To The Fairest Page 12

  “Hold it.” I pulled out of her grip and she turned to glare at me. “What did she say?”

  She hesitated, visibly unwilling to speak of it. Chris was the one who answered me, his voice strangely void of inflection.

  “The spell is called the Hidden Sister.”

  I sent Rachel a final glare before giving Chris my attention.

  “What does it do?”

  “When the Prince was searching for Cinderella he only had a glass slipper to help him discover the identity of the woman he fell for the night of his masked ball. Cinderella’s stepsisters tried tricking the prince by cutting off their heels and toes so that they would fit the shoe. The only reason the Prince was able to figure out what they had done was because of the blood that filled the slipper as they walked.”

  “I don’t really like where this was going.” I said, instantly regretting my decision to stay in the room.

  “It won’t hurt you.” He said, then winced. “Not directly anyway. But Clarabell believes that Danielle wouldn’t hurt Mal if she thought that she was you.”

  “And this spell can do that?”

  He nodded.

  “How does it work?”

  “After Cinderella and the Prince were married, Cinderella’s Godmother collected the glass slippers. One of them, the shoe that Cinderella managed to escape with, is perfectly normal. It’s the shoe that the stepsisters bled in that holds all the magic.”

  “So what?” I asked, glancing between the occupants of the room. “I just have to wear these heels, and Mal will look like me?”

  “And vice versa.” He added. “That’s the part that worries me. Once we enact the spell, you’ll look like Mal until you take the shoes off again. So anyone gunning for her is going to end up taking you out instead.”

  “Not if someone’s there to protect me.”

  Chris paled. “You know I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, but I don’t know if I can—”

  “Calm down.” I said, biting my lip to keep myself from smiling at his sudden nervousness. “You just have to keep me breathing until we cross the veil. Sam can take it from there.”

  “You’re not really considering this are you?” Rachel asked.

  I shrugged. “I’m not just considering it, I’m doing it. Chris and Clara were right. Danielle has enough protections on that house to stop anything short of a nuclear bomb from getting through. If Mal looks like me, Danielle won’t hurt her. Especially as long as she’s unconscious. If anything, my mother will be too busy trying to figure out how to ‘heal me’ to focus on anything else. All of which works out in our favor. Plus, looking like a powerful, sadistic witch may come in handy once we’re in the other realm.” I rubbed my hands together, anxious now to get started. “So, where are these shoes?”

  “In the closet.”

  I blinked. Huh. I’d expected things to be a bit more complicated than that. I deflated.

  “How did you get them so fast? I thought Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother confisca—” then it clicked. Clarabell. “Ah.” I said instead. “Never mind.”

  Chris nodded at something Clara said to him and caught my eye.

  “Madam Clara says that she’ll summon us as soon as she’s ready to perform the spell. In the meantime she wants us to get some rest while we can.”

  “Translation: Get the pregnant girl off of her feet. That about right?”

  Chris flushed, but refused to look guilty for trying to get rid of me. Not that I was going to argue. I was exhausted, still weak from dealing with the giant earlier. I hadn’t slept since before Sam had left, and even then I’d tossed and turned as I went over everything the Fates had told us again and again. I needed rest. Especially if I had any hope of succeeding once we crossed the veil. I waved my hand in the air, a dismissal as well as a farewell and headed for the door.

  “Whatever.” I said. “It doesn’t matter. Just wake me up when it’s time.”

  I felt their gazes on my back as I left the room and I knew that they were feeling as anxious as I was. Unlike my comrades however, I was too tired to stand around fretting about it. I headed back to my room, grateful that I had an excuse to stop caring so much for a little while.

  * * * *

  This time when I slept, there were no dreams to ease my mind. I don’t know how long I was asleep before I felt small hands probing at my belly, but the feel of them had me jerking awake instantly. I flinched beneath Flo’s touch, and she tried to calm me with sing song assurances.

  “Be still little maiden, pretty maiden, wishes all in a row.”

