25. Chapter 25
25
BEATRICE
My heart stopped, then pounded into overdrive. “Dies? Dies! What do you mean?” I swung my bare feet to the floor.
“Beeetrice knows what it means.” Chicky tilted her head and ruffled her neck feathers. “The Gamekeeper is dying.”
“No! No, he can’t be!” I utterly fell apart, and by the time I recovered sense enough to speak through panic and tears, my voice was raspy. “Where? Where is he? He’s not in his office.” Usually, I could sense his presence nearby, though never too close.
But I couldn’t sense him anywhere.
My griflet tilted her head the other way. “He here, but not inside the palace.”
“He’s in the gardens! I’ll need a jacket.” Once I had a destination, my natural practicality kicked in. Well, partly. After pulling on my shoes and grabbing the first coat I saw in the wardrobe, I ran along the hall and downstairs in a fluffy fur coat and high heels.
A few dim lights appeared in the Great Hall as I passed through, but when I hauled open one of the huge double doors and slipped outside, only two of the lanterns in the circle drive flickered sporadically. Chicky had followed me downstairs, but as soon as she stepped outside, she cheerfully squawked, “Chicky has important job too. I be back!” then spread her wings and took off.
“What? Where are you going? Chicky!” I called after her.
She didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to. I got the point: finding the Gamekeeper was my quest. Was Chicky planning to join the battle at Faraway Castle? Or maybe she hoped to find Dodger and Win.
Shivering, I wrapped my furry coat close and came to the realization that I’d paid little attention to the palace grounds during my stay. Other than that morning’s hike and observing the griflets’ early training sessions, I’d seldom ventured out of doors since we arrived . . . however many weeks ago that was. Time was all jumbled inside my head.
Everything inside my head felt jumbled.
“Think, Beatrice,” I admonished myself. Breathing deeply, I did my best to calm my heart and thoughts. How had I found the Gamekeeper in the past? At Faraway Castle, I’d always sensed when he was near.
But now, when I paused and tried to focus, I couldn’t sense him at all. The obvious answer was to move, but in which direction? Time was ticking past! Yesterday, Win had led me down the hillside that was now to my right, and nothing but pastures, stables, and meadows lay in that direction. Therefore, the gardens I had strolled through with the Gamekeeper must be somewhere to my left.
Nodding to reassure myself, I turned and started walking. My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and I kept teetering along a downward slope on my stupid heels. Within a short time, I heard rustling ahead. “Hello? Can anyone hear me? I need help! I must find the Gamekeeper. He’s in trouble!”
The last thing I’d expected to hear was a chorus of squeaking. Cinder sprites? How could they possibly help me? Despite my doubts, I headed toward the noise and found a low barnlike structure with a sheltered area along one side. “Can anyone help me? Starfire?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a little voice answered, “Beatrice!” Then several voices cried my name, magically translating in my mind. “Beatrice, our friend! We help you.”
Through a small doorway at the base of a wall, cinder sprites trotted down a ramp, one after another, and clustered near my feet. Two white sprites were easiest to see in the near darkness, but a few others had white markings. “Starfire?” I asked hesitantly. How long did cinder sprites live?
“Starfire is away defending Faraway Castle, but I’m here,” a sweet voice squeaked.
I remembered that voice. “Comet?” Surprise turned my own voice into a squeak.
“Yes, and Midnight is in charge of things here.”
“Hello, Beatrice!” Midnight whistled a greeting.
“I’m here too,” Moonlight squeaked. “We came to help you.”
Those little baby sprites I remembered were adults now, of course.
“Oh, thank you!” My response was sincere, though I couldn’t help wondering how much help cinder sprites could offer.
“I’m Frosti,” the other white sprite informed me. “I’m pregnant, so I couldn’t go fight, but my sister Sparki and our husbands are also at the battlefront.”
“How about we all get reacquainted after we find the Gamekeeper.” Midnight sounded impatient.
“You’re right,” Frosti admitted. “Beatrice must find him before sunrise. We don’t have long.”
I started in dismay. “What? There’s a deadline?”
