Spelled Read online

  “Take. It. Back.”

  For the first time, Rexi looked at me with fear in her eyes—and not just because a curse said I might end the world.

  Her mouth moved but nothing came out.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  “I’m—” Her eyes widened and she pointed behind me. “Look!”

  “Try again.”

  “No really, I swear,” she said earnestly.

  “If she moves, eat her,” I instructed Kato.

  I looked to the treetops where Rexi pointed. According to her makeshift map, we should have been in the Sherwood Forest. If that was true, then the wish had struck here as well; the usually rigid ironwood oaks were now gnarled and twisted. The treetops rustled and swayed like they were alive, but only one at a time. In a pattern. That was moving closer. Fast.

  Weapon—wicked heel—already in hand, I faced the trees and stood my ground to confront our next opponent. With one fight under my sash, I felt a little more prepared to defend myself. Kato joined me, tail swinging high, ready to use like a whip. Rexi got up off the dirt and leaves to complete our defensive line. Well, more like defensive triangle since she stood noticeably behind Kato and I.

  “There.” She pointed at a sparkle of gold moving through the branches.

  I squinted to focus in on any details. My heart stilled, then beat wildly. I could just make out a big, bulky black lump riding a sputtering and clunking broomstick.

  I bounced up and down unevenly on one shoe. “It’s Verte!” It had to be. Please be. “Over here,” I cried, waving my arms.

  “Shhh,” someone chided and whacked my back. I turned, ready to let Rexi have it, but she held up her hands.

  “The dog did it.”

  Sure. Only in this case, she might be right. Kato poked me in the side with his horns, growling a strange combination of gargling and hissing. Wait, when did he get big enough to be waist height?

  “Bad Kato.” I shook my shoe in front of his nose. “Help is here.”

  The broom and its rider crashed down through the trees. Joy leaped through me at the initial sight of black, wiry hair; the feeling quickly dissipated. Verte’s hair only covered her head and maybe a bit under her lip and arms—not her entire body. She also favored the pointiest hat she could find, rather than the boxy gold fez that rolled to my feet.

  “This is help?” Rexi scoffed behind me. “It’s a flying monkey.”

  The party crasher was not technically a monkey, but a gorilla in a finely made tuxedo. Wearing those kind of clothes, he must have been human before…

  Before you and your wish came along, a little voice in my head whispered. It sounded remarkably like a certain snarky servant.

  “Those who were very recently toads have no room to mock,” I countered over my shoulder to the real Rexi, to combat the imaginary Rexi in my head.

  The large gorilla bowed low. “Lady Emerald.”

  A smile tugged on my lips. “Well, it’s about time we met someone with manners—eep.”

  My sentiment was cut short as the gorilla changed his formal greeting into a forward rush, scooping up his hat—and me with it. Before I knew it, he’d flipped me over onto his back like a mountain troll with the catch of the day.

  “Forgive me, but we must make haste,” he said over my shriek while bounding away. “The magical infection has spread to the trees, and we are all in danger of being bushwhacked.”

  I stopped beating him with my shoe long enough to look back at where I’d stood. The knots in the trees trunks made a pattern in the bark, like faces. Angry ones. And the branches, having lost their broomstick-flying prey from the sky, silently bent low and reached out for what was on the ground. Clawlike twigs and branches flexed hungrily, making the Bumpkins seem like cheery woodland sprites.

  “Move!” I yelled.

  Kato was already roaring and chasing after me, though at my holler, he looked behind him. Then he ran faster.

  Rexi stayed put with her arms folded. “I’m done rescuing dimwits in distress.”

  Why do I even bother? I thought to myself.

  Out loud, I yelled, “You’re about to get a splinter the size of a broadsword, SO DUCK!”

  For once, she obeyed without arguing and barely missed being skewered. “AHHH! Why didn’t you warn me sooner?” She scrambled away from a slashing branch.

