Topic
Fairy Tales
You won't see traditional fairy tales here, at least unaltered. But fairy tales do provide a great common language upon which to build a story or twist the old out of recognition.
A Wish
"A wish? I thought there were supposed to be three?" The genie breathed on his fingernails--apparently inlaid with diamonds--and polished them on his tuxedo-clad chest. Then he turned to me, shrugged, and grimaced in a way that was meant to suggest sympathy at my situation but…
Into The Forest
He needles their stepmother, echoes her words and mimics her walk, unravels her yarn and says the cat did it, even crumbles his thin shaving of the last bread into a mess on the table though his stomach gripes and yawns with hunger like everyone else's. Gretel sees her…
Are You Warm, My Daughter?
Was she a wicked stepmother? I've asked myself that question a thousand times, and the truth is that I just don't know. My memories of her are a child's memories, and to a child she seemed cruel and all-powerful. But she was neither. She was a young woman who grew up poor,…
Vs. The Giant
The Giant squats, like an unlovely boulder, in the barley-field by the village. The villagers have tried everything to get rid of him. They have run at the Giant in a mob, stuck hay-forks and scythe-points into his calves. They have set his rude tunic on fire. They have rigged a…
Rocking Chair
Don't get up, little sister. Please. Please don't stop rocking. I can only talk by the creaks. That's part of the curse. What curse? The one from our nurserymaid, silly. The new one with funny pink hair. I could've been a frog, if I hadn't stomped my foot when she said she'd…
How to Find Your Happily Ever After
Before you try on the slipper, think about what's really going on here. Do you honestly want to marry a man who can't even recognize your face? A man so desperate for a bride that he'd haul a shoe around the entire kingdom? That isn't romantic, and it really takes you out of the…
The Truth about Storks
I wager you've heard a lot about storks. Because of course you have. Everyone loves a stork. If you're hoping for a baby but can't get pregnant, just keep the windows open wide. Wait for the night a stork flies in, carrying some moonlit surprise, swaddled in a blanket and held…
Almost Real
"My dog ate my homework!" Hiroshi blurts out, and his nose grows. Long enough for several birds to perch on it. Dr. Sakai examines his latest invention. Even up close, Hiroshi's synthetic skin looks real. "If you want to be a real, live boy, you'll have to do better than that,"…
Table For One
Amalda dodged heavy snowflakes as she flew towards the cafe. The cafe door was slowly closing behind a centaur and she managed to zip through before it shut. More places should have a fairy door, she thought as she shook the snow off her wings. Just her luck that, on the day she…
Number of Americans Swept into Oz Rises to Unprecedented Levels
An Oz News Network Report Concerns are growing among the community over dozens of recent arrivals in Munchkin Country. A local resident, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, described the newcomers as "overwhelmingly overconfident, overweight, and…
Fairy Godmothers Deserve Love Too
The princess stared at me in horror. "You've been thirty for how long?" I tapped my magic wand against the layers of my fluffy gown, sending puffs of magic into the air. "I'm not sure. I lost count after a while. Probably about five hundred years." "I'm so sorry. What a curse!…
The Ghastly Tale of Princess Lamia
"No," the princess scowls. "How about this one?" I flash her the picture that accompanies the story: a classic damsel, pale-faced and floaty-dressed, chained to rocks, twisting away from a dragon's flames as a Prince in shining armor-- "Definitely no." Her little arms crossed…
The Apples
It takes the servants several days to make their way to the storerooms. They blame it on the tragedy (not that the servants regard it as entirely a tragedy, but they know better than to say that out loud) and the resulting chaos: after all, they cannot enter the storerooms…
Never to Behold Again
Beauty is a consumable thing. We eat it with our eyes, wear it down with our gazes. A sunset or a flower may take our breath away because we see it for so short a time; the next day the flower has wilted, and the next evening's sunset is not the one we saw before. But everyone…
The Dark Fairy's Confession
"Why did you do it? Were you really so angry?" "I wasn't angry." "Then why curse the girl?" "Because she asked me to." Magic is complicated. It exists in the same way the space between waking and sleeping does, when you're perched on a precipice of impossibility, and there is…
The Messenger
He knows he did the right thing. Knows it. The queen has told him. The king has told him. One look at the child--sobbing at first, but later playing with his toys--tells him that. The little man--hardly a man, really, some sort of demon--deserved it, after all he had done, and…
The Seven
Happy was happy, Grumpy was grumpy, and so on and on. These weren't their actual names, of course, but nicknames they gave to themselves depending on mood. More and more often now, for instance, the one once named Happy was known as Sadsack. And Grumpy, more and more often,…
What To Expect When Your Daughter Returns from Neverland
1. You will need to lie to the police. "She was camping with relatives," you'll mumble. "They thought she had permission. I'm so sorry for wasting your time." They'll never know how she's changed, how the sun has browned her and the baby fat has melted away. They won't need to…
Evil Queen's Lament
It's no one's fault. It's mere biology. Men can sire children at a hundred, while women's fertility wanes with each passing year. So I do what I can to preserve any semblance of youth. I avoid the sun. I bathe in ass's milk. I would inject poison into the delicate creases of my…
Fairytale Speedrun Any, Wizardless
Any Rules: Reach the ever after (happiness not required), no wizard magic, no other rules. Note: Load times may vary by language of story Rapunzel Select point of view as father and jump roll from window straight into garden. Grab two fistfuls of rampion while making noise to…
The Doors in the Castle
All the doors in the castle were tired of being opened and closed, without so much as a by-your-leave, without even a thank you. From the grand portcullis to the lowliest privy door, they were tired of being taken for granted. They were tired, they were fed up, and they were…
And the Tale Unchanging
This is the tale, as it has been every year. The flowers, red and dark as blood and stinking of earth, swell up from the ground, trembling against the wind. I caress them, or seize them, or bend down to sniff the earth as the petals reach up for my face. At that touch, he…
The Frog Prince's Reluctant Bride
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you end up with a Prince. Even when you aren't looking for one. Sometimes the shoe fits. Sometimes the poisoned apple is dislodged at just the wrong moment and sometimes that frog; the nasty one that keeps creeping into your bedroom at night,…
On the Other Foot
