Sleeping Beauty

by Maureen McGowan

  She shook her head—she worried too much—and stretched her fingers toward the lamb, now happily sitting in the grass near her feet. She touched the wool between its ears. It was so soft and almost oily, better than she’d ever imagined it would feel.

  She ran her fingers lightly over the animal and the lamb shook as if she’d tickled it, so she grew braver and dug her fingers right down into the wool to the lamb’s warm skin.

  Her finger struck something hard. The lamb jumped up, and she reached to calm it before looking down at her bleeding finger in horror. It was the last thing she saw.

  Lucette woke with a start. Where was she? She spotted a quilt hanging over the end of the bed, woven in a multicolored diamond pattern. At the foot of the bed was a plain chest made of a light wood with big brown knots, and next to it was her own traveling chest, metal covered in leather, the royal crest embossed on top.

  She was in her bedroom at her grandparents’ house.

  A candle burned on the table beside the bed, and her sleeping mother’s arm was draped across her. The last thing she remembered was petting that lamb. Foolishly, stupidly petting that lamb—with a bare hand. She wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but there must have been something sharp stuck in its wool—a thistle, perhaps.

  She’d done it. She’d brought the curse down, not only on herself but on every citizen of Xandra. Fighting tears, she carefully lifted her mother’s arm off of her, and then realized that no matter how rough she was, her mother wouldn’t wake up.

  After setting her mother’s arm under the duvet, she kissed her sleeping face.“I’m so sorry, Mom. So sorry.” She got out of bed and spotted a note left for her next to the candle.

  Darling Lucette,

  The shepherds found you asleep near the creek and carried you home. I don’t know how your glove came off, but from your scratches and bruises, I can only assume you fell down the hill. It breaks my heart that you’ll be so lonely at night, but I promise to write every day. Will you please write me so I’ll know how you’re coping? Your grandfather and I agree that it’s best for you to stay inside. We’ve done all we can to protect the house, and your grandfather placed stakes in every room should one of those monsters break through the barriers. Stay strong, my darling.

  Love,

  Mom

  Lucette fought back the tears welling inside her. She would not break down—not on the very first night. But as reality sank in, her insides trembled. At this hour, she was the only person awake in the entire kingdom and vampires might at this very moment be rushing over the border. Her mother and grandparents—and presumably their ranch hands and friends—had been prepared for sundown. Would others in Xandra have collapsed in the streets? Would they wake tomorrow where they fell, some with bites on their necks?

  A shiver ran through her as she thought of her father. Her knees crumbled and she dropped to the floor beside the bed. Vampires were targeting the palace specifically, targeting him. How could he possibly survive the night without a bite?

  Allowing herself a few moments of despair, she pulled herself off the floor. So far away, there was nothing she could do for her father tonight. She had to hope that he was inside and safe. She picked up the candle and looked around. Someone, presumably her grandmother, had placed strings of garlic bulbs around the room. She shook her head. According to Tristan and what he’d passed on to her from his physiology classes, garlic was not a reliable defense against vampires.

  She turned back to her sleeping mother, kissed her cheek, and then left to explore the rest of the house. In the kitchen, she discovered some food left out for her, and all over the house, more of the so-called vampire protection. Garlic was strewn everywhere, and on every windowsill and doorway was a line of what she first thought was sugar, but after tasting it realized was salt. Salt to deter vampires? Even she hadn’t heard that one and doubted it worked.

  The house was quiet save the tick of the mantle clock, so Lucette decided to go out to the barn to make sure the animals were okay, wondering if they’d be asleep, too. She’d been told to stay inside, but the garlic and salt wouldn’t keep her any safer than she’d be outside. At least outside she might see what was coming for her before it struck.

  She stepped out into the cool night air. The moon hadn’t yet risen above the mountains in the distance, and it was so dark that Lucette decided to retrieve a candle from the house before walking to the barn. From the rustling sounds she heard as she approached, and the braying and mooing as she opened the door, she realized that the curse affected only the people of Xandra and not their animals. She shivered, realizing that if more vampires like the one she’d killed in Thunder’s stall showed up, without her protection, the poor farm creatures would be exposed to the beasts’ undeterred appetites.

  She had never heard of a vampire going after anyone’s pets or animals back at the village, but she hoped everyone in Xandra had thought to coax their dogs and cats inside before sundown tonight. More likely, it would take a few days—rather, nights—before people developed routines and found ways to keep themselves and their animals safe.

  Walking through the barn, the same as ever, her heart rate slowed and calm settled over her. The animals were fine, and better still, they were quiet. They had no idea of the horrible curse that had befallen the kingdom. Lucette set her quiver of stakes beside her, crouched down, and reached out to feel the straw on the barn floor with her bare hands. There was no point in wearing gloves anymore.

  After a few hours spent petting and talking to the animals, boredom set in. As much as she loved sheep and horses, they weren’t exactly gifted conversationalists, so she returned to the house to make sure it remained vampire-free. After checking on her mother and grandparents, she had a small snack of homemade bread and strawberry jam, then returned to the barn. At least there she wasn’t the only one awake. Some of the animals were sleeping, but not all, and stroking them, pressing her cheek into their warmth, gave her comfort.

