by Jessica Grey
“You look like you did good,” Alex said as Lilia climbed into the back seat, still laughing as she dragged the three big bags in behind her. “Do I want to know the damage?”
Becca handed her Nicholas’s credit card. “Two hundred and three bucks. Apparently, the employee discount here is really good. Maybe I should take my sister up on her offer to shop for me instead of buying all my clothes in the boy’s department, though I doubt that I’d end up looking like Lilia.”
Alex felt faintly dizzy as she forced a smile. “That could totally be worse,” she admitted, “and I’m not even going to concern myself over it.” She turned around to look back at Lilia. “You look lovely,” she said sincerely. “Are you happy with everything you got?”
“Oh, yes,” Lilia nodded. “Alex, these jeans are amazing. I can see why you wear them; they are so much more comfortable than heavy skirts!”
“Where to?” asked Becca as she started the car.
“Back to my house. Let’s grab some burgers or something on the way,” Alex slid Nicholas card back into her pocket. “Although, I can pay for that. We’ve had enough criminal activity for one morning.”
~
“I do not know everything about the curse. My parents did not talk to me often about it. I think they sought to protect me, but I would rather they had discussed it more openly. My lady in waiting, Margaux, was able to tell me a bit about it because she had been present at my christening, which is when I was cursed.”
Lilia paused to drag a french fry through ketchup before popping it into her mouth. Alex was glad they had gotten an extra order of fries. Lilia, at first wary of them, had consumed her order in three minutes flat and was now half way through the extra order. There were definite benefits to living in this century. Alex figured french fries ranked right up there with modern medical science.
They were gathered around the kitchen table to warm themselves up from the storm outside with greasy fast food and to hear Lilia’s story. After some discussion it had been decided that Becca would take notes, which left Alex with not much to do but listen. She had wanted to be the note-taker, but Becca had one-upped her by producing different colored pens from her backpack. The nerd in Alex had to give way before the possibility of color-coded notes.
Becca opened her spiral-bound notebook, turned to a fresh page and carefully divided it into four different colored columns. Alex snuck a look at the column headings: History, “Magic,” Present, Questions to Ask.
“I like that you have magic in quotes,” Alex commented as she drained the last of her soda.
“Yeah, I’m finding it hard to completely let go of a world view I’ve held for eighteen years in only a few hours.”
“You and me both.”
Becca turned to Lilia with her pen—green for “Magic” Alex noted—poised over her notebook. “In our stories, at least I think—it’s been awhile since I read any—the curse was because there was a fairy that was slighted or not invited to your christening. And there were other fairies that were invited, I guess like as fairy godmothers?”
“I fear there’s going to be overlap between the “history” and “magic” columns,” Alex said mournfully.
Becca poked her in the ribs with the green pen.
“I do have fae godmothers,” Lilia answered, ignoring Alex. “Three actually, and they were at my christening, but I have never met them, at least not that I can remember.”
“That’s amazing, so does everyone know fairies? I mean fae? Or is it just because you’re royalty?” Becca started adding notes into the magic column.
“Oh, everyone probably knows some fae, or at least demi-fae, but they were my godmothers because they are my aunts.”
Becca’s pen stopped mid-scratch. “Your actual aunts? Like blood relatives?”
“Yes, I told you I am demi-fae. My mother is full fae. She renounced her magic to marry my father. The fae can,” here Lilia blushed slightly, “have relations with humans and can even have children—demi-fae like me who are human and fae. Sometimes the demi-fae have just as much magic as a fae, sometimes they have barely any.” She paused to coat another fry in ketchup. “But fae and humans never marry. I do not think it is forbidden exactly; it just is not done. To marry would be to tie yourself to a human, and to the human plane, and this is not appealing to the fae.”
‘But your mother was married to your father?” Alex asked.
“Of course!” Lilia flushed more red. “I am not illegitimate, I am the heir to the throne.”
“I’m sorry,” soothed Alex. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I was confused because you said fae and humans never marry.”
“Never except for my parents,” Lilia clarified. “My mother, Liliana—I am named for her—was a very powerful fae. She was the eldest of five sisters, from a very old and distinguished fae family. My mother…” here her voice trailed off for a moment, sounding rather sad. “My mother was beautiful. Very beautiful. And sweet and kind. She met my father when there was some sort of political intrigue with a neighboring kingdom and my father had requested that the elders of the fae send some advisors to him. The fae had always been very friendly with the human rulers of our kingdom. Arraine is not like France or England where they have forgotten their magic folk. We still honor them. One of the advisors the elders sent was my mother. Not only was she very strong magically, but she understand humans more than most fae do. She was a diplomat of sorts between human and fae. She and my father fell in love, but because he was king, they could not just run off together or even live together as some humans and fae do. He had a responsibility to his people and kingdom. So, my mother chose to marry my father, but to do so she had to renounce her magic, to tie herself to the human world and to him.”
“Wow,” Alex said quietly. “That had to be a hard decision to make.”