So, it's quarter to closing at Royals Shoe Emporium, and this orange Mustang sweeps into the parking lot, scattering dead leaves and field mice. The car's subwoofers toss a bass line carelessly at our window, and our mannequins tremble with every slap and thump. I can't hear all…
Why I Threw an Apple
The simplistic answer is because I was, rightly, irritated that they didn't invite me to the wedding. Hence I threw the golden apple to cause trouble. And kindly note my superlative success. The resulting squabble between those three stuck-up bitches, Athena, Aphrodite, and…
How to Find Yourself in a Fairy Tale
Find yourself desperate for a child. Find yourself willing to do whatever it takes, including and especially, lie to your spouse. Know, in your heart, in the place where your heart will be once you hold your child in your arms for the first time, that achieving this desire will…
With Grace
She is his cousin, as far as kinship is concerned. But for all other social purposes (and there are many of these), she is something, and he is nothing. It is striking, then, that the invitation to the Grande Ball gets delivered to him. No big deal, he knows she is thinking, it…
Meat Off the Bone
There was a myth about mermaids: if you ate their flesh you would live forever. Whenever the men of the village caught a mermaid, they would cut out chunks of her tail and eat it raw as she flopped and screamed upon the deck. They'd carve enough for themselves and their family…
Feeding Hungers
Now that she'd won the dragon, Clara had no idea what to do with it. She hadn't wanted to win, really. She'd just wanted to make sure the duchess lost. The duchess had made a disparaging remark about Clara's shoes at the midwinter ball, and Clara had never forgotten the slight.…
The Surviving Twins
"They won't survive for long," the midwife said quietly after closing the door. Helmuth grew chalk-white: "Are... are you sure, good mother? I was certain they were such fine children... The eldest was so healthy-looking, plump and with red cheeks." "That's exactly what I'm…
Lamplighted
The genie appeared in a plume of ethereal smoke, as genies often do. I wished for riches--and piles of money appeared, along with precious gems. I wished for love--and a foxy harem winked into existence. I wished for world peace. My phone bleeped with an alert blared: "World…
Three Truths and Three Lies About Jack
******************Editor's Note: Adult Language******************** Jack's mother always told the same story when Jack asked about his dad. She wove a tale about a hero who marched through a poppy-strewn field with a sword of silver. He fought valiantly, a real hero-knight…
The Princess Gets to Choose
You first notice the spots when you take off your glasses and stare at your nose closely in the mirror. They're not very big or very dark, but there they are--indisputable proof of the fact that you're aging, and that perhaps you've spent too much time in the sun. If you were an…
In My Tower
Don't believe the songs you've heard. Don't think I'm languishing in this stone tower, combing my golden tresses, waiting for a prince to come. They came. Three princes in all. The first prince rode up when I was twelve years old, young enough that I still yearned for the world…
Stepsister
She finds a husband for me within the month. Not a prince, of course. One such misalliance is bad enough; two would be unthinkable. But a baron--more than I might have been expected to wed on my own. A moneyed baron, I am assured, even if at this court the word moneyed is so…
Hunted
"My loyal huntsman," the Queen purred. The Huntsman began to sweat beneath his uniform. He stood straight, then bowed low. "Your Majesty." "So skilled at your trade. You've brought me everything I've asked for. Even the heart of my stepdaughter." The Huntsman knelt to the cold…
An Ever After Diverged
I met you at the edge of the yellow woods, while you were speaking sweetly to the robins and squirrels. You weren't handsome, but your smile was kind, and kindness was a novelty so rarely encountered. My whole life I'd been seen as contagious, a bad luck seer who brought only…
On The Measurement Of Existential Truth
The story has, I fear, been much mangled in translation. But I will try. First, Gepetto was a physicist, not a carpenter. I have noticed that your culture often attributes the job of "carpenter" to visionaries it does not understand. My second point has to do with the nature of…
Spin
Fairy tales hardly ever come true for quiet girls! That's the slogan of Happily Ever After Inc., a PR firm for all of your fairy tale needs! Bring us your straw and we will spin it into gold! Want testimonials? Consider some of our most famous clients and their success stories.…
Naughty Children
There, I've put the final touches on you, my boy. Round ears, smiling mouth, perfect button nose. Let's hope that this time, appearances are not deceiving, and the twisted log I carved you from hasn't given me another wicked, ungrateful son. You see, Pinocchio, I made your older…
Blessings for a New Age
The night had fallen quiet, the guests having long since danced and feasted and celebrated their way out of the party and into their beds. The rest of the hall was dark and still, the moonlight streaming through the windows the only source of illumination. A trio of shadowy…
Little Remarked Upon Vanishings and Disappearances
Once upon a time I was the elder sister of a girl enchanted by a ring. And I, the elder of a girl wed to a wolf or a hunter, one and the same. My mother took off her clothes and skin and ran away with a fairy king. I was lost beneath the wave of a parenthesis detailing a sea…
No Man's Neverland
The rumors spread through the German trenches: the British had deployed a new weapon after the losses in Arras. Survivors of each attack were counted in the single digits, boys who had been drafted despite not being of legal age. Most were incoherent. They spoke of a battalion…
Enchanted Objects: Buy-Sell-Trade Group, YOU MUST BE APPROVED TO JOIN
NotSoEvilQueen: Magic Mirror for sale, $200 OBO Pros: Identifies potential supermodels, could be useful to someone operating a business. Cons: Beauty is a construct, reinforces the problematic status quo (PATRIARCHY). I'll definitely say I've had enough therapy by now that I…
The Apple
I knew the apple was poisoned. Foolish girl, the people whisper as I walk through the market, head high, refusing to hide inside my castle. So innocent, so trusting, so silly to take that apple and bite down. I ignore their looks of pity. They don't know what it was like. She…
How to be a Hero
Find yourself a sword. Or, if you are a farmer, you are probably a farmer, find a stick. Whack things. Like trees, not your siblings. You can whack your siblings if you want, just make sure they have sticks too--you want to be a hero. Start this young, like ten or eleven. The…
How to be a Hero
Find yourself a sword. Or, if you are a farmer, you are probably a farmer, find a stick. Whack things. Like trees, not your siblings. You can whack your siblings if you want, just make sure they have sticks too--you want to be a hero. Start this young, like ten or eleven. The…
Choices
"Choose," she says, her beauty breathtaking in the starlight. "Say that I shall be beautiful in the day, and all shall envy you for the loveliness of your wife, and a monster in the night. A monster--" her voice trembles--"that you may not even be able to touch. Or hear yourself…
