by Holly Hook
"What about my brothers?" I asked. "We can't let that woman get near them." Terror squeezed my heart as Bernice opened her cabinet to reveal lots of plain gray and blue dresses with white lace.
I had almost lost one of them once.
I swore up and down I'd never do it again.
The older woman waved me closer.
"I'll have Edward tell them to stay away from the castle," Bernice said. "They won't come in until night is approaching. We have time to figure out what to do. I think they'll be safe out in the stables. I'll tell your father's bride that they are out visiting a royal cousin."
I was glad that the river was so far away from the castle. The boys would have fun all day, not knowing that our lives had been upended like this. I'd let them have this last day of no worry. The river was far and Immanuel wouldn't try anything with the five others there.
At least, I hoped. And that had been almost five years ago.
Bernice helped me to get out of my dress and change into the servant one, a plain blue one with white lace and an apron. I felt more safe, but very plain. She also removed the silvery swan clip from my hair and hid everything in the dresser. I felt so strange. Our servants were well treated, but I hadn't realized what it was like to be ordinary.
I followed Bernice back out into the kitchens, determined to blend in. I was out of my element here. Bernice found a closet and handed me a broom. "Just sweep," she told me. "All you have to do is sweep the floors. Listen to that woman as much as you can. Try to see what her plans are. I'll be staying close to you."
I felt better, knowing that Bernice was looking out for me. I had always liked her. She had stepped in when Mother passed, absorbing my tears and showing me how to take the place of Mother for the boys. She'd been my rock when Father couldn't be there, when he was too busy running the kingdom.
And now I needed to watch out for them again. I'd do whatever it took.
I grabbed the broom and swept at the floors, but Bernice had to correct me and show me how to sweep all the dust and crumbs and pebbles into a pile before putting them into the dustpan and dumping them in the ash piles outside. I got the hang of it after some practice and went around the castle, sweeping up any messes and dirt I could find. I hadn't realized the servants led such boring lives until now. I wondered when they got time to read.
I swept around the castle for some time. I hadn't appreciated how large it was, with its four stories and long hallways until now. I swept under our stained glass swan windows in the upper hallway. I cleaned up the path around our enclosed garden and our fruit trees. I even swept up around my large bedroom, around my blue canopy bed and around my wardrobe. But then Bernice appeared in the doorway, eyeing my room and frowning.
I didn't have time to ask her what was wrong. Footsteps came up the stairs behind her.
"This is where the boys sleep," Father was saying.
"I would like to see the chambers," the woman said.
"Annie, you will see them in time. It is the boys' rooms. Why are you so concerned?"
Then I realized.
If Annie saw this room, she would know I existed. Father was trying to stop her.
Bernice burst into the room. "Tell her this used to belong to the old Queen," she whispered. "And we are cleaning it out."
The two of us went to work tearing the sheets off my bed just as a flash of red appeared in the doorway.
"What is this?" Annie asked, full of suspicion.
Bernice faced her. "The former Queen's room," she said.
Father glanced at me, then quickly looked away. He stood behind Annie as if he'd become a shadow of her. "My former wife passed away not too long ago," he said, picking a leaf bit off his hunting tunic. "I kept her room tidy for a while, but since you are here, it is time to get rid of her old things, I suppose. I'm having my servants clean it out."
Annie faced him. Even from the side, I could spot the darkness in her eyes and her soul. The air felt cold as if she were sucking the life out of it. "The two of you slept on opposite sides of the castle?"
My heart raced. She would see how much I looked like Father soon. I went to work tearing the second sheet off the bed and folding it, putting my back to Annie. Bernice remained quiet and we folded the sheet.
"Our marriage," Father supplied, "was not happy in its last few years."
"I see," Annie said. She stepped into the room as if trying to survey her competition. "Are you sure she is dead?"
I didn't like the way she asked that.
"Positive," I said before Father could. The air felt sharper. It was something I'd never felt, but it reminded me of the dark spot that was slowly growing in the forest. My brothers and I had only ventured close to it a few times, but even Irving hadn't been brave enough to step into it. The knights didn't even want to go in. This woman seemed to contain some of its essence. Father shifted in the doorway and whispered something to Larry as she drew closer and inspected the sheet. Annie passed very close to me, then opened the wardrobe to look at all of my dresses. I didn't dare give her any attention.
"Annie," Father said. "We need to prepare for the wedding. Our servants are busy getting ready and I don't want to be late."
She smiled. "Of course," she said. "We wouldn't want to miss it."
She followed Father out of the room, taking the cold and dread with her. The two of them spoke in low voices as they walked back down the stairs, Larry following.
Bernice put her hand on my back. "I didn't think she would be that intrusive," she told me. "She suspects your existence. You and your brothers need to leave this place as soon as you can. That woman is powerful. I have no doubt she'll make that dark spot outside grow faster. We'll have you hide in the stables. Annie won't look there."