  Instead of having the desired effect, her words had me tensing. She had lifted my shirt up past my belly button and she stared down at my stomach unblinking, her hands resting lightly on my abdomen.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Checking on the child and collecting my due. The one who told me I could do so, was you.” She shook her head and her upper lip curled back from her teeth. “Do you not recall?”

  I had told her she could touch my stomach, but I hadn’t thought she’d be so interested in actually doing so. But her face had fallen into lines of hunger and her eyes were dilated as she ran her hands over my skin. Her movements reminded me of the dragon healer Clementine. She must be doing a reading then, checking to see how the babe was doing so far. I just wish she didn’t have to be so creepy about it. The last time I’d heard her speak in rhyme, we’d been deep within the goblin lands and her nature had gotten the best of her.

  My movements were slow, careful, as I reached down to grab her wrists and hold her still. She froze, and for an instant her body shifted into something monstrous before she brought herself under control again.

  “So?” I asked, hoping to keep things lighthearted. “What’s my prognosis?” I didn’t want to do anything to set her off. Obviously Flo had a soft spot for babies. And not in a good, non-cannibal, way. Note to Self: Don’t invite any Goblins to the baby shower. Flo drew her hands out of my grip and folded them at the small of her back.

  “The child seems fine.” She sounded surprisingly calm and I started to relax by degrees. I beamed.

  “That’s fantastic.” I said by way of reply. Flo stared at my stomach until I pulled my shirt back down. Only when my baby bump was out of sight did her strange mood fully fade. She returned my smile with a cautious one of her own.

  “It’s a girl.” She said after a moment. “You’re lucky.”

  “How so?”

  “Male widows can be frightening.”

  “How so?”

  “Imagine the biggest spider you’ve ever seen.”

  I shivered.

  “Ok.”

  “Got it?”

  “Yup.”

  “Are you picturing it?”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Now picture that spider, except it’s the size of a tractor trailer truck and it has the head of man and a craving for women and children. Not that you’d ever see him grow that big because he’d eat you as soon as he was born. For sustenance.”

  She nodded, satisfied when I gazed at her in horror and patted me on the hand.

  “Pray that your children all take after their father.”

  Danielle’s vagueness made more sense now. This baby would probably be our first and our last. The risk that we might have a boy our next time around was just too great.

  “Now enough of that.” She said, growing brusque. “Go get yourself cleaned up. You’ll feel better after you wash and get some food in you.”

  “Is Madam Clara ready yet?” I asked.

  “They’re waiting for you in the café. They’ll still be there after you get out of the shower.”

  Jesus. The goblin woman was like a mother hen, and I could tell just by looking at her that she wouldn’t take no for an answer. She must have read the defeat written all over my face because she smirked and turned away.

  “There are clean clothes and a towel on the dresser.” She said without turning around. “The bathroom is down t
he hall. I’ll have something ready for you to eat by the time you get done.”

  “Thank you.” I called. Flo had been about to shut the door behind her, but she paused at my words.

  “Our kind love children, sweet maiden. More than our wares, more than our fares, more than your golden wishes all lined in a row.” She said, looking over her shoulder to flash sharp teeth in my direction. For a moment she was more goblin mistress than Flo. “Little maiden, pretty maiden eating for two. I’ll gather the fruits, the dates and the mangos, the apples, and pears, and berries so blue. I’ll gather them all and bring them to you.”

  She nodded earnestly and left the room, her voice fading as she wandered down the hall. I hopped out of the bed and ran to the door on my tiptoes, barely restraining myself from slamming it shut. Once it snicked shut, I locked it and pressed my forehead against the wood. Letting loose a sigh that was as much a sob as it was an exhale of relief.

  When I found Sam I was going to give him a piece of my mind for leaving me on my own. It was hard enough staying out of trouble, but what hope did I have of protecting myself when my allies were more dangerous than my enemies?

  Chapter Thirteen

  I’d grown up hearing stories about princesses and dashing heroes.

