Rules of a Fairytale

Going through the mirror left me a little dizzy. It was a strange sensation, going between worlds. It took me longer than usual to get my bearings, but I think that was just because I was so stressed out and hadn’t been planning on traveling. When I finally got my head cleared, I realized that I was in the large, marble-floored mirror room at Steven’s castle with a dozen magic mirrors with different powers.

And I wasn’t alone.

“That was a head rush,” Brooke whined, looking a little green. She stumbled from the mirror and Ryder caught her before she fell. I could handle my brother coming along, but the fact that those two had followed seriously annoyed me. I was on a mission and I didn’t need them hindering me. Besides, Brooke shouldn’t have crossed the mirror because only a moron would travel to a realm she just discovered was real. Guess I was right about her intelligence.

“What are you doing?”

“Come on, Tasha, it’s a real life fairytale. There’s no way that I would miss this.”

I growled. “This isn’t a game, Brooke. This is my life- my parents’ lives. Go home.”

“No,” she protested.

My dark eyes narrowed dangerously. A low growl sounded in my throat that was more animal than human. She didn’t back down even though it was obvious I was losing control. Again, I really questioned he sanity. Even without totally knowing what I was, you’d think survival instincts would kick in.

Tate stepped between us and gripped my shoulders tightly. “Tasha, you have to stop before you hurt someone. This isn’t you.”

I pushed against him. “I don’t care, Tate. Let me go!”

Dreamer barked a few times and I turned toward the door of the huge room. A man in his early fifties with tousled blonde hair, a million dollar smile, and dressed like Prince Charming stood there laughing. Dark blue eyes sparkled in his too-perfect face. I cracked a smile and stopped fighting with my brother. “Hi, Steven,” I said cheerfully.

Steven was Sleeping Beauty’s grandson, the king of her kingdom, Sumpter. He was technically Mom’s second cousin, but was more like that awesome uncle that spoils us kids. I liked him better than Mom’s two older sisters and their families. Steven was a great ruler and his kingdom was thriving thanks to him. Sumpter was doing better than it had since Aurora and Phillip ruled 175 years ago.

“Hello, Tasha,” he greeted pulling me into a hug. His accent sounded so proper and totally British. He was about Dad’s height, which meant I barely came up to his shoulder. “Is Tate being mean to you again?”

I hugged him back. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. We heard about Mom and Dad so I came to try and find my parents. Do you think you can help?”

He instantly sobered and dropped the teasing demeanor. “I can try, Tasha. Let’s go talk in the war room.”

The war room was like a conference room where the generals gathered to plan for battles. It wasn’t used much considering that the Sumpter was in a time of peace under Steven’s rule. I followed him through the castle, but unfortunately so did the other three. Brooke was like a kid in a candy store, ogling everything and making squeaky little noises around every corner. Her excitement was really annoying, especially when I had a job to do.

Brooke took in a huge gasp and her eyes lit up when we entered the room. The mahogany table in the center of the room had seventeen plush chairs around it with Steven’s at the head, gold candelabras, a few plants, and gorgeous stain glass windows that depicted the Sleeping Beauty story. I quickly started talking before she could get a word in. “So what happened to Grandpa? What do you know about how Mom and Dad disappeared?”

Steven sighed and squeezed my shoulder and directed me into the chair to the right of his. He sat, too, and waited until everyone else followed before speaking. “Tasha, I’m sorry but I don’t know much. Andrew was taking a trip to the country. He was supposed to be back within the month but never returned. That’s around the time Ryder asked for help. I suggested that Cale and Lisette might be able to lend their assistance.”

I rolled my tear-filled eyes. “Is there any reason that you couldn’t figure this stuff out yourselves? Why did you have to get my family involved? I know how impressive my parents are, but you have resources here. They’re adapted to not having fairytale quests. My grandpa, I understand, but you shouldn’t have come to them with everything else.”

“Tasha-”

“Shut up, Tate,” I snapped. I let out a big breath. My emotions were getting out of control and I really needed to keep them in check. “I’m sorry. Let’s just figure out what could have happened to Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. What else do we know?”