I thought about that section of thick, dark forest and shuddered. I had always wondered what would happen if it spread to the castle grounds and turned everything sad and gloomy. This woman wasn't going to help matters. She was up to something and Father couldn't even use his authority to do anything about it.
We abandoned the room and headed back to the lower level. I took one last look at my bed and followed Bernice through the back entrance and to the stables. Edward was already there, dressed in his finest, and standing at the entrance. The horse smell hit me and I dreaded having to stay in there for the night.
Edward opened the door for me in silence. I stepped in.
My brothers sat together in a clean stall, one that none of the horses had ever used. All of them were still shirtless and Isaac was still wet from swimming in the river. Irving stood against the stable as if nothing were wrong and Isiah cried silent tears. Our lives had been okay up until now. One of the servants had gone and gotten them for me. I was relieved. Annie might have seen me running down the hills towards the river.
"Ignacia," Isaac said. He was skinny for an eight year old boy. "What's happening? Who's this lady?"
"She's no lady," I said. "We need to stay quiet in here."
"But what are we going to do?" Ike asked.
I had to have an answer for them. "We will need to hide, I suppose," I said. "This is the way of royalty sometimes." I said that to remind myself more than anything. The seven of us had been lucky until now. I'd heard tales of queens killing kings, of siblings warring against each other for the throne. It happened even in the light region of Fable. Unwanted marriages happened and power struggles played out behind the scenes.
"Why is that woman making us leave?" Ike asked. "We haven't even had time to gross her out yet."
I ruffled his hair, which made him grimace and push me away. "I don't know where she came from," I told him. "But she's mean and she's very strong. I think she's making Father marry her. Father doesn't want us to leave, but I think he's going to give the order. The servants will recommend that to him."
Isiah burst into full crying now. Edward closed the door, casting us in semi-darkness as if to hide the sound. I hoped that Annie wouldn't come out here and demand to inspect the s
table. Maybe the smell would chase her away.
Bernice left us. She had to.
I kept an eye on Immanuel. Even though that night had happened almost five years ago, I couldn't shake it. Immanuel, running out of the castle after Mother's funeral. Me following him to the south side of the river, where rapids roared over rocks. Immanuel standing there with an eerie calm, edging closer and closer.
"I want to see Mother again," he'd said, taking a step. "The river will take me to her."
"No," I'd shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling my then eight year old brother back. "I love you. Don't leave us. I'll be your mom."
Immanuel had struggled against me, but at eleven I was bigger. I managed to pull him back and we both fell together. I had wrapped my arms around my little brother and didn't let go for what felt like ages. Immanuel had sobbed into my shoulder, letting out tears a prince wasn't allowed to shed in public.
"I promise," I told him. "I'll be your mom the best I can. Don't jump into the rapids."
I shook my head, trying to clear away the memory, but it was always there, reminding me of the words I'd said. We waited in the stable for a long time. The light got long and tired, and I dared to stand on a stool and peek through one of the cracks in the wall.
The wedding was outside. The servants had gathered and streamers hung everywhere from the trees in the courtyard. A white arch had been set up and it glistened in the dying light. Knights guarded the perimeter, facing away from us, and Father stood under the arch as the priest pulled at his collar and prepared to read. He had changed into his finery and his crown along with his pale blue cape, but even from this distance I could see the worry and the shame on his face.
"What do you see?" Ike asked. "Is it horrible?"
"It's not great," I said.
"Is Father really getting married?" Isaac asked.
"Let me see," Ivan said, tugging at my shirt.
"Leave her alone," Irving said, pulling him away.
Behind the hastily assembled wedding, the dark spot loomed worse than ever.
It had been there for years, just one of thousands here in Fable, growing a few inches each month. But the size of it now made me gasp. It had reached the edge of the forest and was touching the courtyard now, ready to take over.
And still the wedding went on.
"No," I muttered. "Father. Don't do it."
And then Annie appeared.
She emerged from the castle and marched up the split crowd of servants and knights, holding a bouquet of very red flowers, flowers the color of blood. I wondered where she found them. We had none in our gardens, only blue and white flowers like the neighboring Fox Kingdom had.
And then she stood next to my father.
Behind them, the dark spot grew.
I had never seen it grow before, but it was leaking across the grass and towards us like a spreading puddle of darkness. The knights shifted, but remained in place. The grass turned almost black and any dandelions growing out of it shriveled and died. The evil marched forward, one inch at a time, but it was unmistakable. The longer the wedding went on, the worse it got.
I wondered if it would overtake the entire kingdom.
"I can't stand here," I said. I had to stop the wedding. Annie had to be a powerful dark being. Only they could make dark spots grow that fast. I climbed down from the stool and pushed past my brothers, who were waiting for my word on whatever was happening.
"Where are you going?" Irving asked.
"To stop this."
"Wait," he said, trying to reach for me. "You can't. That Annie wants to kill us. That's what Edward told me."
"The dark spot is getting bigger." I stormed for the door. I couldn't let it reach my brothers. That might kill them just as much as Annie would. I pushed the door open, only to find Edward and Bernice standing there, blocking my way.
