by Liz Dejesus
Bianca scrambled to her feet and broke into a run. The moment she stepped out of the cave, she hissed and covered her eyes against the stinging sunlight. She blinked a few times and gave her eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden shock of light. In the distance, thunder rumbled. A storm was coming. Dark clouds were rolling in, bringing the promise of lightning and rain.
She tried to decide which way to go, when Bluebell appeared and said, “Wolf Boy chased the witches in that direction.” He pointed toward the gathering storm.
Without hesitation, Bianca ran. Her lungs were set ablaze within minutes. Nothing short of a miracle was going to slow her down. Lightning danced across the sky, and thunder rumbled. A few icy rain drops landed on the dark soil, and soon, it was pouring. She ran, even though the rainwater struck her bare skin. It felt as though she was being stung by a hundred little bees.
Please be okay. God, please let Terrance be okay.
But even as she muttered that prayer, her heart ached. She had a strange feeling; she was mentally trying to prepare for the worst possible outcome. She pushed fear aside and hoped for the best. Until she turned a bend in the path and was stopped by the most horrible sight she’d ever seen.
A horrified scream escaped her lips, and she fell to her knees. Terrance was tangled up in a bush full of crimson thorns. Bloodied, scratched, and mangled. Some of the thorns had pierced his skin. She could actually see the bush pulsating every few seconds, as though it were feeding off him.
My fault. I should’ve told him to go home and get help instead of telling him to go save the prince. Stupid, stupid…why am I so stupid?
She sobbed his name as she crawled to him over the rocky ground, the stones piercing her palms. Still not enough penance for the pain she’d caused him. Her hands trembled as they hovered above his chest. She was terrified to touch him, for fear that she would cause him more pain or worse…discover that he was either dead or dying. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that his eyes were bleeding. More tears followed. This thing had taken his eyes and left him with bloodied, empty sockets.
How am I supposed to fix this?
“Terrance, can you hear me?” she whispered.
He moaned in response and slowly turned his head toward the sound of her voice.
“You’re alive! Ter, listen to me.” Her voice cracked as she spoke. “I’m going to get you out of here.”
He gave her the tiniest of nods.
The storm had moved on, leaving only mud in its wake. The good thing about the rain was that it had washed some of his wounds clean. Bianca squeezed the excess water out of her hair and sat on the wet ground. She needed a moment to process everything that was happening. How was she supposed to get him out of that tangled bush of thorns?
“Be careful,” Bluebell warned as he hovered above her shoulder. “That’s Ida’s Thorn. One wrong incantation and the spells can backfire. It will tangle you up, too.”
“Which spell?” she asked.
“Spells,” Bluebell corrected. “Ice and Fire. Freeze it first. Start at the root. Once it’s frozen completely, it will stop feeding off Wolf Boy. That’s where the bush gets its strength from, his blood. Once that’s done, set it on fire. And don’t stop until it’s nothing but a pile of ashes.”
“That can be easily arranged.” Bianca had enough anger in her to set a whole country ablaze. “Wait. Will any of this hurt him?”
“Trust me. He’ll be quite all right. Do as I say.”
She had a hard time trusting the blue fairy that had, until recently, done nothing but insult her. But she took a chance and did as Bluebell instructed. She carefully scooted closer to the bush and dug with her fingers in order to have better access to the root. When it started to peek through, she saw that it was bone white.
“That’s strange.”
“Be careful. It feeds on your blood. A single drop will let it know that there is someone else to feed from.”
“Is that why the branches are so red?”
“That is correct.”
She took a deep breath and dug slowly, taking every precaution necessary. For thirty-five minutes or so, Bianca dug a hole into the ground until she finally saw the end of the root. Very carefully, she touched the root with her fingertips. She thought of winter and everything that came along with it. Cold. Ice. Snow. Blizzards. Icicles. She whispered other spells she had memorized while training with her mother. Incantations that brought forth the elements of winter. When she felt she was finished, Bianca took a step back and watched her magic at work. Ida’s Thorn stopped pulsating. Tiny bits of frost and icicles clung to the crimson branches.
“Give it time. You have to be absolutely certain it’s frozen before you can move on to the next spell,” Bluebell warned.
“This is taking forever,” Bianca whined.
Bluebell flew in front of Bianca’s face and looked into her eyes. “Do you want to save him?”
“Yes, of course I do.”
“Then you will follow my instructions. Otherwise, say your goodbyes now.”
Bianca narrowed her eyes at Bluebell, but remained silent. She counted to one hundred. They were the longest, most excruciating seconds, because all she wanted was to tear that bush apart so she could get save his life.
“Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred.”
Flames erupted from her hands so fast that white-hot sparks flew and set the grass beneath her feet on fire. She touched the exposed root once more, and within moments, it was ablaze. The thorn bush shrieked in pain as it burned from root to tip. As Bluebell promised, Terrance was unharmed by her magic. Ida’s Thorn disintegrated into a pile of blood-colored ashes and finally released its deadly grip on him. Bianca rushed to his side and managed to catch him before he fell face first onto the ground.
