“Ignore him,” Sparks whispers. “He got up on the wrong side of the royal bed, obviously.”
I ball my hands into fists. “WILL YOU ALL JUST LEAVE ME ALONE?”
“Well, I never,” Ember mutters.
“Honestly!” Glint seconds.
Sparks lifts her chin. “Come on, ladies. We know when we’re not being appreciated.”
They disappear between the branches of the trees in the Enchanted Forest, and Captain Crabbe follows after them.
“Notyou,” I say. “Youcan stay.”
“Oh. Aye.” He faces me again. “Look, son. Evenifwhat you said was possible… that doesn’t mean I’m not happy right where I am.”
“But how could you be? Doing the same thing over and over again, as if it doesn’t matter whether or not you have your own mind, or your own thoughts?”
He shrugs. “I may be doing the same thing over and over again, Oliver… but I’m doing something I love. I get to be an actorandI get to do orthodontia.” Captain Crabbe looks up at me. “What if instead of focusing on what you don’t have, you concentrated on what you’ve got?”
I snort. “A supreme amount of frustration?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of a beautiful girl, in your arms, every time the story is read. A loyal sidekick who’ll do anything for you.” Captain Crabbe hesitates. “And fantastic gums.”
“But—”
“I’m sorry, lad. But sometimes the key to happiness is just expecting a little bit less.” The pirate smiles. “That way, you’ll never be disappointed.” With a cheery wave, he heads through the trails of the forest. “Must get back to the ship. By now, Walleye and Scuttle have probably lit the galley on fire.”
As I watch him walk off, I lean against the trunk of an ancient, weathered oak. Could the captain be right? If I’d never spoken with Delilah, would I know what I was missing?
That’s it. I’m going to go sit on page 43 and wait for her to come back to me, and I’ll tell her she’s right—that this is simply impossible. That there’s no way I’m ever going to transcend the pages of this story. I’ll tell her that—
“Ooomph!” I am knocked flat on my back, and for amoment, all I can see are stars circling my face. At first I assume this is payback from the fairies, but then I hear a very clear, clipped voice behind me.
“I don’t have all day….”
I frown. That’s the line Rapscullio says on page 45, once I’ve finished climbing the rock wall and have crept through the tower window where he is imprisoning Seraphima. I overhear him, and then I leap forward with my dagger drawn.
Except this isn’t page 45.
Rolling onto my belly, I look up and spy Rapscullio, who is brandishing one of the pirates’ fishing nets, rigged in a loop at the end. Just out of his reach is a stunningly brilliant spotted butterfly.
“Now what?” he growls.
Another line. From page 58, when he’s holding his sword to my throat.
I get up, brushing dirt off my knees. “What on earth are you doing?”
Startled, he faces me—and the orange butterfly wings its way into the Enchanted Forest. “Iwastrying to kill two birds with one stone: practicing my lines like Frump suggested, whilst also catching a specimen ofPolygonia interrogationis.”
“Gesundheit.”
“You cretin. It’s a species of butterfly,”Rapscullio says. “One which has now eluded me, thanks to your interference.”
I realize that Captain Crabbe and I have walked more of a distance than I intended, that we are actually not far from Rapscullio’s lair: a small, dark hovel built into the wall of a cave and lit with hundreds of tallow candles. I think about what Queen Maureen told me—the rows and rows of love stories on the shelves of his library. “You know,” I say slowly, “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen your entire collection. Of butterflies, I mean.”
Rapscullio’s face lights up. “Oliver! Are you a closet entomologist?”
“Me?” I say. “Yes! One hundred and ten percent!” I have no idea what an entomologist is. I am hoping desperately that I haven’t just admitted to Rapscullio that I like to bathe in garlic, or dress up in ladies’ clothing.
