CHAPTER FOUR
A WEDDING IN THE WOODS
Alex spent the following afternoon on the grand balcony of the Fairy Palace. She leaned on the railing and gazed at the beautiful sights around her. Everywhere she looked she could see fairies of all shapes and sizes preparing the palace and the gardens for the Inaugural Ball. Every flower bloomed a little brighter, every pond rippled a bit clearer, and every bird’s chirp was a little merrier. The whole kingdom was buzzing with excitement for the ball… except for Alex.
A year ago Alex had wanted nothing more than to live with her grandmother in the Land of Stories. Just the idea of learning magic and becoming a fairy had seemed like a stretch, but here she was, days away from being introduced to society as a new member of the Fairy Council. It was more than she could ever have wished for, more than she would ever have thought possible, and maybe more than she could handle.
After defeating Ezmia, the evil Enchantress, she had proven herself capable of leading the fairy-tale world—but perhaps she still hadn’t proven it to herself yet.
A large shadow eclipsed the balcony and Alex looked up to see Mother Goose and Lester descending from the sky above.
“Hey, kiddo! I’ve got something to tell you!” Mother Goose called down. Lester landed on the balcony and Mother Goose dismounted and joined Alex at the railing.
“What is it?” Alex asked. She eyed a questionable sack of gold coins Mother Goose was clutching to her side.
Mother Goose cautiously looked around the balcony to make sure no one was in earshot. “Now, don’t tell anyone you heard this from me, but I just ran into some friends of yours in the Dwarf Forests,” she told her.
“What were you doing in the Dwarf Forests?”
“I was playing my weekly card game with a few of my gambling buddies, but that’s not the point.” Mother Goose held the sack of gold coins a little tighter. “I bumped into Jack and Goldilocks. They had some very exciting news to share with me and wanted to pass it along to you.”
“What is it?” Alex asked eagerly. The last time she saw Jack and Goldilocks had been the night Bob proposed to her mom at the Charming Palace. She had always wondered what kind of mischief they had been up to since then.
“Apparently they’re getting married!” Mother Goose said.
Alex happily clapped her hands. “That’s incredible news!”
“I guess Jack popped the question while they were in combat with a gaggle of Corner Kingdom soldiers—he said he knew it would make Goldilocks swoon,” Mother Goose said.
“When are they getting married?” Alex asked.
“This evening! Just before dusk in the Dwarf Forests! Talk about short notice,” Mother Goose told her. “They decided it would be best to do it with as little notice as possible. You know how cautious fugitives get about their whereabouts. They asked me to officiate the ceremony and pass along an invitation to you.”
“Well, that is short notice but I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” Alex was suddenly happy that her grandmother was forcing her to take the week off. “But where in the Dwarf Forests?”
“They told me to meet them in the clearing just south of the dwarf mines,” Mother Goose said with a shrug and an eye roll. “I don’t know why they want to have their wedding there—maybe all the swamps were booked? Anyway, the guest list is very exclusive; only a few people know it’s even happening, so keep it to yourself, especially around here. You know how judgmental these fairy folks get when any of us try to have a little fun now and then.”
“How exciting!” Alex said. “I can’t wait. I think a wedding is just what I need to distract myself from all this Inaugural Ball business.”
“Tell me about it,” Mother Goose said. “I hope I’m still good for it. The last time I officiated a wedding, Puss in Boots drank all my bubbly and started playing a fiddle, a cow convinced everyone he could jump over the moon, and an enchanted dish ran off with a spoon. You know it’s a good party when even the china gets into a little hanky-panky—but I’ll tell you more about that another time.”
Mother Goose hopped aboard Lester, took his reins, and they flew back into the sky.
Alex was thankful to have something to think about besides the Inaugural Ball. She left the Fairy Palace a good hour or two before dusk to meet Cornelius so they would have enough time to travel to the dwarf mines. However, when she went to meet him in the field just outside the gardens, an even greater distraction was waiting for her.
