by Diana Wagman
“Why does she want to be their queen?”
“She doesn’t like the trolls much either.”
So what was she? And what did she really want? Because being Queen was not going to make her happy, of that much I was sure.
“You’re in trouble,” I said to Trevor. “Saving me was a bad idea.”
“I had to. I don’t care about her. I had to save you.”
He held my shoulders and looked into my eyes. His hands were large and strong and his eyes were warm. He was so easy, so normal—for being a troll. My breath caught and I rose onto my tiptoes even though he was not much taller. We were eye to eye, nose to nose, practically lips to lips with just the thinnest column of air between us. Nothing really keeping us apart. Maybe he didn’t like fairies much, but he liked me and he knew what I was. Walker had said it was only because he wanted to be King, but it didn’t feel like that. Not the way he was looking at me. Not the way he was making me look at him. After all, he could have let Madame Gold kill me and then he would be King. His arms went around me. His eyes closed. I had wanted to kiss Walker—before I knew his true personality. Was it terrible that now I wanted to kiss Trevor?
We kissed. My first official kiss. It finally happened only hours before I turned eighteen. Other girls tried to lose their virginity before they went to college. I was happy to be kissed. And it was a good kiss. A warm and friendly kiss. I’d read first kisses were often awkward. You don’t know which way to tilt your head, where to fit your nose, how open your mouth should be, tongue or no tongue. No tongue. It was nice. I didn’t feel much more than that, but when we opened our eyes and looked at each other, I was ready to try again. I closed my eyes and leaned toward him.
“October,” he said more seriously than I’d ever heard him.
I opened my eyes. He held both my hands.
“October,” he said again. “Will you marry me?”
“Are you crazy?”
“You kissed me.”
“I was just trying it out. One kiss. Are you some kind of fundamentalist?”
He looked confused. “You’re almost eighteen. I’ve been eighteen for a while. It’s time.”
He hadn’t mentioned love once. “And you don’t mind that I’m half fairy?”
“It doesn’t thrill me. But it’s okay. It makes you…unusual. As long as our children are brought up to be trolls. As long as you stay in Trolldom and we rule together.”
Walker was right. Trevor wanted to marry me so he could be king. “What makes you any different than Madame Gold?” I shoved him away. “You want to marry me just because you want to be king?”
Trevor looked at me sharply and I saw a hunger, lust in him, but it wasn’t for me.
“I will be King,” he said. “I’m next in line. I am a cousin.”
“I don’t want to get married.”
“Madame Gold wants to kill your whole family. Marry me and we can stop that. I don’t want your family to die. I’d rather be King with you.”
He looked at me proudly, as if he was some superior being because he didn’t want to kill me and my mother and father. He just wanted to marry me and make me miserable. Make us both miserable.
“I think you’re nuts.”
“I will be King. I’ve been preparing for it my whole life. Then I heard about you. That you existed. It’s just lucky you’re female so we can propagate.”
“How lovely you make it sound. Is there anything about me you actually like?”
“I like your feet,” he said looking down at my muddy shoes.
“I’m getting hair on my toes,” I said. “Troll feet.”
“But still fairy-sized,” he said. “I’ve never seen feet so small.”
They were pushing against my shoes, growing as we spoke. I wasn’t sure how big they would eventually be. My legs and arms and hands, on the other hand, were longer and slimmer and way more sensitive. I put a finger on his arm and I could feel his blood moving through his veins.
“I have to go.” I looked toward the parking lot. “I still haven’t found Luisa.”
“Too late,” Trevor said. “She’s…gone. Madame Gold knew she would get you to the portal to the Fairy Canopy. She was just a decoy.” He shuddered all over, like a dog shaking off a bath. “Luisa was a fairy, but she’d been in the human world too long. Other than her Frisbee skills, she didn’t have any powers.” As if that made killing her okay. “Your grandfather hired her. She looked after you for years.”
