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“When visiting a neighboring kingdom, a proper princess must always be impeccably attired, with never a hair out of place. If you are having a bad hair day, stuff it under one of those pointy cone hats.”

—Mrs. Butterwing
'
s Guide to Proper Princesses

A river of bubbling lava bisected the ground. On the right half was a meadow of sorts. Bright flowers bloomed up from the solid obsidian ground. Not your ordinary tulips though. These blossoms reminded me of the fireworks the kingdom shot off on festival days. They glowed and crackled, making starbursts of colorful flames—red, blue, purple, yellow, orange, white…every color but green.

What exactly did you call a large group of chimeras? A flock? A parliament? A pride? Whatever you called it, that's what was on the other side of the lava flow—lots and lots of chimeras. With their overgrown wings tucked around them, they reminded me of nesting birds, except their nests looked like giant hearths. Great rings of glowing red embers made the perfect bed for a chimera apparently.

Most of them were sleeping, and I was all about letting sleeping chimeras lie. If Kato's penchant for eating everything that wasn't nailed down was a common chimera trait, then I didn't want to be close at hand when they awoke for supper.

Luckily, our ride banked off to the right, coasting to a stop amid the colorful blooms. I slid down his back, anxious to be on solid ground again.

“Dot, wait!” Kato shouted right as my feet squished one of the blooms.

When I craned my neck to look up at him, he was staring at the flowers, aghast. My silver slippers reflected the light from the fire blossoms. “Sorry,” I said. “Are they important?”

Kato flapped down to me awkwardly. He was still getting used to the whole flying bit. “You shouldn't be able to stand. Fire flowers are thousands of degrees. No human can survive them.”

“Nice of you tell me
now
as opposed to
before
I hopped off into a floral minefield.” But I couldn't be too mad, since I was no worse for wear. “My toes feel a little warm, but that's it.” I picked up my feet, one at a time, and looked down at my ruby-soled heels. They were top quality, but I'm pretty sure they weren't designed with heat resistance in mind. They had been a gift from Verte. Maybe she'd added a little something
extra
to the original design.

I looked them over with a whole new appreciation. “Enchanted shoes. Awesome.”

Rexi had stopped screaming herself hoarse the minute Kato yelled, “Wait!” Now she stepped out of Bob's paws and walked lightly on tippy toes around the fiery meadow. Then she bopped Kato on the nose the moment he got within range.

Kato flinched from the blow. “
Ow!
You can't do that to me in my own kingdom.”

“Yes, I can. Because you keep trying to
kill
me. First, you dangle me like a worm from a giant bird's beak, and now you drop me down someplace that's supposed to melt my feet off.” Rexi stopped, straightened the wrinkles in her tunic, and jerked her thumb in my direction, not really looking at me. “Dorky's glammed lucky her shoe fetish finally paid off, but indentured servitude doesn't exactly pay for magical footwear.” She made a fist as if to bop him again, but he flapped himself out of range.

Rexi was really starting—okay, not
starting
, more like continuing—to pix me off. The big piece of hair draped over my shoulder sparked and flared, mirroring my irritation. Before that, the bright glow had died down a bit, almost making the pieces I could see look like they came from a natural redhead—with green tips.

Guess it brought a whole meaning to the idea of a temper flare.

The flash drew Rexi's attention, and she walked, carefully, over to me. She peered closer around my head, apparently noticing it for the first time. “What happened to your hair? New fashion trend or something else equally stupid? Because I've got to tell you, it doesn't really suit you.”

“For Grimm's sake, will you shut your mouth for one fairy-loving minute,” I snapped, losing the last sliver of patience I had.

She jerked back as if I'd slapped her. I'd have to worry about her hurt feelings later, because right now, we had other problems. We were about to have guests.

Curious chimeras flew over the lava flow to see what all the fuss was. They conferred and whispered with one another, pointing at us with their tails. A shiver racked my body, traveling up my spine. Some of their tails were serpentlike—with actual serpent heads.

I couldn't make out what anyone was saying though, and not just because they were whispering. Have you ever heard a one-ton beast whisper? It's not very quiet. No, it was all the voices talking at once that created a buzz so that no one voice could be easily picked out from the group.

Kato launched himself in the air and landed on the nearest outcropping of rock. He let out what was probably meant to be a mighty roar, but it came out more like a squeak. The room full of chimeras guffawed and heckled him.

“Whose hatchling is that?”

