The Sleeping Beauty - Book 1 - Chapter 26
I knew it was stupid to run into the throne room the minute that I did it, but that didn’t stop my legs from churning.
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.
I knew it was stupid to run into the throne room the minute that I did it, but that didn’t stop my legs from churning. Red cursed at me under her breath as I moved past her, but soon enough she was behind me.
“Where are we going?” I shouted as Red overtook me and bolted ahead.
“You’re going to get us both killed, or worse!”
“I don’t care! That’s Rose screaming and I’m not going to let her suffer!”
We were halfway through the hall when the pixies turned to us. Their queen let out a horrible squeal. “Get them!”
Two pixie guards flew toward us, and I extended my arms. Red had told me that the magic around the castle would prevent me from using my own, but it had already worked once, so I had to try again.
“Close your eyes!”
Red threw up her hands. “Are you crazy? How am I gonna see?”
“Just do it!” I shouted. “Mico a lumen!”
A flash of light filled the room, and Red and I disappeared down the hallway where I’d heard Rose screaming.
“Fulminis!” I shouted. Another flash of lightning flew from my hands and crashed onto the archway that led to the throne room, sending it crashing to the ground.
“Hopefully that will buy us some time,” Red said. “It’s just up ahead.”
She didn’t have to tell me that, because Rose’s shrieks grew louder the closer we came to the end of the hallway. Bright blue light emanated from the room, and when I got close enough, I could see her strapped to a hospital bed, blue currents running toward her.
Red smashed into the room and hurled daggers through the necks of two guards standing against the near wall.
“What the—” A bespectacled black pixie stood up from the front of what looked like a wooden computer screen.
Red picked him up by the collar. “Turn it off!”
“I can’t!” the pixie said, trying to break free. “Once it’s started, only death or success can stop it!”
“Screw this!” I screamed. “Fulminis!”
The lightning crashed out of my fingers and toward the big computer terminal next to Rose. The surge of electricity caused an explosion on the board, and the entire computer terminal sizzled and crackled before going silent.
“You’ve ruined everything!” the pixie said. “It was working!”
Red twisted the doctor’s neck around, and he fell limply to the floor. I ran over to Rose and unlatched her from the harness.
“Wake up!” I said but got no response. “Wake up!”
I started to cry, but Red placed her hand on my shoulder. “She’s not dead. She would have turned to dust if she was dead. We’ll wake her. I promise. We have to get out of here first, though. Drink this.”
Red handed me a red potion before downing one herself. I uncapped the bottle and drank it. My stomach felt queasy for a moment, and then I shot toward the ceiling like a rocket. In an instant, we had regained our previous size and broken through the roof of the castle.
I looked over at Red, who had Rose clutched tightly in her hands. “Come on. We have to get out of here. We just became the number one enemy on the Unseelie’s hit list.”
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.