Lilia smiled sadly. “She always used to tell me that love is the strongest magic of all, and that if you are with your true love you make your own magic.” She blinked away the tears clinging to her eyelashes. “I am sorry. To me it is like I saw them just yesterday, even though it has been so many years. I always thought something like this might happen – I would wake up and they might possibly be gone, but it is still hard when it is real.”
Becca reached over and placed her hand over Lilia’s. “I’m sorry. Do you want to stop for a little bit?”
Lilia shook her head. “No, I am fine.”
“Okay.” Becca patted Lilia’s hand and then returned to her pad. Alex noted the purple “Questions to Ask” pen had been receiving quite a bit of use. The column was half full of Becca’s tiny, neat writing. “Do you mind if I ask a question? You were born with magic even though your mom had renounced hers?”
“Yes, no one was sure if I would be or not. My mother was the first fae to renounce her power quite like that—for a human marriage. There was some debate as to whether their children would have the same access to magic that other demi-fae do. I am sensitive to nature magic, I can do some spells as you have seen, but I would say there are demi-fae that are much more powerful than I. My parents never really encouraged my use of magic, though; they never said I could not practice it, but I did not have magic tutors. My nursemaid and my lady in waiting, Margaux, were both demi-fae as well. They taught me some things. Of course, some things you just know or feel, when the earth or plants whisper to you.”
Alex quirked an eyebrow at Becca. Even without looking she was certain Becca had written “can hear plants talk” under the “Magic” column.
“If your mother was fae, then your godmothers were her sisters? But you said your mom was one of five sisters, yet you only had three godmothers,” Alex asked.
“Yes. My godmothers are my mother’s three youngest sisters, Bryony, Violet, and Saffron. They understood how much my mother loved my father. They came to their wedding and they blessed their marriage, and they came also to my christening to bless me. However, my mother’s other sister, the next eldest after her, did not approve of
the marriage. She was not, I think, overly fond of humans. Margaux told me that she was also always jealous of my mother, but my mother never spoke badly of her sister.”
“What’s her name?” asked Becca. “The other sister?”
Alex had a sudden memory of sitting in the magic garden, the drugging scent of the flowers, and the low, amused laughter that rustled through the garden.
“Rose,” Alex whispered.
~ Chapter Nine ~
ROSE.
The name seemed to hang in the air, as if the word had come out of Alex’s mouth as a tangible entity instead of just a puff of air. For a moment Alex thought she could smell the cloying perfume of the flowers. She inhaled deeply and relaxed with relief. Just the comforting smells of french fries and hamburgers, underscored by the faint aroma of the cleaner her mom had used the night before when she wiped down the counters.
Lilia looked at Alex in surprise. “Why yes. Well, Briar Rose.”
Becca, in the middle of slurping the end of her soda, spluttered and choked. As her face started to turn red, Alex reached over and thwacked her on the back.
“Are you telling me Briar Rose was the bad fairy?” Becca gasped as soon as she could take a breath.
“She was the fae who cursed me.” Lilia nodded.
Becca sighed sadly. “I’m kind of devastated. How could Disney have been so wrong? At least he had the number of the good fairies right. That’s something.”
“I do not understand.”
“There’s a film, it’s animated—moving drawings,” Alex explained, “you, um watch it on a screen, kind of like a play, but without real people. I don’t really know much about the film though.”
“It tells the story of a sleeping princess very similar to you—probably it’s based on your story really; and in the movie the princess is named Briar Rose—Aurora actually, but she uses Briar Rose when she goes into hiding,” Becca added.
Lilia looked intrigued.
“How interesting that she would have the name Briar Rose,” she exclaimed, “and that the story sounds as if it is about me! And this princess goes into hiding? From whom?”
“They hide her to keep her safe from Maleficent, the evil fairy—” Becca broke off mid-sentence. “Alex, do you have a copy of Sleeping Beauty?”
Alex snorted. “Personally? No. However, there are really good odds that my mom does.”
A few minutes later, she emerged, victorious, from her mother’s room. She had located Sleeping Beauty, along with every other fairytale Disney ever animated in her mom’s DVD stash. Looking at the image on the cover of a handsome prince bending over a golden-haired sleeping princess Alex had to admit the resemblance to Lilia was pretty striking. It must have felt to Luke like he had walked straight into a Disney movie. Alex tamped down the irritation that had become her default response whenever she thought of Luke kissing Lilia.
“Here it is,” she said flashing the DVD at the other two girls. “Want to see what it’s all about?”
Lilia nodded, looking extremely excited by the prospect.
Alex popped the disc into the living room DVD player and turned on the television. Lilia commandeered the overstuffed recliner, so Alex joined Becca on the couch. As soon as the first image flickered on the screen Lilia was completely engrossed. Alex wondered what it would be like to see a movie for the first time. She realized her generation had grown up taking that sort of thing for granted, the television was just sort of always there, and more than likely always on.
“When was the last time you saw this movie?” Becca asked.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it all the way through. I’m sure my mom made me watch it when I was a kid, but I don’t remember much.”
“That’s right, you’re adverse to magic wands.”
