Alyssa huddled, shivering, against the back wall of the shelter until dawn tinged the edge of the sky with orange and pink. When the screeches and howls finally gave way to bird songs, Max sprang to his feet. Somehow, Lilse managed to stay on his back. With a sigh of relief, Alyssa stuck another energy bar in her pocket, shouldered her pack, and lugged the jug down to where she had left the cart. She hoped they wouldn't need to spend another night outdoors. For that matter, she really didn't want to spend another night in Faerie.
The cart sat where Alyssa had left it, but the wheels had disappeared. She sat down in front of it with her head in her hands and wept. All that time building the stupid thing and now someone's taken it apart. I can't possibly carry this horrid jug around all day again.Max rested his muzzle on his paws until she took a deep breath and stood up again. Crying wouldn't bring the wheels back. She put on her pack, slung the leash attached to the jug over her shoulder, and trudged down the road.
"Wrong way." Max turned in the other direction.
"But that's going back where we came from." Alyssa suppressed another sob.
"Yesterday it's where we came from, today it's where we're going." Lilse sat on Max's back, near his tail, clutching his fur in her paws. "Cheer up, love, if we make it past the gatekeeper, we should get to the coach stop by noon."
"Gatekeeper?" When the animals didn't answer, Alyssa turned and followed Max. Although he still limped, he did put some weight on his injured paw. At least Mom wouldn't yell at her for hurting her dog.
By the time she finished nibbling on the energy bar, they had reached a crossroad she hadn't seen the day before. A rocky path led off to one to side, into a dense woods where all the foliage was aquamarine.
Max looked back. "Watch me carefully. Only step on the rocks that I do. The others aren't real."
Lisle had crawled up to Max's head and whispered in his ear. He jumped to a flat stone and reached his front paws out to another. Alyssa put one foot on the first rock and, when Max moved forward, her other foot on the second. Rock by rock, they worked their way through the trees. The jug weighed on Alyssa's shoulder. The air became oppressively hot. She wanted to take off her hoodie, but none of the rocks had room for her to set down the pack and the jug. She found it difficult to concentrate on which stones Max had stepped on.
"Watch it, love!" Lilse shouted.
Alyssa paused with her foot in the air poised to step on the next rock. Confused, she pulled her foot back and the stone disappeared into the muck.
"That one, to your left." The mouse pointed with one paw, while holding onto Max's ear with the other.
Alyssa stepped where instructed and tried to stay more alert. But the heavy air made her drowsy. Sweat trickled down her back and between her breasts and dampened the sweatshirt under her pits. Great, as if I didn't stink bad enough. She saw several spots off the path that looked inviting and safe where she could curl up and take a nap.
"Don't give up now, love," the mouse called. "We're so close. Honest."
After pulling her hoodie up from the waist over her chest, Alyssa switched the jug to her other shoulder and followed Max from stone to stone. With a final leap, he left the rocks behind and sat in front of a stone arch spanning the path. As soon as Alyssa's feet touched the dirt of the road, a giant with mottled red and blue skin emerged from under the arch. He stood even taller than her dad and his arms were the size of small trees. Bushy blue eyebrows stretched above red eyes that glowered at her. "Watcha want?"
Alyssa swallowed. At least he hadn't tried to eat her. "You must be the gatekeeper, sir. We're looking for the coach stop."
The giant growled. He looked at Max. "You look familiar. Been here before?"
Max stood up on his hind legs and pointed one paw toward Alyssa. "Yes, I visited here once with her grandmother. I believe the bear was white."
"Correct." The giant shook Max's paw. "You may pass."
Max dropped to all fours and went through the arch, but when Alyssa tried to follow, the giant put an arm across the opening. "Not so fast, Missy. You need to answer a question first."
"The bear was white?"
"Wrong answer."
"But you told Max it was correct." Alyssa set the jug down and removed the pack so she could pull her hoodie up over her head.
"Correct answer to the question I asked him." The giant moved so he stood in front of Alyssa. "You have to answer a different question."
Alyssa stuffed her hoodie back in the pack. "What question do I have to answer?"
"Justin left the Prince's castle the day before yesterday. He rode to the inn on the mountain which took him all day. He spent the night and rode to the cottage in the forest which took another day. Justin stayed overnight at the cottage and rode back to the Prince's castle in the morning. He arrived on Same Day. How is that possible?"
Alyssa stared at the giant. "How would I know?"
"That's your question." He sat down, legs crossed. "You don't get through until you answer it."
"Max!" Alyssa hollered, but the dog didn't respond and she couldn't see him.
Even sitting, the giant's head was at Alyssa's eye level. He looked like he could toss her over the arch if he chose.
"Ummm, how many tries do I get?"
"Just one."
"What if I answer wrong?"
"You can never leave Faerie." The giant leaned against one side of the arch and propped his feet up on the other. He wore green fringed moccasins that looked big enough for Max to crawl inside of and take a nap.
Alyssa put her head in her hands and wept. Her dog and the mouse had deserted her and she had no idea how to survive in Faerie on her own. She had no clue how to answer the giant's question, and Grandma would die if she didn't. Plus, she'd never get to see Mom and Dad and all her friends or even, apparently, Max again.
