Jayden

“I was told Readers are born dreamers but I didn’t know they could dream anywhere and anytime.” 

If Herman didn’t catch me by the wrist in time, I would have tumbled down the stairs when I came to my senses and found Blue’s face only inches away. Her eyes bored into mine. 

“Don’t forget they’re easily surprised too,” Herman added, steadying me. “Blue, if you don’t want to end up the evil—,” he coughed, “—of the tale, I advise you not to cause our Reader to meet unfortunate accidents.”

Blue’s shimmery baby blue lips puckered into a pout (and seriously, I have never seen anyone look anywhere near decent with unnatural colour lips before this) as she pushed the gates open by an inch. 

“It’s not my fault they’ve got the jumpy bone in them. It’s like blaming Alice for the White Rabbit being a rabbit.”

Herman sighed with both hands tucked into the nook of his pockets as he trailed behind her. “You aren’t making any sense again, Celastrina Blue.”

“Exactly!” Blue peeked out from beyond the wrought-iron gate, nearly face-slammed into Herman’s chest. Even with the additional height of the glass-like slippers she had on, she was barely five feet two. “I am saying it doesn’t make sense!”

Herman slowed his pace to meet mine when Blue increased hers and marched ahead of us again. The girl has to have a serious case of ADHD. I couldn’t remember a second where she was not pacing around or busying herself with something. Anything at all. Like throwing the gates open and surprising the guards (statues?) in gold and throwing another door open after that. And another. And another.

Still counting.

“A reminder since you’ll be staying with us for some time,” Herman said as he guided me through the gilded doors behind the gates. “That girl starts blabbering when she’s anxious. So don’t be surprised if what she says doesn’t make sense, it’s just the way her nervous mind works.”

I watched the fairy godmother leaping down the corridor and found ‘anxious’ the furthest word from mind to describe her light steps. Then again, it might be the heebie-jeebies that gave her the springs in the feet. I get those sometimes when a presentation draws near—or if Trevor’s out on his cupid sessions again.

“How do you understand her then?” I asked without looking at him, too taken in by the scene unfurling around us.

The place was as big as an exhibition hall with walls covered inch by inch with gilded ornate stonework and metal accents. Panels of large, animated oil paintings graced each piece of wall separated by marble columns. 

“I don’t,” Herman shrugged to my question. “I’ve long given up on trying to get what that butterfly says when she’s in that zone. Just nod and move on. Wait for her to calm down and be normal again.”

Glowing pixies zoomed in and out of thumb-sized windows atop the doors at impossible speed, leaving choking trails of dust behind them. Each carrying—or rather, hugging, a stack of papers in their hands. Some added up to thrice their height and made it seem as if the papers were flying about the room on their own.

It’s almost a miracle how they didn’t bump into one another amidst the chaos. One or two managed to stop right before they nearly clash and tumble into a heap of sparkles and papers. Almost immediately, they flittered back onto their invisible air track and fluttered away without looking back or apologizing. 

“How long is that usually?” I asked, heart thumped to a worried rhythm for another near-pixie-clash incidence.

“Depends,” he tapped a finger to his chin. We strolled past one that portrayed a moving scene out of Snow White and Herman abruptly turned to the other side.

I wasn’t spared the time to think—the girl in question had already gone from yards ahead of us to completely evaporating from sight. Only her voice could be heard cutting through the flutter of pixie wings overhead. 

“Consider yourself lucky,” Herman grinned as he rounded a sharp corner and walked directly into a wall…?! Two seconds later, his head reappeared from beyond said dead-end-of-road. Whew. 

“Seems like you will get extra time for Blue's spontaneous nonsensical act today.”

I reached out just to make sure and my hand went through without any obstacle in place, its surface of illusion rippled around where my fingers had disappeared. I fell forward, thinking someone had pushed me from behind, only to find Herman on the other side—his grip on my wrist tight. 

Talk about secret passages. They sure have it mapped out to be a maze. Probably to make up for the lack of heavily guarded part since only statues occupied the place. I would have no idea where the entrances were if they threw me in one of the separated rooms. 

 “Another reminder. If you don’t follow close enough, I won’t be responsible for any guards who choose to dust you when they awaken from their slumber.”

“Guards?” I repeated. Non-existence guards aside, why would I fear being ‘dusted’? 

“Yes, did you take them to be decorations?” Herman grimaced, nodding towards the statues. “Not the friendliest lot to be around when they just woke. You ought to be careful around them. The swords they hold on to aren’t just for display.”

On second thought, I don’t want to know what being dusted meant.