Blue

I tapped my feet on the ground I couldn’t see but knew better than to bring light to. After the Rabbit Hole was sealed, at least a handful of foul creatures took residence in what remained of it. 

To be fair, they were kind creatures. Guardians as loyal as Eruca, the strongest and last barrier to the Tales. Still, it didn’t make their appearance less frightening to someone who hasn’t been frequenting the Void.

I would much prefer going through the main hall if we weren’t illegally barging in and desperate enough to use the caterpillar’s back door. The place hadn’t seen an outside soul since Herman and I last ventured in to search for the final ingredient to turn Pinocchio mortal. 

And that still haunts me to this day. 

A tail with slime covering its razor sharp scales brushes the side of my skirt. I shuddered, feeling a small tear there. Fairies are immortals and heal almost instantly but we weren’t immune to pain. 

Herman’s locket pulsed faintly, a reminder that he was down here with me though I have the slightest idea how far he stood. If only the Author would drag the locket out from under his shirt, I would have a clearer idea of his whereabouts. Despite everything, he was a block when it came to making life easier for others.

 “That Reader is taking forever!” I exclaimed out loud into the endless stretch of darkness, hoping it would reach him.

 “Darn it, Blue!” Herman yelped, surprisingly near, just a foot or two away. “I am right here! Don’t yell if you don’t want a deaf Author on your next assignment.”

I mumbled fast apologies before continuing, my senses edgier with each passing second. “Do you think I should go and drag him down?”

A soft clinking sound from Herman’s direction. Probably the sound of his locket swinging around his neck as he shook his head. “He’ll be down here whether he likes it or not. Eruca’s not a fan of Readers, remember?”

Right. The Blue Caterpillar and a Reader. Definitely the worst combination of the lot. If Eruca ever finds out about the Reader, there’s no doubt it will wrap him up in a cocoon and feed him to its pet mushrooms. The thought alone made me shudder.

“I really should get him—” I spread my wings and aimed for the portal, ready to force my way through its barrier if needed. 

But before I could, Jayden Forst fell—or rather, floated down as if an invisible force was cradling and landed him beside us. Positive energy pulsated off him in waves, the strongest since we had first met. 

But no one ever passes through the portal of Void without feeling drained. I for one felt beyond hopeless mentally, darkness creeping in the edges of my mind. Herman on the other hand sounded more haggard than before we had crossed. 

Jayden Forst just looked…well, peaceful.

I saw my own face washed in awe reflected off his bright green eyes. The white light surrounding him had vanished into the darkness surrounding us. 

Had I imagined the light?

“Blue, is that you?” Jayden Forst asked, cutting through the fog of my wandering mind.

I shook my head off the trance. For the briefest seconds, I had thought Readers were born with the eyes of feline, only to realize my own locket had been giving me away. I placed a hand on my hip and shifted my balance to another foot, couldn’t care less if he couldn’t see I was annoyed beyond fae-fair temper. 

“Well, do you see any other blues in here?” 

A large part of me hoped he didn’t since the only possible blue creature down here was…well, gulp. Not the friendliest fellow to hang around with. “Of course, it’s me, genius. Now, will you walk on your own or do I have to make you?”

I fumbled for his hand in the dark. He put up no fight and for that, I planned to repay his courage by not telling him exactly what lurked in the dark tunnel that smelled like what he called ‘underground sewer’. 

I tugged him along, tightening my grasp on his hand each bump and holes we had to jump over or circle around. He would falter once in a while, evidently taxing his limited Artist’s stamina but managed to catch up with my pace eventually.

“Let me guess, that’s the Blue Caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland?” Jayden Forst asked, despite being slightly out of breath.

 “Who better to guard the books if not the bookworm himself?” Readers were really a curious bunch.

He laughed. “Just so you know, when you first call him ‘the worm’, I thought…”

“That I meant it as an insult?” I cut in before he could finish. “For goodness sake, I am a fae mom. Insults are the trademark of pixies, not us. Surely the motherly figures in your world don’t swear?”

The abrupt moment of hesitation in his steps told me they do. 

I imagined Tink growing larger in size and waving a wand of her own as she breaks havoc across realms. The idea was as intriguing as it was dreadful. 

 “You must introduce me to one of them if we get the chance to. Might come in handy if I could pick up a skill or two from them to treat those ditzy princesses.” 