“Hello there,” said a smooth voice Alex wasn’t expecting. She stopped in her tracks. Across the field near the edge of the stream, she saw Cornelius lying on his back and Farmer Robins’s son rubbing his belly like a kitten.
“What are you doing here?” Alex asked, and placed a hand on her wand. She couldn’t be too sure what his intentions were.
“I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” the farmer’s son said, walking closer to her.
The truth was Alex didn’t mind at all, but she wasn’t about to let him know that. “How did you find me?”
“I didn’t—I found your unicorn,” he explained. “He wasn’t hard to pick out. I assumed if I found him I would eventually see you again.”
Alex had to assess the situation twice. First, as a fairy, she assumed the boy whom she had recently helped was probably seeking her help again. Second, as a fourteen-year-old girl, hearing that a cute boy wanted to see her made her blush.
“Well, here I am. What can I help you with?” Alex said collectedly.
“I don’t need help with anything,” the farmer’s son said. “I just wanted to thank you for what you did at our farm. My father hates fairies, especially when they help us out, but I know deep down inside he’s grateful, too.”
Alex nodded. “You’re very welcome—wait, what’s your name?” she asked.
“My name is Rook,” he said. “Rook Robins.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Rook,” Alex said. “And you never have to thank me. Helping people is what we do best. Now if you’ll please excuse me, Cornelius and I have somewhere we need to be—”
“Wait.” Rook stepped between her and Cornelius. “Before you go, I have something I wanted to ask you.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
Rook looked at his feet and kicked a rock near his foot. “The truth is, you’re different from any other fairy I’ve ever met. You’re not all sparkles and bubbles, and you aren’t afraid to get your hands dirty. I really like you and I’ve been thinking about you an awful lot since I saw you at the farm.”
Alex could feel her heart start to beat a little faster, but she ignored it, not wanting to get her hopes up. Where was he going with this?
“You can say no and I would understand, but I was wondering, would you like to take a walk or something with me sometime?” Rook said. He was scared to ask the question and terrified to hear her answer.
Alex stopped completely: She stopped breathing, she stopped thinking, and she was pretty sure her heart stopped beating. She forgot about everything on her mind—the Fairy Inaugural Ball, Jack and Goldilocks’s wedding, her name, who she was, where she was, and everything else important. All she could think about was the attractive boy in front of her, his floppy hair, his hazel eyes, and how he wanted to take a walk with her.
With every second that Alex stayed quiet, Rook’s face fell a little more into a frown.
“That’s all right, I understand,” Rook said. “You’re a fairy and I’m just a farmer’s son. I should have known better than even to have asked.”
He turned around and headed out of the field, muttering to himself how stupid he was.
“No, wait!” Alex barely regained control of her senses before it was too late. “I would love to go for a walk with you sometime.”
Rook jerked his whole body back toward her. “You would?” he said with a goofy grin. “Well, that’s… that’s… splendid!”
The two stood silently for a moment with giddy smiles frozen on their faces.
“When will you be free?” Rook asked.
“Is tomorrow evening good? Same place, same time?”
“That would be wonderful,” Rook said. “I’ll meet you in this field tomorrow.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Alex said.
“Enjoy the rest of your day—wait, what’s your name?”
“My name is Alex,” she said. “Alex Bailey.”
Rook was smiling from ear to ear. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Alex.” He jogged out of the forest with a confident jump in his step.
Alex finally understood what people meant when they said they had butterflies in their stomach. She felt a jittery tingling sensation sweep through her whole body as if a thousand butterflies were migrating inside of her. A huge smile appeared on her face.
Cornelius got to his feet and walked to Alex’s side. He blew a gust of air in her face and bared his teeth in a flirty smile.
“Oh stop it, Cornelius,” Alex said. “We’re just two people who have decided to go on a walk together, that’s all. It’s nothing more than that.”
