The Spinner of Dreams

by K. A. Reynolds

  As she approached the table of dreamers, the Dreamland gates shut gently behind her. Annalise followed the sound.

  “Is that . . . ?” Mister Edwards gaped with giant copper eyes.

  “It is,” Annalise answered, excitement, curiosity, and wonder mingling in her voice.

  Standing before the closed golden doors where Esh-Baal should have been was someone the Fate Spinner insisted was dead. Someone with dark brown skin, shining black hair, kind golden eyes, and a crown to match.

  The Spinner of Dreams.

  Esh-Baal was the Spinner of Dreams?

  Her dress shimmered like a million small wings. Her crown of crows and spiraled black horns sparkled in the sun. The white crows caw-caw-caw-cawed and swooped down to greet her.

  Behind them, deep within the labyrinth walls, the Fate Spinner howled a gut-wrenching cry. Her defeat fell like a guillotine, for a moment cutting off all other sound.

  Annalise’s heart lurched with empathy. She knew that hopelessness and pain well. Maybe one day, she thought, watching a gold butterfly flutter by, the Fate Spinner might feel something more than pain and misery, too.

  The Spinner of Dreams held out her arms with a quiet, peaceful joy and said something to the crows Annalise couldn’t hear. As Annalise stepped forward to meet her, no doubts about who she was or where she’d come from remained. A golden thread so fine it was almost invisible ran from Reverie’s heart to the dark mark on Annalise’s great palm.

  Annalise didn’t know it was possible to feel so happy about so many things.

  Suddenly, Mister Edwards let out a small cry as he searched the crowd. When he spoke, his words thickened with tears. “I’ll leave you to it, then, Miss Meriwether. As you can see, I have someone waiting for me, too.”

  A handsome silver-gray fox broke through the mingling dreamers, quartz dust glinting in his fur, grinning and laughing and bursting with excitement. “Reynard!”

  Mister Edwards screamed and sprinted to meet him. “Arthur!”

  Mister Amoureux. Annalise clasped her hands at her chest, overwhelmed with happiness for her friend. The two foxes crashed together and spun each other around. Tears grew fat and wonderful in her eyes and she laughed and wiped them away.

  Everything they’d gone through was worth it to get here.

  Annalise searched for her parents, and Nightingale and Bowie, but didn’t see them. She lifted the locket from her cloak, spun it four times, and moved to give Mister Edwards and Mister Amoureux their privacy. When she turned back to the Spinner of Dreams, the enchantress stood directly behind her.

  Chapter 36

  The Spinner of Dreams

  A poet Annalise really liked wrote that dreams were born of stardust and heart. That all it took to catch them was a fleeting glimmer of hope, and all it took to break them was a magic we didn’t yet possess. Annalise had cast her net and now she possessed something greater than even stardust and heart. Something more solid than hope. Annalise had forged within herself the magic to bring her dreams to life. To stand at the gates of her hard work, heart in her hands, ready for what came next.

  The Spinner of Dreams dropped to one knee before Annalise, arms out gracefully at her sides, white crows circling overhead. A large solid black heart, just like Annalise’s, marked her right palm. And it was beautiful. “It is a great honor to stand before you as my whole self, Annalise Meriwether.”

  Stunned and awkward and unsure what to say, Annalise curtsied, extending her plum cloak—dirty and ragged, burnt and torn—like scarred wings at her sides. A shy “Hi” was all she could manage at first, along with a blush of heat in her cheeks.

  Until finally, Annalise straightened, stroked her hair (four times), and spoke. “I have waited so long to see you that all of this hardly seems real.”

  The Spinner of Dreams stood, radiating a peaceful calm. “Dreams, I think you will find, may seem impossible, but they are the realest things in any world.” She gave a small wink. “As real as a unicorn born from a girl.”

  “I believe you’re right about that.” Annalise glanced nervously at her feet, then she sighed, more melancholy than before, and met the lovely gold-fire eyes belonging to the Spinner of Dreams. “I don’t mean to offend, but I’m really going to miss Esh-Baal.”

  The Spinner of Dreams smiled. “Esh-Baal is a majestic creature, full of magic and fire, but she isn’t gone. Rest assured, your strong and beautiful unicorn still lives within you.”

