by Holly Hook
I was in the car. We were on a very large, smooth stone road with dashed white lines painted down it. Other cars moved with us, traveling at the same pace we were, and there were dozens of them around us. They came in different shapes and a very large one pulling a house-sized box followed us.
"Do you need your flowers?" Mica asked. "Now would be a good time to work on whatever you were working on. Brie says there isn't a city for forty miles."
I wondered how many leagues that was. I couldn't ask, so instead I nodded. The land around us was mostly flat and wide open, with few buildings. Behind us the land sloped up into forested hills. The camp was there. Maybe cities and towns were far apart in this world.
Mica turned and pulled up the middle seat, which revealed a large secret compartment behind us. The sack of flowers sat there and the blossoms were just as alive as they had been when I'd picked them.
I'd never been so happy to see all those little stars. I grabbed a handful and began to weave in the grid pattern I had figured out, but with the flowers closer together this time so they wouldn't fall apart. Brie kept looking in the hanging mirror, trying to figure out what I was doing. I didn't want to meet her gaze, even in the mirror. Why was she so obsessed with what I was doing?
I kept working.
Starting all over again.
I wove the flower stems together and tied knot after knot. I was a little better at this now, but it was still difficult work with the car moving. I tied knot after sloppy knot wih the flower stems and at last, I had a collar made after a half hour of working. I held it up, making sure it wasn't going to fall apart like the last one had.
It stayed together.
That was a start.
"What are you making?" Mica asked. "Let me help you."
I didn't have a shirt to point at, so I pointed at the top of my dress and nodded. Then I picked up my skirt and shook my head. Mica had to sit there and think for a bit.
"A shirt," he said.
I nodded. Then I held up six fingers.
"Six shirts," he said. "Is this for someone you know?"
Yes. I nodded.
"Six someones," Mica said. "That gets us closer. Are they cursed?"
Stilt turned to watch our conversation. I nodded to both of them.
"Did Alric curse them?"
I shook my head.
"Was it a witch?"
I nod.
Mica turned to Stilt. "You know of any witches who could have cursed six people?"
Stilt thought. "Alric's mother, maybe." He faced me. "Was she old?"
I shook my head.
"There's more than one witch in Fable," Stilt said.
"It sounds like she's in a story," Brie said. "We'll have time to read once we're in the bookstore. Mica, you won't be able to take your sword in. If we're lucky, they'll all think we've come out of some Renaissance festival. They run those in the fall."
"What's that?" Mica asked.
"It's where people dress like us and pretend they're in a world like Fable," she said. "Just...no sword. Not even a wooden one."
"What kind of world is this?" Mica asked. "You can't even carry a sword? What if someone attacks us?"
"Then we hope security helps us," Brie said. "This world isn't like Fable. We have to rely on others for safety most of the time. And they're not going to care if you're a king."
Mica flopped back into the seat. "I didn't expect them to," he said. "Trust me, being a king isn't what it's cracked up to be."
I believed him. I could see the weight on his shoulders. Mica had been away from his people too long, trying to protect them.
Just like I had left my brothers again.
I went to work on the collar. This time, it stayed together. Brie studied it again and went back to driving. She whispered something to Stilt. It was almost like she knew something that I didn't.
"Brie hates weaving," Stilt told me. "It's a long story."
Brie slowed down as we reached an area that had a lot of cars. It seemed that something was blocking our progress. We were still out in the country, with only an occasional house and some mountains in the distance. Pines grew everywhere, mixed with rolling fields. Green signs showed the names of what I assumed were villages. Others had numbers.
"I hope we get there before they close," Brie said. "I guess I'm Mary now. I had better learn all the stories."
Stilt spoke. "Brie, don't take all this on yourself."
"I have to. We have to," she said. "Alric's probably taken the Fox Kingdom again or whatever kingdom Ignacia is from."
I could feel her resentment towards me. I focused on my weaving, but it got heavier and heavier. On some level, Brie blamed me for all of this and maybe she was right to do so. Darkness spreading meant a story was falling.
I wasn't working fast enough.
I forced myself to take a breath. I tied flower after flower onto the collar. I was making the sleeves.
"Can I help you with that?" Mica asked.
I wasn't sure if I could accept help. My brothers had told me I had to do this. Letting someone else do so might destroy the magic. Maybe the fact that we shared the same blood was what made this work. I hadn't asked them and regretted it.
I held up my hand and shook my head.
"Let me help you," Mica begged.
Again, I shook my head. I was shutting him out. The memory of his kiss burned in me, but I couldn't focus on that. Helping my brothers was everything. There was no time for joy.
Mica stared at me and watched me work. I hated that I was having to ignore him. Hated it. But he should understand what it was like to not have a life of your own. You had to give that up when others depended on you. There was no way around it.
"Ignacia," he said, begging. "Brie--is there something you can do to help her?"
"I don't know," she said. "I haven't done anything like that since...you know. Since Henrik got sucked into the ground. He ate that apple and I don't think there's a way I can get that back."
"Stilt?"
"I have magic, but that ability is gone. I'm sure."
