The sun is not even close to gracing us with its presence, but someone is outside our turret window—and we live fourteen stories up. I rush over, open the stained glass window, and look out at the boy in pajamas sitting atop my favorite Pegasus, Macho. “Jax?”
“Hi,” he says, sounding completely calm for someone who is breaking half a dozen FTRS rules by being outside, in the air, in the middle of the night, and stealing a Pegasus. After yesterday’s attack on the village, Flora forbade us from even going outside. Macho’s bright-white coat gleams almost silver in the moonlight, accentuating his majestic purple wings. “We need to powwow pronto. Ollie and Maxine think they’ve got something. Can you come outside?”
I look down, down, down at the ground so far below. The grounds are lit faintly by torches and an eerie silver glow that we suspect is Rumpelstiltskin’s protection charm. “You want me to jump from my window onto Macho?” He nods like it’s as easy as teaching one of the Three Blind Mice to swordfight (which Blackbeard is doing, by the way).
“Macho will hold steady, won’t you?” Jax asks, and Macho neighs in response.
Pegasi can understand human thoughts and words, which I still find pretty cool.
“But he can’t get closer.” I stare at his large wingspan. “I’ll have to jump.”
Kayla nudges me out of the way and flies out the window, landing right behind Jax. She smiles smugly. “That was easy.”
“Says the fairy with wings.” I grab my boots, slipping them onto my bare feet. Then I hold up my nightgown, climb onto the small window ledge, and don’t look down. Jax flies around again, getting as close as possible, which isn’t all that close. I’m going to have to jump at least two to three feet.
“One, two, three,” Jax coaxes me as Kayla clings to his back.
The air feels cool and it’s breezier than I’d expected, but I take a deep breath and jump. Jax and Kayla have their hands out to catch me, and my hands are ready to meet theirs. Whoosh! A gust blows my nightgown up, and instinctively I pull it back down when I should be grabbing my friends’ hands.
“Gilly!” Kayla screeches as I fall past Macho and plummet downward. I throw my hands out again, and at the last second they wind around Macho’s loose reins. He gives a neigh in protest. “Would you rather I fall?” I ask him.
Jax grins. “We wouldn’t have let you, thief. Macho clocks in at thirty miles an hour. We could have booked down and caught you before you went splat in the moat.”
“Reassuring.” I climb behind Kayla and hang on tight as Macho takes off, flying around the rooftop of the castle, which I’ve only seen once before. “So can you tell me what’s so important that I needed to jump out a window?”
Jax’s hair whips around his face as Macho flies, but his face darkens as a cloud blocks the moonlight. “Maxine received a new message on her scroll.”
I yawn. “And she couldn’t show it to us in the morning?”
“I forgot we haven’t gotten you up to speed,” Jax explains. “We’re pretty sure the mole is one of the princesses.”
“What?” I say and almost fall off Macho. His wing pushes me back on behind Kayla.
“The note Maxine got while you were off learning how to fold napkins said as much,” says Kayla.
“And Maxine said this note is even more urgent,” Jax explains, pulling Macho’s reins tighter. The Pegasus soars to new heights. “We have to act now.”
It’s strange to see the castle bathed in darkness, the moat reflecting moonlight below while the occupants of FTRS are fast asleep. From high above, Fairy Tale Reform School looks peaceful. But we are anything but safe. Alva’s army is growing. Two dozen students went missing after yesterday’s attacks and many villagers as well. Alva’s not going to stop ’til she has us all.
At least my family is safe. When we heard about the attack on the village, we feared the worst about Han and Hamish. Thankfully, Mother received word via magic carpet that the children at Mother Goose Nursery got to safety before the school was destroyed and our boot is still standing. “For now,” Father said grimly. His words still echo in my head, along with the message on the threatening note he received. Tell Gillian to be a charming girl and do what she’s told. I rub my arms to keep warm. If I want to end this, I may have to take the fall for all of us just like Harlow said. And if I do that, what will happen to my family?
Macho swoops down, going around the gardens and the observatory before he heads toward the lake. The sails of Blackbeard’s ship billow in the breeze as Jax lands Macho on a freshly swabbed deck that gleams.
We’ve barely loosened our grips when scrappy-looking pirates come from every corner of the deck with swords drawn and shouting variations on “Aargh!” and “Avast! Intruders!” Jax is attempting to take off again when we hear someone yell, “Stop!”