“From the belly, pup. Ha ha, try again. From the belly.”

Kato did not take to being mocked very well. He sent them all frostbite-worthy looks, but the other beasts paid him no mind. To them, he was a pipsqueak who had left the hatchery too soon. Kato's voice could not rise above the din.

Chimeras surrounded us. Rexi jostled into me, and I took a step back, my heel landing on something squishy. Angry hissing rose from the floor and traveled up the length of my body until the forked tongue from a serpent tail licked along my arm. I followed the line of the tail up to its chimera owner. His body was patched with scars interrupting his fur, his wings looked like they were molting, and one of his horns was broken off. The other was sharper than any sword I've seen. Both the chimera and his snake tail raised part of their lip in a snarl, exposing fangs.

“Enough!”

I looked up at Kato, grateful that he had finally found his voice. But it wasn't him speaking.

Bob parted the circle and walked toward Rexi and me, fire flowers falling victim to each step. “How dare you mock our lord?”

Bob was the largest of the bunch, but not by much. He also seemed to be well respected because the other chimeras backed off. Most of them, anyway. The chimera that owned the stepped-on tail got in Bob's face.

“Our lord is not here. He abandoned us to go collect some child bride. I only see a walking matchstick girl and her mouthy human. I, for one, am tired of outsiders coming into our home. First the green witch, and now this piece of kindling.” Using his snake-headed tail, he gestured over to me in disgust.

I skipped over the insults and focused on the really important part. Verte had been here. Why and when? I wanted to go over and beat it out of him, but even I wasn't that stupid.

Kato flew haltingly next to me, staring fearlessly up at the bully, even though the tips of Kato's horns only came up to the bully's armpits. “Grifflespontus, I suggest that you apologize to your future queen. And then you may apologize to me.”

I thought I'd been pretty clear with him and itched to argue about the whole “future queen” part of that, but now didn't seem like the right time.

Griff was a little slow on the uptake. He didn't notice the other chimeras gasp and hurriedly bow on their forepaws. He lowered himself muzzle to muzzle with Kato. “And why should I apologize to a runt like you?”

Kato's ice-blue eyes honed in on Griff. “Because I am your liege, and if you don't, I will continue to freeze you where you stand.”

I looked down at the bully's paws. They were covered in frost crystals.

Rexi scooted away from me to get a closer look. “Whoa. Is fur ball doing that? When did he get that little nifty trick?” She shook her head in disgust. “Typical, everyone else gets cool magic and all I get is tied up with old lady tights.”

Whatever he was doing, it didn't look easy. I don't think anyone else noticed because they were all looking at the ice growing up Griff's legs, but Kato's shoulders held a fine tremor. He swayed slightly, unsteady on his feet.

I walked over and laid a hand on his back, which now rested just above my waist. “Enough.”

Kato continued to do his icy stare but whispered, just barely audible, “Stay out of it. This isn't your concern.”

I leaned into his ear. “I'm saving your tail before you fall over on it from exhaustion. Remember, finesse over force.” Loud enough for all to hear, I said in my best princess voice, “Please spare this poor fool. He obviously could not recognize you in your new form.”

Rexi may have rolled her eyes at the change in my tone, but the bully was not as dumb as he looked. He grabbed on to the lifeline I offered him. “Forgive me,” he said through chattering fangs. “I could never have expected to see the future Beast King as a beast himself.”

Griff let out one more frosted breath before Kato released him, apparently accepting his quasi-apology. I let out the breath I was holding too, relieved that this little confrontation was over and that everyone was still standing—and uneaten.

Bob, however, wasn't going to let Griff get off that easy. “You forgot the priestess.” He pushed his way through to stand next to me.

Rexi didn't take too well with being pushed aside. “Look, Bob, I don't know what baby fur ball over here”—she stuck her thumb out at Kato—“has been telling you. But she's no priestess. Just a delusional princess with major hair issues.”

And here I thought
I
had trouble knowing when to keep my thoughts to myself. Bob stared down at Rexi. I couldn't see the look on his face, but it must have been scary because it made her shrink a few inches and hastily mutter something that might have been a sorry.

Bob turned back to face the other chimera. “Your turn now. Apologize.”

“Apologize to a human?” said Griff haughtily. Apparently arrogance was a natural chimera trait.

“Use your eyes. No mere human stands before you. See the emerald sparks in her living flame? That is not mere magic. That is the sign of the Fire Priestess come to deliver us.”