"Neither one of you have tried," Mica said.
Their conversation floated over my head and merged into the car traffic around us. Nobody could weave shirts out of impossible things. Nobody...except for Annie. The flowers were hard enough and I still had no idea what touch of magic was needed. Stilt didn't think he could do it.
I worked and worked until my fingers were close to bleeding as we rolled through the slow traffic. Even the worst towns and small cities in Fable never got this crowded, but I ignored it the best I could. Brie said something about an accident and I added more and more flowers to the shirt, at last finishing the sleeves, and when I held it up, a few flowers fell out but it mostly stayed together.
"Please accept my help," Mica begged.
I shook my head. This was mine, and mine alone. Mica had enough burdens to carry. He didn't need this one, too.
We passed an area where red and blue lights flashed and people stood around a car what was upside down and off the road. My stomach turned looking at it. Carriage accidents were never this terrible.
But after that, Brie made the car go faster and the traffic wasn't as thick. By then, the light in the sky was getting long and yellow. I went back to work.
This shirt would be Irving's.
It was big enough to fit him. Or the swan that he had to spend most of his time as. I wondered if I would have to slip these onto large birds. Maybe I should have made swan-shaped garments instead. No. My brothers had told me that they needed shirts.
The drive stretched out forever. Cities were far apart in this world. I tied more and more flowers in, getting the hang of the motions. And at last, after my fingers had cramped, I held up a shirt made of green stems and white blossoms.
"You did it," Mica said. "You need to make five more, right?"
I smiled. Hope rose inside of me. I only had to repeat this five more times. I could do it. I had enough flowers. I could s
ee through the shirt to Brie in the front seat, but it would have to work.
But this looked sloppy. Annie had made those beautiful, feathery shirts where the feathers looked as if they had melted into each other. This was crap.
I still needed a touch of magic. I might have to ask Stilt for it after all, or find one of those wise women from Fable. Some of them had light magic.
"I can put that on my lap," Mica offered.
I handed it to him, glad that I had someone to keep it safe. The whole car smelled of blossoms and cut stems.
I couldn't stop. I moved to the next oldest boy. I made Immanuel's shirt collar just a little wider than Irving's, even though the two boys were just about the same size and just a year apart. Flexing my fingers, I forced myself to keep going. The collar formed in my hands and I moved on to the sleeves. At least I had a system going now where I could get these done in less time.
After I found that touch of magic, my brothers were free.
And then we could figure out what to do with Annie.
"You're getting better at that," Mica said. "Faster."
At least he had stopped asking to help. Once I could speak again, I'd explain everything to him.
Buildings rolled past. They were closer together now. Many of them were squares, but more were houses, with slanted roofs and amazing architecture. The people of this world almost lived like royals. I spotted one house that resembled a castle in the distance, only made of wood, and I had to force myself to go back to the shirt I was working on in order to avoid distraction. The garment took shape and my hands went numb, leaving only my pinky finger with sensation. I wrung them out and let the shirt fall to my lap. Several of the flowers fell out.
"Take a break," Mica said. "You shouldn't have to kill yourself. Does this have to do with swans?"
I snapped my head up and nodded at him. It was the feather. He'd figured it out.
"There have been six of them hanging around the camp," Mica said. "They all landed near me when Brie and I were talking about your missing flowers yesterday. They just looked at us while we talked and then flew away again. Is that them? The people you're trying to help?"
I nodded again. Now I understood why my brothers knew I was missing the flowers. They were keeping a closer eye on things than I thought.
"Oh," Stilt said. "It's one of those curses. They're pretty common as far as curses go. I've heard stories about lettuce that turns people into donkeys and and a prince that got turned into a bear a few decades ago. They were okay in the end, though."
"Ignacia's part of a story for sure," Brie said. "That narrows it down. Six people. Turned into swans. We should be able to find that story pretty quickly. I wish I had a smartphone with me."
"A what?" Mica asked.
"It's nothing you'd know about," Stilt said. "They're like magic. Just...different."
I went back to work, relieved that some of the story was out. The buildings got thicker and lanterns lined the road now, shining with orange light. I kept working. My hands screamed with pain and new blisters rose on my skin. Mica mentioned that we should get me some gloves. Brie looked around at the buildings, trying to find something that might have books. At last she pulled off the main road, following another green sign with numbers.
"We'll have to stop for directions," Brie said. "I don't know this city and neither do you, Stilt, so don't suggest that we don't need to stop."
"Remember what happened last time we asked for directions?" Stilt said.
"There aren't any evil inns in this world. At least, I don't think."
But Brie stopped at a building that had an awning over a bunch of strange machines with black hoses attached to them. She went in, spoke to a man behind the counter, and came back out a few minutes later.
"There's a bookstore a few miles away," Brie said, starting the car with the key again. "We'll go there."
She drove through thick traffic again. Hanging lights changed colors and it got harder for me to work on the shirt with the stopping and going. But at last Brie pulled into a large stone plaza. More cars were here, parked in between yellow lines.
I dropped the half-finished shirt. A few more flowers fell out, but the shirt managed to stay together. I set it down on the seat.
