Dear Diary,
Remember when I mentioned I
knew where the fairies lived? Well. I had no idea how right I was. I know
Leanne used magic to get us here. To open that door into her realm. But I also
knew it was the same place I had been with Red Cap. That same place with the
vines that fed on blood and doors that held monsters behind them. Whether
Leanne was trying to trap Chantel or keep me here for punishment, I had no idea
what to do.
Leanne smiled and laughed and
looked beautiful and horrible and victorious. I don’t really understand the
thing with Chantel and her that’s going on but Leanne seemed to think she had
won some fight. And then the awful truth was revealed: we were stuck here
forever. In her realm, with her people. The cuts on my arms from the vines were
still fresh and red and I tried not to let the obvious fear show on my face.
Then Leanne vanished and we
were left alone in the underground fae world. We started walking, trying to
find a way to the court, because Chantel mentioned something about fairies
liking being challenged. Which I guess means we’re going to challenge her to something.
I’m not really sure what because this is all so bizarre. Just like every other
day here, it seems.
Caleb ran off once he saw a
pool of water with a moon changing phases rapidly above it. I guess the fairy
dust I blew on him will wash off if he bathes in a pool under a new moon. It’s
random and bizarre, but I guess that’s how fairies tend to work. We followed
only to see a large troll guarding the bridge. Caleb said something about goats
and the troll laughed, which gave him the chance to get down to the pool.
Chantel and I decided to try
something other than running away, and we managed to convince the troll to let
us tell him a story each in exchange for the right to walk across the bridge to
the court. He also asked for one portion of the fairy dust that I had acquired.
I gave it to him, and we sat down and began to tell him stories. Here’s what I
decided to tell him:
Once upon a time there was a
great and clever King. He had two children, a son and a daughter. They were
clever children and all the King said he could ever want. And then the great
King discovered magic, for his kingdom never had magic before and had existed
as a quiet but clever land.
The first time the King felt
the touch of magic, he thought the world he had known was small and incomplete,
and knew that from now on he would want the beauty and power that magic
brought. And so he kept finding more and more magic ot have in his life.
His children grew concerned for
the king, for his obsession had begun to warp their kingdom into something ugly
and dangerous, but the king’s blindness could not let him see what was
happening to his people and his children. One day, the young prince demanded
that the King stop inviting magic into the kingdom.
The king, in a rage from his
son’s disobedience, struck the boy and banished his children from the land. The
princess and the prince fled, living as paupers in a nearby kingdom, where the
news of their father’s madness continued to spread. Soon, non would venture to
the kingdom for fear of the king’s contempt.
Finally, the prince could stand
no more and went to confront his father the King. He went to the palace late at
night, and even though he asked his sister, the princess, to come with him, she
would not, but waited impatiently for his return. The prince never returned. In
the morning, news of the Prince’s death in the palace reached the land and the
kingdom mourned.
The King, aghast at what his
son had sacrificed to make him realize his own destruction, banished the magic
he had gained from the kingdom and welcomed the grief stricken princess back.
And while the King and the Princess pretended everything was normal and good
again, the kingdom was ruined and never the same after.
I didn’t really mean to tell
him a fairy tale about my life. Not really, anyways. At least I didn’t say they
moved to a new kingdom and pretended that none of it ever happened. That the
princess started calling herself an only child to go along with the stupid
story her parents came up with so that no one would ask questions or
investigate what happened. Suicide. Right.
I can’t
tell you how we’re going to get out of this shit show. Vincent’s powers are
gone. I stopped him. Caleb’s wolf form is back but I don’t think that’s any use
against a fairy queen. Chantel doesn’t seem to know what to do either other
than challenge her. Israel’s been arrested. And I know we can’t count on Ardath
for anything but more trouble. I guess if it comes down to it I could always
sacrifice myself to Leanne for punishment if it means Chantel and Caleb get
out. At least some of us will make it out alive then. At least Chantel will be
okay.
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