Snow White Sorrow (26 page)

“And how is it supposed to help you send us a signal if you’re in danger?” Fable tilted her curious head.

“It’s really simple; I just have to tap the thread around my wrist three consecutive times,” Loki explained. “You should then see it unwrapping itself from my fingers toward the mirror, if someone is pulling it, which means you’ll have to wake me up instantly.”

“How are we supposed to wake you up when we’re not supposed to get into the circle?” Axel said.

“You’ll have to break the mirror with something, a baseball bat, an axe, or a rock, anything to break the connection between the two mirrors. Think of the two mirrors as if they are connected by an invisible electrical force. Breaking one of them is like pulling the plug from the connection between the waking world and the Dreamworld.”

“Who are you, Loki? Like really, who are you?” Fable shook her head.

Loki dismissed her question. It was silly when someone asked him this while he didn’t know the answer himself. Instead, he lay on his back next to Snow White in her coffin, perpendicular to the mirrors, preparing for sleep.

“It’s time for you to use the Magic Dust on me so I can enter the dream,” Loki said.

Fable walked closer, still tangent to the Epidaurus Circle, with a handful of Magic Dust, her face shimmering in the candle light.

“Before you do, I will have to recite a prayer mentioned in the book,” Loki said. “Just don’t get mad at me. I’m following the rules,” Loki closed his eyes and said:

Now I lay me down to sleep.

Pray the lord my soul to keep.

And if I die before I wake.

Forbid Snow White

My soul to take.

15

Birthday Bloody Birthday

Loki opened his eyes.

It felt strange waking up in a dream
knowing
it was actually a dream—let alone someone else’s dream. He hadn’t seen what happened in the real world after Fable poured Magic Dust in his eyes, but he imagined the Dream Temple shimmering with light while he was lying unconscious next to the vampire princess.

Here in the Dreamworld, Loki took a second to adjust to his surroundings. He had a headache so intense he imagined there were birdies humming above his head. He wondered if this was supposed to happen, because he hadn’t read about side effects of traveling the Dreamworld in the Dreamhunter’s notebook.

The headache faded slowly, and he started looking for clues to his whereabouts. He found himself lying on his back, staring at the ceiling. It was engraved and painted with all kinds of ancient motifs, drawings of stories of battles that he didn’t know of. It looked like he was somewhere in the 18
^th
or 19
^th
century like Axel had suggested.

Loki stood up and looked around. He was alone in a majestic room, a girl’s room, probably in the Schloss. He could hear voices celebrating outside the room.

Suddenly, the door sprang open, and Loki took a step back.

A big woman, dressed in a maid’s outfit, came through the door. She looked angrily at Loki.

Wow, this woman is a giant. Where am I?

“What are you doing here?” she shook Loki by the shoulders. “And what are these clothes you’re wearing?” she asked. “Take these,” she handed him a warrior outfit that looked childish, though. “Get dressed and follow the other children outside,” she demanded.

Did she say children? Of course, to a giant woman like her, he was seemed like a child, but he didn’t like anyone calling him child or kid, not even in a dream. Loki examined the outfit with an open mouth. It was too small. How did she expect him to wear it? The giant had totally misjudged his size. What was going on?

“What are you waiting for?” she grunted. “I don’t have time to wait for you. Get dressed. It’s the princess’s birthday. The little princess will meet the young prince in a moment.”

Little princess and little prince? What crazy dream was Snow White having?

“But these are too small,” Loki complained. They were his first words in the dream, and they felt awfully real.

The woman sighed and pushed Loki toward a mirror. Staring at his reflection, he almost laughed and cried at the same time. The woman wasn’t a
giant
. Loki was just small. He’d entered the dream as a seven-year-old.

What? Is this supposed to happen?

“Hurry!” the woman urged him.

Loki got dressed, unable to take his eyes away from the mirror, thinking he looked a bit too skinny.

“What should I do now?” he asked the woman.

“Are you making fun of me? Move it,” she guided him out of the room and then walked to whatever business she had to manage.

