Fairy Tale: Winter's Bite

Chapter 13: Memory Lane (Part 1)

While Cassie and Joe were waiting in the dark for Chris to arrive, Cassie was alternately entertaining the twins and listening to Joe talk. She played her best games, put forth a few smiles, and made halfhearted comments when the conversation required her to do so, but her thoughts were not inside the vehicle.

Hours passed. Once the twins had fallen asleep and Joe had dozed off, Cassie climbed onto the dashboard for a better view of the street. At first she sat cross-legged. Then she lounged on one hand. A little later, she was lying on her stomach. Her cheek was resting on the back of her hand, and her feet were swinging up and down. She never meant to, but she fell asleep watching and waiting.

She lost a sense of time and place until a car zoomed by with music blaring. Their vehicle shook from the motion and rattled her back to wakefulness.

Why did I let myself fall asleep?

Cassie slid off the dashboard, walked along the passenger side armrest, and turned to see the dashboard clock. 4:02 a.m.

She eased herself onto the seat and bounded over the center console. "Joe," she called while tugging on his shirt. "Wake up!"

He didn't respond. In his human state, he was a giant to her, and she was probably just a whisper to him.

She kept trying—she yelled, she shook his clothes, she jumped all over his leg—but she could not get him to stir. As a last resort, she took a sword from her knapsack and stabbed through the denim of his pants. This time she successfully startled him.

Joe's groggy eyes took their sweet time, but they eventually found her. "Ow! What was that for? You know, you're not the first small one to stab me."

"Have you seen what time it is?"

Joe squinted at the digital display. "It's 4:06." He shifted the sweatshirt he was using for a pillow and shut his eyes again.

"And?"

He peered at her with one eye cracked open. "What?"

"Where is Chris?"

He closed his eyes again, but this time he was smirking. "I don't know. He's not here yet?"

Not amused, she stabbed him again, harder and deeper than the first time. "Do you think I would be asking if he were?"

"Ow, stop doing that! Princess, it sounds like you're panicking. Do us both a favor and stop. And it might help to breathe. . . ."

She gasped out her held breath, though she continued to panic. "Shouldn't we try to find him? He is about eight hours later than he said he would be. What if he's in trouble? What if the Royals have found him? What if he's stuck, or hurt, or . . . or. . ."

Her mind jumped to the most unthinkable scenario. Tears were pooling in her eyes. They were about to spill into a humiliating cascade of despair.

"Let me reiterate: breathe. You don't know Chris like I do. He doesn't handle bad news well. He would need some time to himself."

"That could be one theory. And then there are my theories."

Joe grunted and grabbed his already disoriented hair. "We shouldn't even be having this conversation. We could be starting some secret fairy society in the mountains of Nepal by now. But no. We're waiting in a cold car, at four in the morning, right in the heart of danger, all because Chris is too stubborn to listen."

Cassie climbed off Joe's lap. Arguing with him was time-consuming and futile.

"C'mon, Princess, don't be like that. And don't let the joking fool you. I'm worried, too."