“What?” I heard the truth in his voice. My legs wouldn’t hold me; I collapsed on the path. Luisa was dead. And it was because of me. Because Madame Gold didn’t want me to be Queen. Poor Mrs. Flores. Poor, poor Luisa. It wasn’t fair. I hated Madame Gold more than ever.
“We have to go. She’s coming after you. Get up,” he said. “Come on.”
I struggled to my feet. Trevor lifted me easily and carried me to my car. He set me down and put his arms around me.
“I know a safe place.”
I pushed him away. Nowhere in the world was safe anymore.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” he said. His smile was sweet, his eyes the color of dark chocolate. “I do like you, October. Something about you makes me want to take care of you. I never knew a fairy before, even part fairy. Everyone I know is just like me.” His voice lifted, what he was saying was a revelation to him. “You can make me a better troll. We will be the best King and Queen ever. Trolldom will rule.”
“But I’m not a troll,” I said. “I’m not a fairy either.”
“That’s the thing.” Trevor lifted my chin. “Nobody knows what you are. Maybe you will be the most amazing Queen ever.”
My car keys were still in my pocket. My phone was gone, but I had my car. I had to find my mother. I had to tell her she was in danger. She had to tell me what to do to save my father, save the fairies, and the trolls.
“I don’t want to be Queen,” I said. “Why didn’t Madame Gold just ask me? Why is this happening? I want to stay in the human world.”
His eyes went cold. “You will be Queen. You must be. You were born a Queen. You will be one when you turn eighteen whether you want to or not. And you will take me with you.”
“No! I’m going to college. I’m going to study animals. Now that I can understand them, I’ll be a superstar. This is what I’ve planned for my whole life.”
“But you didn’t know this isn’t your real life.”
“This is my real life. You and Walker and Madame Gold and the rest are not for me. None of you. Out there.” I pointed to the houses and buildings and all the humans in them. “Out there, people run governments and organize the world and do important work. I want my mom and dad and Luisa and the rest of my senior year. I want to go to prom and graduation. Nobody even believes in you anymore.”
Trevor did not disagree. “That’s why we need you. Our world is changing. Fairies and trolls are leaving our world to live in the human world. Why not? Humans don’t believe in a little pixie dust. Parents give their kids money before the tooth fairy even has a chance. Even little children won’t clap to keep Tinkerbell alive.” He looked at me and his eyes were glittering coldly. “But you, as our new Queen, someone who has lived out there, can return us to glory. You can make us more modern. And with me beside you, we will secure our borders. No troll will leave to live in the human world. And nothing, not a goblin or a gnome and certainly no more fairies will get in.”
“No, thank you.”
“Our line will be pure.”
“Except for me. And meanwhile Madame Gold will keep digging up mushrooms and enslaving fairies while we do nothing. I don’t like you—any of you—very much.” I opened my car door. “You killed Luisa for nothing.”
“I didn’t do it.”
“It doesn’t matter who actually did the deed. It was you and Madame Gold and your sister and Walker and all the other creatures who want to keep everything so pure.”
“Trolls are good!” Trevor protested. “We protec
t the soil and the groundwater and the shrubs and the mushrooms.”
“Goodbye.”
“What?” he said.
“I command you to never bother me again.”
“Wait a minute…”
“You know what? I do want to be Queen.” His face lit up. “I want to be Queen just so you and Madame Gold are not.” I got in my car and slammed the door shut.
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” I said.
“That’s the first place she’ll look.”
“I’m ready for her.”
14. Two Hours Until My Birthday
The clock in the car said it was 9:47. Just a little more than two hours until my birthday. I pulled up in the driveway, glad to see lights on in the house. Mom was finally home. Together we would figure out how to save Dad and stop Madame Gold.
“Mom?” I ran up the porch steps and through the front door. “Mom?”
Oberon trotted out of the kitchen wagging his tail. Walker came out next. I sighed. The last person I wanted to see. “Where’s my mom?”
