Witch Land (The Cindy Chronicles #2) (3 page)

The dress Quilla made for me
, the one I’d put in the closet, hung in the air near my bed. Walking past it I went to the closet and tucked the potion Sabrina gave me into my underwear drawer. That didn’t seem secure enough, so I searched for a pocket in one of the many dresses that’d been made for me. I found one in a short periwinkle gown. I slid the potion inside the pocket closest to the wall. Then I walked over to the dress Quilla made and ran a hand through the poufy skirt.

It was then that I noticed two furry brown rabbits curled
on top of my bed, nestled between the bed’s decorative pillows.

I gasped in surprise. The bunnies woke in unison, their ears twitching. They weren
’t small bunnies; in fact, each looked to be more than two feet tall. I guessed these were the rabbits I’d been seeing around the castle, one of which had been playing tricks on me.

“
What do you two want?” I asked, figuring they would run off the way they had in the past.

Instead they carefully hopped to the end of the bed and stopped.

I took a tentative step toward them. “You aren’t going to run, are you?”

At the sound of my voice, one of the rabbits hopped backward. The other sniffed me.

“What?” I asked, taking another step closer.

Twinkling colored stars appeared suddenly around them. Just a few at first, but quickly more and more surrounded them
until the light was so bright I had to look away.

When I turned back the twin bunnies were gone and in their place sat a… girl.
Or, more accurately, a fairy girl. Pointed ears poked through hair the color of chestnuts. Her eyes were amber. She wore a forest green dress and matching shoes that reminded me of leaves swathed her feet. Between her shoulder blades grew two beautiful, gossamer wings.

They fluttered
rapidly, like a fan turned on high. I put my hands in front of my face, trying to block some of the air.

“
Oh, sorry,” she said, her voice high and soft. As she spoke the wind died down.

“
What happened to the bunnies?” I asked, trying not to stare, but I couldn’t help it. Between the Posie, Quilla and now this girl, I was beginning to feel that possessing magic in this land was nothing unless it were accompanied by a set of wings. Something I most definitely didn’t have.

The girl
’s body changed to a bright shade of yellow. “Uh, I-I’m the bunnies. They are m-me. W-we are each other,” she stammered nervously.

“
What?” I asked.

She looked more confused than I felt
. “A-a spell.” Her eyes darkened, her thin brows scrunched together. “A cu-curse is more like it.” She stood and I noticed she was a few inches shorter than me, and I was short.

“
You were cursed? By who? Why?” What a terrible thing to do to someone. She didn’t seem like the type to deserve a curse.

She sighed.
“Mizrabel.”

I was about to ask for clarification on who or
what this Mizrabel was when she continued.

“
Mizrabel is a dark sorceress. She lives on Thorn’s Peak to the east of the castle, past the Golden Forest.” She turned her face in the direction of my window. Her wings fluttered slightly. “My name is Anna-AnnaBelle Sun.” She turned her amber eyes on me. “I’m a woodland fairy. My family lives in the Golden Forest.”

“
Mizrabel sounds miserable.” I giggled at my joke, trying to lighten the mood, but AnnaBelle didn’t join in. I cleared my throat. “Nice to meet you.” I stuck out my hand to shake hers. I don’t know why, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

AnnaBelle
fell to her knees and took my hand in both of hers, kissing my knuckles. “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Cinderella.”

I was more than a little shocked.
“What are you doing?” I asked, pulling her up by her elbow.

She turned a bright yellow.
“I’m showing you my respect. As the one true ruler of Polonias, it’s my duty and honor to bow before you.” She bobbed a curtsy.

I took a step back as a sudden and strange panic curled through my stomach.
“You have me mistaken with someone else. Leo and his family are the rulers of this land. I’m just a guest.”

She walked forward and placed a hand over my heart. I let her, too stunned to move away.
The palm of her hand seemed to radiate warmth. I looked down and would swear I saw an orangey glow coming from her.