"Please, Mr. Giant. I'm so very tired and I just want to go home. I'm only sixteen. I don't know anything about magic. I miss my mom. My grandma's sick. Can't you just let me go through?" She dug into her pack and pulled out her Swiss Army knife. "Can I use this to pay the toll?"
The giant grabbed the knife, and turned it over and over in his hands. "Thanks. But you still have to answer the question." He stuck the knife in the pocket of his green leather jerkin.
Alyssa hiccupped. Tears hadn't worked. Apparently, nothing in her pack would get her through the arch. She sat down and leaned her head against the jug.
"Umm, could you repeat the question?"
"Nope." The giant scratched his blue and red belly where it protruded below the belt that held his jerkin closed.
Alyssa thought about the riddle. She couldn't remember where Justin went, only that he rode about for three days and ended up getting home on the same day. Something about the puzzle struck her as familiar. She tried to remember the silly riddles her best friend Tory always repeated including the one that asked what color the bear was. She took a deep breath. "Justin rode a horse named Same Day."
The giant scrunched up his nose and made a noise in his throat that sounded like a fog horn. He stood up and stretched, stomped his feet, and stood to one side.
At first, Alyssa was too scared to move. Then she grabbed the pack and the jug and scooted through the arch, afraid he might change his mind. She saw Max sitting next to the road and heard the thunder of galloping hoofs in the distance. Shouldering the pack, she ran her fingers through her hair and resettled her hat with the brim to one side. Of course, after two days of mucking about Faerie without a bath, she most likely looked frightful. My face is probably covered in zits.
Four black geldings pulled a striped red and blue coach to a stop in front of her. A large tabby cat in pink livery stepped down. "Ticket, please." The cat purred.
Alyssa plucked the mouse from Max's head and held her up for the cat to see. It opened the coach door.
"We part ways here, love." Lilse crawled up Alyssa's arm to her shoulder. "This coach'll take you home and you've no further need for a ticket." She gave
Alyssa a peck on the cheek. "Hope what's in the jug does the trick for your gram."
"Thanks for your help." Alyssa lifted the mouse from her shoulder and set her on the road.
"My pleasure, love. Cheerio." The mouse scampered back toward the arch.
Alyssa set the jug on the coach floor, pushed it toward the other side, and hauled herself up into the empty carriage. Max jumped up behind her. She took off her pack, braced herself in one corner of the front-facing seat, and fell asleep.
The next thing she knew the cat was calling to her through the open door of the coach. "This is your stop, Miss."
She dragged the jug and her pack out of the coach, set them down on the bench inside the bus stop shelter, and watched the coach disappear around a bend in the asphalt highway. When she dug her cell phone out of her pack and turned it on, it got a signal right away. She leaned her back against the shelter wall and slid down to the seat, tears of relief leaking out of her eyes. She dialed her home number. Fortunately, her mom answered.
"Mom, it's Alyssa. Can you come pick me up at the school bus stop down by the highway? I'm just too tired to drag this jug up to the house."
"What jug? Never mind." Her mother sighed. "I'm sorry you couldn't make the magic work this time either, dear."
"But, I did, Mom. It wasn't much fun, actually it was pretty nasty, and I had to give up my MP3 player to get a magic potion for Grandma. That's what's in the jug. Magic from Faerie."
"How in the world? You only left the house an hour or so ago." Her mother paused. "How long were you in Faerie, Alyssa?"
"Two horribly long days." Alyssa blinked back tears. I shouldn't cry now, I'm almost home.
Mom gasped. "I'll drive right down to get you."
Alyssa ended the call. At least Mom would believe her. She knew Dad wouldn't and didn't plan to tell him, even if that meant he wouldn't let her get her belly button pierced or buy her a new MP3 player. My friends'll think I'm nuts if I try to explain where I went.
Max rested his head on her lap and she scratched his ear. "Must be hard not being able to talk." He just looked at her with big brown eyes and wagged his tail. She patted the jug. "At least we got this boy. At least we got this."
If the magic worked, she promised herself, she would spend the two weeks before school started with Grandma. Maybe she would let Alyssa try again on some of the presents from before. I still have a lot of freckles, and this year the jazz band's supposed to go to New York City.
About the Author
Poet, story teller, and book designer, F.I. Goldhaber continues writing professionally after more than a quarter century, including six years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in three states and more than a decade as business writer, editor, and marketing communications consultant for corporate, government, and not-for-profit entities.
She wins awards for her fiction and poetry. Preditors & Editors readers poll ranked her second poetry collection, Pairs of Poems number three in poetry and various organizations honor her erotica works. Her short stories, novelettes, poems, news stories, feature articles, essays, editorial columns, and reviews appear in magazines, e-zines, newspapers, calendars, and anthologies and she published five erotica novels under another name.
In addition to paper, electronic, and audio publications, F.I. shares her words at events in Salem, Keizer, Portland, Seattle and on the radio. She appeared at venues such as Wordstock, Oregon Literary Review, bookstores, libraries, and Chemeketa Community College; gives presentations on subjects as diverse as marketing, writing erotica, and building volunteer organizations; and taught Introduction to Indie Publishing at Portland Community College and as a weekend intensive.
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