Oh
spell.
Now Bob had done it. I had no idea what he was going on about (Kato had conveniently left that out of our
talk
), but I didn't get the chance to correct him. If Griff had offered an apology, which was doubtful, I wouldn't have been able to hear, because every chimera started shouting at once. A few muzzles got very up close and personal, trying to examine Bob's claims for themselves.

“Silence!” Kato bellowed and the temperature in the room dropped significantly, causing the crowd to still. “Bobbledandrapous, not another word. Please see our guests to my chambers, where they can rest.” He turned and focused his icy glare on me. “I will speak to the council and join you shortly. Don't do
anything
until then.”

Kato was in full Lord of the Universe mode. So much for being equals. I didn't want to be led to some room. While it was nice to have found a safe place—if you could call a mountain filled with lava and large beasts safe—the situation had changed. With Verte captured or worse, nobody was coming to the rescue. We all needed to come up with a new plan to find my parents and put back the rules of fairy tale. What did Kato have to deal with that could be more important than that?

I stepped to him. “Can't I—?”

“No.” Kato turned away and stalked off toward an opening near the hearths. The remaining chimeras followed him or went back to their nests until it was just Rexi, me, Bob, and Griff. Griff looked over me like I imagined trolls looked over billy goats.

Sneering, he turned and flew away. As he raced into the sky, his tail hissed menacingly. The stress must be getting to me, because I could have sworn it sounded like, “Sssleep with both eyesss open.”

“There's really nothing to fear but fear itself. And trolls. Fear and trolls. Oh, and I guess gigans and dragons too. And can't forget wicked witches. Yeah, I guess there really is a lot to fear.”

—
Prince Charming,
excerpt from an interview in
Hero Beat

While Bob led us through the claw-carved corridors, Rexi quizzed me on what had happened at Black Crow's. I gave her the back-of-the-book version. Crow sold us off to Griz. Kato learned to talk. I got hit in the head with a potion and now had hair you could toast marshmallows on. The end.

“So what happened to Black Crow? Is she going to come after us again?” Rexi asked, her voice tight.

My heart stopped for a moment and so did my feet.

I coughed to cover my unease. “No. I think she's dead. After all, the Tinman and a house fell on her.”

No one else needed to know what happened to Crow before that.

“Good riddance.” Rexi's whole body exhaled, the tension disappearing. “Ding dong, the bi—”

“Are you two even listening? I feel like I'm talking to myself,” Bob interrupted.

Both of us assured him that he had our utmost attention.

“Good.” He turned and continued on, apparently satisfied. “And on your left, you'll see the original hearth where Pufflepotomous the First slept.”

“I'm not sure what's more surprising, the fact that chimeras preserved a centuries' old nest or that there was more than one named Pufflepotomous,” Rexi whispered, nudging me.

“Shhh,” I whispered, but gave her a small smile to let her know I appreciated being included on a joke that I wasn't the target of for once.

I was still miffed at Kato for running off and leaving Bob to play tour guide when we had way more pressing concerns. But since there was nothing to be done about it now, I might as well make the most of it and pump Bob for information. I hurried forward to catch his attention before he could launch into a discussion about how he was Horanthamum the Third's second to last cousin. Twice removed. “So, Bob, was this Puff the Magic Chimera the founder of…whatever this is?”

He stopped and used a wing to gesture all around him. “Not exactly. Pufflepotomus was the first alpha to nest in this home. But it was the magnificent Bestiamimickos who combined the clans and claimed the title as King of Beasts. And the clans have been united here ever since, keeping watch of the White One…tending the flames… I probably shouldn't have said that.” He quickened his pace to leave us behind.

Not happening.

“Keeping watch over what? The white what?” I asked.

“I can't say. We are not to speak of her to outsiders.” Bob looked at us with wide eyes, practically begging us not to say anything to Kato.

I wouldn't, and he'd kind of accidentally answered my question anyway. The white one was a
her
. Of course, that opened up a whole 'nother can of questions.

I tried bugging and badgering him with them, but he steadfastly refused to utter another word about the White One or the whole Fire Priestess thing. He tried to distract me with details about Kato and his family, like that his parents had died a few years ago—meaning we were both orphans, although my state of orphan-hood was just temporary—and that his mom was the Frost Queen, which is where the snow cone trick Kato pulled earlier had come from.

