The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 18
Rose held me for a full five minutes once we stopped, deep in the dark woods. When she finally pulled away, she kissed me gently.
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.
Rose held me for a full five minutes once we stopped, deep in the dark woods. When she finally pulled away, she kissed me gently.
“You came for me,” she whispered.
“Of course I came for you. I will always come for you.”
She smiled. “You’ve always said that, but I would be lying if I said I believed you.”
“That’s okay. I believed it enough for both of us.”
A twig snapped in the distance, and the feeling of danger swirled in my stomach. I had been lost in my blissful reunion with Rose, and for a moment it was like we were on our own little island. That feeling had to go away if we wanted to survive.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing her arm. “We have to get out of these woods.”
“How?” Rose walked briskly through the brush. “We don’t even know how to get to the Obsidian Spindle.”
“I know the way,” a squeaky voice chirped.
I looked around but didn’t see anything. “Who are you? Show yourself.”
“Our kind has made that mistake before, to our detriment. How do I know you are trustworthy?”
“We’re very trustworthy,” Rose said, nodding and looking around.
“So, I’m just supposed to take your word? That’s gotten plenty of my kind killed.”
I shook my head and started walking again. “Forget this. We’ll figure it out ourselves. We don’t have time for your games.”
Dozens of pastel lights twinkled around us, like glowing raindrops suspended in the sky. “Don’t you? There are many dangers in these woods. You have never been here before. I would recognize you.”
“No, we haven’t,” Rose said, pausing to watch the lights.
“Don’t encourage them,” I said.
“Why not? If it’s dangerous here, we need a guide.”
I turned around to face her. “And what if she’s lying to us?”
“I guess you’ll just have to trust me,” the voice said.
Rose ignored the voice, narrowing her eyes. “How is me trusting you different from you trusting me?”
“Easy. I know my way, and you don’t. I could survive very easily without you, but I doubt the same can be said about you.”
“That’s not fair,” Rose said. “We’ve survived this long.”
The voice chimed in again. “And yet, you are even now being chased by the Queen’s Guard and these are strange, unknown woods. Odds are, you won’t survive much longer.”
“She’s right,” Rose said.
Despite my disgust with the voice, I couldn’t disagree. “Fine!” I said, stomping my foot. “How do we prove our trustworthiness?”
“Simply answer my questions honestly. If you do, I will reveal myself.”
I gritted my teeth. “Ask your questions then.”
“What brings you to the Enchanted woods?”
I eyed Rose, who cleared her throat before she spoke. “I fell into a coma and landed in that little critter village outside the forest.”
“And I,” I added, “came in to rescue her.”
“Came through which door?”
“The one guarded by Mydnyte.”
“She is very tricksy. What did you promise her?”
I didn’t want to say that I promised to use my wish to kill Hera. I thought about biting my tongue and refusing to answer, or lying, but I had the feeling I’d be better off telling the truth.
“Before I tell you, I have a few questions for you.”
“That is not how the game is played.”
I gritted my teeth. “I. Don’t. Care.”
“Fine,” the voice said. I swore I could hear its eyes rolling at me.
“What are your feelings about Hera?”
“She is a powerful goddess. Perhaps the most powerful one left now that Hypnos is no longer with us.”
“And what about her regent, Nimue?”
“Our queen must be respected and obeyed, lest we lose our heads.”
“Those aren’t good answers,” Rose said. “They are facts, not feelings.”
“I like you,” the voice replied. “Very well. I have no opinion on Hera. She is a god, like the others, and they are much the same; petty and cruel. Even Hypnos was not without his heartless indulgences, and when it suited his whims, he abandoned us without so much as a whisper, proving that we meant nothing to him. However, I am not a fan of our overlord. She came about her crown by ill-gotten gains, and we of the forest do not like that. We have lived by a strict code for thousands of years, and when one breaks their vows, we take notice.”
“What vow did she break?”
“The witch used to be the royal advisor to our rightful queen, Ozma. Then, she fell into league with Hera, and changed. She forced Ozma from her throne and took it for herself. She is a liar and a cheater, and consorts with the most vile in our land, one for whom this land is a prison. Hera.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay, I will tell you what I promised Mydnyte. I promised her that if I made it to the Spindle, I would use my request of the Fates to cut Hera’s thread and kill her.”
“Interesting…interesting,” the voice said. “That is a very good wish.”
Rose grabbed my shoulder and dug her nails in deep. “Are you kidding me? We need those requests if we’re going to get home.”
I smiled. “You can request we both go home, my love.”
“Oh. I suppose I can.”
The pastel lights turned into a bright white that illuminated the whole forest. I covered my eyes until the light faded, and when I looked again, hundreds of little pixies floated in the air around me, none more than six inches tall. Their faces were covered in sparkles and painted in every color under the sun.
“Very interesting,” the voice said. It belonged to the pixie at the front of the pack. It was dressed head to toe in yellow, even on its wings, and accented with glitter.
“Very well, strangers. You have proven yourself useful to us Seelie folk.”
“What’s a Seelie?”
The sides of the pixie’s mouth curled. “We are the good guardians of the forest. Come, follow me and I will lead you to our queen. You have much to discuss with her.”
“Do we have a choice?” I asked.
“You could die in the forest,” the pixie said. “Oh, bother. That sounded like a threat. I mean you no harm. I am Muirgen, ambassador to Queen Aine, wardeness of the Enchanted Forest and ruler of the magic folk.”
Rose reached for my hand. “Come on, Chelle. What are you so nervous for?”
“I don’t know.” I gave the pixies a wary glance as I followed behind Rose. “It’s probably nothing.”
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.