  The four of us sprinted through the forest—well, technically three, since I was a reduced to bouncing cargo. My ride was fast, much faster than my companions, who trailed farther and farther behind. With nothing else to do, I could only watch helplessly as the trees pulled up their roots and closed in around them.

  Kato tried to hit an oncoming branch attack with his tail, but these trees were not the withered ones from Midas. The ironwood sprouted metal thorns that ripped through Kato’s dragon-hide tail. He howled at the same time Rexi screamed after barely avoiding an impossibly fast acorn bullet.

  I buried my face in the gorilla’s fur. It was bad enough to watch them get hurt knowing I could do nothing—it was soul rending to watch and know the cause of the “magical infection.”

  I wish—no. I’d never wish again. Instead, I offered a broken prayer in the hopes that the Storymakers or the powers of magic itself would hear my plea. Someone…please help them.

  Something sliced up the top of my calf. I inhaled sharply from pain. The fur I’d buried my nose in smelled like animal musk, sandalwood, and roses. The wind picked up harshly and brought the scent of burning wood with it.

  Crackling and popping sounds came from overhead. I looked up, half-afraid of what I might find. A smoking twig claw retreated backward, the tree it belonged to stood tall again instead of stooping low to attack. Normally, I’d freak with anything associated with fire, but it was working in our favor this time.

  The rest of the trees stopped advancing as well and formed a semicircle border behind us. Once they had re-rooted themselves to the ground, they froze in place.

  “What are they doing?” I muttered to myself.

  The gorilla answered, “It would seem you are not very tasty. And they are most likely petrified, since a Maker’s workshop chose to appear in their forest.”

  “Huh?” Confused, I twisted my back to look where we were going instead of where we’d been. At the same time, the gorilla stopped running and let go of me. I fell to the ground and landed nose to nose with some sort of worm. It had a green body the size of my fist, a salt-and-pepper mustache, and wore large, round spectacles. He blinked at me and, seemingly unimpressed with what he saw, inched back to a tower of books stacked by half of a stone building. If this was the workshop that supposedly “appeared,” the other half didn’t make the trip.

  “Why are we stopping? I thought stopping equaled dying,” Rexi huffed. She and Kato staggered into the magical clearing, out of breath. “Hey, was this thing here a minute ago?”

  “‘Chose to appear.’ That’s what…” I realized I didn’t know the ape’s name. There hadn’t been time for introductions. Would I have bothered to ask even if there had been time? How long has Rexi worked as the kitchen girl and I just learned her name yesterday?

  “What’s your name?” I whispered, so Rexi wouldn’t hear and say something to embarrass me further.

  “Nikko,” he answered just as quietly before righting the fez atop his head again and peering up at me gratefully.

  “‘Chose to appear’ is what Nikko said.”

  “Every wizard has a workshop,” he clarified. “The more powerful the wizard, the more magical the workshop. And a Maker bends magic and fate at will, so it’s not surprising that their workshops can too. Although this one does seem to be in a state of disrepair.”

  “Understatement,” Rexi grumbled under her breath.

  Bookshelves lined the two and a half walls, and the layer of dust was every bit as thick as the books it covered. Still, the workshop was proof a Maker had heard my prayer.

  “I think it’s, um, charming, and we should just be grateful it pop
ped up and not be so quick to judge by appearances,” I said.

  Rexi opened her mouth to mock but a tail whack upside the head cut off whatever unpleasant thing she might have said. Instead, she switched her focus off me and narrowed her eyes at Nikko. “Not that I believe for a second that this place is what you claim, but how do you know so much about wizards, Makers, and magic? I don’t think you found us by accident.”

  “Of course not,” Nikko said brightly, unaware or uncaring of Rexi’s implied meaning. “I’ve been sent to bring the Emerald Princess home.” He offered me his arm. “Shall we go?”

  Suddenly, it felt like the three suns would come out tomorrow after all, that birds were chirping again instead of being eaten by fungi, and surely, my happy ever after was right around the corner waiting for me.

  “Sent by who?” Rexi asked, not buying it.

  “By Mick, the Magnificent Wizard of—”

  “That’s why you smelled like that yucky incense,” I interrupted, making the connection.