“Oh my God,” Bianca whispered when she got a closer look at Terrance’s eyes. She covered her lips to keep herself from throwing up. She swallowed a few times and pushed the acidic bile back down her throat.
There was nothing but empty sockets where his dark brown eyes should’ve been. Whoever attacked him had used the thorn bush to pierce his eyes out. Bianca kissed him on the forehead, both cheeks, and finally on the lips. She held in her arms the shell of the man Terrance used to be. He smelled of old sweat and caked-up blood. She shook her head and broke into a fit of sobs.
“Oh Terrance,” she whimpered.
“I must be dreaming,” he whispered.
“No, sweetheart. I’m here.”
“Go. Save the prince.”
“He’ll be fine. She needs him alive. Besides, I’m not leaving you here.”
She smoothed out his hair and wiped the sweat and dried-up blood off his forehead.
“How is this possible? I watched you fall to your death,” he said.
“Bluebell has been following us the whole time. He caught me and saved my life,” Bianca explained.
“He did what I couldn’t?”
“Oh Ter. Don’t blame yourself for that.”
“I followed them. I wanted to kill Elda for what she did to you. I wanted revenge. I wanted…”
Bianca could tell he was beginning to grow agitated. “Shh. Calm down.”
Terrance frowned. He extended his hand and grasped the air a couple of times. Bianca carefully guided him until he had his fingertips on her cheek. He opened and closed his lips. For the first time since they met, he was completely silent. It was as though he was still unable to wrap his head around the fact that Bianca was alive and well.
“This cannot be,” he whispered. “I watched you fall into the darkness. It’s not possible.”
Bianca felt the oncoming sting of tears in her eyes. She sniffed and pushed down the sob that threatened to erupt from her. “I’m here, sweetheart. I’m really here. It’s me. I promise you…it’s me.” She leaned down and kissed him on the lips.
Some of her tears landed on his forehead. Gently, she wiped them away.
“I tried to save him, but Blair was too quick. Thi
s thing came out of nowhere. Trapped me. Took my eyes.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll fix this. I promise we’ll find a way to fix you up.”
“No mortal magic can heal wounds created by Ida’s Thorn,” Bluebell said. “You would have to take him back to Queen Titania in order for him to be properly healed. And even if we left now, you won’t get there by sunrise tomorrow. I’m afraid your friend will be blind for as long as he lives.”
Her heart dropped to her stomach. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. How had she made such a complete mess out of everything? How was it possible to ruin so many lives in a single day?
There has to be a way to save him. I can’t leave him like this. I just can’t.
Bianca shook her head in defiance. “No.”
“No?” Bluebell echoed.
“I won’t accept that. There has to be another way.” Bianca narrowed her eyes at Bluebell and pointed straight at him. “You have to know about someone somewhere that can help him.”
Bluebell gave her a mischievous grin. “I like you, Mortal Girl. You look stupid, but your brain actually works in spite of every challenge thrown your way.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Can you please start making sense? I’m going to get a migraine from all the riddles I have to put up with every time I come here.”
“Rapunzel’s Lake.” He said it as though she was supposed to know what that meant. “And I see from the deep frown on your face that you have no idea what I speak of.”
“I’ve read the story of Rapunzel a million times, and I’ve never read anything about a lake.”
Terrance grunted as he struggled to sit up. Bianca put a firm, yet gentle hand on his shoulder, silently urging him to continue lying down. He reluctantly obeyed and said, “I’ve lived here my entire life, and I’ve never heard of such a place.”
“That’s because the land is now fertile and plentiful. Once, it was the desert the witch banished her to,” Bluebell said.
“That’s crazy.”
“Rapunzel cried every day for years and years. It is said that her tears healed the land. The same tears that healed her blinded prince.”
“Do you think it’ll work?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what you believe.”
Why is everyone cryptic whenever I need a straight answer? Why should it matter what I believe? What I want to know is whether or not it will heal Terrance. Then she remembered where she was. Everything in Everafter was about belief. Very little about this place had anything to do with logic, laws, or the tangible. She needed to believe, now more than ever, that Rapunzel’s Lake would heal Terrance’s wounds and, hopefully, his eyesight.
Bluebell didn’t know how far Rapunzel’s Lake was from where they were. All he knew was what direction they needed to walk toward.
“Let me guess. East of the sun, west of the moon?” Bianca searched her backpack until she found what she was looking for: gauze. Carefully, she wrapped it around Terrance’s head, making sure she took extra care around his eyes. The last thing she wanted was for him to get dirt or insects on his wounds.
“No. That’s a castle far, far away. We have to walk with the sun on our backs and go wherever the birds sing.”
“So, we’re following a bunch of birds?”
“Indeed we are.”
“You realize that this makes no sense at all, right?”
“Yes, I know,” Bluebell replied in a cheerful tone.
“What about Terrance? He can’t walk, and I don’t think I can carry him,” she said.
“Magic!” Bluebell said.
“I can try a healing spell, but that obviously won’t work.”
“Think, Mortal Girl. Think. Use this big head of yours,” he said as he tapped the side of her head.
“I wish I could shrink him and put him in my pocket,” she muttered.
“That’s a fantastic idea. Do that, please.” He crossed his legs and hovered in the air in front of her face.
