Corin grunted as she ducked past a bee. “I didn’t come here to smell flowers.”
“Maybe you should,” the demon replied dryly, “because your attitude stinks.”
Elly snickered. “Corin wouldn’t know whimsy if it hit her. She’s so grouchy that, I’ve seen her with more wrinkles on her forehead than without.”
“And if I mess up your face, you’ll look worse.” Corin lunged for Elly, who screamed and sprinted across the meadow.
The chase didn’t last long as Corin tackled her sister over a dense carpet of short grass. Elly’s body rumbled with laughter, a pleasant sound to Corin’s ears. She liked that conversation flowed easily between them again. Butterflies fluttered over the spikes of Elly’s hair, their wings like glowing clips on her scalp. Corin brushed them away and placed a gentle hand on her sister’s head. If she could make more good memories like these, perhaps she could forget the bad ones too.
Their attention shifted to a cherry blossom tree stretching over their bodies. Malicine had pulled one of the branches to an impossibly long length, pressing the wood on the ground like a set of stairs. “A better vantage point,” they said.
Corin gawked at the tiny width of the branch with uncertainty. As she followed Elly’s footsteps onto the branch, the tree’s arm grew as wide as its own trunk and lifted them up. Pink blossoms swarmed her vision as they ascended, the smells of lilac and magnolia wafting under her nose. Malicine caught a petal in their hand and blew it into the wind. The petal drifted forward and parted the sea of blossoms, allowing them to survey the rest of theland, its rolling hills and lush meadows filled with red poppies.
Malicine’s raven took flight and descended the hill to scout the area. He swooped near a massive willow tree, its draping branches nearly obscuring the garden path that wrapped behind the trunk. Corin squinted at rows of sunflowers that peeked behind a wide thatched roof. The flowers were abnormally large, swaying in the breeze as if they were waving at her.
“There she is.” Malicine pointed their staff to the branch, which stretched like a bridge toward the garden path. Giant mushrooms sprouted like cobblestones paving the road. Corin and Elly hopped over the mushroom caps, which bounced beneath their shoes and gave a spring to their step. The raven waited among the branches of the willow tree that blocked the view. Once they crossed past the trunk, a cottage emerged in full sight.
The walls were made of misshapen stone, which explained why the roof crouched in an awkward position. Windows opened from each side, their pointed arches wrapped in wild plants and greenery. A soil field stretched behind the house, where sunflowers grew as tall as the roof. The place basked in sunlight, so that the moment their feet touched grass, warmth filled their bodies instantly.
Despite the extravagance of the surrounding land, the cottage was smaller than Corin expected. On the porch sat a girl with chestnut hair and a satin dress embroidered with spring flowers. Shrubs grew from her sleeves, her shoulder bows and cape made of butterflies, which fluttered over tulle. Daffodils wrapped around her head like a crown, and daisy petals pressed onto her eyelids and cheeks.
Corin recognized the familiar patterns on the girl’s face, the way they formed teardrops just like the pearls did. The stranger was the same person Corin had seen in Winterland. But gone was thesilver hair and snowdrop flowers, the pale lace dress and snowflake lashes, the bow and arrow pointed straight to Corin’s heart to kill her. This version took a different appearance. A beautiful disguise that was still a mystery.
The girl sat at a round table filled with bowls of fresh grapes and wooden boards with slices of cheese that fanned out like petals. Slices of pie oozed lemon meringue across porcelain. Tines of tiny forks were stained in orange and cream, like paint dripping from a brush.
“You’re late, Mal.” Her voice was light and airy like a hummingbird. She set her teacup down and smoothed the linens on the table. Her fingers were long, slender. Their length matched the vines painted across the floral-patterned fabric.
“It would’ve been nice for you to show up to my tea party on time. Isn’t that right, Penny?”
Across the table, a caramel-colored rabbit sat on a bentwood chair, holding a matching teacup between her paws. She wore a ruffle dress and oversized hat stacked with peacock feathers. Next to her, a gray cat continued pawing at the feathers before he sneezed on his green suit. The rabbit’s nose twitched in contempt.
“Good afternoon, poorly dressed guests! I’m Penny, and this is Dime,” said the rabbit. “We are Briar Rose’s best friends.”
“How rude. I thought I was her best friend,” Malicine replied. “After all, I’ve known her since she was a baby.”
“You mean you cursed me when I was a baby,” the girl said.
Dime licked his nether regions before looking up. “Nowthatis rude.”
“We had a rough start.” Malicine shrugged. “Put some damn pants on, Dime.”
The cat retorted by pawing a teacup off the table and watching it shatter.
Corin gawked at the entire scene. The group talked rapidly, as if acquainted from years of tea parties, while she tried to make sense of the scraps of information she had. They called the girl Briar Rose, though Corin could have sworn her name was supposed to be Amelia. Malicine claimed to be her best friend, which was the strangest thing that had come out of the demon’s mouth the entire time Corin had been here. There was also the fact that they stood in front of talking animals who wore petticoats, but that would need to be addressed later.
Malicine’s raven landed on top of a plate and pecked at a biscuit, scattering breadcrumbs across the linen. The princess looked unfazed as she plucked a lace fan from her sleeve and fluttered cool air to her face.
“What about you?” she asked Malicine. “Are you going to introduce me to your new friends, too?”
“They’re hardly friends,” Malicine scoffed.
“Ah, yes. I forget how long it takes for you to warm up to people.”
A bright shade of pink bloomed on Elly’s cheeks. She wiped her palms against her trousers and stepped forward to greet the princess from the fairy tale, finally come to life.
“My name is Elly. I...I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”
The princess offered a gentle smile, but her lips pressed tight, as if holding a secret. “It’s nice to meet you, Elly. You can call me Briar.”
