A pound of pluck is worth a ton of luck. — James A. Garfield
16 YEARS AGO
No bigger event existed in Dragonfly Hollow than the Yule Ball. It was the event of the season, and almost every high-profile couple in Devashire had announced their engagement on the magical night. Kicked off by an enchanting parade of traditional sleighs pulled by reindeer, young fae couples dressed in formal attire rode through the Winter Wood to the town square where they danced the night away under gently falling snow and twinkling lights.
Human tourists booked tickets over a year in advance to watch the event that ushered in the holiday season at the parks. Some lined up along the parade route days before, desperate for the best view. For fae teens near the end of their school-age years, attending the ball was a rite of passage, the closest thing to prom fairies celebrated.
In sum, the Yule Ball was a big fucking deal, and I was going. Never mind that I personally couldn’t have afforded the sleigh I was sitting in. My boyfriend, Seven, could. We’d dated in secret for two long years. I was as surprised as anyone when he asked me to go and tied the traditional red ribbon around my wrist marking me as his date. It shone crisp and new against my tan skin. I stared at it, repeating to myself that he wouldn’t have tied it on or rented the sleigh if he hadn’t meant to come.
The reindeer shook in its harness, velvety horns rocking back and forth in front of me.
“I don’t think he’s coming, Soph. You know… leprechauns…,” Penelope Hawthorne said softly, her wings fluttering. The fact that there wasn’t a hint of derision in her voice made her message all the worse. She wasn’t trying to humiliate me; she was my good friend and a fellow pixie who was trying to warn me. I pivoted in my seat to see her and her boyfriend in the sleigh behind me. Her frothy pink gown was perfect for her fair skin and platinum hair. Flick, her boyfriend, sat on the bench behind their reindeer, reins in hand, right where he was supposed to be. My sleigh’s driver’s seat was still empty. My eyes fell on the worn red ribbon around Penelope’s wrist. She and Flick had been dating forever.
“I think… I think he’s just late. Something must have come up.” I flashed her a wobbly smile.
She shook her head. “Sophia, I tell you this as a friend and fellow pixie. He was never coming. No leprechaun would be seen in public dating a pixie. I know you thought you two were different, but it has never happened, and it never will.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said more firmly, although a heaviness had started in my stomach. I looked at my watch. We were scheduled to parade through Winter Wood in five minutes. If he didn’t get here soon…
Penelope fluttered her wings, her expression empathetic. “I’m sorry, Sophia. Someone should have stopped this.” Flick turned around and smacked her shoulder and Penelope blurted, “I’m sorry.” Then she said no more.
I checked my watch again. I knew in my heart that Seven would come. This wasn’t just a dance for us. This was the night we were going to go public with our long-standing relationship. We’d professed our love for each other months ago and spent countless nights in the woods or on the beach whispering sweet promises. Tonight we planned to blaze a trail and break the unspoken rule that leprechauns couldn’t date pixies. Us against the world.
Maybe he got scared and decided not to come? No. I shook my head at the thought. It wasn’t just about going public. We’d promised each other that we’d find a place in the woods after the dance and be each other’s first. Losing our virginity to each other was something Seven would never miss out on, even if he wasn’t ready for the dance and public outing. We’d waited so long. We were almost eighteen. We’d be graduating from Bailiwick’s in the spring. He would have sent a message if he’d changed his mind. Something had happened. Something was wrong.
With a sigh, I took one last glance at Penelope and stood, resolved to disembark from the sleigh and take refuge in my room until Seven explained himself. But a hand blocked my path. Mrs. Harper frowned at me over her clipboard. The satyr and mother of three had organized this event, and she lowered her chin so that I was face-to-face with her horns.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she said through a tight scowl.
“My date didn’t come,” I whispered. “Something must have happened to him. I’m going home.”
Mrs. Harper shook her graying head. “Oh no, dear. I’m sorry, but that’s not possible. It’s too late to remove your sleigh from the lineup. Had I known fifteen minutes ago, I might have found someone else to drive it, but I couldn’t possibly in the next three minutes. You don’t want to ruin the Yule Ball for everyone else, do you?”
My cheeks blazed with embarrassment. “No, but—”
“I’m very sorry. I realize this must be hard for you, my dear, but I have to ask you to be brave tonight. You are going to have to drive this sleigh yourself. Thankfully, it’s just a matter of holding the reins. The reindeer are trained to follow the sleigh in front of them. Just wave and smile. I promise you can head home as soon as we park in the square.” She sighed and clutched the clipboard against her chest, but there wasn’t an ounce of give in her expression.
“But—” Wasn’t it obvious how humiliating it would be to ride through the woods alone? The parade route was lined with fae and humans alike. Most of Dragonfly Hollow would see that I’d been stood up.
I gaped at the woman, speechless. But as I glanced at the couples behind and in front of me, I knew she was right. The sleighs were packed in tight. Mine would have to be lifted and turned to be removed from the line. True, once everyone started moving, I might be able to coax the reindeer to pull off route and let the people behind me move forward, but reindeer were very unpredictable when asked to do something they weren’t trained to do. Not to mention, the sides of my sleigh were decorated to work with the others. I was theuin Merry Yule. Pulling out now would ruin everything.
Gods, everyone was staring. Even if I pushed past Mrs. Harper and ran for home, I wouldn’t escape ridicule. I’d ruin the night for the rest of these couples, and I’d never hear the end of it.
“I can drive it if you want,” a low, familiar voice said from just out of sight.
I leaned forward to see that a scrawny boy in a green apron had sidled up to Mrs. Harper. River Foxwood. I’d been friends with the young satyr I’d met in Alchemy class for years. In fact, we’d had to be separated on more than one occasion for disrupting the class with our laughter. His big brown eyes smiled up at me.
“There you go,” Mrs. Harper said. “Problem solved.” She sped busily away.
“I brought you this from our booth.” He pointed his thumb at the Foxwood’s concession stand, which was unmanned and had a lengthy line forming behind it.
My hands trembled a bit as I took the hot cocoa from him and savored a sip. It was so tempting to accept River’s generous offer. I appreciated the gesture more than he’d ever know, but I was going to have to turn it down, and it was taking every ounce of bravery I had in me to do it.
“River, you can’t abandon your parents’ booth. Your dad would kill you.”
His throat bobbed, and a flash of pity flitted through his expression. “He’d understand given the circumstances. He knows what it’s like.”
I realized exactly what he meant. His dad knew what it was like to be messed with by a leprechaun. In our world, there were leprechauns and then there was everyone else. Leprechauns were lucky as sin. Wealth magnets. Beautiful beyond compare. And sometimes…often, really… the rest of us got caught up in the gears of their empires.
