The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 12
The demon Etsop led us out to the front of his store. When he looked around to make sure nothing was watching him, he didn’t turn his head. His whole body turned when he moved, as if he was scared to
Fairy tales are real.
Rose Briar is a diabetic college student without insurance. She’s been scraping by through a combination of maxing out credit cards and relying upon the kindness of strangers.
Unfortunately, she’s spent every dollar at her disposal. There’s no money left to buy her life-saving insulin.
Without her medication, Rose falls into a diabetic coma. She tumbles into a deep slumber and wakes up in a fantastical place called the Dream Realm, where fairy tales and legends of old are still very much alive.
She has one chance to wake up.
She must trek across the world, visit the most powerful object in the land, the Obsidian Spindle, and entreat with the fates; the only beings powerful enough to send her soul back to Earth.
But evil forces don’t want her to leave. They will stop at nothing to capture her and make sure she never goes home again.
Now, with the help of her half-gorgon girlfriend and a mysterious red rider, Rose must race across the land fighting dragons, monsters, and the forces of the Wicked Witch, Nimue, in order to reach the Obsidian Spindle before her body dies on Earth and she’s trapped in the Dream Realm forever.
Will she be able to wake up? Can she survive? Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.
The demon Etsop led us out to the front of his store. When he looked around to make sure nothing was watching him, he didn’t turn his head. His whole body turned when he moved, as if he was scared to break his brittle bones. “You can never be too careful. Not with these frail human bodies.”
“What are you doing?” Jamil asked.
“Just be patient. You younglings need to know everything so quickly. I run a business and wouldn’t get very far if I mistreated my customers. It will all be revealed soon enough.” He pulled a long pole from its holster on the side of the building and used it to reach toward the roof. “Come on.”
I heard something latch above me. Etsop pushed the pole higher, and a large zipper appeared on the top of the store. “There we go.”
As Etsop pulled the zipper, the front of the store dropped away. In the place of the crumbling façade was a blue and green neon tapestry with a woven door in the center. Night fell over us, and once the zipper was on the ground, all that I could see of Jamil and Etsop were the illuminated pupils of their eyes, their teeth, and their fingernails.
“Come this way,” Etsop said, opening the door to the shop again. This time when I entered, dozens of different animal screams filled the air—animals of all types, though I had never heard their cries before on Earth.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“My store, of course.”
“I’ve been to your store.” I raised an eyebrow. “It suuuucks.”
“Think of this as my other store. While the pet business is not very lucrative, my business helping the magical creatures of the world is booming.”
I stopped to look at a glowing bird behind wrought iron bars. It looked like a parrot, but fatter, with razor sharp teeth poking out of its beak.
“It’s way cooler than your other store.”
“Don’t touch anything,” Etsop said, slapping my hand when I tried to pet the bird. “Not only are they prohibitively expensive, but many will also lead you to alternate dimensions, or send you straight to Hell, or fill you with an incurable disease which would kill you very painfully.”
“We don’t have a lot of money,” Jamil said. “So, I’m hoping we can work out a deal.”
“A deal,” Etsop said, sliding behind the counter with a chuckle. “With a demon? Well, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Funny,” I said.
“I’m kidding, of course.” Etsop placed his hands on the counter in front of him. “I’m sure we can work something out. After all, you are only looking for information, and information is incredibly cheap in this day and age. The real money is in ingredients for incantations.”
“So, we don’t need an incantation to get to the Dream Realm?”
“No, all you need is to find the right door.” Etsop pulled a crystal ball out from under the counter. “First, though, what we need to do is find where your friend is located. Do you have anything of great sentimental value that I could use to track her down?”
I looked down at my wrist. Rose had given me a friendship bracelet when we first started dating. I thought it was corny at the time, but never once took it off. I reached down and yanked it off my hand. “Here you go.”
Etsop held the string bracelet over the ball. He mumbled something I couldn’t understand, and then his eyes rolled back in his head, leaving only the whites pulsing with white light in time with the ball.
“Oh, good,” Etsop said, massaging the ball. “She is in Critterton. That is the nicest and least threatening place in the whole of the Dream Realm.”
“That’s good. That’s good, right?”
“Very good, unless—oh, no. Oh dear.”
“What is it?”
Etsop’s eyes rolled back to the front of his head. “Well, it seems the Wicked Witch has learned of your friend’s entrance into the Dream Realm, and even now works to find her.”
“The Wicked Witch. You’ve gotta be kidding. That’s a character from a fairy tale.”
“That’s just the name given to her by others. Her real name is Nimue, and she is the queen regent of all of the Dream Realm. She has been trapped there for centuries and longs to return to our world. She covets dreamers above all others, as she believes them the secret to her returning to Earth.” Etsop leaned in toward me and spoke in a harsh whisper. “I’m afraid you must hurry, or your paramour will be lost forever.”
“Then I need to enter the Dream Realm and get her to the Obsidian Spindle immediately.” I stood up straight and looked around, searching for something to help me get there.
“You know of the Spindle. Good. Very good. That saves us a lot of time.” Etsop held up a long, pointed finger. “I have a list of entrances into the Dream Realm. Be careful, though. While there are many doors into the Realm, there is only one door back out. Once you’re in, you must go to the Obsidian Spindle, for that is where the exit is. Understood?”
I nodded. “I understand. Where am I going?”
Etsop faltered and gave a slight cough. “First, the manner of your payment. I will offer this information on one condition. Someday hence, I will call on you to perform a favor. This favor will not harm anybody you love or care about, nor will it get you arrested or killed. However, you must carry out this favor without question, and follow it to the letter. Agreed?”
“And if I don’t?”
Etsop cleared his throat. “Then I will get angry. And you will not like me when I’m angry.”
There was no other option. “In that case, I accept.”
“Very good,” he said, pulling out a big book from under his counter. “Now, let’s begin.”
Fairy tales are real.
Find out by reading The Sleeping Beauty today. If you love mythology, fairy tales, and dark fantasy, then you’ll love the first book in The Obsidian Spindle Saga.
Paid subscribers can access the entire archive of this series from the beginning, along with other series and every article I’ve ever written. If you aren’t a paid subscriber, you can access the archive for free with a 7-day trial.