And both of them wore the most grave expressions I had ever seen.
"Stop," Bernice said. "Your father has ordered us to take you away now. He's given us a way to reach the other world."
"The other world?" I asked, fear blossoming. I'd only heard rumors of the other world, a place where there were far more people than here and where there were strange inventions everywhere you turned. There was even a theory that the imaginations of the other world kept this one alive, even though many skeptics in the kingdom, some of the servants included, thought that was nothing more than a story. "How are we supposed to get there?"
"Your father has an artifact given to him by a wise woman a few years ago," Edward said, maintaining his stiff composure. "A ball of yarn. It can show you the way to any place you desire."
Bernice reached into her pocket and pulled out the ball of yarn. It was purple and glowing in the dim light. I could feel the warmth radiating from it. This artifact was full of light magic. It reminded me of the rampion that had grown at the site of a fallen star a few years ago over in one of our villages. Bernice had taken me to go see it. I still dreamt about the gorgeous purple flower that glowed and sparkled with light.
"Your father's orders are to take you to a safe house in the other world," Edward continued. "It is deep in the forest and very difficult to find without this yarn. There is a portal to the other world miles from here and we will have to walk through the dark. We need to hurry."
My legs trembled, but I turned to my brothers and kept my face calm. "Come on," I said. "We're going to go for a long walk." At least they were getting out of here.
I left the stable. The dark spot had nearly reached the wedding by now. Despair and gloom had spread almost to the altar. Annie clutched my father's hands while the nervous priest read.
Bernice and Larry led us around the back of the castle, uphill, away from where the wedding was being celebrated. We entered the forest and Bernice held the ball of yarn in front of her. "To the nearest portal," she ordered.
I watched as the yarn unraveled itself, floating off her hand and shooting into the trees. The purple line remained floating, a beacon for us to follow, as the nine of us walked in silence. We walked for a long time and the yarn never seemed to end, as if it were infinite. The forest got darker and darker and Isiah whimpered. I reached out and held him close to me.
"We'll make it," I told him.
"We're never going to see Father again," he said.
"Yes, we will. Until we do, I'll take care of you."
We walked in a single file line through thickening trees, up terrible hills and around armies of boulders. The farther from the castle we got, the worse it got. Twigs snapped around us. Edward had a sword hanging from his belt, but I wasn't sure how much well the stableman could fight if bandits were out here. It was full night by time we reached the portal, a perfectly round pond which seemed to have an inner glow. It sat in the middle of a field with nothing but dark tree surrounding it.
I felt warm just standing near it. I had never seen a portal before, but I had heard they were very rare. Bernice always said it was easier to cross into Fable than out of it.
"We need to wait," Bernice said. "I've heard that portals only work at midnight."
The nine of us sat around the pond for what felt like forever. This place was magic. The glow got stronger as the night got older. The air filled with a tingling sensation.
"Something's happening," Isaac said. "It really is a portal. We're going to see the other world!"
And then an image formed inside, little by little. It was so faint at first that I wasn't sure what I was seeing. But soon it became more clear. Another forest, one lit in full day, waited inside the water. I was staring into another world.
That place was real after all.
"How did I never know about this place?" I asked, standing.
"Your father knows about it," Bernice said, drawing close to me. "He's kept it a guarded secret in case something like this were to ever happen. He also owns a cabin on the other side, but we will need to walk several more miles to reach it."
Tears tried to force their way out
of me, but I held them back. Father loved us. He had gone an extra league to make sure we'd always be safe. Alric the dark wizard was trying to expand his territory, after all.
I couldn't let my brothers see my tears. I had promised Father that I would take care of my brothers when Mother died. They were my responsibility now, as much as the servants around the castle tried to help. They needed someone to look up to when Father was gone or busy running the kingdom. I had to be strong.
The woods on the other side became as clear as reality.
The portal was open.
"Now," Edward ordered. "Jump now. We don't have much time."
I held Isiah's hand as the boys jumped into the water, one by one, leaving only tiny ripples instead of a splash. None of them surfaced. The image on the pond remained as strong as ever. And with Bernice and Edward waiting behind me, I told Isiah to close his eyes and we both jumped together.
* * * * *
I opened my eyes and faint morning light cast a square on the wall of the shed. My joints ached. An old pair of boots sat there on the top shelf and a bag of ancient, shriveled carrots rested by my feet, forgotten. The purple ball of yarn sat next to me like a faithful friend.
The old hunters' shed.
I'd been dreaming.
I sat up. I was stiff all over and my stomach rumbled with hunger. I was leagues and leagues from the cabin and Annie was still out there. She'd find this shed eventually and look through the tiny, cloudy glass window and find me here.
I had to move. I'd feed myself later. I wished I had grabbed some food from the cabin, but it was no use thinking about that now.
I was in charge of my brothers and it was my responsibility to get them back. Father might not ever forgive me for letting this happen. I couldn't forgive myself. I should have known that red flower was bad news.
