The Color of Fear

by Billy Phillips

  “I need to find her.”

  Amethyst saw the fragment of shinbone protruding from Jack’s leg. “What happened there?”

  “Tussle with a troll. No big deal.” Jack tried to walk, but winced in pain.

  “You’ll not be going far on that leg, my boy.”

  “I’ve got to get to Caitlin.”

  “I’m aware of that.”

  Jack tried to walk again. A squirt of blood sprayed from the wound as he put pressure on his leg.

  “Well then, I do hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Amethyst said as he beckoned Jack closer.

  “But first, some of this.” He opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of Scotch. He poured it over the wound. Jack grimaced and writhed in pain. Amethyst tore a strip of fabric from a sofa cushion and used it to bandage Jack’s leg to stanch the bleeding.

  He then reached back into the cupboard and retrieved two pieces of cake. He wrapped them in cellophane.

  “Put these in your rucksack. We’ll need them soon enough.”

  Jack did as he was told, but asked, “What’s the cake for?”

  Amethyst grinned. “This cake is from Wonderland. At some point, we all have to grow … up.” Jack nodded.

  “Climb aboard, my boy,” Amethyst invited.

  Jack swung the rucksack over one shoulder and climbed onto the butterfly’s back. The chunky part of Amethyst’s torso was a good ten times larger than Jack’s whole body. But not for long.

  Jack glanced down at his new friend Alfonzo with concern.

  “Don’t worry about me, amigo,” Alfonzo said. “I will find you when you least expect. In the meantime—croak—there’s lunch to be had.”

  Alfonzo snapped up another baby glowworm and gulped it down.

  Jack winked at his friend. He swung the backpack over his shoulders and clambered onto the back of Lord Amethyst Bartholomew, the butterfly.

  Amethyst spread his wings wide.

  With Jack securely on board, they fluttered up through the skylight and off into the rays of the sun.

  “I, Alfonzo Thadius Bertram the Second, wish you a heartfelt fare thee well, amigo,” Alfonzo said. “Good luck finding the girl. Take care of that leg. And don’t forget to write.”

  A teardrop splashed on the cold, stone rooftop of the queen’s castle. Caitlin’s eyes were already bloodshot from crying.

  “We have to find a way to get my sister back.” She buried her face in her hands. “I wish Jack were here. All I wanted was a night out with him and a chance to write a good article. That’s why I agreed to go to the stupid cemetery in the first place. I want my sister back!”

  Snow White put her arm around Caitlin’s shoulder.

  Rapunzel took her gently by the hand. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, Caitlin. Your sister will walk as the living dead—eternally—if we don’t get her to your earthly home before our sunrise.”

  Caitlin couldn’t swallow.

  “She needs the healing rays of your morning sun to cure her of the affliction.”

  Caitlin sobbed harder as she listened.

  “The first risen sun—ours or yours—that touches her will determine if she becomes one of the living dead or reverts back to the living.”

  Just when Caitlin thought it couldn’t get any worse, Cindy stepped forward.

  “And we won’t be able to help you if the queen raises that scepter at midnight tonight.” She pointed to her eyes. Cindy fixed both hands on her hips. “The clock is ticking, pretty princesses, let’s get a move on.”

  Caitlin felt a meltdown coming on.

  She held her breath … long … longer … still longer … until her body forced her to exhale.

  She couldn’t have a panic attack now. No way. Not with Natalie’s life on the line.

  “How do we get inside?” she asked.

  Rapunzel examined the map. “This upper level is barred off. Except for those side stairs to the castle keep in the tower. No point going to the scene of the crime.”

  Beauty peered over the wall and down below. “The main entrance is patrolled by castle guards.”

  Snow frowned. “And the Blood-Eyed will pick up our scent if we go in that way anyway.”

  “Ideas?” Beauty asked.

  Before anyone could answer, they heard an army of boots thumping up the stone steps that led directly to their level.

  “Exit time, ladies,” Cindy said.

  “Where to?” Beauty asked.

  Rapunzel pointed. “Up those side stairs, to the castle keep. We’ll hide in the herald’s chamber.”

  “What if he’s inside?” Snow asked.

  “Six of us against one skinny herald, or six of us against the queen’s Blood-Eyed armed guards—what do you think?”