“Yes,” Midnight answered. “Everyone, pair up and spread out. Whoever finds the Gamekeeper, sound the emergency alarm, and we’ll convene at your position.”
The chattering sprites began to organize themselves. “Beatrice?” Midnight flung back his silky bangs to peer up at me, his long, spiraled horns gleaming with magic. “Please come with me.”
He quizzed me about recent events while leading the way along garden paths that branched too often for me to keep track. Rime edged the plants we passed, and ice sometimes crunched beneath my cold, aching feet. “I thought winter didn’t touch the gardens here,” I grumbled, slightly breathless.
“The Gamekeeper’s power is diminishing.” Midnight’s tone was grim. “Winter is breaking through. You must end the curse.”
My heart raced faster in panic. “Why would he wander into the gardens at night when he’s been feeling so poorly?” I muttered to myself. More to the point, how could I and a bunch of cinder sprites help him return to the palace? I couldn’t possibly support his weight, and I hadn’t sensed a single servant around since last evening.
Moments later, I sensed the Gamekeeper’s presence.
“Hello? Gamekeeper?” I called out, frustrated by the darkness. “Where are you?”
No answer.
“Midnight?”
I was alone. Even my furry escort had abandoned me. Only the thin wail of icy wind cut through the ominous silence. I blinked and squinted in every direction. All was dark and unfamiliar. Finally, gazing up at the empty black sky, I prayed for help.
When I looked around again, I discerned something tall and bulky and hurried toward it. Not the Gamekeeper but a dry fountain rimmed with rearing unicorns loomed before me. I thought I recognized it, but that didn’t help—my sense of direction was nonexistent, which, to be honest, is usually the case for me.
I kept moving up the path. What else could I do? I navigated icy paving stones between some formal flowerbeds, walking almost as if I had a destination in mind. The ground sloped upward, and there! My heart gave a great leap, then dropped in dread. Ahead, a bulky form lay on the path between patches of ice. Trembling with cold and fear, I forced myself to approach it. “Gamekeeper?”
After a few cautious steps, I distinguished a pawlike foot. Another step, and I saw an outstretched arm clad in a suitcoat. Despite the darkness, I could see him more clearly than ever before. In a quick dash I threw myself onto my hands and knees beside him. He lay on his back, his face turned away from me. When I grasped his huge hand and rubbed it between mine, it felt clammy and limp.
“Oh, my dear friend!” I leaned over him, trying to see his shadowed features. “Why are you out here in the cold night?” I felt his thick wrist for a pulse. Nothing. I pressed my ear against his vest. Was he even breathing? I heard only my own racing heart in my ears. Yet I knew he was still with me: I sensed his spirit.
I couldn’t shift his bulk, so I moved to his other side. Placing my hands on his rough cheeks, I smoothed back his icy mane, then rubbed his furry ears, willing him to open his eyes. He looked drained beyond exhaustion, as if the weight of worlds crushed him.
“Dear Gamekeeper, please wake up!” My heart broke for him, for my dearest friend, for the beautiful soul and spirit he really was—nothing like this grotesque shell of a body.
“I need you.” I ran my hands down his waistcoat, then framed his face with my hands, calling to him, “Please don’t die! Please choose to live! Gamekeeper, I need you!”
He was stiff and cold. No! It couldn’t end like this!
Wrenching sobs began to pour from me until, despairing, I rested my head on his chest . . . and felt it move. He was still breathing! I clasped his face between my hands, willing him to open his eyes.
“Dearest, can you hear me? Please, please don’t die! I love you! You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I don’t care if you look like a monster. You’re beautiful inside. I can’t lose you!”
I thought I felt him stir, and my heart leapt with hope. “Please choose to live!”
His mouth moved, revealing the glint of sharp fangs. “Beatrice, my beauty,” he whispered.
“Yes? I’m here.”
I still held his face while his eyes fluttered open to meet my gaze. “Will you . . . marry me?”
