The Wide-Awake Princess
Read The Wide-Awake Princess Online
Authors: E. D. Baker
princess
E. D. BAKER
This book is dedicated to my fans, whose loyalty and
enthusiasm has meant so much to me—particularly
the fans on my message board, those who send letters,
and those who send their wonderful entries to my
contests. It is also dedicated to my family, whose
understanding about late dinners and a
messy house enables me to keep writing.
“WE CAN’T LET IT HAPPEN again,” Queen Karolina said, dabbing at the tears that glistened in her deep blue eyes. “A wicked fairy casting a horrid spell on my firstborn child was almost more than I could bear. Halbert and I have been frantic with worry ever since, and our poor little Gwendolyn has suffered so much. She can’t even visit her grandparents because they refuse to banish spinning wheels from their kingdom.”
“Tsk, tsk,” said the fairy Moonbeam, shaking her head in dismay.
“I banished all the spinning wheels from Treecrest the day after Gwendolyn’s christening,” said King Halbert.
The infant stirred in the queen’s arms. Queen Karolina glanced down at her sleeping daughter, then back to the fairy dressed all in silver. “I don’t know what I’d do if that nasty fairy were to curse my sweet Annabelle, too. It’s
time we planned my little darling’s christening, but we wanted to consult with you first.”
“We were hoping you might be able to suggest something, Moonbeam,” said the king. “You are Karolina’s favorite fairy godmother. Even in Treecrest, the Fairy of the Moonflower Glade is known as the wisest of all the fairies.”
Moonbeam pursed her lips as she tucked a lock of her silvery hair back in place. She tapped her chin as she thought, then nodded and said, “I have a suggestion, but you aren’t going to like it.”
Queen Karolina glanced at her husband as another tear trickled down her flawless cheek. When the king nodded, his wife turned back to her fairy godmother. “It can’t be worse than living in fear that our little girl is going to prick her finger and sleep for a hundred years. Whatever it is, we’ll do it!”
“So be it,” said Moonbeam, taking her magic wand out of a purse made of moonbeams and cobwebs. “Your daughter shall receive only one magical gift, and it shall be mine.” As the parents held their breath, the fairy raised her magic wand and tapped the sleeping infant on the forehead. “From this day on, no magic shall touch you or bring you to harm. You’ll have to survive on your natural charm.”
Sparkling fairy dust sprinkled down onto the little princess. The baby sneezed, opened her eyes, and began to wail.
“What did you mean about surviving on her natural charm?” the king shouted over his daughter’s squalling.
“Neither good nor bad magic can ever touch her now,” the fairy replied as she tucked her wand back into her purse. “She’s going to grow up a normal girl, without magic to make her beautiful or graceful or sweet.”
Bending over the baby, the fairy kissed her forehead where the wand had touched her, then vanished in a puff of silver sparkles. The baby scrunched her tiny pink face and screamed until she turned red as a beet.
The queen’s hands began to shake. She glanced down and discovered that a freckle had appeared on the back of one of her own fingers. The king noticed it as well and gestured for the nanny to take the baby away.
“Oh, Halbert, what have we done?” asked the queen.
“I’m afraid, my dear,” the king replied, “that we might have just made a very big mistake.”
IT WAS PRINCESS GWENDOLYN’S sixteenth birthday and everyone was frantic. It wasn’t that they weren’t ready for the celebration; the kitchen had been in an uproar for days as the cooks prepared all of Gwendolyn’s favorite foods, the floors had been scrubbed and strewn with fresh herbs, and every inch of the Great Hall had been cleaned and decorated until it was almost unrecognizable. Everyone was agitated because it was the last day left for the curse placed on Gwendolyn to come true.
The people of Treecrest lived in dread that their beautiful princess might still touch a spinning wheel. They had taken precautions and had searched every room twice a week ever since the fairy announced the curse. Although spinning wheels had been banished, one never knew when a nasty witch or evil fairy could plant one in a room, just waiting for the princess to come along and
start poking things she shouldn’t. Early that morning the guards had begun to search the entire castle once again.
Princess Annie, Gwendolyn’s younger sister, offered to accompany the guards, just as she did at least once a week. They’d start with the old tower in the north end of the castle. It had been abandoned years before and had fallen into disrepair, but it was on the inspection list because it was exactly the kind of place that evil people liked.
They had started at the top of the tower and were working their way down. The top two floors held only three rooms each, but the floors below them were riddled with small rooms, which made searching them that much slower. In order to speed it up, the guards divided themselves into smaller groups. Annie went with Horace, an older man with gray hair and a short beard, and Liam, a new recruit who had come to the castle the week before.
Like her sister, Gwendolyn, Annie was petite. Liam was only a few years older than Annie and taller than most boys his age; the top of Annie’s head came up only to the middle of his chest. Annie liked his shaggy, dark hair and his deep blue eyes, and she thought that his quick smile made him instantly likable. The only things that kept him from being too handsome were his slightly crooked teeth and a dimple in one cheek but not the other. As far as Annie was concerned, they were the very things that made him more attractive.