He lifted her arm to his mouth, kissing her scars as Jeremy had kissed his in the deepest, most secret hour of the night.
Skya pressed her forehead to his. “My golden-hearted, golden-haired, hawk-eyed prince, I promise you this…you will not hate your mother. I could only wish for a mother who loved me like yours loves you.”
He looked into her eyes and believed her.
“Can’t remember, are princes allowed to kiss queens on the lips?”
“If you opened that book, you’d know it’s not only allowed but also required.”
He took her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly, as tenderly as he loved her.
“Very nice,” she said. “Now go find Jeremy. I better not see either of you again until morning.”
She was the queen. Orders must be obeyed.
—
Emilie found her sister on the balcony staring up at the bright full moon.
“Great party.”
“It’s not all parties, you know,” Skya said. “Sometimes it’s a lot of work.”
Emilie only shrugged. “I needed a new job anyway.”
“When I was a kid, I read every single fantasy story I could get my hands on. In every one of them—Narnia, Oz, Clock Island…the kids who go to the fantasy world always go back home at the end of the story.”
“I’m not going home. I mean, I have a crown now. Fritz has a dukedom. We’re here to stay.”
“You promise? Because it’s a big decision. No going back. Literally.”
“I don’t miss anything back home but my mom, and she’s not there anymore. Oh, crap, what about my house? My car? I gotta talk to Jeremy—”
She started to leave, but Skya grabbed her by the arm.
“Listen, please. I’m not kidding. This place is magical, but it’s also dangerous. And there are no TVs, no telephones, no radios, no hospitals. Magic can’t fix a broken leg if you fall off your horse. I just hope you don’t regret it.”
Emilie took her sister by the hands and squeezed them. “I’m staying. I decided. So get used to me.”
Skya pulled her close and said into her ear, “I’m already used to you.”
Emilie gasped.
“What?” Skya said. “You okay?”
“I just figured out what I want for my gift.”
“You sure? You don’t want to think about it first?”
Before she lost her courage, Emilie wrapped her fingers around the bag and whispered, “Thank you for the magical unicorn mechanical pencil with endless pencil lead just like the one my sister used to have so she can write another story.”
Skya stared at her, wide-eyed. Emilie reached into the bag and pulled out the pencil.
“Now you have a pencil.” Emilie gave it to her sister, her queen.
“I love you, Brat.”
“Love you too. Can’t wait to read your next story.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rafe and Jeremy changed out of their finery into riding clothes. Then they quickly saddled Freddy and Sunny and rode out into the forest.
But before they left, Rafe grabbed his book from his bedroom and put it in the saddlebag.
Jeremy led the way to one of the larger trees in the great dark woods, so enormous a stream had worn a tunnel through it. They took off their shoes and waded through the stream and into the darkness inside the hollow trunk.
“Watch this,” Jeremy said. “You’ll be very impressed and aroused.”
“Can’t wait,” Rafe said.
Jeremy wrapped a dry cloth around the end of an arrow and set the cloth on fire. Then he shot the arrow up into the tree.
The flame briefly revealed the tree’s secret. Stairs.
A hundred, two hundred steps or more were carved inside the tree in one long, seemingly endless spiral.
“See?” Jeremy said. “I didn’t make that up.”
