The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 20
The pixie Muirgen flew in front of us through the woods which looked, honestly, quite lovely.
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 pixie Muirgen flew in front of us through the woods which looked, honestly, quite lovely. With her guiding us I knew that we would be okay. I was able to enjoy the pleasant stroll through the forest, which was filled with majestic trees and speckled with pixies floating as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
Chelle shared neither my optimism nor sense of wonder. Instead, she walked with her eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, like she was waiting for a battle.
“Will you relax?” I said, squeezing her hand.
“I’m not going to relax until we get to the Obsidian Spindle and I get you home. We don’t have time—”
“You keep saying that,” I said. “Why do you keep saying that?”
“I don’t want to tell you.”
“Tough.”
“Fine, but it’s going to bum you out.”
“I just got attacked by dragons, and I’m being led through the woods by pixies. I don’t think you could bum me out any more or shock me with anything.”
“You asked for it. Just remember that.”
“I will.”
“We’re fighting a battle against time, Rose. If we don’t get out of here before you die, back in the real world, you’re going to be stuck in here forever.”
I stopped. “Wait. Forever?”
“We really must be going,” Muirgen said, floating back to us.
“In a minute,” I said, turning back to Chelle. “What do you mean die?”
“I mean you’re in a coma out there, but eventually, you’re gonna die. The body can’t last for long without the soul.”
“Yeah, but I’ve seen people come out of comas after years, right?”
“Maybe, but maybe not. I have no idea how bad it’s going to get for you. I have no idea what kind of condition you’ll be in if we wake you up. But the longer we wait, the worse your odds for living a normal life if you do wake up.”
“Oh,” I said. “That does bum me out.”
Honestly, I didn’t mind being in Urgu, except for the death of my body part. My life wasn’t exactly fun and exciting out in the real world. I was constantly struggling to make enough money not only to live, but to survive. I had maxed out my credit cards and my medical bills were going to bankrupt me for sure, and it’s not like my parents were helpful.
But I couldn’t just stay here forever. I needed to go back eventually, didn’t I? Even if my old life was miserable.
“How far away are we?” Chelle asked.
“Not far. Just around this clearing and we’ll be at the castle.” Muirgen floated forward, expecting us to follow.
Chelle put her hand on my back. “Come on. We can fix this. I promise we’re going to fix this.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m just not sure I want it fixed.”
“Yes, you do,” Chelle grabbed my hand. “I’m not going back to Earth alone. I can’t handle it there without you.”
I smiled at her. “As long as we’re together.”
“We will be.”
“Come on,” Muirgen said, her voice strained. “You don’t want to keep the queen waiting.”
I didn’t want to appear rude, so I listened to the pixie and quickened my gate, hopping up the makeshift rock staircase that led up the next ridge, though for the life of me I didn’t know why flying pixies would need stairs.
“Here we are,” Muirgen said when I reached the top of the hill.
Below us was a bright pink castle with four towers and a rainbow river flowing alongside it. Flags rose high into the air from the top of each tower. It was impressive and ornate, but there was a problem. It was no bigger than a Barbie Dream House, though at least ten times as garish and a hundred times as pink.
“Looks like my old Polly Pockets,” Chelle muttered.
I giggled. “You had Polly Pocket?” The thought of Chelle having anything pink was comical.
“I wanted Mighty Max, but my mom got the wrong memo I guess.”
I turned to Muirgen. “Chelle makes a good point. How are we, um, going to see the queen if we can’t fit into the castle?”
“That’s easy. I’m going to shrink you.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Chelle put her hand up. “There is no way I’m letting you use magic on me. Besides, how is something so small as you going to help us get to the Obsidian Spindle?”
Muirgen gasped. “That’s so offensive. Our magic is more powerful than any in Urgu besides those who are God-touched. We may be small, but that just makes our magic concentrated.”
“Come on, Chelle,” I said. “You are a wet blanket. I’ve always wanted to shrink like Alice in Wonderland.”
“I’m not being a wet blanket. You’ve never been around magical creatures except for with me, Rose. We’re not all good guys.”
“And you’re not all bad guys, either.” I smiled at Muirgen. “Shrink me!”
I had been around Chelle for a long time, but she had never used magic near me until now, in Urgu. Honestly, I had always been curious about it, even if I never said anything to her. I had hoped she would come to trust me with her magic.
“I’m not going,” Chelle said. “They aren’t using that stuff on me.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’m perfectly capable of parlaying with the queen on my own.”
Chelle stared at me for a long time, biting her lips in deep thought. “Okay. If something goes wrong, I’ll be here to get you out. But just know, I think this is a stupid idea.”
“You think everything it a stupid idea.”
“Are you ready?” Muirgen asked me.
“Absolutely. I can’t wait to meet your queen.”
“Very well then,” Muirgen said, then she snapped her fingers. “I’ll meet you in a moment.”
My body shook and rumbled, and a great earthquake sound rattled through my ears. It felt like I was moving at a hundred miles an hour, but I was standing still.
The trees above me fell further away, except they didn’t move at all. It was me that was shrinking, and shrinking, and shrinking. Chelle was a giant looming above me, and the castle turned from a tiny dollhouse to a towering monolith.
When I finally stopped moving, Chelle seemed a hundred feet tall. Normally, she was only a few inches taller than me, but now she could crush me under her boot in an instant.
“Hi Chelle!” I shouted, but she didn’t hear me. I was too small.
I turned toward the castle. Its iron gates rose high into the air, and now that I was small, I noticed the intricate gilded spirals at the top of each bar. Two blue pixies stood guard with long spears. Their bodies glimmered even brighter now that they were my height. I looked down and watched the rainbow river shimmering in the sunlight as it flowed through the moat. I wondered how we would get across.
“It’s not really a rainbow,” Muirgen said. “It’s the sun that makes it look that way.”
I turned to see her, now my height, and noticed now that she was dressed in a three-piece suit, with a lapel pin in the shape of a butterfly. Muirgen placed her hands behind her back and walked toward me.
“I hope you are more accommodating than your friend. The queen does not like to be disturbed, least of all by disrespectful monsters.”
“Chelle’s a lot nicer when you get to know her.”
“Well, I have no intention of doing that,” Muirgen said, walking to the edge of the moat. “Guards, lower the bridge!”
The guards turned to the levers on either side of the gate. They nodded to each other and pulled the levers at the same time. When they did, the great wooden bridge that protected the castle fell and allowed us to cross.
Muirgen hovered next to me as I walked over the bridge. “Why do you need a bridge if you can just fly?”
“You ask a lot of questions. Did you know that?”
“Yes,” I nodded. “People think it’s annoying.”
Muirgen tittered. “Quite. Now, come along. The queen knows of your arrival, and we mustn’t keep her waiting.”
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.