The Color of Fear (23 page)

Jack took out his pocketknife. He carved a hole in the side of a watermelon. With a mighty yank, he unplugged the cork of rind and began scooping out fistfuls of red, juicy melon flesh. He was in up to his shoulders when he heard a faint rustle coming from the mushroom. He rushed over, looked around, and then found where the sound was coming from: a fluffy cocoon hanging securely from the underside of the mushroom’s cap. It rocked back and forth. He could see a tiny hole forming—it was being chewed from the inside.

Jack leaned in close. “Are you there, Amethyst?”

“I’ll be out in a moment,” replied a little mouth from inside the hole. “Some privacy, please.”

While Jack waited, he got a wonderful idea. He tore a wide strip of fabric from one of the large mohair throw blankets hanging off the sofa. Then he ripped a few strips of vine from the grapes and fashioned a make-do rucksack. It would come in handy later, he knew. Then he knelt on the cool, rich soil of the cavern and started scooping up dirt. He filled the rucksack with soil. Next, he plucked the two remaining beans from the plant’s stem and shoved them inside the sack as well.

He had just begun to wash his hands with watermelon juice when he heard an authoritative “Ahem.”

He spun around.

The caterpillar had blossomed into a magnificent butterfly. He shimmered a deep purple, with black accents. His tremendous wingspan extended almost wall to wall.

“You’re looking for Caitlin, I presume?” asked Amethyst.

“Desperately.”

Jack dried his hands and motioned to the wolf. “What happened here?”

“That wolf saved us,” Amethyst said, pointing to the dead Big Bad Wolf. “The other wolves were none too pleased about it. He gave his life for us. But now the murderous wolf pack is after Caitlin and the girls.”

“I need to find her.”

Amethyst saw the fragment of shinbone protruding from Jack’s leg. “What happened there?”

“Tussle with a troll. No big deal.” Jack tried to walk, but winced in pain.

“You’ll not be going far on that leg, my boy.”

“I’ve got to get to Caitlin.”

“I’m aware of that.”

Jack tried to walk again. A squirt of blood sprayed from the wound as he put pressure on his leg.

“Well then, I do hope you’re not afraid of heights,” Amethyst said as he beckoned Jack closer.

“But first, some of this.” He opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of Scotch. He poured it over the wound. Jack grimaced and writhed in pain. Amethyst tore a strip of fabric from a sofa cushion and used it to bandage Jack’s leg to stanch the bleeding.

He then reached back into the cupboard and retrieved two pieces of cake. He wrapped them in cellophane.

“Put these in your rucksack. We’ll need them soon enough.”

Jack did as he was told, but asked, “What’s the cake for?”

Amethyst grinned. “This cake is from Wonderland. At some point, we all have to grow …
up
.” Jack nodded.

“Climb aboard, my boy,” Amethyst invited.

Jack swung the rucksack over one shoulder and climbed onto the butterfly’s back. The chunky part of Amethyst’s torso was a good ten times larger than Jack’s whole body.
But not for long.

Jack glanced down at his new friend Alfonzo with concern.

“Don’t worry about me, amigo,” Alfonzo said. “I will find you when you least expect. In the meantime—
croak
—there’s lunch to be had.”

Alfonzo snapped up another baby glowworm and gulped it down.

Jack winked at his friend. He swung the backpack over his shoulders and clambered onto the back of Lord Amethyst Bartholomew, the butterfly.

Amethyst spread his wings wide.

With Jack securely on board, they fluttered up through the skylight and off into the rays of the sun.

“I, Alfonzo Thadius Bertram the Second, wish you a heartfelt fare thee well, amigo,” Alfonzo said. “Good luck finding the girl. Take care of that leg. And don’t forget to write.”

A teardrop splashed on
the cold, stone rooftop of the queen’s castle. Caitlin’s eyes were already bloodshot from crying.

“We have to find a way to get my sister back.” She buried her face in her hands. “I wish Jack were here. All I wanted was a night out with him and a chance to write a good article. That’s why I agreed to go to the stupid cemetery in the first place.
I want my sister back!
”

Snow White put her arm around Caitlin’s shoulder.

Rapunzel took her gently by the hand. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, Caitlin. Your sister will walk as the living dead—eternally—if we don’t get her to your earthly home before
our
sunrise.”

Caitlin couldn’t swallow.

“She needs the healing rays of
your
morning sun to cure her of the affliction.”

Caitlin sobbed harder as she listened.

“The first risen sun—ours
or
yours—that touches her will determine if she becomes one of the living dead or reverts back to the living.”

Just when Caitlin thought it couldn’t get any worse, Cindy stepped forward.

“And we won’t be able to help you if the queen raises that scepter at midnight tonight.” She pointed to her eyes. Cindy fixed both hands on her hips. “The clock is ticking, pretty princesses, let’s get a move on.”

Caitlin felt a meltdown coming on.

She held her breath … long … longer … still longer … until her body
forced
her to exhale.

She couldn’t have a panic attack now. No way. Not with Natalie’s life on the line.

“How do we get inside?” she asked.

Rapunzel examined the map. “This upper level is barred off. Except for those side stairs to the castle keep in the tower. No point going to the scene of the crime.”

Beauty peered over the wall and down below. “The main entrance is patrolled by castle guards.”

Snow frowned. “And the Blood-Eyed will pick up our scent if we go in that way anyway.”

“Ideas?” Beauty asked.

Before anyone could answer, they heard an army of boots thumping up the stone steps that led directly to their level.

“Exit time, ladies,” Cindy said.

