is my friend, Donovan. Donovan, this is my mom.”
Mom didn’t move. She may have gone into full-blown shock.
Donovan cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Ramirez.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Mom’s expression said, where did this guy come from, and why were you kissing him?