Stormball after stormball crashed through the grove, then nothing. After a solid minute with no new strikes, I whispered, “Maybe she’s moved on.”
There was a slight rustle in the trees just behind us. I looked up and found tiny pinprick holes appearing in the canopy.
What in Grimm’s name was going on now?
Stupidly, I went over to investigate. Face tilted to the sky, I felt a drop on my cheek. I hissed quietly in pain because it burned. Like acid. Somehow the witch was making it rain acid, and it was coming down through the trees. A yip right above me. So not Griz, but the puppies.
I really didn’t want to think about where the acid was coming from. I prayed it was drool. The alternative was too gross to think about.
The puppies spread out in a scatter pattern, making their acid melt through the trees. Rexi’s eyes bugged out and she made weird hand signals.
I mouthed, What?
She exhaled heavily and shook her head. We have to move, she mouthed back.
Right then, some splatter landed on Kato’s wing. With a mighty roar, Kato let the world know his pain.
And our location.
I didn’t think; I just moved, shoving Kato out of the way. Milliseconds later, a stormball crashed in the exact spot where he had been standing.
“I see you,” Griz singsonged directly above us on her cloud.
“Go!” Rexi grabbed my hand and took off.
The world became a blur of gold as leaves whipped past my face. The trees behind us burst into flames, driving us forward. The grove was getting lighter, a sure sign that it was coming to an end.
I pointed to the tree line in front of us. “Split up as soon as we’re out!”
Rexi nodded. We broke through the trees, and I aimed to veer right. My foot hit air.
We had run off a cliff.
“Rule #14: For protection, a princess should never carry something as unladylike as a sword. Kitchen utensils are handy in a pinch.”
—Definitive Fairy-Tale Survival Guide, Volume 1
10
If I Only Had a Head
My dress plumed out around me, but it did nothing to slow my descent. Rexi and I fell like shrieking stones, still holding hands. Kato spread his wings and caught the wind.
I grabbed his paw and prayed to the Storymakers for a miracle. In answer to my prayer, we hovered for a moment. Then we sank again. Kato’s wings weren’t strong enough to support all of our weight.
I let go of him.
Spinning wildly, turning end over end, the force ripped Rexi and I apart.
In my somersaults, I caught glimpses of the earth below. It was blue. My last thoughts before I hit were, Hooray, water is better than jagged rocks, and then, I don’t know how to swim.
The air whooshed out of my lungs as I performed a spectacular belly flop. Momentarily stunned, my head became submerged. When my body decided to obey my brain’s commands again, it was too late. The weight of my dress pulled me down as effectively as any anchor.
The water was cold, and my fingers started to freeze up. I struggled with the pearl buttons at my back. If I could only get this Grimm-forsaken dress off.
My chest burned. The desire to take a breath was nearly overwhelming. As my vision closed in, something hit the water with a big splash. Probably a stormball. Maybe it would get me before I drowned.
Just when I thought I would give in to the urge to inhale, something pushed me to the surface. I started breathing a half beat before my mouth met air. Coughing the water back out of my lungs, I noticed that my hacking echoed. It looked like I had emerged under a shelf in a canyon’s wall.
Starting to sink again, I flailed around in the water for something to grab. My hand hit horn behind me. I grabbed it and turned in the water to see what I hoped was my rescuer. It was Kato. He hadn’t flown off and left me. I wondered if his cannonball dive was the result of a failed attempt at flight or if it had been intentional when my head hadn’t resurfaced. Didn’t matter. On my mental score sheet, I had to add a plus column.
Rule of favor or not, I owed him my life.
Lightning cracked through the sky, electrifying the very air. Thunder boomed as evidence of Griz’s temper tantrum. Out of sight, she screamed in rage from above. “Do yourself a favor and drown, little princess. Because that will be a much kinder fate than what you’ll get the next time I find you.”
A light spot in the dark water caught my eye. It was Rexi’s blond head. She looked totally different with her hair plastered to her head instead of sticking straight up. “Let’s not do that again, okay?” she said, panting and swimming toward us.