“She’s missing,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“She came home right after she got your text about your father. But then she went outside and disappeared. Trolls are good at that.”
I ignored his disparaging tone. I wanted my mom—I wanted her badly. “Luisa’s dead,” I said. “They used her as a decoy to get me to the portal.”
He nodded. He knew all about it.
“Madame Gold has your… kind, you know all the fairies, under her control. She’s digging up your forest. Searching for some kind of mushroom.”
He nodded again. He knew everything.
“We have to stop her,” I said.
“That’s easy.” But his face looked anything but easy. “All we have to do is keep you safe until midnight and then you marry Trevor. You and he will be King and Queen of both worlds.”
“Trevor? Why would I marry him?”
“It’s okay. I get it. He won. You kissed him.” Walker’s shoulders slumped. “Maybe you marrying him will make Madame Gold go away.”
I was horrified he knew I’d kissed Trevor. But more importantly why did that mean that Trevor had won? Won what?
“It wasn’t a competition,” I said. “And I am not a prize.”
“But you kissed him. You belong together now.”
“What is it with you magical beings and one kiss? Most girls I know kiss a whole lot of guys and don’t marry any of them.”
“That’s not why you kissed him?”
“No. I just… I just… wanted to see what it would be like.”
“What was it like?”
“Oh Walker, none of your business, but it was fine.”
He was quiet. “The earth didn’t move?”
“It stayed absolutely still.” I could see his relief. “How did you know I kissed him? How did you know I’d come home?”
“I always know where you are. Don’t you feel our connection?”
I did. I didn’t want to, but I did. I changed the subject. “I have to find my mom.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I have to find my mom, save my dad, and kill Madame Gold.”
Walker looked shocked. “Fairies don’t kill.”
“Good thing I’m not really a fairy.” I waited, but he didn’t try to talk me out of it. “What is she?” I asked. “She said she had an itch. But she can’t be a fairy.”
“Not like any fairy I’ve ever seen.”
“There’s something she’s hiding. I think she has a secret and secrets make people vulnerable.” I was hungry again—always—and started for the kitchen. “If we can figure it out, it might be a way to get to her.”
“October.” Walker’s voice was low. “October. October, please. Look at me.”
I turned to him and he looked so sad it worried me.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About before. I’ve been thinking about it and you’re right. None of this would have happened if we had allowed Princess Russula and Prince Neomarica to stay together in our world. They would be Queen and King now. Madame Gold would have no power at all.”
“That’s true. None of this would’ve happened. But would you really be okay with a troll as your queen?”
“I’m trying. I am. I look at you and I see the best of both worlds.” His voice was so quiet I had to lean in to hear him. “If you want to marry Trevor, I understand. I just want you to be happy.”
He was very considerate and very ridiculous. “I’m not marrying anybody. I’m certainly not marrying Trevor.” I told him the truth. “I’m sorry I kissed him.”
“I thought it was different between us,” Walker said. “I thought you felt it too.”
I had felt it. I was still feeling it. When I was with him it was exactly right, like the banana pancakes my dad made me. Slightly exotic, mostly sweet, warm and delicious. But he had let me down. I couldn’t be with someone who had such deep-rooted prejudices. He said he was trying, but I would have to wait and see.
I put my hand on his arm, just to comfort him. Touching him made my whole body glow. And before I knew it, he grabbed me and kissed me. From having never been kissed, I had kissed two guys in less than hour, but I didn’t have a chance to feel like a slut. Walker’s kiss was a real kiss. It was a perfect kiss. My first perfect kiss. An electric current started in my chest, swelled and radiated out to every part of my body. It made the backs of my knees tremble, the soles of my feet warm, and finally the ground seemed to vibrate beneath us. The earth really had moved. I never wanted it to end.
He broke away first. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Yes, you should have.” I pulled him to me.
“No, I shouldn’t. I can’t. You can only be with royalty.”