We stopped at the entrance to a smaller cave, one that had a human-sized entrance—clearly Kato's room, since there was no way for a chimera to fit. Even Kato probably wouldn't fit anymore. Apparently this was our stop, but I wasn't ready to let Bob go yet. I still had questions. I wanted to know what kind of prince Kato was, why the chimeras were ruled by a human, and what had brought Kato to Emerald in the first place.

Rexi was apparently on the same wavelength, which was disturbing. “Hey, Bob, why do you guys follow Kato anyway? He's less than a quarter of your size, and as a human, he's even less impressive.”

Bob shifted his weight uncomfortably from paw to paw. It almost looked like he had to use the little chimera's room.

I decided to add some pressure, because I wanted to know the answer too. “If I'm supposed to be this priestess, shouldn't I know these things?” I crossed my arms and looked at Bob expectantly.

Rexi nodded appreciatively and leaned close to whisper, “Very manipulative. I like it.”

Bob still looked distressed. “I don't know… He made it very clear that I wasn't to say any more about it and that he'd rather tell you himself.” The dilemma must have deflated him, because he let out a great big sigh and slumped to the ground in front of us. With his chin on the floor, the top of his head was just a pinch higher than mine. If I stood tall and reached, I could probably touch his ears tufts.

Bob glanced around nervously, checking to make sure we wouldn't be overheard. It reminded me of when the chambermaids gossiped with each other in the hallway when they thought no one was looking.

Someone was always looking.

“I'm just passing along what I've heard. Bestiamimickos was the greatest chimera to ever live, but he was in love with a human princess. So he begged the Storymakers to transform him so they could be together. And ever since, the Beast Kings have been human, including Lord Kato. But he can't claim the title for himself until after he's married, although with his mother's command of ice and his father's power over beasts, he's powerful enough to fend off any challenges for the title for a little while. Although now with you at his side, all the dissenters will follow him because—” Bob's muzzle remained open and his eyes widened perceptibly.

I started to ask if he was okay, but all I got was dust in my mouth as Bob flew down the hall. He sped off as if the Big Bad Wolf were knocking on his door. I'm pretty sure he wasn't scared of me or Rexi, soooo…

“There's someone behind me, isn't there?”

“Yup.”

“Is he small and fluffy or big and ugly?”

Rexi squinted and weighed her answer. “That's a matter of perspective.”

I finally turned to face Kato, and he was not a happy chimera. He looked like he had aged ten years while he was with the council. In fact, my mother often had that same worn-out face after she spoke with her advisors.

His tail tapped the floor. “I thought I told you to rest and stop asking questions.”

“Sheesh, Mr. Bossypants,” I said under my breath. “You were much cuter when you couldn't talk and chased your tail.”

Rexi coughed into her hand.

Kato didn't share our amusement. “You wanted to know what threatened our realms and why I needed an alliance with Emerald. You're about to get your wish.” He turned and padded down the hall, clearly expecting us to follow.

The way he phrased that last sentence did not sit well with me. I didn't want to wish for anything ever again. Maybe I was better off not knowing anything.

But it's probably helpful to know what to be scared of as opposed to waiting and finding out when it bites you in the rump. I ran to catch up, picking up my skirts and matching my two-legged stride to his four-legged one.

“He looks pixed at you. I am so not missing this.” Rexi hastily followed, with, if I wasn't mistaken, a skip in her step.

“Where are we going?” I said breathlessly.

“To meet Blanc.”

“What's a blanc?”

“Not what. Who.”

“Okay.
Who
is Blanc?”

Kato stopped so suddenly that I ran into him. “
That
is Blanc,” he said, lowering his head and using his horns to gesture in front of us.

In the far corner was a giant furnace of some sort—a big metal box with a wall of flame in front and two chimeras taking turns spitting molten lava into the sides.

Within the box stood the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had long white hair—not white blond, pure-snow white. She wore a simple shift that was, you guessed it, white. Everything about her was empty, lacking in color or personality. Except her eyes. They were silver, and they pleaded.

I ran a few feet toward her before the heat from the flames pushed me back.

“Holy Mother of Grimm. You're cooking virgins or something else cultish,” Rexi said from behind me.

Kato snorted. “Do you see her screaming in agony? No. Up until a few days ago, she'd been in a magical slumber for the last two centuries.” He walked over and sat in front of the wall of fire. “We're not cooking her. We are guarding her.”