Cornelius neighed; Alex wasn’t fooling anyone, especially herself. This was a much bigger deal than she wanted to admit.
“Oh my gosh, the wedding! We better get going or I’ll be late!” she said. “It’s crazy how fast time goes by when you’re—”
Cornelius batted his eyelashes and sighed, teasing her to no end.
“No, when you’re running late,” Alex said.
Alex climbed onto Cornelius’s back and the two headed west to the Dwarf Forests as the sun began to descend. Galloping across the land at Cornelius’s magically enhanced pace made the trip go by fairly quickly, and the thoughts percolating in Alex’s head made it seem that much faster.
After all the tribulations she and her brother had gone through in their young lives, until this moment Alex had never had any head space to think about boys. She’d always assumed one day she might meet someone and fall in love, but as she got older it never dawned on her that one day could be getting closer. And now she couldn’t help but ask herself if that moment had arrived already.
Was Alex at the beginning of her own classic love story or just entering a stage of adulthood? Was she about to experience romance for the first time in her life or just a mild case of puppy love? Did Alex even want to be invested in someone this early in her life or should she put all her energy into her fairy training?
She couldn’t believe how much excitement and mystery one boy had brought into her life so quickly. Was it too early to say she was enjoying this newfound excitement? Would it lead to more exciting experiences? Could Rook Robins be the love of her life or would there be other boys in her future? And if there would be others, did that mean Rook would break her heart?
Alex knew she of all people needed to protect herself. She had been working too hard to let a silly boy come in and ruin everything she had achieved. She couldn’t let him hurt her, distract her from her goals, and—most important—if things went askew she couldn’t let him turn her into something or someone she wasn’t: She couldn’t let anything turn her into Ezmia.
Since he had caused her head to spin in so many directions just by asking her to go on a walk, she realized how deeply a bad experience might affect her. The purer the heart, the easier it was to scar, and Alex’s heart was as pure as they came.
“Alex, get ahold of yourself,” she whispered under her breath. “Just because you’re a fourteen-year-old girl doesn’t mean you need to think like one. He just wants a walk, not marriage.”
Thankfully, before she could overanalyze the situation to death, Alex and Cornelius crossed into the Dwarf Forests. It didn’t matter how old or powerful she became, the thick and dangerous woods of the Dwarf Forests always gave Alex the creeps. These woods were home to some of her worst memories and to some of the worst creatures that lived in the Land of Stories.
She guided Cornelius up one of the only paved paths in the territory and followed a sign that pointed in the direction of the dwarf mines. Just before they reached the mines, a spacious clearing came into view. The clearing had been staged like an outdoor chapel. Two dozen logs had been positioned like bench seats facing the front where a large boulder stood like a pulpit. Carved into the pulpit were the initials J & G, surrounded by a heart.
“Go find some grass to eat, Cornelius,” Alex said as she hopped off the unicorn. “I’ll come get you as soon as the wedding is over. But don’t go too far; these woods aren’t exactly unicorn friendly.”
Cornelius trotted over to the other side of the clearing while Alex looked for a place to sit. She was one of the first guests to arrive.
A man with a thick, curly mustache and a heavy black cloak sat at the front near the pulpit. A witch who was missing her left arm and most of her teeth sat in the very back with a small troll that had gray skin and large horns.
Sitting in the center of the makeshift chapel was a woman Alex could have picked out in any crowd. She was sitting alone, wearing a large, fluffy red coat that covered most of her body. A tiny red hat with a matching feather was perched on top of her very stylish blonde hairdo, and she wore a pair of round glasses with red lenses in an attempt to conceal her identity. She glared at the people and creatures around her, anxious about being in their presence.
“Red, it’s so good to see you!” Alex said and took a seat next to the covered queen. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here—”
“Shhh!” Red said, and pressed a finger against her mouth. “Keep your voice down. I don’t want anyone to know who I am.”