“Yup, no magic wands here, or aspirations to princess-hood,” Alex smiled suddenly. “When I’d play Knights of the Round Table with Luke as a kid he would occasionally try to make me be the princess, but I wasn’t interested, so eventually he would give up and let me be a knight. Sometimes I got to be a dragon, but that used to frustrate him cause he said he couldn’t kill a girl even if she was a dragon, so we’d have to come to some sort of agreement—a dragon and knight peace accord.”
Becca laughed. “That’s sweet. So you guys spent so much time together as kids because your parents are friends?”
“Our moms are best friends. I guess you could say we kind of grew up together. His dad travels a lot on business, so my mom and his mom always did everything with each other. They still do even though Luke and I don’t hang out together anymore.”
Becca looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she just nodded and turned back to the movie.
After a few minutes she commented quietly, “It’s too bad there wasn’t a Prince Phillip around for Lilia.”
“Yeah, that would have changed a lot,” she agreed glancing at Lilia who was watching the screen with a look of fascination. “And instead of a Prince Phillip we’re stuck with a Sleeping Luke.”
“Aren’t we going to have to tell his mom at some point?” Becca worried her bottom lip. “Think there is a way to buy us some time? I don’t know that we’re going to be able to break the spell, but we are relatively smart girls. We might be able to figure something out if we research enough. I am a great believer in research.”
“I am too,” Alex laughed. “But you’re right; we need time.” She sat in silence for a few minutes. What Becca said was true, they were relatively smart girls, but when it came to this problem of explaining Luke’s sudden absence she was drawing a huge blank. “Maybe we could tell her we’re all going on some sort of extended field assignment for the museum, I don’t know like out in the desert or something.” Alex sat up straighter in her seat. “Why didn’t I check him for a phone?” She smacked herself on the forehead. “We could text her as him.”
“Hmm, that could work. We can always go back to the museum and see if he’s got a phone on him. Think his mom would buy a glorified field trip?”
“Maybe. He’s never interned before, so she wouldn’t know that it was out of place, and maybe if we really sell it to my mom, then if Sherry asks her, it would be more believable.”
“That leaves us with the problem of us having to be gone for a few days too,” Becca pointed out. “I suppose we could always use Nicholas’s credit card to get a motel room or something near the museum and use it as our base of operations.”
“Crap, I didn’t think that far ahead. And if we don’t try the field trip option, Lilia still needs a place to stay. I guess she could stay here with me, although my mom might find it odd that I’ve suddenly acquired a new friend who needs a place to stay.”
“Well, first things first, we need to get Luke’s phone. Plus I think a trip the library is in order, maybe we can get some more information on this Arraine place that Lilia is from.”
“Yeah, that’s a great idea.”
They lapsed into a comfortable silence, as the rest of the movie played out on the screen. The fairies were arguing about Briar Rose’s birthday and whether or not to use magic. Alex found it odd that in sixteen years of hiding out in the woods none of them had managed to learn to cook, sew, or clean. She wondered how they’d survived thus far without resorting to magic.
This is why she didn’t watch these kinds of movies, or many movies at all. She remembered her honors English teacher talking about the willing suspension of disbelief. Alex had realized at the time that she wasn’t really interested in suspending her disbelief. Funny how the events of the last few hours had suspended it for her.
Her eyes were getting heavier as Briar Rose and Prince Phillip danced and sang their way through the forest. She must be more tired than she thought. Not that her nap in the car could be described as restful. The dream had been more than a little disturbing, and she wasn’t sure she wanted a repeat. As her eyes slipped closed her last thought was that she didn’t want to dream of roses.
~
/> There weren’t roses. Alex was standing in the middle of a little field that was surrounded on all four sides by a dense forest. The sun was clear and bright, infusing the clearing with a warm, clean, white light. Near the edges of the field the light dappled down through the first few rows of trees, turning greener and cooler, the shade creating a blurring effect. Alex could only see the first couple of trees; after that the forest faded into a haze.
The entire field was carpeted with small scrubby plants. They were low to the ground, stretching out like a blanket over the clearing, and covered in thousands of tiny white flowers. As Alex watched even more bloomed. The small flowers were packed so tightly together it was becoming almost impossible to see the plants underneath. She could feel a soft, whispering movement against her bare feet and legs. She looked down to see that she was standing in the midst of the plants, and flowers were unfurling against her skin.
She was wearing a long white woolen dress that tucked in at the waist before belling out and draping against her legs. It was the same dress she has been wearing in the vision of the garden that the stones on the bed had given her. Unlike the rose garden though, the scent that hung in the air wasn’t heavy or drugging. Instead it was a light and sweet. The perfume of the pale, delicate flowers mixed with the pure clean smell of the sun and earth and the crisp forest air. The feel of the leaves and flowers against her skin wasn’t frightening either, as the rose vines had been as they wrapped around her in the school hallway.
She didn’t feel tired or scared, and she was most definitely herself. Those were her feet disappearing under hundreds of small, almost square flowers that were opening over them.
“What kind of flowers are they?” Alex heard herself say, although she wasn’t sure who she was asking.
The petals brushed against her skin even more, almost, she thought, like a dog rubs its head against its owner’s legs. She got the distinct sense the flowers wanted her to know them, to remember them somehow. A swell of whispers, a tinkling laugh on the breeze—