At first, I could only sob, nodding and blubbering like a total mess, but at last I managed to assure him, “Yes, I will marry you. Just please don’t die! I’ll care for you as long as you live and treasure every—”
Utter darkness dropped over us, and something like a magical wind seemed determined to tear us apart. “No. No!” Hardly able to think for fear, I clung to my Beast, determined that nothing and no one would take him from me again. With my arms wrapped around his neck, I lay half on top of him, hiding my face in his mane and babbling, “I’m here, dear Gamekeeper. Don’t be afraid! I won’t leave you ever again, my dearest friend.”
“Beatrice.”
Amid all the darkness and terror, his voice was comforting, familiar. Yet, it sounded . . . different. More human.
“I’m right here,” I assured him and kissed his cheek. It felt different too. Still bristly, but warm. “If only this terrible darkness would lift.”
“Beatrice.” His arms wrapped around me, and he effortlessly sat upright, cradling me in his lap.
But . . . how? He’d been at Death’s door just moments ago! The frigid wind was gone, but the darkness prevailed. “Be careful! You’re very ill.”
“I am quite well now, thanks to you.”
The gentle amusement in his rich voice rang a bell. My mouth dropped open, and my stomach clenched. But . . . but how could this be true? I lifted one hand to his face and the other to his chest . . . and my heart suddenly pounded double-time in rhythm with his as realizations and memories unspooled in my brain. My worry for his health vanished, but—stubborn and insecure as ever—I tried to box up my emotions and ignore the truth I’d realized, or maybe pretend I’d always known?
Or do both. At once.
I stiffened slightly, lowering my hands to my lap. Hoping to sound cool and collected, I observed, “It’s so dark, I can’t see anything! Is this some kind of curse?”
“Quite the opposite. The curse is breaking,” he replied, shifting his grasp to allow my small retreat. “You have guessed the truth, who I am. Are you disappointed?”
“With what?” My voice cracked.
I heard and felt him release a shuddering breath before he spoke. “You must know now what a villain I turned out to be. I adored you, but my obsession with power ruined everything.” A quivering sigh escaped him. “I . . . I can never thank you enough for caring enough to promise you would marry me as a beast. You broke the spell, and no one—certainly not I—could fairly blame you if you now choose not to tie yourself to a broken, traitorous old fool in a young man’s body.”
My heart seemed to crack in two. In my foolish pride, I’d hurt him profoundly.
“I said I would marry you, Othniel, and I will.” Realizing I sounded cross, I finally focused on him and his feelings, and words began to flow gently: “Today, if possible. I’ve loved you for years, and I want to be with you always, more than anything. You’ve repented and changed since those days. I know that your heart is kind and noble, and I love you so much it hurts!”
As if in response to my words, the darkness over the land lifted, stars instantly reappeared, and color streaked the sky. Startled, I hid my face on his shoulder. “Oh! That’s too bright—make it stop!”
Niel chuckled, gathering me closer. “Preventing dawn is not in my skill set.”
“I suppose that’s a good thing,” I admitted with a wan smile, squinting up at him. “I’m sorry for being ornery and slow on the uptake, even just now.”
His eyes glinted with unshed tears. “Beatrice, you are beautifully and wonderfully made. And your love for me, a dreadful beast, broke the curse.” His voice was tender. “I owe you my second chance at life.”
“You don’t owe me anything! As the Beast, you were kind and generous to me from the moment we met.”
His tender gaze melted me. “I intend to spend this gift of a second lifetime affirming your amazing qualities. Do you know that my magic is stronger . . . No, that I am stronger and better when you are near?”
“And I feel more confident and capable when I’m with you,” I admitted.
“As if we were created for each other,” he mused with a humble expression I’d never seen on the face of the old Niel. He was now the ideal combination of the handsome, powerful young king I found so attractive and the selfless, honest friend I loved.
His gaze lowered to my mouth, and his thumb caressed my lower lip. “Do you promise not to vanish if I try to kiss you?”
My smile quivered, but I reached up one hand, pulled his head down, and kissed him. It started out as more of a peck, but with his hand cradling my cheek, he turned it into a kiss that melted me through and through. When our lips parted, he pressed his forehead to mine and said, “Not many people can honestly say this, but I’ve waited a lifetime for that kiss.”
