I needed to wake up. Then I needed therapy.
What was it that you’re supposed to do—pinch yourself? Somebody did it for me. My eyes snapped open from the needle-sharp pricks to my toes. “Ow! That…”
A little ball of fur chewed on my slippers, not caring that my feet were still inside. I’d never seen another creature like it. It had the auburn-colored body of a lion cub, but it also had nubby horns, wings, and a dragon’s tail. Its little black talons scratched at my leg; then it stared at me with accusatory ice-water blue eyes.
“No pixing way! Prince Kato?”
The look of disdain the little fuzz bucket gave me was all the proof I needed.
This was all too crazy to be real, but the pain debunked the whole nightmare idea. But maybe there was an upside to this. There was no way I could marry Prince Kato now. I just had to show my parents…
Where were my parents?
They were gone. The only signs they’d ever been there were their two emerald crowns still spinning on the ground.
Nothing else mattered. I’m not sure how long I stood there frozen—seconds, minutes, hours. I was semi-aware of Kato tugging my gown and growling. Too bad, runt. My attention stayed focused on the spot where I’d last seen my parents.
Until the clapping.
My head reared in surprise. The sound sliced through the chaos, clear and crisp and completely out of place. Making her way up to the dais was the little girl from the garden. The opal necklace flashed with brilliant orange and red streaks against her pale skin.
She ceased her clapping long enough to scoop up my mother’s fallen crown and place it on her head. But it was much too large and fell down over her eyes and ears.
My back stiffened automatically in response. Nobody touched my parents’ stuff. “Freeze, you freaky munchkin. You’ve got two seconds to drop my mother’s crown.”
“I suppose this child has outlived its usefulness,” she said in that broken-crystal voice. Her eyes narrowed and flashed silver; they were slitted like a serpent’s. Her lips set into a thin line while she made some complicated hand gesture and uttered a few words under her breath. Then she disappeared into a puff of metallically specked gray smoke.
When the smoke cleared, instead of a child, a tall, lithe woman stood in front of me, her oversized pewter gown fit like snakeskin now. The woman still resembled the kid, with her porcelain-pale skin and silvery hair, but she was all grown up, and her ageless beauty was mesmerizing. Looking at her was like being hypnotized by a siren—right before she capsized your ship.
Kato was not impressed. He gave a low grumble in his throat that snapped me out of my stupor.
“Who the spell are you, and what did you do with my parents?” I demanded.
The woman ignored my question and casually pulled a looking glass out of thin air, admiring her reflection in it. After her magical growth spurt, the crown fit perfectly.
“You may call me Queen Griz,” she finally answered with a satisfied smile. She stopped preening and focused her attention to me. “Thank you for cracking open the barrier, by the way. I’ve been meaning to stop by for ages but never had the chance until now. It’s such a shame I have to kill you. You would have made an excellent villain. After all, you’ve caused more damage in one afternoon than most henchmen do in a lifetime. And I didn’t touch your parents. The blame for their loss lies squarely on your shoulders.” She punctuated the your by pointing the mirror in my direction.
Instinctively, my body recoiled from her and her accusations. “Liar,” I snarled. “I have no magic.”
“Tsk, tsk.” Griz let go of the mirror, where it stayed suspended as if held by strings. Now that her hand was empty, she made a few more hand gestures, and I felt my cardigan lift.
Panicked, I held my clothes down, afraid she was trying to magically strip me. But she wasn’t interested in swiping my designer clothes to go along with the stolen crown—just the contents of my custom-made pockets.
The star that Griz’s previous incarnation had given me floated up and away, into the air. As if some glamour had been pulled away, I saw the gift as it really was—not a poorly made child’s craft project but a grisly magical artifact.
“Bone, hair, and blood. I hadn’t factored in the blood. The star should have just killed you outright as the cost for granting the first shallow wish that came to mind, but whatever’s in your veins protected you and reflected the hex outward a hundredfold. Little wish, big consequences.” She smiled wickedly and flung the star back at me.
I caught it just before it smashed into my face. The word wish echoed in my ears. I hadn’t wished for this, not really. All I had wanted was a way out of the stupid arranged marriage. I was just tired of the rules, tired of being told what I could and couldn’t do.
I’m absolutely sure I hadn’t wished for this disaster.