The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 006

“May I know your name?” she asked, remembering the manners she’d picked up from her keeper.

At her hip, Hearthorne groaned, while the dragon-mound reared up its head on its snakelike neck. “So, not only a thief, but an insulting one as well.” Bits of white fire foamed up along the edges of its lips.

Kya’s knees knocked together, and she wanted nothing more than to throw herself on her face and hope dragons had a well-tuned sense of mercy, but the rest of her had gone all stiff from fear, so she stood her ground. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. It’s just how things are done where I come from.” She frowned even as the words left her lips. That wasn’t quite true. The other plants and insects and animals had never been as preoccupied with names as her keeper and her keeper’s friends had been.

Moon Bait (Part 3)

The witches laughed as they stepped out of the shadows the cottage cast upon the clearing. The sight of their hooked noses and bright eyes would haunt the moon for a very long time, provided she survived whatever witchery they had planned.

“Silly child,” the first chided. “Silly, silly child.”

“It wouldn’t have been a very effective spell if you’d heard it,” the second said.

The third said nothing. She just gave the moon a sweet look that hid sharp things like teeth and claws and rusted knives, and somehow that look said everything.

“You cannot kill me,” the moon said with more surety than she felt in that moment. “I have no blood to bind my death.” Never before had she appreciated being immortal.

Mira Morganstein: The Pink Lemonade Club 005

The old woman grinned at her, and for a moment, she looked impossibly, heartbreakingly beautiful. Then the moment passed, and she was a harmless old woman once more.

Or maybe not.

The old woman wanted something from her, it was plain in the eager brightness of her eyes and the way she stood as though she was coiled and ready to spring forward. Mira glanced at the doll again, wondering if there was something wrong with it.

The cover of her book jabbed into her collarbone and ribcage, reminding her of other tales. Tales of princes or maidens meeting old women along the roads they traveled. Of what happened to the older brothers and the unkind sisters.

“I suppose I could come back with the money. How much is it?”

The Faerie Thief: The Ruby Queen’s Garden 005

Confections and cakes were piled high on glass platters. Tiny sandwiches with no crusts, scones dripping with melted butter, and five different types of bread completed the spread. A porcelain teapot with a cheerful smattering of pinks and pansies and daisies sat in the very center of the table. The sugar bowl hid behind the bulge in the teapot’s middle, shy, while a smaller version of the teapot stood stiff and tall, proudly bearing the cream.

For a moment, Gwyn’s heart soared. The queen watched her with a patient smile on her face before she rang the silver bell at her elbow to summon a servant.

“You seem to have forgotten the girl’s treat,” the Ruby Queen said, enunciating every word with relish.

The servant bobbed her head and rushed away, her eyes averted.

The Curious Leaf: Voyage to the Moon 005

“Right.” Kya went to lift her foot, but found her feet—her whole self, actually—had frozen some place in between flight and moving forward. Moving at all seemed an impossible task, no matter how her heart jumped and juddered.

“You could always go back,” Hearthorne said lightly, as though what she was saying was nothing of consequence.

“Back?”

“Yes. Back to the pot sitting empty on your keeper’s window sill. It’s still there, you know.”

With great effort, Kya managed to turn her head enough to look Hearthorne in the face. “But what of our bargain?”

The faerie-flower shrugged her leaves. “What good is a bargain that doesn’t have a back door if things get too messy?”