My laugh was shaky, along with the rest of me, and I felt lit up from the inside with joy. The ruby on my right hand caught my eye, and I sucked in a quick breath, pulled the ring from my finger, and offered it to him. “Now that I’ve said yes . . .” I murmured shyly.
His fingers trembled as he accepted it from me and slid it into its proper place. “I can hardly believe this moment is happening.” Emotion roughened his voice. “So many years of hoping and longing . . .”
“Hmm. Are you hinting for another kiss?”
He blinked at me in surprise, and a beautiful smile lit up his face just before my lips touched his.
We were still sitting there, sharing kisses, memories, and hopes, when I heard both cinder-sprite squeaking and human voices calling “Your Majesty!” and “Beatrice!”
“We’re here!” Niel called back, adding quietly, “I was hoping for a few more minutes alone with you.”
“But this is good too!” I gave him one more quick kiss before he rose and pulled me to my feet and into a sweet embrace.
A moment later, cinder sprites swirled around our feet, squeaking, “You did it! You did it! You rescued the king!”
We stepped apart, and I greeted the little creatures: “Midnight! Comet! Frosti!”
People I didn’t know approached us, some running, others trotting and panting. Their old-fashioned uniforms identified them as palace servants.
“Your Majesty!” A sturdy-looking middle-aged man in a dress coat dropped to his knees before Niel, grasped his hands, and kissed them. “You are alive, Your Majesty! The curse is broken!”
“Yes, Desiderius,” Niel said, gently pulling the butler to his feet, then into a genuine embrace. “I owe you more than I can ever repay.”
“Sire, I simply did my duty.”
Niel gripped the older man’s shoulder. “You have done far beyond your duty, my friend.” He then drew me forward and addressed the approaching crowd. “I want all of you to meet the lady who broke the curse. I would like to introduce you to my affianced wife, Miss Beatrice de Callen.”
The butler bowed to me. “My lady, you are the answer to our prayers!” Having no idea what to say, I simply gave him my hand and thanked him for his faithful service.
The chef was next. “Sire, the sight of you blesses my eyes.”
“Romnald!” Niel embraced and thanked him too. “You and your crew kept us all alive, my friend.”
Seeing the throng of waiting staff members, I thought we might spend the entire day on introductions, but Desiderius quickly ordered everyone else back to the palace. “We must organize ourselves and begin to prepare for a royal wedding celebration!”
A cheer went up from the staff members, and the cry of “Long Live the King” rang through the gardens, meadows, and mountains even as everyone scattered, most of them eagerly chatting and exchanging hugs.
“Where have all these people been all this time?” I wondered aloud.
“Most of them slept invisibly in their quarters, in a sort of magical stasis. The core staff members wakened whenever they were needed.”
The realization that many hibernating servants had been sleeping all around the estate gave me the willies. “I’m glad I didn’t know!”
Niel gave me an apologetic look. “Everything about this past century has been weird, frankly. I should have told them that I’m no longer king of anything.”
I laid my head on his shoulder and patted his chest. “They’ll figure it out soon enough. One major revelation at a time. But what’s happening with the battle at Faraway Castle? Shouldn’t we be there to help?”
Arabella
In my relief that reinforcements had arrived in the form of my best-friend merqueen and an entire division of highly trained warrior mermen, I felt so light-headed that I had to drop my face into my hands. Maybe we had a chance after all.
But what good could military victory bring if Beatrice didn’t break Niel’s curse? The girl was beautiful, intelligent, and everything else any king or trollkarl or gamekeeper might desire, but her low view of herself—a foolish form of pride—might ruin everything.
Then I gave my head a quick shake. I had no business thinking ill of Beatrice. After all, she was so much like me at her age, it was almost scary. Okay, fine. She was like me at any age, looking for reasons why I shouldn’t have a happy ending.
I followed the three beautiful young royal mages and the one remarkably self-confident unmagical prince up several spiral staircases before we emerged into a hallway beside the castle kitchens where energized brownies happily cooked for an army and hobgoblins awaited their chance to steal cakes. A tale as old as time, or so it felt to me. I was too old for this sort of thing.