After the Guessing
Shadows flickered in the nursery's dim light. Fiona kissed her daughter on the forehead. "Once upon a time, my father lied." The baby cooed and kicked. "He told the king I could spin straw into gold. It didn't matter that it was impossible, the king commanded that I do so, or…
The Language of Wolves
Sometime around midnight, the collies started barking like war-dogs in the pasture. Daddy'd left me alone for the night and the rule was always the same: if I so much as thought I needed the gun, I'd get the gun. Pulling on my red coat and readying the shotgun, I barged into the…
Reddy
"Where are you going, little girl?" the strange-looking creature asked, almost gently, but with some threatening undertone in his voice Reddy couldn't quite place. "I am going to visit my grandmother," squeaked Reddy. "I... I... she is sick, and I'm bringing her a bite to eat."…
The Chosen Ones
Demons slaughtered the first chosen one. The monsters appeared one autumn day, when the leaves turned red. Soon forests, fields, hamlets, nations fell under the might of their horde. In response, the goddess of those lands marked a newborn baby as her champion. When the chosen…
Georgina and the Dragon
The dragon had arrived unexpectedly. None had suspected until two rather dilapidated abandoned cottages went up in flames. Even then no one would have immediately thought "Dragon" if the neatly written note had not arrived at the small brick built town hall later that afternoon.…
An Apple A Day
"Apple?" the old woman asked. She stood alone in the market, near a darkened alley. No stall. Just her and a basket of apples. She held out the basket as Lisa walked by. "How much?" Lisa asked. "Oh," the old woman cried, "Free for a beauty such as yourself." Lisa eyed the apples…
Petrosinella
"You did this, you know," the ogress said. She hefted the boy's head so Petrosinella could see the ragged scarlet hole in his throat. The boy, who had climbed so quickly and so cleverly, light as a cat, whose beautiful brown hands had caressed every part of her. He'd said he was…
Scraps of Ocean
Portia's home didn't want her, unless she reshaped herself. As she preferred her sharp edges, she left, and sought a town she'd heard of. It was one of the few places where the stone magic lingered, powered by the fire lurking within the nearby mountains. As she'd expected, it…
The Cinder Girl
They called her the cinder girl, or perhaps it was something else. It's been a few centuries since then, and anyway, human names are so bland, so short, so quick to dissolve in an immortal memory. Where was I? Ah yes, the girl in the fireplace. Well, you know the story. There…
Lethe
When they told her she was coming back to life, she believed them. She could already feel her shadowed senses sharpening, the grey path coming into focus. Only she did not recognize the man who led her. I am Eurydice, she thought, but who is he? They said he was her husband, who…
Crying Wolf
Everyone warned her, of course. Never go near the wolves. They would trick you, seduce you--this last always spoken in a hush. As if seduction were a bad thing. Red knew otherwise. He sat, so very still, so very perfect, like a gentleman, really. Better, actually. More refined…
Cruel Sisters
The harp is a gruesome thing. Long bones for the pillar; breastbone for the board; the curve of a spine for the instrument's neck and knee. At the head sits a skull, grinning eyelessly at all who flinch away. I saw it when they paraded it through the streets after the revolt,…
We were perfect, once.
We were perfect, once. Do you know what happens to gold when it tarnishes? You polish it. Do you know what happens to silver when it rusts? You clean it. Do you know what happens to flesh when it sags, hair when it falls, skin when it wrinkles? You live with it. Ten years. Ten…
Transformation, Afterwards
Afterwards, matters are—awkward. Partly because they'd both had so little choice. Azman—claiming to be a prince—in her room, mostly naked? While she had nothing on but her nightdress—a nightdress half torn off her shoulder? And he had not had a weapon. Her door had been locked,…
Spindles and Spires
You know the story. Everybody knows the story. The spinning wheel, the hundred years of sleep, and the eventual awakening by true love's kiss. Except he definitely wasn't my true love, and it wasn't actually a kiss--I still wake screaming at night when I dream about his body on…
Charmed
********Editor's Note: Mature Themes, Disturbing Story********** The cruelest thing Cinderella's stepmother ever did was offer to take her to the ball. Cinderella, fifteen and foolish, mistaking cruelty for kindness, threw her arms around her stepmother's bony figure. "Thank…
Unchosen
I knew, because she used to talk to me sometimes, how hard her life was. She wasn't making it up: I saw how thin she got after her dad remarried then died, and there was no hiding the bruises. It's totally true, like in the stories people told later, how she spent long winter…
Rabbit
I sit with my back to a rusted car, trying to contain my shakes. Rabbit pulls a cigar from his faded overcoat and lights it. It stinks like burning socks, but stinks are Rabbit's pleasure. He likes things that smell of mold, or long forgotten sex, or dirty feet, or diapers.…
Heart Seed
The Queen had been in control all her life. She had conquered any enemy nation that had posed a threat, had crushed dissent within her kingdom with the thoroughness of a wildfire. The only thing she feared was death itself; surely her land would fall into ruin without her. So…
Not Like the Stories
When the princess falls asleep, it's not like in the stories. She doesn't yawn ever so slightly, then stretch into her slumber with the slow deliberateness of a cat. Nor, as the curse slips through the prick of her thumb, does magic spark the air around, or the world spring into…
The Wolf
She would not smile, of course, for an ordinary wolf. But this is a wolf who leans upright against a tree, examining his paws, a wolf who runs a long tongue against his teeth as he glances up at her. For this wolf, she smiles. He runs a tongue along his teeth again. "And what…
Of Magic Ash and Broken Glass
The girl sweeps in on a cloud of pumpkin-colored satin and brocade as fine as cobwebs. Her entrance stirs the room like a diamond dropped in a crystal decanter, and the ballroom, adorned with elegantly garbed schemers, turns to gaze upon her as one. Surely, this is the enchanted…
Breaking the Enchantment
"So," the prince said. "To break your enchantment, you need a kiss from your true love." "Yes," said the princess, unable to keep the note of irritation from her voice. "And naturally, I get you." The prince sighed. "Awkward, I know. Still." He tapped his finger on his lips. "I…
Thick as Pea Soup
I awoke that morning in bed, hungry for soup, with a dull ache spread across my back. So close, within grasp, the dirtied straw ceiling spread in all directions for but a brief span. Grayed walls rose to meet that flaxen firmament, mosaics of court life laid therein: knights in…
Rescuing the Ice Queen
At dawn, the ministers drag the Ice Queen out into the courtyard where I stand in line with all of the other accused criminals. They are rough, and her manacles dig into her scarred wrists, but her face is as blank as a snowdrift in the early morning shade. The new sunlight…