Loki was glad she was gone so he could pick up his Alicorn from the floor. He stomped out to the hallway of an enormous castle; it was the Schloss in earlier times. Everything was different but fancier. Gold and blue were two prominent colors in the decoration of the Schloss. He could hear the sound of celebration outside the castle. There must have been thousands of people outside for the princess’ birthday.

Loki wondered where Snow White was. He had already wasted time with this woman, and he couldn’t wake up before he accomplished his job.

Closer to the edge of the stairs, he watched a ceremony taking place down the hall. The king and the queen were sitting on their thrones, but Loki couldn’t see their faces. There were another king and queen standing opposite to the throne with a seven-year-old kid. He looked like a prince.

“God bless this meeting,” the standing king announced.

“Where is the princess?” asked the standing queen.

“I’m right here, my queen,” a young girl said, her voice coming from the hallway. The kings and queens downstairs turned their heads up to look at the princess talking from behind the banister. Loki retreated against the wall. Looking sideways, he saw her, Snow White, seven years old, looking down at them from the hallway.

“Good job, Loki,” he mocked himself. “Now, how are you going to have the heart to kill a seven year old girl?”

“I will be right down,” Snow White said. “Sorry if I was late,” she held the rim of her dress in her hands and strolled down the hallway to the stairs and the awaiting ceremony.

Loki stood silent, watching her walk the hallway the way elegant young princesses do. She tripped over her dress once and managed to pick herself up fast, making sure no one saw her. She sighed and mumbled something about how tight her shoes were, and that she hated being a princess, preferring to play outside with the other kids. “Silly shoes, silly etiquette. Everything in this castle is so boring,” she talked to herself like Loki usually did. Loki liked the idea that he wasn’t the only one who talked to himself. The two of them actually had a couple of things in common.

On her way to the stairs, she suddenly stopped in front of him.

Snow White turned her head slowly toward him. His heart raced so fast he thought he’d wake up from the dream. He pressed tighter on his Alicorn, unable to pull it up to stake her when she approached. If a Dreamhunter had to have the heart to kill a cute seven-year-old girl then Loki was definitely the lousiest in the world.

Snow stared at him with her doe eyes as if she had seen ice cream and wondered if she should try it. Loki heard her mother summon her again. Snow White craned her neck toward Loki and stuck out her tongue. Then she smiled a teasing smile.

“What are you going to do now, Loki Blackstar?” she whispered.

“You can see me?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’m a crazy princess who sees imaginary friends. Of course, I see you. Did you think you could kill me so easily?”

“Snow White!” her mother’s demanding voice was peculiar. It had a twinge of unusual authority to it. Was that her mother, or her stepmother?

“Alright, I’m coming!” Snow White said. “You can’t kill me, Loki,” she turned back to him. “Try it. Go on,” she whispered, stepping closer to him. “I am stronger and I know you have a weakness for monster girls. Go on; pull that stake out from behind your back.”

Loki gritted his teeth. He hated that he didn’t have the nerve to stake her right at this moment. How long was he going to battle his fears? He tried his best to kill her, but something held him back.

“Ora Pedora,” he whispered, closing his eyes. He wondered if the Alicorn could give him strength, but it didn’t. What was all that talk about the Chanta? Why isn’t this Alicorn ever useful? “Ora Pedora,” he repeated, but nothing happened. This Alicorn was useless.

“I thought so,” Snow White laughed at him, and walked elegantly down the stairs. Loki walked to the edge to watch her from behind the banister.

Loki stood there helpless, still wondering how he was supposed to kill a seven year old, even if she were a demon.

Princess Snow White was being introduced to the prince from a neighboring kingdom. Loki couldn’t hear what his name was, but he heard the maids describe him as ‘Prince Charming.’

It seemed that the gathering was more of a political merge between kings and queens of both kingdoms. Loki heard them call it the Kingdom of Sorrow.

So this was the town of Sorrow centuries ago? It was a kingdom?