Kapono must be here. Who would Pukai trust more than her greatest military leader in such a situation? He and his late wife had been childless, and he’d never remarried. Did he even remember our friendship? Involuntarily, I touched my wrinkled face and sighed. Kapono undoubtedly looked like a merman in his prime. What would he think of my choice to look old?
But if I were to drop the mask I wore, Pukai would immediately know that her cousin was the reason, and I would never hear the end of it. Would Kapono laugh when she teased me or frown at her the way he used to do?
Arabella!
A strangely familiar voice sounded inside my head, and something between a thrill and a chill ran down my back, almost as if I’d been expecting this. “Yes?” I whispered.
Come to the garden. For Beeetrice. I need you to ride me.
“Ride you?” I asked but received no further reply. Curiously excited, I trotted along the hall to a side door, my mind suggesting and rejecting possibilities as I stepped outside and made my way into a dark garden with the looming gray shapes of pillars, silent fountains, and stone-lined flowerbeds laced with frost.
“Come. Quick.”
At the exact moment I heard her squawk and the rustle of feathers, light caught the corner of my eye. Slowly I turned to see a griffin glowing like burnished gold in firelight. She was utterly magnificent.
Her head tilted to one side as she looked me over. “You are Arabella?”
“Yes,” I said, feeling as if I dreamed. She was the Golden Griffin. For real.
“I’m Chicky. Beeetrice is mine. I fly now to save her from the Mirror. I need you to help.”
“Where is Beatrice?”
“Doing her part to save the world. Ride me. I show you.” Chicky folded her left wing forward and went down on one elbow so that I could climb onto her back.
As if my rickety old body could perform such a feat! I mean, really ! “Yes, well. Give me a moment, please.” Closing my eyes, I drew on magic I hadn’t accessed for many years. I’m not sure exactly how long the process took, but when I opened my eyes, I saw two gleaming griffins observing me with evident curiosity.
Changing my appearance was humiliating enough without an audience! “Who are you?” I asked the new arrival.
“I am Dodger,” he said, sounding friendlier than Chicky despite my crankiness. “My eggshell was silver.”
“Good to know.” I hadn’t heard of any rhyme or maxim about a silver griffin, but he was quite handsome.
“Why you here, Dodger?” Chicky asked gruffly. “Where is Win? You not be evil now?”
Dodger’s neck feathers fluffed out. “I never be evil! Win know she chose the bad side now. I take her to Faraway Castle friends in mountains, then spy on the enemy to hear plans. I tell Chicky that big attack comes at dawn. The skinny mage with shiny head ride a turul and carry the Mirror.”
The bald mage had to be Einarsson. No major surprise there; he’d always been all about personal power.
“The Mirror of Alvissss,” I said, since the names of evil fay artifacts simply must be hissed. “Wait. Einarsson will ride a turul? That egotistical twig of a man plans to ride an eagle the size of a house?” I had to laugh. “I suppose he is the one person stupid enough to try it.”
“The Mirror enspell the turul,” Dodger said.
“Really? This, I must see. How did you keep from being enspelled by the Mirror too?”
“I do not look at it,” Dodger said.
“Griffin stubbornness put to good use,” I observed.
Our battle plan was equally simple, as one might expect from a recently hatched griffin: Chicky declared she would fly directly at the turul and steal the Mirror out of Einarsson’s hand. Sure, just about anything could go wrong with that scenario, but I would be riding the Golden Griffin of, well, perhaps not legend, but of nursery rhymes, which held their own spark of wisdom. So, everything just might turn out exactly right.
“What’s your plan, Dodger?” I asked.
“I will help you.”
“You not go back for Win?” his sister asked.
“Win say she is ugly and useless, and no one wants her.”
Chicky ruffled her neck feathers, looking irked. “I not know much, but some humans think they know much when they know very little.”
“Wisdom from the proverbial Golden Griffin.” I nodded.
Dodger shook himself with a great rustle of feathers. “I return for her after battle. She safe with dwarf and princess and fterotá.”