“
What are you doing?” I whispered.

After a few moments, she nodded.
“You are the one, Cinderella. And contrary to what you may think, or even what the King may believe, you will rule this land. Honorably too, I think.” AnnaBelle pulled her hand away and stepped back. “Your heart is strong, full of magic, full of the blood of this people. There is much you must learn, but as a lowly forest fairy, it is not my place to be your teacher. Talk to the pretend prince. Ask him to tell you whether or not I’m lying.” AnnaBelle started to breathe heavily. She bent over, trying to catch her breath.

“
What’s wrong? AnnaBelle, are you okay? Do I need to take you to the doctor?” As I said the words I realized I didn’t even know if there were doctors in this land. Maybe they had medicine people, or maybe they all knew magical spells to heal themselves when they were wounded or sick. I didn’t know.

“
Call me Anna when I’m like this,” she choked out. “That is what my friends call me.”

“
Got it.” I walked over to her and rubbed a hand across her back. I also tried to remember a healing spell, but I didn’t know what was wrong with her. “Is there something I can do?” I asked, wishing I wasn’t such a magical idiot.

Anna shook her head.
“No, it’s the curse. No one can help me except Mizrabel, and she won’t.” She spat the last word out. Bright, sparkling stars surrounded her completely and then she was no longer a woodland fairy, but two brown rabbits again.

They wiggled their noses at me. I kneeled on th
e floor next to them. The one on the right climbed into my lap and burrowed under my arms. The one of the left bit my outstretched finger and darted behind the curtains.

“
Hey, where are you going?” I called after it. Of course there was no answer. I glanced at the bunny still in my lap. “I’m guessing you’re Anna and the other, more offensive one is Belle?”

She looked at me with her dark eyes
, then hopped behind the curtain after the other one.

I followed them o
ver to the curtain and pushed the heavy material back. The rabbits weren’t there. After carefully checking around the sill I noticed a little door in the wall under the window. I pushed on the wooden door and it fell open. Lying on my stomach I tried to peer inside, but it was too dark. Using one finger I closed the door and stood.

In the bathroom,
I tried a new spell to reach Snow. “Altuana. Reachith.” It was supposed to send an enchanted thread to her. And like a piece of string connected to plastic cups used by children, the charmed thread should allow us to talk. As I waited, I turned on the water inside the marbled shower. I quickly washed my face and body, then stepped out. I still hadn’t heard from Snow and I really needed my best friend.

“
Probably making out with her hot husband,” I muttered to my reflection in the glass. Maybe there was a portal or a gateway… something that would allow me to see her, and vice versa, whenever we needed.

I had a na
gging suspicion Snow didn’t need me anymore though, and that made me sad. Growing up I’d been the one she went to and held for comfort and cheering up. “Now she has
him
,” I blathered, going into the bedroom and taking the dress from the air.

“
I’ll always need you, Cin.” I heard the words clear as day inside my head and knew it was Snow. The spell had worked.

“
Snow,” I said aloud, and then covered my mouth. Tears touched the edge of my lashes. “It’s good to hear from you.” I sniffled.

“
I have no idea how I’m hearing you, but I’m guessing you had something to do with it?”

I cleared my throat.
“Yeah, hope that’s okay.”

“
Of course. Now tell me what’s the matter.”

I flopped onto the bed and covered my eyes with my hand.
“What isn’t the matter?” I said, wiping my eyes.

“
How can I help?” Snow asked.

I let out a sob, unable to understand what my problem was.
“Maybe I’m going to start my period or something,” I said and sat up.

“
Tell me what you’re doing tonight.” Snow encouraged.

“
I’m going to a party,” I said, rising and walking back into the bathroom.

“
Ooooh, a party sounds fun.” I heard Snow clapping her hands in excitement and I couldn’t help the smile that sprung to my lips. She’d never been one of those girly-girls. All through high school I was the only girl she hung out with, so her acting all girly was pretty funny. “Who is hosting? The Prince, Leo?” She spoke his name with sarcastic malice.