Brie let go of the wheel. "We're here. Everyone out. We'll find a copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales and find Ignacia's story. Stilt, you'll have to find a way to get through the detectors. We'll need the book to clear Ignacia's name if she wasn't the one who did it."
So Brie didn't entirely trust me. She didn't have a reason to trust me. I'd never so much as spoken to her.
I wasn't sure what detectors were but they didn't sound good. Maybe this world had knights posted in the shops, waiting to attack anyone who tried to make off with the goods without paying. But then I remembered Father saying that this world didn't have knights anymore.
Stilt opened a door in the front of the car, one that opened up to a secret compartment. Papers were inside along with a small leather purse.
Stilt took it out and opened it. "You know--money would be easier."
"Where did you find that?" Brie asked.
"Here," he said, pointing at the compartment.
Next to me, Mica was holding in a laugh. It was the first time I'd seen him come close to laughing. There was a normal young man in there, a young man with too many burdens to carry.
A young man I had to shut out, at least for a little longer.
Brie looked through the purse. She pulled out a card with a man's face on it--a man I didn't recognize. He wasn't one of the bandits. Perhaps the bandits had stolen this from him and taken the car, too.
But then she pulled out several green strips of paper, strips with pictures of wrinkly old men and numbers in the corners. "We're good," Brie said, full of relief. "I don't feel great about spending someone else's money, but it's an emergency."
I agreed. We all got out of the car and Mica stashed his sword under the shirt I had finished. I made sure the shirts were laid out straight in the back and the flowers were all in the sack. My joints were stiff. We had been sitting for a few hours and the last of the day's light was fading. But there were lanterns all over the place here, lit with electricity and keeping the night safe. We stood by a large, low building with lights on inside.
And books.
More books than I had ever seen in my life.
The place was magical. Books of all colors sat on the shelves and people even sat inside, eating desserts. Pies. Cakes. Those were rare in Fable. People sat in beautiful chairs and read. Entire displays of books at on tables, arranged in pyramids.
For a moment, I forgot all about the shirts and followed Mica and Brie and Stilt to the building. Brie's dress swished and she said something about a Renaissance fair again. She also told Stilt to hide his ears.
"There aren't elves in this world," she told him.
"I know that," he said, squashing his hat down as far as he could.
Mica drew closer to me as he let me catch up. "That looks amazing in there," he said. "Even my castle back home doesn't have such a great library. I used to spend so much time reading as a boy."
And then he slipped his hand into mine, trembling and begging me to accept it.
I did. His hand was warm and it made tingles go up my arm, just like the yarn had. I wondered if Mica had any magic or if this was what holding hands with a young man like him felt like. I'd never done this before. My brothers were my life and there wasn't any room for young men, at least not yet. When they were safe and grown, maybe.
I shouldn't be doing this, but still I held his hand. It couldn't hurt to enjoy it now, while we were walking across this safe plaza in search for a book.
Brie opened the door. It was cool inside, like someone had magically affected the air and it smelled like crisp, new paper and ink. None of the books were bound in leather like I was used to. Bold text and bright pictures faced me at every angle and I was sure I was going to get overwhelmed in here. There were
thousands of them. Maybe more. I read the titles, but none of them were Grimm's Fairy Tales and none of them looked like the old volume Mary had stolen from her.
Stilt faced Brie. "I've been in this world before, but I don't know how to navigate this shop. Where would it be?"
She shrugged. "In the classics section?"
Everything they were saying went over my head. Brie and Stilt vanished into the shop, weaving through shelves and shelves and leaving me and Mica standing there by the doors, holding hands.
He looked at me and smiled. "You want to explore? I love books. I can never stop reading."
I nodded. Brie and Stilt knew where to find where we needed. I looked around at the people in here with us. An old man picked up a book with a helmeted guy on the cover, thumbed through it, and set it back down. The people here glanced at Mica and his orange tunic, leather pants, and black boots, but looked away again. His clothes were unusual, but not so much that he'd cause any alarm. I had rubbed off most of the blood on my skirt on the way here, so my skirt was mostly okay.
"Have a little bit of fun," Mica said. "We're safe and Brie knows where to find the right book. You can live for yourself a little, too."
I wondered if he was saying that to himself as much as me.
I hesitated.
And nodded.
Excitement washed through me, mixing with the tingles. Mica loved books. I'd love to see his library. But right now, I wanted to see this amazing shop.
Hand in hand, we ran into the store.
It was dizzying. There were so many books. Mica and I ended up in a colorful section, which turned out to be books about things called computers and code, so we moved on and found another section about gardening, which made sense to us. We paged through a large hardcover together, admiring the pictures of flowers and gorgeous gardens that rivaled ours back home. The pictures were so pristine, as if someone had taken an actual scene and stuffed it into the paper. This world had so many amazing inventions. I wanted to take some home with me and show Father.
"I wonder where they keep the stories," Mica said, grabbing my hand again.
Stories. Garden books were good, but stories were better. I always buried myself in them when I was watching my brothers. It passed the time.