I felt a flash of sympathy for the girl abandoned by her griffin, but what could I do except trust Dodger’s judgment? He seemed to be fond of her.
The sky was unnaturally dark, and I had a feeling dawn might not arrive as expected. My decades-younger body had little trouble climbing onto Chicky’s back, but I suspected keeping my seat while in full flight might still be a challenge. Chicky didn’t complain when I clutched handfuls of her feathers, and she waited until I was ready before she took off.
Sure, I said the word “ready,” but I don’t think anyone could really have been ready for what followed. Stealth being key to our success, I possibly shrieked like a banshee before my courage revived.
According to Dodger, the main invasion army of earthbound magical creatures would attack at dawn from the west through a valley that led to the shore of Faraway Lake, which was still frozen over. Only a fool would attack facing into a sunrise, so the enemy either planned to conjure up a storm or expected this unnatural darkness to last indefinitely. At the same time, Einarsson, the head council mage, riding the turul and carrying the Mirror, would attempt a sneak attack from the north, swooping across Faraway Lake to attack our army’s flank.
Therefore, Chicky intended to attack out of the sunrise, with Dodger protecting her flank. I might have asked about a backup plan in case there was no sunrise, but just keeping myself from passing out from the cold occupied both my magic and my focus.
It felt to me as if we circled in darkness for hours, both griffins having temporarily quenched their inner glow. Hearing the soft rustle of Chicky’s feathers and feeling the powerful thrust of her wings, I felt unexpectedly safe.
“I hear them,” Dodger spoke into the void. “Be ready.”
Feeling the tension and excitement in Chicky’s body, I shook off my lethargy and braced for action. A great clamor rose out of the darkness, the shrieks and roars and howls of evil unseen creatures sending chills down my spine.
But even as my hope flagged, brilliant sunlight suddenly illuminated Faraway Lake and the mountains surrounding it. An angry roar rose from the dark throng that was now visible, approaching Faraway Castle along the lakeshore. I easily identified the dissonant yet distinct battle cries of trolls, dwarves, humans, and centaurs that were under the Mirror’s control as well as the roars, screeches, and howls of yeti, giant wolves with flaming eyes, bogeymen, and a variety of chimeras. At the unexpected glare of sunlight, many of the dark-dwelling creatures cringed and hid their faces but kept coming. Others turned and ran, desperate to escape.
While we circled and watched from the shadows of a great peak, I glimpsed our army of armed mages and creatures rushing along the frozen lakeshore from Faraway Castle toward the invaders, but soon the top of Palau Kalah, the island, blocked my view.
Then, to our right, a cloud of flying creatures—griffins, some winged horses, harpies and alan, and other creatures I didn’t recognize appeared between looming cliffs. I had no trouble identifying the turul as it swooped down toward the lake ice’s smooth surface. The bird had the wingspan of a business jet and the sharp eyes, beak, and talons of an eagle. The man seated in some kind of saddle strapped to the bird wore a flight helmet and wielded the Mirror of Alviss like a shield.
Einarsson intended to use the island for cover, then ambush our army from behind!
Even as dread turned my blood cold, I heard Kapono’s voice in my head for the first time in decades. Bella, help us melt the ice!
Absolutely! I built the spell as I spoke and flung it at the lake’s surface, sensing Kapono’s, Pukai’s, Prince Briar’s, and Princess Ellie’s magic combining with mine. The crackle and boom of shifting ice rose like music to my ears, and I was about to ask what else I could do to help when Chicky suddenly soared in a parabolic arc that left my guts somewhere in the stratosphere.
With my arms clutching the Golden Griffin’s neck, I peered woozily through a faceful of feathers while Chicky closed in on the turul. What did she plan to do?
To my complete surprise, Dodger suddenly dropped out of the sky, sank his beak, claws, and talons into the huge bird’s back, then pushed off and away. Emitting an ear-shredding screech, the turul tumbled tail over beak through a cloud of its own feathers. Somehow Einarsson held on, but how could Chicky possibly snatch the Mirror away from him now?
