We spun in circles, skating over the surface of the pond like it were ice. There was no music, but I didn’t need any with my prince holding me. The stars reflected off the pond until we were in a bowl of moonlight, illuminated like a stage. The little fairies spun in their own dances around us like darting fireflies.

I don’t know how long we danced for, but it wasn’t long enough. The prince loosened his grip on me and pulled back, a startled look on his pretty face.

“Someone is coming,” he said tightly.

The little fairies vanished into the brambles, and the prince began to pull me towards them. I wiggled in his grip. 

“I can’t go into the brambles, I’m too big! The thorns will get me.”

The prince gave me an exasperated look. “The thorns will do as I say. But if you truly wish to stay here . . .”

The prince shrank into his tiny form and darted away. For a moment after he let go of my hand, the water supported me. Then it turned to jelly and my feet sank. I had only the briefest glimpse of my prince’s light vanishing into the rose brambles before the water closed over my head.

My arms flailed and I pulled myself towards the surface. My legs kicked, propelling me up towards the light of the moon. Before I could reach it, arms closed around me and pulled me up. My head broke the surface of the pond and I sputtered in surprise.

Mama gripped me tight, anger and concern at war on her face.

“Mirabel! My Mirabel, what are you doing?”

“I was dancing, Mama. Dancing with the prince of shadows.”

“Dancing? Don’t be ridiculous. I don’t care what you think you were doing out here. You disobeyed me,” said mama as she pulled me towards the edge of the pond. She pushed me onto the grass and then hopped out beside me. We sat for a moment, looking at the brambles on the other side of the pond.

“You scared me, Mirabel. Do you understand that?”

I looked away, down at the moonlit surface of the water. “I didn’t mean to, mama.”

“Well, you did. You scare me every time you leave the house at night. This talk of princes and fairies and dancing, it stops now.”

Tears blurred my view of the pond and I refused to nod.

Mama sighed and stood. 

“Come,” she said as she offered me her hand. “Let’s get your dried off and back to bed.”

I took her hand. It was large and warm and familiar, but I wished I was still holding the prince’s hand instead.

My bedroom had a lock now. Mama locked me in when she puts me to bed. For my own safety, she says. She even nailed my window shut, to make sure I couldn’t get out! She didn’t listen when I told her I was never in any danger! This was just her being selfish. So what if it scared her? I wasn’t afraid!

The weeks passed slowly without my prince, and even my friends at school couldn’t  distract me. The only thing that interested me was Grandmama’s boxes. Mama had cleaned up her room and piled all of Grandmama’s things into my closet. She said mine was the only room that had space for them.

That was fine with me. It meant I could look at him again.

My prince.

Grandmama had always been a good drawer and she had pictures saved that were very old, from when she was my age. And among the flowers and rainbows were drawings of fairies. Not silly fairies like in the movies. My fairies.

I recognized my prince immediately. I think Mama did too, the way she got mad when she found the pictures in my bed.The prince was old, he told me that himself. But I didn’t know he was as old as Grandmama. I frowned, jealousy welling up in my chest. Had he danced with Mama and Grandmama too? The prince was mine! He had said so himself.

He belonged to me, and if I went with him into the brambles, I would belong to him, too. He would even tell me his name if I went to live with the fairies.

The longer I was locked up, the more tempting it seemed. To live with the fairies and to dance under the moonlight forever sounded so much better than homework and chores and Mama being mad at me.

And Mama was still very mad. I flopped back on the floor with a groan. I had done more chores in the last three weeks than I had in my entire life. I didn’t know why she was punishing me.

Why couldn’t she understand?

The wind made the tree outside my window rattle and shake and I stirred, warm under the covers of my bed.  Sometimes it sounded like someone was knocking at my window but whenever I checked, there was no one there. It wouldn’t be my prince; he never came up to the house.

I sat up as the knocking came again. That didn’t sound like a tree.

Lights flickered beyond the curtain and I sprang to my feet with an excited gasp. I flung the curtain back, and there on my window sill were three tiny fairies. The green and gold of their dresses shimmering in the light given off by their fluttering wings.

They looked scared but determined. One waved to me and motioned for me to stand back. The three fairies lined up and peered at the nails that kept my window in place. One by one, the nails twisted, squealing in the wood before lifting up and clattering to the ground. 

I wasted no time and heaved the window open. I didn’t even pause to see if Mama heard. I didn’t care. Crawling out of the window was scary but the chiming voices of the fairies encouraged me. Branches from the bush under my window scratched me when I landed on it but I barely felt them.

The fairies fled ahead of me as we raced around the side of the house towards the garden. My feet made slapping sounds on the cool flagstones, too late in the season to keep the heat of day. It was almost fall, after all.

And then I was in the grass. Wild laughter erupted from my chest, and if Mama heard, so be it. I was home.

I reached the end of the garden and pulled up short, aghast. It looked like a tornado had passed through the brambles, tearing them up at the roots and leaving them in messy piles.

My insides went cold. Mama. It had to be. She was destroying the fairies’ home!

I raced towards the pond, fearing the worst, but it was still there, as were the brambles on the far side. 

I fell to my knees. But where was my prince?

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I bit off a scream. I spun, ready to apologise to Mama for being out, but it wasn’t her.

It was my prince.

His clothing was more ragged than ever, and dark circles bit into the skin under his eyes. But he was still the most handsome boy I had ever seen. I threw myself into his arms and he hugged me back just as tight.

“I’m so sorry, Mama locked me up! I couldn’t get away!”

My prince squeezed me before standing back. “I know, I sent my fairies to spy. Your mother is a wicked woman, keeping you from me.”

My heart clenched. “I love my mama, but . . .”

“Do you love me?” asked my prince.

I look up at him, blushing. “Love?”

“Yes, love. The greatest of human emotions. Do you feel it for me?”

I stepped out of his arms and looked down at my bare feet before nodding.

The prince tilted my head up with a gentle hand. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ve always wanted to know what love is, and I think you can teach me.”

I shook my head, confused. “You don’t know what love is?”

“No fairy does. Our hearts are too wild.”

Shouting sounded from the house and I froze. Mama was awake, and she sounded angry.

The prince reached down and grabbed my hands. “Come with me. The summer is almost over and without it, my power will fade. If you want to love me, you must come with me. Now.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Mama was running towards us, terror etched into her lined face. “Mirabel!” Her voice shook as she raced forward.

I looked back to my prince. There was nothing in his cold eyes, no hope, just that pretty smile. His words echoed through my head. ‘Our hearts are too wild.’

My eyes squeezed shut. Mama’s shouts reached my ears, begging me to stop, to stay.

I took a deep breath and reached out my hand.