  Up the stairs they ran.

  They arrived at the castle keep and quickly crept over to the herald’s chamber. Snow White picked the lock. Rapunzel and Cindy led the way, tense and ready to jump the herald. The chamber was empty.

  Caitlin put her hand on her chest.

  Is my heart rate finally slowing down?

  “He and the other ghouls must be dancing their arses off,” Cindy said.

  The girls tiptoed quietly to the back wall, away from the glassless window and as far from the door as possible. They lined up side by side against the cold stone, standing silent and still, waiting for the guards to pass.

  The queen’s pack of wolves had cold-blooded murder in their eyes. They had stalked the girls’ tracks all the way to the castle. And now they howled and circled outside the castle entrance in a mad frenzy. The leader of the pack, the alpha male, reared and stood on its hind legs. The fur on his chest and paws and snout was matted with blood. He licked some blood from its snout and twitched his nose. He sniffed the air, then the ground, and followed its nose to the castle door.

  Six other Blood-Eyed wolves followed hungrily as the alpha male opened the castle door and entered. It led its pack up toward the castle keep, where the scent was strongest. The wolves climbed the steps, leaving bloodstained paw prints on the stone slabs.

  The wolves reached the castle keep.

  Empty. Not a body in sight.

  The Blood-Eyed alpha wolf sniffed. Scanned.

  The carnivore was attracted to a thick wooden door. From the chamber behind the door, the stink of zombies and humans flowed—tangy to their taste buds.

  The alpha male glanced back at its pack.

  He flashed his fangs. Growled. He turned. He approached the door, stalking upright on two legs, his canine’s eyes ablaze with red. The other wolves remained on all fours. They arched their backs, prepared to pounce, saliva drooling from their jowls.

  Caitlin heard the noise. They all did.

  “Someone’s out there,” Rapunzel said.

  “It’s not the queen’s guards,” Snow said. “They must have climbed past this level. There’s only one someone out there, right at the door. I can sense him edging closer.”

  Rapunzel tightened her hand into a fist. Cinderella rotated her foot back and forth, loosening it up.

  Caitlin’s eyes were glued to the door handle.

  It turned.

  The zombie princesses stormed the intruder. Cindy walloped him with a roundhouse kick across the jaw.

  The queen’s herald!

  Cindy’s wallop had knocked him out cold.

  “Fancy footwork,” Beauty said.

  They propped the unconscious herald up against the wall. “He’ll be napping for a few,” Cindy said proudly.

  “All clear out here,” Caitlin said, peering out the door.

  The girls snuck out.

  The alpha wolf tilted its head, sniffing. It glared at a pile of stuff lying on the floor of the abandoned castle: a mound of hair, a stick smeared with earwax, a rag soaked in saliva and sweat, and a pile of green peppers, garlic cloves, and various roots. The scent was pungent to their sensitive noses.

  The wolves dove in, face-and-fangs-first, shredding everything to bits and chowed it all
down.

  Uncontrollable sneezing erupted from the pack. The peppers, garlic, and wasabi scalded the wolves’ nostril tissues.

  Tongues burned and blistered from the strong plants’ searing heat, and their eyes stung like they had been staring at the sun.

  The cries of the canine ghouls rang out far and wide.

  The zombie wolves were off the scent.

  For now.

  The girls returned to the stone rooftop on the first level of the castle.

  Cindy, Snow, and Rapunzel peered down through the window at the sea of bobbing zombie heads cramming the dance floor of the grand ballroom.

  “Even if we could sneak in,” Rapunzel said, “how would we find Natalie among the others?”

  Cinderella clucked her tongue. “She shouldn’t be hard to spot in that outrageous chili pepper getup.”

  Snow White placed her hand on Caitlin’s shoulder. “Fret not, sweet Caitlin. Your sad eyes are so red, you almost look like a Blood-Eyed yourself.”

  Cindy’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!”

  “That’s what?” said Rapunzel.

  “We disguise ourselves as Blood-Eyed zombies.”

  Rapunzel tapped her temple. “Brilliant! Sneak past the guards in plain sight.”

  Snow furrowed her brow.

  “What about our noble blood? The Blood-Eyed will pick up our royal scent straightaway.”

  Caitlin lifted her eyes, blinking away salty tears. ”And what about my human smell? And my blue eyes?”