  Lucette left the barn door open for light—it seemed safer than candles with all the straw and dry wood scattered about—and she hoped the animals weren’t getting cold.

  Her instincts snapped to attention as a shadow stretched into the beam of moonlight reaching down the center of the barn floor. Another appeared, and she ducked her head and pulled out a stake. A cow mooed and shifted restlessly.

  From inside the cow’s pen, Lucette crept along the wall, her back to the barn entrance. Her position gave her the advantage of being hidden from whoever—or whatever—was making those shadows, but the disadvantage of not being able to see back toward the barn door. Was it possible that someone other than vampires was awake? Perhaps a werewolf from Lupinland, or one of the fairies? Had they come to help, after all? Lucette didn’t see any wings on the shadows and really had no idea how to spot a werewolf, especially since she knew they could appear in human form.

  “She’s not in here,” a deep voice said.

  “Could be hiding,” another voice said. “She wasn’t in the house.”

  Lucette held her breath. They’d been in the house. Guilt grabbed her and she hoped that her mother and grandparents had remained bite-free while she’d hung out in the barn instead of guarding her family.

  “Let’s go back and take some blood from the queen, then,” the first voice said. “We’ll get at least part of our reward.”

  Vampires. And they were after her and her mother. They’d been found.

  Fighting fear, Lucette readied herself to attack.

  “I dunno,” the second vampire wavered.“I’ve heard drinking from a sleeping creature makes you tired.”

  “How would you know?” the other one snapped. “And anyway, if you’re worried about it, spit her blood out. We just need to make sure we’ve transferred some venom and grab a blood sample.”

  A chill shot down Lucette’s spine. From the shape of the shadows, the two vampires weren’t far from the cow pen’s entrance. If they took another step or two, she’d see them�
��and they’d see her. It was time to act.

  Moving carefully, she stashed her stake in her quiver, grabbed a rope hanging from a beam high on the ceiling, and climbed. Now her shadow appeared, too, but it was on the floor of the opposite stall and the vampire facing that direction seemed not to have noticed it yet.

  She climbed until she was above both vampires’ heads, then looked up the beam holding the rope. For an instant, she considered continuing her climb; if she hid on that beam, it was possible they’d never spot her. But that was out of the question. She had to get out of the barn before they attacked her sleeping mother.

  Holding the rope with one arm, she grabbed a stake and then arched to swing back so her feet touched the top of the stall wall. She pushed off and swung forward, launching into the air. The first vampire spotted her just as Lucette planted a hard kick to the back of his friend’s head.

  She knocked one into the other and the two vampires landed on the barn floor, one on top of the other, their chests pressed together. Lucette planted her feet on the sprawled arms of the vampire who’d landed on top, pinning them both to the ground, then in one swift move, she plunged her stake through his shoulder.

  She chided herself for not going for the kill, but after her first experience, she wasn’t sure she could do that again.

  “I think you broke my wrists!” the vampire said.

  The second vampire started to wriggle out, so Lucette plunged another stake into the dirt next to his neck. “Keep still, or the next one goes in.”

  “Okay, okay!” The vampire snarled and flashed his fangs. “We’re just trying to earn a living! No need to be cruel.”

  “Cruel? Me?” Her blood started to boil.“I heard what you two were talking about. Who’s behind all this? Who’s sending you over here to attack us? And why are they targeting the royal family?”

  The top vampire groaned as more blood flowed from his shoulder.

  “We don’t know,” the one on the bottom claimed, but something in his face said he was lying.

  “Tell me, or this stake goes straight through both of your hearts.” She had no idea if she had the strength or the will to follow through on that threat, but from the look on his face, it didn’t matter.

  “There’s rumors, that’s all,” he insisted.

  “What kind of rumors?” Lucette shifted her weight, and the top vampire groaned.

  “Some say the queen herself is behind it,” the bottom one said. “She’s the one who made human blood consumption legal. But I don’t know why she’s got it in for the royals.”

  This information tasted like bad medicine. Why was the vampire queen so determined to destroy her?

  Lucette pulled out another stake and glared at the vampires. Outside, it was getting lighter. None of them had long. “I’ll let you go... this time. But one move toward me or the house and you’ll both have stakes through your hearts! There isn’t a vampire alive I can’t take down.”

  She did a good job of sounding confident and hoped these vampires wouldn’t see through her bravado.

  “Make her let us go!” the one facing down whined. “It’s almost dawn.”

  “Fine,” the one pinned on the bottom said. “Let’s get out of here. The money’s not worth it.”

  Lucette jumped off. Walking backward, both stakes up, she moved quickly toward the back of the barn. Thunder reared up and whinnied. “And stay away from our animals, too. Go feed in your own country!” she shouted.

  One vampire helped his injured friend to his feet, and they stumbled out of the barn. Lucette advanced behind them, prepared to attack if they went anywhere near the house, but they raced toward the mountains and—she hoped—out of Xandra, forever.

  The sky was now tinged with pale pink, and she raced for the house, wondering if she’d get inside before falling asleep on her feet.

