A floorboard creaks as I balance on my heel, frozen mid-step. I didn’t say that out loud. Or remotely close to the store.
“I can read your thoughts, young man. I wrote them! Oh, yes, but that is the clever thing to do. Of course, this transformation will take some time, and sent her already we did. She’ll get there first, but that’s okay.
Cut his hair,
Nice things to wear,
Heartbreak to heartbreaker,
Time again for Mr. Merrymaker.
Same people, different tale.
Time for you to tip the scale.”
The golden-haired lady chants in a haunting tone, sprinkling my curls around me on the ground.
I remain inert, unable to force movement to my leaden limbs.
Anxiety. It must be—a side effect of this bizarre interaction.
As an introvert, I never navigate social settings well. So when people deter from the usual “Hi, how are you? Crazy weather we’re having today, huh?” small talk, I panic.
I need the formula.
And this—this isn’t even an equation; this is a complete divergence from standard societal expectations.
You can’t just cut somebody’s hair and sprinkle it on the ground to verse! That’s anarchy!
“Look,” I squint, attempting to read the nametag obscured by the store clerk’s salmon-colored cardigan. “Ellie, is it? Whatever is going on here—” I gesture to the hair seance thing around me. “I’m sure it’s great, but I think I’m going to have to—”
A rumble through the dusty floorboards halts my exit speech. Books piled along the edge of various bookshelves rattle, falling to the floor in an organized, staccato rhythm. Ellie claps her hands, dancing to the beat.
“What the fuck?” I brace myself as the ground quake intensifies below me.
“Oh, you will be a prince among men once more, boy. Then you’ll see to live without fear.” She lifts her gaze with a cackle as a crack in the ground emerges and light blasts through, illuminating her in an eerie light.
“Oh. Before I forget! Can’t see. Can’t see! There are secrets down there!” She reaches into her pocket and grabs a fist full of something. She unfurls her fingers to reveal a mound of glitter.
“What are you—”
I can’t finish my question before she blows on her hand, and gold dust clouds my vision. Twinkling silver and gold is the last thing I see before the ground drops out from underneath me, and I’m falling. I don’t know whether it’s falling to sleep or down a deep bottomless abyss. It feels strangely like both. Ellie shouting, “Don’t fart in the hole. Faeries live down there,” echoes with me in my lightless, slumbering void.
Chapter six
While You Were Sleeping
Maddie
Thereisawarmbody pressed against my backside.
I register the information as the heavy fog of slumber fades to dawning. My feet tangle in a flannel sheet, which I would say is unnecessary given the recent Texas climate, but there’s a decided bite to the air in this room that suggests this cozy bedding is warranted.
It was a bit chilly last night. Maybe a cold front moved in while we—Iwas sleeping?
Right. The body.
It’s probably not Connor’s because he knows the rule about sleepovers and has never tried to break it.