Liberty
After her father died, Beauty raged against the Beast. His fortress, which she had loved so much for its chests of magic and its cabinets of knowledge, had suddenly morphed, become a prison of the mind from which there was no egress to be found, as she had tried to find, on more…
Feather Ties
Five years later, and the remaining six were almost--almost--accustomed to it. To the point where the third girl had almost--almost--convinced herself that it was not all that bad. Yes, the ceaseless parades for ambassadors, or great feasts, or simply when the king felt the…
Lullaby
It is quiet. It is a sort of quiet that chokes your ears, the quiet that drowns out the whispering of the wind as it makes the leaves dance along the streets. It is a sort of quiet that follows after one takes their last breath. But it is always silent for the boy that runs…
Shod In Memories
Why the fairy wanted my patchwork slippers, or how she could even tell I'd been sewing them by the light of the ashes at night, I might never know. When she offered to trade me a magnificent gown in a nutshell, a fairy gown that would only last four hours, I told her no. My…
Glass Stiletto
"Stiletto heels are named after stiletto daggers for a reason," she says, though she knows she'll get no response as she flushes the last of the bloody toilet paper. Even the private bathrooms have fancy hand towels, so she uses one to dry her shoe before she tosses it in the…
The Sacrifice
The foul-smelling mist exhaled from the cave opening, a swirl of brimstone and smoke. A soft reptilian growl echoed, low and steady. The dragon was still sleeping, but when he awakened, he would be hungry. The young woman, the virgin sacrifice, struggled against the ropes that…
Heart of Pine
Senior Giuseppe's pain is grand. His neighbors see him exiting his little house every day, draped inside his dark coat, they watch him as he takes tombstone hill on heavy tread. His little boy crossed the road chasing the ball. Didn't look left or right. Didn't hear the…
Destiny
"No sign of the Duke's men," said the young man. "I think we lost them back at the stream. And this valley is so secluded I don't think they'll find it. Even if they come back with dogs, I can turn them away. I got to know the pack pretty well while working in the stables." "And…
In the Bottom of the Tower Where All Beasts Roam
In the forest, there sits a tower, and in the bottom of that tower, a prince full of beasts. They are not small beasts, by any means, but a prince's heart is the kingdom, and as such there is always room for more. The prince spends much of his day singing over the beasts'…
The Velvet Castles of the Night
They wait for you, in the velvet castles of the night. It's not like they have anything better to do. Everyone knows the story stops for the hero, and who would the hero be but you? That is why every mirror in every inn in this town is enchanted, showing chiseled jaws, sculpted…
Memories of Monsters
I could have stayed. Instead, I left with the knight. He didn't have a castle, the knight, nor much of anything beyond his armor, his sword, and two horses--one to carry him, the other to carry a few blankets and food and waterskins, as well as embroidered tunics for special…
Closing Time
They played the same old song and there were the same old last minute brawls. Of drunken slurring and fists and beer. And I went home with her and she was the best damn thing that ever happened to me. I didn't want to kill her. Her first wish, was that she wished she wasn't so…
Fantasy Nights
Knight I was barely fourteen, the eighth of the eleven princes my father had amassed between his five wives. When Sir L invited me to view his butterfly collection, I naively believed I'd spend the evening admiring swallowtails and fritillaries. Instead I was taken aback (and in…
How To Make A Medusa
Alina was always told she would really be something when she grew up. A looker, say the adults, tugging at her hair like they can help it grow. Alina sits and stares at the mirror in the hallway, the full length one that reaches up into the sky, stares and stares because if she…
Introducing Your Parents to the Spoils of Adventure
You arrive already tugging at the collar of your polo shirt. You've grown comfortable in plate armor, in doublet and hose, and your old belted trousers now feel awkward and ugly. Your mother welcomes you at the door, offers drinks. She takes in Cordelia's gold and pink gown in a…
Fairyless Tales
***Editor's Warning: These Fairyless Tales are not for children*** "Far as I can tell," the Inspector said, "this little girl was complimenting the wolf's teeth right before it ripped her throat out. "Curious," the other Inspector said. "How about trading that cow for these here…
Child of Snow
The man I learned to call Papa came home from a five-year journey the winter I turned three years old. He was large, and his pale face was hidden behind a thick, dark beard. All of the rest of him was wrapped in snowy clothes and furs, and he carried a pack on his back. When he…
Stealing Tales
The robber girl tries to make a game of it. How many girls will struggle through the snow this year, searching for loved ones taken by bears or snow? How many will turn back? How many will swear, on their lifeblood, that they had not married bears, but men? That the boys they…
Snow, Blood, Fur
She looks at herself in the full-length mirror of the bridal salon. She resembles a winter landscape, hills and hollows covered with snow, white and sparkling. She is the essence of purity, as though all that has ever blown through her is a chill wind. The veil falls and falls…
He Stole More Than Christmas
"One Fish," came the whisper "Two Fish," I replied "Are you My Mother?" came the whisper. I was puzzled. "That's not a Seuss book," I hissed back. A large elephant came out of the alley in a tight trench coat which barely covered his trunk and a Fedora which somehow fit over the…
Glass
He had hunted her, she saw that now. Like a hind sighted briefly before startling, she was a prize to be claimed, a promise held out and then snatched away. And he was not the sort of man to return from the hunt empty-handed. So he had scoured the kingdom and found her, whisked…
The Depths To Which We Sink
The ocean is a dark place, and cold enough to chill the soul. But mermaids have no souls. We forget that, with our tales of mermaids singing beneath the sea. It's dark there, and the pressure builds until only the strongest souls can bear it. We forget all of that. We think that…
Do Not Wake The Sleeping Princess
"Don't do it," he said, squinting at me across the tiny, smoky fire, enjoying lecturing his new squire. "Rule number one. Don't wake 'em up. Bloody nutters they are, every sleeping princess in the world. Poisoning wells, torturing kittens, calling up demons, they're all mad.…
The Stargirl and the Potter
I tell you this tale as it was told to me so very long ago. She appeared one day in the town. Nobody knew where she had come from, or who her family might be, or what she was called, or why her skin glowed ever-so-slightly with a sparkling luminescence. Nobody saw her enter the…
She Missed Her Chance.