“Where to?” Beauty asked.

Rapunzel pointed. “Up those side stairs, to the castle keep. We’ll hide in the herald’s chamber.”

“What if he’s inside?” Snow asked.

“Six of us against one skinny herald, or six of us against the queen’s Blood-Eyed armed guards—what do you think?”

Up the stairs they ran.

They arrived at the castle keep and quickly crept over to the herald’s chamber. Snow White picked the lock. Rapunzel and Cindy led the way, tense and ready to jump the herald. The chamber was empty.

Caitlin put her hand on her chest.

Is my heart rate finally slowing down?

“He and the other ghouls must be dancing their arses off,” Cindy said.

The girls tiptoed quietly to the back wall, away from the glassless window and as far from the door as possible. They lined up side by side against the cold stone, standing silent and still, waiting for the guards to pass.

The queen’s pack of wolves had cold-blooded murder in their eyes. They had stalked the girls’ tracks all the way to the castle. And now they howled and circled outside the castle entrance in a mad frenzy. The leader of the pack, the alpha male, reared and stood on its hind legs. The fur on his chest and paws and snout was matted with blood. He licked some blood from its snout and twitched his nose. He sniffed the air, then the ground, and followed its nose to the castle door.

Six other Blood-Eyed wolves followed hungrily as the alpha male opened the castle door and entered. It led its pack up toward the castle keep, where the scent was strongest. The wolves climbed the steps, leaving bloodstained paw prints on the stone slabs.

The wolves reached the castle keep.

Empty. Not a body in sight.

The Blood-Eyed alpha wolf sniffed. Scanned.

The carnivore was attracted to a thick wooden door. From the chamber behind the door, the stink of zombies and humans flowed—tangy to their taste buds.

The alpha male glanced back at its pack.

He flashed his fangs. Growled. He turned. He approached the door, stalking upright on two legs, his canine’s eyes ablaze with red. The other wolves remained on all fours. They arched their backs, prepared to pounce, saliva drooling from their jowls.

Caitlin heard the noise. They all did.

“Someone’s out there,” Rapunzel said.

“It’s not the queen’s guards,” Snow said. “They must have climbed past this level. There’s only one someone out there, right at the door. I can sense him edging closer.”

Rapunzel tightened her hand into a fist. Cinderella rotated her foot back and forth, loosening it up.

Caitlin’s eyes were glued to the door handle.

It turned.

The zombie princesses stormed the intruder. Cindy walloped him with a roundhouse kick across the jaw.

The queen’s herald!

Cindy’s wallop had knocked him out cold.

“Fancy footwork,” Beauty said.

They propped the unconscious herald up against the wall. “He’ll be napping for a few,” Cindy said proudly.

“All clear out here,” Caitlin said, peering out the door.

The girls snuck out.

The alpha wolf tilted its head, sniffing. It glared at a pile of stuff lying on the floor of the abandoned castle: a mound of hair, a stick smeared with earwax, a rag soaked in saliva and sweat, and a pile of green peppers, garlic cloves, and various roots. The scent was pungent to their sensitive noses.

The wolves dove in, face-and-fangs-first, shredding everything to bits and chowed it all down.

Uncontrollable sneezing erupted from the pack. The peppers, garlic, and wasabi scalded the wolves’ nostril tissues.

Tongues burned and blistered from the strong plants’ searing heat, and their eyes stung like they had been staring at the sun.

The cries of the canine ghouls rang out far and wide.

The zombie wolves were off the scent.

For now.

The girls returned to
the stone rooftop on the first level of the castle.

Cindy, Snow, and Rapunzel peered down through the window at the sea of bobbing zombie heads cramming the dance floor of the grand ballroom.

“Even if we
could
sneak in,” Rapunzel said, “how would we find Natalie among the others?”

Cinderella clucked her tongue. “She shouldn’t be hard to spot in that outrageous chili pepper getup.”

Snow White placed her hand on Caitlin’s shoulder. “Fret not, sweet Caitlin. Your sad eyes are so red, you almost look like a Blood-Eyed yourself.”

Cindy’s eyes lit up. “That’s it!”

“That’s
what
?” said Rapunzel.

“We disguise ourselves as Blood-Eyed zombies.”

Rapunzel tapped her temple. “Brilliant! Sneak past the guards in plain sight.”

Snow furrowed her brow.

“What about our noble blood? The Blood-Eyed will pick up our royal scent straightaway.”

Caitlin lifted her eyes, blinking away salty tears. ”And what about my
human
smell? And my blue eyes?”

Rapunzel took out the map and studied it intently. She grinned. “There’s a clay bank on the east side of the moat. It’s connected to the bog and the wetlands surrounding the castle.”

Snow bounced with excitement. “Clay! That just might work!”

Clay? Might?

Rapunzel looked up from the map. “We’ll take clay from the castle moat and smear it in a thick layer over our flesh, head to toe. Like a mud bath. When it dries, it’ll harden into a silvery white skin.”

“That’s a ridiculous idea!” Caitlin cried. “It’s absurd. Disguise or no disguise, they’ll smell
my
blood, sniff
my
flesh, and devour
me
limb by limb.”

Snow shook her head. “No. Clay camouflages the scent of flesh
and
blood.”

Rapunzel’s smile was a shrewd one. “Which means, ladies, the clay will also cover our not-quite-as-dead royal aroma.”

The royals exchanged gleeful grins.

A dire look overcame Caitlin. “What about our eyes?”

Rapunzel scratched her head and slowly exhaled. “That’s a tricky one.”