“Wait, what? Can I do that? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like such a good idea. I think he has been through enough. Last thing he needs is to be blind and the size of my thumb.”
“You may not be able to…but I can.” Bluebell did several cartwheels in the air and let out a fit of giggles.
Before Bianca could utter a word in protest, Bluebell said a few incoherent words at Terrance. Gradually, Terrance shrank until he was the size of a Barbie doll. Bianca’s eyes widened in surprise and she let out a short scream.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD!” She pulled on the end of her hair and did her best not to rip it off her skull.
Bluebell gave her a satisfied smile and said, “There. Now you can carry him safely.”
“Are you insane? Couldn’t we have at least talked about it for a minute?”
“We don’t have time to think, Mortal Girl. You waste precious moments by not acting.”
She hated to admit it, but Bluebell had a point. Bianca took a deep breath and, very carefully, bent over and picked up Terrance. It wasn’t the best idea, but he was much easier to carry now that he was smaller.
“Terrance? Can you hear me, sweetheart?”
He remained unresponsive. Her breath caught on her throat, and she waited for something. Anything. She watched as his chest rose and fell. Bianca let out a sigh of relief once she was absolutely certain that he was all right.
At least he’s breathing.
She cradled him in the crook of her arm and followed Bluebell to Rapunzel’s Lake.
Twenty-One
They followed every songbird within earshot for several hours. Bianca’s legs were achy, her lungs burned, and all she wanted to do was rest for a moment. But she wasn’t going to stop walking, no matter how much her body complained and protested.
“Are we there yet?” she asked.
“No, Mortal Girl. We are not there yet,” Bluebell replied.
“Please stop calling me that. My name is Bianca.”
Bluebell giggled.
“What’s so funny?” she snapped.
“I like you.”
“I find that hard to believe,” she said dryly.
“I can see why Queen Titania chose me to accompany you.”
“Why is that?”
“We have the same spark, you and I.”
She stopped walking and said, “Wait…what?”
Bluebell flew back to Bianca and sat on her shoulder. “It took me a while to notice, mostly because I couldn’t stand the sight and the smell of you to get close enough. But now that I’m spending time with you, it’s become obvious. You and your family come from a deep well of magic. If you learn to wield magic and practice your craft, you will be a formidable opponent when you are older. I will enjoy seeing what becomes of you.”
“How’s that even possible?”
“Anything is possible in Everafter. Didn’t anyone tell you that when you first arrived?”
Bianca chuckled and said, “Yeah, that seems to be the running theme of this place.”
Bluebell shook his head. “Don’t trouble your mind with this bit of information. It isn’t anything that will affect you in the future.”
“Does this mean we’re related or something?”
Bluebell laughed as though she had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. He grabbed hold of her ear to keep himself from falling.
“Goodness, no! But it does mean that Snow White used a lot of fairy magic to cast her spells, which explains why there are traces of that wild magic running rampant through you. Simply learn to control it. That is all.”
Bianca thought about asking him more questions, but decided against it. This bit of information alone was enough to wrinkle her brain for a while.
“Oh wow.”
Bianca gasped when she saw the stretch of land before her. It was something straight out of a children’s picture book. Grassy plains, rolling hills, cascading waterfall, and a crysta
lline lake. There were hundreds of trees surrounding the edge of the large lake. Bianca didn’t know what types of trees they were, but the leaves looked like little yellow-green stars. She looked up and marveled at the sky. She had never seen a blue so bright. The grass was emerald green, thick and lush. She could’ve easily lain down to take a nap.
Sleep later. Save boyfriend now.
“This is unreal,” she whispered. She gently set Terrance down on the soft green grass and rolled the ache out of her shoulders.
“Please tell me you can make him normal sized again,” Bianca said.
“Of course I can. What sort of fairy do you think I am?” Bluebell replied.
“The awesome kind…that can fix my boyfriend. I hope…”
Bianca waited patiently for Bluebell to work his magic and restore Terrance to his normal self.
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” He gave her a playful wink and did several flips in the air before casting his spell. “Weeeee!”
Bianca stepped aside and watched as Terrance slowly grew to his normal height and size. Once he stopped growing, she crouched down next to him.
“Sweetheart,” she whispered as she gently tapped his cheek. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes, I can hear you.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“I’m going to help you up, okay?”
He gave her a single nod.
“All right. Here we go. On three. One, two, three.” She grabbed his arms and hoisted him up. “Oh my God, you’re heavy.” She groaned.
Terrance was at least a little over six feet tall, and he wasn’t thin. There were muscles hidden underneath his fine clothes. It also didn’t help that he was putting a ton of dead weight on her tiny frame. Regardless, she carefully guided him to the lake.
“Where are we?” he asked.
“Well, you’re never gonna believe where we are.”
“I have a feeling that I’ll believe anything at this moment.”
“Rapunzel’s Lake. Bluebell says that when the witch banished her to the desert, she cried every day for a long time. Apparently, her tears healed the land, the same tears that healed her prince’s eyes.”
When the blue fairy heard his name, he circled around Bianca and Terrance until he finally settled down on her shoulder.