  That’s when Annalise felt it: a spark, a flame, and the tip of a unicorn’s horn shifting behind the black heart on her palm.

  “She was a vessel for my body, the way a mother is for a child. The way you are for her.” The Spinner of Dreams wiped a golden drop of blood from a cut on Annalise’s cheek. “We share blood, the three of us. Esh-Baal will always be your power, an extension of you. And you and I will always be connected by dreams. Nothing and no one can ever take her away from you.”

  Esh-Baal churned within Annalise’s great hand like before, but it no longer felt painful. Behind them, the party guests in the meadow clinked glasses and cheered. Annalise stroked the no-longer-broken black heart on her palm. “She really is still with me.”

  “And always will be. It took your determination to put back together the shattered heart that slipped into your hand the day you were born. It took you learning to love the parts of you that brought you pain to gain the power and magic necessary to bring Esh-Baal to life.” The Spinner of Dreams took Annalise’s great hand in hers. When their skin touched, static surged up Annalise’s arm. “And it took your belief in your dream to resurrect Dreamland. To bring me home.”

  The Spinner of Dreams clapped her hands once before her. “Now, before we join the celebration, why don’t we sit? I believe there is the matter of your dreams to get to.”

  Annalise rushed her with a hug. “Thank you. For everything. All the times I pinched my marked hand and wished my curse gone. I just—I didn’t . . .”

  “We all have things we wish we could do differently, even enchantresses.” Annalise followed Reverie’s mournful stare to the Fate Spinner’s palace in the heart of the maze. “My sister underestimated the power of a dreamer, and I underestimated her. In the end, what matters is that we try to do better next time, so we don’t make the same mistakes.”

  They walked the colored path to the throne. As they approached the arches, a fluffy, crying bundle of exuberance blew forward, heading straight for them. The Spinner of Dreams clapped wildly and hurried to meet the hatless, despectacled cat, Muse. “Ahhhh!” she cried, kneeling to embrace him. “My friend.” She laughed, crown wobbling. “I have missed you.”

  “And I have missed you, Reverie, more than you know.” A misty-eyed Muse blinked up at Annalise with all the love, respect, and thanks that a cat could bear. And when he pulled away from Reverie and hugged Annalise, it was with the same ferocity. “Thank you, dauntless dreamer, for following me after our meeting in your backyard. For giving me another chance, and not giving up. This world—this Dreamland—wouldn’t be here without you. You brought it back from the dead.” He choked up and kissed her great hand. “You broke the darkness the Fate Spinner cast upon you. And I, and everyone else here, cannot thank you enough.”

  Cries of “Hear, hear!” and “Four cheers for Annalise!” rang through the fresh-flower-scented air.

  “Thank you for being there when I needed you, Muse, and also for giving me the chance to find my own way.” She kissed his cheek and stood. “Speaking of the Fate Spinner, may I ask, what will happen to her? You know, since she . . . ?”

  “Tried to kill us, you mean?” the Spinner of Dreams replied, eyebrows raised. “Yes. In my absence, she had ruled the Mazelands with heartlessness and cruelty, but no one, not even my crow guards, or Mogul the sorcerer, had jurisdiction to stop her. However, there is a law protecting dreamers who enter the labyrinth, which the Fate Spinner broke the instant she tried to strike you down. Since I have returned, my guards will be hunting her now to take
her to Mazelands Prison: a shadow maze that runs directly under the labyrinth. It is the strongest, most desolate magical prison in our world.”

  “Mercy,” Annalise whispered, gazing at her worrying hands. “I feel badly for her. I know what it’s like wishing to be free from a curse, to want something so badly, it feels like your heart will stay forever broken until your dream comes true. But maybe her own journey through a dark labyrinth is just what she needs to free herself from her curse.”

  “I really hope so,” the Spinner of Dreams answered softly. “And since ony those who are true of heart are able to complete the shadow maze, if my sister does find her way free, I will know for certain I can trust her. Then she can be restored to her throne, and perhaps, at long last, we can rule the Mazelands in peace, together.” The enchantress patted the empty space beside her. “There is always hope.”

  Annalise sat alongside the Spinner of Dreams on her white and gold velvet throne, Muse curled up in a warm patch of sunned grass at their feet. It was wonderful, but something—or few someones—were missing.

  “Spinner of Dreams?”