After locking her in, her stepmother blocked the attic door with an old armchair. The mice and sparrows had been useless, so she heaved and sobbed for over an hour. In desperation she sent the sparrows and mice to slow his exit, but they had driven him out instead. When she…
Story Time
"There was a prince who lived in a broken-down castle n a broken-down land. He had no great treasures, no great armies, no great love to save him, and neither did his land, and he cursed the skies and the streams each day, that had cast him to be born to this life, to be born to…
Silenced
The young woman left the tiny cottage on foot, her eyes on the hills ahead, her face set. Behind her, the old couple who had raised her cried and begged her not to go. She didn't look back. She strode past the stone where deformed and defective babies were left to die. She…
Wendy, Darling
There is a boy outside her daughter's window. She wakes with this certainty, and hurries through the darkened house to her daughter's room. In the doorway, her pulse skips--recognition and panic in one missed beat. He hovers just beyond the glass even though the window looks out…
All Miracles Fifty Percent Off
As soon as Bane walked through the door, he knew he was home. The shop was dim, lit only by a chink of light through the dusty shopfront window. Tiny motes disturbed the air, filling his sinuses and falling from the ceiling under the skitter of mice. The atmosphere was one of…
Interviewing Dora
"This is a box full of feelings." Her desiccated fingers stroke the scrolling corner plates, outline the hinges as she speaks. "It's meant to keep them in." "Tell me about them." I lean back and watch her dull eyes sputter. Once, they must have sparked at the idea of the box.…
Hey Wolf
The wolf is smoking a cigarette and wearing leather. He's a joke, she thinks, an afterschool special. He carries groceries for old ladies. Seriously, he does. What a cliche. She shrugs off her red hoodie. He watches her pile cans of soup in paper bags. He uses the food pantry…
The Black Violin
Helene takes two vows on her wedding day, equally rotten. The first is private. Midnight crossroads. Chanted words. The scent of brimstone. Cherry red skin and horns in a gentleman's suit. Negotiation. A cold kiss to seal agreement. The second, at bright noon, under a cherry…
Crow Girl
When Crow Girl was released from the spell, she was quite surprised. She'd fully expected to die when the men had caught her in their nets, and it wasn't until they'd placed her in a cage inside the witch's hut that she realized she wasn't to be roasted or baked into a pie.…
Bright Hair
Hair? Imbeciles. It is not hair. No more than there was ever a girl child taken in exchange for some life-giving herb that revived the gravid mother from the point of death. That tale is the hook. It reaches the ear of some youth who fancies himself a hero, and he is caught. He…
The Lion
The lion never speaks about his past. This has led, naturally, to considerable gossip. The lion, many insist, is not really a lion--after all, real lions can't talk. No, he must be a transformed prince, in love with a princess. Or--given the way the lion watches the prince, a…
Horseman
It was a nightmare come to life. Seriously. One I'd had ever since a misguided kindergarten teacher insisted on reading "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow" to a roomful of impressionable tots. An illustrated version. Our young minds just weren't ready for The Headless Horseman. So:…
Hundreds
The ghosts of dead princes hover around her bed. Sometimes they argue about this. Some of them suggest that they might be disturbing her rest. Others think, under the circumstances, that disturbing her rest is just fine, thanks; indeed, her rest could use a little more…
Souls
The human poet says that we of the sea have no souls. That all we are is air and salt, water and wind, cold and dark. That souls belong only to those who sing and dance on land. That when we die we turn into sea foam, to drift upon the waves, and perhaps one day land on human…
Gretel, Grown
Gretel is eleven now, and her brother is the only one who still calls her by that nickname. To her haunted, hollow father she is Margaret, always kept at arm's length. This is fine by her. She knows he still can't look at her without remembering what he did, which seems fair,…
Long After the Others Die, Tin Man Tells the Truth
I never wanted a new heart. I could get along fine without one. But then Scarecrow wanted brains so much, and everyone felt so sad I didn't have a cardiac muscle, I went along with the song. When Lion wanted courage that sealed the whole thing in a bow. Everyone in this group…
Every Orphan Child to a Good Home Should Go
I couldn't help glancing at the hourglass when Mr. and Mrs. Bumpkin shuffled into my office. A few moments more and I would have closed up and been at the tavern down the street. The wisp that had led them in flared and winked out with the sound of tinkling bells. I took a deep…
Sleeping Problems
They're saying now it was aggravated rape and--news just in--they're throwing in first-degree murder as well. It seems one of the palace guards, still groggy from his hundred-year sleep, tripped over the battlements on his way to rescue the screaming princess. But how is that my…
One More Bite
"The bread is good," our latest guest says, nearly choking on the words as she tries to force the lump down her throat. I don't know her name--names are considered impolite at the giant's table. Our host gestures at an iron bowl. "And the soup? What do you think of the soup?"…
Dorothy
It was a chaste courtship. Her lust was constrained by her conservative upbringing; his, by his lack of a central nervous system. Often, they simply talked. She chatted extensively about her life in the old world, before the tornado. She had loved, she said, her school and her…
Once I, Rose
Life/Death #7 The woman I'm given to is finished with her boyfriend, so she throws me and the other roses into the garbage disposal. Because memory lasts between life and death, I make lists as my new body grows on the stem. When I Am Human Again, I Will: * Eat a twelve-course…
Rose-and-Thorn
"On her sixteenth birthday, the princess shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die." The other fairies stopped their one-upmanship to gape at their rival. "That's true power, not giving silly gifts like beauty and charm," said the oldest fairy. "None of…
The Winter Princess
Once there was a princess born on the coldest day of the year, so that as she drew her first breath, the midwife exclaimed, "Truly, this girl will never feel the cold." And as she grew they saw this was true. The winter princess was known to go riding in weather that made the…
Beasts and Roses
The Beast doesn't ask for one of his daughters, merely tells him he will never leave. The merchant is numb as he is shown his bedchamber, the dining room, the library. Finally the Beast stops at a carved wooden chest, dark near to black, and withdraws two mirrors. He hands one…
Down the Hill
Artful flailing of limbs and cries of pain and panic disguised the control behind Jill's much-practiced tumble down the hillside. She saw no witnesses, but one can't be too careful. She fetched up next to the twitching boy. "Jack! Jack," she cried, "are you hurt bad?" The crack…
Incarnadine
The wolf meets a woman in the wood. The woman is red, from her hair to her lips to her dress to her long, sharp nails. Only her skin is pale and her eyes are dark, dark, dark. She lounges on the edge of a blanket, and spread out before her is a feast of the sort one doesn't…
Fairy Godmother Protocols