  Rapunzel took out the map and studied it intently. She grinned. “There’s a clay bank on the east side of the moat. It’s connected to the bog and the wetlands surrounding the castle.”

  Snow bounced with excitement. “Clay! That just might work!”

  Clay? Might?

  Rapunzel looked up from the map. “We’ll take clay from the castle moat and smear it in a thick layer over our flesh, head to toe. Like a mud bath. When it dries, it’ll harden into a silvery white skin.”

  “That’s a ridiculous idea!” Caitlin cried. “It’s absurd. Disguise or no disguise, they’ll smell my blood, sniff my flesh, and devour me limb by limb.”

  Snow shook her head. “No. Clay camouflages the scent of flesh and blood.”

  Rapunzel’s smile was a shrewd one. “Which means, ladies, the clay will also cover our not-quite-as-dead royal aroma.”

  The royals exchanged gleeful grins.

  A dire look overcame Caitlin. “What about our eyes?”

  Rapunzel scratched her head and slowly exhaled. “That’s a tricky one.”

  “Don’t suppose we can turn on the tears and cry till our eyes turn bloodshot?” Cindy said.

  “Watery tears won’t cut it,” Rapunzel said.

  Snow’s eyebrows rose. “Water! I have an idea.”

  She borrowed the map from Rapunzel and surveyed it.

  “There are all types of aquatic plants, shrubs, and vines growing in the wetlands around the moat,” Snow said. “They hardly need any sunlight. I know of one vine bursting with brilliant-red berry clusters. We can stain our eyes with red berry juice!”

  Caitlin broke out in a cold sweat. “Never!” she shrieked, shielding both eyes with her hands. “That won’t ever happen. Don’t even think about it.”

  Rapunzel gave Caitlin a stern look. “Your hair also has to go.”

  Caitlin uncovered her eyes and stared at Rapunzel in dismay. “Huh?”

  Snow caressed a handful of Caitlin’s cinnamon locks. “Human hair reeks of life force. There’s little chance that the clay will fully shroud it.”

  Cindy seized the clump of Caitlin’s hair from out of Snow’s hand. She sniffed it heartily. “Yeah—with this mop, the Blood-Eyed will hunt you down and spread you on a scone for high tea.”

  Rapunzel stepped face-to-face with Caitlin. “Look, to get to the queen, you’ve got to get past the Blood-Eyed. There’s no choice. But don’t worry, we can leave a little hair on your pretty head. It will just have to be drenched in clay.”

  Caitlin woefully bowed her head. Her shoulders slumped. Her lips quivered, and tears streamed down both cheeks.

  Caitlin then slowly raised her arms. The princesses nodded in unison.

  They all held hands.

  And held their breaths.

  And then … as the fiery, red-orange sun began to set behind the pink horizon, the girls leaped off the inner edge of the wall, plummeting toward the earth!

  Caitlin and the zombie princesses plunged into the moat, landing with a splash. They swam to the bank. Thick deposits of white clay were caked against it. They slogged ankle-deep in the squish.

  Beauty scooped up two heaping handfuls of silver-white clay and slathered Caitlin’s arms and legs with it in a circular motion.

  Caitlin wrinkled her nose. “It tickles.”

  “Smear it on thick,” Rapunzel said. “Blood-Eyed ghouls possess a hyper-acute sense of smell.”

  Rapunzel pulled out a sharp knife and starting cutting off clumps of Caitlin’s long, cinnamon-colored hair. Then Beauty shampooed the top of Caitlin’s head with it too. The clay had a musty smell. Caitlin fought back a rush of tears as she rubbed clay on her shoulders, chest, and tummy. To make the ache in her heart bearable, she kept thinking about Girl Wonder. Her kid sister. Her baby sister. And the pink in her eyes.

  “You’ll look adorable in a bob,” Rapunzel said in a comforting manner.

  Caitlin couldn’t answer. She simply gazed at her long locks floating away atop the moat water.

  She was soon coated in thick, whitish, pasty clay, from head to toe.

  Snow White stared impressively at Caitlin. “You look pale as a ghost.”

  Rapunzel then touched her forehead.

  “We need to let it dry and harden.”

  “Why?” Caitlin asked.