At the last moment, the turul righted itself, nearly skimmed the black ice below, and began to regain altitude. But just as Chicky made an all-out dive at the bird, I saw, rushing upward beneath the melting ice, a gaping mouth filled with saber-sharp teeth.
I would have warned Chicky if I hadn’t been frozen with dread. As it was, the ice exploded in a sparkling fountain of shards, and the lake monster (leading with those teeth) rocketed higher and higher. The terrified turul did its best to dodge, its feet tucked, its wings flailing, but those huge jaws snapped shut on its tail.
From that instant, I can recall only a flurry of flapping wings, showers of feathers, a man’s roar of fury switching into ear-piercing screams, and my own terror of falling to certain death. I hid my face in Chicky’s feathery ruff and clung to her, using a bit of sticky magic to keep my seat while she pulled off some incredible aerobatic moves.
Hold tight! Chicky nearly shouted into my head.
I was foolish enough to open my eyes again . . . and the next few moments were easily the most surreal of my life. I saw the Mirror of Alviss tumbling from the sky. Still in full flight, Chicky caught its handle with one taloned foot, plunged her open beak and entire head into its reflective surface, then dragged out a being like living quicksilver—or maybe rainbows in an oil slick—with a raging, terrified, screaming face.
An instant later, we were sucked into the Mirror. Words . . . no, not even thoughts can fully depict the vivid blurred colors, warped reflections, screaming fury, and certain death. But then, at close range, I watched Chicky’s sharp beak worry the creature clutched in her talons until it disintegrated like ashes, its shrieks fading into eternal woe.
There. The Golden Griffin spoke into my head with cheerful satisfaction. Now Chicky helps Arabella find her happy ending with True Love. Like Beatrice do.
The kaleidoscope world spun around me . . . and I glimpsed the Mirror one last time, spinning before us at a different angle, its reflective surface shrinking . . . or maybe I was blacking out? Everything felt nebulous.
Then I remember the shock of frigid air in my face before I landed solidly in someone’s arms, and my flopping feet and hands splashed into the icy water of Faraway Lake. I made some unintelligible noises, looked up into Kapono’s astonished face, and promptly blacked out.
I woke up in one of Palau Kalah’s guest caves sometime later, having conveniently missed much of the after-battle wrap-up work. I can’t say that I was exactly desperate for news at first. After all, the amount of crazy action and interdimensional travel I’d experienced would be tough on anyone, let alone a girl well into her thirteenth decade.
Pukai’s daughter Coral, the vain one with red hair, fed and tended me, then related everything she’d seen and heard about the battle before hurrying back to join the celebration in the lake. I was free to do whatever I wished.
I really wished I knew what that might be.
Before I could begin to decide, I heard a whoosh , and something large, feathery, and golden burst through the magical waterfall and landed, perfectly dry, beside me on the cave’s sandy floor. “We see warrior and queen first, then see Beeetrice.”
“What if I want to see Beatrice first?” I asked, feeling ornery and shy about meeting a certain warrior again so soon.
The golden griffin shook her head. “Time for Happy Ending.”
Inevitably, Chicky got her way.
I’ll admit, I didn’t put up much of a fight when she carried me through the waterfall and straight to Pukai and her general, who sat in beach chairs in their human forms beside Faraway Lake. Apparently, a grand celebration feast was already underway. Everyone should have been freezing—it was winter, after all—but the golden sand was clean, dry, and warm, as if the entire resort had been dropped into the tropics.
While Chicky carefully landed, Pukai waved to me from her royal beach chair. “Hey girl, we did it!” she called without bothering to rise.
Kapono hurried to Chicky’s side, greeted her, and then helped me dismount like the gentleman he’s always been. His hands were firm at my waist, and his dark eyes held my gaze. “Bella, don’t ever scare me like that again. I thought I’d lost you forever in the fay realm.”
I don’t know whether the shock of surviving had knocked all sense out of me or some sense into me, but I threw my arms around his neck and clung. “I did too. I mean, I thought I’d lost you.”
He folded me close, and we both shed tears—some tears of sorrow for the lost years, but mostly tears of joy for the prospect of a bright future together.
Let Pukai or her officious officials just try and separate us now!