  When you’re young, the whole world feels like this dream just waiting to be explored. People try and tell you that dragons don’t exist and that Peter Pan was just a story, but you know in your heart that they do. The stories are there, waiting for you, calling for you, if only you could learn how to hear them. Even so, after puberty I’d never thought that my life was the stuff of legends or myths. I’d never thought that one day I’d be staring down at Cinderella’s slippers while her bippity boppity godmother performed a spell to activate their magic.

  I couldn’t hear the spell of course, but I could feel the magic building. Soon enough, it was even visible to the naked eye. I’d learned that the more powerful the practitioner, the more visible their spell. It was why people like Maleficent and Madam Clara could fill a room with the sparkling dance of their power and why no one could see my spells even if their lives depended on it.

  After a quick shower I’d changed into the clothes Flo had found for me. Apparently Clarabell and I were similar sizes. When I’d made my way into the café at the other end of the house I saw that Chris and Rachel seemed equally refreshed. We’d all eaten before making our way back to the room where Maleficent lay immobile. Clarabell had mixed her sister a potion to keep her sleeping. It was so strong that the only thing that made it different from the curse that had put Rachel to sleep was that it was easily reversible by feeding her the antidote. The shoes were sitting at the edge of the bed and I stared down at them, fascinated and awed. Like child on Christmas. Even knowing the gruesome story associated with them, I couldn’t help but remember a dancing cartoon princess and her singing mice.

  I’d always doubted that Cinderella’s slippers were made of glass. After all, how much weight could glass heels handle before they shattered completely? I’d been right in a way. The shoes were actually made of crystal. The shoes dazzled the eye, even in the dim lighting of the bedroom. Intricate 3D designs had been embedded in the heart of the crystal itself. They depicted everything from a tumbling pumpkin carriage to a two lovers dancing together amidst a bed of stars.

  It was lovely and enchanting and I wanted to snatch them up and keep them in my closet so I could look at them and never wear them like all my other high heels. I managed to control myself though and Rachel and Chris joined me at the foot of the bed as Clarabell lifted the binding spell that had been placed on the shoes to trap their magic.

  Glittering silver sparkles swirled about the shoes, coating them like living diamonds. They sparkles stayed put for a moment before dispersing and as one Chris, Rachel, and I leaned over the bed to stare hard at the shoes. They didn’t look any different and I grew doubtful that anything significant had changed at all.

  “She says you need to put them on.”

  I looked at Rachel and she raised her brows at me as if to ask what I was waiting for. Slipping off my own shoes, I reached for the glass slippers.

  “You’ll need to focus on whose identity you’re trying to steal.” At my look she winced. “Clara’s choice of words. Not mine. Anyway, focus on Mal. The right shoe will give you her appearance and the left shoe will give her yours.”

  Closing my eyes, I thought of Maleficent as I placed my feet in first one shoe and then the other. I remembered the day I’d first met her in the strip club and the resulting catastrophe that had defined my life. I thought of the times she’d bitched at me, hit me, and thrown me to the wolves. But there were also plenty of good memories to balance out the bad. The many times she’d saved my life, the times she’d come by just to talk when Rachel had still been trapped under the sleeping curse. The bachelorette party she’d thrown for me when Sam and I had announced our engagement. Maleficent wasn’t just my court-appointed savior, she was my friend.

  I heard Rachel gasp and I opened my eyes. Glancing down I saw that my body had experienced a pretty extreme upgrade. My legs were longer, my boobs were bigger, my ass was fatter, and I was toned in places that I had never even realized had muscles. Every detail had been meticulously adhered to, right down to three-inch nails and lustrous blond hair.

  “Holy crap.” I breathed in awe. “I’m a bombshell.” Lifting a perfectly defined ringlet. Something about its smell enticed me and I stuck the end of the curl in my mouth. I tasted like cotton candy. Good lord, men must have a field day with this body. The shoes conformed around my feet and I shifted from one foot to the other, trying to get used to seeing the world from so high up. That’s when I felt something peculiar from down under. My eyes widened, and before anyone could stop me, I grabbed the waistband of my pants and pulled them out far enough to get a gander at my girly-parts. I whistled sharply and let my pants snap back into place.