***Adult Fairytale below*** 1.) I will fulfill my end of the fairy godmother contract. I will play matchmaker for the handsomest prince in all the land and find him the most beautiful princess in all the land so they can populate the world with rich, pretty children from the…
Expensive
No one knew about them, the counterfeit princes. In this day and age, no one would suspect. Who could have hoped to get away with it when every tabloid had them on the cover at least once a month? Their fans had memorized their faces, their gaits, the way they held their…
Reading Beauty
He would've kissed me to waken me, a tradition of dubious morality, but there was no need. I have my own little bit of witchcraft and better things to do than sleeping. I make a point of turning a page. He stares at me. I'm sure he wasn't expecting me to be sitting up in bed,…
Pumping Iron with Santa
I was on my third rep of overhead presses when Mitch shouted over the nineties punk rock blaring from the gym's speakers, "Bro, check out the guns on the big guy in the red suit." Mitch dropped his dumbbell with a thunk and commenced to gawk. I glanced over my shoulder and did a…
The Workshop at the End of the World
The workshop's bright interior felt like a sauna after the numbing midwinter cold outdoors. The old man immediately took off his fur-lined hat and gloves and started unfastening the buttons of his greatcoat. His workers glanced up from benches and forge upon his entrance, but…
A Dragon's Apology
Gry didn't mean to eat the knight. Things like that just happen, though, when someone wakes you up with a pokey stick. She reflexively thrashed her tail, sweeping the irritant into her yawning maw. By the time she was fully awake, the human was already halfway down her gullet,…
In Autumn
She waited until autumn. She wanted to wait until the children were home and back in school. Bobby had been at soccer camp--Robert, he wanted to be called now, which was confusing because his father was Robert too, so when she called either of them, they both answered. He…
The Place Beyond the Brambles
When last I saw you, my sweet, my love, you were shrunk to the size of Grandma's thimble and plucked from the porch by the bees of the forest. We heard your cries, your wild shrieks of delight, as they carried you to the place beyond the southern brambles. Listened, after, to…
A Dozen Frogs, a Bakery, and a Thing that Didn't Happen
Wednesday, September 14 I saw a unicorn in a bakery window, just for an instant. It was beautiful and luminous and just like the one in my dreams. I blinked, and it was a cake with a picture of a unicorn in frosting. It was super-realistic, though. I'm glad I decided to keep…
What a Princess Wants
AszI brushes the endless knots out of my daughter's hair. She giggles and says, "It's like Rapunzel's, right?" I snort and kiss the top of her head. I do not say what first springs to mind, which is that Rapunzel's real name was Persinette, and calling a girl "Rapunzel" is…
And in the End, They All Lived Happily Ever After
The coachman knows his place, so he stays outside, even though the music swirls in his head and tries to draw him into the ballroom, with all its vibrant colors and beautiful dancers--glamorous, graceful people whirling around the floor in complicated patterns, not needing to…
The Forge
The blacksmith has several objections. For one, he does not make shoes. Oh, horseshoes, definitely, but that is an entirely different matter, and something that he does with a local farrier, quite an expert, if the prince is in any need. Human shoes, however, are an entirely…
Rain Like Diamonds
The queen hoarded the barrels of seed, keeping them locked within her coffers among the diamonds and gold and strings of perfect pearls, remnants of the former days of prosperity and excess. The seeds would receive neither sun nor water nor nutrients from the soil until unlocked…
The Petals
Other people, it must be said, did not see a child, but rather rose petals delicately stitched together with what looked and felt like spider silk, soft and fragile to the touch. Yellow petals, for the most part, though where the child's face should have been the petals were…
The Dollmaker's Rage
The dollmaker needs a year at least for each doll. Sometimes two. They are all handcrafted, of course, and the time needed to make the skin feel exactly like human flesh and settle on the bones, you understand-- The stranger is not interested in understanding. "Two months."…
Dancing With Fire
The pond where I grew up was swampy and buzzing with insects. I slept in a bed of stargrass, and Mother whispered lullabies in the gentle current. Mother grew up in the ocean, and she hated our pond. Too many memories of Father lingered beneath the surface, long after drought…
Three Questions
The bean nighe is never wrong. She sits by a stream, washing the clothes of those soon to die. The water runs red with blood but the stains never fade. If you are bold, she will answer three questions but she will ask three in return; only true words must fall from your lips. I…
Cracks in the Mirror Glass
I didn't miss the little house in the woods until it was gone--its stools carved to fit my stunted legs and its eaves lowered for my unnatural arms to fetch the dried apples down on a winter's night. Our king has lost his queen. He has ordered his forests cleared. His grief has…
Cracks in the Mirror Glass
I didn't miss the little house in the woods until it was gone--its stools carved to fit my stunted legs and its eaves lowered for my unnatural arms to fetch the dried apples down on a winter's night. Our king has lost his queen. He has ordered his forests cleared. His grief has…
The Fox Bride
He carried the squirming animal to his--no, their, he had to remember that now, their--bedroom, struggling to avoid her sharp teeth. The oversized ring he had given her glimmered on her left front leg; she had spent most of the evening biting and licking at it, when she had not…
The Queen's Aviary
The princess was born beneath owl-stars and sickle-moon, to the cries of the palace ravens. When she was five, she collected the feathers of birds to weave into her hair. When she was ten, she practiced identifying birds so that she could paint them from memory. The queen would…
Cold Hands and the Smell of Salt
Anja returns with the groceries to find her dead husband sitting by the white fence he'd built, pale hands uprooting grass blades and dispersing the shards into the wind through bony fingers. She doesn't know what he was wearing when he died, but the long thin figure by the gate…
The Gate, My Beloved; My Story, Its Key
There is nothing here, in the bright bronze center of the desert--nothing but the great walled city with gates shut tight, and at the base of them, clutching them for comfort, me. I have come so far that I forget where I started. The city begs for stories, in words I can only…
Toadwords
They said they'd driven her out of the village and into the woods, and that wasn't a lie. But she found that she preferred the woods. Things were easier out there. A curse means less when you're alone. And her toads could roam where they liked. Not that they often did. Toads…
The Mirror Cracks
The mirror's seen a lot of bullshit in its time, but this beats all. The princess Mewlin and some nameless bard stumble into her room, kick the door closed and fall on her bed. In minutes they're naked. He starts to roll on top of her, but she stops him with her hand. "Wait,"…
When it Ends, He Catches Her