I stared at the woman, transfixed. She seemed frozen—all but her entreating stare. “Guarding her from what?”

“Guarding the world
from
her.”

I whipped around. The tumblers in my brain started to click. “She's the White One.” I gestured over to the chimeras shoveling the coal. “And your whole ‘kingdom'”—I made little quotation marks around the word—“is all about keeping her imprisoned.”

Rexi ventured closer to the furnace prison and stilled, seeming to get into a staring contest with the woman. “So what did she do? Try to bake children into gingerbread cookies? Send a huntsman to kill off her much better-looking stepdaughter?” Rexi tilted her head to the right and to the left, like she was studying one of the animals at the palace menagerie.

She had asked, not so eloquently, exactly what I had been thinking. What could Blanc have done to deserve this? I studied the woman, trying to spot the flaw, the sign of her crimes.

“Let me tell you two a story.” Kato sat on his haunches, extending his paw over to a desk along the wall. He still used very humanlike gestures that I hadn't seen the other chimeras use. “It even has pictures,” he said snidely in Rexi's direction.

Rexi was busy flipping Kato off, so I got to the desk with its single chair and took a seat first. The desk had a few papers, but it was mostly bare, except for a thick tome. The cover was bound in some kind of hide and had curly letters written in platinum across the front:
Blanc
Pages
.

I opened the book to a random spot. There were no words, just a large picture. It was of a younger Blanc, and she was happy and smiling.

“What is that?” Rexi brushed against my back, startling me.

“It's a book,” Kato said wryly.

“Well, I can see that, gnome nuts, but why are the pictures moving?”

Rexi was right; it was like watching a magic mirror or a play transformed onto the page. I'd only seen one other like it before, an ebook—the
e
short for
enchanted
. They were extremely rare, and some said they could only be made by the Storymakers themselves.

Kato might have answered Rexi. I don't know. I was too transfixed on what I saw on the page. The girl sat on the edge of a lake next to a boy. The water danced and spun through the air, performing acrobatics.

Kato cleared his throat. “Once upon a time, there was a family of powerful, evil elemental mages. Their eldest daughter was a water sorceress with no interest in villainy. She vowed to be good, left her parents and sister, and then fell in love with a handsome prince—but his parents didn't approve.” The images changed along with Kato's words. The happy scene of the two lovebirds shifted into one that looked like Blanc arguing with a man and a woman. I could see her mouth moving but couldn't hear the words.

I glanced over my shoulder at Kato. “Why isn't there sound?”

He shrugged his wings. “Probably the same reason everything else magic is a little glitchy.”

Oh yeah, me. I turned back and watched the book some more.

Kato continued. “The king and queen didn't think Blanc was good enough for the prince because of who she was and who her parents were.” He'd brushed on a touchy subject, and I could practically feel Rexi stiffening beside me. “So the king enlisted the help of a warlock to curse her, but it backfired.” And that brushed on a touchy subject for me.

Kato didn't say anything else and the book took over. The images bounced and sometimes broke with a little static, but it was still clear what was happening. Blanc and her prince held hands and took a stroll in the forest, but a dark figure lurked under a nearby tree. He offered the couple a beautiful white blossom, which the prince accepted and then gave to Blanc. Shifting again, the picture changed to a close-up of the prince kissing Blanc. That's when things went wrong. The prince started sputtering and coughing. Water trickled from his lips, slow at first, then gushing out. Blanc watched him with a look of helpless horror as he drowned.

I gasped sharply, and I'm sure my expression matched Blanc's almost exactly. “This can't be right. The handsome prince
never
dies. That's not how it works.”

“Oh wake up,” Rexi said, slamming her hand against the wood. “When are you going to move past your sheltered little palace mind-set and realize that your precious Storymakers aren't real? They're stories told to little children so they won't be afraid of the Jabberwock under the bed and will have nice dreams of happy ever afters. It's time to grow up. Bad things happen, parents sell their children to pay taxes, dreams only come true if you have enough money, and there's no one up there answering my prayers. Or yours.” She stormed out of the room.

There was nothing I could do or say to stop her, because in that moment, I realized I knew nothing about Rexi or what pain had scarred her enough to bear such hatred toward her creators.

But she was wrong. She had to be wrong. Life made no sense otherwise. Someone had to author the rules that we lived by. As long as you followed those, the Makers made sure it all worked out. If no one else was guiding this story, then that meant… My home. My parents. Who would bring them back?