  “Please, call me Reverie.”

  “Reverie,” Annalise replied shyly, stroking her braid by fours. “Have you any idea where my mom and dad might be? The Fate Spinner tried to make me believe they were in the labyrinth, but I never got a chance to see if she was telling the truth.” She glanced anxiously down the hill toward the Dreamland gates, hoping to see them. “I was also hoping to find Nightingale and Bowie Tristle, but I don’t see them either. Can you tell me if they made it? Or even if they’re all right?”

  Reverie lowered a wistful gaze to the half gauntlet on Annalise’s wrist. The thread tethering them pulsed. “I understand how worried you must be about your parents and your friends. And though I can’t tell you exactly where they are,” she said with a secret smile, “I feel very confident that you’ll see them all soon.”

  In the distance, strange and colorful creatures, giants, and magical beasts approached Dreamland, cheering Reverie’s name.

  “My people,” Reverie said. “I’ve missed them so!” She grasped Annalise’s shoulders. “My dear girl, you made my dream come true. And the instant you stepped into Dreamland, you did the same for yours. You rid yourself of my sister’s curse and earned the right to make your own fate. My only question for you now is, what is the new dream I can grant for you?”

  Annalise had done it. She’d broken her own curse and helped Dreamland and Reverie heal. And as she watched Mister Edwards and Mister Amoureux laughing and celebrating together (and eating—mercy, she was mouth-droolingly hungry), Annalise didn’t even have to think about what else she wanted (besides at least four cakes and a lake full of sweet winterberry tea).

  “I would like Carriwitchet restored to the way it was before the Fate Spinner broke the sky. I’d like the sun returned; the crops healthy and strong; the forests no longer petrified, but lush and cool, dappled and green. I wish for the night wolves to stop eating the townsfolk, even though the townspeople are often quite mean. Or maybe, if you can manage it, you could return the night wolves to the Mazelands because maybe they miss their home, too.”

  Reverie pushed down a grin and nodded thoughtfully, her crown of horns not moving an inch. “Yes, I can see how wolves eating your people would be problematic. I think I can manage that. Anything else?”

  “Oh yes.” Annalise brightened and talked quickly enough so she wouldn’t get nervous asking. “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d also like everyone in Carriwitchet, including my parents, to get something they’ve longed for.” She counted birds and butterflies by fours to calm her nervous heart. “I mean, I know the townspeople, well, most of them anyway, didn’t come to the labyrinth, and”—she swallowed—“I know some did terrible things. But I feel like they’ve suffered the Fate Spinner’s wrath because of my curse, too. And maybe we’ve all done a few things we’re not proud of on the way toward our dreams.” Reverie nodded heavily in agreement. “But since you asked,” Annalise continued. “I thought, maybe, we could give them another chance.”

  The Spinner of Dreams held Annalise’s gaze, considering. Her gold eyes looked just like Esh-Baal’s. “Well,” she said, breaking into a fat grin, “those are excellent dreams, Annalise. They come straight from your heart, and those are always my favorite to grant.” The Spinner of Dreams snapped her fingers. “Consider it done.”

  Annalise observed her surroundings, expecting something to happen, but everything remained the same. No glitter fell from the heavens. No electric shock shook the earth. But when everyone cheered, she clapped along with them.

  “Would you please excuse me, Spinner of—I mean, Reverie?” Annalise asked while gazing longingly at Mister Edwards and Mister Amoureux. They were waving her over from their seats at the dining table while devouring two teetering stacks of deliciously fancy cakes. “I wouldn’t want to be rude, but I think that party over there is for me.” Her stomach roared as loud as thunder. “And,” she replied, trying to hide her embarrassment, “I really, really would like some of those cakes. And, you know, other things. Maybe.” She laughed.

  “Of course. Actually, perhaps I’ll accompany you.”

  The people and beasts of Dreamland joined the party, and Annalise ate at the head of the table of dreamers, at the place set with her name, until she was full. She laughed and traded stories of the labyrinth with the others, her friends at her side. When she’d finished, Muse climbed onto her lap—like he did that day at the shelter—peered up at her with his big plum-colored eyes, and purred. “I’m going to come visit you, Annalise Meriwether,” Muse said, pushing his soft cheek against hers.