  A few nights later, Lucette found envelopes addressed to her on the kitchen table, sealed with wax. Her hands trembled, wondering what her parents would say. The night after the vampires came, she’d written letters to both of her parents.

  If they hadn’t already figured it out, they had to know that the three of them were the main targets of these vampires. But she’d decided against telling her father that the vampire queen was directly behind the attacks. It wasn’t as if he could declare war on Sanguinia while the curse was still upon their country, so what was the point of him knowing? With the curse in effect, the vampire army could wipe out Xandra in one night, while everyone slept.

  Perhaps taking over Xandra at night had been the original intent of the curse. It seemed an awfully convoluted way to go about conquering a kingdom—and why keep only her awake? But Lucette wouldn’t put that past the vampire queen. From everything she’d heard about the woman, she sounded not only cruel, but also insane.

  In the letters to her parents, she’d suggested that she and her mother return to the palace. Hopefully her mother had agreed. At least it would be easier to barricade themselves in there and, if her family were all under one roof, Lucette had some chance of keeping both of her parents safe.

  She opened her mother’s letter first, and the air rushed out of her lungs. She and her mother would leave for the palace at daybreak. She should be happy that her mother had granted her request, but now she felt the pressure of wondering if she’d been right. The palace would be swarming with vampires and she’d be the only slayer awake.

  The next night, Lucette woke with a start and quickly reached her hand to the side to steady herself. It bumped into something hard. Panicked, she tried to sit upright, but her head also struck something hard, sending a sharp pain through her entire body.

  Lucette lay stunned for a few seconds, head throbbing, and then, as her mind cleared, horror filled her heart. She flipped her head to one side, then the other, trying to figure out where she was. She knew that today had been the day her mother had planned to travel back to the palace, but she certainly wasn’t in her old bedroom.

  She banged on the enclosure, then ran her hands everywhere, trying to make sense of it, wondering if it was just a bad dream. She found a small button and pushed it. Gaslights flickered to life around her, and she discovered she was dressed in a frilly white gown and enclosed in a long box that appeared to be made from glass.

  She felt around the virtual coffin, but couldn’t find anything to smash the glass with, so she rolled onto one side, braced herself, and kicked one leg back, striking the side of the coffin with the sole of her slippers. Her only reward was a throbbing pain that shot up her leg to her hip.

  The enchanted fairy glass! That had to be it. Tears of frustration rose in her eyes. Her mother had brought her home as she’d asked, but then her father had locked her up. Locked her up right in front of the glass prison her mother had shown her before they left for the country. The box she lay inside was perpendicular to the wall of the glass cell, butting right up to the glass. How was she ever going to keep her parents safe from inside a glass box?

  She heard a sound and twisted her head to see light climbing toward the room’s entrance from the tower staircase. Lucette pushed the button to turn off the gaslights and pretended she was asleep.

  Someone was coming.

  Will Lucette survive alone in the dark?

  To find out, turn to section 6: In the Dark (page 183).

  Section 6

  IN THE DARK

  Unable to sit up straight in her coffin of glass, Lucette craned her neck toward the top of the stairs. A figure appeared in the doorway. She snapped her eyes shut, but then watched the figure through half-closed eyes, pretending to sleep.

  As the figure entered and the candlelight grew brighter, she noticed a piece of paper above her on the outside of the coffin, but before she could read it, a face appeared next to the note.

  She gasped. Alex! The vampire she’d met in the woods as a kid. His bright red hair and wide, infectious grin were unmistakable. She’d never forget that face.

  “Hey,” he said, his voice slight
ly muffled through the glass.“You look a little cramped in there.” He picked up the paper and read, “Dearest Lucette.” He peeked over the top of the letter. “Sweet opening.” He winked and then returned his attention to the letter. “I’m sorry you had to wake up alone in unfamiliar surroundings, but the idea of my daughter out among vicious vampires is more than I can bear.”

  Alex peeked over the letter again and made a face. “Vicious? Oh, please.” He turned back to the note. “I must keep you safe, my darling daughter. I hope you had a good day’s sleep in your case.” Alex looked up again. “Case? Even vampires recognize a coffin when we see one.”

  “Is that all it says?” she asked. Surely her father didn’t expect her to spend all her nights trapped in this case.

  “There’s more,” Alex said, and he continued. “At your feet you’ll find a trapdoor that will let you enter your safe room. Behind the glass partition you’ll be protected at night. Once you’re in your safe room, make sure you don’t close the trapdoor to your sleeping case. It only opens from the case side. It was designed this way so that, if a vampire climbs the tower and comes in through the window, you can escape to your protective sleeping case, shutting the trapdoor behind you.” Alex looked up. “To be clear, when he says case, you known he means coffin, right?”

  “Just finish the letter,” she said, dread creeping through her. “Or put it back down on the glass so I can read it myself.” Her father must have written the letter after trapping her inside.

  “Sure thing.” He grinned before turning back to the letter. “For this nightmare to end, you must find true love, so I’ll bring every young man in the kingdom up here to see you. I’m confident one of them will love you. I know I do. Your loving father.”