The dim shadows were kinder to the theater's dilapidation. A single candle to aid the dirty sheen of the moon through the rent beams of the ancient roof, easier to overlook the worn and warped floorboards, the tattered curtains, the mildew-ridden walls. Easier as well to…
The Moon and the Mouse
The mouse sang to the moon. He sang, "Great Wheel of Cheese in the sky, eaten by the Mysterious and restored each month to hover again, grant me a favor. Grant me a bride." The moon peered down at him, for while it had heard many petitions from all manner of creature, and while…
Sugar and Spice
"It's time to take the children into the forest," said Stepmother. Father winced. "Must we?" he said. I winced too. All the feasting in the world couldn't erase my memory of Stepmother angry, back when she was teaching me and Gretel to call her "Stepmother," and the man…
A Year and a Day
Robert did not expect the sea-witch to live in a house, not one with a blue door and small hedges that lined the walkway. He thought that the seagulls overhead probably worked for her, watched for her. He knocked on the door, though the arthritis made his hands hurt every day.…
Beans and Lies
Later she changes the tale, calling her husband a giant who liked to crunch on human bones, the intruder a fool willing to trade a cow for beans. She builds up everything: their manor becomes a castle, the hill a cloud, the earthen walls thick bulwarks of marble and granite, the…
Princess No More
Estelle refused to let Richard linger in her presence as his father lay dying. "You should be with him," she said. "He needs his family close by." Richard scraped a hand across day-old stubble. "Let us pray he disowns me with his last breath." They both knew that could not…
Your New Voice and You
You watch the mermaids swim. Sometimes you think of joining them. They're like parrotfish, bright and pretty. If you joined them, they would scatter like a school of fish when a predator comes along. So you do nothing but watch from the shadows. From there sometimes you see…
Coffin
The village is not in any guidebook or on any map. Even satellite photos somehow miss it, always by some unexplained chance looking at the area only when it is covered with clouds or fog, or during some blip in the satellite's programming. You will also not find it named on any…
If You Want the Rainbow
***Editor's Note: Adult story, and some adult language*** The sky is clear because I'm calm. Or maybe I'm calm because it's clear. Hard to tell, sometimes. The guy beside me has black hair and a guitar. We're in front of the downtown college campus and it's summer and I'm…
Starcrossed
yAs she crossed the caf� for the thousandth time that shift, Juliet suddenly caught sight of the man at the corner table, and the plate of beignets in her hand almost dropped to the floor. Avalanches of precious war-rationed powdered sugar tumbled down the mounds of the fried…
All Upon A Time
Once upon a time there was a Giant Killer who was in town when a ball was announced inviting all eligible maidens to the palace, but she did not go, because she was only passing through on her way to another story. Which is just as well. She almost certainly could have won the…
Miss Violet May from the Twelve Thousand Lakes
All us fellas loved Miss Violet May, right from the start. She came from the land of Twelve Thousand Lakes, came click-clacking on the train from North to South till she met worthless Sorry Joe Weevily, and he sweet-talked her into getting off and marrying him. We'd never seen a…
Toads
"Stop speaking," he tells his wife. "I'm sorry," she says, flinching. Another glittering diamond and a gleaming pearl drop from her mouth; she grabs a fine napkin, pressing it against her bleeding mouth. He looks away. He should not have been so harsh, he knows. And yet. Five…
And Silver Fountains, Mud
The first thing she's aware of is weight. After too long asleep, her limbs are tingling and twitching, aching for movement, and something is impeding them. She only has a moment to register the feeling, to translate it into a word, pinned. Then the pain comes, and transfixes her…
Asleep
A skull stares from the floor beside the bed. Grasses sprout from the hollows of its eyes. Ralph hardly notices. He scans the grass for hidden thorns, for anything that slashes, stings or bites. Finding nothing dangerous, he puts it out of mind. It's just another skull. He's…
The Wrong Foot
Needless to say, I didn't want to try on the slipper in the first place. "Why should I?" I asked Mama when she came to drag me away from my books that morning. "We both know I'm not the girl they're looking for. I was standing by your side last night, remember, when she first…
The Frog Prince
Once upon a time there was a princess, beautiful as moonlight, but sighing as she meandered along the forest path one warm early summer in an intentionally unspecified year. "Oh me, oh my, how lonely and sad and pitiful it is to be a princess who does not want to marry the vapid…
Echo
"I think you dropped this." Connor held out the pencil that had rolled under his desk. The girl sitting behind him took it, staring at him with wide brown eyes. For a moment their hands brushed each other, then the moment was over. Connor turned around to finish his math test,…
How Hagatha One-Eye Fell Off the Wagon
As far back as anyone in the sleepy mountain town could remember, Old Hagatha One-Eye had lived alone on a dusty track in the woods. If you followed the paved road into what passed for Main Street in this valley, kept the dam on your left when you crossed the river, and…
The Gifts: Part Two
He stared at the silver hands resting on the pillow, all three draped with a single piece of fine red and gold silk, stained with tears. The silk had been the idea of one of his advisors, who had pointed out that anything else would be difficult for the poor child--that is, the…
The Gifts: Part One
He has never seen anything so magnificent. Even he, knowing little of art, can tell that the carvings are those of a master: dancing princesses and princesses surrounded by musicians, the metal and gold work so fine that he can almost make out their individual toes through thin…
When the Selkie Comes
***Editor's Note: Cursing (& A disturbing tale for adults)*** My name is not Elisabeth. My eyes are not full of tears. My life has not just changed forever. My best friend is not dead. Mum screeches my full name like a fishwife, carrying over the howling winds of the bay, and…
Bedtime Stories
You arrive at dusk as you always do, during that fragile moment when a thin, orange ribbon struggles to restrain the onrushing blackness. For one sweet, pregnant moment you pause, and we are like a child, in a world all his own, watched by a loving mother he does not see.…
Of Ash and Old Dreams
She is no longer a girl, dreaming while sweeping the ashes away. She is a queen, and a queen, says her beloved king, is ever the paragon of perfection and grace. Her feet have grown wide with age. Still, she stuffs them into glass slippers, narrow as reeds, that rub her ankles…
Portal Worlds and Your Child: A Parent's Guide (With Examples)
Warning Signs. One in every 250 children experiences inter-dimensional travel before the age of eighteen. Siblings and cousins are 40% more likely to enter another dimension than single children. If you discover your child hiding medieval items (crowns, trumpets, tapestries,…
The Princess and Her Tale
He still believes I will turn into my mother. Understand this: everything you have been told about my beauty is a lie. I am beautiful only as a princess is beautiful, glittering in silk and gems in the smoky candlelight. In the day, stripped of jewels and silks, I am as any…
Hungry
