“And?”
“I don’t buy that Carmilla is evil. Something’s wrong,” she explained. “I mean after all she did, running away with the man she loved, giving him her blood, sacrificing everything for her daughter, how could she turn into this evil monster so easily? It just doesn’t make sense.”
“You don’t understand, Lucy,” Loki said. “You haven’t seen the Queen of Sorrow. You wouldn’t stand a minute before her. She’ll kill you, cook you, and eat you alive. She killed Charmwill and I’m going to avenge him one day, so don’t go on trying to make me think she’s not evil. Talking about her right now already makes me uncomfortable—why do you even care?”
“Because she’s the only one that interests me in your story,” Lucy said.
Knowing Lucy, Loki could understand why Lucy was infatuated with the powerful Queen. He didn’t expect her to sympathize with Snow White at all. To Lucy, the Queen was an idol who controlled her own life, took what she wanted and did it her way.
“Lucy,” Loki said. “I’ve been through a lot. Let’s talk about this later. I’m almost home.”
“You better be here soon. Axel says that he found something about Carmilla in (the) history books from Bedtime Stoories.”
“How so?” Loki’s eyes twitched.
“It turns out that the oldest female vampire mentioned in those so called vampire novels is named Carmilla.”
“Did Axel say that?” Loki said. Most of Axel’s research turned out to be right before so I have no reason to doubt him.
“Yes. Carmilla Karnstein,” Lucy empathized.
Loki almost lost the wheel for a moment.
“Her tale is called, ‘Carmilla’ and it was written in 1872,” Lucy said. “It’s partially a novel but with a lot of history references.”
“What does that mean?”
“How should I know,” Lucy said. She sounded in love with Carmilla. “I haven’t understood most of the things you said about fairy tale characters being real, but if they are, why wouldn’t Carmilla be this woman mentioned in the book. Maybe the author of this book was trying to tell the world something about her.
Loki’s head ached again. Now that Charmwill was dead, he had no one to ask about such things. But he remembered that he had Pickwick. Maybe that’s why Charmwill asked him to take care of the invaluable bird. Was it the right decision to leave the parrot with Snow White? Loki didn’t know. But no worries, he was only having breakfast with his friends and their foster mother, and then he’d drive back to Snow White and get Pickwick. Maybe Snow White knew something about the novel.
“Listen, Lucy,” Loki said. “We’re not going to talk about any of this in front of Axel and Fable’s foster mom. Once we have our little introduction, we’ll all head back to the Schloss and find out what’s going on.”
“Deal,” Lucy said. “I am so fascinated with the Queen. I can’t wait to find out more about her story.”
Loki parked his car in front of Axel’s house. The smell of food baking in the morning was enchanting. Mircalla must have been a great cook because he doubted Fable cooked this good.
“Loki,” Fable came running out of the house and jumped in his arms. Loki held her up with her feet in the air. “Tell me all about it,” she whispered in his ear. “Was it romantic?”
“In spite of a little blood, poison, and a whale about sinking Sorrow, I’d say it was romantic.”
“So the whale shaking the island yesterday, that was you and Snow White?” she said. “You have to tell me everything.”
“Easy with my sis, dude,” Axel barked at Loki, standing with folded hands, leaning against the doorframe. He let out an unsure smile.
“Who’s the squirrel?” Lucy pushed Axel away as she came out to the front porch.
Loki looked at the squirrel following him, this time without Nine, the cat. “He’s nuts,” Loki waved his hand. “Don’t bother with him,” he was teasing it.
The squirrel ran directly at Lucy and climbed her legs up to her neck, then sat on her shoulder. Lucy fidgeted and cursed and tried to push it away.
“Someone’s in love at first sight,” Loki said, entering the house with Axel and Fable.
Fable showed Loki the way to the dining table, which looked so lovely and family-like. The house had been cleaned and filled with roses. This Mircalla was such a neat woman. Loki thought she should stay with the Crumblewoods all year.
“Mircalla did all of this,” Fable said, enthusiastically ushering Loki to sit at the head of the table. “You’ll love her. We told her about all the adventures. She believed us and promised to help.”
“I shouldn’t sit at the head of the table,” Loki said. “What about Mircalla?”
“She’ll sit opposite to you,” Fable explained, sitting down, trying her best to act like an elegant princess at an expensive dining table.