I rubbed my eyes and looked again. It wasn't smiling. Of course not.
I put the plate back and decided I'd call it a night without checking the rest of the sack. I preferred Angel's warm embrace to the moon.
But then it came. I mean…she came.
I saw someone descending from the sky, shimmering with light that pooled and circled our boat. Colorful, tiny fish surfaced from underneath to greet the light. Not sirens or vicious creatures. They stuck their mouths out to the light and squeaked.
The light was too bright. I shielded it with my eyes. Then it dimmed a little, and I saw the moon wasn't up there anymore.
As my eyes got used to the light, I saw a glowing girl walk toward me. She was younger than me. She walked on water.
"Hello, Carmilla." She smiled.
I couldn't say a word, my eyes wide, staring at pure white light.
"You're real," I gasped.
"Of course I am," she said. I wished I could see her features better.
"But you never showed—"
"Shhh," she said. "It's too soon to talk about that. You're taking the right path so far. You have done extremely well."
"You watched me?" I said. "Then why didn't you—"
"Help you?" she said. "It's true. I help the goodhearted to sail across the sea at night. And sometimes I fight for them. But I only do it for those who have fought for themselves first. You can't have my services until you serve yourself. Look what you have done." She smiled, pointing at Angel sleeping. "He doesn't know he is immortal yet."
"What?"
"Because of you, Carmilla," she said. "You loved a man so deeply that you have granted him immortality with True Love."
"True Love." The words melted in my mouth. "Angel is immortal."
"Now, don't worry," she said. "I will take care of you, as much as I am allowed to, on your journey to the Tower of Tales."
"You will?"
"But let me check on something first," she said. "Could you dig your hand in your sack and count the items inside? Including the plate in your hand, of course."
"Oh," I said, and did as she asked.
"You don't have to pull them out and look at them," the Moongirl said. "Just count them."
"Six items." I rummaged through the sack without looking.
The Moongirl didn't seem happy.
"Wait," I said. "Seven. There is small bag of…something."
"Beans?" The Moongirl nodded, her face glowing again. "That's good, Carmilla. The plate in your hand belongs to me. It resembles me when I am full. Guard them all with you life. They are your ticket to cross over to Sorrow when you reach the Tower of Tales."
"Sorrow?" I had already grown to both love and hate that word.
"The Kingdom of Sorrow." The Moongirl smiled. "Your destiny, and the destiny of all of us. We're counting on you."
"You?" I didn't know what she meant. "Counting on me?
The Moongirl said nothing. She kissed me on the forehead and swooshed away before I knew it, leaving me and the fish in the sea undone without her light.
"One more thing, Carmilla," she called from above.
"Yes?" I stood up, staring at the night sky.
"Tell that bastard Captain Ahab that I am real." She took her place back in the sky, smiled at me once, then turned to a simple moon I had once underestimated.
"But of course." I laughed. "If I ever see him again."
54
Candy House
Fable sat at the porch outside Candy House, staring at the breadcrumbs in her hands. These weren't the enchanted ones that the Queen of Sorrow had used to expose her. Those were hers, the ones that had traveled with her to the Dreamworld and back. Only Fable and her breadcrumbs knew what had really happened there.
She turned her head back inside the house, and saw Shew and Babushka busy with resurrecting Loki. Now that she had gotten his Fleece for them, the resurrecting ritual would take a day or so, according to Babushka.
Fable stared at them with empty eyes.
She stared at a mother eager to bring her son back to life, not really knowing what a monster he really was.
And she stared at Shew, heartbroken and feeling guilty, wanting to make it up to Loki after killing him in her Dreamory. Little did Shew know about Loki's heart inside her. Little did she know about the lie she believed.
Fable's face tightened. There was no such thing as True Love. Shew simply had Loki's physical heart in her. His real heart. But she didn't know it. That was why she had no memories of Loki being in love with her—only one questionable memory in the World Between Dreams when he'd asked her to save him. Other than that, it seemed that Shew had been made to love him because Loki's heart was dug into her chest by a dark witch who used to eat children and send girls to the Queen of Sorrow so she could bathe in their blood.
Fable hadn't told Shew about any of this. She pretended she was tired and wanted to talk later about the dream. Fable wanted to think it over before she told them a truth that didn't make sense yet.
A truth that would hurt Shew deeply. A truth made of lies.