  “You better, Muse.” Annalise laughed past the lump in her throat, hugged him tight, and whispered, “I will be waiting for you.”

  The fur at his cheeks pinked—the same shade as the sunset. Muse dug his monocle out of his fur pocket and flashed it at the sun. The last time she’d seen him do that, he was calling the—

  A train whistle blew.

  The ground rumbled. The glasses and cutlery clinked. The wildlife and guests paused their cacophony of sound. Train tracks, glowing with the light of stars, pushed up and out of the earth. They wound down from the base of the hill, and lowered through the crack between worlds. The dreamers gathered by the table and watched the white crows band together and merge into the Train of Dreams.

  “Your coach awaits, Annalise. And I haven’t forgotten about fixing your sun and sky. But since the journey is four times as long when the heavens aren’t broken, I thought I’d let my train of crows take you home first. For now, I believe there are two very excited people coming through the gates to see you.”

  Annalise’s heart raced. She could barely hold her heart inside her rib cage as she faced the opening Dreamland gates.

  There, ragged and tired and bleeding, were her laughing-smiling-screaming-with-excitement parents sprinting toward her.

  “Mom! Dad!” Annalise crashed into their arms like a tide to shore.

  “Oh, my goodness!” her mom cried, searching every inch of her daughter’s face. “You made it!” She laughed and hugged Annalise once more. “You are amazing. Brilliant, brave, the most powerful young woman I’ve ever known.”

  Her dad came at her next. “Dad!” Annalise grabbed him and held tight. Red-eyed and swollen, glasses askew, he gripped his EpiPen like a dagger in his battered fist.

  “Annalise,” he said in his deep and kind voice, “we watched you. The whole way. The Fate Spinner, she . . .” Her awestruck parents shook their heads at the ground. “She had us watching you fight those monsters.” He shook his head, his horror soon blossoming into pride. “But you,” he continued, shaking his cut-up finger. “You, sweetheart, you showed them all.”

  Annalise hadn’t noticed at first, but her mom carried something in her hand. “You found my bag!” Annalise cradled it like a lost artifact from another age. “I thought it was gone forever. Thank you.”

  The train
gave another whistle. The eyes of the cars blinked inside the dying light. The break between worlds cast a shadow into this world.

  Mister Edwards and Mister Amoureux padded shyly up to Annalise.

  “Mom, Dad,” Annalise said, tapping her finger on her thigh in fours. “Before we catch up, I’d like you to meet my dear friend, Mister Edwards, and his husband, Mister Amoureux, who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet either.”

  Before Annalise could even say, Pleased to finally meet you, Mister Amoureux and Mister Edwards grabbed her up in the happiest hug she’d ever gotten in her life.

  “The pleasure is mine, Miss Meriwether,” the lovely Mister Amoureux said in a smooth, gentlemanly voice. “You’re my hero, you know. Oh!” he exclaimed. “And when we open our candy shop, which we will, one way or another,” he said sheepishly, glancing at the Spinner of Dreams uncertainly, “you’ll have free candy every day for the rest of your days, I swear it!”

  Mattie and Harry Meriwether shook hands and traded tales with Mister Edwards while Annalise whispered to Mister Amoureux, “You’re just as lovely as I knew you’d be. Thank you for your kind words.”

  The Spinner of Dreams knelt before Mister Amoureux and Mister Edwards. “I haven’t forgotten you brave foxes.” She rubbed her hands together, and out from between them a golden fire grew, and grew, and grew, and when she clapped a glitter of rainbow dust exploded into the air and disappeared fast as it came. A set of keys fell from the sky and landed at their feet. The foxes looked at each other with big fox eyes. “When you get home, your candy shop will be waiting.”

  Cheers and laughter and celebrating ensued. And by the time the next train whistle blew, the first stars had poked out of the darkening lilac sky.

  The guests had thinned. Reverie stood by the Train of Dreams, saying goodbye to her guests as they boarded for home. “Mister Edwards,” Annalise said, “I do believe it’s time to go.”

  The foxes, Annalise, and her parents moved to the train’s platform. Her mom and dad greeted the Spinner of Dreams with low bows and exchanged several quiet words—the only one Annalise heard clearly was surprise. Mister Amoureux and Mister Edwards said their goodbyes. Annalise waved them onto the train. “I’ll be right behind you.”