I chuckled.
“He’ll be there, and really he’s been nothing but charming. It’s his father who doesn’t seem to like me.”

Snow took a deep breath
, returned to her normal serious self. “Why does a party in your honor, no doubt, make you cry?”

I pulled my eyeliner from my makeup bag. I knew the spell to have my face made up
—Econa. Mobythe—But I preferred to do it myself. When the spell did my face, it was too perfect. No, that wasn’t true, but it didn’t seem right. I used the foamy edge of the liner and smudged the black line into perfection. “The party will be fine. It isn’t that…” I paused and put the lid back on the liner, then dabbed a little blue eye shadow on my eyelids. How did I tell her everything that had been going on? How did I tell her about the Posies, and Polly? About Quilla and AnnaBelle? How could I—

“
Just tell me, Cin. Tell me what’s going on with you. I’m listening.”

“
Okay.” I started blurting everything out. “There’s a woodland fairy named AnnaBelle who’s been cursed and changes randomly into two gigantic bunnies. I have a fairy Godmother; her name is Quilla. She’s allergic to magic. Then there’s Polly, the girl who is also a rose. She asked me to help her save this world.” My eyes started to tear up again. “I’ve been here a week and I haven’t done anything really, just walked around the castle. People here don’t seem to really like me or want me here. Plus, well I’m still so sad about Gabe. How could he be such a jerk? And Leo is kind… to me, to everyone I’ve seen him come in contact with. He’s the only person who seems to care about me and you’re telling me he’s bad. I just feel like I can’t trust anyone…” A tear trickled down my cheek.

“
So you’re feeling sorry for yourself?” I heard the amusement in her voice.

I sniffled again.
“A little, yeah.” I laughed as I ran a brush through my hair.

“
Remember when we were little and your dad would give us each a T-bone steak?”

“
Of course. Those things were huge. I still can’t eat the whole thing in one sitting.”

“
Yeah, but as we got older, we were able to eat a little more. That’s all you need to do. Take what you’re doing, who you’re meeting, what you’ll become one bite at a time, ‘kay?”

“
Curlifus,” I whispered, and the hair on my head instantly curled. It looked pretty. I heard Snow gasp.

“
Your magic curled my hair too. Good thing I’m alone.” She giggled and I joined in.

“
Sorry, Snow. And thanks for the pep talk.” I opened my hot pink gloss and ran the wand over my lips. I was going to a party, wasn’t I?

“
No worries. It looks pretty. Now tell me what else is going on.”

I headed back i
nto the closet and searched row after row of beautiful shoes lining one part of my wall. There was a pair of strappy silver sandals that I thought would look beautiful with the dress. I pulled them off the shelf, put my feet in them, and buckled the straps around my ankle.

“
Cindy, talk to me.”

I thought
about how best to tell her what was going on with me when I wasn’t really sure myself: that I felt out of place, that I didn’t seem to belong anywhere, not to Earth nor to this place—that I didn’t understand what I was meant to do… not really. I didn’t even know who my parents really were. “It’s just that I feel a little lost,” I finally blurted.

“
I get that,” Snow said. “Like, better than you can possibly imagine.”

“
You saying being the Vampire Queen isn’t all its cracked up to be?”

Snow snorted.
“Let’s just say if I could choose to go back to the way things were before Christopher bit me, I might consider it.”

“
But then, what about Señor Saucy Pants?”

Snow made a choking laughing sound. Sucked in a breath and purred. L
ike actually made a rumbling sound in the back of her throat. “We still would’ve ended up together, I promise you that. He’s…” She trailed off and I had a momentary pang of angry jealousy.

I want
ed to smack the smug right out of her voice. “So glad one of us is happy.”

“
You will be too. I know it. Have fun at your party tonight.” She sounded a little distracted.

“
Thanks, Snow. I will.”