  “You’ll see. Meanwhile, let’s start on your clothes.”

  Rapunzel artfully sliced Caitlin’s top and bottoms.

  “Now that’s a stunning zombie ensemble if I ever saw one—fashionably tattered and stylishly frayed,” said Rapunzel with an assuring wink.

  “Just another day at the clay-bank spa,” Beauty said. “Too bad there’s no masseuse around.”

  Caitlin almost, almost, let a hint of a smile slip out.

  Snow White returned from the bog, pockets filled with glittering clusters of plump red berries. She placed her hand gently on Caitlin’s shoulder.

  “Look, I don’t want to lie to you, Caitlin, honey,” Snow said. “This is probably going to sting your eyes. I mean, really, really sting. But hopefully only for a few seconds. Then the pain should disappear. After that, your pupils and the whites of your eyes will be dyed a very berry red.”

  Caitlin sat herself on a small boulder at the edge of the bank. She had no idea how she was going to allow burning, acidic juice to be poured into her eyes when she never even let the salami-breath eye doctor get a contact lens within an inch of her eyeball.

  Natalie.

  “Fine,” Caitlin said. “Let’s just get this over with.” A flutter gnawed in her chest.

  Snow sighed. “I don’t have the heart to do it.” She stretched out an open hand toward Rapunzel. Nestled in her palm was a batch of red berries.

  Rapunzel plucked a single berry with her thumb and index finger. She held it chest high. “Head back, glasses off,” she instructed Caitlin.

  “No!” Caitlin’s tone was more than bold.

  Everyone froze.

  Caitlin let out a big, long breath of resolve. Her shoulders broadened. “I need to do it myself.”

  Rapunzel smiled proudly. She handed the red berry to Caitlin.

  “Bless her little heart,” Snow said, pressing her hand on her own chest.

  Caitlin took in a reasonable gulp of oxygen and then blew it out gently.

  She removed her glasses. Tilted back her head. She held the red berry centimeters from her left eyeball.

  She squeezed.

  Squirt!

  The berry burst.
Pulpy, acidic juice dripped into her eye.

  Snow White was altogether wrong about the stinging. It didn’t really, really sting. It really, really, really, really stung! Caitlin’s burning eye slammed shut reflexively. The pain was fierce. Blood rushed to her head and gushed to the back of her throbbing eyeball. She flapped her hands furiously, as if that action might cool and ease the stinging—which it surely did not.

  After twenty heartbeats and ten tormenting seconds, though, her eye was …

  Hmm, perfectly fine!

  “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Rapunzel said.

  Caitlin blinked a few times. She looked up. “Your berry-juiced eye is blazing bright red,” Rapunzel said. “And the other is still sparkling blue.”

  Caitlin summoned up her courage, along with another big breath of air, and juiced her other eye. The stabbing sting wrapped around her eyeball, and sent shudders throughout her body. This time she flapped both her hands frantically, trying to ease the throbbing. After ten more stinging seconds, she became a perfect match to a Blood-Eyed zombie.

  Except for one thing.

  Snow poked her finger into some dirt. Using the rich, dark soil as eye shadow, she blackened Caitlin’s eye sockets and lids. Next, she added dark shadow to her cheekbones to mimic sunken cheeks on her pale, white skin.

  Rapunzel touched Caitlin’s forehead. “The clay feels hard and dry now. Okay kiddo, tense your body, squeeze your facial muscles tight, and hold.”

  Caitlin flexed her arms, tightened her tummy, and tensed up her legs. Then she scrunched up her face, squeezing tight until her lips, nose, eyes, and cheeks creased up like crumpled paper.

  Rapunzel leaned in close to Caitlin’s face, studying it intently.

  “Hold it a little longer … hold … hold … now release!”

  Crack!

  A sharp crackling sound erupted as the hardened clay fractured along fault lines that branched out across her face, neck, chest, arms, and legs. Caitlin exhaled, relaxing her muscles.

  “Voil�!” Rapunzel said. “A short-haired, silver-toned, Blood-Eyed zombie is born!”

  Caitlin strolled to the edge of the moat and leaned over the water. She looked at herself in the clear reflection on the surface. No question. Standing there, bathed in the hues of a pale, twilight sky, Caitlin Rose looked absolutely ghoulishly cool and freaking fearsome!