  “What?” Rachel asked in alarm.

  “I’ve been vagazzled.” The change must have been fairly recent. The last time I’d seen Mal naked, which had been at the very same bachelorette party she’d thrown for me (she’d wanted to teach the male strippers a thing or two), her nether regions hadn’t been decorated with rainbow crystals that spelled out ‘Eat Me’. It was a nice touch. It gave me ideas for me and Sam’s honeymoon. While a giggling Rachel explained to Chris what Vagazzling meant, I went to inspect Maleficent. Thanks to the spell she finally seemed to be resting peacefully, but that wasn’t what had me staring.

  It was strange seeing myself lying there so peacefully. For the first time I understood what Rachel had been talking about when she described her out of body experiences. I had to keep reminding myself that the woman on the bed was my godmother and not me. But it was hard to do when she had my curly brown, almost auburn, hair and rounded mouth. I knew that if she opened her eyes they would be my own familiar gray and the knowledge was enough to give me the skeevies. The most significant part about the change was that Maleficent’s body had legs now to help support the illusion. The more I studied her, the more convinced I became that she would hold up to my mother’s scrutiny.

  Now all we had to do was take her home. When the threat to her magic had been taken out, Maleficent would be able to get away from Danielle herself. I nodded, pleased that things were finally going according to plan so far. I peeked at Chris and he jumped, his face still red after Rachel’s enlightening explanation about feminine beauty regimens.

  “You ever done a drive by?” I asked, and after a moment of thought, he grinned.

  “No. But I’m a quick study.”

  “Good.” I said, feeling sassy now that I had the body to back up all of my attitude. “Let’s go.”

  * * * *

  As a society matron my mother regularly went to lunch with her friends at the local country club every Saturday. You could set your watch by her lunch dates so I knew she’d be walking out the door and waiting for the valet around 1:30 pm or so. Which
meant that at 1:32 pm, Chris roared up to the country club door, horns blaring. We were all wearing black ski-masks and I saw Danielle cock her head to one side as Chris came to a screeching halt before her. As usual, the outside of the country club was like stepping into a Ralph Lauren ad. So as soon as we stopped there were a lot of clutched pearls and outraged senior citizens to contend with.

  Sending a silent apology to Mal, I threw open the door and Rachel and I shoved her out of the backseat and onto the sidewalk. Rachel slapped the back of the driver’s seat and I slammed the door shut.

  “Drive!” She screeched, and I heard my mother let loose a scream as she saw what she believed to be my unconscious body. Chris peeled away and I stared out the back window as a crowd of concerned trust fund babies surrounded my mother and Maleficent. The sound Danielle had made when she’d seen Maleficent assured me that our plan would work, but it didn’t make me feel any better about tricking my mother. God knew what she must be thinking right then.

  “Hey?” Rachel touched my shoulder and I looked at her. “You okay?”

  I nodded. What we had done may have been quick and dirty, but at least it was effective.

  “Peachy.” I assured her.

  With Maleficent safe with Danielle and LaRue under the care of Flo and Clarabell, there was nothing else preventing us from finally crossing through the veil. We had nine hours to reach Lafayette Louisiana before the gate Sam told me about closed for the night. My spirits rose and I smiled. By this time tomorrow, I’d be with Sam again. That thought more than any other was enough to make everything I’d done that morning worthwhile.

  * * * *

  After a lot of restroom breaks, drive-ins, and petty arguments, we reached Lafayette well after nightfall. We could have gotten there sooner but as it turned out, the three of us weren’t the best combination when it came to something as emotionally complex as a road trip. I was pretty sure that Chris had disowned me at one point, but thankfully, he embraced me back into the family fold by the time we crossed Louisiana state lines. When we’d told Clarabell about the portal we were looking for, she’d given us an address. Which was helpful, since otherwise we just would have been driving around blindly until we stumbled upon it. James Devin Moncus Theater was what a drama geek would call a theater-in-the-round. It could comfortably seat about 300 people which made it a comfortable size for most productions as long as the actors played their cards right.