  “So you know who he’s talking about?” Rexi asked me.

  “Yeah. Remember all those singing telegrams and gifts baskets that started showing up about six months ago?”

  “I think so,” Rexi said slowly. “Did they smell like someone dumped a bucket of perfume on them?”

  “Yup, those were from Mick. He might have some obsession issues, but he’s also a wizard, so maybe he’s teamed up with Verte back at the palace to help undo the whole wish thing.”

  Maybe they’d even already managed to bring back my parents.

  Rexi gave a wary look to the vicious yet still unmoving trees, then shrugged. “Okay, then what are we waiting for?”

  Nikko put a hand out, stopping Rexi. “I’m sorry, I should have been clearer. The princess and I are going alone.”

  “When invited over to a tea party, the only acceptable behavior is to eat every last crumb and drop. Then, even if it turns you big or small, don’t forget to say thank you with a tip of the hat.”

  —Hatter’s Mad Manners

  12

  Friends of a Feather

  Everything got a whole lot louder as the three of us yelled at Nikko. Or roared in Kato’s case. Nikko slowly backed away from the very real possibility that he might be eaten by the ever-growing beast.

  “It’s not by my choice, I assure you,” Nikko said.

  I positioned myself between ape and winged dragon mutt. Probably not the smartest place to be, but I was too pixed to care.

  “Whose choice is it then? My palace, my rules. And I say we go home together.”

  “That’s right,” Rexi said while slowly scooting closer to the building of books and out of Kato-tail range. “Tell him who’s boss.”

  Great. Now she recognizes my position.

  Nikko turned his fez over in his hands. “My apologies, Princess, but it’s not your palace we’re going to. We’re off to see the wizard at the Ivory Tower. It’s not far, but my master was most insistent that I only bring you.”

  Normally I’d yell and scream until I got my way, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t work here. Nikko was just following orders, and you do not disobey someone who has the power to turn you into slimy green things. Just ask Rexi.

  So instead, I held my tongue and thought about what to do: Stick to Verte’s more dangerous plan, or stay safely in a tower and wait to be rescued? Chasing rainbows hadn’t worked out so well and the wizard might be able to just poof my parents back. But I couldn’t leave Rexi and Kato behind on a might.

  Well, I could, and it would serve Rexi right for attacking me. But then Kato would probably eat her, and then he’d get indigestion…

  I sighed. “If you’re positive that we all can’t go, then you’ll have to go to the Ivory Tower without me too.”

  “I knew you’d ditch us…” Rexi spat out, then paused mid-stomp. “Wait…really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Oh. Hmph.” Rexi suddenly became very interested in the scrolls along the closest shelf.

  Kato sat on his haunches and growled at me. I had no clue what that meant.

  Nikko smiled and patted my arm. “Loyalty is a noble quality, so I won’t ask you again to betray it. Thank you for invoking the protection of Oz back at the trees.” He looked off in the distance and shuddered. “Now to deliver the news to him.” Nikko ran away, even faster now that he wasn’t carrying me.

  What was he talking about? I didn’t do anything. “Hey, wait!” I called, but he was already gone. I took two steps and realized I’d lost my shoes after my last fall. One ruby heel was within reach, the other had—

  “Ew, get away from that one-of-a-kind Hans Christian Louboutin shoe!” The bibliobug or whatever had its slimy green body wrapped around my right heel. I reached down to pry it off, but when I touched the worm, it puffed out a little cloud of green dust that smelled like moldy bread.

  Now I had the overwhelming desire to sneeze. To my embarrassment, the sound that came out was nothing even remotely close to a ladylike achoo. It was more like howling hurricane-force gusts—including the spray.

  “Nice one, Sneezy,” Rexi chortled.

  She should know better than to mess with me in the middle of a shoe crisis, so I replied with the well-recognized dwarf hand sign telling her to heigh-ho herself off a cliff.