Jayden Forst winced and said nothing more. Sometimes I wonder if the language we spoke was different and he couldn’t understand me. Then again, our lockets are enchanted with translation spells so it shouldn’t be a problem. At least he didn’t appear to be lost talking to Herman. 

Wait…does that mean I speak a different language than Herman?

Two steps to the right, jump, flatten against the wall and another seven steps to the right. Through it all Jayden Forst was strangely quiet, giving me ample time to think. 

The white light earlier must have been my imagination. It looked like the Star’s glow, something we would see only for brief moments when we first met our new charge. An indication that this particular individual was destined for a new Tale.

But it had been half a day since we found Jayden Forst and there had been no notice whatsoever from the pixies. Would the Star actually pick another Reader for His new Tale after what happened with the last one? Surely, even He couldn’t be that cruel. 

Could He?

By the time we made it out of the Void and bounded into the golden light beyond, rivulets of sweat clung to my hair and stuck them to my skin. I released my grip on Jayden Forst and whipped around to survey the damage done. 

My wings were perfectly unharmed since I had folded them against my back, the same couldn’t be said for everything else. 

The hem of my skirt was tainted green from the slime of that-which-I-refused-to-think-of. My sleeves were torn around the edges with a few pink scratches lining my forearm. 

Considering the amount of sweat collected between my brows, one can only imagine what a disaster I would look like if the layers of makeup on my face were painted on instead of casted on.

The guys were no better. Herman was used to braving the Void, so while his tunic was in his own level of tattered mess, he still wore a grin on his face. His skin was flushed with only a few harmless lines caused by tendrils of thorns hanging from the low ceiling. Otherwise, he was completely fine, though slightly out of breath. 

Jayden Forst on the other hand looked worse than Ella did. 

His face was pale and drained of colour, not even a hint of scarlet the way Herman’s still beamed with. He was huffing and puffing, with two hands braced on his knees to support himself. 

“Are you alright?” I reached out to him, only to retrieve it immediately after noticing the thick layer of cobwebs lining my fingers. Ugh. I rubbed them on the body of my beyond-hope dress and winced a little. 

There goes another fine dress. 

Someone has to remind the non-existence caretaker to clean up the Void once in a while. The little fae dust I get every month isn’t enough to repair the damage done each time.

“I…can’t feel my legs,” Jayden Forst breathed around the time I conjured my wand and waved it over us. Wounds healed and smoothed over, dirt evaporated off skin, clothes mended and mine reverted back to the plain, made-for-comfort dress we came here with. 

But Jayden Forst still looked exhausted, as if his moment of peace earlier had been a faux.

Herman reached into his satchel and handed Jayden Forst his waterskin of red wine. I gasped but a little too late. Jayden Forst had already downed a few large gulps and dissolved into a coughing fit. I could only glare at the Author in disbelief.  

“What?” Herman protested, his half empty waterskin in hand. “The lad clearly needs water—which we don’t have with us. What choice do I have?” 

He patted Jayden Forst on the back and peered at his face. “At least he has got some colour back.”

I couldn’t argue with him. Jayden Forst did look more alive now—at least, until he began swinging from side to side like a pendulum. “How do you expect us to sneak in unnoticed now? He can barely stand, much less walk!”

“It will pass. Who am I to know the Reader can’t hold his liquor?” Herman ran a frustrated hand through his dishevelled hair and draped the dizzy fellow’s arm around his shoulders, hoisting him up on his feet. 

“Thanks dude,” Jayden Forst slurred, completely gone. 

Note to self, it’s not advisable to bring two males along for a journey. Especially when they happened to be the combination of a vulnerable Reader and the devil equivalent of an Author. A lethal combination deadlier than white snakeroot and hemlock combined. 

I sighed, only to stop short when I lifted my gaze and found the stone doors to the Vault of Tales looming before me.

Like the rest of the Library, this part of the building was built with the same golden sand from the West Sea, enchanted and solidified by Genie under the request of Aladdin, lead guardian of Tales. 

Sure, it’s all warm and glittery and every level on par with the grand castle of Cendrillon when it came to the number of stone columns and statues of goddesses from Mount Olympus. But the two largest statues guarding either side of the doors were the furthest thing from friendly or welcoming.

Herman walked right into me and grumbled something about stone and statues until he too peered into the eyes of the entrance guardians. He swore softly under his breath. 

With our minds on Jayden Forst and his possible Tale, we had both forgotten about the real problem after the Void.

Darn his flower petals.