Now his forehead creases even more. “You want to get kissed?”
“Well…yeah.” I cross my arms over my chest. “All my friends have love stories to play. They’re happy and totally romanced-up…ish. Sort of.” Resolutely, I lift my chin. “I want that, too.”
Jack’s usually determined face scrunches up further as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “And you want that with me?” His gaze sweeps past me into the trees and back. “Over there, in the shadows?”
“No, silly!” I roll my eyes. “Of course, not.”
“Of course, not,” he repeats my words on a growl as if I hurt his feelings beyond repair. Playing all these years has certainly turned him into a devilishly good actor.
“For your information,” I tell him solemnly with my head held high, “I want to catch myself a prince.”
And that cracks him up. “You want what?” he barks in laughter, tucking his hands into his jeans’ pockets.
I throw him a pissy glare and snarl, “Yeah, get a grip, puppy dog.” Should I have seen this fit coming? Probably. Still, it won’t hold me back. I’ve made up my mind, and we’re going to get through this, whether or not he finds the idea ridiculous.
I stride to the bush where my basket rolled earlier when he grabbed me and put the fallen bottle of wine back inside. Jack still stands in the middle of the path, staring at me as if I’d turned into a three-headed dragon. I walk past him, in the opposite direction of Granny’s house, expecting him to follow me. He doesn’t.
“Are you coming or not?” I snap over my shoulder.
A moment ticks by before he moves and catches up with me. His voice still holds a thread of doubt. “Where to?”
“For starters, to the dark parts of the woods. Where are they?”
“I don’t know.”
I stop and whirl around to him. “You don’t know?!” Outraged, I throw my hands with the basket in the air. “You’ve been trying to lure me there for ages. Where did you think we’d go if I finally said yes?”
“I knew you wouldn’t, so there wasn’t a need to think about it.” His eyes are dark again and drained of all amusement. His voice heats up, though, just like mine.
“You’re a wolf. Don’t you eternally roam this place, sniffing rabbit tracks and marking trees? You should know the forest like the back of your hand.”
“I live in an apartment above Geppetto’s workshop in the village,” he growls at me from the side. “I only come here to play with you.”
“Just great.” Chuffing, I stride on, picking the path to the Plush Toy Forest for now. At least there’s something that might help me find what I want.
Jack reads the sign pointing out the direction, and his temper eases to curiosity again. “You want to visit the three bears?”
“No. I don’t think they’ll be much help.” Pulling up my hood, I cast him a contemplative, sideways glance from under the red fabric and grin again because my idea is genius. “Cupid’s tree is there, too.”
Everyone knows about the specialty of that tree, but from the way Jack bites the inside of his cheek, he doesn’t seem to have any idea what we’ll do there. Good. He’d probably try to stop me if he knew.
At the sound of running water ahead, a queasy feeling grips me. Flowing backward from the sea to its well in the Marble Mountains, the Timeless Brook cuts a swath through the Wood of 1000 Dawns, separating all stories into sections of sorts. Our path continues over a little, wooden bridge. As we near it, hesitation creeps into Jack’s pace. I know what’s holding him back—I can feel the tug of our story, too. It wants us to turn back and continue what we’re meant to do. Even the basket in my hand starts trembling, pulling at my arm as if it wants to shout that Granny’s house is in the opposite direction.
I grip the handle tighter and stop in front of the bridge, daring a glance up at Jack’s face. He’s silently staring at the border between the bridge and land. “Are you afraid?” I whisper, not knowing if the question is really for him or myself. What will happen if we really cross that stream? No one has ever dared to break out of their tale before. At least none who ever came back to tell the story.
Jack’s eyes move to my side, but the rest of him remains motionless. There’s a hint of wariness in his gaze. “And you?”
I swallow. Hell, yes, I am. But if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get my happily ever after. So I draw in a deep breath, bravely holding his stare, and then straighten my back. “No.” And with that one little word, I take a step forward and walk onto the bridge.
It supports me, not breaking from shock and dumping me into the river with a splash. Phew. For a second there, I really wasn’t sure. But with my next step, the basket slips out of my hand, shooting off. “What the—” As I spin around, I find that it zoomed right into Jack’s arms. A low, whiny sound emerges from it.
“You made it cry,” Jack says, faking a scrunched, sympathetic face, cuddling the basket to his chest as if it was a baby wolf. “I’m sure it wants to fly off to your grandma’s house. It’s scared of running away.”
With a snort, I stride back to him and rip the thing out of his arms. “It’s only a basket! Don’t whack out here.” I pull off the doily and hold out a piece of the cake I put in there before I left home. “See? Just normal food and wine.” To prove my point, I take a bite. Next thing I know, the sky above the treetops rapidly darkens with clouds, and thunder rolls in from all sides.
Holy pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
“Riley?”
My gaze snaps from the upset sky to an even more upset Jack.
“You better put that cake back into the basket and bring it to your granny.”
I hesitate. “If I do that, we’ll have the same stupid conversations every freaking day from now until forever.” More determination enters my voice. “And I’ll never find romance.”
His insistent gaze pleads with me. “There are worse things.”
“Really? You don’t mind getting your belly cut open by the Huntsman each time at the end of our story?”
He waits a beat to answer, but his severe expression doesn’t falter. “I’m used to it. I can bear it.”
“Yeah? Because I can’t,” I snap at him. “I want more from my life.”
Jack holds out his hand. “Give it to me.”
“No.” I back a step away from him.
His eyes get so dark I think I can see the night sky in them as he yells, “Give me that damn cake, Riley!”
His demand is so compelling, he almost drags me toward him with invisible cords. But I cannot do that. We’ve gone too far to turn around now. This is my chance. Our chance. So with a determined glare, I stuff the entire piece of cake into my mouth, filling my cheeks until I can’t even chew the darn thing.
At the increasing rumbles of thunder, Jack drops to a squat in a wild panic and throws his arms over his head. Thankfully, no lightning shoots down on us. Hah! Is that all they have in store? The basket still in one hand, I spread my arms and lift my head to the sky. Crumbs of cake spew out of my mouth as I yell, “Now what? I’m not going back, so what will you do, huh?”
Almost choking on the dry clump in my mouth, I salivate it to mush until I can finally swallow. Boy, that thing went down hard. I pat my chest, coughing up a few remaining crumbs. When the coughing fit is over, so is the thunder. I only notice because Jack is kneeling in a beam of sunlight again instead of cloudy shadows. He dares a glance upward before he straightens back to his full, imposing height.
“See?” I say confidently and cast him a triumphant smile. “That wasn’t the end of the world.” Another bout of crumbs tickles my throat, so I reach into the basket and take out the wine. With my teeth, I pull out the cork and spit it over the bridge railing, into the water. But before the first drop of wine can touch my tongue, Jack rushes forward and yanks the bottle out of my hand.
“No, don’t!” he shouts, holding the liquor away from me. “You’ve never been drinking before, have you?”