***Editor's Note: Adult fairytale. Adult themes.*** Even in high summer, paths through these woods are difficult to find, let alone follow, overrun as they are with brambles and briars and bracken. But in summer there is the sun above you to warm your head, and the green of…
Three Kisses: The Mirror of Reason
She was all shining, all glittering ice as she rose on a whirling column of white. The impossible tower grew taller and thinner, leaning over until it finally disintegrated into a shower of crystals. When the plume cleared, the Queen was gone. The little girl waited, but there…
Three Kisses: A Royal Breakfast
Thorns tore at his fingers, arms and face, but there was no turning back. Even the grisly sight of his predecessors hanging impaled and decomposing on the tangled branches overhead failed to slow him down. He was a Prince, by God, and not to be denied. He hacked a path through…
Three Kisses: Defenders of the Crystal Casket
The Prince tethered his white stallion near the base of the hill and climbed up the wooded slope. As he approached the summit, the clouds parted and the rays of the setting sun highlighted the gold and crystal casket nestled in the glade. It gleamed with a pure, blinding light:…
In The White of the Snow
In the white of the snow, dusk-stained and bordering on invisible, the footprints were increasingly harder to follow. The curled moon was little use to see by. It turned the land grey. Clouds would soon make everything dark. We'd have to use our electric torches then, and that…
The Cries of the Dead and Dying
I never really loved her. I never loved her, but from the first moment I saw her I coveted her, desired her in the way the ivy desires the castle wall, or the oyster the pearl. I first saw her coming down the hill. Dust coated her bare feet and the tattered hem of her torn linen…
Homo Homarus
***Editor's Note: An adult story with mature, adult themes*** When I see you for the first time, a shark-sized shadow slinking around the mad-hued corals below, I gasp through my snorkel. But curiosity gets the better of me, and I linger, floating above. Your arm emerges first.…
Old Flames
Gunthar sat in stoic silence, a woolen blanket folded over his lap, facing the fireplace. Ada set her basket of fabric and lace onto the frayed rug and eased herself into the chair next to his, pulling it closer to the fire. He kept his eyes on the flickering flames. "So, it's…
Red at the End of the World
The man is tapping out a tune with one foot, a tune that is a mystery to everyone but him. The tune goes something like this: tap tap tap pause tap tap tap pause tap tap tap tap pause tap tap tap tap pause. It's worse than having a pop song stuck on repeat inside your head…
Said the Princess
Once upon a time in a far off land, in a tiny room, in a tall tower, at the centre of a vast and impenetrable maze, the princess Adrienna cocked her head and frowned. "Who said that?" said the princess. She looked around the tower room, but saw no one. "This isn't funny. Who's…
The Gifter
He looked at my year's work, listed out on paper. He drew breath through his long nose. He stretched his neck. It looked like his collar was trying to bite his head off. "Let's talk about your gifting, shall we?" He didn't wait for me to answer. He stabbed the middle of one page…
The Watchmaker's Wife
***Editor's Note: Here be mature and potentially disturbing themes. Read on upon your own recognizance*** The old watchmaker went to the builder of dreams. "Make me a wife," he said. The builder of dreams looked at him and smiled. "Yes, sir," he replied, rubbing his hands…
Seven Sins
Hunched on the waiting-room floor, a gargoyle clasped a chair leg with razor sharp talons. Its ridged spine protruded through its leathery skin. I glanced at Ms. Shipley at the reception desk. "That is your ten o'clock appointment." She handed me a manila file. "Case of…
Peas, Plots, and Peril
The hardest part was spreading that silly rumor in the first place. I didn't use magic. A dairymaid's pay doesn't cover hiring sorcerers. No, I spent months discretely complimenting the ladies who came to the dairy on the delicacy of their complexions, working my way up to the…
Fairy Tales
***Be Advised. Mature Language in the story that follows*** There was a girl in a white dress crying inside the MRT station. She was sitting all by herself on a bench on the platform, farthest from the entrance but closest to the doors of the first car of the train. She was all…
The Girl She Truly Was
Long ago, an indifferent father and a sweet mother bore a child. Her father called her "son" when he called her anything at all, but her mother recognized the girl she truly was. Whatever name they gave her at birth fell away from disuse. Her mother died when she was still…
This Rough Magic
He is telling the wrong story. He wants to explain it in terms of magic and wishes and fairy tales, but the right language for this situation is the language of gravity and magnetism, of galaxies and gas giants. It is a mechanical, technical problem--a problem of mathematics and…
Frog/Prince
The frog basked in the sun. Settled in the soft muck of his pond, he didn't notice the princess until she scooped him up and pressed her hot mouth to his skin. He kicked out with his strong back legs, and tumbled into the water again. Safe! But he wasn't. Something was wrong.…
No Gift of Words
The gibbous moon hung over the crowns of the baobab trees as Afua slipped from her cot and headed up the cliff road to the house of the witch. Red clay wet with the night rains slapped beneath her heavy feet, her hurried strides belying the fear curling in her belly. It was a…
The Long Con
I knew the girl would never give up her child. I knew before I asked. That is the sort of deal you only make if you're young and naive and facing execution and the idea of a child is so very far away that it is an easy thing to give up. But I asked her anyway, knowing that she…
Not a Prince
Three teenage girls crowded round the terrarium on the desk in Annabel's room. It sat amid an avalanche of fingernail polish bottles and schoolbooks. In one back corner of the terrarium, a frog cowered. "Kiss it!" Lacey said to Annabel, fanning her freshly pink nails. "Yeah."…
Toad Sister
My sister Amy came back smiling from the village well, saying she'd drawn water for a beggar-woman. She gasped when the first rose fell from her mouth, followed by a rain of diamonds. She'd thought it reward enough to see her kind lovely face mirrored in the woman's eyes. But it…
Sister
Sister knew about wicked stepmothers. No one warned her about wicked stepfathers. Stepfather only noticed Sister at night, in the dark. When she saw Brother's bruises, Sister declared "Mother's too scared to help us. Let's go into the forest. We'll be safer there." Hours later,…
The Two of Us, After
The sails are not black but they should have been. The three of us don't know it. I stand aft. Sometimes talking with the Rafe, the tillerman. Sometimes not. Mostly we watch her wait in the bony bow, drawing the light out of the air to shine around her. Looking towards France.…
Journey's End
"And did you find God, stranger?" Aisa asks, scrubbing the shirt she's washing harder. There's a persistent tint of guilt around the collar that the river waters won't clean. "No, I didn't." His voice is weary, hoarse, the dust of countless roads lining his throat and lungs. He…
Some Day My Prince Will Go
It was pretty scary watching the witch sing "Happy Birthday". Instead of being pursed in disapproval as usual, her mouth stretched into a smile so wide it made me think of strychnine. Meanwhile her eyes stayed as cold and unblinking as a hawk, with a nose to match. She wore the…