The two royal families were gathering to discuss the possibility of the prince and the princess getting married when they grew up. Loki understood that it was the first time Snow White met Prince Charming. He walked the hallway to its end and peeked through a huge rectangular window. There was a big celebration waiting outside with flowers and balloons and carriages. This was where the kings and the queens were going to go after they had their initial introduction. Many children outside were dressed like Loki. They were an army of children, most of them held their small swords.

So that’s what the woman thought I was? One of those kids?

But why am I a child in this dream? How did that happen? Can she control her dreams?

Loki remembered he’d read in his notebook that a few Demortals had such powers, although it was said to happen rarely.

Suddenly, Loki heard a scream. He darted back to look from behind the banister.

The young prince was lying on the ground, blood seeping out of his neck. His king and queen parents were in shock and Snow White’s parents were trying to persuade them that the prince was going to be all right.

What happened? The poor young prince was going to die.

Zooming in, Loki saw the seven-year-old Snow White staring at the prince with blood trickling from her mouth. Loki gulped when she tilted her head up and stared at him with that cute, scary smile of hers. She was making fun of him, licking her lips as if it was chocolate syrup. Loki held tighter to the banister bars like a scared kid. He was appalled and confused at the same time. Again, she looked so innocent, although she just bit the prince.

“What did you do?” Loki saw the queen slap Snow White on her hands. Loki still couldn’t see the queen or king’s faces from where he was standing, and he didn’t know how to explain who he was if he was discovered.

Look guys, I just came into this dream from the waking world. I’m gonna kill your daughter because she is a badass vampire. It will only take a minute, everything will be fine, and you will live happily ever after. By the way, don’t bother thinking that your life isn’t real and this is just a dream. Happens all the time.

“Tabula!” the queen summoned the giant woman Loki had met before. “Come over here.”

Tabula rushed down the stairs.

“Take Shew with you and clean this mess up,” Loki heard the queen say to Tabula. Shew? Loki thought it was a lovely nickname for a nasty princess. “Postpone the ceremony until I say so,” the queen followed. “No one from the locals outside can know about this, you understand?”

Tabula nodded obediently. She took Snow White by the hand while the King of Sorrow promised the other king and queen he could save their son.

Tabula and Snow White talked in the hallway while Loki hid in one of the rooms, leaving the door slightly ajar.

“What were you thinking, Snow White?” Tabula said to her. “Didn’t we speak about controlling those urges?”

“I couldn’t control myself, and he’s delicious,” Snow White said, holding Tabula’s hand. “So yummy. I want more.”

“You think his blood is delicious?”

“He’s handsome, too,” Snow White said. “I liked biting him. I don’t know why he freaked out. Is he hurt?”

Loki tried not to kick himself in the head with a school bus driving infinity-miles-per-hour when he heard this.

“We’ll see about that,” Tabula patted her gently. “But you can’t bite boys because they look handsome and delicious, Shew.”

“Why?” Snow White stomped her foot.

“One bratty little princess,” Loki mumbled.

Tabula sighed, “It’s not the proper way princesses should behave. You have to be more polite than that because you’re not an average run of the mill street urchin.”

“But I want more, and it’s my birthday. I’d rather not be a princess if it means getting to bite whomever I want.”

“What an awful thing to say. You can’t just bite anyone you like. Do you understand? Now let’s go to the bathing chamber and wash this bloody mess off of you. The whole kingdom is waiting for you to come outside and greet them. You can’t go out looking like this.”

“No!” Snow White said, kicking Tabula in her big legs and running away.

Outrunning the slow Tabula, Snow White came back to Loki whose head was sticking out from behind the door. He didn’t know why he was still in this dream when it was obvious he didn’t have the heart to kill her when she manipulating it. He needed to get back to the waking world and check his notebook to see if there was a way to kill vampires who control their dreams.

Snow White, the young and feisty, pushed Loki inside and entered the room, then closed the door behind her.

“How do you like that, Loki?” she sneered at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be the greatest Dreamhunter in the world?”

“How do you know that?” Loki frowned. “And how do you control your dreams?” he wasn’t sure why Charmwill told him he was the greatest Dreamhunter in the world anymore. Apparently, Loki wasn’t even strong enough to kill a chicken vampire.