“They went to my castle when they got here,” Ryder explained. “They left from there and we haven’t heard from them since. I would’ve come sooner, but we didn’t know they were missing. A seer, the one that told me to come to King Steven, came just yesterday. She told me they were lost, that even she couldn’t find them.”

I choked back a sob and nodded solemnly. “So then maybe that’s where we should start. We can try to retrace their steps.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Tate agreed quickly. My brother could be accommodating when he feared my wolf. “Between the two of us we should be able to sniff them out pretty easily.”

“What do you mean, ‘sniff them out’?” Brooke asked, clearly confused.

I glared at her. “Well it looks like you’re not a total expert on fairy tales after all,” I sneered. “Our dad is a werewolf, Brooke. Figure it out.”

She took a minute thinking it over before her eyes grew wide. She gaped at my brother and me “You mean that you two are...”

I smirked. “Not exactly what you signed up for, is it?”

“Tasha, be nice,” Steven scolded. I narrowed my eyes at him and stuck out my tongue. King or not, I didn’t like taking orders from anyone. And why should I be nice to the girl that continually tormented me at school?

We spent a few more minutes in the war room planning and then I went to one of the many guest rooms in the castle. This room was reserved for my family for whenever we came to the Enchanted Kingdoms. It housed extra clothes and stuff for us and even gear for long journeys. I dropped off my school bag and packed clothes, food, supplies, and camping gear in a hiking pack. I also kept my cell phone even though I wouldn’t get any service on it. Sometimes familiar things like that were comforting.

Steven and Tate walked in as I was finishing up. “I’m coming,” my brother insisted. I nodded and tossed him a hiking pack. That was expected because family was one thing my twin and I actually saw eye-to-eye on. He started shoving things into the bag. “Brooke and Prince Ryder want to come too.”

He wasn’t looking at me, but I was already shaking my head before he finished that sentence. “This isn’t their fight, Tate. We don’t need them.”

Steven put his hand on my shoulder. “Tasha, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

“Couldn’t you just come?” I pouted. Yuck, I hated sounding whiny.

He smiled slightly and shook his head. “I wish I could but I’m needed here.” Steven really was the best ruler the Sumpter had had in a very long time. I understood that he couldn’t go but I still would have preferred him over the other two.

“Fine,” I conceded. “They can come but they have to pull their own weight. And if any of you slow me down, I’ll leave you and do this on my own.”

My brother nodded. “Okay. I’ll send Brooke up so she can burrow some of your stuff. Then we can go.”

He left quickly with his full pack before I could throw anything at him and I groaned. This trip was already sucking. Steven gave me a small smile and pulled out something from the inside pocket of his coat. “Here, Tasha. Snow White gave this mirror to my grandmother 216 years ago as a wedding gift. It’s been passed down and comes in handy at times. Now I think you should have it.”

I gasped and stared at the beautiful hand-held mirror. It was the size of my hairbrush and just as light despite the fact it was ornate silver. I blinked up at him. “But it belongs in Aurora’s direct line. I can’t take this.”

“You’re as much family as my own children and I know that it will do you more good than it will Austen. You can use it to talk with me through another mirror. But be careful with it because other people might be able to use the mirror against you.”

I nodded and stared into the smooth glass when I heard him leave. I was still sitting on the bed looking at the mirror, desperately willing it to show me my mom, when Brooke walked in a few minutes later. “Tate sent me up.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I figured. Here’s a bag you can use and you can barrow some of my clothes. Unless you ’d rather wear that the whole time,” I added when she wrinkled her nose.

“I guess I can deal with some of you stuff.”

The wolf in me ignored her, but the girl snapped from anger. “Don’t you have anything better to do over Christmas break? Isn’t anyone going to miss you while you’re here?”

Her face fell. “No,” she said softly. “My parents went skiing in Aspen last week for the winter without me, as always. All of my so-called friends are either traipsing away on some awesome vacation or they think I’m with my folks. No one will even notice I’m missing.”

I instantly felt bad. I might have hated Brooke, but no one deserved to be alone on Christmas. Empathy for her churned inside me. I would just have to put up with her for now.