  “Fine, Princess. Walk barefoot for all I care, but let’s get going before these trees snap out of their trance and shish kebab us. Besides, it’ll be dark soon.”

  Finding a shelter, with four walls no less, made perfect sense. So why did I not want to budge? “I don’t think they’ll come any closer. Maybe we should stay. I have this feeling that we’re supposed to be here.”

  Rexi threw her hands up in the air. “And I have this feeling you’re delusional, probably delirious from shopping withdrawal and hunger.”

  A very loud grumble from Kato’s stomach put him firmly in agreement. Even my traitorous tummy cramped and reminded me of its emptiness.

  Rexi started walking “First food, then sleep. Tomorrow we can keep looking for that rainbow and your moldy green witch.”

  Without proof that the trees would stay petrified or a steak dinner would magically appear, I couldn’t convince them to stay. And just like I didn’t want to leave them behind, I didn’t want to get left behind either.

  When I didn’t argue, Kato took that as a sign to get going. Or he got tired of listening and too hungry to care. He put his nose to the ground and padded off to the west faster than any of Dad’s hunting hounds.

  I took one last look at the piles of books and the bespectacled bug. He puffed another little cloud of dust and went back to munching the quill pictured on a leather tome. The image had been engraved in sparkly red ink. Guess the bugger really liked red.

  Rexi whistled. “Are you coming?”

  “Yeah,” I said and hurriedly reclaimed my shoes while the bibliobug was busy with his snack.

  Keeping her back to me, she started talking before I reached her. “So I’m sure that you just wanted someone to boss around, but that was kinda cool. You know, not ditching us and stuff. You might not be entirely worthless.” Without waiting for a response, she ran to catch up with Kato.

  It was not even remotely close to an apology but better than a punch in the face or a dagger in the back.

  The moment Kato smelled something, his whole posture changed. First he went rigid; then he pranced circles around Rexi and I, trying to get us to move faster. A sweet smell wafted on the wind just as the three of us stumbled to the cusp of the meadow that housed the big black spike. The aged, spiraling metal came out of a greenhouse full of plants, flowers, and flutterbeaks. There was also a modest house in the midst of periwinkle blue wildflowers. It gave off a much better vibe than Hydra’s little shack of horrors.

  The perfection was marred by high-pitched trills. Someone was singing—badly. A short woman with a rather round middle sang while she hung laundry on a line. Black, feathery hair hung down her back. Everything el
se about her—scarf to ankle boots—was pink. Even her skin was rosy in its coloring.

  “We are in the west. There’s a spire. Do you think this is Black Crow? The name sounds ominous, but I’d say the whole bubblegum theme makes her look nice and cheery,” I whispered to Rexi, since I knew it was pointless to ask Kato. His dripping saliva answered for him.

  A pie wafted delicious-smelling steam from an open window. That clenched the decision for everyone. After over a day with no food, we had devolved into creatures ruled by our stomachs. Kato’s rumbled extremely loudly as way of introduction.

  “Who’s there?” The woman turned around, startled enough that she dropped the hot-pink knickers she’d been hanging on the line.

  Either we looked really scary, or we smelled really scary. Most likely we just looked like we’d been to spell and back. Kato, in particular, was starting to look less cuddly and more wild beast.

  The woman gathered her hot-pink poodle skirt and ran toward us, getting within touching distance of Kato. She pulled her hand back at the last second. “May I?”

  I thought she was addressing me, but her gaze was honed in on Kato. He, in turn, looked at me and shrugged his wings as if saying, Do you think she’ll feed me if I let her?

  “Um, he doesn’t talk, but I think it’s okay if you touch him,” I said, trying to get the woman’s attention.

  She looked at me for the first time, her eyes large and magnified through Fairy Fizz Bottle glasses.

  Her attention to me was brief, and then it was all about Kato again. Instead of petting him, she clinically pulled back his lips and examined his fangs, turned his head this way and that, and even looked up his nose. I’m surprised he didn’t bite her. “Fascinating,” she murmured. “A fine adolescent chimera such as yourself should be able to speak.”