Page 33 of How To Survive This Fairytale
Boots on.Boots laced.Knife in your belt.Gun, quiver, bow.You’re running low on arrows.You’ll sell the pelt, purchase some arrows, and then you’ll be gone.And the seeds?The seeds you leave on the little bedside table as a gift for the next guest.
You toss on your cape, and you go.Down the stairs, out the door.Into town to run your errands, then into the unknown.
wait.wait.
i don’t want the story to end this way.
let me try again.
Boots on.Boots laced.Knife in your belt.Gun, quiver, bow.You’re running low on arrows.You’ll sell the pelt, purchase some arrows, and then you’ll be gone.And the seeds?
I should give them back.The pouch weighs so little in your hand, but it’s brought Cyrus such immense joy.But if I give them back, he’ll know I’m leaving.Maybe I can say I’m leaving because of the Fair Queen.
Wait.
“The Fair Queen,” you gasp aloud.
The Fair Queen, when Gertrude asked, the Fair Queen said?—
Gertrude and Cyrus tried to find you.To find you, they went to the last person they knew you were with.What did they say?Did they call you family?Did they say they loved you, and missed you, and wanted you back?
No.
No.
No, no, no, no, no.
She’ll know where you’ve gone.Even if you didn’t know you were headed toward them,she’llknow, and she’ll come after them.You were her most loyal servant, and you betrayed her.You didn’t think you would escape unscathed, but you didn’t think she would know who else to hurt to get to you.
Forget the seeds, and whatever you might do with them.Forget the pelt and the price it might fetch.Forget your single satchel of belongings.Forgetleaving.You throw yourself out the door, barrel down the stairs, and run to the woods.If you hurry, you can get to him before noon.
Seventeen
“Hansel!”Cyrus raises his wing in greeting and waves.“Sorry!I mean Hans.”
His smile, bright as a lantern in the dark, guides you down the path.That smile fades as you get closer.He sets his watering can down amongst the sprawling tomatoes and joins you on the road.
“What is it?”he asks.“What’s wrong?”
You take him by the shoulders.“The Fair Queen,” you say.
“What about her?”
Chest heaving, you suck down air through your teeth.“You asked the Fair Queen about me?”
“Well, notme,” he says.“Gertie did.I tried to tell Gertie about it the day it happened, but, ah, you know why that didn’t work.Telling her what happened to you was the first thing I did when she made me human again.And the first thingshedid was write to the Fair Queen to inquire about you.”
“What,” it takes all your self-restraint not to crush his narrow, pretty shoulders with your meaty hands, “did she say?”
“You’re scaring me, Hans, are you all right?”
“What did she say?”
He looks at you like an animal who can’t figure out why it’s displeasing its master.Your heart can break about it later, when you know for certain whether or not your heart will break over worse things.
“She said that when our father abandoned us in the woods, he left us with a servant.”Cyrus lowers his eyes.“And that she had reason to believe the Fair Queen had taken that servant without fair compensation.She asked for either the servant to be returned or a sum of coin that would settle the debt.”
A servant.