“Another of your stupid rules?” So much for all the changing he was supposedly doing. “Even the future King of England was allowed to marry a commoner. Besides, I thought I was the only royalty left. Other than Trevor.”
He looked up, down, anywhere but at me. “There’s a distant fairy nobleman.”
“Noble-man?”
“He has no claim on the throne, but he’s from an important family. I think he’s still alive. By now he’d be close to 120 years old.”
“Wow. That’s so appealing.” I stepped away from him. And another step. The further I got, the more my head cleared. “We have to go. We have a lot to do.” I hurried into the den. “Enoki threw my phone in the river, but I bet my dad’s is here somewhere. Just so you and I can stay in touch—in case we get separated.”
“We should stay here.”
“We have to stop Madame Gold.”
“We should just stay here.” Walker came to the doorway. “Lay low, stay safe for two hours until you’re Queen.”
I ignored him. The phone was on Dad’s worktable next to his latest birdhouse project. I checked it was charged and quickly texted my mom. “It’s me, not Dad. I know everything. Where are you?” I hit ‘send’. I would go upstairs, get my backpack and take a few essentials this time, like a flashlight and some money and a knife or something.
Walker stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “We have to stay,” he said. “Oberon and I can protect you here.”
I knew the look on Walker’s face. I could feel his determination. He and Oberon would tie me to a chair if they thought it would keep me safe. Somehow I had to get rid of him. I wanted him with me, but I would find Madame Gold and save the day without him if I had to.
“Make me a sandwich?” I asked. “I command you to make me a sandwich.”
He looked so completely flummoxed I had to laugh. No one had ever asked him that before.
“A sandwich?”
“Two slices of bread. Lettuce, tomato, cheese, mustard, no mayonnaise in between. Or maybe peanut butter and jelly. No. Make it cheese and avocado. I think there’s some cream cheese. And raisins. That’d be good. Whole wheat. No, white. No, whole wheat.” I was t
rying to confuse him. It was working. “Oberon can help you.”
“Sandwich, sandwich, sandwich.” If it was food then Oberon—typical dog—was excited.
“I think there’s turkey for Oberon.”
“Turkey! Come on, Walker. Come on!!!” Oberon dragged Walker into the kitchen.
My mom’s keys were on the table by the front door. For a brief moment I debated waiting the remaining sixty-eight minutes until I was really, truly Queen, but I couldn’t be sure it would help. Maybe officially turning eighteen would kill me. Maybe I’d lose my mind and become a babbling container of pudding. Walker had told me no one knew exactly what would happen. With my luck, it would all go bad. I needed to act now. I picked up the keys and silently, like the good sneaky teenager I was, went out the front door.
It was chilly, but the stars were brilliant and there were a zillion of them. More than I had ever seen. The leaves in the trees and bushes rustled in the breeze. It sounded like whispering and giggling. In the distance I heard a pack of coyotes crying and howling just for the joy of it and I saw an owl swoop across the sky and a mouse scurry under the leaves. There was a lot of urban nature I was suddenly able to hear and see. Or had I just ignored it before? I opened my mom’s car door and got in. I didn’t close it, didn’t want to make any sound, and I put the car in neutral and coasted out of the driveway. Then I turned the car on and drove. Drove as fast as I could. I looked in the rearview mirror surprised no one was chasing me. Asking Walker and Oberon to make me a sandwich really had them stumped.
All the lights were with me as I drove back to the L.A. River. Every red turned green as I approached. I remembered that had happened driving with Enoki and I wondered if it was part of being a troll. I was thinking more clearly and I was wide awake, but I was a little sick to my stomach, queasy and jittery like after too much coffee. Except I hadn’t had any coffee. The skin on my hands on the steering wheel seemed to sparkle as I passed under the streetlights—like Walker’s skin did, but not as much. I was not as pale as he was either. I checked my arms. I was a more ruddy, golden color. I’d never had a tan, never outside enough, but I looked tan now. Or something. Turning eighteen was only forty-two minutes away.
